Thirdly, to come yet nearer to the particular acknowledgment of this truth, we shall farther shew that the promised Messias was not only engaged to suffer for us, but by a certain and express agreement betwixt him and the Father, the measure and manner of his sufferings were determined, in order to the redemption itself which was thereby to be wrought; and what was so resolved, was before his coming in the flesh revealed to the prophets, and written by them, in order to the reception of the Messias, and the acceptation of the benefits to be procured by his sufferings. That what the Messias was to undergo for us was predetermined and decreed, appeareth by the timely acknowledgActs iv. 27, ment of the Church unto the Father: Of a truth, against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod 185 and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy 28. id est, putative imaginatum, sed making himself the Father, Son, and [Vol. 1. p. 70 c.] 'A Judæis non *These words are rejected by the Benedictine editors. See Vol. viii. p. 6, notes b, f. counsel determined before to be done. For as when the two goats were presented before the Lord, that goat was to be offered for a sin-offering upon which the lot of the Lord should fall; and that lot of the Lord was lift up on high in the hand of the high-priest, and then laid upon the head of the goat which was to die; so the hand of God Lev. xvi. 8. is said to have determined what should be done unto our Saviour, whose passion was typified by that sin-offering. And well may we say that the hand of God, as well as his counsel, determined his passion, because he was delivered by the de- Acts ii. 23. terminate counsel and foreknowledge of God. And this determination of God's counsel was thus made upon a covenant or agreement between the Father and the Son, in which it was concluded by them both what he should suffer, and what he should receive. For beside the covenant made by God with man, confirmed by the blood of Christ, we must consider and acknowledge another covenant from eternity, made by the Father with the Son. Which partly is expressed, If he shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall Isai. lii. 10. see his seed, he shall prolong his days; partly by the apostle, Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written Heb. x. 7. of me) to do thy will, O God. In the condition of making his soul an offering for sin, we see propounded whatsoever he suffered; in the acceptation, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, we see undertaken whatsoever was propounded. The determination therefore of our Saviour's passion was made by covenant of the Father who sent, and the Son who suffered. And as the sufferings of the Messias were thus agreed on by consent, and determined by the counsel of God; so they were revealed by the Spirit of God unto the prophets, and by them delivered to the Church; they were involved in the types, and acted in the sacrifices. Whether therefore we consider the prophecies spoken by God in the mouths of men, they clearly relate unto his sufferings by proper prediction; or whether we look upon the ceremonial performances, they exhibit the same by an active representation. St Paul's apology was clear, that he said none other things but those Acts xxvi. 22. which the prophets and Moses did say should come, that Christ should suffer. The prophet said in express terms, that the Messias whom they foretold, should suffer: Moses said so in those ceremonies which were instituted by his PEARSON. 23 [ART. ministry. When he caused the passover to be slain, he said that Shiloh was the Lamb slain before the foundations of the world. When he set the brasen serpent up in the wilderness, he said, the Son of man should be lifted up upon the cross. When he commanded all the sacrifices for sin, he said, without effusion of blood there was no remission, and therefore the Son of God must die for the sins of men. When he appointed Aaron to go into the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement, he said, Christ, our High-priest, should never enter through the veil into the highest heavens, to make expiation for us, but by his own blood. If then we look upon the fountain, the eternal counsel of the will of God; if we look upon the revelation of that counsel, either in express predictions, or ceremonial representations, we shall clearly see the truth of our third assertion, that the sufferings of the promised Messias were predetermined and foretold. Now all these sufferings which were thus agreed, determined, and revealed, as belonging to the true Messias, were undergone by that Jesus of Nazareth, whom we believe to be the true Christ. Never was there any suffering type which he outwent not, never prediction of any passion which he fulfilled not, never any expression of grief and sorrow which he felt not. When the appointed time of his death Luke xviii. approached, he said to his apostles, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets 31. 25, 26. concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. When 186 he delivered them the blessed sacrament, the commemoration Luke xxii. 22 of his death, he said, Truly the Son of man goeth as it was determined'. After his resurrection, he chastised the dulness of his disciples, who were so overwhelmed with his passion, that they could not look back upon the antecedent predictions; Luke xxiv. saying unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? After his ascension, St Peter made this profession before the Jews, who had those prophecies, and saw his sufferings, Those things which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Whatsoever therefore was determined by the counsel of God; whatsoever was revealed by the prophets concerning the suf1 Κατὰ τὸ ὡρισμένον. Acts iii. 18. ferings of the Messias, was all fulfilled by that Jesus whom we believe to be, and worship as, the Christ. Which is the fourth and last assertion propounded to express our Saviour's passion in relation to his office. Having considered him that suffered in his office, we are next to consider him in his person. And being in all this Article there is no person expressly named or described, we must look back upon the former, till we find his description and his name. The Article immediately preceding leaves us in the same suspension; but for our satisfaction refers us to the former, where we find him named Jesus, and described the only-begotten Son of God. Now this Son of God we have already shewed to be therefore truly called the only-begotten because he was from all eternity generated of the essence of the Father, and therefore is, as the eternal Son, so also the eternal God. Wherefore by the immediate coherence of the Articles, and necessary consequence of the CREED', it plainly appeareth, that the eternal Son of God, God of God, very God of very God, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. For it was no other person which suffered under Pontius Pilate, than he which was born of the Virgin Mary; he which was born of the Virgin Mary, was no other person than he which was conceived by the Holy Ghost; he which was conceived by the Holy Ghost, was no other person than our Lord; and that our Lord no other than the only Son of God: therefore by the immediate coherence of the Articles it followeth, that the only Son of God, our Lord, suffered under Pontius Pilate. That Word which was in the beginning, which then was with God, and was God, in the fulness of time being made flesh, did suffer. For the princes of this world crucified the Lord of glory; and God purchased his 1 Cor. ii. 8. Church with his own blood. That Person which was begotten of the Father before all worlds, and so was really the Lord of glory, and most truly God, took upon him the nature of man, and in that nature being still the same Person which Acts xx. 28. before he was, did suffer. When our Saviour fasted forty days, there was no other person hungry, than that Son of God which made the world: when he sat down weary by the well, there was no other person felt that thirst, but he which was eternally begotten of the Father, the fountain of the Deity when he was buffeted and scourged, there was no other person sensible of those pains, than that eternal Word which before all worlds was impassible: when he was crucified and died, there was no other person which gave up the ghost, 1 Tim. vi. 16. but the Son of him, and so of the same nature with him, who only hath immortality. And thus we conclude our first consideration propounded, viz. Who it was which suffered : affirming that, in respect of his office, it was the Messias; in respect of his person, it was God the Son. How? or in Whit safford? Jolin i 14. But the perfect probation and illustration of this truth requireth first a view of the second particular propounded, How, or in what he suffered. For while we prove the person 187 suffering to be God, we may seem to deny the passion, of which the perfection of the Godhead is incapable. The divine nature is of infinite and eternal happiness, never to be disturbed by the least degree of infelicity, and therefore subject to no sense of misery. Wherefore while we profess that the Son of God did suffer for us, we must so far explain. our assertion, as to deny that the divine nature of our Saviour suffered. For being the divine nature of the Son is common to the Father and the Spirit, if that had been the subject of his passion, then must the Father and the Spirit have suffered. Wherefore as we ascribe the passion to the Son alone, so must we attribute it to that nature which is his alone, that is, the human. And then neither the Father nor the Spirit will appear to suffer, because neither the Father nor the Spirit, but the Son alone, is man, and so capable of suffering. Whereas then the humanity of Christ consisteth of a soul and body, these were the proper subject of his passion; nor could he suffer any thing but in both or either of these two. For as the Word was made flesh, though the Word was never made1 (as being in the beginning God), but the flesh, that is, the humanity, was made, and the Word assuming it 1 Ο λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο,—ἵνα καὶ ὁ λόγος ἀεὶ ἢ λόγος, καὶ σάρκα ἔχῃ ὁ λόγος· ἐν ἢ τὸ πάθος καὶ τὸν θάνατον ἀνεδέξατο, ἐν μορφῇ τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ μέχρι τάφου καὶ ᾅδου ἐπιβάς. S. Athanas. de Incarn. Dom. cont. Apol. 1. i. c. 12. [Vol. 1. p. 932 B.] |