CHAP. I. The opening of the words , and the Doctrine gathered and explained .

I Desired &c. Saint Paul having preached plainly among the learned Corinthians , and not with the inticing words of mans wisdome , or excellency of speech , as verse the first : a a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in wisdom of wo●ds , 1 Cor. 1. 17. Pom. patica eloquentia , Hier. Ostentatione grandiloquentiae , Pareus . Facundi● dicendi . Theod. They began to slight him as unlearned , and his preaching as good honest dry matter ; but in this verse he gives the reason ; You ( saith he ) preach your selves , but I preach Jesus Christ ; you preach for ostentation to get applause from men , but I preach for edification to bring soules to Christ ; And hence it is that you preach with puff●d up eloquence , high flowne phrasts and ●welling words of vanity , but I preach in the plaine evidence of the spirit , because I desired to know nothing among you , &c.

In the words there are three parts ; first , the object of Pauls desire ; Jesus Christ and him crucified . 2. The act , to know Jesus Christ and him crucified . 3. Pauls desi●e and resolution : I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him crucifi●d .

I desired ] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eximium duxi , so Pet. Martyr , and Calvin reads it : that is , I esteemed no other knowledge excellent , nor my selfe worthy estimation for any other knowledge . b b Non ●o nomine , praestant● me duxi . Pet. Mar.

To know nothing but Jesus Christ , ] Not that Paul contemned all other knowledg and humane learning in Arts and Sciences wherein himselfe was so accomplisht , being the great Doctor of the Gentiles , and could speak tongues more then they all ; but so farre as it stood in competition , opposition , or comparison of the knowledge of Christ and winning soules unto him .

Among you ] Even you though otherwise learned Corinthians , yet you have not sufficiently learned Christ .

And him crucified ] That is , suffering upon the Crosse , and dying for us ; As if he should say ; I know preaching of Christ crucified is to the Jews a stumbling block , and to the Greeks foolishnesse , but to us that are saved , the power of God and wisdome of God , 1 Cor. 1. 18. As if he should have said , all knowledge is excellent , of all knowledge , the knowledge of Christ is more excellent ; of all knowledge of Christ , the knowledge of Christ crucified is most excellent , most sweet most comfortable . God forbid saith S. Paul , that I should rejoyce in any thing , but in the Crosse of Christ ; why in the Crosse of Christ rather then in his Crown ; in Christ crucified , rather then glorified ?

Certainly , 1. because it argues greater love in Christ to be crucified , then to be glorified for us . 2. Because though hee makes application as glorified , yet he made satisfaction as crucified .

Thus you have seen the meaning of the words , from whence diverse conclusions might be gathered , yet I will insist onely upon one , which I conceive cheifly intended by the holy Ghost .

Doct. The great lesson which every ▪ one ought especially to study and learne , is , to know Jesus Christ and him crucified .

This indeed seemes an old lesson , yet it alwayes brings forth new fruit c c Semper novū sit , quod semper reficit animum , Nec unquam patietnr veterascere quod semper nos facit fructificare . ; who can be weary of preaching , or learning Christ ? Dulce nomen Christi , sweet is the name of Christ , at least to every Christian that hath his part in him .

Secondly , it seemes a plaine lesson which every body almost knowes already , fit to be taught children , whom we aske what is Jesus Christ ? But it is such a lesson as would beseeme the greatest Angel in heaven still to learne , and indeed which the very Angels still desire to study and look into , 1 Pet. 2. 12. and are studying to this day .

It was the desire and study of Paul still to know Christ , Phil. 3. 10. That I may know him ; Did not Paul know Christ already ? yes surely , farre better then we ; yet he would faine know him better , and see more into the love of Christ which is so unspeakable , as if the holy Ghost wanted words to expresse it , John 3. 16. God so loved the world , so ; how ? so that no heart can conceive , nor songue can utter ; It is beyond expression .

In Ephes. 3. 18. 19. It was Pauls prayer for the Ephesians that they might comprehend with all Saints , the height , length , breadth , and depth of the love of Christ , all which dimensions set forth unto us the wonderfull greatnesse of his love ; The height , for it reacheth as high as heaven ; the depth , for it goes downe as low as hell ; the hreadth , for it extends to all the world ; the length , for it continueth to all eternity d d Bullin ▪ in ●oc . . And to know the love of Christ , yet it passeth knowledge e e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , super eminentem charitatem Hier. Aug. Theod. Erasm . . As if he should say , we may study this lesson all our lives , and yet never perfectly learn it ; strive and indeavor to know it wee may , but we shall never fully know it , nor fathom the bottome of it . Exuperat omnem scientiam , Theophil . And what was Peters last exhortation to the Saints , to whom he wrote , but that they should grow in grace , and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ? As if this were the chiefe lesson they were to learn , according to my text , I desired to know nothing among you , &c. Wherein two things are to be considered , 1. What knowledg of Christ it is that is to be studied of us ▪ 2. Why the knowledge of Christ and him crucified is specially to be studied of us .

For the first , we are to study to know Christ with a fourfold knowledge , with

the knowledg of 1. Speculation or Contemplation . 2. Particular application 3. Love and affection . 4. Vertuall operation .

1. With the knowledge of Speculation in three particulars , viz. to know

Christ in his 1. Incarnation . 2. Crucifixion . 3. Satisfaction .

CHAP. II. Teacheth us to study to know Christ in his Incarnation .

FIrst , we must study to know Christ in his Incarnation ; That he is God and man joyned together , that God and man might be joyned together , that by sinne were separated one from another .

Wherein five things are to be learned of us .

1. That he is the second Person in the Trinity , who was the wisdome of the Father . To teach us that the divine nature is not essentially , but personally , not simply , but Relatively ( in relation to the second Person ) incarnated f f Non essentia De● absolutè considerata , sed persona filii erat incarnata . Buchan . loc. com . Non essentia , sed persona deitatis est incarnata . Wolleb . for else the Father and holy Ghost mu●t be incarnated as wel as the Sonne ; which was the error of the Sabellians Anno Christi 257. who denied the three distinct persons , and said they were but three names ; and so by consequence were compelled to say the Father and H. G. were incarnate , and died for our sins , as well as the Sonne .

2. That he is the Son of God g g Psal. 2. 7. John 1 , 14. Not by creation as the An●els and Adam were , not by adoption as the Saints are : but his naturall son by eternall generation as he was God ( being of the same substance and nature that his Father is , ( as children are of the same substance with their Parents ) cald indeed the Father of Eternity , Es. 9. 6. but that was respectu essentiae , non subsistentiae , in regard of his essence not subsistence .

The manner is unspeakable , incomprehensible , for who can declare his generation ? In naturall generation the Father is 1. before the Sonne , 2. the Son inferior to the Father , 3. receiving his substance from the Father : but in this generation the Father is not before the Sonne , who was eternally his sonne , or else there should be a time when God was without a Sonne , and himselfe not a Father ; 2. Nor is he inferior to the Father , for he is no more beholding to God to be his Father , then the Father to him to be Essentia non generatnec generatur Scholo● . his sonne ; 3. nor did he receive his Substance , but his Sonship from the Father , who is unbegotten in respect of his essence , as having his essence of himselfe ; begotten only in respect of his personality , for he hath his personall subsistence from the Father : begotten as Son , not as God , Perk. on Creed ; [ learned Buchan saith , Aliud est esse pa●ris , aliud esse filii , aliud esse spiritus sancti , that is , as they are persons or subsistences , but not as absolutely God , for so their essence is the same ] But this mistery is deep and such as is fitter for the study of Angels then men ; Divines have set it forth by divers similitudes , whereby I have thought they have rather darkened , then illustrated it , and therefore I spare to mention them ,

And further , as our Lord Christ is man , he is the son of God , but not by creation nor adoption , nor eternall generation , but by hypostaticall union , namely by prerogative of his personall union : contrary to the Feliciani , that called Christ in his humane nature the adopted sonne of God .

And thus the Son of God became the son of man , that the sons of men might be John 1. 12. Gal. 3. 5 , 6. Mat. 3 17. Iohn 1. 14. made the sonnes of God ; I go to your father and my father , Ioh. 20. 17.

And what greater love could the father shew unto us then to give his deare Son , his beloved Son , his only begotten son for us ? Joh. 3. 16. Herein appeared Abrahams love , that he offered his only sonne Isaac , whom he loved . Gen. 22. There was one had foure sons , who in a famine being sore oppressed with hunger , the Parents resolved to sell one for relief ; But then they considered the eldest , was the first of their strength , therfore loth to sell him , the second was the very picture of the father , the third was like the mother , the fourth and the youngest was the childe of their old age , their Benjamin , the dearly beloved of them both , and therfore they were resolved not to part with any of them , and so would rather suffer themselves to perish , then to part with any of their children .

Another had two sons , both were condemned to dye , yet upon mediation the father was offered to have one spared ; But he could not find in his heart which to chuse to live , & so to leave the other to the stroak of death ( They both were so dear to him ) and so they both died ; so dear are children to their Parents ; Can a mother saith God , forget her child ? yet God seems to forget his only son that lay in the bosome of the father , and was his delight from all eternity , that he might remember Prov. 3. 30 us , deliver us from death , and make us the adopted sons of God .

Thirdly that Iesus Christ is God , The mighty God i i Es. 9. 6. who thought it no robbery to be equall with God k k Psal. 2. 6. Rev. 18. Mat. 8. 10. Col. 1. 15. 16. contrary to the heresie of the Samosetanians , Servetus , Ebionites , Cerinthians , Nestorians , Turks , Jews , Arrians , and all other Hereticks that deny the Deity of Christ ; but to him is attributed eternity (l) , omnisciency , omnipresence , creation , and providence ; which are only attributed to God . Beside the works and miracles which our Lord Christ wrought , when he was upon the earth , declared him to be the mighty God . m m Joh. 5 36 & 10. 25. 37. 38.

Now Christ must needs be God ; not only to support the humane nature to beare the wrath of God from sinking under it , which else had ground him to powder , ( As the altar of wood was covered with brasse , that the fire might not consume it , Exod. 27. 2. )

But also to give worth to his sufferings , and to make them of infinite value , because they were the sufferings of God , n n Acts 20. 28. Heb. 9. 14. For we having offended an infinite God , deserved infinite wrath , and therefore of necessity there must be an infinite satisfaction ; Now it is more for God to suffer any thing , then for all men , and creatures to suffer all things ; As the blood of a sheep is more precious then the blood of 1000 adders , toads and serpents , the blood of a man then of a 1000 sheep , the blood of a King then of a 1000 common men , and the blood of God is more precious then the blood of all the men in the world .

And hence it is , that all mens fins cannot exceed the price that was paid for them , because our sins are but the sins of men , but Christs sufferings are the sufferings of God ; (o) now God loves the Ho● . 11. 9. I am God and not man . blood of his Son more then he hates all our sinnes ; And if Adam one man was able by his sin to condemne a world , surely God by his sufferings is able to save a world , Rom. 5. 15. 16. 17.

4. We are to know that he is a true man , also of the substance and blood of the Virgin , not having a phantasticall body as the Maniches ●ay , nor passed through the wombe of the Virgin as water through a Conduit-pipe , as the Valentinians say , Nor passed through her Paps , as the Turks Alcoran dreams , but of the seed of the woman , Gen. 3. 14. and made of a woman , Gal. 4. 4. Indeed he took not the person of any one man , but the Non hominem sed humanitatem , non personam sed naturam . humane nature of all men , soule and body , contrary to the heresy of the Apolinarians that say his deity supplyed in stead of the soule , when as Christ said my soule is heavy to death . And now he is a true man in heaven , the same that he was on earth though glorifyed , contrary to the heresy of the Seleucians that affirmed that Christ in his assention unclothed himselfe of the flesh of man , and left it in the glob of the Sun . So that what God once spake Ironically is now verifyed , Gen. 3. 22. Behold the man is become like one of us : Or as those heathen Barbarians said of Paul and Barnabas , Act. 14. 11. God is come down to us in the likenesse of man .

O infinite wonder , That God should please to chuse one man among all mankind , ( or more properly humane nature ) and exalt him to be one of the Trinity , to sit in the seate of God , be called God , adored and worshipped as God to all eternity . Not car● but Deus in car●● . 1 Tim. 2. 16. For to Christ is due divine adoration , not only in his divine nature but in regard of his person : [ Not that the humane nature is capable of it self of divine worship , but because divine worship is terminated upon the person of Christ , and so it is due to the humane nature ] If an Angel had been thus exalted , it had not been so great cause of admiration ; but for God to take a lump of flesh and blood , a piece of earth , the same we tread upon and join it to himself to all eternity ; Lord , what is man that thou art so mindfull of him , or the son of man that thou so regardest him !

That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the great God a sucking childe ; Regens sydera , should be sugens ubera , He that rules the stars should suck the breasts ; For man to be like unto God is wonderfull ; but for God to be in the likenesse of man is a greater wonder : We in our lowest humiliation can but lie in the dust and cloath our selves with sackcloth , and put ashes on our heads ; But for God to cloath himselfe with dust and ashes ( like Nebuchadnezzars Image , an head of gold and feet of clay ) this is a lower abasement then if a King should be clothed with beggers ragges , become a frog , a worme , or the basest creature ; was not our flesh a goodly robe to cloath the Deity with ? when the Angels themselves scorne our nature , and think it a debasing of them , so that if they take up a mans body for their use , yet they quickly lay it downe againe . This is cause of wonder indeed , but no cause of stumbling or offence ; for ( as Tertullian affirmes ) Nulla substantia digna est ut Deus induat , quodcunque tamen induerit , ipse dignum facit ; Though God be too great to cloath himselfe with any nature , yet what ever he shall cloath himselfe withall , he makes it worthy , Quicquid Deo indignum patitur , iderat t●i gratia . Tertul.

Now the reason why Christ tooke mans nature upon him , was , Not onely to Gal. 3. 12. 13. redeem man , that as man had sinned , man should suffer ; ( for God could not Homini Deus mor tem minatus est , ab homine ergo poena luenda est Wolleb . suffer ) and without shedding of blood there is no remission , ) And to fulfill the Law for us by yeelding obedience to it , which the God-head could not be brought in subjection under : But also to make the divine nature more amiable to us , that we might not be afraid to look upon God . As the Shepherds of old had wont to cloath themselves with sheeps skins to be more lovely in the sheeps eyes . Even the Sun it selfe may be looked upon through a cloud ; And so may the Deity through the Lan●horne of the humanty , 2 Cor. 3. 18. God hath as it were , cloathed himselfe with our flesh , to teach us he will not hide himselfe from his owne flesh ; The Lord Christ seemes to speak to us , as once Elihu did to Job , Job 33. 6. Behold I am according to thy wish in Gods stead , I am also formed out of the clay , Behold my terror shall not make thee afraid , neither shall my hand be heavit upon thee . So Christ is as i● were in Gods stead form'd out of the clay , and he makes the apprehension of the Deity not to be fearfull to us .

Fifthly and lastly , we are to know Christ to be God and man united together . In John 1. 14. Christ is said to be made flesh , not appeared flesh , as he did sometimes to the Patriarchs , conferring with them in a visible shape , as to Abraham , Isaac and Jacob , &c. But made flesh , that is , united to fl●sh , for God cannot be made flesh , or be turned into flesh .

In 1 Tim. 3. 16. great is the mystery of Godlinesse , God manifested in the flesh .

It is cald ( a Mystery ) dark and hidden , not known of Adam in innocency till revealed ; in whose heart the Law was written , but not the Gospel , Col. 1. 26. A mystery of godlinesse , breathing nothing but godlinesse , Tit. 2. 11. ( though men make it a mystery of iniquity ; ) God manifested in the flesh , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appearing in flesh , such a mystery as not the Angels in heaven can understand the manner . Only this we know , it was no transmutation of the Deity into the humanity , nor of Vide Bish. Vsher , a learned tractate of the Incarnation of Christ . the humanity into the Deity , nor by cohabitation , onely as the Nestorians say , nor by mixture as water and wine mixt together , which is neither wine nor water , but a compound of both ; nor by infusion of the Godhead into the manhood ; But by taking the manhood or humane nature into the person of the Sonne of God , and so Per modum Accedentis saith Durand . In l. 3. sent. dist. 6. q. 4. to have his subsistence in the Godhead ; And hence the two distinct natures remaine in communicable each to other , and yet make not two distinct persons , but onely one person ; as the body and soule two distinct natures , make but one man ; contrary to the heresie of Eutiches , who said the humane nature was swallowed up in the divine , so as there remained onely the divine nature . And the reason of this union was because he was to be a Mediator between God and man , and to reconcile God to man ; therefore meet he should have interest in both natures .