16 i "WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH RESPECT [BOOK II.
creation, whereby, out of matter before made and prepared, things were made that which before thej were not, and which of themselves they had no active disposition unto nor concurrence in. So man was created or formed of the dust of the earth, and woman of a rib taken from man. There was a previous matter unto their creation, but such as gave no assistance nor had any active disposition to the production of that particular kind of creature whereinto they were formed by the creating power of God. Such was this act of the Holy Ghost in forming the body of our Lord Jesus Christ; for al- though it was effected by an act of infinite creating power, yet it was formed or made of the substance of the blessed Virgin. That I it should be so was absolutely necessary, — (1.) For the accomplish- I ment of the promises made unto Abraham and David, that the Messiah should be of their seed, and proceed from their loins. (2.) So was it also on the account of the first original promise, that the "seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head:" for the Word was to be "made flesh," John i. 14; to be "made of a woman," Gal, iv. 4; or "made of the seed of David according to the flesh," Rom. i. 3 ; and to take upon him "the seed of Abraham," Heb. ii. 1 6. (3.) To confirm the truth hereof is his genealogy according to the flesh given us by two of the evangelists ; which were neither to the purpose nor true if he were not made of the substance or flesh of the blessed Virgin. (4.) Besides, all our cognation and alliance unto him, whence he was meet to be our Saviour, suffering in the same nature wherein we have sinned, do depend hereon, Heb. ii. 14; for if he had not been made like us in all things, sin only excepted, if he had not been partaker of our nature, there had been no foundation for the imputing that unto us which he did, sufiered, and wrought, Rom. viii. 8, 4. And hence these things are accounted unto us, and cannot be so unto angels, whose nature he did not take upon him, Heb. ii. 16. This, therefore, was the work of the Holy Ghost in reference unto the human nature of Christ in the womb of his mother: By his omnipotent power he formed it of the substance of the body of the holy Virgin, — that is, as unto his body. And hence sundry things do ensue : —
1. That the Lord Christ could not on this account, no, not with Respect unto his human nature only, be said to be the Son of the •Holy Ghost, although he suiDplied the place and virtue of a natural- father in generation; for the relation of filiation dependeth only on and ariseth from a perfect generation, and not on every effect of an efficient cause. When one fire is kindled by another, we do not say that it is the son of that otlier, unless it be very improperly ; much less when a man builds a house do we say that it is his son. There was, therefore, no other relation between the person of the
CHAP. III.] UNTO THE HEAD OF THE NEW CEEATION. 165
Holy Ghost and the human nature of Christ but that of a creator and a creature. And the Lord Christ is, and is called, " The Son of God" with respect only unto the Father and his eternal, ineffable generation, communicating being and subsistence unto him, as the fountain and original of the Trinity. Filiation, therefore, is a per- sonal adjunct, and belongs unto Christ as he was a divine person, and not with respect unto his human nature. But that nature being assumed, ivlioU Christ was the Son of God.
2. That this act of the Holy Ghost, in forming of the body of Christ, differs from the act of the Son in assuming the human nature into personal union with himself: for this act of the Son was not a creating act, producing a being out of nothing, or making any thing by the same power to be what in its own nature it was not ; but it was an ineffable act of love and wisdom, taking the nature so formed by the Holy Ghost, so prepared for him, to be his own in the instant of its formation, and thereby preventing the singular and individual subsistence of that nature in and by itself. So, then, as the creating act of the Holy Ghost, in forming the body of our Lord Jesus Christ in the womb, doth not denominate him to be his father, no, not ac- cording to the human nature, but he is the Son of God ujDon the account of his eternal generation only ; so it doth not denote an as- sumption of that nature into union with himself, nor was he incar- nate. He made the human nature of Christ, body and soul, with, in, and" unto a subsistence in the second person of the Trinity, not [in] his own.
8. It hence also follows that the conception of Christ in the womb, being the effect of a creating act, was not accomplished successively and in process of time, but was perfected in an instant;^ for although the creating acts of infinite power, where the works effected have dis- tinct parts, may have a process or duration of time allotted unto them, as the world was created in six days, yet every part of it that was the object of an especial creating act was instantaneously produced. So was the forming of the body of Christ, with the infusion of a rational soul to quicken it, though it increased afterwards in the womb unto the birth. And as it is probable that this conception was immediate upon the angelical salutation, so it was necessary that nothing of the human nature of Clirist sliould exist of itself antece- dently unto its union with the Son of God : for in the very instant of its formation, and therein, was the "Word made flesh," John i. 14; and the Son of God was "made of a woman," Gal. iv. 4; so that the whole essence of his nature was created in the same instant.