Throne Rev. 3. 21. To confine the presence of God the Father of God the Son or of God the Holy-Ghost to any visible Throne were a grosse Heresie But that there may be Real Emblems or Representations of the Blessed Trinitie in heaven as conspicuous and sensible to blessed Saints and Angels as the representations which have been made of them to Gods Saints or people here on earth who can conceive improbable The representations or pledges of the Blessed Trinitie have been diverse Daniel law the Glory of the Father shadowed by the Ancient of daies the Glory of the Son represented by the similitude of the Son of man At our Saviours Baptism there was A voice from heaven as an audible Testimonie of the distinct Person of the Father Christ as Man was the conspicuous seat or Throne of God the Son and the Dove which appeared unto John a visible pledge of the Holy-Ghost And may not the Church Triumphant have as punctual representations or pledges of this Distinction no lesse sensible though more admirable then the Church militant hath had here on earth 4. It is not then altogether so clear that this Title of Christs Sitting at the right hand of God the Father is borrowed from the Rites or customes of the Kings of Judah as it is questionable whether this Rite or custome amongst them were not framed after the Patern of the heavenly Thrones or representations of coelestial dignities so we know the earthly Sanctuarie was framed according to the patern of the heavenly Sanctuarie Our Fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness as he appointed speaking unto Moses that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen Act. 7. 44. Ex. 25. 40. And our Apostle saith Heb. 8. 5. Those served unto the patern or shadow of heavenly things as Moses was warned by God when he was about to finish the tabernacle See saith he that thou make all things according to the patern shewed to thee in the mount But it may be the patern shewed to him in the Mount was but a Shew or Mathematical Draught of the material Tabernacle which he was to erect and yet is stiled an heavenly patern or heavenly thing because it was represented from heaven by God himself yet so represented without any real Tabernacle answerable to it in heaven I could subscribe to this interpretation if the Apostles Inference Heb. 9. 23 24. did not prove or presuppose something more It was then necessary that the similitude of heavenly things should be purified with such things but the heavenly things themselves are purified with better sacrifices then these for Christ is not entred into the holie places made with hands which are similitudes of the true Sanctuarie but is entred into very heaven to appear now in the sight of God for us But hath he the whole heavens for his Sanctuarie or is there as real a Distinction of places or Mansions in the heavens as there was of Courts or Sanctuaries in the material or in Solomons Temple We have such an high Priest saith Saint Paul as sitteth at the right hand of the throne of the majestie in the heavens and is a Minister of the Sanctuarie and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man and Eph. 1. 20. The father of glory set him at his own right hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the heavenly places Some Distinction between the Throne of Majestie and Christs humanitie was apprehended surely by Saint Steven Act. 7. 55. He being full of the Holy-Ghost looked stedfastly into heaven and saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God the Object of his sight was surely Real not a meer vision in the air for he saw the heavens open and by their opening found opportunity to prie with bodily eyes but bodily eyes extraordinarily enlightned by the Spirit of God into heaven it self and to take a view of the land of Promise and the Sanctuary pitched in it The Divine Essence or Person of God the Father he could not see and yet he saw the Glorie of God and Christ at the Right-hand of this Glorie But he saw Christ Standing and not Sitting as here it is said All is one It is the height of Christs Exaltation that He hath the pre-eminence to Sit upon his Throne in the immediate presence of God the Fathers Glorious Throne But this prerogative of Sitting upon his Throne doth not tye him to such perpetual Residence that he may not Stand when it pleaseth him and it seems it was at this time this great Judge his pleasure to Stand as a Spectator of his blessed Martyrs Combat and for the present as a Witness against these his malicious Enemies which afterward were to be made his Foot-stool Now was that of the Psalmist Psal 102. 19. verified He hath looked down from the height of his Sanctuarie out of the heaven did the Lord behold the earth 5. But if Christ have a Visible Throne or Sanctuarie in heaven how is it true which Saint Steven saith Acts 7. 48 49. The most high dwelleth not in Temples made with hands as saith the Prophet Heaven is my throne and earth is my foot-stool what house will ye build for me saith the Lord or what place is it that I shall rest in hath not my hand made all these things And if God dwell not in any Sanctuary which he hath made how can he have any Visible Sanctuary in heaven For even the heaven of heavens every creature whether visible or invisible are the works of Gods hands To this the Answer is easie when the Prophet saith God dwelleth not in Temples made with hands he excludeth only the works of mens hands not all created Thrones or Sanctuaries made immediately by God himself For as the Apostle saith Heb. 8. 2. Christ is a Minister of the Sanctuary which the Lord hath pitched and not man And Hebr. 9. 11. Christ being come a high Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this building c. Thus much of the Grammatical or Literal meaning of these words As for this Opinion of Distinction of Thrones in heaven as I dare not boldly avouch it so I am afraid peremptorily to deny it For Peremptorie Negatives in Divine Mysteries oft-times sway more dangerously unto Infidelitie then Affirmative Paradoxes do to Heresie The Affirmative in this Mysterie is in my opinion more safe and probable then the Negative However The Point which all of us are bound absolutely to Believe is That this Article of Christs sitting at the Right-Hand of God doth contain the height of His Exaltation far above all principalitie and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come Eph. 1. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God saith the same Apostle Phil. 2. 9. hath very highly
fulfilled until the last Judgement or in the life to come is acknowledged and well observed by a late learned Jesuit And this Interpretation being proffered by a man of that profession I entertain the rather because it affords us a facile and commodious interpretation of all or most of those places whether in the Old Testament or in the New which the Romish Church the Iesuits in special insist upon for the glorious Prerogatives of the visible Church and of the visible Roman Church above all Churches visible How many instances soever or places they bring whether general for the visible or militant Church or for the glory of the Roman Church in special this One Answer will give satisfaction to all They are meant of the visible or militant Church Inchoativè but of the Church triumphant Consummativè They are meant of the visible or militant Church indefinitely that is some particular members of the visible Church have undoubted pledges or earnests of those glorious promises in this life which notwithstanding shall not be either universally punctually or solidly accomplished save onely in the members of the Church triumphant Christs Church whether we consider it as militant or triumphant is an essential or integral part of his Kingdom and as his Kingdom so his Church hath its first plantation or beginning here on earth Both have a right or interest in the glorious promises made to the Church universal neither Church nor Kingdom here on earth can have entire possession of the blessings or prerogatives promised until it be given them by the Great King at the day of Final Judgment Of this rank is that prophecie Jer. 31. 34. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more This Place no man denies was literally verified in the Effusion of the Holy Ghost upon our Saviours Ascension But shall not be punctually and solidly fulfilled until the day of Judgment be past Then the true members of Christs Church shall neither need Tradition nor the written Word they shall be all immediately taught of God and have his Laws most perfectly and indeliblely written in their hearts The gates of hell shall not then in any wise prevail against them not so far as to annoy their bodies or interrupt their peace and happiness Of this intire happiness and perfection the Church Militant had a pledge or earnest in the effusion of the Holy Ghost and all that be true Members of Christs Church have a superficial draught or picture of this entire happiness in their hearts But Christ at his Ascension was so far from annulling the use of preaching or teaching one another that as the Apostle tels us Eph. 4. 11 12 13. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers more extraordinary then any had been during the time of the Law for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of faith c. 10. Thus to interpret the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the Church indefinitely taken can be no Paradox seeing the predictions of our Saviour himself concerning his Kingdom must of necessity be thus interpreted witness that Prediction to omit others Matth. 16. 27 28. The Son of man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works Verily I say unto you there be some standing here that shall not tast of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom The later part of this Prediction or the Experiment answering unto it was exemplified in Peter Iames and John within seven dayes after For these Three were Spectators of his Transfiguration in the Mount And his transfiguration was but a representation or exemplification of that glory wherein he shall appear in the day of Judgment when he shall give these Apostles and all that shall obey his precepts full possession of the Kingdom of God prepared for them But albeit these three Apostles had not onely their eyes but their ears true witnesses of his glory as of the glory of the onely begotten Son of God for so it is said Matth. 17. 2. His face did shine as the Sun and his raiment was white as the light and ver 5. A bright cloud over shadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud which said This is my well-beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased hear him Yet miserable men had they been for all this if their hopes or expectations had been terminated or accomplished with this transient glorious spectacle or voice Both the voice and the spectacle were but earnests or pledges of that everlasting joy or happiness which they were to expect in the perpetual fruition of the like sights or sounds in the life to come Of this sort or rank is that Prophecie of Esay 2. 4. And he shall judge among the Nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into Plow-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more There was at the birth of this great Judge a glimps exhibited of this Universal Peace which shall not be universally established before the last and final Judgement All the Nations of the Earth were quiet and free from any noise of War when he came first into the World For Janus his Temple was then shut And after he shall be revealed again unto the World from Heaven there shall be neither Death nor Famine nor the Sword Howbeit even the dearest of his Saints which have lived since his first Birth were to endure a perpetual War in their Pilgrimage here on earth and the end of their War is to make them capable of this everlasting peace 11. Another Prediction of his coming to Judgement there is which must be interpreted according to the former Rule that is Inchoativè or in part of his first coming to visit us in humility and to instruct the World but Completivè or fully of his second coming to Judge the World Mal. 3. 2 3. But who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth For he is like a refiners fire and like fullers sope And he shall sit as a refiner or purifier of silver and he shall purifie the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness So certain and so general is the former Rule of interpretation that not this prediction of Malachi's onely and the like of other Prophets but the fulfilling of them related by the Evangelists cannot rightly be interpreted without the
and Last consists of Thirteen Select Sermons the fittest I could chuse out to aid and accompany the precedent Discourses especially to attend the Tracts Of Christs coming to Judgment Of the Resurrection Of Life and Death Eternal which as they most flagrantly set forth THE TERROR OF THE LORD so are they most likely by startling and amateing the Conscience to prepare mens minds that the Impressions of those Sermons may be most penetrative and permanent As in the last mentioned Tracts me-thinks I find A Particular Summons directed to my self Prepare to meet thy God Give an Account of thy Stewardship So in the annexed Sermons I find peculiar and proper Remembrances of several things wherein I have done very foolishly deeds that ought not to be done For this cause I bow my knees and pray the Reader to lift his heart up in my behalf to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for Pardon and Peace and that what I have here printed in this Book may so be written in the Table of my heart not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God that I may not only wait for but haste to the Coming of the Day of God Having transferred these things unto my self and thus far made the Reader yea the World it self my Confessor I hope none will offend if I shew what respective parts of the ensuing Work may by others be usefully applyed to themselves And first of all The Sorrowful and rightly suffering soul if his actings be according may reap harvests of Comfort from what Our Author hath written About Judgment Resurrection and the Life to Come Whereas he that adds sin to miserie and wrath may certainly presume all the Desolations and Destructions God hath brought upon the Earth as so many Tastes and pledges of Greater to ensue The Woes past are but Schiographies and portendments scarce beginnings of future evils And I earnestly beseech all of the former sort as to fortifie themselves with Arguments to Charitie and forgiving injuries out of Chap. 32. So to regulate their Conversation and Demeanour by the Directions to be sound Chap. 35. The Section Of Christs coming to Judgment is very useful for such as take upon them places of Judicature and most useful for such as judge in matters of Highest Nature and Difference The Precept of Deborah Judg. 5. 10. Meditate ye Ye that sit in Judgment is the same with that of David Psal 2. 10 12. Be Wise Kiss the Son And the Question which David puts in that Golden Psalm Ne perdas will again be put to the Question by the Son of David when he comes to judge the Judges of the Earth Are your minds set upon righteousness O ye Congregation And do ye judge the thing that is right O ye sons of Men Whether ye do or no will then be justly and finally judged The Tract Of the Resurrection who can express the use of it An astonishing Meditation it is to think I now see as surely the eyes of some shal see those Christian brethren that fel in any late Battail were buried where they fell rising out of their places of Burial whether impleading or forgiving one another and with haste marching into the Valley of Jehoshaphat to see the day won or lost there and whose Heads shall then be crowned with Glory Yet is this but as the drop of a bucket to the Ocean of that days Terrors The Sermons upon that Precept of Christ I might say of Noah and Tullie Do as you would be done to are worth their weight in Gold of Ophir and useful for all Christians of what condition soever There came out a Book some sixteen years ago intituled Autocatacrisis Ladensium To the Partie or Persons that Composed or applauded that Book wherein Our Author is named I would especially recommend His Discourses upon Rom. 2. 1. presuming that that those with the Verifications of them exhibited in these late Revolutions will convince Him or them sufficiently That it is no difficult matter to compile a Larger Volume of Particularities wherein they that have judged others have by doing over and over again and again the same things or things more then equivalent condemned themselves and justified those whom they have condemned The Sermons upon 2 Chron. 24. and Matth. 23. contein very sound reproof of the Pharisaical Duplicitie of such as built the Sepulchres of ancient and yet persecuted the present Prophets and therein of such as in our dayes commend the Lives and condemn the Authors of the Deaths of Bishop Cranmer Hooper Ridley Ferrar Father Latimer c. And yet destroy their successors in Order Discipline and Doctrine I call heaven and earth to Record this day not to condemn such but to convince them that they may be saved That Those Men whom they have cast out as enemies to the Church of England and in Effect by driving them out from the Inheritance of the Lord tempted saying Go serve other Gods are The Men that bear the Burthen and heat of the day in all Contests betwixt parties of the English and Romish Churches and that preserve their undoers from being overborn with Romish Errors And this they do upon disadvantages unimaginable save only to such as have experimented them for want of their own Libraries Their former accommodations of Secessus Otia c. Besides Those Sermons will shew That the guilt of Blood will lye long upon a Nation That it justly may and certainly will be required of late Posterity unless A Signal Repentance of the same and especial abstinence from the like sins intervene I appeal to the meekest Moses upon earth what Degree of Guilt he would apportion to that Communitie suppose it in any Forrain Kingdom or the Posteritie thereof which being not only A Pretender to Christianitie but to the Puritie thereof did Sit as a Spectator whilst a Tumultuous Tempest of People for divers hours together did hunt and chase an Aged man were he good or bad unto the Death Yet was this thing done in our Metropolis which is a kind of standing Representative of the whole Nation some thirtie yeers ago Or what censure he would pass upon three Kingdomes the Generality whereof did though but ex-post-facto only by rejoycing at the deed consent to the Assassination of A Prince the man whom the King had honoured Yet was this also done about the same number of years since It is true Justice did treatably overtake the Partie that did this Fact But Who ever sorrowed for the Joy conceived at it These two seem to have been Portentuous Aboadments of Calamities ensuing as the daily visible desolation and Profanation of Gods House is of future woe And I remember them not as making Intercession against Israel or as things I have whereof to accuse mine own Nation with delight but upon the same account that I call mine own sins to remembrance that God may be intreated for the Land to blot them out of His.
Omnipotent because the glorie of God wherewith he is glorified is every where or because the Power or Right-hand by which he is strengthned is a Power Omnipotent Omnipotencie it self Thus much of that Absolute Infinitie or Infinitie in Act unto which Christs Humane Nature was not Exalted and yet it was Exalted in some sort Infinitly above all other created substances and so Exalted or at least declared to be so Exalted specially by the Ascension of it into heaven and by its Sitting at the Right-hand of God the Father 8. That is Infinitum actu or actually Infinite Extra quod nihil est which is so perfect and compleat that nothing in the same kind can be added unto it That is Infinitum potentia or potentially Infinite unto which somewhat may successively be added without end or ceasing Thus Philosophers have taught that In continuâ quantitate non datur minimum in discretâ non datur maximum There is not the least quantitie but is divisible into infinite parts There is no member so great but may still be made greater by Addition and albeit Addition were made every moment unto the worlds end yet the Product could not be actually infinite some number might be added unto it which as yet is not contained in it In this manner the participated Power or Glorie of God or the participation of this Power or Glorie may be infinite The participation of this Power or Being may every moment whilest the world lasteth or whilest immortall creatures continue in being be greater then other and yet never come to be so great but that it may be augmented or bettered and that which may be augmented or bettered cannot be actually Infinite The least parcel of earth could not subsist without the participation of Gods Power or Being and the least or dullest part of the earth which participates of his Being doth in a sort infinitly exceed Nothing or that which is not Nothing could have any Being but by participating of his Being who is infinite No power besides Infinite Power could out of Nothing produce Something Trees and plants and other workes of the 4 th and 5 th dayes creation excell the earth Beasts of the field excell them Man excelleth the beasts of the field and the Angels excell man in nobilitie and dignitie of being And yet the most excellent amongst the Angels is but a participation of Gods Power or Excellencie and as Divines collect God hath not made any creature so excellent but he may make it more excellent every day then other yet this supposed should not the Excellencie of it be Actually infinite because it may be still bettered Yet may that which is not actually infinite in any one kind or according to any one branch of Infinitie actually contein greater Excellencie or perfection in it then the addition of perfection unto some other creature though by succession infinite can attain unto And thus Christs Humane Nature by reason of the Personall Union which it hath with the Godhead or with the Son of God containes greater Excellencie in it of diverse kinds then any other created substance not so united though the faculties or perfections of it were continually bettered could reach unto 9. But omitting the Dignitie of Christs humane Nature in the general it will be a more profitable search to examin the particular Effects or Efficacie which his Humane Nature now Exalted hath in respect of us These may not be measured much lesse limited by other mens most noble Faculties or perfections The most dull sight on earth may see as far as the Sun or Starrs and the most quick sight cannot see beyond them No mans eye-sight can pierce through the thickest clouds much lesse through the heavens above or through the rockes here on earth Though thus to do were absolurely impossible to man or any other creature endued with sight we might not hence thus collect Christs glorified eyes are humane eyes as ours are created eyes as ours are Therefore He cannot with these bodily eyes look down from heaven and behold what is done or lyes hid in the most secret corners of the earth or that his facultie of hearing because a created facultie cannot apprehend all the blasphemies or oathes even the most secret murmurings of his enemies either against him or his Church Or admitting any Saints eyes already glorified in bodie in heaven could by vision of the Divine Nature see all things that are done in earth or that his eares could hear all the Conference that passeth in this Kingdom for some one day yet this excellencie of his outward senses being supposed his internal or intellective faculties were not able to distinguish betwixt every thing so heard or seen or to censure every word or deed as it deserves Nor could his memorie perhaps perfectly retain what for the present the apprehends or conceives Yet may we not hence argue Christs intellective Faculties are but Humane not divine Ergo he cannot distinctly and infallibly Judge or censure every thing he sees or hears or infallibly retayne the Records of his Judgment or censure inviolate and entire unto the day of Judgment Bound we are rather to beleive that Christ as Man or with his Humane eyes sees all our wrongs and as Man hears all our prayers and takes notice of all our doings Or that he who as Man shall bee our Judge is in the mean time an Eye-witnesse of all our misdeedes or well doings an Eare-witness of all our speeches good or bad Nor may we again by broken Inductions gathered from the effects or efficacie of natural bodies or created substances upon other bodies take upon us to limit or bound the Efficacie of Christs Bodie upon the bodies or soules which he hath taken to his protection We may not collect that Christs bodie because comprehended within the heavens can exercise no reall Operation upon our bodies or soules here on earth or that the live Influence of his glorified Human Nature may not be diffused through the world as he shall be pleased to dispense it or to sow the seeds of life issuing from it sometimes here sometimes there 10. This Real though Virtual Influence of Christs Humane Nature is haply that which the Lutherans call the Real Ubiquitarie presence of Christ Bodie Luther himself never denyed Christs very bodie or Humane Nature to be comprehended within the heavens and yet he affirmed it to be present with us in such a manner as the sound is present with us which is really made or caused a great way from us And we may not deny This Real Influence or Virtual Presence of Christ to be in a manner Infinite or at least to extend it self to all created substances that are capable of it in what created distance soever they be from his bodie whose Residence we beleive to be in the highest heavens at the Right hand of God This kind of Infinitie of his Presence can seem no Paradox or improbable Imagination to
mitto lapidem in Sionem I lay or place a stone in Sion the meaning is as if he had said I lay or found Sion the spirituall Sion or new Jerusalem in a Stone or cheif corner stone elect and pretious But whether this be the grammatical or literal sense of the prophet I leave for Criticks in the Hebrew dialect to determine Both constructions the ordinary and this Critical are true and compatible both in respect of the matter are necessarie Christ God and man was layd in Sion as a sure foundation stone as Imus angularis Lapis as the lowest corner stone unto which S. Peter for precedencie of time so far wee yeild unto his primacie was first annexed Peter was the first living stone which was Built upon this foundation stone the other Apostles were layd not upon Peter but upon the same foundation stone whether one after another or all together wee will not dspute However all that beleive as Peter and the other Apostles did or shall so beleive unto the worlds end are immediately layd upon the same foundation stone not one upon another no one of them upon Peter or upon any other Apostle their union or annexion unto Christ is as immediate as Peters was and is or shal be as indissoluble as his was to Christ albeit their growth be not so great nor for qualitie so glorious The best inscription of this edifice thus immediately erected upon the same stone would be that of the Poet Crescet crescentibus illis As the number of living stones which are layd upon this foundation stone increase so the foundation or corner stone which God did promise to lay in Sion doth still increase As every particular living stone increaseth or groweth from a stone into a pillar of this house of God from a pillar in the house of God unto a temple of God so this foundation stone that is Christ as man still groweth still increaseth not in himselfe but in them For they grow by his growth in them or by diffusion of life from him into them 23. But though Christ be often called A stone a rock a living stone a living rock or a stone which being cut out of a mountain became a Mountain which filled all the earth yet the manner of his growth in us or the manner of his inlarged habitation through the Church may be best conceived by the manner of the soules growth or diffusion of his Vertue throughout Vegetable or sensible bodies that is through trees or plants or through the bodies of men of beasts or such as wee call living creatures There is a vegetable soul in the Ake-corn when it is first set or planted and this soul we may truely say dwelleth or abideth in the Akorn and is the cause why the Akorn sprouteth into a rod the same soul is the cause why the rod or twig groweth greater the true cause why this twig growes into a stemme why the stemme grown greater spreads it self into branches why every branch beareth leaf blossom or seed Now the greater the stemme doth grow the further the vegetable soul doth spread it self The same vegetable soul which was in the Akorn diffuseth it self into the stemme into the branches into the leaf into the blossom into the Fruit or seed None of these could thrive or prosper at all unlesse the vegetable soul did abide or dwell in them none of them can thrive or prosper any longer than the vegetable soul abideth or dwelleth in them Thus was Christ the root out of which S. Peter sprouted the soul of Peter as he was a living or Spiritual man He had no life but from Christ he grew by Christ dwelling or abiding in him And as he did grow by Christ abiding in him So he bare fruit by Christs dwelling in him by the diffusion of life and vegetation from Christ And so all they that abiding in Christ do grow in faith grow by Christ dwelling in them and spreading his vertue through them after such a manner as the vegetable soule doth diffuse it self throughout the Branches which spring from the root or stemme or through the branches which are ingrafted or inoculated into it And this manner of the vegetable souls diffusion of it self or of its vertue into all the Branches which are ingrafted into the same stock or root doth better resemble the manner of Christs dwelling in us than the diffusion of life or vegetation from the root into the stemmes stovens or branches which without ingraffing or inoculation naturally spring from it 24. But this later similitude of the Stock and Grafts although it well expresse the manner of Christs abiding or growing not in himself but in us and the manner of our abiding or dwelling in him it may seem to fail in this That ordinarie Stocks howsoever the ingrafted branches be supported by them and receive life and nutriment from them yet do they not receive their specifical kind of life from the stocks into which they are ingrafted but still retain their own native qualitie As a good Apple or Pear grafted into a Crab stock or Thorn doth not degenerate into a Crab or Thorn but reteins its native sweetnesse and bears the same fruit which it would have done although it had grown up into a Tree from its own root or from the root whereof it was a native Branch It would be a Soloecism to say That any such stock doth remain or dwell in the Graft because it doth not diffuse its specifical qualitie into it But Christ in this manner abideth or dwelleth in us He is the Root and Stem and we the Grafts and inset branches and yet he is said as truely to dwell in us as we in him This argues that the manner of our ingrafting and abiding in him is not natural because the Stock or Stem is for nature and qualitie much better than all the Branches or Grafts which are supported by it which receive life and nutriment by it Hence saith the Apostle Rom. 11. 24. That we Gentiles were cut out of the Olive tree which was wild by nature and were grafted contrary to nature into a good Olive tree This ingraftment is contrary unto nature two wayes First In that the Grafts being wild by nature without any root or fat or sweetness in themselves grow better qualified then they were by participation of the sweetness of the Stock Secondly In that the Stock whereinto they are ingrafted is a good Olive whereas the Olive tree naturally admits no ingraftment or incision being by nature so fat that it seems to envie or scorn to participate his fatness unto any other Branches In arbore pingui non vivunt insita Grafts do not thrive or prosper in any fat tree or stock saith A late Naturalist And as an Hebrew Doctor hath Observed the Olive being the fattest of Trees will admit no incision nor ingraftment Nor will any Olive Graft thrive or prosper unlesse it be ingrafted in an hungry
he hath a more peculiar right of Dominion over us over all that pertain unto his Church then by right of Creation he hath as God then by right of Redemption or Attonement he hath as God and Man For That part of our nature that flesh and blood which he took of his Mother was his by a more peculiar Title and real property then it was God the Fathers or the Holie Ghosts and we by mystical and spiritual union with that part of the humane nature which he assum'd into the Unitie of his Divine Person are His at least He by this union is our Head and Lord by a more strict and proper Title then God the Father or God the Holie Ghost is By the former Title of Redemption or satisfaction made for us he is our Lord and we his servants By this Title of mystical Union with him he is the Bridegroom or Head the Church is his Spouse and being Head of the Church every member of it is bound as God by the Psalmist exhorts the Spouse Psal 45. to worship him as our Lord and God for the husband is Lord of the wife He bought all our souls being in the state of Aliens or bond-servants and after cleansed and purified them that they might be espoused to him and finally presented to his Father He hath purchased the Church of God saith St. Paul with his own blood Acts 20. 28. And again Eph. 5. Christ gave himself for the Church that he might Sanctifie it and cleanse it by the washing of water through the word That he might make it unto himself a glorious Church c. ver 25 26 27. CHAP. VIII What our Confession of Christ to be The Lord importeth and how it redounds to the Glory of God the Father 1. EVery tongue must confess that Jesus Christ is Lord Our Lord by a peculiar real Title To this Confession every Son of Adam to whom God hath given the use of the tongue is bound de Iure but many sons of Adam to whom God hath given the use of the tongue do not confess so much de Facto The Jews with their tongues flatly deny him to be the Lord or their promised Messias The Turks and Mahumetans confess him to be a Lord of Christians but deny him to be The Lord The chief Lord under God the Father This title of Chief Lord they ascribe to Mahomet and under his right they pretend a title of dominion over Christendom The Heathens which know not God do not so much as question whether he be a Lord or whether He or Mahomet be under God the chief Lord. But as for us Christians we all to whom God hath given the use of the tongue do confess him to be The Lord As for those to whom the use of the tongue is by the course of nature and Gods ordinarie providence denyed others for them do ingage themselves at Sacred Baptisme that they when God shall grant them a heart to understand and a tongue to speak shall confess him to be the Lord and to be unto them their Lord. And in case they dye before they come to possesse the use of their hearts or of their tongues the Church or parish wherein this profession of faith was made on their behalfs are bound to profess thus much for them And as God no doubt accepts the prayers of the Church wherein they are baptized for them which cannot so much as speak to men much less pray to God or to Christ That they may be admitted into his visible Church and be reputed as members of his mystical bodie so doubtless he will accept the prayers of the Church and of every faithfull member of the Church wherein they live and dye that they may be accepted into the Church Triumphant and to us invisible albeit they never attained unto the use of the tongue or when as the Lord which gave others this blessing hath taken it from them For even of the tongue or of the use of the tongue that of Iob is most true and to be resumed by all as well by the dying as by the living by him for his owne part and by the living on his behalfe the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Job 1. 21. 2. Thus every tongue is bound de Jure to confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord that Lord whom Job so long before did confess But though every tongue of men throughout the world every tongue of Christians of Jewes of Mahumetans or Infidels should from their birth confess thus much would this be enough for that acknowledment which here is required that Jesus Christ is the Lord or would such acknowledgement of every tongue be sufficient to pay that tribute which is due unto the Glorie of God the Father from this Confession which is here required that Jesus Christ is the Lord No it is not the Confession of every tongue that will suffice albeit the acknowledgment or Confession of every tongue be de jure required In this speech Every tongue must confess c. there is a Twofold Universalitie included The One of the Parties thus confessing or aknowledging The Other of the Duties or services to be performed by everie party thus acknowledging Christ to be the Lord. To begin with the Former when the Apostle saith That every tongue must Confesse that Jesus Christ is THE LORD You must take this Universal note to be equivalent to that phrase so often used in the Book of the Revelation by the Evangelist and Apostle all nations and Kindreds all people and Tongues every one of all Sorts of the Sons of Adam are bound de Jure to confesse That Jesus Christ the son of God and the son of man conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the virgin Marie is THE LORD of the Dying and of the Living of the Quick and of the Dead As for all such as do not either in heart or tongue or in both either by themselves or by others for them truly acknowledge Him in this life to be such a Lord they shall acknowledge Him to be such A Lord after their Resurrection from death of which likewise He is Lord. 3. But the acknowledgment of Every Tongue or of every one to whom God hath vouchsafed either a tongue or the use of the tongue will not suffice to find him a Gracious Lord at the resurrection from the dead and at the day of finall Judgment There must be as is said an Universalitie as well of duties and services to be performed by every particular person to whom God hath given an heart to understand as an universalitie of tongues or lips which are to make this confession The real language of every heart will be sufficient for every one in particular whom God hath deprived or denied the use of the tongue But unto him to whom God hath given an understanding heart and the use of the tongue also the hearty prayers and
him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him the Judgement was set and the Books were opened The Fiery Wheels are Emblems of his suddain approach or of the swiftness of his Judgements to overtake his Enemies Though the Vision was new and uncouth yet the Branches of the things seen or revealed unto Daniel were known before unto Gods Prophets His Seat or Throne was prepared of old so faith the Psalmist Psal 9. 4. Thou hast maintained my right and my cause thou satest in the Throne Judging right And again ver 6 7. O thou enemy destruction is come to a perpetual end and thou hast destroyed Cities their memorial is perished with them But the Lord shall endure for ever he hath prepared his Throne for Judgement See Psal 96 ver 10. 13. And Psal 98. ver 8 9. But Daniel saw more seats and Thrones then one albeit he mention as perhaps he saw none sitting in them This as one wittily commenteth upon this place of Daniel is an Emblem of the Law which was an Emptiness or vacuum in respect of the Gospel and as all things else in the Law prefigured or forepainted were solidly accomplished in the Gospel So these Seats which are here indefinitely represented unto us by Daniel without any specification of their number without intimation of any sitting on them are pictured unto us by St. John with 24. Elders sitting upon them Rev. 4. 4. And round about the Throne were 24. seats and upon the seats I saw 24. Elders sitting and clothed in white raiment and they had on their heads Crowns of Gold Our Savior had said unto his Apostles Matth. 19. 28. that They should sit upon twelve seats Iudging the twelve Tribes of Israel And twelve Heads of the Tribes of Israel or the like number of Select Ones who lived under the Old Testament may make up the number of 24. That as all the Truths of both Testaments will consummately be fulfilled so the Saints of Both may then be most perfectly united in the Church Triumphant 9. But to proceed to such other Representations as are to be found in the Scripture This manner of Christs coming to Judge the earth or of his appearance in glory was represented unto Moses and to the Israelites Exod. 24. 10. 17. The sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel And this fire had devoured them if they had approached the mountain or Gods presence without Gods invitation But Moses and Aaron Nadab and Abihu and 70. of the Elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a Saphir stone and as it were the body of Heaven in its clearness And upon the Nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand This was a Peculiar Priviledge or dispensation Also they saw God and did eat and drink and in this they represented the state of the Elect which notwithstanding the terror of that last day shall be invited by Christ and be admitted to eat and drink with him in his Kingdom But this dispensation during the time of the Law was not granted to all Israel but to Moses and Aaron Nadab and Abihu and to the 70. Elders or Nobles of Israel only unto all the rest whom God did not vouchsafe to invite the Spectacle though seen afar off was Terrible so terrible that they durst not approach unto it So shall the coming of the Son of Man be to all the kindreds of the earth which have not hearkned to his sweet and loving Invitations here on earth All such as have neglected them or make their appearance before him without a garment or habit in some sort suitable to the Marriage unto which they have been invited shall be everlastingly excluded and cast into utter darkness where shall be nothing but weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth But the thred which I am now to follow is the forementioned Prophecie Dan. 7. v. 9. 10. Now whether in the vision of the Ancient of days God the Father were personally represented or whether it were a representation of the Godhead or Divine Power onely as it is indivisibly in the Blessed Trinity without any note of Personal difference or whether at the last day there shall be any distinct representation of Christs sitting at the right hand of the Father or whether The Throne of the Son of God shall then onely appear are Questions which I will refer wholly to the Schools It sufficeth us to believe and know that the Father Judgeth no man but hath committed all Judgement especially this Final Judgement to the Son and that the SON OF MAN shall then appear in the Glory of his God-head in Glory equal to God the Father What Manner of appearance this shall be and how the world shall be affected with it we are now to inquire so far as is fitting taking the description of it from Gods written word And haply lest we should conceive of God the Father as more ancient for dayes then the Son which Transformation of the Divine Nature the pictures of the Blessed Trinity seen and allowed by the Roman Church do naturally and inevitably suggest to the unlearned St. John doth describe the Son of Man or that glory wherein the Son of God and the Son of Man shall then appear much what after the same manner that Daniel had done the Ancient of dayes Dan. 7. 9 10. The description of the Son of God and of the Son of Man taken by St. John is Rev. 1. 13 14 15 16. And I saw in the middest of the 7. Candlesticks one like unto the Son of man clothed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the paps with a golden girdle His head and his hairs were white like wooll as white as snow and his eyes were as a flame of fire And his feet like unto fine brasse as if they burned in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many waters And he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword and his countenance was as the Sun shineth in his strength You have heard before out of the seventeenth of St. Matthew that St. Peter Iames and John when they were spectators of his transfiguration which was but a representation of the Son of Mans coming in his kingdom when they heard the voice out of the cloud fell on their faces and were sore afraid until he came and touched them and said arise be not afraid This sight or vision of his glory Apoc. 1. 17 18. was more terrible then the Voice which they then heard When I saw him saith St. John I fell at his feet as dead and he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me fear not I am the first and the last I am be that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore