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law, expressly distinguishes him from the common condition of mankind; so that he is a real man, and yet free from all fault and corruption. They betray their ignorance in arguing that, if Christ be perfectly immaculate, and was begotten of the seed of Mary, by the secret operation of the Spirit, then it follows that there is no impurity in the seed of women, but only in that of men. For we do not represent Christ as perfectly immaculate, merely because he was born of the seed of a woman unconnected with any man, but because he was sanctified by the Spirit, so that his generation was pure and holy, such as it would have been before the fall of Adam. And it is a fixed maxim with us, that whenever the Scripture mentions the purity of Christ, it relates to a real humanity; because to assert the purity of Deity would be quite unnecessary. The sanctification also, of which he speaks in the seventeenth chapter of John,(z) could have no reference to the Divine nature. Nor do we, as they pretend, imagine two kinds of seed in Adam, notwithstanding Christ was free from all contagion. For the generation of man is not naturally and originally impure and corrupt, but only accidentally so, in consequence of the fall. Therefore we need not wonder, that Christ, who was to restore our integrity, was exempted from the general corruption. But what they urge on us as an absurdity, that if the Word of God was clothed with flesh, it was therefore confined within the narrow prison of an earthly body, is mere impudence; because although the infinite essence of the Word is united in one person with the nature of man, yet we have no idea of its incarceration or confinement. For the Son of God miraculously descended from heaven, yet in such a manner that he never left heaven; he chose to be miraculously conceived in the womb of the Virgin, to live on the earth, and to be suspended on the cross; and yet he never ceased to fill the universe, in the same manner as from the beginning.

(*) John xvii. 19.

CHAPTER XIV.

The Union of the Two Natures constituting the Person of the Mediator.

WHEN it is said that "the Word was made flesh," (a) this is not to be understood as if the word were transmuted into flesh, or blended with flesh. Choosing from the womb of the Virgin a temple for his residence, he who was the son of God, became also the Son of man, not by a confusion of substance, but by a unity of person. For we assert such a connection and union of the divinity with the humanity, that each nature retains its properties entire, and yet both together constitute one Christ. If any thing among men can be found to resemble so great a mystery, man himself appears to furnish the most apposite similitude; being evidently composed of two substances, of which however neither is so confounded with the other, as not to retain its distinct nature. For the soul is not the body, nor is the body the soul. Wherefore that is predicated separately of the soul, which cannot be at all applied to the body. On the contrary, that is predicated of the body, which is totally incompatible with the soul. And that is predicated of the whole man, which cannot with propriety be understood either of the soul or of the body alone. Lastly, the properties of the soul are transferred to the body, and the properties of the body to the soul; yet he that is composed of these two parts is no more than one man. Such forms of expression signify that there is in man one person composed of two distinct parts; and that there are two different natures united in him to constitute that one person. The Scriptures speak in a similar manner respecting Christ. They attribute to him, sometimes those things which are applicable merely to his humanity; sometimes those things which belong peculiarly to his divinity; and not unfrequently those things which comprehend both his natures, but are incompatible with either of them alone. And this union of the two natures in

(a) John i. 14,

Christ they so carefully maintain, that they sometimes attribute to one what belongs to the other; a mode of expression which the ancient writers called a communication of properties.

II. These things might be liable to objection, if the Scripture did not abound with passages, which prove that none of them is of human invention. What Christ asserted concerning himself, "Before Abraham was, I am," (a) was very inapplicable to his humanity. I am aware of the cavil with which erroneous spirits would corrupt this passage,—that he was before all ages, because he was even then foreknown as the Redeemer, as well in the decree of the Father, as in the minds of the faithful. But as he clearly distinguishes the day of his manifestation from his eternal essence, and professedly urges his antiquity, in proof of his possessing an authority in which he excels Abraham, there is no doubt that he challenges to himself what is peculiar to the Deity. Paul asserts him to be "the first-born of every creature, that he is before all things, and that by him all things consist:" (b) he declares himself, that he "had a glory with the Father before the world was," (c) and that he co-operates with the Father. (d) These things are equally incompatible with humanity. It is certain that these, and such as these, are peculiar attributes of divinity. But when he is called the "servant" of the Father, (e) when it is stated that he "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man;" (ƒ) that he seeks not his own glory; that he knows not the last day; that he speaks not of himself; that he does not his own will; that he was seen and handled; (h) all this belongs solely to his humanity. For as he is God, he is incapable of any augmentation whatever, he does all things for his own glory, and there is nothing concealed from him; he does all things according to the decision of his own will, and is invisible and intangible. And yet these things are ascribed not to his human nature separately, but to himself, as though they belonged to the person of the Mediator. But the communication of the properties is exemplified in the assertion of Paul that "God purchased the Church with his own

(a) John viii. 58.

(d) John v. 17.

(b) Col. i. 15.
(e) Isaiah xlii. 1.

(c) John xvii. 5.

(f) Luke ii. 52.

(k) John viii. 50. Mark xiii. 32. John xiv. 10. vi. 38. Luke xxiv. 39.

blood," (i) and that "the Lord of glory" was "crucified." (k) Also in what John says, that they had "handled the Word of life." (1) God has no blood, he is not capable of suffering, or of being touched with hands; but since he, who was at once the true God and the man Christ Jesus, was crucified and shed his blood for us, those things which were performed in his human nature are improperly, yet not without reason, transferred to the divinity. There is a similar example of this, where John teaches us, that "God laid down his life for us." (m) There also the property of the humanity is transferred to the other nature. Again, when Christ, while he still lived on the earth, said, “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven:" (n) as man, and in the body which he had assumed, he certainly was not at that time in heaven, but because he was both God and man, on account of the union of both natures, he attributed to one what belonged to the other.

III. But the clearest of all the passages declarative of the true substance of Christ are those which comprehend both the natures together; such as abound in the Gospel of John. For it is not with exclusive reference to the Deity or the humanity, but respecting the complex person composed of both, that we find it there stated; that he hath received of the Father power to forgive sins, to raise up whom he will, to bestow righteousness, holiness, and salvation; that he is appointed to be the Judge of the living and the dead, that he may receive the same honour as the Father; (0) finally, that he is "the light of the world," "the good shepherd," "the only door," "the true vine." (p) For with such prerogatives was the Son of God invested at his manifestation in the flesh; which although he enjoyed with the Father before the creation of the world, yet not in the same manner or on the same account; and which could not be conferred on a mere man. In the same sense also it is reasonable to understand the declaration of Paul, that after the last judgment Christ "shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father." (q) Now the kingdom of

(i) Acts xx. 28.
(m) 1 John iii. 16.

(k) 1 Cor. ii. 8.

(n) John iii. 13.

( p) John ix. 5. x. 9, 11. xv. 1.

(?) 1 John i. 1.

(9) John i. 29. v. 21-23. (9) 1 Cor. xv. 24,

the Son of God, which had no beginning, will never have any end. But as he concealed himself under the meanness of the flesh, and humbled himself by assuming the form of a servant, and laid aside his external majesty in obedience to the Father, (r) and after having undergone this humiliation was at length crowned with glory and honour, and exalted to supreme dominion, (s) that before him "every knee should bow;" (t) so he shall then surrender to the Father that name and crown of glory, and all that he has received from the Father, "that God may be all in all." (v) For why has power and dominion been given to him, but that the Father may rule us by his hand? In this sense he is also said to sit at the right hand of the Father. But this is only temporary, till we can enjoy the immediate contemplation of the Deity. And here it is impossible to excuse the error of the ancients, who, for want of sufficient attention to the person of the Mediator, obscure the genuine sense of almost all the doctrine which we have in the Gospel of John, and involve themselves in many difficulties. Let this maxim, then, serve us as a key to the true sense; that those things which relate to the office of the Mediator, are not spoken simply of his divine or of his human nature. Christ therefore, will reign, till he comes to judge the world, forasmuch as he connects us with the Father as far as is compatible with our infirmity. But when we shall participate the glory of heaven, and see God as he is, then having fulfilled the office of Mediator, he will cease to be the ambassador of the Father, and will be content with that glory which he enjoyed before the creation of the world. Nor is the title of Lord peculiarly applied to the person of Christ in any other respect, than as it marks an intermediate station between God and us. This is the meaning of that expression of Paul, "One God, of whom are all things; and one Lord, by whom are all things:" (w) namely, to whom the Father hath committed a temporary dominion, till we shall be admitted to the immediate presence of his Divine majesty; which will be so far from sustaining any diminution by his surrender of the kingdom to the Father, that it will exhibit itself in far superior splendour. For then (t) Phil. ii. 10.

(r) Phil. ii. 8.
(2) 1 Cor. xv. 28.

($) Heb. ii, 7.
(w) 1 Cor. viii. 6.

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