BOOK 4. THE INCARNATION.
CHAPTER 2.
4.2.2. Of Considering Jesus in that Respect.
Of Considering Jesus in that Respect.
Let us consider Jesus carrying on this great work of our salvation at his first coming or incarnation. It is not enough to study, and know these great mysteries, but, according to the measure of knowledge we have, we must muse, and meditate, and ponder, and consider of them. Now this consideration brings Christ nearer and closer to the soul; consideration gathers up all the long-fore passed acts and monuments of Christ, and finds a deal of sweetness and power to come flowing from them; consideration fastens Christ more strongly to the soul, and as it were rivets the soul to Jesus Christ, and fastens him in the heart; a soul that truly considers and meditates of Christ, thinks and talks of nothing else but Christ; it takes hold and will not let him go. "I will keep to thee, (saith the soul in meditation) for thou art my life," Prov. iv. 13. Why thus, O my soul, consider thou of Christ, and of what he did for thee when he was incarnate? And that thou mayest not confound thyself in thy meditations, consider a part of these particulars. As,:--
1. Consider Jesus in his forerunner, and the blessed tidings of his coming in the flesh: now the long looked for time drew near, a glorious angel is sent from heaven, arid he comes with an olive branch of peace. First, He presents himself to Zachary, and then to Mary; to her imparts the message, on which God sent him into this nether world, "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus," Luke i. 31. Till now human nature was less than that of angels, but by the incarnation of the word, it was to be exalted above the cherubims. What sweet news? What blessed tidings was this message? The decree of old must now be accomplished, and an angel proclaim it upon earth: hear, O ye sons of Adam, this concerns you as much as the virgin; were you not all undone in the loins of your first father? Was not my soul and your soul in danger of hell fire? Was not this our case and condition, that, after a little life upon earth, we should have been thrown into eternal torments, where had been nothing, but weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth? and now that God and Christ should bid an angel tell the news, "Ye shall not die; lo, here a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and he shall be your Jesus; he shall save you from this hell, and death, and sin: he shall deliver your souls, he shall save you to the utmost; his name is Jesus, and he shall not bear his name for nought, believe in him, and you shall live with him in glory." O blessed news! men may talk what they will of this and that news, every one gapes after it, but there is no news so welcome to one even now ready to perish, as to hear of a Saviour. Tell a man in sickness of one that will make him well again; tell a man in captivity of one that will rescue him, and set him free again; tell a man in prison condemned to die, of one with a pardon that will save his life; and every one of these will say, This is the best news that ever was heard. O then if it be good tidings to hear of a Saviour, where is only a matter of loss of life, or of this earth; how much more, when it comes to the loss of heaven, to the danger of hell, when our souls are at stake, and like to be damned for evermore? What glad tidings would that be to hear of one that could save our souls from that destroyer? Is not such a Saviour worth hearkening after? Were not the birth of such an one good news? O my soul, ponder on these words, as if an angel seeing thee stand on the brim of hell, should speak to thee, even to thy soul.
2. Consider Jesus in his conception; no sooner the news heard, but Christ is conceived by the Holy Ghost in the virgin's womb; this conception is worthy our consideration; what, that the great God of heaven should condescend so far as to take our nature upon him, and to take it in the same way, and after the same manner that we do? The womb of the virgin was surely no such place, but he might well have abhorred it; true, but he meant by this to sanctify our very conceptions; and to that purpose, he is conceived in an holy manner, even by the Holy Ghost; we must not be too curious to enquire after the manner of the Holy Ghost's operation, who therefore overshadowed the virgin: this is work for our hearts and not merely for our heads: humble faith, and not curious inquisition, shall find the sweetness of this mystery. It was David's complaint, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me," Psal. li 5. O my soul, this was thy case, in thy very first being or beginning, and hadst thou died in that condition, the word is express. That, "nothing defiled nor unclean shall enter into the city of glory." But here is the remedy, thy sinful conception is sanctified by Christ's holy conception; the holiness of thy Jesus serves as a cover to hide thy original pollutions from the eyes of God. O consider of this! Jesus Christ was not conceived in vain, he was not idle doing nothing, whiles he was in his mother's womb; he that from all eternity began, he was then carrying on the great work of our salvation for us: O consider this conception thus, till thou bringest it near and close to thy soul, till thou feelest some sweetness and power coming and flowing from Jesus in the womb.
3. Consider the duplicity of natures in Jesus Christ: "The word was made flesh," John i. 14. No sooner was he conceived, but he was God-man, man-God; he was perfectly framed, and instantly united to the eternal word: "Gcd sent his Son," there is the nature divine; "made of a woman," Gal. iv. 4. there is the human nature. Certainly great is this mystery, that the word is made flesh; that the Son of God is made of a woman; that the star gives light to the sun: that a branch doth bear the vine? that a creature gives being to the Creator: that the mother was younger than what she bare, and a great deal lesser than what she contained. Admire, O my soul at this! but withal consider, that all this was for us, and our salvation; he was man, that he might die for us; and he was God, that his death might be sufficient to save us; had he been man alone, not God, he might have suffered, but he could never have satisfied for sin, he could not have been Jesus a Saviour of souls; and had he been God alone, not man, he had not been of kin to our nature offending, and so he could not have satisfied the justice of God in the same nature wherein it was offended; neither could he as God alone have died for sin; and the decree was out, that our Redeemer must die for sin, "For without shedding of blood there is no remission," Heb. ix. 22. And no shedding of blood, no passion could possibly befall the Godhead of Jesus Christ. I shall not dispute the power of God, whether he was able to lay down another kind of way of man's redemption than by the incarnation of the Son of God: without controversy this was the will of God, and he appointed no other way, because he could not. O my soul, consider of this in relation to thyself, he is God-man, that he might suffer and satisfy for thy sins; he is God-man that he might be able, and fit most fully to finish the work of thy salvation; as God, he is able, and as man, he is fit to discharge the office of Mediator; as God he is able to bear the punishment of sin and as man he is fit to suffer for sin; O the wisdom of God in this very way! Man's nature can suffer death, but not overcome it; the divine nature can overcome death and all things, but cannot suffer it; and hence there is a duplicity of natures in Jesus Christ: O muse on this, it is a matter worthy of thy serious consideration.
4. Consider the real distinction of these two natures in Christ As the unapproachable light of the Godhead was put into the dim and dark lantern of human flesh; so these two natures remained entire without any conversion, commixion or confusion; they were not as %vine and water that become one by mixing, there is no such blending the divine and human nature, they were not as snow and water, that become one by the dissolving of the snow into the water; there is no such changing of the human nature into the divine, or of the divine nature into the human: some say indeed. That the Godhead was more plentifully communicated with the manhood after his resurrection, than now at his conception; but howsoever, it did not then swallow up the truth of his manhood, as a whole sea would swallow up one drop of oil; look, as at first moment of his conception, he was God and man, so these two natures continued still distinct in substance, properties and actions. Why, consider this, O my soul, in reference to thyself: O there is comfort in this! by this means thou hast now free access unto the throne of grace, that thou mayest find help in thy necessities; and as thou hast free access, so thou mayest boldly draw near; his Deity indeed confounds, but his humanity comforts faint and feeble souls; his divine nature amazeth, but his human nature encouraged! us to come unto him; even after his resurrection, he was pleased to send this comfortable message to the sons of men, "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God," John xx. 17. Now, as long as he is not ashamed to call us brethren, "God is not ashamed to be called our God," Heb. xi. 16. O the sweet fruit that we may gather off this tree, "The real distinction of two natures in Christ." As long as Christ is man as well as God, we have a motive strong enough to appease his Father, and to turn his favourable countenance towards us; here is our happiness. That "there is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus," 1 Tim. ii. 5.
5. Consider the union of the two natures of Christ in one and the same person, as he was the branch of the Lord, and the fruit of the earth, so these two natures were tied with such a gordian knot, as sin, hell, and the grave were never able to untie. Yea, though in the death of Christ, there was a separation of the soul from the body, yet in that separation, the hypostatical union remained firm, unshaken and indissoluble: in this meditation, thou hast great cause, O my soul, to admire and adore, wonderful things are spoken of thee, O Christ! he is God in person of a Godhead, so as neither the Father, nor the Holy Ghost were made flesh; and he is man in the nature of man, not properly the person; the human nature of Christ never having any personal subsistence out of the Godhead; this is a mystery that no angel, much less man, is able to comprehend: we have not another example of such an union, (as you have heard) only the nearest similitude or resemblance we can find, is that of the branch and tree into which it is engrafted; we see one tree may be set into another, and it groweth in the stock thereof, and becometh one and the same tree, though there he two natures or kinds of fruit still remaining therein; so in the Son of God made man, though there be two natures, yet both being united into one person, there is but one Son of God, and one Jesus Christ. If thou wilt consider this great mystery of godliness any further, review what hath been said in the object propounded, where this union is set forth more largely and particularly; but especially consider the blessed effects of this union in reference to thyself; as our nature in the person of Christ is united to the Godhead, so our persons in and by this union of Christ are brought nigh to God. Hence it is, that God doth set his sanctuary and tabernacle among us; and that he dwells with us, and which is more, that he makes us houses and habitations, wherein he himself is pleased to dwell by his holy Spirit. "Ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people," 2 Cor. vi. 16 . Was not this Christ's prayer in our behalf? "I pray not for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one, as thou. Father art in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us. That the world may believe that thou hast sent me, I in them, and thou in me. That they may be perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me," John xvii. 20, 21, 22, 23. By reason of this hypostatical union of Christ, the Spirit of Christ is given to us in the very moment of our regeneration, "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, and hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit" Gal. iv. 6. As the members of the body, however distinct among themselves, and all differing from the head, yet by reason of one soul informing both the head and members, they all make but one compositum, or man; so all believers in Christ, however distinct persons among themselves, and all distinct from the person of Christ, and especially from the Godhead, which is incommunicable, yet by one and the same Spirit abiding in Christ and all his members, they become one, "There is one body and one Spirit," Eph. iv. 4. "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit," 1 Cor. vi. 17. O my soul, consider of this, and in considering, believe thy part in this, and the rather, because the means of this union on thy part is a sure and lively faith; faith is the first effect and instrument of the Spirit of Christ, disposing and enabling thy soul to cleave unto Christ, and "for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith," Eph. iii. 14, 17.
6. Consider the birth of Christ, this man-God, God-man who in his divine generation was the Son of God, in his human generation was born in a stable, for the saving of the children of men who were as the ox and mule having no understanding. It were a fruitful meditation to consider over and over that sweet resemblance of Christ being a vine; methinks I hear the voice of my beloved, "Rise up, my love, -- the fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vine with the tender grapes gives a good smell: arise, my love, my fair one, and come away," Cant. ii. 10, 13. If Christ knocks at the door, who will not awake, and arise? If Christ comes in view, who will not look unto Jesus! If Christ the vine calls us to come see the vine with the tender grape, who will not taste the goodness, smell the sweetness? And after a little taste of that goodness, and sweetness that is in him, who would not long after more, till we come from the first fruits, to the last fruits of the Spirit, even to those visions and fruitions of Christ ip glory? Consider, O my soul, of this vine till thou hast brought Christ near and close unto thyself! suppose thy heart the garden, wherein this vine was planted, wherein it budded, blossomed, and bare fruit; suppose the Holy Ghost to come upon thee, and to form and fashion in thee Jesus Christ; thus Paul bespeaks the Galatians, "My little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you." Would not this affect? Would not the whole soul be taken up with this? Come, receive Christ into thy soul, or if that work be done, If Christ be formed thee, O cherish him! (I speak of the spiritual birth). O keep him in thy heart! let him there bud, and blossom, and bear fruit; let him fill thy soul with his divine graces; O that thou couldst say it feelingly, "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me," Gal. ii. 20. O that this were the issue of thy meditation on Christ's birth! even whiles thou art going with the shepherds to Bethlehem, and there findest thy Saviour lying on a cratch, That thou wouldst bring him thence, and make thy heart to be his cradle! I would not give a farthing for a meditation merely on the history of Christ's birth; either draw virtue from him, by feeling him within, or thy meditation will be fruitless.
7. Consider those few consequents after Christ's birth; every action of Christ is our instruction, here are many particulars, but none in vain, Christ is considered under much variety of notion, but he is still sweet under all. Is it possible, O my soul, that thou shouldst tire thyself in the contemplation of Jesus Christ? If one flower yield thee not pleasure, or delight, go to a second, a third; observe how thee bees gather honey, after a while that they have sucked one flower, they go to another; so for a while observe the circumcision of Jesus Christ, and suck there, and gather some honey out of that flower: Christ had never been circumcised, but that the same might be done to our souls, that was done to his body; O that the same Christ would do that in us that was done to him for us. Again, observe Christ's presentation in the temple, this was the law of those that first opened the womb, now Christ was the first-born of Mary, and indeed "the first-born of all creatures;" and he was consecrate unto God, that by him we might be consecrate and made holy, and that by him we might be accepted, when we were offered unto the Lord. Again, observe Christ's flight into Egypt; though the infancy is usually most quiet, and devoid of trouble, yet here life and toil began together: and see how speedily this comes after dedication unto God: alas! alas! we are no sooner born again, than we are persecuted; if the church travail, and bring forth a male, she is in danger of the dragon's streams. Again, observe Christ's return into Judea; he "was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," Matth. xv. 24, With them alone he was personally to converse in his ministry, in which respect he was called, "a minister of circumcision," Rom, xv. 8. And where should he be trained, and show himself, but amongst them to whom God had sent him? The gospel first began there, and as a preparation to it, Christ now in his childhood returns thither, Again, observe Christ disputing with the doctors in the temple; in his very non-age, Christ gives a taste of his future proof; see how early his divine graces put forth themselves, "In him were hid (saith the apostle) all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Col. ii. 3. All the treasures were hid in him, and yet some of these treasures appeared very early betimes; his wisdom in his very infancy is admired at, nor is it without our profit; "For of God he is made wisdom unto us," 1 Cor. i. SO. Again, observe how he spent the remainder of his youth, in all his examples he meant our instructions, "He went down with his parents, and was subject to them;" he was not idly bred, but serves his generation in the poor way of a carpenter: "It is every way good for a man to bear God's yoke even from his infancy," Lam. iii. 27. Christ is inured betimes to the hardship of life, and to the strict observation of the law both of God and nature.
See, O my soul, what a world of matter is before thee to consider of; here is Jesus under many a notion, here is the enunciation of Jesus, the conception of Jesus, the duplicity of natures in Jesus, the real distinction, the wonderful union, the nativity of Jesus, together with some consequents after it. Go over these with often and frequent thoughts, give not over till thou feelest thy heart begin to warm: true meditation is as the bellows of the soul, that doth kindle and inflame holy affections, and by renewed, and more forcible thoughts, as by renewed and stronger blasts, it doth renew and increase the flame.