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
the dead presenting himselfe in Heaven before him unto whom the debt was owing and maintaining his standing there hath hereby given good proofe that he is now a free-man and hath fully discharged that debt of ours for which he stood committed And this is the evidence we have to shew of that righteousnesse whereby we stand justified in Gods sight according to that of the Apostle y Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Now although an ordinary man may easily part with his life yet doth it not lye in his power to resume it againe at his own will and pleasure But he that must doe the turne for us must be able to say as our IESVS did z I lay down my life that I may take it again No man taketh it from me but I lay it downe of my selfe I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it againe and in another place a Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it up saith he unto the Jewes speaking of the Temple of his body An humane nature then he must have had which might be subject to dissolution but being once dissolved he could not by his owne strength which was the thing here necessarily required raise it up againe unlesse he had b declared himselfe to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead The Manhood could suffer but not overcome the sharpnesse of death the Godhead could suffer nothing but overcome any thing He therefore that was both to suffer and to overcome death for us must be partaker of both natures that c being put to death in the flesh he might be able also to quicken himselfe by his owne Spirit And now are wee come to that part of Christs mediation which concerneth the conveiance of d the redemption of this purchased possession unto the sons of men A deare purchase indeed which was to be redeemed with no lesse price then the bloud of the Sonne of God but what should the purchase of a stranger have been to us or what should we have beene the better for all this if we could not derive our descent from the purchaser or raise some good title whereby we might estate our selves in his purchase Now this was the manner in former time in Israell concerning redemptions that unto him who was the next of kinne belonged the right of being e Goël or the Redeemer And Iob had before that left this glorious profession of his faith unto the perpetuall memory of all posterity f I know that my Goël or Redeemer liveth and at the last shall arise upon the dust or stand upon the earth And after this my skinne is spent yet in my flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see for my selfe and mine eyes shall behold and not another for me Whereby we may easily understand that his and our Redeemer was to be the invisible God and yet in his assumed flesh made visible even to the bodily eyes of those whom he redeemed For if he had not thus assumed our flesh how should we have been of his bloud or claimed any kindred to him and unlesse the Godhead had by a personall union beene unseparably conjoyned unto that flesh how could he therein have beene accounted our next of kinne For the better clearing of which last reason we may call to mind that sentence of the Apostle g The first man is of the earth earthy the second man is the Lord from heaven Where notwithstanding there were many millions of men in the world betwixt these two yet we see our Redeemer reckoned the second man and why but because these two were the only men who could be accounted the prime fountains from whence all the rest of mankinde did derive their existence and being For as all men in the world by meane descents do draw their first originall from the first man so in respect of a more immediate influence of efficiencie and operation do they owe their being unto the second man as he is the Lord from heaven This is Gods own language unto Jeremy h Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee and this is Davids acknowledgement for his part i Thy hands have made me and fashioned me k thou hast covered me in my mothers wombe l thou art he that took me out of my mothers bowels and Jobs for his also m Thy hands have made me and fashioned me together round about thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh and hast fenced me with bones and sinews and the n Apostles for us all In him we live and move and have our being who inferreth also thereupon both that we are the off-spring or generation of God and that he is not farre from every one of us this being to be admitted for a most certaine truth notwithstanding the opposition of all gain-sayers that * God doth more immediately concurre to the generation and all other motions of the creature then any naturall agent doth or can doe And therefore if o by one mans offedce death raigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace of the gift of righteousnes shall raign in life by one Jesus Christ considering that this second man is not only as universall a principle of all our beings as was that first and so may sustaine the common person of us all as well as he but is a far more immediate agent in the production thereof not as the first so many generations removed from us but more near unto us then our very next progenitours and in that regard justly to be accounted our next of kinne even before them also Yet is not this sufficient neither but there is another kinde of generation required for which we must be beholding unto the second man the Lord from heaven before we can have interest in this purchased Redemption For as the guilt of the first mans transgression is derived unto us by the meanes of carnall generation so must the benefit of the second mans obedience be conveyed unto us by spirituall regeneration And this must be layd downe as a most undoubted verity that p except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdome of God and that every such must be q born not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Now as our Mediatour in respect of the Adoption of Sons which he hath procured for us r is not ashamed to call us Brethren so in respect of this new birth whereby he begetteth us to a spirituall everlasting life he disdaineth not to owne us as his Children s When thou shalt make his
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
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