Owen - Houston-Packer Collection BX9315 .O8 1721

P R E F A C E . XiX and by the fame Nature.) Far if the Lord had been incarnate or any other ' dfofnian (that is, Caufe, Reafon, or End,) and had brow ht,)rlefh from any other fubfiance (that is, celeftial or xtherial, as the Gnofzcks imagined) he had net recovered men, brought our nature into an head in him/el ; nor could he have been faid to be flefh. He therefore himfelf hadffh and ' blood not of any other kind ; but he took to himfelf that which was o- riginally created of the Father, feeking that which was loft.' Thefame is obferved by Autlin, lib. de fide, ad Petrum Diaconum. Sic igitur Chrittum Dei Filium, id eft, unam ex.Trinitate Perfonam, Deum verum crede, ut Di- viniratctn ejus de Natura Patric natam effe non dubites ; & fic earn venom hominem crede, & ejus camera, non coeleftis, non =ix, non alternos cu- jufquam putes effe namen, fed ejus cuius eft omnium caro; id eft, quam ipfe Deus hominibus plafinat. Sobelieve Chrf the Son ofGod, that is one Pefon of the Trinity, to be the true God, that you doubt not but that his Divinity was born (by eternalgeneration) of the nature of the Father; and fo believe him to be a true man, that you fuppofe not hisjlefh to be aerial, or heavenly, or of anyother nature, but of that which is the fefh of all men ; that is, which God himfelfformed in thefirth man of the earth, and which heforms in all other men. That which he (peaks ofone Perfon of the Trinity, bath refpetl unto the heretical opinion of Hormifda the Bifhop ofRome, who con- tended that it was unlawful to fay, that one Perfon of the Trinity was in carnate, and perfecuted tome Scythian Monks, men not unlearned, about it, who were ftrenuoufly defnded by Maxentius, one ofthem. It carrieth init a great eandecency unto divine wifdom, that man fhauld. be refiored unto the image of God, by him who was the effential image of the Father, as is declared in our Difcourfe : ' and that he wasmade like un- to us, that we might be made like unto him, and unto God through him. Sä(peaks the fame Irenxus,, lib. 5. Prxfat. Verbum Dei Jefus Chriftus, qui proprer immenfam fuamdiieetionem, fafus eft, quod fumus nos, ut nos perfi,- cerrt quodeft ipfe. :lefts Chr f the Word of God, whofrom his own infi- nite love, was made what we are, that he might make ss what he is; that is, by the reftoration of the image of Gad in us. And again, lib. ;, cap. so. Filius Dci exiftens apud Pattern, & homo faûus, longam homimmm expofitionero in fcipfo recápitulavit ; in compendio nobis falutem præftans, ut quod perdiderámus mAdam, id eft fecundum imaginem.& fimilitudinem elfe Dci, hoe inChrifto Jefu recipercmus, quia enim non eras poffible qui femel vi&us fuerar & clifus pet inobedientiam, replafmare & obtinere brabium vifto- rix ; iterum autem impoffibile eras ut falutem perciperet, qui tub peccato ce- ciderat, utraque opetatus eft filius VerbumDei exiftens, a Patre defcendens& in- cornatus, ufque ad mortem defcendens, & difpenfationem confummans falutis noftrx. Being the Son ofGod with the Father, and beingmade man, he recon- ciled orgatheredup in himfelf, the long continuedexpofing ofmen (untofin and judgment) bringinginfalvation in thiscompendious way, inthisfummary ofit, thatwhat we had loft in Adam, that 'is, our being in the image and likenefs ofGod ; that wefbould recover in Chrif. For itwas not poffible that man that hadbeen once conquered, and broken by dí/bbedience, fhould (by himfelf) be reformed, and obtain the Crown of Viítory ; nor wasit againpogible, that hefhould recoverfalvation whohadfallen underfin. Both were wrought by the Son, the WordofGod, who defendingfrom the Father, and being incar- nate,fubmitted himfelftodeath, perfeíting thedifjienfation ofourfalvation. AndClemens Alexandrinusto the famepurpofe ; Adhoet. ad Gentes. Nai 45,i b A.5y(Fw,i vi Meg dr&gnr0.)m4ev5+.,, ivar 8i 5aú stern dtSpy'vrs 1.rá9nç a,) gore aess atSp%inr(gi yévn-tai Mil;. The WordofGod was made man, that thou mighteft learnof a man how a man became (as) God. AndAmbrofè in P. h ti. Orton. li. Imago, id eft,Verbur Dei, ad cum qui eft ad imaginem, hoceft, hominem venit, &quorit Imago cumqui eft ad fimilitudinem, ut iterum fignet, ut

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