behold a doore was opened in Heaven and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me which said Come up hit her and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter And immediately I was in the Spirit and behold a throne was set in heaven and one sate on the throne And round about the throne were foure and twenty seats and upon the seats I saw foure and twenty Elders sitting cloathed in white rayment And they had on their heads Crownes of gold c. The foure and twenty Elders fell downe before him that sate on the throne and worship him that liveth for ever and cast their Crownes before him saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created This praising of him that sate upon the throne was that wherunto the Author of the 103. Psalme did solemnly invite the heavenly powers long before S. Iohn had this vision For after he had said the Lord had prepared his throne in the heavens and his Kingdome ruleth over all it followes immediately Blesse the Lord yee his Angels that excell in strength that do his Commandements hearkning unto the voice of his word Blesse yee the Lord all yee his hosts yee Ministers of his that do his pleasure Blesse the Lord all his workes in all places of his Dominion Blesse the Lord O my soule That which our Saviour saith of Abraham was in its measure true of this Psalmist he also saw the day of Christ the day of his glorious resurrection that day wherof it is said thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee and did rejoyce in soule to see it and his owne interest in it an assured hope of his inheritance in the heavenly Kingdome 5. But the vision of David to this purpose in that Psalme which amongst some few others beares the inscription of Michtam Davids Ieweler golden song as some would have it is most punctually cleare Keep me O God for in thee do I put my trust that is as the Chaldee explaines it In thy word have I put my trust or hope for salvation Psal 16. 1. and ver 2. I have said unto the Lord Adonai And againe ver 8. c. I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope But here the Eunuches question unto Philip will interpose it selfe Of whom speaketh the Prophet this of himselfe or of some other I can no way brooke their opinion who thinke the Psalmist speakes all this in the person of Christ as his figure but rather in this as in many other Psalmes and in the two last forecited especially some passages there be which cannot be literally applyed but to the Psalmist himselfe others which cannot be applyed to any one but Christ that is to God or the word incarnate and the 9. verse My heart is glad c. containes a feeling expression of that joy or exultation of spirit which did possesse all the faculties both of Davids body and soule But what was the object of this his exultatiō or the ground of his joy He expresseth it ver 10. Thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption But the same question here interposeth againe Doth he speak all this of himselfe or of some other Whatsoever may bee thought of the former clause of that verse thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell which as some think might be meant both of Christ and David though in a different measure most certaine it is that the later clause Thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption was not literally meant of David much lesse fulfilled in him but literally meant of him alone and literally fulfilled in him alone whom David in spirit called Lord though he then foresaw he should truly be his sonne This undoubted truth we learne from S. Peter Acts 2. 29. Men and brethren let me freely speake unto you of the Patriarch David that he is both dead and buried and his sepulcher is with us unto this day Therefore being a Prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loines according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ that his soule was not left in Hell neither his flesh did see corruption And S. Paul Acts 13. 36 37. more fully and more punctually to our animadversions upon this later clause expounds it thus David after he had served his owne generation by the will of God fell on sleepe and was laid unto his Fathers and saw corruption But he whom God raised againe saw no corruption In this as in many other Psalmes the comfort which did arise from the sweet contemplations was Davids owne or the Psalmists who foresaw that great mystery whereof we now treat that the fountaine of their comfort was Christ or God incarnate who was to be raised from the dead David in this Psalme did rejoyce in heart that albeit he knew his nature to be like the grasse that withereth albeit he knew his soule should be divorced from his body yet this divorce he knew by faith should not be perpetuall that albeit he could not but expect his body his flesh and bones should rott in his sepulcher as the body and flesh of his forefathers to whom he was to be gathered had done yet he foresaw in spirit that even his body should at length be redeemed from corruption by the resurrection of that holy One whose body though separated for a time from his immortall soule was not to see or feele any corruption Finally though David and other Psalmists forecited if others they were did perfectly and explicitly foreknow that they were to die yet had they as true implicit beleife of that which our Apostle explicitly delivers Golos 3. 3 4. That their life was hid with Christ in God that when Christ who was their life should appeare they should also appeare with him in glory 6. To the former generall Quaere in what sense we are said by S. Iohn to be borne of God we answer that to be borne of God is all one with that of S. Peter to be borne of immortall seed but what is that immortall seed whereof S. Peter saith we are borne againe That in one word is the flesh and blood of the sonne of man who is also the sonne of God So hee himselfe instructs us Iohn 6. 53 54 55. Verily verily I say unto you except yee eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drinke his bloud yee have no life in you Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternall life and I will raise him up at the last day For
dwelleth in him is the expresse image of him as he is man he is the Tabernacle or Temple of the living God The inference is our Apostles 2 Cor. 6. 16. Yee are the Tēples of the living God at God hath said I will dwel in thē and walk in thē and I will be their God and they shall be my people Our Evangelist S. Iohn Revel 21. 3. exegetically dilates the former testimonies of Moses and the Prophets a great deale further thē S. Paul here doth I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himselfe shall be with them and be their God and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes And there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shal there be any more paine for the former things are passed away But this mortalitie must put on immortality and our corruptible flesh become incorruptible before this last clause of S. Iohns prophecy can be literally fulfilled in us or begin to beare date in esse And before this happy change of our mortall bodies none of those other prophecies Exod. 29. Levit. 26. Ezek. 37. shall be finally accomplished albeit all of them have beene already fulfilled in differēt measure manner both according to the literall and mysticall sense For God hath dwelt and doth dwel more properly in the man Christ Iesus then at any time he did in the Tabernacle or Temple These were in their times the seats of Gods peculiar presence of the manifest appearances of his divine Maiestie from which all the blessings upon Israell or Abrahams posteritie by bodily descent were derived after such a manner as the visible light in this inferiour world is derived from the body or sphaere of the sunne Yet such as were partakers of these blessings all the particular Synagogues through the land of Iury did not by this participation of his presence in the Temple or Tabernacle become Temples or Tabernacles of the God of Israel these were never conceived to be or instyled the seat of his rest or of his peculiar presence But since the Word was made flesh since the seed of Abraham was made the Temple of the living God every particular Church truely Christian becomes a more proper seat of Gods peculiar presence then the materiall Temple in its glory and splendour was and farre more communicative of all blessings spirituall to every true particular member of them Every individuall or particular man who is incorporated into this Church and made a living member of it doth by the participation of that Spirit which dwelleth in it become a true Temple or Tabernacle of the living God Whosoever truely beleeves in Christ whosoever eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood Christ who is the prototypon and true temple of God doth dwell in him and he in Christ he is in God and God in him after a more peculiar manner then either the patriarks or Prophets were in God or God in them But this peculiar manner of Gods dwelling in us by faith and wee in him hath his peculiar place in other principall Articles of the Creed or in the Treatise of the Sacrament concerning the mysticall union betwixt Christ and his members The next Quaere which in this Section offers it selfe to be discussed and must be the Title of the next Chapter is briefly this CHAP. 27. Why S. John doth rather say the word was made flesh then the sonne of God was made flesh albeit the sonne of God and the word denote one and the same person TO this Quaere some judicious Divines make answer that the second person in Trinitie was at least implicitely knowne unto some heathen Philosophers under the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 long before his incarnation and longer before S. Iohn wrote his Gospell Now it is not improbable that those heretiques which did call the Divinity of Christ in question against whose heresie the Evangelist did put in that Caveat in the beginning of his Gospell at the least such as were in danger to be seduced by them were to his knowledge better versed in the writings of Plato and Trismegist then in Moses and the Prophets And men naturally both conceive and imbrace the truth with more facility when it is delivered unto them in termes whereunto they have been inured Now such as were well read in Plato or Trismegist or would be willing to read them could not be ignorant of an eternall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they called the sonne of the eternall minde or essence And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word or image of the eternall minde was not in their apprehension meerly notionall or representative only but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Word or reason or however we expresse it truly operative the invisible cause or maker of all things visible Unto these the like prenotions which the heathen Philosophers had of an eternall Father in his eternall sonne S. Iohn in the judgement of some great Divines did purposely apply himselfe and frame his expressions to their capacity whom he sought to reclaime or to instruct Nor is it either unusuall or unbeseeming the Apostles themselves to alter both the matter and forme of speech according to the diversity of the parties whom they seeke to reforme S. Paul did not dispute with the Athenians after the same manner he did with the Jews nor did he instruct the Hebrew converts in the same language or forme of catechisme which he used amongst the Gentiles S. Iohn then in the conjecture of the former ancient Divines did make the 〈◊〉 advantage of the prenotions which the heathens had of this truth which S. Paul did from the inscription of the Athenian Altar that God saith hee whom yee ignorant by worship him declare I unto you But did these harmelesse speculations of these Philosophers require any such reformation from S. Iohn as the Athenians superstitious worship did from S. Paul Sure their followers were to bee better catechized in this truth then they had been or could be by any Philosophy their best speculations though in themselves true were to their Professors altogether fruitlesse and as I take it without any prenotion or expectance that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that word by which they acknowledge all things were made should be made visible in our flesh should exhibit a more exquisite representation of the divine nature and essence in the microcosme or little modell of mans body then had beene exhibited in the making and governing this great universe They knew that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was truly God without beginning but they did not either adore him as God neither did they adore their eternall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God or by him All this they were to learne from S. Iohn for this is a mystery which farre surpasseth the capacitie of man to conceive or comprehend without
my flesh is meate indeed and my blood is drink indeed He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him That is meat and drink indeed which nourisheth us not to a bodily but to a spirituall and immortall life which presupposeth an immortall seed Unto all these ends and purposes to our new birth to our nourishment and growth in spirituall life the flesh and blood of the Word or son of God were consecrated by his sufferings upon the crosse and by his resurrection from the dead He was according to his humane nature both the Priest appointed to obtaine these blessings and to award them ex officio and withall the sacrifice by whose participation they are really and actually conveyed unto all that doe or shall inherit the immortality of soule and body 7. But if his flesh and blood be the seed of immortalitie how are we said to be borne againe by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever Is this word by which we are borne the same with that immortall feed of which wee are borne It is the same not in nature but in person May we not in that speech of S. Peter by the word understand the word preached in to us by the ministers who are Gods feeds men In a secondary sense we may for we are begotten and borne againe by preaching as by the instrument or meanes yet borne againe by the eternall word that is by Christ himselfe as by the proper and efficient cause of our new birth Thus much S. Peters word is that place will inforce us to grant according to the letter For having before declared that the word of God by which we are born againe doth live and endure for ever he thus concludes and this is the word which by the Gospell is preached unto you 1. Pet. 1. 25. 8. The Gospell it selfe taken in the largest sense is but the declaration of the Evangelists and Apostles upon the propheticall predictions concerning the incarnation the birth the death the resurrection and ascension of Christ And Christ himselfe who was put to death for our sinnes and raised againe for our justification is the word which we all doe or ought to preach The Gospell written or preached by us cannot be that word which by the Gospell is preached unto us This Word in the literall assertive sense can bee no other then the eternall word or sonne of God made flesh and consecrated in the flesh to be the seed of immortalitie And if wee take the Gospell not according to the outward letter or bark but for the heart or substance of the Gospell or for the glad tidings of life which is the primitive signification of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gospell that is no other then the Word made flesh or manifested in the flesh To this purpose saith our Evangelist or rather the Angell of the Lord Luke 2. 10. Feare not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people this is no more then the Prophet saith all flesh shall see the glory of the Lord for unto you is borne this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. Lord he was long before and this Lord was made flesh before that day wherein he was borne but first manifested in the flesh upon that day and manifested to be the Saviour of all people or all flesh some eight dayes after yet not then compleatly made Christ untill his resurrection Againe the Gospell in its prime or principall sense is no other or no more then the great mystery of godlinesse which was inwrapt in the volume of Moses and the Prophets but not revealed or unfolded untill the word was made flesh was circumcised in the flesh and made King and Christ Without controversie saith S. Paul 1. Tim. 3. 16. great is the mysterie of godlinesse God was manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit seene of Angels preached unto the Gentiles beleeved on in the world received up into glory All these testimonies put together amount to this point that the sonne of God manifested in the flesh was that Word which in S. Peters language is preached by the Gospell And if we doe not preach this word unto our hearers if all our sermons doe not tend to one of these two ends either to instruct our Auditors in the articles of their Creed concerning Christ or to prepare their eares and hearts that they may be fit auditors of such instructions we doe not preach the Gospell unto them wee take upon us the name of Gods Ambassadors or of the ministers of the Gospell more then in vaine 9. Besides all these testimonies and others that might bee alleaged all most undoubtedly true in the literall assertive sense that the mystery of godlinesse or the joyfull tidings which Abrahams seed did expect should consist in the union betweene the eternall Word or sonne of God and our flesh we have a most lively character or prefiguration though not assertive in the originall word designed by the wisedome of God to expresse the preaching of the Gospel or joyfull embassage of our everlasting peace For one and the same word in the originall doth signifie flesh and the preaching of glad tidings unto all people or flesh without variation of any radicall letter but only of grammaticall moode or declension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the use of the originall language doth properly signifie flesh that is men or creatures indued with life or sense and being the root or primitive is not a verb but a noune The first verbe that is formed of it doth signifie as much as the Latine nunciavit or nunciare to bring or deliver a message and is alwayes used for some good or joyfull message and in peculiar for the preaching of the Gospell which is the joyfull message 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As to omit other places it is thus used Ierem. 20. 15. Cur sed be the man that brought tidings to my Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying a man child is borne unto thee making him very glad And in the forecited 40. of Isaiah ver 9. O Sion that bringest good tidings get thee up into the high mountain◠O Ierusalem that bringest good tidings lift up thy voice with strength lift it up be not afraid say unto the cities of Iudah behold your God And in the 61 of Isaiah ver 1. which is the very place wherein the preaching of the Gospell by our Saviour himselfe is foreprophecyed that which S. Luke expresses chap. 4. ver 18. by preaching the Gospell to the poore is in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 evangelizatum pauperes Now that flesh and preaching of glad tidings to all flesh should be signified by one and the same originall word no grammarian can easily give any reason It falls not within the compasse of their Etymologies or derivations there is not here a primitive and derivative
to him a Father and he shall be to me a sonne was fulfilled in Salomon in the literall sense but in Christ both according to the literall and mysticall sense So was that forecited passage Isay 22. fulfilled in Eliakim according to the literall sense but afterwards fulfilled in Christ both according to the literally symbolicall and the mysticall sense And thus the names given to Iohn Baptist himselfe and to his Parents had their accomplishment when Christ was exhibited in our flesh and yet these and many other of the same rank were more exactly fulfilled after his resurrection Maldonat his fourth rule as was before intimated will hold in all these severall wayes according to which the Scripture is said to be fulfilled whether according to the meere literall and assertive sense or according to the meere mysticall sense or according to both with their severall branches or according to the charactericall sense or literall representative only not assertive According to every one of these senses may one and the same Scripture be oftner fulfilled than once or twice and in a manner more remarkable at one time than at another though alwayes truly fulfilled and according to the intention of the holy Ghost 5. To beginne with the literall assertive No man I thinke will question whether that of the Prophet Isaiah with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked were literally meant of any besides our Saviour Christ And there is no question but these words were fulfilled within the compasse of that age which brought him forth and so then fulfilled in sundry wicked ones yet doe not these words referre to them or those times alone but are to be fulfilled in a more remarkable manner at the day of Judgement or perhaps before it For from this place of the Prophet Isaiah our Apostle had that revelation 2 Thess 2. 8. Then shall that Wicked he revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightnesse of his comming Many like prophecies there be concerning the glory of Christs Church and the happy estate of his elect which are even in this life literally fulfilled or verified by way of pledge or earnest but shall not be exactly fulfilled save only in the life to come Ignorance of this rule or non-observance of it hath been the nurse of dangerous and superstitious error as well in the Romane Church as in her extreme opposites in such I meane as beginne their faith and anchor their hopes at the absolute infallibility of their personall election with no lesse zeale or passion then the Romanist relyes upon the absolute infallibility of the visible Church 6. That very instance which Maldonat alleageth for the confirmation of his third rule This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips c. Matth. 15. 8. was literally meant of the Jewes which lived in Isaiahs time yet not properly fulfilled in them or of them for in respect of them it was not a Prophecy but a sharpe reproofe or taxe yet this reproofe or taxe was a most exact prophecy in respect of the Jewes which conversed with our Saviour of whom it was literally meant in a more exquisite sense than of their Ancestors and in this sense often fulfilled The ancient Jewes did not honour God being personally and visibly present with their lips as these later did nor were their hearts so malitiously set at least their malice not so diametrally bent against God at any time as the hearts and malice of these later Jews were against Christ who was the God of their Fathers As these later Jewes did fill up the measure of their Fathers sinnes so whatsoever God did threaten to this stiffenecked people for their rebellion against him was more exactly fulfilled in this last generation then it had beene in any former The severall generations or successions created no difference in the true object of the literall sense that may and did as equally respect many generations as one man infinite transgressions as truly as some few This Scripture may be as truly fulfilled in all as in one though noâ— in all according to the same measure So S. Stephen tells the Jewes Acts 7. 5. 52. Yee stiffenecked and uncircumcised in heart and eares yee doe alwayes resist the holy Ghost at your Fathers did so doe yee Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted And they have slaine them which shewed before of the comming of the just one of whom yee have beene now the betrayers and murderers And our Saviour himselfe chargeth the present generation of the Jews with the blood of Zacharias forme of Barachias whom their forefathers had slaine many hundreds of yeares before Matt. 23. 35. adding withall that his blood should be required of that generation present Which is a proofe sufficient that this Zacharias was not the Father as some have supposed of Iohn the Baptist For if he had beene slaine betweene the Temple and the Altar hee must have beene slaine by that present generation to whom our Saviour directs this speech and so there had beene no matter of observation capable of that Emphaticall Epiphonema Luke 11. 51. Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this generation Now his blood was to bee required of this last generation because they had fulfilled the measure of their forefathers sinnes who had prodigiously slaine their high Priest Zacharias But how the Prophecy of this their high Priest or rather his dying curse was fulfilled more exactly of this last generation than of that generation which put him to death would require a particular treatise not in this place to be inserted His dying speech though uttered by way of imprecation was propheticall And the event of his imprecation though exhibited shortly after his death was typically propheticall of that which happened to this last generation within forty yeares after the death of our Saviour whom Zacharias did in his death though not in his dying speeches exactly foreshadow 7. As one and the same Scripture may be oftner then once fulfilled or exactly verified in different measure only by way of growth or increment of the same literall sense so likewise may it be of one and the same man in respect of severall times For out of question it is that the Scripture Gen. 15. 6. Abraham beleeved God and it was imputed unto him for righteousnesse was literally verified of Abraham at that very point of time when God first called him from his owne kindred and his Fathers house into the promised Land And yet S. Iames saith cap. 2. 23. that this very Scripture was fulfilled when Abraham offered up Isaac his sonne upon the Altar and from this last performance of Abraham he had if not the first yet the truest title to bee called the friend of God Not altogether after the same manner but after a manner not much different was that Scripture Isaiah 53. 4. twice fulfilled of
should bee much better in later times then in his age or any age before it was At what time then was this comfort actually exhibited to all flesh which before was but grasse and as the flower of grasse that fadeth Then assuredly when the word of the Lord which endureth for ever did become flesh or was incorporated in our flesh For the life and efficacy of this word as the text literally imports was to be manifested by its admirable effects or operations upon the mortality or weaknesse of flesh Our mortality or miserable condition as the Prophet presumes could not weaken the immortall efficacy of the Word whereas the Word might give life and immortality to all flesh which should see the glory the tast the goodnesse of it By the Word of the Lord then which endureth for ever we are to understand not Verbum Domini not onely the word of the Lord as it is daily preached but the Lord himselfe who if he speake the word great shall be the number of the Preachers of the word both of Prophets and of Prophetesses 2. The best interpretation of the prophet Isa is already made unto our hands partly by S. Peter partly by S. Iohn in the beginning of his Gospell Wee are brone againe saith S. Peter not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1. Pet. 1. 23. By corruptible seed he meanes our corruptible nature as we are the sonnes of Adam For so he expounds his owne meaning in the words of the Prophet before mentioned For that all flesh is as grasse all the glory of man as the flower of grasse the grasse withereth and the flower thereof falleth away Now that which it selfe withereth and falleth away can yeeld no seed of life can minister no comfort unto misery or mortality The antithesis then or opposition requires that by the incorruptible seed of which wee are borne againe we must understand the word of God which endureth for ever or somewhat into which that word doth in speciall manner infuse life or verbum caro factum the eternall word as it is invailed in flesh but in flesh exempted or priviledged from all corruption For it is called the word of God which liveth for ever not so much in respect of its owne life but in regard of its communication of life to such as are destitute of life That this is the true scale of S. Peters meaning we may gather from S. Iohns parallel paraphrase upon the same words of the Prophet Isaiah In the beginning was the word and the word was God c. And hee came unto his owne and his owne received him not but as many as received him to them he grave power or right to become the sonnes of God even to them which beleeve on his name But who are they that rightly beleeve on his name Such as are borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man this is that which S. Peter saith not of corruptible seed but are borne of God And whosoever is borne of God is questionlesse borne of that immortall seed wherof S. Peter speakes The further explication of this point will much depend upon the solution of these two questions The first in what sense we are said to be borne of God The second when miserable and corruptible men were first so borne To assoile the later question in the first place Flesh and blood were not capable of this new birth whereof S. Iohn and S. Peter speake untill that word of God which endureth for ever that word which was with God and was God by whom the world also was made came into the world and being made man was borne of a woman The holy Patriarks Prophets were true heires of this glorious promise but could not be reall possessors of the blessing promised before this time But was the incarnation of the eternall word to this purpose concludently foreprophecyed by Isaiah in that 40. chapter Yes this was the principall part of those glad tidings which the voice of him that cried in the wildernesse was to proclaime as it is expressed ver 5. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together The sight of it was to bee a sight of life and comfort to all flesh and this was the height of that comfort which the sight of this glory exhibited that as they had beene the miserable sonnes of mortall men so they should become the sons of God blessed for ever Now it is evident out of other Scriptures that no flesh could see the glory of God and live save only as the brightnesse of it was to bee alloyed by a vaile a flesh through which the Apostles themselves not all but Peter Iames and Iohn did behold it as weakesighted men do the splendour of the sunne through a cloud Hence saith S. Iohn by way of comment or paraphrase upō the forecited 40. of Isaiah ver 5. The word was made flesh and wee beheld his glory to wit the glory of the word of God which endureth for ever the glory as of the only begotten son of God full of grace and truth And of his fulnesse all that beleeve receive grace for grace When it is said that the sonne of God was made man of a Woman this implies that he was as truely flesh of the womans flesh and bone of her bones as the first woman was flesh of the first mans flesh and bone of his bones But in this the mysteries of the first womans creation is not finally accomplished How was it then so accomplished In this that no sonnes of men none that are borne of women can truely and really become the sonnes of God untill they become flesh of his flesh and bones of his bones who was not made the son of God but was the sonne of God by nature his only begotten sonne before all worlds the light and life of men As thē the word which in the beginning was with God and the sonne of God are but titles of one and the same person so the word of life and the word of God which endureth for ever are but Synonymall expressions of one and the same mystery to wit of the word being made flesh or become visible and sensible unto flesh That saith S. Iohn which was from the beginning which we have heard which wee have seene with our eyes which wee have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of life that wee declare unto you For the life was manifested and we have seen it and beare witnesse and shew unto you even that eternall life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us 1 Iohn 1. 1 2. This life was alwaies with God but came not into the world was not manifested to flesh and bloud untill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word and son of God was incarnate 3. The same Antithesis or opposition which the