<54 v4 Declaration ofthe i~zloy'1oZb1 My S T ERY [2.] As unto authoritative defignation, it was the ad of the Father. Hence is he faid to fendbis Son in Ehe likenefs of finfislfefh, Rom. viii. 3. Gal. iv. 4. [3.] As unto the formation of the humane nature, it was the peculiar ad of thefpirit, Luke i. 35. [4.] As unto the term of the affumption, or the taking of our nature unto himfelf, it was the peculiar ad of the perfon of the Son. Herein as Damafcen obferves, the other perfons had no concurrence, but only rye ßáAnnr ,ÿ lobónar, by counfel and approbation. 2.) This affumption was the only immediate ad ofthe divine nature on the humane in the perfon of the Son. All thofe that follow in fub- fiftence, fuftentation, with all others that are communicative, do enfue thereon. 3.) This affumption and the hypoftatical union are diftind and diffe- rent in the formal reafon of them. Firfi, Affumption is the immediate act of the divine nature in the perfon of the Son on the humane; union is mediate by virtue of that affumption. Secondly, Affumption is unto perfonality; it is that aft whereby the Son of God and our nature became one perfon. Union is an aft or relation of the natures fubfifting in that oneperfon. Thirdly, Affumption refpels the ailingofthe divine,and the paf- fion of the humane nature, the one affumeth, theother is alfumed. Union re- fpelts the mutual relation of the natures unto each other. Hence the divine nature may befaid to beunited unto thehumane, as well as the humane unto the divine ; but the divine nature cannot befaid to be affumed, as the humane is. Whereforeaffumption denotes the aiingofthe onenature, and the paffion of the other,union the mutual relation that is between them both. Thefe things may be fafely affirmed, and ought to be firmly believed, as the fenfe of the Holy Ghoft inthofe expreffions ; He took on him thefeed of Abraham; be took on him the form ofa fervent; and the like. And who can conceive the condefcenfion of divine goodnefs, or the actings of divine wifdom and power therein? (a.) That which followeth thereon is the union of the two natures in the faine perfon, or the hypoflatiral union. This is included and affert- ed in a multitude of divine teftimonies, Ifa. vii. 14. Behold a virgin 'hall conceive and bear a Son, andflail call his neme Immanuel, as Matth. i. 23. He who was conceived and born of the virgin was Immanuel, or God with us ; that is, God manifeft in the fifth, by the union of his na- tures in the faine perfon, Ife. ix. 6. To us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and bis name flail be called wonderful, counfellour, the mighty God, the everlafling Father, the prince of peace. That the fame perfon Should be the mighty God, and a child born, is neither conceiveable, nor poffible, nor can be true, but by the union of the divine and humane natures inthe fame perfon. So he laid of himfelf, Before Abraham was, I am, John viii. 58. That he, the fame perfon who then fpake unto the Jews, and as a man was little snore than thirty years of age, Should alfo be before Abraham, undeniably confirms the union ofanother nature in the fame perfon with that wherein he fpake thofe words, and without which they could not be true. He had not only another nature which did exift before Abraham, but the faine individual perfon who then fpake in the humane nature, did then exifl. See to the fame. purpofe, John i. 14. Alit xx. 28. Rom. ire. ç. Col. ii. 9. 1 John iii. 16. This union the antient church affirmed to bemade drgselik without a> change in the perfon of the Son ofGod, which the divine nature is mot fubjeft unto; dhx;lrae, with a dißindtion of natures, but without any
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