to send his own his only Son into the World to seek and save us and by Him to repair all our ruines to forgive all our iniquities to heal all our spiritual diseases and to crown us with loving kindness and tender mercies And what Sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving should we also offer up to this gracious and most merciful Redeemer of ours the everlasting Son of the Father who debased himself so infinitely for our sakes and when he took upon Him to deliver Man did not abhor the Virgins womb Who was contented to be born so obscurely and to live all his life in a poor and persecuted condition and was pleased both to undergo and to overcome the sharpness of Death that he might open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Every time we have occasion to meditate upon this especially when we are communicating at his H. Table and receiving the blessed Symbols and Pledges of his precions Death and Passion How should our Hearts burn within us and leap for Joy How should the remembrance of it revive and raise our Spirits and put us into an Extasie of Love and Gratitude to this great Friend and Lover of Souls And with the B. Mother of our Lord how should our Souls upon that blessed occasion magnify the Lord and our Spirits rejoyce in God our Saviour The Holy men of old were transported with Joy at the obscure and confused apprehension and remote foresight of so great a Blessing at so great a distance It is said of Abraham the Father of the faithful that he saw His Day afar off and was glad How should we then be affected with Joy and Thankfulness to whom the Son of God and B. Saviour of Men is actually come He is come many ages ago and hath enlightened a great part of the World with his Glory Yea He is come to us who were in a manner separated from the rest of the World To Us is this great Light come who had so long sate in Darkness and the shadow of Death And this mighty Salvation which He hath wrought for us is near to every one of us that is willing to lay hold of it and to accept it upon those gracious terms and conditions upon which it is offer'd to us in his H. Gospel And by His Coming he hath delivered Mankind from that gross Ignorance and thick Darkness which covered the Nations And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding to know him that is true And we are in Him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal Life And then it immediately follows Little Children keep your selves from Idols What can be the meaning of this Caution and what is the Connection of it with the foregoing Discourse It is plainly this That the Son of God by His Coming had rescued Mankind from the sottish Worship of Idols and therefore he Cautions Christians to take great heed of relapsing into Idolatry by worshipping a Creature or the Image and likeness of any Creature instead of God And because he foresaw that it might be objected to Christians as in fact it was afterwards by the Heathen that the Worship of Christ who was a man was as much Idolatry as that which the Christians charged the Heathen withal Therefore St. John effectually to prevent the force of this plausible Objection though he perpetually throughout his Gospel declares Christ to be really a Man yet he expresly also affirms Him to be God and the true God and consequently Christians might safely pay Divine Worship to Him without fear or danger of Idolatry We are in Him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal Life Little Children keep your selves from Idols But this I am sensible is a Digression yet such a one as may not be alltogether useless To proceed then in the recital of those great Blessings which the Coming of the Son of God hath brought to Mankind He hath rescued us from the bondage of Sin and from the slavery of Satan He hath openly proclaimed Pardon and Reconciliation to the World He hath clearly revealed eternal Life to us which was but obscurely made known before both to Jews and Gentiles but is now made manifest by the appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished Death and brought Life and immortality to light by the Gospel He hath purchased this great Blessing for us and is ready to confer it upon us if we will be contented to leave our Sins and to be saved by Him A Condition without which as Salvation is not to be had so if it were it would not be desirable it could not make us happy because our Sins would still separate between God and us and the guilt and horrour of our own minds would make us eternally miserable And now surely we cannot but thus judge that all the Praises and acknowledgments all the Service and Obedience which we can possibly render to Him are infinitely beneath those infinite Obligations which the Son of God hath laid upon the Sons of men by his Coming into the World to save Sinners What then remains but that at all times and more especially at this Season we gratefully acknowledge and joyfully commemorate this great and amazing Goodness of God to us in the Incarnation of his Son for the Redemption and Salvation of the sinful and miserable Race of Mankind A Method and Dispensation of the Divine Grace and Wisdom not only full of mercy and condescension but of great power and vertue to purifie our hearts and to reform our Lives to beget in us a fervent love of God our Saviour and a perfect hatred and detestation of our Sins and a stedfast purpose and resolution to lead a new Life following the Commandments of God and walking in his ways all the days of our life In a word a Method that is every way calculated for our unspeakable Benefit and Comfort Since then the Son of God hath so graciously condescended to be made in all things like unto us Sin only excepted let us aspire to be as like to Him as is possible in the exemplary Holiness and Vertues of his Life We cannot be like Him in his Miracles but we may in his Mercy and Compassion We cannot imitate his Divine Power but we may resemble Him in his Innocency and Humility in his Meekness and Patience And as He assumed Human Nature so let us re-assume Humanity which we have in great measure depraved and put off and let us put on bowels of mercy towards those that are in misery and be ready to relieve the poor for His sake who being rich for our sakes became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich To conclude Let us imitate Him in that which was his great Work and business here upon Earth and which of all other did best become the Son of God I
SERMONS Concerning the DIVINITY and INCARNATION OF OUR Blessed Saviour Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry By JOHN late Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Br. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil and W. Rogers at the Sun against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCXCV AN Advertisement TO THE READER THE following Sermons were preached several years ago in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry in London and being now revised and enlarged by the Author are here made publick The true Reason whereof was not that which is commonly alledged for Printing Books the importunity of Friends but the importunate clamours and malicious calumnies of Others whom the Author heartily prays God to forgive and to give them better minds And to grant that the ensuing Discourses the publication whereof was in so great a degree necessary may by his Blessing prove in some measure useful SERMON I. Concerning the Divinity of our B. Saviour Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry Decemb. 30th 1679. JOHN I. 14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth THESE words contain in them three great Points concerning our B. Saviour the Author and Founder of our Faith and Religion First His Incarnation the Word was made or became flesh Secondly His Life and conversation here among us and dwelt amongst us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he pitched his Tabernacle amongst us he lived here below in this World and for a time made his residence and abode with us Thirdly That in this state of his humiliation he gave great and clear evidence of his Divinity whilst he appeared as a man and liv'd amongst us there were great and glorious Testimonies given of him that he was the Son of God and that in so peculiar a manner as no Creature can be said to be And we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father c. I shall begin with the First of these his Incarnation as most proper for this Solemn Time which hath for many Ages been set apart for the commemoration of the Nativity and Incarnation of our B. Saviour The Word was made flesh that is he who is personally called the Word and whom the Evangelist St. John had so fully described in the beginning of this Gospel he became flesh that is assumed our Nature and became Man for so the word flesh is frequently used in Scripture for Man or human nature O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come that is to thee shall all men address their Supplications again The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together that is all men shall behold and acknowledge it and then it follows all flesh is grass speaking of the frailty and mortality of man And so likewise in the new Testament our B. Saviour foretelling the misery that was coming upon the Jewish Nation says Except those days should be shortned no flesh should be saved that is no man should escape and survive that great calamity and destruction which was coming upon them By the works of the Law says the Apostle shall no flesh that is no man be justified So that by the Word 's being made or becoming flesh the Evangelist did not intend that he assumed only a human Body without a Soul and was united only to a human Body which was the Heresie of Apollinaris and his Followers but that he became Man that is assumed the whole human Nature Body and Soul And it is likewise very probable that the Evangelist did purposely chuse the word flesh which signifies the frail and mortal part of Man to denote to us that the Son of God did assume our Nature with all its infirmities and became subject to the common frailty and mortality of human Nature The words thus explain'd contain that great Mystery of Godliness as the Apostle calls it or of the Christian Religion viz. the Incarnation of the Son of God which St. Paul expresseth by the appearance or manifestation of God in the flesh And without controversie great is the mystery of godliness God was manifested in the flesh that is he appeared in human Nature he became man or as St. John expresseth it in the Text The Word was made flesh But for the more clear and full explication of these words we will consider these two things First the Person that is here spoken of and who is said to be incarnate or to be made flesh namely the Word Secondly the Mystery it self or the nature of this Incarnation so far as the Scripture hath revealed and declared it to us I. We will consider the Person that is here spoken of and who is said to be incarnate or to be made flesh and who is so frequently in this Chapter called by the Name or Title of the Word namely the eternal and only begotten Son of God for so we find him described in the Text The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father c. that is such as became so great and glorious a Person as deserves the Title of the only begotten Son of God For the explaining of this Name or Title of the Word given by St. John to our B. Saviour we will consider these two things First The reason of this Name or Title of the Word and what probably might be the Occasion why this Evangelist insists so much upon it and makes so frequent mention of it Secondly The Description it self which is given of him under this Name or Title of the Word by this Evangelist in his entrance into his History of the Gospel I. We will enquire into the reason of this Name or Title of the Word which is here given to our B. Saviour by this Evangelist And what might probably be the Occasion why he insists so much upon it and makes so frequent mention of it I shall consider these two things distinctly and severally First The reason of this Name or Title of the Word here given by the Evangelist to our B. Saviour And he seems to have done it in compliance with the common way of speaking among the Jews who frequently call the Messias by the Name of the Word of the Lord of which I might give many instances But there is one very remarkable in the Targum of Jonathan which renders those words of the Psalmist which the Jews acknowledge to be spoken of the Messias viz. The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand c. I say it renders them thus The Lord said unto his Word sit thou on my right hand c. And so likewise Philo the Jew calls him by whom God made the World the Word of God and the Son of God And Plato probably
have since made it a lawful way of lying which their Father of whom they learn'd it had not credit and authority enough to do And it deserves likewise to be very well considered by us that nothing hath given a greater force to the Exceptions of the Church of Rome against the H. Scripture's being a sufficient and certain Rule of Faith than the uncertainty into which they have brought the plainest Texts imaginable for the establishing of Doctrines of greatest moment in the Christian Religion by their remote and wrested interpretation of them Which way of dealing with them seems to be really more contumelious to those H. Oracles than the downright rejecting of their Authority Because this is a fair and open way of attacquing them whereas the other is an insiduous and therefore more dangerous way of undermining them But as for us who do in good earnest believe the Divine Authority of the H. Scriptures let us take all our Doctrines and Opinions from those clear Fountains of Truth not disturb'd and darkned by searching anxiously into all the possible Senses that the several words and expressions of Scripture can bear and by forcing that sense upon them which is most remote and unnatural and in the mean time wilfully overlooking and passing by that sense which is most obvious and easie to the common apprehension of any unbyass'd and impartial Reader This is to use the H. Scriptures as the Church of Rome have done many Holy and good men whom they are pleased to brand with the odious Name of Hereticks to torture them till they speak the mind of their Tormentors though never so contrary to their own I will now conclude this whole Discourse with a Saying which I heard from a great and judicious Man Non amo nimis argutam Theologiam I love no Doctrines in Divinity which stand so very much upon quirk and subtilty And I cannot upon this occasion forbear to say that those Doctrines of Religion and those Interpretations of Scripture have ever been to me the most suspected which need abundance of Wit and a great many Criticisms to make them out And considering the Wisdom and Goodness of Almighty God I cannot possibly believe but that all things necessary to be believ'd and practis'd by Christians in order to their eternal Salvation are plainly contain'd in the H. Scriptures God surely hath not dealt so hardly with Mankind as to make any thing necessary to be believ'd or practis'd by us which he hath not made sufficiently plain to the capacity of the unlearned as well as of the learned God forbid that it should be impossible for any man to be saved and to get to Heaven without a great deal of learning to direct and carry him thither when the far greatest part of Mankind have no learning at all It was well said by Erasmus That it was never well with the Christian World since it began to be a matter of so much Subtilty and Wit for a man to be a true Christian SERMON III. Concerning the Incarnation of CHRIST Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry December 21. 1680. JOHN I. 14. The Word was made flesh THE last Year about this Time and upon the same Occasion of the Annual Commemoration of the Incarnation and Nativity of our B. Lord and Saviour I began to discourse to you upon these Words In which I told you were contained three great Points concerning our Saviour the Author and Founder of our Religion First His Incarnation the Word was made or became flesh Secondly His Life and conversation here amongst us and dwelt among us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he pitched his Tabernacle among us he lived here below in this World and for some time made his residence and abode with us Thirdly That in this state of his Humiliation he gave great and clear evidence of his Divinity Whilst he appear'd as a Man and lived amongst us there were great and glorious Testimonies given of Him that he was the Son of God and that in so peculiar a manner as no Creature can be said to be And we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth I began with the first of these namely his Incarnation the Word was made flesh For the full and clear explication of which words I proposed to consider these two things I. The Person here spoken of and who it is that is here said to be incarnate or made flesh namely the Word And this I have handled at large in my two former Discourses upon this Text. I shall now proceed in the II. Second place to give some account of the nature and manner of this Incarnation so far as the Scripture hath thought fit to reveal and declare this Mystery to us The Word was made flesh that is He who is personally called the Word and whom the Evangelist hath so fully and clearly described in the beginning of his Gospel he became flesh that is assumed our Nature and became man for so the word flesh is frequently used in Scripture for Man or Human Nature So that by the Word 's becoming flesh that is Man the Evangelist did not only intend to express to us that he assumed a human Body without a Soul but that he became a perfect Man consisting of Soul and Body united It is very probable indeed that the Evangelist did purposely chuse the word flesh which signifies the frail and mortal part of Humanity to denote to us the great condescension of the Son of God in assuming our Nature with all its infirmities and becoming subject to frailty and mortality for our sake Having thus explain'd the meaning of this Proposition the Word was made flesh I shall in a further prosecution of this Argument take into consideration these three things First I shall consider more distinctly what may reasonably be suppos'd to be implied in this expression of the Word 's being made flesh Secondly I shall consider the Objections which are commonly brought against this Incarnation of the Son of God from the seeming impossibility or incongruity of the thing Thirdly And because after all that can be said in answer to those Objections it may still appear to us very strange that God who could without all this circumstance and condescension even almost beneath the Majesty of the Great God at least as we are apt to think have given Laws to Mankind and have offer'd forgiveness of Sins and eternal life upon their Repentance for sins past and sincere tho imperfect obedience for the future I say it may seem strange that notwithstanding this God should yet make choice of this way and method of our Salvation I shall therefore in the last place endeavour to give some probable account of this strange and wonderful Dispensation and shew that it was done in great condescension to the weakness and common prejudices of Mankind and that when it is throughly consider'd it will appear to be much
Word and only begotten Son of God was changed into a Man which is not only impossible to be but impious to imagin Or else that the Son of God did assume our Nature and became Man by his Divinity being united to human Nature as the Soul is vitally united to the Body without either being changed into it or confounded with it or swallowed up by it as the Eutychian Hereticks fancied the human Nature of Christ to be swallowed up of his Divinity Which had it been so St. John had expressed himself very untowardly when he says The Word became flesh for it had been quite contrary and flesh had become the Word being changed into it and swallowed up by it and lost in it The only thing then that we can reasonably imagine to be the meaning of this expression is this that the Son of God assumed our Nature and united himself with it as our Souls are united with our Bodies And as the Soul and Body united make one Person and yet retain their distinct Natures and Properties so may we conceive the Divine and human Natures in Christ to be united into one Person And this without any change or confusion of the two Natures I say the Divinity united it self with human Nature For though flesh be only mentioned in the Text yet he did not only assume a human Body which was the Heresie of Apollinaris and his Followers upon a mistake of this and some other Texts of Scripture But he assumed the whole human Nature that is a human Soul united to a real and natural Body for so I have shewn the word flesh to be frequently used in Scripture not only for the Body but for the whole Man by an usual Figure of speech As on the other hand Soul is frequently used for the whole Man or Person So many Souls are said to have gone down with Jacob into Egypt that is so many Persons But this I need not insist longer upon our Saviour being so frequently in Scripture and so expresly said to be a Man which could with no propriety of speech have been said had he only assumed a human Body Nor could he have been said to have been made in all things like unto us sin only excepted had he only had a human Body but not a Soul For then the meaning must have been that he had been made in all things like unto us that is like to a Man that only excepted which chiefly makes the Man that is the Soul And the addition of those words Sin only excepted had been no less strange because a human Body without a Soul is neither capable of being said to have Sin or to be without it And this may suffice to have been spoken in general concerning that great Mystery of the Hypostatical as they that love hard words love to call it or Personal Union of the Divine and human Natures in the Person of our B. Saviour In the more particular explication whereof it is not safe for our shallow understandings to wade further than the Scripture goes before us for fear we go out of our depth and lose our selves in the profound inquiry into the deep things of God which he has not thought fit in this present state of darkness and imperfection to reveal more plainly and fully to us It ought to be thought sufficient that the Scripture speaking of the same Person Jesus Christ our B. Saviour doth frequently and expresly call him both God and Man Which how it can be so easily conceived upon any other Supposition than that of the Union of the Divine and human Natures in one Person I must confess that I am not able to comprehend Fifthly and lastly All this which I have shewn to be implyed in this Proposition the Word was made flesh does signifie to us the wonderful and amazing condescension and love of God to Mankind in sending his Son into the World and submitting him to this way and method for our Salvation and recovery The Word was made flesh What a step is here made in order to the reconciling of Men to God From Heaven to Earth from the top of Glory and Majesty to the lowest gulf of meanness and misery The Evangelist seems here to use the word flesh which signifies the meanest and vilest part of Humanity to express to us how low the Son of God was contented to stoop for the Redemption of Man The Word was made flesh Two terms at the greatest distance from one another are here brought together The Son of God is here expressed to us by one of his highest and most glorious Titles the Word which imports both Power and Wisdom Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God as the Apostle calls him And human Nature is here described by its vilest part flesh which imports frailty and infirmity The Word became flesh that is submitted to that from which it was at the greatest distance He who was the Power of God and the Wisdom of God submitted not only to be called but really to become a frail and miserable Man not only to assume our Nature but to put on all the infirmities and which is the greatest of all the Mortality of it And this is the great Mystery of godliness that is of the Christian Religion that God should be manifested in the flesh and become man with a most gracious and merciful design to bring man back again to God That he should become a miserable and a mortal man to save us from eternal death and to make us partakers of everlasting life That the Son of God should condescend to inhabit our vile Nature to wear Rags and to become a beggar for our sakes and all this not only to repair those dismal Ruins which Sin had made in it and to restore us to our former estate but to better and advance our condition and by degrees to bring us to a state of much greater perfection and happiness than that from which we fell And that he should become man on purpose that he might dwell among us and converse with us and thoroughly instruct us in our Duty and shew us the way to eternal life by his heavenly Doctrine and as it were take us by the hand and lead us in that way by the perfect and familiar Example of a most blameless and holy life shewing us how God himself thought fit to live in this World when he was pleased to become man That by conversing with us in the likeness and nature of man he might become a human and in some sort an equal and familiar an imitable and encouraging Example of innocency and goodness of meekness and humility of patience and submission to the Will of God under the forest afflictions and sufferings and in a word a most perfect Pattern of a Divine and Heavenly conversation upon Earth And that by this means we might for our greater encouragement in holiness and vertue see all that which the Law of God
Church which is every whit as good But is this equal to demand of us the belief of a thing which hath always been controverted not only between us and them but even among themselves at least till the Council of Trent And this upon such unreasonable terms that we must either yield this Point to them or else renounce a Doctrine agreed on both Sides to be revealed in Scripture To shew the unreasonableness of this proceeding Let us suppose a Priest of the Church of Rome pressing a Jew or Turk to the belief of Transubstantiation and because one kindness deserves another the Jew or Turk should demand of him the belief of all the Fables in the Talmud or in the Alchoran since none of these nor indeed all of them together are near so absurd as Transubstantiation Would not this be much more reasonable and equal than what they demand of us Since no Absurdity how monstrous and big soever can be thought of which may not enter into an Understanding in which a Breach hath been already made wide enough to admit Transubstantiation The Priests of Baal did not half so much deserve to be exposed by the Prophet for their Superstition and folly as the Priests of the Church of Rome do for this sensless and stupid Doctrine of theirs with a hard Name I shall only add this one thing more That if this Doctrine were possible to be true and clearly prov'd to be so yet it would be evidently useless and to no purpose For it pretends to change the substance of one thing into the substance of another thing that is already and before this change is pretended to be made But to what purpose Not to make the Body of Christ for that was already in Being and the Substance of the Bread is lost nothing of it remaineth but the Accidents which are good for nothing and indeed are nothing when the Substance is destroy'd and gone All that now remains is to make some practical Inferences from this Doctrine of the Unity of the Divine Nature And they shall be the same which God himself makes by Moses which Text also is cited by our Saviour Hear O Israel the Lord thy God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength And thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self So that according to our Saviour the whole Duty of Man the love of God and of our neighbour is founded in the Unity of the Divine Nature I. The love of God The Lord thy God is One Lord therefore thou shalt love Him with all thy heart c. this is the first and great Commandment And it comprehends in it all the Duties of the first Table as naturally flowing from it As that we should serve him only and pay no Religious Worship to any but to Him For to pay Religious Worship to any thing is to make it a God and to acknowledge it for such And therefore God being but One we can give Religious Worship to none but to Him only And among all the parts of Religious Worship none is more peculiarly appropriated to the Deity than solemn Invocation and Prayer For he to whom men address their Requests at all times and in all places must be supposed to be always every where present to understand all our desires and wants and to be able to supply them and this God only is and can do So likewise from the Unity of the Divine Nature may be inferr'd that we should not worship God by any sensible Image or Representation Because God being a singular Being there is nothing like Him or that can without injuring and debasing his most spiritual and perfect and immense Being be compared to Him As He himself speaks in the Prophet To whom will ye liken me saith the Lord and make me equal And therefore with no Distinction whatsoever can it be lawful to give Religious Worship or any part of it to any but God We can pray to none but to Him because He only is every where present and only knows the Hearts of all the children of men which Solomon gives as the reason why we should address our Supplications to God only who dwelleth in the Heavens So that the Reason of these two Precepts is founded in the Unity and Singularity of the Divine Nature and unless there be more Gods than One we must worship Him only and pray to none but Him Because we can give Invocation to none but to Him only whom we believe to be God as St. Paul reasons How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed II. The love likewise of our Neighbour is founded in the Unity of the Divine Nature and may be inferr'd from it Hear O Israel the Lord thy God is One Lord therefore thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self And the Apostle gives this reason why Christians should be at unity among themselves There is One God and Father of all and therefore we should keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace that is live in mutual love and peace The Prophet likewise assigns this reason why all Mankind should be upon good terms with one another and not be injurious one to another Have we not all One Father hath not One God created us Why do we then deal treacherously every man against his brother And therefore when we see such hatred and enmity among Men such divisions and animosities among Christians we may not only ask St. Paul's question Is Christ divided that we cannot agree about serving him either all to serve him in one way or to bear with one another in our differences I say we may not only ask St. Paul's question Is Christ divided but may ask further Is God divided Is there not One God and are we not all his Offspring Are we not all the Sons of Adam who was the Son of God So that if we trace our selves to our Original we shall find a great nearness and equality among men And this equality that we are all God's creatures and Image and that the One only God is the Father of us all is a more real ground of mutual love and peace and equity in our dealings one with another than any of those petty differences and distinctions of strong and weak of rich and poor of wise and foolish of base and honourable can be to encourage men to any thing of Insolence injustice and inequality of dealing one towards another Because that wherein we all agree that we are the Creatures and Children of God and have all One common Father is essential and constant but those things wherein we differ are accidental and mutable and happen to one another by turns Thus much may suffice to have spoken concerning the first Proposition in the Text There is one God To Him Father Son and H. Ghost be all Honour