was therefore commanded to be b made with Cherubims to shew that we come c to an innumerable company of Angels when we come to Iesus the Mediatour of the New Testament who as the Head of the Church hath power to d send forth all those ministring spirits to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation Lastly we are to take into our consideration that as in things concerning God the maine execution of our Sauiours Priesthood doth consist so in things concerning Man he exerciseth both his Propheticall office whereby he openeth the will of his Father unto us and his Kingly whereby he ruleth and protecteth us It was indeed a part of e the Priests office in the old Testament to instruct the people in the Law of God and yet were f they distinguished from Prophets like as in the new Testament also g Prophets as well as Apostles are made a different degree from ordinary Pastours and Teachers who received not their doctrine by immediate inspiration from heaven as those other h holy men of God did who spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost Whence Saint Paul putteth the Hebrewes in mind that God who i in sundry parts and in sundry manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the Prophets hath in these last dayes spoken unto us by his Son Christ Jesus whom therefore he styleth k the Apostle as well as the high Priest of our profession who was faithfull to him that appointed him even as Moses was in all his house Now Moses we know had a singular preeminence above all the rest of the Prophets according to that ample testimony which God himself giveth of him l If there be a Prophet among you I the Lord will make my self knowne unto him in a vision and will speake unto him in a dream My servant Moses is not so who is faithfull in all mine house with him well I speake mouth to mouth even apparently and not in dark speeches and the similitude of the Lord shall be behold And therefore we finde that our Mediatour in the execution of his Propheticall office is in a more peculiar manner likened unto Moses which he himself also did thus foretell m The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me umto him ye shall hearken According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly saying Let me not heare againe the voyce of the Lord my God neither let me see this great fire any more that I dye not And the Lord said unto me They have well spoken that which they have spoken I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words into his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him And it shall come to passe that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him Our Prophet therefore must be a man raised from among his brethren the Israelites n of whom as concerning the flesh he came who was to performe unto us that which the fathers requested of Moses o Speak thou to us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we dye And yet that in this also we may see how our Mediatour had the preeminence p when Aaron and all the children of Israel were to receive from the mouth of Moses all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai they were afraid to come nigh him by reason of the glory of his shining countenance so that he was faine to put a vaile over his face while he spake unto them that which he was commanded But that which for a time was thus q made glorious had no glory in respect of the glory that excelleth and both the glory thereof and the vaile which covered it are now abolished in Christ the vaile of whose flesh doth so overshadow r the brightnesse of his glory that yet under it we may s behold his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father yea and t we all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord And this is daily effected by the power of the ministery of the Gospell instituted by the authority and seconded by the power of this our great Prophet whose transcendent excellency beyond Moses unto whom in the execution of that function he was otherwise likened is thus set forth by the Apostle u He is counted worthy of more glory then Moses in as much as he who hath builded the house hath more honour then the house For every house is builded by some one but he that built all things is God And Moses verily was faithfull in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after but Christ as the Son over his owne house x This house of God is no other then the Church of the living God whereof as he is the only Lord so is he properly the only Builder Christ therefore being both the Lord and the y Builder of his Church must be God as well as Man which is the cause why we finde all the severall mansions of this z great house to carry the title indifferently of a the Churches of God and b the Churches of Christ True it is that there are other ministeriall builders whom Christ employed in that service this being not the least of those gifts which he bestowed upon men at his triumphant Ascension into heaven that c he gave not only ordinary Pastours and Teachers but Apostles likewise and Prophets Evangelists for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ Which what great power it required he himself doth fully expresse in passing the grant of this high Commission unto his Apostles d All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Amen S. Paul professeth of himself that he e laboured more abundantly then all the rest of the Apostles yet not I saith he but the grace of God which was with me And therefore although f according to that grace of God which was given unto him he denieth not but that as a wise master-builder he had laid the foundation yet he acknowledgeth that they upon whom he had wrought were Gods building as well as Gods husbandry For who saith g
fulnesse which so doth dwell in him is the NATURE Now there dwelleth in him not onely the fulnesse of the Godhead but the fulnesse of the Manhood also for we beleeve him to be both perfect God begotten of the substance of his Father before all worlds and perfect Man made of the substance of his Mother in the fullnesse of time And therefore we must hold that there are two distinct Natures in him and two so distinct that they doe not make one compounded nature but still remaine uncompounded and unconfounded together But Hee in whom the fulnesse of the Manhood dwelleth is not one and hee in whom the fulnesse of the Godhead another but he in whom the fulnesse of both those natures dwelleth is one and the same Immauel and consequently it must be beleeved as firmly that he is but one Person And here wee must consider that the Divine Nature did not assume an humane Person but the divine Person did assume an humane Nature and that of the three Divine Persons it was neither the first nor the third that did assume this Nature but it was the middle Person who was to bee the middle one that must undertake this mediation betwixt God and us which was otherwise also most requisite aswell for the better preservation of the integrity of the blessed Trinity in the Godhead as for the higher advancement of Mand-kinde by meanes of that relation which the second Person the Mediatour did beare unto his Father For if the fulnesse of the Godhead should have thus dwelt in any humane person there should then a fourth Person necessarily have been added unto the Godhead And if any of the three Persons beside the second had been borne of a Woman there should have been two Sonnes in the Trinity whereas now the Sonne of God and the Sonne of the blessed Virgin being but one Person is consequently but one Sonne and so no alteration at all made in the relations of the Persons of the Trinitie Againe in respect of us the Apostle sheweth that for this very end f God sent his owne SON made of a woman that WE might receive the Adoption of SONS and thereupon maketh this inference Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a SON and if a SON then an HEIRE of God through Christ intimating thereby that what relation Christ hath unto God by Nature we being found in him have the same by Grace By Nature hee is g The only begotten Sonne of the Father but this is the high Grace he hath purchased for us that h as many as received him to them he gave power or priviledge to become the Sonnes of God even to them that beleeve on his Name For although he reserve to himselfe the preeminence which is due unto him in a * peculiar manner of being i the first borne among many brethren yet in him and for him the rest likewise by the grace of adoption are all of them accounted as first-bornes So God biddeth Moses to say unto Pharaoh k Israel is my Sonne even my first-borne And I say vnto thee Let my sonne goe that he may serve me and if thou refuse to let him goe behold I will slay thy sonne even thy first borne And the whole Israell of God consisting of Jew and Gentile is in the same sort described by the Apostle to be l the generall assembly and Church of the first borne inrolled in Heaven For the same reason that maketh them to be Sons to wit their incorporation into Christ the selfe-same also maketh them to be first-bornes so as how ever it fall out by the grounds of our common Law by the rule of the Gospell this consequence will still hold true m If children then heires heires of God and joynt-heires with Christ And so much for the SON the Person assuming The Nature assumed is the seed of Abraham Hebr. 2. 16. The seed of David Rom. 1. 3. The seed of the Woman Gen. 3. 15. The WORD n the second Person of the Trinity being o made FLESH that is to say p Gods own Sonne being made of a Woman and so becomming truly and really q The fruit of her wombe Neither did he take the substance of our nature only but all the properties also and the qualities thereof so as it might be said of him as it was of r Elias and the s Apostles that he was a man subject to like passions as we are Yea he subjected himselfe t in the dayes of his flesh to the same u weaknesse which we finde in our own fraile nature and was compassed with like infirmities and in a word in all things was made like unto his brethren sinne only excepted Wherein yet we must consider that as he took upon him not an humane Person but an humane Nature so it was not requisite he should take upon him any Personall infirmities such as are madnesse blindnesse lamenesse and particular kinds of diseases which are incident to some only and not to all men in generall but those alone which do accompany the whole Nature of mankinde such as are hungring thirsting wearinesse griefe paine and mortality We are further here also to observe in this our x Melchisedeck that as he had no Mother in regard of one of his natures so he was to have no Father in regard of the other but must be borne of a pure and immaculate Virgin without the helpe of any man And this also was most requisite as for other respects so for the exemption of the assumed nature from the imputation and pollution of Adams sinne For y sinne having by that one man entred into the world every Father becommeth an Adam unto his child and conveyeth the corruption of his Nature unto all those whom hee doth beget Therefore our Saviour assuming the substance of our Nature but not by the ordinary way of naturall generation is thereby freed from all the touch and taint of the corruption of our flesh which by that meanes only is propâ—gated from the first man unto his posterity Whereupon he being made of man but not by man and so becomming the immediate fruit of the wbome and not of the Loynes must of necessity be acknowledged to be z that HOLY THING which so was borne of so blessed a Mother who although shee were but the passive and materiall principle of which that precious flesh was made and the holy Ghost the agent and efficient yet cannot the man Christ Jesus thereby be made the Son of his a owne Spirit Because Fathers do beget their children out of their owne substance the holy Ghost did not so but framed the flesh of him from whom himself proceeded out of the creature of them both b the hand-maid of the Lord whom from thence all generations shall call blessed That blessed wombe of hers was the bride-chamber wherein the Holy Ghost did knit that indissoluble knot betwixt
soul an offering for sin hee shall see his seed saith the Prophet Esaias t A seed shall serve him it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation saith his Father David likewise of him and he himselfe of himselfe u Behold I and the children which God hath given me VVhence the Apostle deduceth this conclusion x Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and bloud he also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same He himselfe that is he who was God equall to the Father for who else was able to make this y new creature but the same z God that is the Creator of all things no lesse power being requisite to the effecting of this then was at the first to the producing of all things out of nothing and these new a babes being to be b borne of the Spirit who could have power to send the Spirit thus to beget them but the Father and the Sonne from whom he proceeded the same blessed Spirit who framed the naturall body of our Lord in the wombe of the Virgin being to new mould and fashion every member of his mysticall body unto his similitude and likenesse For the further opening of which mystery which went beyond the apprehension of c Nicodemus though a master of Israel we are to consider that in every perfect generation the creature produced receiveth two things from him that doth beget it Life and Likenesse A curious limmer draweth his own sonnes portraiture to the life as we say yet because there is no true life in it but a likenesse only he cannot be said to be the begetter of his picture as he is of his Son And some creatures there be that are bred out of mudde or other putrid matter which although they have life yet because they have no correspondence in likenesse unto the principle from whence they were derived are therefore accounted to have but an improper and equivocall generation whereas in the right and proper course of generation others being esteemed but monstrous births that swarve from that rule every creature begetteth his like nec imbellem feroces Progener ant aquilae columbam Now touching our spirituall death life these sayings of the Apostle would be thought upon d Wee thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead and that be dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose againe e God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sin hath quickened us together with Christ f And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath hee quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses g I am crucified with Christ Neverthelesse I live yet not I but Christ liveth in mee and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved mee and gave himselfe for me From all which we may easily gather that if by the obedience and sufferings of a bare man though never so perfect the most soveraigne medicine that could be thought upon should have beene prepared for the curing of our wounds yet all would be to no purpose we being found dead when the medicine did come to be applyed Our Physitian therefore must not only be able to restore us unto health but unto life it selfe which none can do but the Father Son and holy Ghost one God blessed for ever to which purpose these passages of our Saviour also are to be considered h As the father hath life in himselfe so hath he given to the Son to have life in himselfe i As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me k I am the living bread which came downe from heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world the substance whereof is briefly comprehended in this saying of the Apostle l The last Adam was made a quickening spirit An Adam therefore and perfect Man must he have been that his flesh given for us upon the Crosse might be made the conduit to convey life unto the world and a quickening spirit he could not have been unlesse he were God able to make that flesh an effectuall instrument of life by the operation of his blessed spirit For as himselfe hath declared m It is the Spirit that quickeneth without it the flesh would profit nothing As for the poynt of similitude and likenesse we reade of Adam after his fall that he n beg at a son in his owne liknesse after his image and generally as well touching the carnall as the spirituall generation our Saviour hath taught us this lesson o That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the Spirit is spirit Whereupon the Apostle maketh this comparison betwixt those who are borne of that first man who is of the earth earthy and of the second man who is the Lord from heaven p As is the earthy such are they that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly and as we have borne the image of the earthy we shall also beare the image of the heavenly We shall indeed hereafter bear it in full perfection when q the Lord Jesus Christ shall change our base body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby hee is able even to subdue all things unto himselfe Yet in the mean time also such a conformity is required in us unto that heavenly man that r our conversation must be in heaven whence we look for this Saviour and that we must s put off concerning the former conversation that old man which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts and be renewed in the spirit of our mind and put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse For as in one particular point of domesticall authority t the Man is said to be the image and glory of God and the Woman the glory of the Man so in a more universall maner is Christ said to be u the image of God even x the brightnesse of his glory the expresse image of his person and we y to be conformed to his image that he might be the first-born among those many brethren who in that respect are accounted z the glory of Christ We read in the holy story that God a tooke of the spirit which was upon Moses and gave it unto the seventy Elders that they might bear the burden of the People with him and that he might not beare it as before he had
he is Paul and who is Apollo but ministers by whom you beleeved even as the Lord gave to every man I have planted Apollo watered but God gave the increase So then neither is he that planteth anything neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase Two things therefore we finde in our great Prophet which do far exceed the ability of any bare Man and so do difference him from all the h holy Prophets which have beene since the world began For first we are taught that i no man knoweth the Father save the Son and hee to whomsoever the Son will reveale him and that k no man hath seen God at anytime but the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Being in his bosome he is become conscious of his secrets and so out of his own immediate knowledge enabled to discover the whole will of his Father unto us whereas all other Prophets and Apostles receive their revelations at the second hand and according to the grace given unto them by the Spirit of Christ Witnesse that place of S. Peter for the Prophets l Of which salvation the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you searching what or what manner of time THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST WHICH WAS IN THEM did signifie when it testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow and for the Apostles those heavenly words which our Saviour himselfe uttered unto them whilst he was among them m When the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himselfe but whatsoever he shall heare that shall he speake and he will shew you things to come He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine shew it unto you All things that the Father hath are mine therefore said I that he shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you Secondly all other Prophets and Apostles can do more as hath been said but plant and water only God can give the increase they may teach indeed and baptize but unlesse Christ were with them by the powerfull presence of his Spirit they would not be able to save one soule by that ministery of theirs We n as lively stones are built up a spirituall house but o except the Lord doe build this house they labour in vaine that build it For who is able to breath the spirit of life into those dead stones but he of whom it is written p The hour is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Son of God and they that hear it shall live and again q Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Who can awake us out of this dead sleep and give light unto these blinde eyes of ours but the Lord our God unto whom we pray that he would r lighten our eyes least we sleep the sleep of death And as a blinde man is not able to conceive the distinction of colours although the skilfullest man alive should use all the art he had to teach him because he wanteth the sense whereby that object is discernable so s the naturall man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned VVhereupon the Apostle concludeth concerning himselfe and all his fellow-labourers that t God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us Our Mediatour therefore who must u be able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him may not want the excellency of the power whereby he may make us capable of this high knowledge of the things of God propounded unto us by the ministery of his servants and consequently in this respect also must be God as well as Man There remaineth the Kingdome of our Redeemer described thus by the Prophet Esay x Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdome to order it and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever and by Daniel y Behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of daies and they brought him near before him And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdome that all people nations languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not passe away and his kingdome that which shall not be destroyed and by the angel Gabriel in his ambassage to the blessed Virgin z Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son and shalt call his name Iesus He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give him the throne of his father David And he shall reigne over the house of Iacob for ever and of his kingdome there shall be no end This is that new a David our King whom God hath raised up unto his b owne Israel who was in truth that which he was called the Son of Man and the Sonne of the Highest that in the one respect c we may say unto him as the Israelites of old did unto their David d Behold we are thy bone and thy flesh and in the other sing of him as David himself did e The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstoole So that the promise made unto our first parents that f the seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents head may well stand with that other saying of S. Paul that g the God of peace shal bruise Satan under our feet seeing h for this very purpose the Son of God was manifested i in the flesh that he might destroy the works of the Divel and still that foundation of God will remaine unshaken k I even I am the Lord and beside mee there is no Saviour l Thou shalt know no God but me for there is no Saviour beside me Two speciall branches there bee of this Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour the one of Grace whereby that part of the Church is governed which is militant upon earth the other of Glory belonging to that part which is triumphant in Heaven Here upon earth as by his Propheticall office he worketh upon our Mind and Understanding so by his Kingly he ruleth our Will and Affections m casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it selfe against the
this wicked world he should be subject to fall as they were or if he should hold out as l the elect Angels did that must have been ascribed to the grace and favour of another whereas the giving of strict satisfaction to Gods justice was the thing required in this behalfe But now being God as well as Man he by his owne m eternall Spirit preserved himselfe without spot presenting a farre more satisfactory obedience unto God than could have possibly been performed by Adam in his integrity For beside the infinite difference that was betwixt both their Persons which maketh the actions of the one beyond all comparison to exceed the worth and value of the other we know that Adam was not able to make himselfe holy but what holinesse he had he received from him who created him according to his owne Image so that whatsoever obedience Adam had performed God should have n eaten but of the fruit of the Vineyard which himselfe had planted and o of his owne would all that have been which could be given unto him But Christ did himselfe sanctifie that humane nature which he assumed according to his owne saying John 17. 19. For their sakes I sanctifie my selfe and so out of his owne peculiar store did he bring forth those precious treasures of holy obedience which for the satisfaction of our debt he was pleased to tender unto his Father Again if Adam had p done all things which were commanded him he must for all that have said I am an unprofitable servant I have done that which was my duty to doe Whereas in the voluntary obedience which Christ subjected himselfe unto the case stood farre otherwise True it is that if we respect him in his humane nature q his Father is greater than he and he is his Fathers r servant yet in that he said and most truly said that God was his Father s the Jewes did rightly inferre from thence that he thereby made himselfe equall with God and t the Lord of hosts himselfe hath proclaimed him to be the man that is his fellow Being such a man therefore and so highly borne by the priviledge of his birth-right he might have claimed an exemption from the ordinary service whereunto all other men are tied and by being u the Kings Sonne have freed himselfe from the payment of that tribute which was to be exacted at the hands of Strangers When x the Father brought this his first-begotten into the world he said Let all the Angells of God worship him and at the very instant wherein the Sonne advanced our nature into the highest pitch of dignity by admitting it into the unity of his sacred person that nature so assumed was worthy to be crowned with all glory and honour and he in that nature might then have set himselfe downe y at the right hand of the throne of God tyed to no other subjection than now he is or hereafter shall be when after the end of this world he shall have delivered up the kingdome to God the Father For then also in regard of his assumed nature he z shall be subject unto him that put all other things under him Thus the Sonne of God if he had minded only his owne things might at the very first have attained unto the joy that was set before him but a looking on the things of others he chose rather to come by a tedious way and wearisome journey unto it not challenging the priviledge of a Sonne but taking upon him the forme of a meane servant Whereupon in the dayes of his flesh he did not serve as an honourable Commander in the Lords host but as an ordinary souldier he made himselfe of no reputation for the time as it were * emptying himselfe of his high state and dignity he humbled himselfe and became obedient untill his death being content all his life long to be b made under the Law yea so farre that as he was sent c in the likenesse of sinfull flesh so he disdained not to subject himselfe unto that Law which properly did concerne sinfull flesh And therefore howsoever Circumcision was by right appliable only unto such as were d dead in their sinnes and the uncircumcision of their flesh yet he in whom there was no body of the sinnes of the flesh to be put off submitted himselfe notwithstanding thereunto not only to testifie his communion with the Fathers of the old Testament but also by this meanes to tender unto his Father a bond signed with his owne bloud whereby he made himselfe in our behalfe a debtour unto the whole Law For I testifie saith e the Apostle to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtour to the whole Law In like manner Baptisme appertained properly unto such as were defiled and had need to have their f sinnes washed away and therefore when all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem went out unto John they g were all baptized of him in the river Jordan confessing their sinnes Among the rest came our Saviour also but the Baptist considering that he had need to be baptized by Christ and Christ no need at all to be baptized by him refused to give way unto that action as altogether unbefitting the state of that immaculat Lamb of God who was to take away the sinne of the World Yet did our Mediatour submit himselfe to that ordinance of God also not only to testifie his communion with the Christians of the new Testament but especially which is the reason yeelded by himselfe because h it became him thus to fulfill all righteousnesse And so having fulfilled all righteousnesse whereunto the meanest man was tied in the dayes of his pilgrimage which was more than he needed to have undergone if he had respected only himselfe the workes which he performed were truly works of supererogation which might be put upon the account of them whose debt he undertook to discharge and being performed by the person of the Sonne of God must in that respect not only be equivalent but infinitely overvalue the obedience of Adam and all his posterity although they had remained in their integrity continued untill this houre instantly serving God day night And thus for our maine and principall debt of Obedience hath our Mediator given satisfaction unto the Iustice of his Father with i good measure pressed down shaken together running over But beside this we were liable unto another debt which we have incurred by our default and drawn upon our selves by way of forfeiture and nomine poenae For as k Obedience is a due debt and Gods servants in regard thereof are truly debters so likewise is sinne a l debt and sinners m debters in regard of the penalty due for the default And as the payment of the debt which commeth nomine poenae dischargeth not the tenant afterwards from paying
done himselfe alone It may be his burden being thus lightened the abilities that were left him for government were not altogether so great as the necessity of his former employment required them to have beene and in that regard what was given to his assistants might perhaps be said to be taken from him But we are sure the case was otherwise in him of whom now we speake unto whom b God did not thus give the spirit by measure And therefore although so many millions of beleivers do continually receive this c supply of the Spirit of Iesus Christ yet neither is that fountaine any way exhausted nor the plenitude of that well-spring of grace any whit empayred or diminished it being Gods pleasure d that in him should all fullnesse dwell and that e of his fulnesse all we should receive grace for grace that as in the naturall generation there is such a correspondence in all parts betwixt the begetter and the infant begotten that there is no member to be seen in the Father but there is the like answerably to be found in the Child although in a far lesse proportion so it falleth out in this spirituall that for every grace which in a most eminent manner is found in Christ a like grace will appeare in Gods childe although in a far inferiour degree similitudes likenesses being defined by the Logicians to be comparisons made in quality and not in quantity VVe are yet further to take it into our consideration that by thus enliving and fashioning us according to his owne Image Christs purpose was not to raise a seed unto himselfe dispersedly and distractedly but to f gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad yea and to g bring all unto one head by himselfe both them which are in heaven and them which are on the earth that as in the Tabernacle h the vaile divided between the holy place and the most holy but the curtains which covered them both were so coupled together with the taches that it might still i be one Tabernacle so the Church militant and triumphant typified thereby though distant as far the one from the other as Heaven is from Earth yet is made but one Tabernacle in Jesus Christ k in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord and in whom all of us are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit The bond of this mysticall union betwixt Christ and us as l elsewhere hath more fully been declared is on his part that m quickening Spirit which being in him as the Head is from thence diffused to the spirituall animation of all his members and on our part n Faith which is the prime act of life wrought in those who are capable of understanding by that same spirit Both wherof must be acknowledged to be of so high a nature that none could possibly by such ligatures knit up so admirable a body but he that was God Almighty And therefore although we did suppose such a man might be found who should perform the Law for us suffer the death that was due to our offence and overcome it yea and whose obedience and sufferings should be of such valve that it were sufficiett for the redemption of the whole world yet could it not be efficient to make us live by faith unlesse that Man had been able to send Gods spirit to apply the same unto us VVhich as no bare Man or any other Creature whatsoever can doe so for Faith we are taught by S. o Paul that it is the operation of God and a worke of his power even of that same power wherewith Christ himselfe was raised from the dead VVhich is the ground of that prayer of his that the p eyes of our understanding being enlightened we might know what is the exceeding greatnesse of his power to ms-ward who beleeve according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when be raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places farre above all principality and power and might and every Name that is named not only in this world but also in that to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all Yet was it fit also that the Head should be of the same nature with the Body which is knit unto it and therefore that he should so be God as that he might partake of our Flesh likewise q For we are members of his body saith the same Apostle of his flesh and of his bones And r except ye eat the flesh of the Sonne of man saith our Saviour himselfe and drink his bloud ye have no life in you s He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me I in him declaring thereby first that by this mysticall and supernaturall union we are as truly conjoyned with him as the meat and drink we take is with us when by the ordinary worke of nature it is converted into our owne substance secondly that this conjunction is immediately made with his humane nature thirdly that the t Lamb slaine that is u Christ crucified hath by that death of his made his flesh broken and his bloud poured out for us upon the crosse to be fit food for the spirituall nourishment of our soules and the very well-spring from whence by the power of his God-head all life and grace is derived unto us Upon this ground it is that the Apostle telleth us that we x have boldnesse to enter into the Holiest by the bloud of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vaile that is to say his flesh That as in the Tabernacle there was no passing from the Holy to the most Holy place but by the vaile so now there is no passage to be looked for from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant but by the flesh of him who hath said of himselfe y I am the way the truth and the life no man commeth unto the father but by me Jacob in his dreame beheld z a ladder set upon the earth the top whereof reached to heaven and the Angels of God ascending and descending on it the Lord himself standing above it Of which vision none can give a better interpretation then he who was prefigured therein gave unto Nathanael a Hereafter you shall see heaven opened and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man Whence we may well collect that the only meanes whereby God standing above and his Israel lying here below are conjoyned together and the only ladder whereby Heaven may be scaled by us is the Son of man The type of whose flesh the vaile
our humane nature and his Deity the Son of God assuming into the unity of his Person that which before he was not and yet without change for so must God still be remaining that which he was Whereby it came to passe that c this holy thing which was borne of her was indeed and in truth to be called the SONNE of GOD Which wonderfull connexion of two so infinitely differing natures in the unity of one person how it was there effected is an inquisition fitter for an Angelical inteliigence than for our shallow capacity to look after To which purpose also we may observe that in the fabrick of the Arke of the Covenant d the posture of the faces of the Cherubims toward the Mercy-seat the type of our Saviour was such as would poynt unto us that these are the things which the Angells desire to * stoop and look into And therefore let that satisfaction which the Angell gave unto the Mother Virgin whom it did more specially concerne to move the question e How may this be content us f The power of the highest shall over-shadow thee For as the former part of that speech may informe us that g with God nothing is unpossible so the latter may put us in minde that the same God having over-shadowed this mystery with his own veile we should not presume with the men of h Bethshemesh to looke into this Arke of his least for our curiosity we be smitten as they were Only this we may safely say and must firmly hold that as the distinction of the Persons in the holy Trinity hindreth not the Unity of the Nature of the God-head although every person entirely holdeth his own incommunicable property so neither doth the distinction of the two Natures in our Mediatour any way crosse the unity of his Person although each nature remaineth intire in it selfe and retaineth the properties agreeing thereunto * without any conversion composition commixtion or confusion When i Moses beheld the bush burning with fire and yet no whit consumed he wondred at the sight and said I will now turne aside and see this great sight why the bush is not burnt But when God thereupon called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said Draw not nigh hither and told him who he was Moses trembled hid his face and durst not behold God Yet although being thus warned we dare not draw so nigh what doth hinder but we may stand aloofe off and wonder at this great sight k Our God is a consuming fire saith the Apostle and a question wee finde propounded in the prophet l Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with the everlasting burnings Moses was not like other Prophets but m God spake unto him face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend and yet for all that when hee besought the Lord that he would shew him his glory he received this answer n Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see mee and live Abraham before him though a speciall o friend of God and the p Father of the faithfull the Children of God yet held it a great matter that he should take upon him so much as to q speak unto God being but dust and ashes Yea the very Angells themselves r which are greater in power and might are fain to s cover their faces when they stand before him as not being able to behold the brightnesse of his glory With what astonishment then may we behold our dust and ashes assumed into the undivided unitie of Gods owne person and admitted to dwell here as an inmate under the same roofe and yet in the midst of those everlasting burnings the bush to remain unconsumed and to continue fresh and green for evermore Yea how should not we with Abraham rejoyce to see this day wherein not only our nature in the person of our Lord Jesus is found to dwell for ever in those everlasting burnings but in and by him our owne persons also are brought so nigh thereunto that t God doth set his Sanctuarie and Tabernacle among us and dwell with us and which is much more maketh us our selves to be the u house and the x habitation wherein he is pleased to dwell by his Spirit according to that of the Apostle y Yee are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walke in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people and that most admirable Prayer which our Saviour himselfe made unto his father in our behalfe z I pray not for these alone but for them also which shall beleeve on me through their Word that they all may be one as thou Father art in mee and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may beleeve that thou hast sent me I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me To compasse this conjunction betwixt God and us he that was to bee our a Jesus or Saviour must of necessity also bee Immanuel which being interpreted is GOD with us and therefore in his Person to bee Immanuel that is God dwelling with our flesh because he was by his Office to be Immanuel that is he who must make God to be at one with us For this being his proper office to be b Mediatour between God and Men he must partake with both and being before all eternity consubstantiall with his Father he must at the appoynted time become likewise consubstantiall with his children c For asmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same saith the Apostle We read in the Romane history that the Sabines and the Romans joyning battell together upon such an occasion as is mentioned in the last Chapter of the booke of Iudges of the children of Benjamin catching every man a wife of the daughters of Shilo the women being daughters to the one side and Wives to the other interposed themselves and tooke up the quarrell so that by the mediation of these who had a peculiar interest in either side and by whose meanes this new alliance was contracted betwixt the two adverse parties they who before stood upon highest termes of hostility * did not only entertaine Peace but also joyned themselves together into one body and one state God and we were d enemies before wee were reconciled to him by his Sonne He that is to be e our Peace and to reconcile us unto God and to slay this enmity must have an interest in both the parties that are at variance and have such a reference unto either of them that he may be able to send this