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his body ftands upon the truth of his nativity; and the actions and paffions of his life fhew the nature of his flefh. He was first born with a body prepared for him of the fame appearance with thofe of other infants; he grew up by degrees, and was fo far from being fuftained without accustomed nutrition of our bodies, that he was observed, even by his enemies, to come eating and drinking; and when he did not fo, he fuffered hunger and thirst. Those plowers never doubted of the true nature of his flesh, who plowed upon his back, and made long furrows there The thorns which prickled his facred temples, the nails which penetrated through his hands and feet, the fpear which pierced his fide, give fufficient teftimony of the natural tenderness and frailty of his flesh. And left his fafting forty days together, left his walking on the waters and traverfing the feas, left his fudden standing in the midft of his Difciples when the doors were shut, hould raife an opinion that his body was not true and proper flesh, he confirmed first his own DifciplesHandle me, and fee, for a fpirit hath not flesh and bones as ye fee me have. As, therefore, we believe the coming of Christ, so do we confefs him to have come in the verity of our human nature, even in true and proper flesh. Thus, it was always neceffary to acknowledge him. For every fpirit that confeffeth Jefus Chrift come in the flesh, is of God; and every fpirit that confeffeth not Jefus Chrift come in the flesh, is not of God. This fpirit appeared early in oppofition to God and Man, he was as foon denied to be Man as God.

4. And certainly if the Son of God would vouchfafe to take the frailty of our flefh, he would not omit the nobler part, our foul----without which he could not be Man. For Jefus encreafed in wifdom and ftature, one in refpect of his body, and the other of his foul. Wifdom belongeth not to the flesh, nor can the knowledge of God, which is infinite, encrease: he, then, whote

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whofe knowledge did improve together with his years, muft have a fubject proper for it, which was no other than a human foul. This was the feat of his finite understanding and directed will, diftin&t from the will of his Father, and confequently of his Divine Nature, as appeareth by that known fubmiffion, Not my will, but thine be done. This was the fubject of thofe affections and paffions which fo manifeftly appeared in him; nor fpake he any other than a proper language, when before his fuffering he faid, My foul is exceeding forrowful, even unto death. This was it which on the Crofs, before the departure from the body, he recommended to the Father, teaching us in whofe hands the fouls of the faithful are,For when Jefus had cried with a loud voice, he faid, Father, into thy hands I commend my fpirit; and having faid this, he gave up the ghoft. And as his death was nothing elfe but the feparation of his foul from his body, fo the life of Chrift, as man, did confift in the conjunction and vital union of that foul with the body. So that he who was perfect God, was alfo perfect man, of a reafonable foul, and human flesh fubfifting."

5. Now this being allowed to be a fact, as it undoubtedly muft, we need not wonder if this human nature of Chrift, confifting of body and foul, and conftituting as compleat and proper a perfon as the human nature of any man,----we need not wonder, I fay, if it fhould frequently be reprefented in the Holy Scriptures as a compleat and proper perfon, and fhould fpeak and act as fuch. Surely this is what one might reafonably expect, notwithstanding its union with the Word of the Father. For though the union was fuch that he might properly be termed Immanuel, God with us, God manifeft in the flesh,-----yet the two natures were preferved diftin&t, and the perfonality of the man was not destroyed.

6. If both natures (fays the laft mentioned Author) were not preferved compleat and diftin&t in Christ, it must either be by the converfion and tranfubftantiation

tranfubftantiation of one into the other, or by the commixtion and confusion of both into one. But neither of these ways can confist with the Perfon of our Saviour, or the Office of our Mediator. For if we fhould conceive fuch a mixtion and confusion of fubftances as to make an union of natures, we fhould be fo far from acknowledging him to be both God and Man, that thereby we fhould profefs him to be neither God nor Man, but a Perfon of a nature as different from both, as all mixt bodies are distinct from each element, which concurs unto their compofition.

Befides, we know there were in Chrift the affections proper unto the nature of man, and all thofe infirmities which belong to us, and cannot be conceived to belong to that nature (which is divine or) of which the divine is but a part."

7. "And as the confufion, fo the converfion of natures is impoffible: For, first, we cannot, with the leaft fhow of probability, conceive the Divine Nature of Chrift to be transubstantiated into the human nature. There is a plain repugnancy even in the fuppofition; for the nature of man muft be made, the Nature of God cannot be made, and confequently cannot become the nature of man. The immaterial, indivifible, and immortal Godhead, cannot be divided into a fpiritual and incorruptible foul, and a carnal and corruptible body; of which two, Humanity confifteth.

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Secondly, we must not, on the contrary, invent a converfion of the human nature into the divine, as the Eutychians of old did fancy. For fure the Incarnation could not at firft confift in such a converfion, it being unimaginable how that which had no being, fhould be made by being turned into fomething elfe. Therefore the Hus manity of Chrift could not at firft be made by being the Divinity of the Word. Nor is the Incarnation fo prepofteroufly expreffed, as if the flesh were made the Word, butThe Word was made fiefh. And if the Manhood were not in the first act of Incarnation converted into the Divine Nature,

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Nature, as we see it could not, then is there no pretence of any time or manner in or by which it was afterwards fo tranfubftantiated.

8. "Vain, therefore, was that old conceit of Eutyches, who thought the union to be made fo in the natures, that the Humanity was abforbed and wholly turned into the Divinity, fo that by that tranfubftantiation the human nature had no longer being. And well did the Ancient Fathers, who opposed this herefy, make ufe of the facramental union between the bread and wine and the body and blood of Christ, and thereby fhewed that the human nature of Christ is no more really converted into the Divinity, (and so ceaseth to be the human nature) than the fubftance of the bread and wine is really converted into the substance of the body and blood of Chrift, and thereby ceaseth to be both bread and wine."

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9. Now because these two natures of our Lord were preserved thus diftinct, therefore, as, in the preceding pages, we haye frequently feen the Divine Nature reprefented as a compleat and proper perfon, even after its union with the human, without any reference to that union,meet with the fame in respect to the human nature; this is also represented to our view as a compleat and proper perfon, without any reference to its union with the divine. And, indeed, were it otherwife, we fhould have reason to doubt of his Manhood, as the overlooking the important particulars, stated above, makes many doubt of his Godhead.

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10. Accordingly, in the Sacred Scriptures, we read the following, and many more fuch like paffages:-"I will put enmity between thee (the ferpent) and the woman, and between thy feed and her feed, it fhall bruise thy head, and thu fhalt bruise his heel.-In thy feed fhall all the nations of the earth be bleffed.-The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him fhall ye hearken, according to all that

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thou defiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb, faying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord, my God, neither let me fee this great fire any more, that I die not.- -Thou haft loved righteoufnefs, and hated wickednefs, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladnefs above thy fellows. Thou art fairer than the children of men, grace is poured upon thy lips, therefore God hath bleffed thee for ever.

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"A Virgin shall conceive, and bear a fon, and fhall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey fhall he eat, that he may know to refufe the evil and chufe the good. There fhall come forth a rod out of the item of Jelle, and a branch fhall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of Jehovah thall reft upon him, the Spirit of wifdom and understanding, the Spirit of counfel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah, and fhall make him of quick understanding in the fear of Jehovah, and he fhall not judge after the fight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: but with righteoufnefs fhall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity

for the meek of the earth.

"Behold my Servant whom I uphold, mine Elect in whom my foul delighteth: I have put mySpirit upon him, he fhall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles: He fhall not cry, nor lift up, nor caufe his voice to be heard in the street.

Liften, O Illes, unto me, and hearken, ye people, from far-Jehovah hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name, and faid unto me, Thou art my Servant in whom I will be glorified. Then faid I, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my ftrength for nought,-yet furely ny judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now, faith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his Servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Ifrael be not gathered, yet hall I be glorious in the eyes of

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