THE MYSTERY OF THE Incarnation of the SON OF GOD. (1)

THE holy Prophet in the Book of the Proverbs, poseth all such as have not learned wisdome, 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 Himself did tell us, when hee was here upon earth, that None hath ascended up to heaven, but hee that descended from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And that wee might not bee ignorant of his name, the Prophet Isaiah did long before foretell, that Vnto us a Childe is born, and unto us a Son is given; whose name shall bee called Wonderfull, Counseller, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Where, if it bee demanded, how these things can stand together? that the Son of man speaking upon earth, should yet at the same instant bee in heaven? that the Father of Eternity should bee born in time? and that the Mighty God should become a Childe; which is the weakest state of Man himself? wee must call to minde, that the first letter of this great Name, is WONDERFULL. When hee appeared of old to Manoah, his name was Wonderfull, and hee did wonderously, Judg. 13. 18, 19. But that, and all the wonders that ever were, must give place to the great mystery of his Incarnation, and in respect thereof cease to bee wonderfull: for of this work that may bee verifyed, which is spoken of those wonderfull judgements, that God brought upon Aegypt; when hee would shew his power, and have his name declared throughout all the earth. Before them were no such; neither after them shall bee 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, Son, and holy Ghost did infinitely glorifie themselves and 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 works 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 work, may bee compared with this; wherein the Lord was pleased to shew the highest pitch (if any thing may bee said to bee highest in that which is infinite and exempt from all measure and dimensions) of his Wisdome, Goodnesse, Power and Glory.

The Heathen Chaldeans, to a question propounded by the King of Babel, make answer; 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 rarity of this lyeth in the contrary to that which they imagined to bee so plain: that hee who is over all, God blessed for ever, should take our flesh and dwell, or pitch his tabernacle with us. That as the glory of God filled the Tabernacle, (which was a figure of the humane nature of our Lord) with such a kinde of fulnesse, that Moses himself was not able to approach unto it; (therein comming short, as in all things, of the Lord of the house) and filled the Temple of Solomon (a type likewise of the body of our Prince of Peace) in such sort that the Priests could not enter therein: so in him all the fulnesse of the Godhead should dwell bodily.

And therefore, if of that Temple, built with hands, Solomon could say with admiration: But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can not contain thee; how much lesse this house, which I have built? of the true Temple, that is not of this building, wee may with greater wonderment say with the Apostle, Without controversie, great is the mystery of Religion: God was manifested in the flesh. Yea, was made of a Woman, and born of a Virgin: a thing so wonderfull, that it was given for a signe unto unbeleevers seven hundred and forty yeers before it was accomplished; even a signe of Gods own choosing, among all the wonders in the depth, or in the heighth above. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a signe. Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel, Esa. 7. 14.

A notable wonder indeed, and great beyond all comparison. That the Son of God should bee made of a Woman; even made of that Woman, which vvas made of by himself. That her womb then, and the heavens now, should contain him, vvhom the Heaven of Heavens can not contain. That hee who had both Father and Mother, whose pedegree is upon record even up unto Adam, who in the fulnesse of time vvas brought forth in Bethlehem, and when hee had finished his course was cut off out of the land of the living at Jerusalem; should yet notwithstanding bee in truth, that which his shadow Melchisedec was onely in the conceite of the men of his time, without Father, without Mother, without pedegree, having neither beginning of dayes nor end of life. That his Father should bee greater then hee; and yet hee his Fathers equall. That hee is, before Abraham was;

and yet Abrahams birth preceded his, wel-nigh the space of two thousand yeers. And finally, that hee who was Davids Son, should yet bee Davids Lord: a case which plunged the greatest Rabbies among the Pharisees; who had not yet learned this wisdome, 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 bee verifyed of either of those Natures, the same may bee truely spoken of the whole Person, from whethersoever of the Natures it bee denominated. For the clearer conceiving whereof, wee may call to minde that which the Apostle hath taught us touching our Saviour. In him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily, that is to say, by such a personall and reall union, as doth inseparably and everlastingly conjoyn that infinite Godhead with his finite Manhood in the unity of the self-same individuall Person.

Hee in whom that fulnesse dwelleth, is the PERSON: that fulnesse which so doth dwell in him, is the NATVRE. Now there dwelleth in him not onely the fulnesse of the Godhead, but the fulnesse of the Manhood also. For wee beleeve him to bee both perfect God, begotten of the substance of his Father before all worlds; and perfect Man, made of the substance of his Mother in the fulnesse of time. And therefore wee must hold, that there are two distinct Natures in him: and two so distinct, that they doe not make one compounded nature; but still remain uncompounded and unconfounded together. But Hee in whom the fulnesse of the Manhood dwelleth is not one, and hee in whom the fulnesse of the Godhead, another: but hee in whom the fulnesse of both those natures dwelleth, is one and the same Immanuel, and consequently it must bee beleeved as firmly, that hee is but one Person.

And here wee must consider, that the divine Nature did not assume an humane Person, but the divine Person did assume an humane Nature: and that of the three divine Persons, it was neither the first nor the third that did assume this Nature; but it was the middle Person, who was to bee the middle one, that must undertake this mediation betwixt God and us, which was otherwise also most requisite, as well for the better preservation of the integrity of the blessed Trinity in the Godhead, as for the higher advancement of Mankinde by means of that relation which the second Person the Mediator did beare unto his Father. For if the fulnesse of the Godhead should have thus dwelt in any humane person, there should then a fourth Person necessarily have been added unto the Godhead: and if any of the three Persons, beside the second, had been born of a woman; there should have been two Sons in the Trinity. Whereas now the Son of God and the Son of the blessed Virgin, being but one Person, is consequently but one Son; and so no alteration at all made in the relations of the Persons of the Trinity.

Againe, in respect of us, the Apostle sheweth, that for this

very end God sent his own SON made of a Woman; that WE might receive the adoption of SONS: and thereupon maketh this inference; Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a SON, and if a SON, then an HEIRE of God through Christ: intimating thereby, that what relation Christ hath unto God by Nature, wee being found in him have the same by Grace. By nature hee is the onely begotten Son of the Father: but this is the high grace hee hath purchased for us; that as many as received him, to them hee gave power, or priviledge, to become the Sons of God, even to them that beleeve on his Name. For although hee reserve to himselfe the preheminence, which is due unto him in a peculiar manner, of being

the first born among many brethren: yet in him, and for him, the rest likewise by the grace of adoption are all of them accounted as first-bornes.

So God biddeth Moses to say unto Pharaoh:

Israel is my Son, even my first born. And I say unto thee; Let my son goe, that hee may serve mee: and if thou refuse to let him goe; behold, I will slay thy son, even thy first born. And the whole Israel of God, consisting of Jew and Gentile, is in the same sort described by the Apostle to bee the generall assembly and Church of the first born inrolled in heaven. For the same reason that maketh them to bee Sons, to wit, their incorporation into Christ, the self-same also maketh them to be first-bornes: so as (however it fall out by the grounds of our Common Law) by the rule of the Gospel this consequence will still hold true; if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joynt-heires with Christ. And so much for the SON, the Person assuming.

The Nature assumed, is the seed of Abraham, Heb. 2. 16. the seed of David, Rom. 1. 3. the seed of the Woman, Gen. 3. 15. the WORD, the second person of the Trinity, being made FLESH, that is to say, Gods own Son being made of a Woman, and so becomming truely and really the fruite of her wombe. Neither did hee take the substance of our nature onely, but all the properties also and the qualities thereof: so as it might bee said of him, as it was of Elias and the Apostles; that hee was a man subject to like passions as wee are. Yea hee subjected himself in the dayes of his flesh to the same weaknesse which we find in our own fraile nature, and was compassed with like infirmities; and in a word, in all things was made like unto his brethren, sin onely excepted. Wherein yet wee must consider, that as hee took upon him, not an humane Person, but an humane Nature: so it was not requisite hee should take upon him any Personall infirmities, such as are, madnesse, blindenesse, lamenesse, and particular kindes of diseases, which are incident to some onely and not to all men in generall; but those alone which doe accompany the whole Nature of mankinde, such as are hungring, thirsting, wearinesse, griefe, paine, and mortality.

Wee are further here also to observe in this our Melchisedec, that as he had no Mother in regard of one of his natures, so he was to have no Father in regard of the other; but must bee born of a pure and immaculate Virgin, without the help of any man: according to that

which is writen. The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth: A woman shall compasse a man. And this also was most requisite, as for other respects, so for the exemption of the assumed nature from the imputation and pollution of Adams sin. For sin having by that one man entred into the world; every Father becommeth an Adam unto his childe, and conveyeth the corruption of his nature unto all those whom hee doth beget. Therefore our Saviour assuming the substance of our nature, but not by the ordinary way of naturall generation, is thereby freed from all the touch and taint of the corruption of our flesh; which by that means onely is propagated from the first man unto his posterity. Whereupon, hee being made of man but not by man, and so becomming the immediate fruit of the womb, and not of the loyns, must of necessity bee acknowledged to be that HOLY THING, which so was born of so blessed a Mother. Who although shee were but the passive and materiall principle of which that precious flesh was made, and the holy Ghost the agent and efficient; yet cannot the man Christ Jesus thereby bee made the Son of his own Spirit. Because Fathers doe beget their children out of their own substance: the holy Ghost did not so, but framed the flesh of him, from whom himself proceeded, out of the creature of them both, the handmaid of our Lord; whom from thence all generations shall call blessed.

That blessed womb of hers was the Bride-chamber, wherein the holy Ghost did knit that indissoluble knot betwixt our humane nature and his Deity: the Son of God assuming into the unity of his person that which before he was not; and yet without change (for so must God still bee) remaining that which hee was, whereby it came to passe, that this holy thing which was born of her, was indeed and in truth to bee called the SON of GOD. Which wonderfull connexion of two so infinitely differing natures in the unity of one person, how it was there effected; is an inquisition fitter for an Angelicall intelligence, then for our shallow capacity to look after: to which purpose also wee may observe, that in the fabrick of the Ark of the Covenant, the posture of the faces of the Cherubims toward the Mercy-seat (the type of our Saviour) was such, as would point unto us, that these are the things which the Angels desire to

stoope and look into.

And therefore let that satisfaction, which the Angel gave unto the Mother Virgin (whom it did more specially concern to move the question, How may this bee?) content us, The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. For as the former part of that speech may informe us, that with God nothing is impossible: so the latter may put us in minde, that the same God having overshadowed this mystery with his own vaile, wee should not presume with the men of Bethshemesh to look into this Ark of his; lest for our curiosity wee bee smitten, as they were. Onely this wee may safely say, and must firmely hold: that as the distinction of the Persons in the holy Trinity, hindreth not the unity of the Nature of the Godhead, although every Person intirely holdeth his owne incommunicable

property; so neither doth the distinction of the two Natures in our Mediatour any way crosse the unity of his Person, although each nature remaineth intire in it self, and retaineth the properties agreeing thereunto, without any conversion, composition, commixtion, or confusion.