These things may be safely affinned, and ought to be firmly be- lieved, as the sense of the Holy Ghost in those expressions: " He took on him the seed of Abraham " — " He took on him the form of a servant ; " and the like. And who can conceive the condescension of divine goodness, or the actings of divine wisdom and power therein ?
II. That which followeth hereon, is the union of the two natures in the same person, or the hypostatical union. This is included and asserted in a multitude of divine testimonies. Isa. vii. 14, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Imman- uel," as Matt. i. 23. He who was conceived and born of the virgin was Immanuel, or God with us ; that is, God manifest in the flesh, by the union of his two natures in the same person. Isa. ix. 6, " Unto us a child is bom, unto us a son is given : and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." That the same person should be " the mighty God " and a " child bom," is neither conceivable nor possible, nor can be true, but by the union of the divine and human natures in the same person. So he said of himself, " Before Abraham was, I am," John viii. 58. That he, the same person who then spake unto the Jews, and as a man was little more than thirty years of age, should also be before Abraham, undeniably confirms the union of another nature, in the same person with that wherein he spoke those words, and without which they could not be true. He had not only another nature which did exist before Abraham, but the same individual per- son who then spoke in the human nature did then exist. See to the same purpose, John i. 14; Acts xx. 28; Rom. ix. 5; Col. ii. 9; 1 John iii. 16.
This union the ancient church affirmed to be made arplvrug, " with- out any change" in the person of the Son of God, which the divine nature is not subject unto; — aBiaipsrcui;, with a distinction of natures, but "without any division" of them by separate subsistences; — dffvy^vTojg, "without mixture" or confusion; — d^uplcrojg, "without
THE HYPOSTATICAL UNIOX. 227
separation" or distance; and ouc/wSws, "substantially/' because it was of two substances or essences in the same person, in opposition unto all accidental union, as the "fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily."^
These expressions were found out and used by the ancient church to prevent the fraud of those who corrupted the doctrine of the per- son of Christ, and (as all of that sort ever did, and yet continue so to do) obscured their pernicious sentiments under ambiguous expres- sions. And they also made use of sundry terms which they judged significant of this great mystery, or the incarnation of the Son of God. Such are Ifo-apjcwfT/g, "incarnation;" hcM/Mdrugig, "embodying;" hav- dpdj'Xi^aig, " inhumanation ;' 7\ ^sSTroriKri fT/5>],a/a, xa/ Tapovaia, 57 oiKovo/jj/a, to the same purpose; '^ dia, aapxog 6,a/A/a, "his convei'sation in or by the flesh ;" '/} dia avdpuToTrirog favsputsig, " his manifestation by hu- manity;" 7] iXrostg, "the advent;" t] xsvuffig, "the exinanition," or humiliation; rj tou xpiffrov kiriipavita, "the appearance'"' or manifesta- tion " of Christ;" r^ cfvyxard(3agig, " the condescension." Most of these expressions are taken from the Scripture, and are used therein with respect unto this mystery, or some concernments of it. Wherefore, as our faith is not confined unto any one of these words or terms, so as that we should be obliged to believe not only the things intended, but also the manner of its expression in them ; so, in as far as they explahi the thing intended according unto the mind of the Holy Ghost in the Scripture, and obviate the senses of men of corrupt minds, they are to be embraced and defended as useful helps in teaching the truth.
That whereby it is most usually declared in the "wi'itings of the ancients, is ^"■f"^ hvoJaecag, " gratia unionis," the " grace of union ;" — which form of words some manifesting themselves strangers unto, do declare how little conversant they are in their Avritings. Now, it is not any habitual inherent grace residing subjectively in the person or human nature of Christ that is intended, but things of another nature.
1. The cause of this union is expressed in it. This is the free grace and favour of God towards the man Christ Jesus — predestinat- ing, designing, and taking him into actual union with the person of the Son, without respect unto, or foresight of, any precedent dignity or merit in him, 1 Pet. i. 20.
Hence is that of Austin, " Ea gratia fit ab initio fidei suoe homo quicunque Christianus, qua gratia homo ille ab initio factus est Chris- tus," De Praedest. Sanct., cap. xv. For whereas all the inherent grace of the human nature of Christ, and all the holy obedience which pro- ceeded from it, was consequent in order of nature unto this union, and an effect of it, they could in no sense be the meritorious or pro- curing causes of it ; — it was of gi-ace.