of any fecondary caufe. Jefus Christ is a Plant and Root of a dry ground, a Blossom from the ftem of Jeffe, a Bud from the loins of finful man, born of a finner, after there had been no innocent flesh in the world for 4000 years, every one upon the roll of his genealogy being infected therewithal. To have a Flower of wonderful rarity to grow in paradise, a Garden of God's own planting, not fullied in the leaft, is not fo ftrange; but as the Pfalmist speaks (in another kind) to hear of it in a wood, to find it in a foreft, to have a fpotlefs Bud, brought forth in the wilderness of corrupted nature, is a thing which angels may defire to look into. Nay more, this whole nature, was not only defiled, but alfo accurfed; not only unclean, but alfo guilty; guilty of Adam's tranfgreffion in whom we have all finned. That the human nature of Christ, fhould be derived from hence, free from guilt, free from pollution, this is to be adored.

But you will fay, How can this be? who can bring a clean thing, from an unclean? how could Christ take our nature, and not the defilements of it, and the guilt of it? If Levi paid tithes in the loins of Abraham, how is it that Chrift did not fin in the loins of Adam?

Anfw. There are two things in original fin; 1. Guilt of the first fin, which is imputed to us, we all finned in him, Rom. v. 12. whether we render it relatively in whom, or illatively, being all have finned, all is one: that one fin, is the fin of us all, omnes eramus unus ille homo: we were all in covenant with him; he was not only a natural head, but also a federal head unto us; as Chrift is to believers (Rom. V. 17. I Cor. xv. 22.) fo was he to us all, and his tranfgreffion of that covenant is reckoned to us. 2dly, There

1 2

2dly, There is the derivation of a polluted, corrupted nature from him; who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and nothing elfe; whose wisdom and mind is corrupted alfo. A polluted fountain will have polluted streams. The first perfon corrupted nature, and that nature corrupts all perfons following; now from both thefe was Chrift most free.

1. Chrift was never federally in Adam, and fo not liable to the imputation of his fin on that account. It is true, that fin was imputed to him, when he was made fin; thereby he took away the fin of the world, John i. 29. but it was imputed to him in the covenant of the Mediator, through his voluntary fufception; and not in the covenant of Adam by a legal imputation. Had it been reckoned to him, as a defcendent from Adam, he had not been a fit High-Priest to have offered facrifices for us, as not being feparate from finners, Heb. vii. 25. Had Adam ftood in his innocency, Chrift had not been incarnate, to have been a Mediator for finners, and therefore the counfel of his incarnation morally took not place until after the fall; though he was in Adam, in a natural fenfe from his first creation, in refpect of the purpose of God, Luke iii. 23, 38. yet he was not in him, in a law fenfe, until after the fall; fo that as to his own perfon, he had no more to do with the firft fin of Adam, than with any perfonal fin of one whofe punishment he voluntarily took upon him. As we are not liable to the guilt of thofe progenitors who followed Adam, though naturally we were no lefs in them than him. There→ fore did he, all the days of his flesh ferve God in a covenant of works; and was therein accepted with him, having done nothing that fhould difannul the

vertue of that covenant as to him; this doth not then in the least take off from his perfection.

2. For the pollution of our nature, it was prevented in him from the inftant of conception, Luke i. 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore alfo that holy thing that shall be born of thee, hall be called the Son of God. He was made of a woman, Gal. iv. 6. but that portion whereof he was made, was fanctified by the Holy Ghost, that, what was born thereof, fhould be an holy thing; not only the conjunction and union of foul and body, whereby a man becomes partaker of his whole nature, and therein of the pollution of fin, being a fon of Adam, was prevented by the fanctification of the Holy Ghoft, but it alfo accompanied the ve ry feparation of his bodily fubstance in the womb, unto that facred purpose whereinto it was fet apart: fo that upon all accounts, he is holy, harmless, undefiled. Add now hereunto, that he did no fin, neither was there any guile found in him, 1 Pet. ii. 22. that he fulfilled all righteoufnefs, Mat. iii. 15.. his Father being always well pleased with him, ver. 17. on the account of his perfect obedience, yea even in that fenfe wherein he chargeth his angels with folly, and thofe inhabitants of heaven, are not clear in his fight, and his excellency and defireablenefs in this regard will lye before us: fuch was he, fuch he is, and yet for our fakes, was he contented not only to be efteemed by the vileft of men, to be a tranfgreffor, but to undergo from God, the punishment due to the vileft finners. Of which afterwards.

2dly, The fulness of grace in Chrift's human nature, fets forth the amiablenefs and defireablene!

thereof: fhould I make it my bufinefs to confider his perfections, as to this part of his excellency, what he had from the womb, Luke i. 35. what received growth and improvement, as to exercise in the days of his flefh, Luke ii. 52. with the compliment of them all, in glory, the whole would tend to the purpofe in hand. I am but taking a view of these things in tranfitu. These two things ly in open fight to all at the first confideration: all grace was in him, for the kinds thereof; and all degrees of grace for its perfections; and both of them make up that fulness that was in him; it is created grace that I intend, and therefore I fpeak of the kinds of it; it is grace inherent in a created nature, not infinite, and therefore I fpeak of the degrees of it.

For the fountain of grace the Holy Ghost, he received not him by meafure, John iii. 34. and for the communications of the Spirit, it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell, Col. i. 19. that in all things he might have the preheminence. But these things are commonly spoken unto.

This is the Beloved of our fouls! holy, harmlefs, undefiled; full of grace and truth; full to a fufficiency for every end of grace; full for practice, to be an example to men and angels as to obedience; full to a certainty of uninterrupted communion with God; full to a readinefs of giving fupply to others; full to fuit him to all the occafions and neceffities of the fouls of men; full to a glory not unbecoming a subsistence in the perfon of the Son of God; full to a perfect victory in trials, over all temptations; full to an exact correspondency to the whole law, every righteous and holy law of God; full to the utmost capacity of a limited, cre

ated,

ated, finite nature; full to the greatest beauty and glory of a living temple of God; full to the full pleasure and delight of the foul of his Father; full to an everlasting monument of the glory of God, in giving fuch inconceivable excellencies to the Son of man.

And this is the fecond thing confiderable, for the endearing of our fouls to our beloved.

3. Confider that he is all this in one perfon. We have not been treating of two, a God and a man; but of one who is God and man. That word that was with God in the beginning, and was God, John i. 1. is also made flesh ver. 14. not by a converfion of its felf into flefh, not by appearing in the outward shape, and likeness of flesh, but by affuming that holy thing that was born of the virgin, Luke i. 55. into personal union with himself. So the mighty God, Ifa. ix. 6. is a Child given to us; that holy thing that was born of the virgin, is called the Son of God, Luke i. 35. That which made the man Chrift Jesus to be a man, was the union of foul and body; that which made him, that man, and without which he was not that man, was the fubfiftance of both united in the perfon of the Son of God. As to the proof hereof, I have spoken of it elsewhere at large; I now propofe it only in general, to fhew the amiablenefs of Chrift on this account; here lyes, hence arifes, the grace, peace, life, and fecurity of the church of all believers: as by fome few confiderations may be clearly evinced.

1. Hence was he fit to fufer, and able to bear, whatever was due unto us; in that very action, wherein the Son of man gave himself a ransom for many, Mat. xx. 28. God redeemed his church wit