sim, (qui negant Christum carnem humanam assumpsisse) confitemur Christum participem carnis et sanguinis fuisse, sicut et pueri fratres ipsius, ex lumbis Davidis secundum carnem : factum, inquam, ex semine David, secundum eandem carnem.... ut dictum est, fratribus suis similis per omnia factus, adeo ut sit revera noster Emanuel "...... " duæ naturæ in unica Persona conjunctæ, quarum utraque proprietates suas retineat, adeo ut sicut natura divina semper increata, et absque initio dierum, sine vitæ fine remansit, cœlumque et terram implens: sic natura humana proprietates suas non amiserit, sed creatura remanserit, initium dierum, et naturam finitam habens. Omnia enim illa, quæ vero corpori conveniunt, retinuit, et quamvis illi immortalitatem resurrectione sua dederit, veritatem tamen humanæ naturæ illi neque ademit, neque commutavit. Salus enim et resurrectio nostra a veritate corporis ipsius dependet.'

"Credimus Deum Filium suum misisse, ut naturam illam assumeret quæ per inobedientiam peccarat, ut in ea ipsa natura et satisfaceret, et de peccato, per acerbam ipsius mortem et passionem, justas pœnas sumeret.". "Quapropter confitemur ipsum verum Deum, et verum hominem esse: verum quidem Deum, ut mortem sua potentia vinceret: et verum hominem, ut in carnis suæ infirmitate pro nobis mortem obiret."

Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity.-290. "Forasmuch as there is no union of God with man, without that mean between both which is both.....wherefore, taking to himself our flesh, and by his incarnation making it his own flesh, he had now of his own, although from us, what to offer unto God for us. And as Christ took manhood, that by it he might be capable of death, whereunto he humbled himself; so because manhood is the proper subject of compassion and feeling pity, which maketh the sceptre of Christ's regency even in the kingdom of heaven amiable, he which without our nature could not on earth suffer for the sins of the world, doth now also by means thereof both make intercession to God for sinners, and exercise dominion over all men with a true, a natural, and a sensible touch of mercy."

"It pleased not the Word or Wisdom of God to take to itself some one person amongst men, for then should that one have been advanced which was assumed, and no more; but Wisdom, to the end she might save many, built her house of that nature which is common unto all : she made not this or that man her habitation, but dwelt in us. If the Son of God had taken to himself a man now made and already perfected, it would of necessity follow that there are in Christ two persons, the one assuming and the other assumed; whereas the Son of God did not assume a man's person unto his own, but a man's nature to his own person; and therefore took the seed of Abraham, the

very first original element of our nature, before it was come to have any personal human subsistence. By taking only the nature of man, he still continueth one person, and changeth but the manner of his subsisting, which was before in the mere glory of the Son of God, and is now in the habit of our flesh. These natures from the moment of their first combination have been and are for ever inseparable. For even when his soul forsook the tabernacle of his body, his Deity forsook neither body nor soul. If it had, then could we not truly hold either that the person of Christ was buried, or that the person of Christ ddi raise up itself from the dead. The very person of Christ therefore, for ever one and the self-same, was only touching bodily substance concluded within the grave, his soul only from thence severed; but by personal union, his Deity still inseparably joined with both."

"If therefore it be demanded what the person of the Son of God hath attained by assuming manhood, surely the whole sum of all is this: To be, as we are, truly, really, and naturally man; by means whereof he is made capable of meaner offices than otherwise his person could have admitted. The only gain he thereby purchased for himself, was to be capable of loss and detriment for the good of others.-The honour which our flesh hath by being the flesh of the Son of God, is in many respects great. Since God hath deified our nature, though not by turning it into himself, yet by making it his own inseparable habitation, we cannot now conceive how God should without man either exercise Divine power, or receive the glory of Divine praise for man is in both an associate of Deity.

"And as God hath in Christ unspeakably glorified the nobler, so likewise the meaner part of our nature, the very bodily substance of man. For in this respect his body, which by natural condition was corruptible, wanted the gift of everlasting immunity from death, passion, and dissolution, till God, which gave it to be slain for sin, had for righteousness sake restored it to life with certainty of endless continuance. Yea, in this respect the very glorified body of Christ retained in it the scars and marks of former mortality. We nothing doubt, but God hath many ways above the reach of our capacities exalted that body which it hath pleased him to make his own; that body wherewith he hath saved the world; that body which hath been and is the root of eternal life, the Instrument wherewith Deity worketh, the Sacrifice which taketh away sin, the Price which hath ransomed souls from death, the Leader of the whole army of bodies that shall rise again. For though it had a beginning from us, yet God hath given it vital efficacy, heaven hath endowed it with celestial power, that virtue it hath from

above, in regard whereof all the angels of heaven adore it.Notwithstanding, a body still it continueth, a body consubstantial with our bodies, a body of the same, both nature and measure, which it had on earth."

"To gather into one sum all that hath hitherto been spoken touching this point: There are but four things which concur to make complete the whole state of our Lord Jesus Christ; his Deity, his manhood, the conjunction of both, and the distinction of the one from the other being joined in one. Four principal heresies there are which have in these things withstood the truth: Arians, by bending themselves against the Deity of Christ; Apollinarians, by maiming and misinterpreting that which belongeth to his human nature; Nestorians, by rending Christ asunder, and dividing him into two persons; the followers of Eutyches, by confounding in his person those natures which they should distinguish. Against these there have been four most famous ancient general Councils; the Council of Nice, to define against Arians; against Apollinarians the Council of Constantinople; the Council of Ephesus against Nestorians; against Eutichians the Calcedon Council. In four words, αληθως, τελεως, αδιαιρέτως, ασυγχύτως—truly, perfectly, indivisibly, distinctly-the first apply to his being God, and the second to his being Man, the third to his being of both One, and the fourth to his still continuing in that One both-we may fully by way of abridgement comprise whatsoever antiquity hath at large handled, either in declaration of Christian belief, or in refutation of the foresaid heresies.

"Nicene.

Incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto, ex Maria virgine et homo factus est.'

"Constantinople. Incarnatus est--homo factus est-passus et sepultus est.'

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Ephesus. Verbum caro factum est-unumque esse Christum cum propria carne. Si quis ergo Pontificem nostrum dicit factum, non ipsum Dei Verbum, quando caro factum est, et homo juxta nos homines: sed velut alterum præter ipsum specialiter hominem ex muliere-si quis non confitetur Dei Verbum passum carne, et crucifixum carne, et mortem gustasse carne, qui est vivificator ut Deus, anathema sit.'

"Chalcedon. Perfectum in Deitate-perfectum in humanitate, vere Deum et vere hominem-Coessentialem Patri secundum Deitatem et coessentialem nobis secundum humanitatem per omnia nobis similem, excepto peccato.'"

Sermons on the Incarnation, by John (Sancroft), Archbishop of Canterbury. 1679.-"The Word was made flesh; that is, he who is personally called the Word, and whom the Evangelist St. John had so fully described in his Gospel, he became flesh;

that is, assumed our nature and became man; for so the word flesh is frequently used in Scripture for man or human nature: O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come; that is, to thee shall all men address their supplications: again, The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; that is, all men shall behold and acknowledge it; and then it follows, all flesh is grass,' speaking of the frailty and mortality of man and so likewise in the New Testament, our blessed Saviour, foretelling the misery that was coming upon the Jewish nation, says, Except those days should be shortened no flesh should be saved;' that is, no man should escape and survive that great calamity and destruction which was coming upon them: By the works of the Law,' says the Apostle, shall no flesh,' that is, no man, ‘be justified.'

"So that by the Word's being made flesh, the Evangelist did not intend that he assumed only a human body without a soul, and was united only to a human body; which was the heresy of Apollinaris and his followers; but that he became man; that is, assumed the whole human nature, body and soul. And it is likewise very probable, that the Evangelist did purposely choose the word flesh, which signifies the frail and mortal part of man, to denote to us that the Son of God did assume our nature with all its infirmities, and become subject to the common frailty and mortality of human nature.

"The words thus explained contain that great mystery of godliness-' God was manifested in the flesh; that is, he appeared in human nature, he became man.-That God should employ his eternal and only begotten Son, who had been with him from all eternity, partaker of his happiness and glory, to save the sons of men by so infinite and amazing a condescension: That God should vouchsafe to become man, to reconcile man to God: That he should come down from heaven to earth, to raise us from earth to heaven: That he should assume our vile and frail and mortal nature, that he might clothe us with glory and honour and immortality: That he should suffer death to save us from hell, and shed his blood to purchase eternal redemption for us. And as he was pleased to assume our nature, so should we put on the Lord Jesus Christ; and should be very careful not to abuse ourselves by sin and sensuality, upon this very consideration, that the Son hath put such an honour and dignity upon us: We should reverence that nature which God did not disdain to assume and to inhabit here on earth, and in which he now gloriously reigns in heaven at the right hand of his Father." pp. 3-5, 47-52.

"Another thing implied in the Word's being made flesh, is, that this was done peculiarly for the benefit and advantage of

men as it is said in the Nicene Creed, Who for us men and our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate,' &c. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but of the seed of Abraham.' The word signifies to take hold of a thing which is falling, as well as to assume or take on him: He did not take hold of the angels when they were falling-but he took hold of human nature when it was falling, and particularly of the seed of Abraham.-The Evangelist uses the very same word for taking hold of one that was ready to sink. When St. Peter was ready to sink, Matt. xiv. 31, Christ put forth his hand and caught hold of him, and saved him from drowning: and thus the Son of God caught hold of mankind, which was ready to sink into eternal perdition: he laid hold of our nature, that in our nature he might be capable of effecting our redemption and deliverance.

"He was contented to be clothed with the rags of humanity and to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh, that is sinful man. The Son of God did not only condescend to be made man, but also to become mortal and miserable for our sakes: He submitted to all those things which are accounted most grievous and calamitous to human nature: To hunger and want, to shame and contempt, to bitter pains and agonies, and to a most cruel and disgraceful death: So that in this sense also he became flesh, not only by being clothed with human nature, but by becoming liable to all the frailties and sufferings of it; of which he had a greater share than any of the sons of men ever had for never was sorrow like to his sorrow, nor sufferings like to his sufferings, the weight and bitterness whereof was such as to wring from him, the meekest and most patient endurer of sufferings that ever was, that doleful complaint, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!'

"All this does signify to us the wonderful and amazing condescension and love of God to mankind in sending his Son into the world, and submitting him to this way and method for our salvation and recovery. The Word was made flesh! What a step is here made in order to the reconciling of men to God; from heaven to earth, from the top of glory and majesty, to the lowest gulf of meanness and misery! The Evangelist seems here to use the word flesh, which signifies the meanest and vilest part of humanity, to express to us how low the Son of God was contented to stoop for the redemption of man. The Word was made flesh: two terms at the greatest distance from one another, are here brought together: The Son of God is here expressed to us by one of his highest and most glorious titles, the Word, which imports both power and wisdom; Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.' And human nature is here described by its vilest part, flesh; which imports frailty

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