BOOK 4. THE INCARNATION.
CHAPTER 1.
4.1.2. Of the Conception of Christ.
Of the Conception of Christ.
The conception of Christ was the conclusion of the angel's message: no sooner had the virgin said, "Be it to me according to thy word," but according to that word it was: immediately the Holy Ghost overshadowed her, and forms our Saviour in her womb: now, Christians! now was the time of love, especially if we relate to his conception and birth, well may we say, Now was it that the day brake up, that the sun arose, that darkness vanished, that wrath and anger gave place to favour and salvation: now was it that free grace came down from heaven, thousands of angels waiting on her; the very clouds part (as it were) to give her way; the earth springs to welcome her; floods clap their hands for joy; the heavenly hosts sing as she goes along, "Glory to God in the highest, peace be upon earth, good will towards men." Truth and righteousness go before her, peace and prosperity follow after her, pity and mercy waits on either hand, and when she first sets her foot on the earth, she cries, "A Jesus, a Saviour, hear, ye sons of men: the Lord hath sent me down to bring you news of a Jesus; grace and peace be unto you, I will live with you in this world, and you shall live with me in the world to come." O here was blessed news! why, this is gospel, pure gospel, this is the glad tidings; free grace proclaims a Jesus: and a Jesus is made up (as it were) all of free grace: O what eternal thanks do we owe to the eternal God? If there had not been a Jesus, (to borrow that expression) made all of grace, of grace itself, we could never had dealing with God: O how may we say with the angels, "Glory to God, blessed be God for Jesus Christ."
But in this conception of Christ are so many wonders, that ere we begin to speak them, we may stand amazed, "without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh," 1 Tim. iii. 16. Say, Is it not a wonder, a mystery, a great mystery, without all controversy, That the Son of God should be made of a woman, even made of that woman, which was made by himself? Is it not a wonder, that her womb then, and, that the heavens now, should contain him whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain? Concerning this conception of Christ, I shall speak a little, and but a little. What man can conceive much of this conception, which was a conception without the help of man? Our greatest light we borrow from the angel, who describes it thus, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee," Luke i. 35.
Out of these words, observe, 1. The agent or efficient. 2. The fruit or effect.
1. The agent or efficient cause of Christ's conception is the Holy Ghost. This agrees with that speech of the angel to Joseph, "That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost," Matth. i.20. Here it may be demanded, why the conception of Christ should be ascribed to the Holy Ghost, which is common to all the actions in the trinity? I answer, not to exclude the rest, but first to show it was the free grace of God, which is often termed, "The Holy Ghost." Because the Father and the Son effected it by the Holy Ghost, so was it his work immediately, and in a special manner; good reason have we to be thankful to all the three Persons, to the Father for ordaining this garment, to the Holy Ghost for wearing it, to the Son for wearing it, to the whole Diety for clothing us with it, and making us righteous by it--Neither yet is the Holy Ghost Christ's father, he did not beget him, but form him: he did not minister matter from his own substance whereof Christ was made, but took a part of human nature from the virgin, and of that he made the body of Christ within her: away with all gross opinions and old heresies! this conception of Christ was not by any carnal effusion of seminal humour, but by way of manufacture, i.e. by handy-work, or operation, or virtue of the Holy Ghost; or else by the energetical command and ordination of the Holy Ghost, or else by the benediction and blessing of the Holy Ghost, whereby that part of the virgin's blood or seed whereof the body of Christ was to be framed, was so cleansed and sanctified, that in it there should be neither spot nor stain of original pollution.
2. The fruit or effect was the framing of Christ's manhood, in which we may observe (a). The matter and, (b). The manner.
(a). For the matter observe we the matter of the body, and of the soul of Christ.
The matter of the body of Christ, it was the very flesh and blood of the virgin, "He was made of a woman," saith the apostle. Gal. iv. 4. i.e. of the flesh and blood, and substance of the woman, "And he was made of the seed of David, (saith the apostle) according to the flesh," Rom. i. 3. Otherwise he could not have been the son of David according to the flesh; and if it be true which the philosophers say, "That the seed of the man doth not fall into the substance of the child, but only doth dispose the seed of the woman (as a workman frameth and disposeth his work) to make the same into the form of a man: Why then, I know not wherein the conception of Christ should differ in the matter at all from our conception; save only in the agent, or worker of his substance, who was the Holy Ghost. The matter of substance of the soul of Christ was not derived from the soul of the virgin, as a part thereof; but it was made as the souls of other men be, i.e. of nothing, by the power of God; and so infused into the body by the hand of God, but of these things (of his body and soul, and human nature) we shall speak more largely in the next section.
(b). For the manner of framing Christ's human nature it was miraculous; the angel ascribes two actions to the Holy Ghost in this great work, the one to come upon the virgin, the other to overshadow her:--
(i). By the first is signified the extraordinary work of the Holy Ghost in fashioning the human nature of Christ, as it was said of Samson, "The Spirit of the Lord came upon him," Judges xiv. 6. i.e. The Holy Ghost inspired him with an extraordinary strength; so the Spirit of the Lord came upon her, i.e. The Holy Ghost wrought in her an extraordinary way. As for instance, in ordinary generation our substance and parts are formed successively by degrees, as first the seminal humours becomes an embyro, then a body inorganical, then are fashioned the liver, heart, and brain, and then the rest one after another; and it is at least forty days before the body of a child be fully formed: now, it was otherwise with the body of Christ, for in the very instant of his conception he was made perfect in body and soul, void of sin, and full of grace, in the very instant of his conception he was perfectly framed, and instantly united into the eternal word, perfect God, and perfect man. Surely this was extraordinary, and this is the property of the Holy Ghost, subito operari, to work instantly and perfectly, "As soon as ever the flesh was conceived, it was presently united and made the flesh of the Son of God." Aug. L. de fide ad et C. 18. It was suddenly made, perfectly made, holily made.
(ii). The second action ascribed to the Holy Ghost, is adumbration or overshadowing of the virgin. This teacheth us that we should not search over much into this great mystery, alas! it is too high for us; if the course of ordinary generation be a secret, how past all comprehension is this extraordinary operation! The Holy Ghost did cast a shadow over the virgin, and withal a shadow over this mystery; why should we seek a clear light, where God himself will have a shadow? "I know the word was made flesh, (saith Chrysostom hom. 5.) "but how he was made, I know not."
First Use. In way of confutation, this word conception is the bane of divers heresies:--
(a). That of the Manichee, who held he had no true body; if so, as one says well, that had been virgo decipiel, not concipiet, rather a deceiving of us, than a conceiving of him.
(b). That of the Valentinian revived lately in the Anabaptist, who hold, that he had a true body, but made in heaven, and sent into the virgin here on earth; and if so, that had been virgo recipiet not concipiet, rather a receiving, than conceiving; yet I cannot but wonder how confidently the Anabaptists tell us. That the flesh of Christ came down from heaven, and passed through the virgin Mary as water through a conduit pipe, without taking any substance from her; their objections are raised out of these texts.--
(i) "No man ascendeth into heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven," John iii. 13. I answer,
- The speech must be understood, firstly in respect of his Godhead, which may be said in some sort to descend, in that it was made manifest in the manhood here on earth.
- This speech may be understood truly of the whole person of Christ, to whom the properties of each nature (in respect of the communication of properties) may be fitly ascribed; but this doth no way prove that his flesh which he assumed on earth, descended from heaven.
(ii). "The first man is of the earth, earthly: the second man is the Lord from heaven,--heavenly," 1 Cor. xv. 47, 48. I answer,
- This holds forth that Christ was heavenly minded, as sometimes he told the Jews, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world;" Christ was not earthly minded, or swayed with the lusts of the flesh, or any way earthly affected; as sometimes he could tell his apostles, "Ye are not of the world," John viiL 23. and xv. 19. So much more might he say of himself, that he was not of this world, but his conversation was in heaven. Or,
- This holds forth that Christ was heavenly, or from heaven in respect of the glorious qualities which he received after his resurrection; and not in respect of the substance of his body, many glorious qualities was Christ endowed with after he was raised (I shall not dispute them) which he had not before, and in respect of these he might be called heavenly, or from heaven.
- This holds forth that Christ also was in some sort heavenly, or from heaven in his human nature, in that the human nature was united to the divine, and withal in that the human nature was formed by the Holy Ghost: so John's baptism is said to be from heaven, though neither he, nor the water wherewith he baptised descended from heaven, but because he received it from God who is in heaven. Christ was conceived (as you heard) by the Holy Ghost, and in that regard his generation was divine and heavenly, or from heaven.
Second Use. In way of comfort and encouragement, Christ was thus conceived that he might sanctify our conceptions: as the first Adam was the root of all corruption, so is the second Adam the root of all sanctification: Christ went as far to clean us, as ever Adam did to defile us. What? were our very conceptions defiled by Adam? In the first place, Christ takes course for this; you see he is conceived by the Holy Ghost, and he was not idle while he was in the womb: for even then and there he eat out the core of corruption that cleaved close to our defiled natures: so that God will not account evil of that nature that is become the nature of his own dear Son. O the condescensions of our Jesus! O that ever he would be conceived in the womb of a virgin! O that he would run through the contumelies of our sordid nature, that he would not refuse that which we ourselves are in some sort ashamed of! Some think it a reason why the Anabaptists, and some others run into such fancies, and deny this conception of Christ, only to decline those foul indignities (as they take them) for the great God of heaven to undergo; but certainly this was for us, and for our sakes; and therefore far be it from us to honour him the less, because he laid down his honour for our sakes. No, no, let us honour him more, and love him more: the lower he came for us, the dearer and dearer let him be unto us: consider, in all these transactions, Christ was carrying on the great work of our salvation, otherwise he had never been conceived, never had assumed to his person human nature, never had been man.