Exposition of the Apostles Creed, Part 2 · Sermon 15
Of the eternal Generation of the Sonne of God; and his Incarnation.
ISAIAH 53.8.
And who shall declare his Generation?
THE Subject of this versicle, is the cause of this dayes meeting; yea, indeed of all other our meetings in this place. For had not Christ been for ever, and been borne in time, we sinners of the Gentiles had had no day, nor place to bless God. Since therefore now we have both by his Generation granted unto us, let us do that for which we are met: I to declare, you to hear of his Nativity. Your task is the easier; for he can do little, that cannot lend an eare; mine the harder, for Quis declarabit? saith our Prophet, evident it is there is difficulty in it.
Other Offices of our Saviours Mediatorship were more easily expressed, more easily conceived; our Eloquent Prophet, like some cunning Artist (as if he would make this his Masterpiece) hath here shew'd his skill,Vetse 3, 4, 5. and drawn his abasements and sufferings to the life. The sorrow and grief in his countenance, the unfriendly wounds in his hands and side, the blows and bruises on his face, the chastisements and stripes on his back, his oppression and affliction at his Arraignment, and his Lamb-like silence at his slaughter;7, 6. Not so much as the course dealing of his own Nation toward him is omitted; nor the small pity they had of a man, when they should see him in this lamentable case. They rejected him, they despised him, they esteemed him not. 3.In the expression of all these severals the Prophet hath gone beyond himself; and in admiration only demands, as well he might, Quis crederet? who would ever believe that the Saviour of the World should be thus coursely and rudely handled?1.
Marry, when he comes to this point, his Generation, then he was at a Non-plus; the foreign, that it should be so, he could well tell; that he should grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; 2.and the foreign, why it should be so, he could tell also; for our transgressions, 4, 5.for our peace; that we with his stripes should be healed: But the Modus, the manner how this should be done, he knew not; he could not declare, nor indeed fully no man else: For Quis declarabit, Who shall declare his Generation?
The word in the Original is Dor, that signifies an age, duration of time, and generation; and accordingly Expositors give two Interpretations.Rivet. Scultet. in locum. The Modern understand by it, the continuance of Christ after he was receiv'd up in glory; and they make an Antithesis betwixt this and the former Clause, to this purpose. He was indeed taken out of this life by distress and judgement;Ver. 8. but who can declare his duration and age afterward? for he is taken from a mortal life to an immortal,Rom. 6.9. Justine Mart. Tertul. Hieron. Euseb. Caes. so that death shall have no more dominion over him. This sense I dislike not. But all the Ancient Fathers saile another way; and I had rather be carried in their Ship, than in any new Boat. They understand by Generation, either the manner by which Christ is begotten of the Father from all eternity, or else, by which in the fulness of time, by the power of the Holy Ghost he was made man of the Virgin Mary. And both are apt for this place, for both are wonderful. Both follow well after his ignominious death. As if this our Prophet, converting his eyes from the ignominious passion of our Saviour, which he had described, to the Nobility of his B…rth, should be as it were in an extasie; and being able to say no more, in great admiration cry out, W o can declare his Generation? For all you behold him now in this low and lamentable condition, yet his descent is such, that no man can declare it.
No man can, for it is a mystery. Without all controversie it is so;1 Tim. 3.16. Eph. 1 9. Col. 1.26. the great mystery of godliness. A mystery hid from the beginning of the world. How well then do the Greek and Latine Fathers stile it, The great mystery of Christs Incarnation!
What we have revealed to us of it, was not by man; an Angel did it;Luke 1.26, 27, &c. and that none of the Inferiour Orders, but of the chief, even Gabriel; not of his own head neither, but sent from God to tell Mary, that she should conceive a Sonne. She, as she might well enquire of the manner, foreign;Verse 34. How shall this thing be? She knew well that there was extant a promise, Ecce Ʋirgo concipiet, Isa. 7.14. Bernard. Brent. Theophyl.Behold a Virgin shall conceive, and bring forth a Sonne. She no way doubted of the performance: Neither are these words, words of curiosity, or incredibility, but of necessity; foreign, &c. as a wise and discreet woman she ask'd, as willing to be inform'd of the manner, how this should be done, since she knew not man?
To which the Angel returnes her this obscure answer, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, Luke 1.35.and the power of the Most High shall over-shadow thee, &c. And perhaps it was for this said foreign, shall over-shadow thee, because the thing was to be done in a mystery; and that that which the Trinity alone intended to do, and did in and with the sole Virgin, soli datum est nosse, Bern. hom. 4. super Missus est.cui datum experiri, was to her alone granted to know, to whom alone it was granted to try and finde.
And yet so strictly I would not be understood, as if our Saviours Incarnation were such a mystery that could in no part be unfolded; should I affirme that the Antheme of the Angels set Quire-wise at his birth, the expedition of the Shepherds to view the Manger,Luke 2.14, 16, 17. Mat. 2.1, 11, 16. the Stable, the swadling cloaths, the faith and joy of the wise men that followed his starre, and presented their gifts; the cruelty of Herod, and Martyrdome of the Innocents, would be out of those Sacred Amanuenfes produced as Witnesses against me. This is that I contend, Semper erat Mysterium, nec cessabit esse Mysterium, It alwayes was, and it alwayes will be a Mystery; that when we have said all we can, it is an object of faith, not of reason; rather fit for us to believe, than curiously to examine. As Aristotle therefore said of his Physiques called commonly foreign, sic editos, quasi non editi viderentur, that they were so set forth, as if they had not been published, the stile was so curt, and the matter so abstruse: So also may I say of the manner of our Saviours Generation; the Angel that reported it, hath so shadowed it out unto us,1 Cor. 13.12. that still we are but sub umbra, under the vail, we see but in part, and know but in part, as in a glass darkly.
Which will be yet more manifest, if we call to minde that there is a double Generation of the Sonne of God.John 1.1. Gal. 4.4. One in the beginning, the other in the fulness of time; the one from all eternity, the other as upon this day; by the first he was the Son of God, by the second the Son of man; by the first he was foreign,Heb. 7.3. without Mother, by the last he was foreign, without Father; and so in both the true Melchizedech; in both foreign, without Pedegree or Descent; having neither beginning of dayes, nor end of life, but abides a Priest for ever,Nazianz. orat. 38. as Nazianzene applies this Text.
First, Now as he is the Sonne of God begotten from all eternity, what tongue dare attempt? or if so daring, can fully declare his Generation? What may be declared of it,Serm. 2. Ignat. Epist. ad Magnes. I have said before, and can adde nothing unto it. He was foreign, not foreign, not foreign, he was the substantial Word of God, not Vocal, not spoken, as if he intended that this Generation should not be the Subject of our speech, but matter for our contemplation. Those who most modestly have search'd into it, have confessed it to be, and so left it as an unsearchable depth; and those who have over-curiously gone about to fathome it, have at last betrayed their own ignorance, and brought forth monstrous and blasphemous doctrines, to the trouble of the Church, and disquiet of the peace of Christendome. I resolve therefore, and I hope so will you too, to believe what I cannot comprehend, viz. That Jesus Christ was the eternal Sonne of God; Col. 1.15.foreign, not foreign, the first-begotten, not the first creature; begotten, not made; being of one substance of the Father. Who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, was conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost, borne of the Virgin Mary; which is his second Generation of wh…ch I come now to speak.
Secondly, But in this also there is room left for the Prophets Quaere,Basil. foreign. 25. in foreign. Quis declarabit? Who shall declare? born he was, but foreign. search not how, for it is impossible in all things to give a satisfactory answer. For had our Saviour been borne only after the ordinary and natural generation of men, it had been no easie matter to declare how in the womb those elements of being do unite, and mingle,Job 10.8, 9, 10.11, and curdle together: how these three noble and heroick parts, the Liver, Heart, and Braine linked together by slender strings, do in time fill with flesh: Lastly, how every portion of the whole body being, as I may so say, entuned to other, stretch'd out by sinews, and strengthened with bones, were at last cloathed with skinne, and after some few months sent with teares to draw in the common aire. Had, I say, our Saviours birth been after the usual manner of men, it might well be the Subject of our admiration:Psal. 139.13, 14. David was amazed when he search'd into it, I am fearfully and wonderfully made, &c. And well he might; for even the Mother her self, in the shop, as I may so say, of whose womb this strange work is wrought, is utterly unacquainted with the Creatours skill, by which the frame is perfected: Witness that Religious Mother encouraging her seven sonnes to dye for the Laws of their Fathers; I cannot tell, saith she, how ye came into my womb, for I neither gave you breath nor life; it is not I that set in order the members of your body, 2 Mac. 7.22.but doubtless the Creatour of the world, who formed the birth of man. Had it been then no more but this, Quis declarabit, what tongue were able to declare it? what pen fully to express it?
But there is more in it than so. For as there was never such a man, so there never was such a birth in which God was the Father, a Virgin the mother, the Holy Ghost the workmaster; by which to speak in Nazianzens Eloquence, foreign,Nazian. foreign. That is, He who had no flesh, was made flesh; the eternal Word was thickned; He who was invisible is seen; who was not tangible, is handled; who was without time, takes a beginning; In a word, The Sonne of God is made the Sonne of man.
And how difficult it is to declare all this, and make it fully intelligible, were there no other reason to perswade it, yet this one were sufficient; that Learned men, and those of the sharpest wits, while they endeavour'd to open to others their conceits about it, have split upon so many Rocks, and pester'd the Church with so many Heresies. In plaine things and evident, wise men will not be much mistaken; Then men run awry, when the matter being mystical, casts a mist upon the understanding; in which, without diligent and careful circumspection, a Traveller is apt to deviate, and to mistake his way. Which because in this point it hath happened to many subtile heads, and that especially in the first times, when they were neare the best guides, we must needs conclude that the Declaration of this mystery is not so easie as most men conceive, and perswade men rather readily to belive it, than search over curiously into it.
1. Ebion, Cerinthus, Photinus, with the greater part of the Gnosticks could not conceive how it was possible, that he who was in the form of God,Ignat. ad Trall. Iren. lib. 1, 25. Tertul. P…aesc. 48 Epiphan. that is, who had the Essence and Attributes of God, should so farre humble himself, as to take upon him the essence, properties, and proportions of a Servant. Which since it is manifest he did, they gave it out, that he was but foreign, a meer, bare, pure naked man; or as Samasotenus, Ignatius, Euseb. l. 7. c. 27, 28.a man working miracles by the power of God; and of the seed of Joseph by Mary, having no existence before that he was borne of her. Against which opinion Saint John entreated by the Bishops of Asia wrote his Gospel.
2. These then denyed that the divine dature was in the flesh. On the other side,Tertul. Praesc. c. 46. 51. Iren. l. 1. 20, &c. Epiph. her. 21. the Ma…cionites, Cerdon, Saturninus, Basilides, could not see which was it was imaginable, that the humane nature should be assumed, and joyn'd in one person with the Deity, upon which conception they taught, that he had no true flesh, but was a man onelyonly in appearance, a meer phantasme and thought to be what he was not.
Tertul. Praesc. c. 49. & de carne …. c. 15. Praes. c. 50. Epiph.But after these arose Valentinus, who confess'd he had a true body, but not of the flesh of the Virgin Mary, it was spiritual, it was aethereal, or heavenly; or as A…elles, out of the four Elements, far unl…ke to ours, which past through the womb of the Virgin Mary, as water through a pipe. And with them of old agteed the Manichees, and of late years some Anabaptists.
Cyril. ep. 2. ad success. de Incarnat. c. 27, 28 Isid. li. 8. Etim. Damasc. l. 3. Cass. l. 2. 6.3. After these arose Nestorius, who though he acknowledged Christ to be true God and man, yet he could not conceive how these two natures being united, should exist in one person. And therefore he affirmed, that Christ must be an individuum confisting of two persons. The person of the Son of God, which was in the form of God, and the person of the son of man, which did exist in the form of a servant; and that these two persons were united in the Virgins womb, as two friends are made one. The two natures he did admit, and acknowledg'd that they were distinct: But withal he gave to each a several subsistence, and divided the one from the other; united only by consociation and assistance, so that the Word, and Jesus, that is the humane nature, were not only aliud & aliud, distinct, which we admit, but alius & alius, distinct persons, which we deny.
Theod. Dial. 2. Virgil. lib. 1, 2. Evagr. lib. 2.164. Sixteen years after Nestorius arose Eutyches, who held the opinion of Nestorius unreasonable, and therefore he confessed that there were in Christ two natures, the divine and humane; but that these were chang'd, confused, and mixt together after his incarnation; of which there resulted but one nature, to wit, the divine. So that the forme of a servant was as it were swallowed up by the form of God, converted into it, and the properties confounded, as if a man should poure a dish of water into a whole butt of Wine.
The father of this heresie, as I said, was Eutyches the Abbot; In Constantinople it was begot, nursed up in Alexandria by Dioscorus the Patriarch, and sent to travaile into Syria by one Jacobus, sirnamed Zanzalus, who gave name to the Jacobites: and it gained such affection, that it overspread the Church of Greece, Niceph. lib. 18. cap. 45, &c. Leont. de sectis action. 5, &c.Egypt, and Syria. And it gave occasion to many other heresies, that infinitely deform'd the Church, rending with many schismes the unity, and wounding with as many heresies the faith of it.
For first it drew after it the heresie of the Theopaschites, or of the the passibleness of the Deity,Brerwood of Relig. lang. c. 25. de Macon. because the Deity of Christ was become (in their conceit) the same nature with the humanity, which was passible.
Secondly, (the absurdity of the former opinion being discerned) it occasioned another extreamly opposite,Zanch. de Incar. lib. 2. cap. 1. maintain'd by those call'd Aphthardocitae, who affirm'd the body of our Saviour from his incarnation to be free from passibility, and corruption, because it was become one nature with the Deity, which we know is impassible, incorruptible.
Thirdly, when the fondness of both these were discovered, a new device arose, namely, that there was but one nature in our Saviour, but not by permixtion or confusion of substances, as Eutyches taught, but only by composition: The Deity and humanity becoming one nature by coalition, as the body and soule into one nature in man. Which was neare that of Apoll…niaris, who affirm'd the divinity of Christ to supply the place of the humane soul.
Lastly, this errour being exploded as a meer fancy, there succeeded that of the Monothelites, who confessing two Natures to be in Christ, yet affirm'd, that there was but one Will, and one Action of both natures in the Person of our Saviour. If you shall now ask, how it came to pass that so many great Wits ran so many wild-goose chases about this Article? the answer is obvious, that it proceeded from the depth of this mystery, which while they went about to sound with the short line and plummet of humane Reason, they fouly err'd from the truth. Whereas had they soberly contented themselves with what is revealed of it, they had seen enough to guide their feet in the way of peace,Luk. 1.79. and not perhaps have let in the Sarracens and Mahometans among them, who have been ever since to them the scourge of God, for that dishonour they brought upon his Sonne.
1. Would they have humbly consulted with the Oracles of God, and not with the pride of their own heart heightened by prosperity, these fancies either had nere been broached, or at least quickly vanished.Phil. 2.6. Saint Paul would have taught them, that Christ, before he took the forme of a servant, was foreign, mark that word, was existent in the form of God. But in what forme? what an accidental? but that is not in God; it then must needs be essential and substantial; and farther, that he thought it no robbery, no usurpation, to be, not to seeme, foreign, in every thing equal to God; which Deity he deposed not, when he took upon him the form of a servant, but onelyonly foreign, he emptied himself of it, the glory and Majesty of the Deity being vayled with flesh. He then ceased not to be what he was, but assumed our flesh into the unity of his person. The conceit then of Ebion and his followers, that affirm'd him to be foreign, a meere man, falls to the ground by this one place of the Apostle, that I produce not infinite others, which it were easie, to the same purpose.
2. Farther, had the Marcionites and Valentinians considered attentively those places of Scripture, in which it was plainly set down of what matter his body should be made, they never had made Christ a spectrum, a phantasme, or an Aethereal, or Aërial substance. For do we not read,Gen. 3.15. ver. 22.18. Heb. 2.16. Rom. 1.3. That the seeed of the woman should break the Serpents head? That in Abrahams seed all Nations should be blessed? That Christ was made of Davids seed according to the flesh? In a word, doth not the Angel at his conception tell Mary, Nascitur ex te. He shall be borne (ex) of thee? Now, Ex, Luk. 1.35.dicit causam materialem. Ex shews the material cause whence any thing is made, and therefore Christ from her flesh was to take the substance of his body. Besides in him we finde all the true properties and operations of his manhood, such as Irenaeus reckoneth up. If Christ, saith he,Iren. l. 3. c. 32. had not taken flesh from the very earth, he would not have coveted those earthly nourishments, wherewith bodies which be taken from thence are fed. This was the nature that felt hunger and thirst, was desirous of rest after travail, testified compassion and love by teares, groaned with heavinesse, and with extreamity of grief even melted away it self into bloody sweats. These are all evidences of flesh taken from the earth. And all these Christ did, foreign, after the fashion of other men,Naz. Orat. 2. de filio. that you may know that that airy body of Valentinus is but an airy speculation.
3. As for that of Nestorius fancying two persons in Christ,Hook. Eccl. pol. l. 5. sect. 52. it is no other; as will appear, if those words of that judicious Divine Mr. Hooker be well weighed, which I will here set down; It pleased not the Word or wisdome of God to take to himself some one person among men, for then that one should have been advanc'd which was assum'd, and no more;Prov. 9.1. foreign. Joh. 1.14. but Wisdome to the end she might save many, built her house of that Nature which is common to all; she made not this or that man her habitation, but dwelt in us.
The seeds of Herbs and Plants at first are not in act, but in possib…lity that which they afterwards grow to be. If the Son of God had taken to himself a man now made, and already perfected, it would upon necessity follow, that there are in Christ two persons; the one assuming, and the other assumed: whereas the Son of God did not assume a mans person to his own, but a mans nature to his own person; and therefore he is said to have taken the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed of David, the first and Original Element of our Nature, before it came to have a personal subsistence.Theodoret. Dial. foreign. For foreign, the assumed Nature did not exist before the assumption.
So that flesh and the conjunction of the flesh with God began at one instant; his making and taking our flesh, but one act; There can be then in Christ no personal subsistence, but one, and that from everlasting. Only that wh…ch subsisted before in the glory of God, subsists now in the habit of our flesh.
4. And these two Natures subsist in the same person without any confusion, commixtion, alteration, or change, either of natures or properties essential to either Nature.Leo Epist. ad Flavian. For utra{que} forma agit quod suum est, each Nature performing those actions that are proper unto it, which yet are attributed to the whole person. 'Tis an excellent rule deliver'd by Mr. Hooker, for the deciding of all doubts and questions about the union of both Natures in Christ, That of both Natures there is a co-operation often,Hook. Eccles. pol. lib. 5. Sect. 53. an association alwayes; but never any mutual participation, whereby the properties of the one are infused into the other.
It is critically and well observ'd by Zanchy, that the Apostle Phil. 2.7. makes choice of the word foreign;Lib. 1. de Incarnat. foreign. c. 2. he saith not, He emptied himself, foreign, changing, turning, or confounding the shape of God into that of a Servant, but only foreign, taking upon him the shape of a servant, the forme of God remaining unchanged and unmixt. Therefore the Natures of Christ are not in his person, are not changed, or confused, or mixt, or blended together,Athanas. Symb. but both remaine in their integrity: Who though he be God and man, yet is he not two, but one Christ. One not by the conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by the taking of the manhood into God. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but unity of person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ. Et sic actum de Eutychianis.
To conclude this point, there be foure things which concurre to make compleat the whole state of our Lord Jesus Christ; his Deity, his Manhood, the conjunction of both, and the distinction of one from the other, being joyn'd in one person. All these have found their Opponents. For to omit the Gnosticks, whose labour was to overthrow either his Divinity, or Humanity; whose sick-braine fancies Ignatius, Irenaeus, Tertulliau discovered and confuted:Hook. par. 54. lib. 5. Eccl. pol. After them arose foure principal Heresies which have withstood the Truth. The Arrians bent themselves against his Deity: The Apollinarians maimed him in his humanity, by denying him to have a reasonable soul: The Nestorians rent Christ asunder, by dividing him into two Natures: The Eutychians confounded his Natures by blending them together, which they should distinguish. And against these there have been foure most famous ancient general Councils; the Council of Nice defin'd against Arrius for Christs divinity; the Council of Constantinople against Apollinaris for his humanity; and both withal gave a deadly blow to the whole Schoole of Gnosticks; the Council of Ephesus against Nestorius and his two persons; and the Council of Calcedon against Eutyches and his mixture of Natures. A few Adverbs they have left us, to which we may reduce whatsoever may be said in Declaration of Christian belief, or in refutation of Heresie in this matter. To wit, that the Son of God took the forme of a Servant into the unity of his person, foreign, substantially, and then not united as an accident to a subject; foreign truly, and then not in appearance only; foreign, indivisibly, and then not to be divided into two persons or subsistences; foreign, immutably, and then not one Nature chang'd into another; foreign, without blending, and then not one Nature mixt with the other: Lastly, foreign, without any division or separation, so that the Sonne of God will never depose that nature of man which he hath assumed, but will retain it, being God and man forever and ever.
When I had proceeded thus farre, I thought that I had made a sufficient Declaration of this grand mystery: But taking a second view, I found that all this while I was upon the destructive part, and had only declared and confuted what Hereticks had imagin'd about it. Besides, I saw that most of these Adverbs were either Negative or Privative. And negations and privations, teach no more than what the thing is not; they informe not what it is. Necessary then I thought it, to take another course; to try whether there might not be a farther disquisition made, by which the truth, to be holden about this secret, might in some sort be declared.
And an easier way, and clearer, I thought could not be found, than the Creed hath directed in two words, Conceived, and Borne; for if the riches of those notions were fully discover'd, the truth necessary to belief, would easily appear. In the first we have to consider his Conception; the last points us to his Incarnation.
In his Conception we are to reflect upon two things especially.
1. The framing of the manhood, Conceiv'd.
2. The Sanctifying of it, By the Holy Ghost.
In his Incarnation we will open these two points.
1. The personal union of the manhood with the Godhead,
2. The glorious effects which proceed from so glorious an union with the Deity.
First, For the framing of his manhood we have the matter of it, and the manner of it expressed in Scripture.
1. The matter of his body was the flesh and blood of the blessed Virgin; flesh immediately he took from her seed, which yet was the seed of Adam, derived by succession to Abraham, propagated to David, and so onward till it came to Mary, that so he might be the Son of Mary, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, the Son of Adam, Luke 3. Gen. 3.15. & 22.18. Psal. 132.11.as Saint Luke deduceth his Genealogy. In a word, he was the seed of the woman who was to break the Serpents head; that seed in which all the Nations of the earth should be blessed; that seed of whom God said to David, Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy seat; and this is one reason that the Evangelist ends not his Genealogy till he comes to Adam. And yet there is another, that we might know that he was to purge, expiate, and save Adams flesh; that is, Adam, and all his race from the guilt and punishment of sin due to him and them, for his and their disobedience, of which his was the first Original: whence St.Rom. 5.17. Paul, when he shew'd by whom sinne came into the world, and polluted all men, viz. The first Adam; immediately declares who it was that took it away, and saved men from it, viz. Adams, or the Virgins seed, The Second Adam. The matter then of his Body is Evident.
2. As for the manner how this Virgins seed should be framed into the proportion of a man, in is miraculous. The God of Nature chang'd here the course of Nature, and above Nature, without the help of man, by an extraordinary operation of the holy Ghost, made the Word to become flesh. Two actions are ascribed by the Angel to the holy Ghost in this great work;Luke 1.35. the one to come upon the Virgin; the other to overshadow her. By the first was signified his extraordinary power in making a Virgin remaining a Virgin to conceive a Son: Which was done at that instant, when the blessed Virgin broke out into these words, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it to me according to thy word; for here was no need of any delay, since this conception was the sole work of God, without the help of man. Her consent only, was expected; and that being given by Ecce ancilla Domini, the fiat instantly followed; as soon as when upon his fiat the heaven and earth were created. Presently she conceiv'd a Son.
The encrease and growth of his body to a just quantity, was not in an instant, but was by degrees brought to it in about nine months time. But the formation of his body was perfected and shaped at that instant; flesh he then took,Damasc. lib. 3. c. 2. Zanch. de Incarnat lib. 2. q 7, 8. Thes. 1. foreign, that was animated with a reasonable and understanding soule. Or which we are able to give these reasons. First, Because the power of the Agent was infinite, and therefore he was able without any delay to perfect the conception out of the matter before prepared. Secondly, Because that which was conceiv'd was Homo, a man; but a whole man is not a body alone, or a soul alone, but a substance composed of both. And therefore it was necessary, that foreign, the Word should take a body inform'd with a reasonable soul: for otherwise there would be some moment of time, in which the Son of God should not be true man, but only a body the material part of man. Thirdly, This body so informed, was perfect in all parts and Organs; a soul it had, as is but now proved, and then the body must be perfect, for the soul is foreign, that which moves an Organical body. And it no way became the Son of God, who is the fountaine of all perfections, to assume into the unity of his person, an unshaped or imperfect thing, such as that of an Embria.
Secondly, The other action of the holy Ghost, was Overshadowing, which checks all curiosity, and commands us not to be bold to search into that work too farre, over which the Holy Ghost hath cast a shadow: Doceri non potest nisi à donante, Bern. Hom. 4. super Missus est.nec disci nisi à formante, to alter Bernards words a little.
O God, why should men go about to seek for a cleare light, where thou hast cast a shadow! why to look upon that Sun, betwixt which and us thou hast interposed a Cloud? No Mother knows the manner of her natural conception; what presumption then is it for flesh and blood to be inquisitive how the holy Ghost did his work in the dark womb of the Virgin? As therefore after the Angels salutation and solution, this blessed mother makes no more doubts, nor raises no more questions about the manner; for her How shall this thing be? Mat. 1.18.went before; So also when the Scripture hath taught us, that the Birth of Christ was on this wise, let us ask no more questions, but in an holy admiration break out with Saint Paul, Great is the mystery of godliness, Christ revealed in the flesh! for if we should, I know not how we should be satisfied;1 Tim. 3.16. for Quis Declararet? Who shall declare it?
Secondly, The manner of it I mean. For as for the second point, and the effects thence proceeding, they may be declared.
1. The first of which is negative; that though he took upon him foreign,Luke 1.35. a body of weakness, yet he took not to him foreign, a body of sinne. For he was Sanctified from the womb; That which is born of the shall be called holy; not holy flesh, not a holy man, nor a holy infant, but foreign, or Singulariter Sanctum, by some prerogative.
He was no more polluted by the contagion of our depraved nature, than fire is changed, being receiv'd in the pores of some piece of rusty Iron, whose force is no whit dulled by the rust, coldness, or soyle of that heavy body.Basil. Hom. 25. For by the power of the Holy Ghost, there was a stoppage made of that Original corruption which doth flow into the nature of all mankind,Gal. 5.9. and as a little leven, doth soure the whole lump.
2. But secondly, Negative holiness there was not in him alone, but Positive also; even an infusion of all holiness and purity in the manhood of Christ, being the endowment of the soule and body with all manner of graces and vertues proportionable to his own purposes, intents, and counsels.
And this is the grace of Divine Unction, which Divines willingly attribute to the body and soul of this Messiah: For we may not think, that the humanity of our Saviour by this conception, receiv'd no vertue or quality above nature. But even as the Sword that is made fiery, doth not only cut by the sharpness which it hath from its own edge, but also burns by that glowing heat which it received and retaines from the fire: So also the humanity of our Saviour is enabled by the Deity that assumed it with many more graces than it naturally had. The Godhead imparting unto it so many perfections, as either it was being a creature capable of, or the exigence of that oeconomy, viz. mans Redemption did require.
Saint John shews us plainly, that the Word which dwelt among us,John 1.14. was full of grace and truth. For the illustration of which, the Schoolmen do thus distinguish of grace and the fulness of it.
First, Say they, there is plenitud… excellentiae, a fulness of excellency;Viguer. instit. such as is that of some maine pipe, by which the Virgin-water of the fountain is conveyed into the lesser Cisterns. And such a plenty of grace they place in the blessed Virgin, who was indeed foreign, highly graced,Luke 1.28. highly favoured, to be made the Mother of our Lord; in reference to which we may say truly, Nil gratiae ad nos venit, nisi quod non prius per uterum Mariae transit, No grace came to us, but first past through the Virgins womb.
Secondly, There is plenitudo abundantiae, abundant grace; such was the grace which was in the Apostles, who were all fill'd with the Holy Ghost,Acts 2.4. ad mensuram vasculi, as full as a Vessel could hold; being those greater Cisterns, that first held, and then let out the water of life which yet refresheth our thirsty souls; and these are commonly call'd foreign, or gratiae gratis datae, Gifts freely given by God.
Thirdly, There is plenitudo sufficientiae, as much grace as is sufficient to save a soul, and keep it from sin, which is commonly call'd Sanctification, or foreign, or gratia gratum faciens, that grace which makes a man acceptable in the eyes of God, renews, comforts, upholds a sinner from falling and fainting. And to that soul which hungers and thirsts after it, is return'd that answer which was given to Saint Paul, Sufficit tibi gratia mea, 2 Cor. 12.9. Eph. 4.7.My grace is sufficient for thee; for to every one is given some, more or less, as their wants are more or less in their Pilgrimage toward the Celestial Canaan.
Fourthly, But the last is Gratia effluentiae, overflowing grace, or the grace of the fountaine, from which Cistern, Pipe and Pitchers are fill'd. It is sweet in it self, pure in it self, sufficient of it self; from which all sweetness, all pureness, all excellency, all abundance, all sufficiency is. And this alone we confess to be in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who was sanctified in his mothers womb, by the Holy Ghost the fountain of all Sanctity; both by the extirpation of Original corruption, and infusion of grace and holiness.
CONCLƲSIO.
Hitherto have I gone about to declare that, which in declaring I admire, and in admiring reverence, and in reverence do admire again, and in humility ever shall, why the second Person in the Trinity would have a generation to declare; why he should become bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh; be sanctified in the womb, be united to our nature, and cloathed with our skin.
But if God would come down to us in the likeness of men, why did he not appear like himself? why not as sometimes he did upon Mount Sinai, covered with a pavilion of thick Clouds,Exod. 19.16. usher'd with the blast of some Angels Trump, speaking in Thunder, and lighted down with some flash of lightning from heaven? This had been for the Majesty of a God, fit for the glory of so great a King.
Yea, but he came not now in Majesty; he came in great humility to visit us, in love to Redeem us, and therefore he hath not now so much as a still and soft voice to affright us.Bern. in festo Nativ. Gen. 3.9, 10. His voice was still and soft enough when he spake to Adam in the Garden, Ʋbies Adam? Adam, where art thou? and yet so terrible, that when he heard it, he fled, and hid himself. That we should not flee at this his visitation, Ecce infans & sine voce, Behold an infant, and without a voice; voice he hath none, except it be vagire in cunis, to cry for us, not a word to speak in an angry tone.
In nature, creatures of like kind are commonly well-affected to other; that then we might know how he stood affected to us, he came in our own likeness, an infant of a span long, born of a woman, wrapped up in swadling cloaths; and except it were that his mother wanted a Chamber to lie in in the Inn, and a Cradle to rock him, for which she was glad to make use of the Manger, like he was to us in all things.
Naz.foreign, Never object to him his poverty or low estate; for it was for your sakes that he became thus low. Love him rather, since he is become your kinsman in the flesh, and by it gain'd a faculty to speak for his kinsmen to God. With this meditation Job comforts himself, I know that my Redeemer liveth; the word is Goel, and there is comfort in it; a kinsman,Job 19.25. Basil. one near allyed; as if our Saviour foreign, would plead for us to God, as indeed he doth; for how could he have used those powerful Arguments of his wounds in his side, hands, feet; and those skars in his body to reconcile an angry God unto man, had he not been allyed to us in the flesh? yea, how could he exercise dominion over all men with so true, natural, and sensible a touch of mercy, were it not for his manhood, which is the proper subject of compassion and feeling pity?
2. And yet besides the Office of Mediation and Intercession, yea, and that maine cause of Satisfaction (that so that Nature which had offended God, might make him amends) another reason is assigned, why it did please the Son of God to humble himself, and dwell with flesh. This is, foreign.Naz. Orat. 38. For God having divers wayes before Christs Incarnation, thought to repress sin, at one time by the promulgation of his Law, at another by the threats of his Prophets, sometimes by punishments, sometimes by favours: One while he rerz'd the world clean by a flood of water, another while he purg'd it with a showre of fire: Signes in the heaven, strange sights in the aire, commotions on the earth, and irruptions of the Sea, amaz'd, destroy'd, and sunk many Cities and Kingdomes: and all these a bitter and a sharp potion, or incision necessary for the cure of the old world, desperately sick and over-run with sin: But when none of these courses would serve the turn, but still the disease prevailing, the whole began to gangrene; that sin should not be mortal, but a period should be set to those unnatural lusts, perjuries, and adulteries, and especially that first and last of mischiefs,Heb. 1.3. the idolatry of the Gentiles; it pleased him, who was the brightness of Gods glory, and the express image of his Person, to shadow himself with a body of flesh,1 Joh. 3.8. and blur his image with the stamp of man, that so in our nature he might destroy the works of the Divel. Since the world needed a strong cure, stronger it obtain'd; flesh he took to purge the flesh, and a soul to cure the soul,Naz. foreign, purging like with like.
Neither let any man object this humility to our Saviour, except he who is offended with the Physitians diligence, who notwithstanding the offensiveness of stinking sores, will bow himself down, handle, and search the putrified parts, that so he may cure his diseased patient: or with the compassionate bowels of that man, who in meer pity will let himself down into the ditch,Deut. 22. Luke 14.5. to help his neighbors Ox out of the pit.
Let the Jews be scandalized at the Inne and Stable; let Infidels scoff and mock at the Manger, and Swathbands; let Hereticks be offended with the form of a Servant; it shall be our glory, That to us this day is born a Saviour, Luke 2.11.which was Christ the Lord.
3. You that sit in the dust, be amazed no more with destruction and death; for to you is born a Jesus. You whose souls are ulcerated with sin, and wounded with transgression, take heart again, for to you is born a Messiah, a Christ, a Physitian that hath pretious Oyntment enough to heal your maladies. Lastly, you whose Heroique spirits aim at a Kingdom and a Crown, bless God for that here is a Lord come down to set you on thrones in heaven. Neque enim sine salute Jesus, neque sine Ʋnctione Christus, nec sine gloria Dominus. Bern. in Vigil. Nat. Ser. 1.For Jesus cannot be without Salvation, nor Christ without Unction, nor a Lord without Glory.
And indeed, who can do less than rejoyce, when he doth but think of the salvation which he shall receive by Jesus! of the Spiritual Unction he doth enjoy by Christ; of the glory this Lord hath prepared for him? Especially upon this day, which is a day of joy. Every birth day is a day of mirth. Even the very Heathens kept their solemn feasts upon the days on which their Kings, Princes, Patrons, Friends, Benefactors, or themselves were born;Montag. Analect. Exo. 10. Mar. 6.26. neither in these was it lawful to sadden their mirth by the execution of any condemned man; much less of any other. And this is conceived to be the reason, that the dissembler Herod was so sad to behead St. John Baptist on his birth day; it grieved him to shed the blood of another on that day he received life.
I bid you not to imitate the Heathen in their excesses and riot, but in their joy, in their thankfulness; not for the birth of some temporal Benefactor, but for the Nativity of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Methinks it doth not become a Christian to look sadly on that day that Christ came to visit him; it becomes him not I say,Joh. 8.56. in a dull and heavy manner to hang down his head upon that day a Saviour was born for him.
Abraham saw this day, and he rejoyced:Isa. 9.3. The Prophet Isaiah foresaw this day, and foretold there should be great joy on it; joy as the joy in harvest; joy as at the division of the spoil. Zachary calls him the Branch,Zach. 3 8, 10. and upon that day he should be brought forth, tells us, that every man shall call his neighbor under his Vine, and under his Fig-tree, to make merry as at a feast. These Prophets foresaw not onelyonly the day,Rom. 5.2. but prophesied of the mirth of the day: And if they who rejoyced onelyonly in Spe, in hope, were so glad of it; what joy doth it behove us to express, who have all in Re, the substance of that which they hoped for? God is with us, who can choose but be merry?Isa. 7.14. Mat. 1.23. nay, God is become as one of us; whose heart doth not leap for joy?
Lord, what joy was there at this birth! and shall we only, whom it most concern'd, be sad? Joy there was in heaven. I collect it thus; For if in heaven there be joy at the conversion of one sinner,Luke 15.7, 10. what joy was there, think you, at the salvation of a whole world of sinners! Joy there was on earth; for then the fields were the Temple, the Shepherds the Auditory, an Angel the Chantour, Angels the Quire; the Ʋersiculus, Behold I bring you tydings of great joy; Luke 2.11, 12, &c.after which the Chorus comes in, and sings with full voice, Glory to God on high. I am perswaded (pardon me if I erre, for in this I erre willingly) that could we but lay aside this clod of earth a little, and ascend with Saint Paul above the Sphears,2 Cor. 12.2. we should hear those heavenly Musicians singing the same Carol, and all of them closing in the same Diapason, Glory to God an high.
Joy there was at Bethlehem, learned, and unlearned; wise men and Shepherds rejoyced at it. From the East the Magi came, and when they saw the starre over the house, Mat. 2.10, 11.they rejoyced with an exceeding great joy. From the fields of Bethelehem the shepherds, and found the Angels words verified. So joyful were the wise men, that they opened their Treasures, and presented gold, Luke 2.20.incense, and myrrh. And so glad were the shepherds, that they returned glorifying and praising God.
To conclude, I reade of none that were sad at his birth but Herod and his faction:Mat. 2.3. He indeed is netled at the news, and Jerusalem is troubled with him. If then we will not be like him, and those miscreants, let us joyn with the Angels,Luke 1.46, 68. praise God with the shepherds, magnifie him with Mary, bless him with Zachary, adore with the wise men; offer to him the pure gold of a holy life, present him with the sweet incense of our prayers, and glorifie him with the bitter myrrh of a mortified conversation; that so when we have pray'd to him, and praised him in this life, we may laud him in heaven hereafter, being perfect, in that Cherubicum, Therefore with Angels and Arch-Angels, and all the company of heaven, we laud and glorifie thy glorious Name, evermore praising thee, and saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory; Glory be to thee, O God most High!
A Hymn for Christmas day.
WHat means this sudden glory, or this light
That's darted through the aire in the dark night?
What means the heavenly musick, which we heare,
Beguiling so the time, filling the eare?
Let's go and search the cause. O mystery!
An Army of celestial powers do cry
Glory to God on high: Who now doth take
A body made of flesh, for lost mans sake.
A body made of flesh! How can that be?
God made a man! that wonder would I see.
Go then along with Shepherds, that do hie
To Bethlem, careless where there sh…ep do lie:
Along with them I say; there shalt thou view,
Ʋnder a craggy Rock plac'd in the liew,
An Inn, a poor despised Inn, so low,
That none of fashion into it would go.
See there the Manger, and in it a child
Lies crying, new-borne of a Virgin mild:
God emptying himself of Majesty,
Of no repute, cloath'd with humanity.
He that cloaths all, gives all a place to dwell;
Wrapt up in clouts himself in a base Cell.
This is no lye, nor tale; believe the wonder,
For faith is farre above, and reason under.
Ne're wonder that the Shepherds run so fast,
But overtake them, and out-run their haste.
Tender thy homage, and on bended knee
Adore thy Lord, who was thus meane for thee.
If th' hast not, what those wise men did present,
Nor gold, nor myrrh, nor frankincense for sente:
Gold for his Tribute, Gumm for his Deity,
Myrrh 'gainst his body in the earth shall lie:
Though ne're so poor thou art, thou hast a tongue,
Teach that an Antheme, and present a Song.
Sweet was the news, that these poor shepherd swains
At their returne related in the plaines.
How did their fellows throng with greedy eare
To drink the news these vigilant men did beare?
A Saviours Name, which should be Christ the Lord,
That same Messiah, who was to accord
All differences and jarres 'twixt God and man,
Was honey to the taste, to the eare a Swan.
Those strings once taught to speak by Orpheus hand
That caus'd the trees to move, the beasts to stand:
Or sweet Amphions Harp, or Mercuries flute
That Argus lull'd asleep, or Phoebus Lute:
Nor yet a British Bard, nor Jopas skill
Did e're the aire with such sweet musick fill.
Those sung of amorous Gods, and at the best,
Of the Moons labours, and the Suns unrest,
How fiercer minds, and cruel Iron hearts
Did melt, and bed together, mov'd by Arts:
What caus'd the raine, the sea to ebb, to flow,
The Winds, the Thunders, and the woolly Snow.
But these a higher ditty had, which one
As the Praecentor to the rest begunne.
He told of old how God had promised
A seed, that batter should the Serpents head;
And now had made it good: For borne was he
In whom fulfilled was every Prophesie.
The root of Jesse 'gan afresh to shoot,
And that same humble Cyence forth to put,
Which grow should to a tree; under whose shade
The Nations must both feed and trust, he said.
His Name Immanuel was; at which the Quire
Came in and sung full voice with th' aged Sire,
Glory to God; this when the hills did heare,
They eccho'd glory back to th' Shepherds eare.
Both in the close, as having but one tongue,
Glory and honour, honour and glory sung.
I envy those sweet voices, and that morne
Do wish with them that I a part had borne.
That happinesse denyed me, yet I sing
Glory to God on high, the worlds great King:
Who lov'd me so, that of a Ʋirgin chaste
He would be borne, live meanly, die at last.