And in other places the Body or Flesh is often taken for the whole Man, and that is attributed to it, which the Flesh is of it self uncapable of. The Flesh diftinctly confidered, and apart from the Soul can neither Sin, nor Pray, nor Understand, nor Worship; nor partake of the Spirit, nor be Justified; and yet all these things are afcribed to the Flesh, without any mention made of the Soul. All Flesh had corrupted his way upon the Earth, Gen. vi. 12. O thou that hearest Prayer, unto thee fhall all Flesh come, Pf. lxv. 2. And all Flefh fhall know, that I the Lord am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob, Ifa. xlix. 26. All Flefh fhall come to worship before me, faith the Lord, Ifa. lxvi. 23. And all Flesh shall fee the Salvation of God, Luke iii. 6. I will pour out of my Spirit upon all Flesh, Acts ii. 17. Joel ii. 28. By the works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified, Galat. ii. 16. And we fay in our own Language, any Body thinks, or any Body understands; tho' we all know, it is the Soul, and not the Body, which thinks, and understands. It is very ufual in other Books, and very agreeable to the ftile of Scripture, and to the common fpeech and fenfe of Men, for thofe Actions of a Perfon to be attributed to one of the united Natures, which could be perform'd only in the other. And the Union between the Godhead and the Manhood being like that, which is between the Soul and the Body, the Son of God is faid to have Suf A á

fered,

fered, and the Son of Man to have come down from Heaven; not that the Godhead Suffered, or that the Humane Nature of Chrift was in Heaven before his Incarnation, but according to the ufual ftile of Scripture, the Union between the Divine and Humane Natures entitles the Perfon confifting of them both, under the denomination of either Nature, to that which was done in the other, tho' as the Humane Nature did not partake of the perfections of the Divine; fo neither did the Divine Nature partake of the fufferings of the Humane. But both Natures being perfonally united, the perfon is fometimes denoted by one, and fometimes by the other Nature.

All the Objections against the Incarnation of the Son of God proceed upon the like mistake with theirs, who are apt to imagine that it is unworthy of God to be every where, and in all places, to behold and be prefent at the worst of Actions; as if the Sun's brightness would not be the more refplendent and glori ous, if it could penetrate into the obscureft corners and receffes of the Earth; or as if his Rays could be fullied and defiled by the foulnels of any Object which they fhine upon. And if it be no diminution to God's Infinite Glory and Majefly to be Omniprefent, it can be none to be more nearly and even Personally united to fome part of the Creation; and therefore it cannot be unworthy of God to be fo united to the Humane Nature, to manifest

his love and favour, and extend his goodness to Mankind. As God is every where prefent, fo he is in a more especial manner present in fome places than in others by the acts of his Power, or of his Grace and Favour; and he has vouchfafed a more efpecial prefence to fome Persons than to others; and thus he was present with his Prophets, who were sent to prepare for and foretell Chrift's coming. But he was perfonally united to the Humane Nature of Chrift. And this is the highest Honour and Advancement to our Nature, for God thus to affume it; but it can be no diminution to the Divine Majefty, because God continues as he was from all Eternity, without any alteration; only by his perfonal Prefence and Union with our Humane Nature, he caufes all the performances and fufferings of it to be meritorious, for the Salvation of Mankind.

The Son of God did not fo come down from Heaven as to be no longer there, but to forfake his Father's Kingdom: He still continued in Heaven in the fame Blifs and Glory, that he enjoy'd with his Father from all Eternity, tho he fo manifested himself to the World, as to come and abide in it by assuming our Humane Nature. Our Saviour tells Nicodemus, Joh. iii. 13. No Man hath afcended up to Heaven, but he that came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man which is in Heaven. He who fills Heaven and Earth with his prefence, was ftill in Heaven as much as ever, with refpect

to his Godhead, tho' he made a more peculiar refidence than he had before done on Earth, by dwelling in our Nature here. The Son of God who is at all times every where present, is yet in a peculiar manner prefent, where ever he is pleas'd to manifeft himself by peculiar acts of his goodness and power, as he was pleas'd to do in a moft ftupendous manner in that Flesh which he took upon him of the Bleffed Virgin. And it cannot be thought inconsistent with the Majefty of God to actuate the Humane Nature, and to be joyned in the moft ftrict and vital union with it, fuppofing God only to act upon it, and not to be acted upon by it, nor to fuffer the miseries and feel the pains which the Humane Nature endures (which would be Blafphemy to affert of the Divine Nature of Chrift) but to be in Heaven still in his full Power and Majefty.

But fome Man will fay, how is this Union between the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ made, or wherein doth it confift? To whom we may reply, as our Saviour fometimes did to the Scribes and Pharifees, by asking another Question, and enquiring, how the Body and Soul in Man are united? or how God is present in all places? and how in him we live, and move, and have our Being? And if no Man can tell how these things are, tho' no Man can deny the truth and reality of them, then it is not to be expected, that we should be able to tell how the union between the Di

vine and the Humane Nature in Chrift is made, or in what it confifts. We must acknowledge it a Mystery, which it is above any Man's capacity to explain; but that there is fuch an union, we learn from the Scriptures, and thither we appeal for the truth of it. And the putting fuch Questions, argues either a great mind to cavil, or great inconfideration, and fhortness of thought. For what Man is there pretending to Reason and Argument, of so little observation, as not to take notice, that of all the things which, we daily fee and perceive to be in the World, the nature and manner of existence of very few or rather of none of them is fully understood by us? It is fufficient for us to know, that great Reasons may be given for this difpenfation of the Son of God Incarnate, and that no Material Objection can be framed against it.

Secondly, No other way (as far as we can apprehend) could have been fo proper and expedient, as the Incarnation of the Son of God, to procure the Salvation of Mankind, and therefore none could fo well become the Divine Wisdom and Goodness. The proof of this muft depend upon the Reasons for Chrift's coming into the World, and they are all comprehended in this one thing, the abolishing or taking away of Sin. And ye know that he was manifefted to take away our Sins, and in him is no Sin, 1 Joh. iii. 5. We are to confider then, that the manifeftation of Chrift in the Flesh,