168 WOEK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN AND ON [BOOK II.
CHAPTER IV.
WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN AND ON THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST.
The actual sanctification of the human nature of Christ by the Holy Ghost — On what ground spotless and free from sin — Positively endowed with all grace — Original holiness and sanctification in Christ, how carried on by the Spirit . — Exercise of grace in Christ by the rational faculties of his soul — Their im- provement— Wisdom and knowledge, how increased objectively in the human nature of Christ — The anointing of Christ by the Holy Spirit with power and gifts — Collated eminently on him at his baptism — John iii. 34 explained and vindicated — Miraculous works wrought in Christ by the Holy Ghost — Christ guided, conducted, and supported by the Spirit in his whole work — ]\Iark i. 12 opened — How the Lord Christ offered himself unto God through the eternal Spirit — His sanctification thereunto — Graces acting eminently therein — Love, zeal, submission, faith, and truth, all exercised therein — The work of the Spirit of God towards Christ whilst he was in the state of the dead; in his resurrection and glorification — The office of the Spirit to bear witness unto Christ, and its discharge — The true way and means of coming ■unto the knowledge of Christ, with the necessity thereof — Danger of mis- takes herein — What it is to love Christ as we ought,
Secondly, The human nature of Christ being thus formed in the womb by a creating act of the Holy Sphit, was in the instant of its conception sanctified, and filled with grace according to the measure of its receptivity. Being not begotten by natural genera- tion, it derived no taint of origmal sin or corruption from Adam, that being the only way and means of its propagation; and being not in the loins of Adam morally before the fall, the promise of his incarnation being not given until afterward, the sin of Adam could on no account be imputed unto him, All sin Avas charged on him as our mediator and surety of the covenant; but on his own ac- count he was obnoxious to no charge of sin, original or actual. His nature, therefore, as miraculously created in the manner described, was absolutely innocent, spotless, and free from sin, as was Adam in the day wherein he was created. But this was not all ; it was by the Holy Spirit positively endowed with all grace. And hereof it was afterward only capable of farther degrees as to actual exercise, but not of any new kind of grace. And this work of sanctification, or the original infusion of all grace into the human nature of Christ, was the immediate work of the Holy Spirit; which was necessary unto him : for let the natural faculties of the soul, the mind, will, and affections, be created pure, innocent, undefiled, — as they cannot be otherwise immediately created of God, — yet there is not enough to enable any rational creature to live to God ; much less was it all that was in Jesus Christ. There is, moreover, required hereunto super-
CHAP. IV.] THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 169
natural endowments of grace, superadded unto the natural faculties of our souls. If we live unto God, there must be a principle of spi- ritual life in us, as well [as] of life natural. This was the image of God in Adam, and was wrought in Christ by the Holy Spirit : Isa. xi. 1-3, " There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: and the Si^irit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord." It is granted that the following work of the Spirit in and upon the Lord Christ, in the execution of his office as the king and head of the church, is included in these words; but his first sanctifying work in the womb is principally mtended : for these expressions, "A rod out of the stem of Jesse," and " A Branch out of his roots," with respect whereunto the Spirit is said to be com- municated unto him, do plainly regard his incarnation ; and the soul of Christ, from the first moment of its infusion, was a subject cap- able of a fulness of grace, as unto its habitual residence and in-being, though the actual exercise of it was suspended for a while, imtil the organs of the body were fitted for it. This, therefore, it re- ceived by this first unction of the Spirit. Hence, from his concep- tion, he was "holy," as well as "harmless" and "undefiled," Heb. vii. 26; a "holy thing," Luke i. 35; radically filled with a perfection of grace and wisdom, inasmuch as the Father " gave him not the Spirit by measure," John iii. 34. See to this purpose our commen- tary on Heb. i. 1 ; see also John i. 1 4-1 7.
Thirdly, The Spirit carried on that work whose foundation he had thus laid. And two things are to be here diligently observed : —