(3.) And then in manyier of propagation. His was extraordinary alto- gether. Adam was of the earth, neither of man, nor woman ; Eve of man, without a woman ; all other of Adam and Eve ; Christ of a virgin, and without a man. But setting aside his subsistence in the second person, and extraordinary means of propagation, Christ and we are all one ; he had a tme human body and soul, and all things Hke ourselves, sin and the former differences excepted.
Why Christ must be man we have already heard. He became man to be suitable to us in our nature, and to sympathise in all our troubles.
And shall call his name Immanuel. ' He shall call his name Immanuel,' saith the New Testament, Mat. i. 23. That is, he shall be Immanuel indeed, and shall be known to be, and published to be so. Whatsoever hath a name is apparent.* Christ was before he took our flesh ; but he was not called Emmanuel. It did not openly appear that he was God in our nature ; he was not conceived in the womb of a virgin. They before Christ, knew that he should come, but when he was conceived and born, he was then called Emmanuel.
There were divers presences of Christ before he came. He was in the ' bush' as a sign of his presence. He was in the ' ark' as a sign of his presence. He was in the prophets and kings as a type of his presence. He took upon him the shape of a man as a representation of his presence, when he talked with Abraham and the patriarchs. But all this was not * God with us,' in our nature. He took it on him for a time, and laid it aside again. But when he was Emmanuel, and was called and declared so to be, he took on him our nature, never to lay it aside again. He was born in our nature, brought forth in our nature, lived in our nature, died in our nature, was crucified in our nature, became a curse for us in our nature, buried in our nature, rose in our nature, is in heaven in our nature, and for ever will abide there in our nature.
All then- faith before he came in the flesh was in confidence that he should take our flesh in the fulness of time. Now came the time when he was called Immanuel ; and then the word became flesh and took our nature on him.
From hence, that God took our nature on him in the second person, come divers things considerable.
(1.) For, first, it appears tliat he hath dignified and raised our nature above angels, because he hath taken the seed of Abraham and not of the angels ; — a wonderful advancement of our nature, for God to be with us, to marry such a poor nature as ours is ; for the great God of heaven and earth to take dust into the unity of his person. If this may not have a ' behold' before it, I know not what may.
(2.) To join altogether. For the great God of heaven and earth, before whom the angels cover their faces, the mountains tremble, and the earth quakes, to take our flesh and dust into unity of his person, and for such * That is, ' manifested' ('?). — G.
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ends, to save sinful man, and from such misery as eternal misery, from such great enemies, and then to advance him to such great happiness as we are advanced, to take Christ, Emmanuel, in the whole passage of his mediation, and there is ground of admiration indeed.
(3.) But consider it specially in the raising and advancing of our natures to be one with God. Shall God be God* with us in our nature in heaven, and shall we defile our natures that God hath so dignified ? Shall we live like beasts, whom God hath raised above angels ? Let swearers, beastly persons, and profane hypocrites, either alter their courses, or else say they believe not these truths. Shall a man believe God hath taken his nature into unity of his person, and hath raised it above all angels, and can he turn beast, yea, devil incarnate, in opposition of Christ and his cause ? What a shame is this ! Can this be where these things are believed ? A Christian should have high thoughts of himself. What ! shall I defile the nature that God hath taken into unity of his person ?
(4.) And as he hath dignified, and raised, and advanced our nature so highly, so Hkewise he hath infused and put all the riches of grace into our nature ; for all grace is in Christ that a finite nature can be capable of, for Christ is nearest the fountain. Now, the human nature being so near the fountain of all good, that is, God, it must needs be as rich as nature can possibly be capable of. And is not this for our good ? Are not all his riches for our use ?
And therefore seeing our nature is dignified by Emmanuel, and enriched exceedingly by his graces next to infinite — for our human nature is not turned to God as some are conceited ; it is not deified, and so made infinite — yet as much as the creature can be capable of there is in Christ-man, and so shall we defile that nature ?