A30345:661
A treatise of the covenant of grace wherein the gradual breakings out of Gospel…A treatise of the covenant of grace wherein the graduall breakings out of Gospel…
A treatise of the covenant of grace wherein the gradual breakings out of Gospel grace from Adam to Christ are clearly discovered, the differences betwixt the Old and New Testament are laid open, divers errors of Arminians and others are confuted, the nature of uprightness, and the way of Christ in bringing the soul into communion with himself ... are solidly handled / by that faithful servant of Jesus Christ, and minister of the Gospel, John Ball ; published by Simeon Ash.A treatise of the covenant of grace wherein the graduall breakings out of Gospel grace from Adam to Christ are clearly discovered, the differences betwixt the Old and New Testament are laid open, divers errours of Arminians and others are confuted, the nature of uprightnesse, and the way of Christ in bringing the soul into communion with himself ... are solidly handled / by that faithfull servant of Jesus Christ, and minister of the Gospel, John Ball ; published by Simeon Ash.
London: printed by G. Miller for Edward Brewster, 1645
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
It is objected, that the fullness of the God-head dwelleth bodily in Christ, that is, the whole essence, Majesty and glory of God dwelleth in the humane nature. And we are to conceive the person there spoken of, sc. the beloved Son as man, as incarnate. ⟨p. 317⟩The reason is, because the second person in Trinity, the Son of1 God absolutely considered, hath all fullness, not by voluntary dispensation, but by natural necessity, in as much as the eternal Father never was, nor could be without his eternal Son, God with himself. In Christ his person there is a threefold fullness: the first fundamental, sc. the fullness of the divine nature, which doth personally dwell with that man-hood in Christ, whence it comes to pass, that this man is truly called God, that is, the manhood taken into fellowship of the self perfect and eternal person of the Son of God, so that it is become as a part of his person. The second is the fullness of office, to which even Christ man is called. For in regard of his humane nature now united to the second person, he is man called to be the Christ of God, that is, anointed our Prophet, Priest and King. The third the fullness of created or habitual graces, wherewith the soul of Christ is filled, which are not divine properties, (for no created gift can be a Property divine) but effects which the God-head worketh distinct from it, as the soul giveth life to the body. Now for the dwelling of all fullness in Christ man, the latter two are in him subjectively: the former, that as the God-head doth dwell in Christ man, not as in the Saints by relation of love and communion of the effects of it in grace; nor as in the glorified Saints in regard of abundant love manifested in the gift of glory; nor any such simple cohabitation: but it dwelleth in the manhood as with a nature which is taken to unity of person in the Son of God, and so is through grace become of the substance of the second person. So that Christ as man hath the second person of Trinity, God with the Father and Spirit dwelling personally in it: so that this manhood is essentially and substantially coupled with the deity in unity of one self•-perfect and eternal person. Christ man is fitly called God, and therefore in Christ man the God-head is said to dwell properly:
It is objected, that the fulnesse of the God-head dwelleth bodily in Christ, that is, the whole essence, Majesty and glory of God dwelleth in the humane nature. And we are to conceive the person there spoken of, sc. the beloved Sonne as man, as incarnate.