A Golden Chain

In the conception of Christ we must observe and consider three things. ⟨p. 284⟩The framing of the manhood, the sanctifying of it, and the personal union of the manhood with the Godhead. And howsoever I distinguish these three for orders sake, yet must we know and remember, that they are all wrought at one and the same instant of time. For when the holy Ghost frames and sanctifies the manhood in the womb of the Virgin; at the very same moment it is received into the unity of the second person.

In the conception of Christ we must obserue and consider three thinges. ⟨p. 284⟩The framing of the manhood, the sanctifying of it, and the personall vnion of the manhood with the Godhead. And howsoeuer I distinguish these three for orders sake, yet must we know and remember, that they are all wrought at one and the same instant of time. For when the holy Ghost frames and sanctifies the manhood in the wombe of the Virgin; at the very same moment it is receiued into the vnitie of the second person.

In the framing of Christs manhood two things must be considered, the matter and the manner. The matter of his body was the very flesh and blood of the virgin Mary; otherwise he could not have been the son of David, of Abraham, and Adam according to the flesh. As for his soul, it was not derived from the soul of the virgin Mary as a part thereof, but it was made as the souls of all other men be, that is, of nothing, by the very power of God, and placed in the body: both of them from the first moment of their being, having their subsistence in the person of the son. And here we must take heed of two opinions: the first is of the Anabaptists, which hold, that the flesh of Christ came down from heaven, and passed through the virgin Mary as through a pipe, without taking any substance from her: the places which they allege for the purpose are manifestly abused. For whereas Christ saith of himself that he descended from heaven,