: that It knew evil, chose good; and because It loved righteousness and hated iniquity, GOD anointed It with the oil of gladness above Its fellows. It is anointed then with the oil of gladness, being joined with the WORD of GOD by an immaculate federation and hereby It alone of all souls was incapable of sin, because It well and fully contained the SON of GOD. And therefore it both is one with Him, and is named by His names, and is styled JESUS CHRIST, by Whom all things are said to have been made."" The Pelagians appear to have followed Origen, in that they made CHRIST to have purchased His Godhead by the actions and behaviour of His human nature, by His mere free will; and so were involved in the condemnation of Nestorius at the Council of Ephesus. How much further Socinus, who dreamed that in consideration of His obedience and acceptance of His mission GOD advanced JESUS to the true power and worship of GOD, though in dependence on Himself, in plain terms, constituted Him vice-GOD; which is heathenism. (Thorndike, Bk. II. ch. x. §§. 5, 6.) But this account labours under the radical defect of attributing the free election and predestination of GOD to the merit of His creature, that is, of the human soul of JESUS. Now as this would be to remove the soul of CHRIST from the nature of human souls, which can have no merit but what proceeds from GOD's free grace, we conclude with Augustine; "He then Who made That Man (CHRIST JESUS), without any His preceding merits, neither to draw from His origin nor by will to commit any sin that should be forgiven Him, Himself maketh them that believe in Him such as to whom He may forgive all sin, without any their preceding merits. He who made Him such as that He never had nor shall have an evil will, Himself maketh in His members of an evil will a good one. Both Him therefore and us hath He predestinated; because both in Him that He should be our Head, and in us that we should be His Body, He (even GOD) foreknew, not that our merits should precede but that His works should be.”▾ Again: "The predestination then of the Saints itself is that which chiefly is conspicuous in the Saint of Saints: which who can deny, of such as rightly understand the words of truth? For we have learnt that the LORD of Glory Himself also was predestinated, in so far as the SON of GOD was made Man. The Teacher of the Gentiles cries at the head of his Epistles; 'Paul, a servant of JESUS CHRIST, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God (which He had promised afore by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,) concerning His SON JESUS CHRIST our LORD, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the SON of GOD with power," according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.' JESUS then was predestined, that He Who was to be the Son of David according to the flesh might yet be the SON of GOD in power according to the Spirit of sanctification; because he was born of the HOLY GHOST and of the Virgin Mary. It (namely, His Predestination) is that ineffably wrought and singular taking upon Him of manhood by GOD the WORD, so that He might be truly and properly called at the same time SON of GOD and Son of Man; Son of Man by reason of the assumed manhood, and SON of GOD because of the Only-Begotten GOD Who assumed it; lest not a Trinity but a quaternity be believed. Predestined was that elevation of human nature so great and so high and sublime, that it had not whither it might be more highly exalted; as Divinity Itself had not whither It might depose Itself lower for our sake than the assumption of Man's nature with the infirmity of the flesh even to the death of the cross. As then That One Man was predestined to be our Head, so we many were predestined to be His members. Here let human merits be silent, which have perished through Adam; and let the grace of GOD reign, which reigneth through JESUS SON of GOD, the One LORD. τοῦ ὁρισθέντος Υἱοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν duviue, which Augustine renders "Qui prædestinatus est Filius Dei in virtute,' and founds his argument on such rendering Estius, while accepting Augustine's reading and the argument founded thereupon, as it relates to the Person of CHRIST in His Human Nature, admits that CHRIST our LORD, the Only Whosoever shall find in our Head any merits preceding that singular Generation, let him inquire in us His members any merits preceding our multiplied regeneration. For neither was that Generation rendered (retributa) to CHRIST but given (tributa), that He should be born of the SPIRIT and a Virgin, free from all bond of sin. So also to us was it not rendered for any merit but freely given, to be born again of water and the SPIRIT. And though faith hath brought us to the laver of regeneration, we ought not therefore to think that we first have given aught, so that saving regeneration should be rendered to us; inasmuch as He maketh us to believe in CHRIST, Who for our sakes hath made CHRIST in Whom we believe; He maketh in men the beginning of faith and its perfection in JESUS (in Jesum), Who hath made the Man JESUS the author and finisher of our faith." y §. 7. Having dwelt at such length on the side of the truth, which presents to us the predominating idea of the Godhead in the Person of JESUS, we must not omit to notice that He Himself classes 'the Son' with man and the angels of heaven as ignorant of the day and hour of the judgment, a secret reserved to the FATHER alone. (S. Matt. xxiv. 36.) Nor that the child JESUS is said to have ' grown in wisdom' as well as 'stature.' (S. Luke ii. 52.) If He was a sharer in our infirmities, if "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin," (Heb. iv. 15,) how can we hesitate to admit that He in His human nature was "made subject unto vanity [or weakness,] not willingly," (Rom. viii. 20,) but by reason of the imperfection of the creature? As GOD the WORD, the CHRIST knew that which as Man He knew not. This is a mystery, and must be taken on trust. A mystery ceases to be such, if something remain not inexplicable. y Heb. xii. 2. S. Aug. De Prædestinatione Sanctorum, cap. 15. Tom. X. p. 810. He elsewhere says; "Ista nativitas profecto gratuita conjunxit in unitate personæ hominem Deo, carnem Verbo. Is- of the Imthe Human perfection of Nature in T 274 Statement CHAPTER XV. OF THE PASSION AND ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. §. 1. THE mystery of the Gospel consists in the reversal of ture proof of Adam's disobedience and of the sentence of eternal death and Scrip the Atone ment. incurred thereby, by the obedience of the second Adam, the Heb. ii. 9, 10, 14, 15. ■ Ib. v. 8, 9. 1 S. John iii. 8. e favour from the disobedient sinners and their separation from Him, "with Whom is the well of life." The harmony of GOD's universe having been marred by sin, it was the will of GOD the FATHER, "that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in CHRIST, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him." "For it pleased the FATHER that in Him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." d "For GOD was in CHRIST, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." "For GOD so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten SoN, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And S. Paul saith, “But GOD commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, CHRIST died for us." And on this ground of CHRIST'S atoning death He builds an argument in favour of our final salvation by reason of His Resurrection and Life: "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to GOD by the death of His SON, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."8 "But this Man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto GOD by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." h "i This crowning act of CHRIST's obedience, whereby He "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, is set forth in Scripture, as the sum and substance of the Gospel, in connection with that Raised Life which set the seal of efficacy to His sufferings. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,. but have eternal life."j "Ought not CHRIST to have suffered these things, and to enter into His Glory?" k And S. Paul |