-and misery, the whole of it is éypugov, or unwritien, and therefore uncertain and curious; yea, dvriypagoy, or contrary to what is writ- ten, and therefore false; and dacyoy, or destitute of any solid spiri- tual reason for the confirmation of it.
11. First, It is wnwritten,—nowhere revealed, nowhere mentioned in the Scripture; nor can an instance be given of the faith of any one of the saints of God, either under the old testament or the new, in this matter. The first promise, and consequently first revelation, of the incarnation of the Son of God, was after the entrance of sin, and with respect unto the recovery of the sinner, unto the glory of God. Hereby are all other promises, declarations, and revelations concerning it, as to their end, to be regulated; for that which is the first in any kind, as to an end aimed at, is the rule of all that follows in the same kind. And therefore that which men ground them- selves upon in this opinion is indeed neither argument nor testimony, but conjecture and curiosity. They frame to themselves a notional state of things, which they suppose beautiful and comely, (as who are not enamoured of the fruits of their own imaginations?) and then
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SECT. 10-12. } PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST. 23
assert that it was meet and according unto divine wisdom that God should so order things unto his own glory as they have fancied! Thus they suppose, that, without respect unto sin or grace, God would take unto himself the glory of uniting our nature unto him. Why so? Because they find how greatly and gloriously he is exalted in his so doing. But is this so absolutely from the thing itself, or is it with respect unto the causes, ends, effects, and circumstances of it, as they are stated since the entrance of sin, and revealed in the Scripture? Setting aside the consideration of sin, grace, and re- demption, with what attends them, a man may say, in a better compliance with the harmony and testimony of Scripture, that the assumption of human nature into union with the divine, in the per- son of the Son of God, is no way suited unto the exaltation of divine glory, but rather to beget false notions and apprehensions in men of the nature of the Godhead, and to disturb them in their worship thereof; for the assumption of human nature absolutely is expressed as a great condescension, as it was indeed, Phil. ii. 5-8, and that which served for a season to obscure the glory of the Deity in him that assumed it, John xvii. 5. But the glory of it lies in that which caused it, and that which ensued thereon; for in them lay the highest effects and manifestations of divine love, goodness, wisdom, power, and holiness, Rom. ii. 24-26, And this is plainly revealed in the gospel, if any thing be so. I fear, therefore, that this curious specu- lation, that is thus destitute of any scriptural testimony, is but a pretence of being wise above what is written, and a prying into things which men have not seen, nor are they revealed unto them. 12. Secondly, This opinion is contradictory to the Scripture, and that in places innumerable. Nothing is more fully and perspicu- ously revealed in the Scripture than are the causes and ends of the incarnation of Christ; for whereas it is the great theatre of the glory of God, the foundation of all that obedience which we yield unto him, and of all our expectation of blessedness with him, and being a thing in itself deep and mysterious, it was necessary that it should be so revealed and declared. It were endless to call over all the testimonies which might be produced to this purpose; some few only shall be instanced in. first, therefore, On the part of the Father, the sending of the Son to be incarnate is constantly as- eribed unto his love to mankind, that they might be saved from sin and misery, with a supposition of the ultimate end, or his own glory thereby: John iii. 16, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Rom. iii, 25, “ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation.” Chap. v. 8, “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
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24 THE ORIGIN OF THE [ EXERC. XXVI.
us.” Chap. viii. 3, “ For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” 1 John iv. 9; Gal. iv. 4,5. Secondly, On the part of the Son himself, the — same causes, the same ends of his taking flesh, are constantly assigned : Luke xix. 10, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” 1 Tim.i. 15, “ This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Heb. ii. 14, “ Forasmuch then as the children are par- takers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same ; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Gal. ii, 20; John xviii. 37, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth,’—namely, of the promises of God made unto the fathers concerning his coming; Rom. xv. 8. See Phil. ii, 6-11. And all this is said in pursuit and explication of the jirst promise.concerning him, the sum whereof was, that he should be manifested in the flesh to “ destroy the works of the devil,” as it is expounded 1 John ii. 8. This the whole Scripture constantly and uniformly giveth testimony unto, this is the design and scope of it, the main of what it intends to instruct usin; the contrary where- unto, like the fancying of other worlds, or living wights in the moon or stars, dissolves the whole harmony of it, and frustrates its prin- cipal design, and therefore is more carefully to be avoided than what riseth up in contradiction unto some few testimonies of it. I say, that to ascribe unto God a will or purpose of sending his Son to be incarnate, without respect unto the redemption and salvation of sinners, is to contradict and enervate the whole design of the revelation of God in the Scripture; as also, it riseth up in direct op- position unto particular testimonies without number. Origen ob- served this, Hom. xxiv. in Numer.: “Si non fuisset peccatum, non necesse fuerat Filium Dei agnum fieri; sed mansisset hoe quod in principio erat, Deus Verbum. Verum quoniam introiit peccatum in hune mundum, peccati autem necessitas propitiationem requirit, propitiatio vero non sit nisi per hostiam, necessarium fuit provideri hostiam pro peccato ;’—“ If sin had not been, there would have been no necessity that the Son of God should be made a lamb; but he had remained what he was in the beginning, God the Word. But seeing that sin entered into the world, and steod in need of a pro- pitiation, which could not be but by a sacrifice, it was necessary that a sacrifice for sin should be provided.” So Austin, Serm. viii. de Verbis Apostoli, tom. x., “Quare venit in mundum peccatores salvos facere. Alia causa non fuit quare veniret in mundum.”