' E" Ti; X'iyii -TTfuirov 'Tfi'TrXu.aic/A to cuy.a, tou xvpiou y,,uaJv V/icroZ XpurroV Iv -rr, finrfec Trii ay'ta; -zccpdvou, xa) fitrd Tccura. ivca^nvai auTa tov &sov Xoyov, xai rr,'j ipu^yiv as vpDU- !ra>|a(rav, dvdh/ua 'ia-Ta. — Concil. Constantinop. ad Origenistas.
166 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH RESPECT [BOOK II.
Thus far the Scriptures go before, and herein it is necessary to assert the forming of the body and soul of Christ by the Holy Spirit. The curious inquiries of some of the schoolmen and others are to be left unto themselves, or rather, to be condemned in them; for what was farther in tliis miraculous operation of tlie Holy Ghost, it seems pur- posely to be hid from us in that expression, AJva/z./j 'T-^iarov I'Triffxidgsi (foi, — " The power of the Most High shall overshadow thee." Under the secret, glorious covert hereof we may learn to adore that holy work here, which we hope to rejoice in and bless God for unto eter- nity. And I suppose, also, that there is in the word an allusion unto the expression of the original acting of the Holy Spirit towards the newly-produced mass of the old creation, whereof we spake before. Then it is said of him that he was ^sn"iD^ as it were " hovering" and " moving" over it for the formation and production of all things liv- ing ; for both the words include in them an allusion unto a covering like that of a fowl over its eggs, communicating, by its cognate warmth and heat, a principle of life unto their seminal virtue.
It remaineth only that we consider how the same work of the conception of Christ is assigned unto the Holy Ghost and to the blessed Virgin; for of her it is said expressly in prophecy, <^1'} "^'^c-S^O, Isa, vii. 14, "A virgin shall conceive," — the same word that is used to express the conception of any other woman. Gen. iv. 1. Hence she is termed by the ancients QsoroKog and Dei genetrix; which last, at least, I wish had been forborne. Compare it with the Scripture, and there will appear an unwarrantable %aivo<pu/ia in it. So Luke i. 81. The words of the angel to her are, IuWt^-^yj h yacrp), %ai ts^'/j v;6v, — "Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son;" where her conception of him is distinguished from her bringing of him forth. And yet in the ancient creed commonly called the Apostles', and generally received by all Christians as a summary of religion, it is said he was " conceived by the Holy Ghost," and only " born of the Virgin Mary." Arts. The same work is assigned to both as causes of a different kind, — unto the Holy Spirit as the active, efficient cause, who by his almighty power produced the effect. And the disputes managed by some of the ancients about " de Spiritu Sancto" and " ecc Spiritu Sancto" were altogether needless ; for it is his creating efficiency that is intended. And his conceiving is ascribed unto the holy Virgin as the passive, material cause ; for his body was formed of her substance, as was before declared. And this conception of Christ was after her solemn espousals unto Joseph, and that for sundry reasons; for, — 1. Under the covering of her marriage to him she was to receive a protection of her spotless innocency. And besides, 2. God provided one that should take care of her and her child in his infancy. And, 8. Hereby, also, was our blessed Saviour
CHAP. III.] UNTO THE HEAD OF THE NEW CREATION. 167
freed from the imputation of an illegitimate birth, until by his own miraculous operations he should give testimony unto his miraculous conception; concerning which before his mother could not have been believed. 4. That he might have one on Avhose account his gene- alogy might be recorded, to manifest the accomplishment of the pro- mise unto Abraham and David ; for the line of a genealogy was not legally continued by the mother only. Hence Matthew gives us his genealogy by Joseph, to whom his mother was legally espoused. And although Luke gives us the true, natural line of his descent, by the progenitors of the blessed Virgin, yet he nameth her not; only mentioning her espousals, he begins with Heli, who was her father, chap. iii. 23. And this is the first thing ascribed peculiarly to the Holy Spirit with respect unto the head of the church, Christ Jesus. From this miraculous creation of the body of Christ, by the imme- diate power of the Holy Ghost, did it become a meet habitation for his holy soul, every way ready and complying with all actings of grace and virtue. We have not only the depravation of our natures in general, but the obliquity of our particular constitutions, to conflict withal. Hence it is that one is disposed to passion, wrath, and anger; another, to vanity and lightness; a third, to sensuality and fleshly pleasures ; and so others to sloth and idleness. And although this disposition, so far as it is the result of our especial constitutions and complexion, is not sin in itself, yet it dwells at the next door unto it, and, as it is excited by the moral pravity of our natures, a continual occasion of it. But the body of Christ being formed pure and exact by the Holy Ghost, there was no disposition or tendency in his constitution to the least deviation from perfect holiness in any kind. The exquisite harmony of his natural temperature made love, meekness, gentleness, patience, benignity, and goodness, natural and cognate unto him, as having an incapacity of such motions as should be subservient unto or compliant with any thing different from them. Hence, secondly, also, although he took on him those infirmities which belong unto our human nature as such, and are inseparable from it until it be glorified, yet he took none of our particular in- firmities which cleave unto our persons, occasioned either by the vice of our constitutions or irregularity in the use of our bodies. Those natural j)assions of our minds which are capable of being the means of affliction and trouble, as grief, sorrow, and the like, he took upon him ; as also those infirmities of nature which are troublesome to the body, as hunger, thirst, weariness, and pain, — yea, the purity of his holy constitution made him more highly sensible of these things than any of the children of men; — but as to our bodily diseases and dis- tempers, which personally adhere unto us, upon the disorder and vice of our constitutions, he was absolutely free from [them].