5. It is true that the soul is not a person, nor the body, but a person is the exurgency of their conjunction : and therefore we do not say that herein the similitude is [to be] urged, for the divine nature of Christ had its own personality antecedent to this union ; nor is the union of his person the union of several parts of the same nature, but the concurrence of several natures in one subsistence.
6. That it is " of necessity that Christ's human nature should of itself constitute a person,'' is urged upon the old account of begging the thing in question. This is that which in the case of Christ we deny, and produce all the proofs before mentioned to make evident the reason of our denial ; but our great masters here say the contrary, and our under- catechists are resolved to believe them. Christ was a true man, because he had the true essence of a man, soul and body, with all their essential properties. A peculiar personality belongeth not to the essence of a man, but to his existence in such a manner. Neither do we deny Christ to have a person as a man, but to have a human person: for the human nature of Christ subsisteth in that which, though it be in itself divine, yet as to that act of sustentation which it gives the human nature, is the subsistence of a man; on which account the subsistence of the human nature of Christ is made more noble and excellent than that of any other man whatever.
And this is the whole plea of our catechists from reason, that where- to they so much pretend, and which they give the pre-eminence unto in their attempts against the deity of Christ, as the chief, if not the only engine they have to work by. And if they be thus weak in the main body of their forces, certainly that reserve which they pretend from Scripture, — whereof, indeed, they have the meanest pretence and show that ever any of the sons of men had who were necessitated to make a plea from it in a matter of so great concernment as that now under consideration, — will quickly disappear. Thus, then, they proceed: —
DEITY OF CHRIST PROVED, ETC. 213
Q. Declare, also, how it is repugnant to Scripture that Christ hath a divine nature.
A. First, Because that the Scripture proposeth to us one only God by nature, whom we have above declared to be the Father of Christ. Secondly, The same Scripture testifieth that Jesus Christ was by nature a man, whereby it taketh from him any divine nature. Thirdly', Because whatever divine thing Christ hath, the Scripture plainly teacheth that he had it by a gift of the Father, Matt, xxviii. 18 ; Phil. ii. 9; 1 Cor. xv. 27; John v. 19, x. 25. Lastly, Because the same Scripture most evidently showing that Jesus Christ did not vindicate and ascribe all his divine works to himself, or to any divine nature of his own, but to his Father, makes it plain that divine nature in Christ was altogether in vain, and would have been without any cause.'
And this is that wliicli our catechists have to pretend from Scrip- ture against the deity of Christ, concluding that any such divine nature in him would be superfluous and needless, — themselves being judges. In the strength of what here they have urged, they set themselves to evade the evidence of near fifty express texts of Scrip- ture, by themselves produced and insisted on, giving undeniable tes- timony to the truth they oppose. Let, then, what they have brought forth be briefly considered: —
1. The Scripture doth indeed propose unto us "one only God by nature," and we confess that that only true God is the " Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ; " but we say that the Son is partaker of the Father's nature, of the same nature with him, as being his proper Son, and, by his own testimony, one with him. He is such a Son (as hath been declared) as is begotten of the essence of his Father ; and is therefore God, blessed for ever. If the Father be God by nature, so is the Son ; for he is of the same nature with the Father.
2. To conclude that Christ is not God because he is man, is plainly and evidently to beg the thing in question. We evidently disco- ver in the person of Christ properties that are inseparable adjuncts of a divine nature, and such also as no less properly belong to a human nature. From the asserting of the one of these to conclude to a denial of the other, is to beg that which they are not able to dig for.
8. There is a twofold communication of the Father to the Son: — (L) By eternal generation. So the Son receives his personality, and therein his divine nature, from him who said unto him, " Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee." And this is so far from dis-
1 " Doce etiara, qui id repugnet Scriptures Christum habere divinam naturam. — Primum, ea ratione, quod Scriptura nobis unum tantum natura Deum pvoponat, qncra Buperius deraonstravimus esse Christi I'atrem. Secundo, eadcm Scriptura testatur, Jesum Christum natura esse hominem, ut superius ostensum est ; quo ipso illi naturam adimit divinam. Tertio, quod quicquid divinura Christus habe.at, Scriptura cum Patria done habei'e aperte doceat, Matt, xxviii. 18; Phil. ii. 9; 1 Cor. xv. 27; J elm v. 19, X. 25. Denique cum cadom Scriptura apertissime ostendat, Jcsum Christum omnia sua facta divina non sibi, nee alicui naturis divinaa suas, sed Patri sue vindicare solitimi fuisse, planum facit, earn divinam in Christo naturam prorsus otiosam, ac sine orani causa futuram fuisse."