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
IMMANVEL OR THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON OF GOD Unfolded by JAMES ARCHBISHOP of ARMAGH IOHN 1. 14. The Word was made flesh OXFORD Printed by LEONARD LICHFIELD Printer to the Vniversity 1643. THE MYSTERIE OF THE INCARNATION of the SON of GOD THe holy Prophet in the Book of the a Proverbs poseth all such as have not learned wisedome nor known the knowledge of the holy with this question Who hath ascended up into heaven or descended who hath gathered the wind in his fists who hath bound the waters in a garment who hath established all the ends of the earth What is his Name and what is his SONS name if thou canst tell To help us herein the SON Himselfe did tell us when he was here upon earth that b None hath ascended up to heaven but he that descended from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven And that we might not be ignorant of his name the prophet Esay did not long before foretell that c Vnto us a child is borne and unto us a Son is given whose name should be called Wonderfull Counsellour The mighty God The Everlasting Father The Prince of peace Where if it be demanded how these things can stand together that the Son of man speaking upon earth should yet at the same instant be in heaven that the Father of Eternity should be born in time and that the mighty God should become a Childe which is the weakest state of Man himselfe we must call to minde that the first letter of this great Name is WONDERFUL When he appeared of old to Manoah his name was Wonderfull and he did wonderously Judge 13. 18 19. But that and all the wonders that ever were must give place to the great mystery of his Jncarnation and in respect thereof cease to be wonderfull For of this work that may be verified which is spoken of those wonderfull judgements that God brought upon Egypt when he would d shew his power and have his name declared throughout all the earth e Before them were no such neither after them shall be the like Neither the creation of all things out of nothing which was the beginning of the works of God those six working dayes putting as it were an end to that long Sabbath that never had beginning wherein the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost did infinitely f glorifie themselves and g rejoyce in the fruition one of another without communicating the notice thereof unto any creature nor the resurrection from the dead and the restauration of all things the last workes that shall goe before that everlasting Sabbath which shall have a beginning but never shall have end neither that first I say nor these last though most admirable peeces of worke may be compared with this wherein the Lord was pleased to shew the highest pitch if any thing may be said to bee highest in that which is infinite and exempt from all measure and dimensions of his Wisedome Goodnesse Power and glory The Heathen Chaldeans to a question propounded by the King of Babel make answer h that it was a rare thing which hee required and that none other could shew it except the Gods whose dwelling is not with flesh But the raritie of this lyeth in the contrary to that which they imagined to be so plaine that hee i who is over all God blessed for ever should take our flesh and dwell or * pitch his Tabernacle with us That as k the glory of God filled the Tabernacle which was l a figure of the humane nature of the Lord with such a kinde of fullnesse that Moses himselfe was not able to aproach unto it therein comming short m as in all things of the Lord of the house and filled the Temple of Salomon a Type likewise n of the body of our Prince of Peace in o such sort that the Priests could not enter therein so p in him all the fulnesse of the Godhead should dwell bodily And therefore if of that temple built with hands Salomon could say with admiration q But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth Behold heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot containe thee how much lesse this house which I have built of the true temple that is not of this building we may with greater wonderment say with the Apostle r Without controversie great is the mystery of Religion God was manifested in the flesh Yea was made of a Woman and borne of a Virgine A thing so s wonderfull that it was given for a signe unto unbeleevers 740. yeeres before it was accomplished even a signe of God's own chusing among all the wonders in the depth or in the height above Therefore the Lord himselfe shall give you a signe Behold a Virgin shall conceive and beare a Son and shall call his name Immanuel Esai 7. 14. A notable wonder indeed and great beyond all comparison That the Son of God should be t made of a Woman even made of that Woman which was u made by himselfe That her Wombe then and the x heavens now should contain him whom y the Heaven of Heavens cannot containe Than he who had both Father and Mother whose pedigree is upon record even up unto Adam who in the fulnesse of time was brought forth in Bethlehem and when he had finished his course was cut off out of the land of the living at Jerusalem should yet notwithstanding be in truth that which his shadow Melchisedek was onely in the conceit of the men of his time z without Father without Mother without Pedigree having neither beginning of dayes nor end of life That his Father should be a greater than he and yet he his Fathers b equall That he c is before Abraham was and yet Abrahams birth preceded his well nigh the space of two thousand yeares And finally that he who was Davids Sonne should yet be Davids Lord d a case which plunged the greatest Rabbies among the Pharesies who had not yet learned this Wisedome nor known this knowledge of the holy The untying of this knot dependeth upon the right understanding of the wonderfull conjunction of the Divine and humane Nature in the unity of the Person of our Redeemer For by reason of the strictnesse of this Personall union whatsoever may be verified of either of those Natures the same may be truely spoken of the Whole Person from whether soever of the Natures it be denominated For the clearer conceiving whereof we may call to minde that which the Apostle hath taught us touching our Saviour e In him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily that is to say by such a personall and reall union as doth unseparably everlastingly conjoyn that infinite Godhead with his finite Manhood in the unity of the selfe-same individuall Person He in whom that fulnesse dwelleth is the PERSON that
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
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
comfortable message unto the sonnes of men f Goe to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God For as long as g hee is not ashamed to call us brethren h GOD is not ashamed to be called our GOD And his entring of our apparance in his own name and ours after this manner i Behold I and the children which God hath given mee is a motive strong enough to appease his Father and to turne his favourable countenance towards us as on the other side when we become unruly and prove Rebellious children no reproofe can be more forcible nor inducement so prevalent if there remaine any sparke of grace in in us to make us cast downe our weapons and yeeld than this k Doe ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee and bought thee l not with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious bloud of his owne Son How dangerous a matter it is to be at ods with God old Ely sheweth by this maine argument m If one man sinne against another the Judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall plead or intreat for him and Job before him n He is not a man as I am that I should answer him and we should come together in judgement neither is there any Dayes-man or Vmpire betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both If this generall should admit no manner of exception then were we in a wofull case and had cause to weep much more than Saint Iohn did in the Revelation when o none was found in heaven nor in earth nor under the earth that was able to open the booke which he saw in the right hand of him that sate upon the Throne neither to look thereon But as S. Iohn was wished there to refraine his weeping because p the Lion of the tribe of Iuda the root of David had prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seales thereof so he himself else where giveth the like comfort unto all of us in this particular q If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous and he is a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world For as r there is one God so is there one Mediatour between God and men the man Christ Iesus who gave himselfe a ransom for all and in discharge of this his office of Mediation as the only fit Umpire to take up this controversie was to lay his hand as well upon GOD the party so highly offended as upon Man the party so basely offending In things concerning God the Priesthood of our Mediatour is exercised s For every high Priest is taken from among men and ordained for men in things pertaining to God The parts of his Priestly Function are two Satisfaction and Intercession the former whereof giveth contentment to Gods Justice the latter solliciteth his Mercy for the application of this benefit to the children of God in particular Whereby it commeth to passe that God in t shewing mercy upon whom he will shew mercy is yet for his justice no looser being both u just and the justifier of him that beleeveth in Iesus By vertue of his Intercession our Mediatour x appeareth in the presence of God for us and y maketh request for us To this purpose the Apostle noteth in the fourth to the Hebrewes 1. That we have a great high Priest that is passed into the heavens Iesus the Sonne of God vers. 14. 2. that we have not an high Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all things tempted as wee are yet without sinne vers. 15. Betwixt the having of such and the not having of such an Intercessor betwixt the height of him in regard of the one and the lowlinesse in regard of his other nature standeth the comfort of the poore sinner He must be such a suitour as taketh our cause to heart and therefore z in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a mercifull and faithfull high Priest In which respect as it was needfull hee should partake with our flesh and bloud that he might be tenderly affected unto his brethren so likewise for the obtaining of so great a suit it behoved he should be most deare to God the Father and have so great an interest in him as he might alwayes be sure to be a heard in his requests who therefore could be no other but he of whom the Father testified from heaven b This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased It was fit our intercessor should be man like unto our selves that we might c boldly come to him and finde grace to help in time of need it was fit he should be God that he might boldly goe to the Father without any way disparaging him as being his d fellow and e equall But such was Gods love to justice and hatred to sinne that he would not have his justice swallowed up with mercy nor sinne pardoned without the making of fit reparation And therefore our Mediatour must not looke to procure for us a simple pardon without more adoe but must be a f propitiation for our sinnes and redeem us by fine and g ransome and so not only be the master of our requests to intreat the Lord for us but also take upon him the part of an h Advocate to plead full satisfaction made by himselfe as our i suretie unto all the debt wherewith we any way stood chargeable Now the Satisfaction which our surety bound himselfe to performe in our behalfe was of a double debt the principall and the accessory The principall debt is obedience to Gods most holy Law which man was bound to pay as a perpetuall tribute to his Creator although he had never sinned but being now by his owne default become bankrupt is not able to discharge in the least measure His surety therefore being to satisfie in his stead none will be found fit to undertake such a payment but he who is both God and Man Man it is fit he should be because Man was the party that by the Articles of the first Covenant was tied to this obedience and it was requisite that k As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one Man likewise many should be made righteous Againe if our Mediatour were only God he could have performed no obedience the Godhead being free from all manner of subjection and if he were a bare Man although he had beene as perfect as Adam in his integrity or the Angels themselves yet being left unto himselfe amidst all the temptations of Satan