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SERMONS, LECTURES,

AND

OCCASIONAL DISCOURSES.

BY THE

REV. EDWARD IRVING, M.A.

MINISTER OF THE NATIONAL SCOTCH CHURCH, REGENT SQUARE.

OTHER

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

THE DOCTRINE OF THE INCARNATION OPENED

IN SIX SERMONS.

LONDON: PUBLISHED BY R. B. SEELEY AND W. BURNSIDE;

AND SOLD BY L. B. SEELEY & SONS, FLEET STREET;

J. NISBET, BERNERS STREET; A. PANTON, OXFORD STREET;

W. OLIPHANT, AND J. BOYD, EDINBURGH;

AND W. COLLINS, GLASGOW.

MDCCCXXVIII.

ELLERTON AND HENDERSON, PRINTERS,

GOUGH SQUARE, LONDON.

PREFACE.

THIS book, though it consists of three parts, apparently distinct and separate from each other, hath nevertheless a unity in itself which entitles it to be regarded as one work. The first part treats of the work of Christ in the flesh; the second, of the publication and propagation of the same good work amongst men; and the third, of the present aspect and condition, and the immediate prospects, of that portion of the world which hath received the preaching of the Gospel of the incarnate Word;-the first being doctrinal, the second ecclesiastical and practical, the third national and prophetical. Upon each of these three several parts, I have a word or two to say, by way of preface.

The Sermons on the Incarnation were intended to open that mystery after a dogmatical, and not a controversial, method; as being designed for the instruction of the church committed to my ministerial and pastoral care, of whom I knew not that any one entertained a doubt upon that great head of Christian faith. To open the subject in all its bearings, and to connect it with the other great heads of divine doctrine, especially with the doctrine of the Trinity; and to shew the several offices of the Divine persons, in the great work of making the Word flesh; this truly was the good

purpose with which I undertook and completed the four sermons upon the Origin, the End, the Act, and the Fruit of the Incarnation. When I had completed this office of my ministry, and, by the request of my flock, had consented to the publication of these and the other discourses contained in this book; and when the printing of them had all but, or altogether, concluded; there arose, I say not by what influence of Satan, a great outcry against the doctrine which, with all orthodox churches, I hold and maintain concerning the person of Christ: the doctrine I mean of his human nature, that it was manhood fallen, which he took up into his Divine person, in order to prove the grace and the might of Godhead in redeeming it; or, to use the words of our Scottish Confession, that his flesh was, in its proper nature, mortal and corruptible, but received immortality and incorruption from the Holy Ghost. The stir which was made in divers quarters, both of this and my native land, about this matter, as if it were neither the orthodox doctrine of the church, nor a doctrine according to godliness, shewed me, who am convinced of both, that it was necessary to take controversial weapons in my hand, and contend earnestly for the faith as it was once delivered to the saints. I perceived now, that the dogmatical method which I had adopted for the behoof of my own believing flock, would not be sufficient when publishing to a wavering, gainsaying, or unbelieving people; and therefore it seemed to me most profitable to delay the publication until I should have composed something fitted to re-establish men's minds upon this great fundamental doctrine of the church,

which having done, I resolved to insert the same as two other sermons; the one upon the method of the Incarnation, and the other upon the relations of the Creator and the creature, as these are shewn out in the light of the Incarnation. And for this timeous interruption by evil tongues, I desire to give thanks to God, inasmuch as I have been enabled thereby not only to expound, but to defend the faith, that the Son of God came in the flesh.

I would not add another word upon this subject, were it not that I know how ready the ear of this generation is to take up an evil report, and how much it doth prejudice a man to be even suspected of a great vital error in his faith. Therefore to set myself straight with honest-hearted men, who may have been poisoned by malicious slanders, I will state, in a few words, what is the exact matter in dispute between us and these gainsayers of the truth.

The point at issue is simply this; Whether Christ's flesh had the grace of sinlessness and incorruption from its proper nature, or from the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. I say the latter. I assert, that in its proper nature it was as the flesh of his mother, but, by virtue of the Holy Ghost's quickening and inhabiting of it, it was preserved sinless and incorruptible. This work of the Holy Ghost, I further assert, was done in consequence of the Son's humbling himself to be made flesh. The Son said, "I come:" the Father said, "I prepare thee a body to come in :" and the Holy Ghost prepared that body out of the Virgin's substance. And so, by the threefold acting of the Trinity, was the Christ constituted

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