The dispensation and work of the Holy Ghost in this new crea- tion respect, first. The Head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ, in his liuman nature, as it was to be, and was, united unto the person of the Son of God. Secondly, It concerns the members of that mystical body in all that belongs unto them as such. And under these two heads we shall consider them.
160 WORK OF THE HOLT SPIRIT WITH RESPECT [BOOK TI.
First, therefore, we are to inquire what are the operations of the Holy Ghost in reference unto Jesus Christ, the Head of the church. And these were of two sorts: — I. Such as whereof the person of Christ in his human nature was the immediate object. II. Such as he performs towards others on his behalf; that is, witli direct respect unto his person and office.
I. But yet, before we enter upon the first sort of his worlcs which we shall begin withal, an objection of seeming weight and difficulty must be removed out of our way; which I shall the rather do be- cause our answer unto it will make the whole matter treated of the more plain and famihar unto us. It may, therefore, be, and it is objected, " That Avhereas the human nature of Christ is assigned as the immediate object of these operations of the Holy Ghost, and that nature was immediately, inseparably, and undividedly united unto the person of the Son of God, there doth not seem to be any need, nor indeed room, for any such operations of the Spirit; for could not the Son of God himself, in his own person, perform all things requisite both for the forming, supporting, sanctifying, and preserv- ing of his own nature, without the especial assistance of the Holy Ghost ? nor is it easy to be understood how an immediate work of the Holy Ghost should be interposed, in the same person, between the one nature and the other." And this seeming difficulty is vehe- mently pressed by the Socinians, who think to entangle our whole doctrine of the blessed Trinity and incarnation of the Son of God thereby. But express testimonies of Scripture, with the clear and evident analogy of faith, will carry us easily and safely through this seeming difficulty. To which end we may observe, that, —
1. The only singidar immediate act of the person of the Son on the human nature was the assumption of it into subsistence with himself Herein the Father and the Spirit had no interest nor con- currence, it fMYi %aT evdoyJav Kai (SovXrisiv, " but by ajDprobation and consent," as Damascen speaks: for the Father did not assume the human nature, he was not incarnate ; neither did the Holy Spirit do so; but this was the peculiar act and work of the Son. See John i. 14; Kom. i. 8; Gal. iv. 4; Phil. ii. 6, 7; Heb. ii. 14, 16; which places, with many others to the same purpose, I have elsewhere ex- pounded, and vindicated from the exceptions of the Socinians.
2. That the only necessary consequent of this assumption of the human nature, or the incarnation of the Son of God, is the personal union of Christ, or the inseparable subsistence of the assutned na- ture in the person of the Son. This was necessary and indissoluble, so that it was not impeached nor shaken in the least by the tem- porary dissolution of that nature by the separation of the soul and body: for the union of the soul and body in Christ did not consti-
CHAP. III.] UNTO THE HEAD OF THE NEW CREATION. 161
tute him a person, that the dissolution of them should destroy his personality ; but he was a person by the uniting of both unto the Son of God.
S. That aU other actings of God in the person of the Son towards the human nature were voluntary, and did not necessarily ensue on the union mentioned ; for there was no transfusion of the properties of one nature into the other, nor real physical communication of di- vine essential excellencies unto the humanity. Those who seem to contend for any such thing resolve all at last into a true assignation by way of predication, as necessary on the union mentioned, but con- tend not for a real transfusion of the properties of one nature into the other. But these communications were voluntary. Hence were those temporary dispensations, when, under his great trial, the human nature complained of its desertion and dereliction by the divine. Matt. xxviL 46 ; for'this forsaking was not as to personal union, or necessary subsistence and supportment, but as to voluntary communications of light and consolation. Hence himself declares that the human nature was not the residential subject of omnisciency ; for so he speaks, Mark xiii. 32, " But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." For the exposition given by some of the ancients, that the Lord Christ speaks not this absolutely, but only " that he knew it not to declare it unto them," is imworthy of him; for no more did the Father so know it, seeing he hath not declared it. But this was the opinion only of some of them ; the more advised were otherwise minded. He^ speaks of himself with respect unto his human nature only, and thereunto all communications were voluntary. So after his ascension, God gave him that revelation that he made to the apostle. Rev. i. 1. The human nature, therefore, however inconceiv- ably advanced, is not the subject of infinite, essentially divine pro- perties ; and the actings of the Son of God towards it, consequential unto its assumption, and that indissoluble subsistence in its union Avhich ensued thereon, are voluntary.