teares Here they sow in teares Psal 126.5 Thou feedest them with the bread of teares and givest them teares to drink in great measure Psalm 80.5 But light is sowen for the righteous and gladnesse for the upright in heart Psalm 97.11 and a glorious harvest will come wherein they shall reape in joy and God shall wipe away all teares from their eies Revel 21.4 Man that is borne of a woman is of few dayes and trouble Job 14.1 man is borne unto trouble as the sparkes flee upward Job 5.7 But there remaineth a rest unto the people of God Hebr. 4.9 a rest from all their labours Revel 14.13 their hearts therefore may be glad and their glory may rejoyce and their flesh also shall rest in hope Psalm 16.9 who almost but may take up that complaint of the Psalmist Psalm 88.3 My soule is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave But unto it all Christ's members may oppose that which David speaketh in the name of Christ himselfe Thou wilt make knowne unto mee the waies of life Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance Act. 2.28 Here Gods people have waters of affliction of a full cup wrung out unto them Psalm 73.10 Here they have a full draught of misery But against the bitternesse of this cup they may be cheared by expectation of the river of divine pleasures the streames thereof make glad the city of God which God hath promised to make all those drinke of that put their trust under the shadow of his wing For with him is the fountaine of life in his light shall we see light Psalm 36.8,9 Amongst the miseries of this life we may well range the infamy of our names and it is common and incident to the most of men Who almost so innocent but hath occasion to complaine as David Psal 69.19,20 Thou hast knowne my reproach and my shame and my dishonour c. Reproach hath broken my heart and I am full of heavinesse Against this we should comfort our selves with this confidence that God will one day cleare up our reputations and wipe away all obloquies from our names The Lord Christ will come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe 2 Thes 1.10 The Lord Christ will be the fountaine of their glory and the measure of it will be unto admiration Unto the reproaches which the names of saints and Believers lie under we may add that which ministreth no lesse argument of griefe and sorrow unto a sanctified soule the unavoidable society of the ungodly How was just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked 2 Pet. 2.7 Woe is me saith David that I sojourne in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar Psalm 120.5 But against this we must solace our selves by the hopes of Gods glorious presence in which we shall enjoy as Christ now doth fulnesse of joy and pleasures for evermore at the right hand of God Lastly here is comfort and encouragement unto those that are Christs against the terrours of death When we are as Joshua and David to goe the way of all the earth Joshua 23.14 1 Kings 2.2 to die This consideration may comfort us that God will shew us the path of life make knowne unto us experimentally the waies of life Nature trembleth to consider that one day it must descend downe into the throne of death make it's bed in the dust among wormes and putrefaction But Faith erects the soule by giving evidence of our future full vindication from all the dishonour of the grave and full conformity unto the all-fulnessē of Christs glory Lastly the all-fulnesse of glory that dwelleth in Christs humanity may be applied in a way of exhortation 1. Because it is the pattern pledge of our owne fulnesse of glory Phil. 1.21 Therefore it should weane us from the love of this miserable world and life and quicken in us an earnest expectation of and fervent longing for that time day wherein this glory shall be not only revealed but communicated unto us Death will put a period unto the most lasting joyes of this world therefore we should not let out our hearts unto them but there are pleasures at Gods right hand that are beyond its reach for they shall be for evermore The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived from a word that signifies victory because * Rivet in locū eternity is as it were a conquest of time and whatsoever is measured thereby Unto these everlasting delights our soules should be alwaies suspiring Here we are troubled with the passibility animality and weaknesse of our bodies and we dread all thoughts of the corruption and dishonour of the grave and therefore we should sigh and groane in our selves for the redemption of our bodies we should ardently wish and pray for incorruptible powerfull glorious and Spirituall bodies The sin of the soule is an heavier loade unto a gracious heart then the frailty of the body O wretched man that I am saith Paul who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7.24 Why death it selfe will give a full and finall deliverance it will exempt as from the pollution of sin so from the vexation of all temptation to it After death there will be no more any lustings of the flesh against the Spirit no more any warring of the law in our members against the law of our minds and bringing us into captivity unto the law of sin which is in our members Rom. 7.23 And therefore death is desirable by all that are in Christ Phil. 1.23 so it be with submission unto the decree of God with a patient contentation to serve our owne generation by the will of God Act. 13.36 To do first that service for the Church which God hath appointed us No filthinesse comparable unto that in the spot of sin and therefore how welcome should a glorified condition be unto us in which we shall be without spot blemish wrinkle or any such thing The mortification of sin in this life is attended with the peace of conscience that passeth all understanding but because it is not perfect therefore it is often interrupted with stormes But the utter eradication of sin is followed with a perpetuall calme and therefore ardently desired by all that know and prize tranquillity of Spirit A cluster of grapes cut down at the brook of Eshcol and brought into the wildernesse was very sweet Numb 13. Oh then how pleasant will the whole vintage in the land of Canaan be If the first fruites of our glory be so joyous and delightfull O then the comfort that we shall reap in the whole crap or harvest The fulnesse and perfection of our glory is such as never entered into the heart of man 1 Cor. 2.9 The glory of Christ in his transfiguration on the mount was so satisfactory unto Peter as that he desired his sight of it might never have end or
his body the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all And then the meaning of the words is untill the mysticall body of Christ grow to ripenesse and perfection untill all that belong to the election of grace all that be ordained to eternall life be gathered and added unto the Church and untill every member arrive unto a full growth unto a full measure of grace and glory And this I conceive to be the most probable sence of the words for as Cornel. A lapide well observeth the Apostle saith untill we come to a perfect man and not untill we come unto perfect men because he speakes not of Christians considered severally but rather of the whole Church which he compareth unto one perfect man of which man the Church is as it were the body Christ himselfe the soule and head Now when the body commeth unto it's fulnesse of growth the head also commeth thereunto as also the strength vigour quicknance and efficacy of the soule its union with and information of the body which though the soule it selfe be indivisible is divisible and consequently coextended with the body Even so in like manner when all the members that shall be added unto the Church shall come unto their full growth and perfection in grace why then Christ considered under a mysticall capacity as head of his Church may be said to come unto his full growth age or stature too And his union with his Church and members will then absolutely be full and compleate I come in the last place unto the uses of exhortation From the all-fulnesse of Christ's grace we may be exhorted unto two duties 1. Humiliation for the imperfection of our graces 2. Diligence and constancy in the growth of our graces 1. Unto Humiliation for the imperfection that is in our owne graces and to give the better edge unto this exhortation I shall propound two motives 1. The perfection of the holinesse of the second Adam should mind us of that perfect holinesse which we lost in the first Adam And reflexion on such an unvaluable losse cannot but strike the heart of any one with a deepe measure of godly sorrow that is not ignorant of the worth and necessity of grace 2. All aberrations from the rule are blemishes and therefore seeing our graces fall so infinitely short of that perfection which is in the patterne of grace Christ Jesus all our graces are defective and sinfull and so present matter for spirituall mourning Can we behold the Sun of righteousnesse and not blush at the menstruous rag's of our own righteousnesses Can we looke upon the bottomlesse fountaine of holinesse in Christ and not be ashamed of our shallow brooke that would soone waxe dry if it were not continually supplied from the aforesaid fountaine Alas what are our drops unto his ocean our sparks or beames unto his sunne His gifts and graces were in comparison of ours unmeasurable God gave not the spirit by measure unto him But what a narrow measure is there in the brightest gifts and endowments of the most glorious saints that ever lived upon the face of the earth And this measure ariseth from mixture with contrary lusts and corruptions The Holy Ghost replenished the heart of Christ from the very conception The word was no sooner made flesh but it forthwith was full of grace and truth But Satan hath filled our hearts from the very wombe with a body of sin and death armies of lusts and corruptions like the Midianites which lay on the ground like grashoppers for multitude Judg. 7.12 As soone as we were conceived we were forthwith full of all the seeds of sinne ignorance and errour In Christ were unsearchable riches of grace But we are like the foole in the Gospell Luk. 12.21 that was not rich towards God Like the Church of Laodicea Revel 3.18 that was wretched miserable poore blind naked In him were hid all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge In us there are to allude unto the expression of the Prophet upon another occasion Esay 45.3 treasures of darknesse the treasury of an evill heart Math. 12.34,35 The sonne of man was cloathed with a garment of holinesâ—e downe to the foote Revel 1.13 Whereas the robe of our graces is farre more narrow and scanty then the filthy garments of our corruptions Christ was a lambe without blemish and without spot Whereas alas there is a spot in the dearest Children of God Deut. 32.5 the spot of Originall and Actuall sinne their purest graces and most spirituall duties are bespotted and distained by the adhesion of sinfull lusts and corruptions The eyes of Christ are pure white and precious like orient Jewels or sparkling Diamonds His eyes are as the eies of doves by the rivers of water washed with milke and fitly set or as it is in the margent sitting in fulnesse that is fitly placed and set as a precious stone in the foile of a ring Cant. 5.10 But now our eyes are not onely darke and dimme but impure and uncleane 2 Pet. 2.14 full of Adultery Grace was poured into his lips Psal 4.2.5 his lips are full of grace t is in the old translation But now our tongues are full of deadly poyson Jam. 3.8 Our mouthes are full of cursing and bitternesse Rom. 3.14 God anoynted Jesus Christ with the holy Ghost and he went about doing good c. Acts 10.38 But that the greatest part of men have received no such anoynting is witnessed by their unactivenesse for the glory of God and good of the Church They are as unprofitable burdens unto the earth as the Sodomites whose iniquity was fulnesse of bread and the abundance of Idlenesse Ezek. 16.49 2. We may hence be exhorted unto diligence and constancy in the growth of our graces For let our progresse in them be never so great yet still we shall come farre behind out patterne and never be able here to reach his all-fulnesse Those that learne to write will labour to come as nigh their copy as they can And in all handy-crafts learners endeavour a full conformitie unto their rules and patternes And therefore we may conclude that we can never be too conformable to the holinesse of Christ which God hath propounded unto us for a samplar to imitate He was full of grace and therefore we can never be gracious enough In him were hid all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge And therefore we can never be knowing enough We desire a full conformitie unto the glory and happinesse of Christ And therefore it is very irrationall to thinke upon a stay or stoppe in the way thereunto to wit a conformity unto his grace and holinesse What is spoken of the degrees of grace and light in the Church Cant. 6.10 may be applied unto every Christian In his first conversion he looketh forth as the morning When he arriveth unto further maturity he is faire as the moone that hath a mixture of spots with her fullest light But in the state of glory he will
disposition unto that other darknesse which is in Hell Those that doe not behold the glory of Christ here darkly in the glasse of his ordinances 1 Cor. 13.12 they are utterly unqualified for the distinct clear and immediate intuition of his glory in heaven where he is seen face to face The inheritance of the saints consisteth in light and therefore persons ignorant of God and Christ are altogeather unmeete to share in it and therefore we may say of them whiles they are on earth that they are in darknesse and the shadow of death in the borders and suburbs of hell This dispositive cause of the glory of the elect we have vers 25. to goe no farther illustrated by a twofold comparison one of dissimilitude another of similitude 1. By a comparison of dissimilitude The world hath not knowne thee and therefore I pray not for it but these that thou hast given me have knowne that thou hast sent me and therefore I intercede for their glory 2. By a comparison of similitude I have knowne thee and these have knowne that thou hast sent me I have knowne thee in all perfection Col. 2.3 Math. 11.27 John 1.18 And these know my mission by thee and therefore in some measure they know thee also unto them only of all the sons of men have I revealed thee and disclosed thy counsell and therefore I am an earnest intercessour in their behalfe that they may be with me where I am and behold my glory I have communicated a saving knowledge of me and thee unto them and therefore do thou impart glory and happinesse unto them They are conformable unto me while I am here on earth and therefore let them consort me in heaven hereafter But to speake more particularly of the branches of this our conformitie after death unto the fulnesse of Christ's glory It is 1. of our soules presently after dissolution from their bodies 2. of our bodies too upon their reunion with our soules in the resurrection 1. Of our soules presently upon their dissolution from our bodies Then the spirits of just men are made perfect Hebr. 12.23 perfectly freed from sinne and misery And if we speake of their happinesse in regard of essentials possessed of as great a perfection thereof as is communicable unto them In their understandings there will be perfect light They shall see God face to face 1 Cor. 13 12. they shall see Christ as he is 1 John 3.2 In their wills there shall be love and joy flaming unto the highest What the Apostle speakes of the Church in generall Ephes 5.27 is applicable unto every believing soule presently upon separation from the body Christ forthwith presents it unto himselfe glorious not having spot or wrinckle or any such thing c. Secondly In the resurrection Christs members shall enjoy a perfect state of glory in their bodies as well as their soules This second branch of their conformitie unto Christs fulnesse of glory I shall set forth and confirme by the explication of foure places of scripture The first is Phil. 3.21 who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according unto the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himselfe In sanctification there is a change wrought in both the bodies and soules of the saints 1 Thes 5.23 But this is but an imperfect change In their glorification after death there will be a full and perfect change as of their soules presently upon their separation so of their bodies in the resurrection And this change of their bodies we have here set forth from the manner tearmes and cause of it 1. From the manner or kind of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not an essentiall but accidentall transformation Looke as in change of old and broken vessels the matter is the same onely the colour is fresher and brighter the fashion newer and better So in the resurrection our bodies shall be the same for substance They shall retaine the same flesh and bloud the same figure and members that now onely they shall be over-cloathed with spirituall and heavenly qualities and prerogatives of corruptible they shall be made incorruptible of passible impassible of earthy heavenly and this we have here expressed by the tearmes of this change from which and to which It is a transformation of our bodies from vilenesse a configuration or conformation of them in glory unto the body of Christ 1. Here is terminus a quo the tearme from which vilenesse our vile bodies In the Greeke it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the body of our vilenesse that is by an Hebraisme our vile bodies our most vile bodies This vilenesse is either generall or speciall 1. generall common to all mankind to wit mortality and passibility obnoxiousnesse unto inward infirmities and diseases outward common calamities and finally unto death and corruption 2. Speciall accrewing unto the saints by persecution Gal. 6.17 Their bodies while living may be blemished with scars wounds dismembring and after death may many wayes be disfigured Well! all defects and blemishes shall be removed and our bodies shall be fashioned like unto Christs glorious body Here we have the second tearme of this change the tearme unto which glory and this is set downe not absolutely but in a way of comparison a comparison of similitude This glory shall be like that of Christs body in his resurrection He shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body and his glorious body or body of glory was cloathed with four glorious dotes or endowments impassibility subtilty agility and clarity For farther explication of which I shall referre you unto what I shall presently deliver on 1 Cor. 15.42,43,44 Onely one thing I shall desire you to remarke for the present and that is this Whereas divers Papists understand the subtilty of Christs body in order unto the penetration of any other bodies they are herein contradicted by some of their owne Schoolemen Durand Capreolus and Estius The two latter understand by it the perfect and full subjection of the glorified body unto the glorified soule b Perfecta subjectio corporis ad animam quoadoperationes cognitivas appetitivas videtur pertinere ad subtilitatem haec subiectio potest intelligi vel quantum ad operationes sensitivas praecisè ut nihil sit in corpore per quod puritas talium operationum impediatur sicut nunc fit in nobis frequenter propter grossitiem impuritatem spirituum deservientiaum operationibus sensitivis Omnis enim impuritas talis segregabitur a corporibus gloriosis vel potest intelligi talis subjectio propter obedientiam perfectam quam tunc habebunt vires sensitivae ad rationem quae obedientia modò non est in nobis cum caro concupiscit adversus spiritum ob hoc corpus nunc dicitur animale ab animalitate quia motus animales magis sunt in nobis secundum impetum sensualitatis quam
velut ab ipso attracta sese quam celerrimè movebunt nam ab objecto trabi rapi quippiam notum est utovem à ramo viridi sibi ostenso puerum à pomo filium à matre conspectâ ac vicissem matrem à filio quae tamen omnia moventur etiam ab interna quadam insita virtute Estius in locum 1 Thes 4.17 Whence they collect that glorified bodies shall be made so strong nimble agile as that they shall be able to meet the Lord in the aire afterwards to soare up with him unto the very heavens Out of the Apocrypha they cite wisedom 3.7 In the time of their visitation they shall shine and runne to and fro like sparkes among the stubble A fourth endowment of glorified bodies which Paul reckoneth up is spirituality It is sowen a naturall body it is raised a spirituall body 1 Cor. 15.44 This is that which the Schoolemen call subtilty The mis-interpretation of which by some I have before noted and then also I acquainted you with Capreolus and Durand their exposition of it which I confesse is orthodox but yet not the meaning of the Apostle in this place For a naturall body unto which a spirituall body is here opposed is in the Greeke not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an animal or soulie body that is actuated and animated by the soule after a naturall way and manner by the intervention of bodily helps such as eating drinking sleeping and the like In all congruence of opposition then spirituality is here opposed unto animality and a glorified body is said to be spirituall in regard of an immediate supportance by the spirit without any corporall meanes in an everlasting incorruptible blessed and glorious life In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the Angels of God in heaven Math. 22.30 without any use of the generative and nutritive faculties The Fourth and last place which I shall alleadge touching this particular is Rom. 8.23 Where the full and perfect glorification of the bodies of those that here receive the first fruites of the spirit is tearmed Synecdochically in regard of the tearme from which it is redemption to wit from all the punishments of sinne and in conformity hereunto the day of generall judgment and resurrection is stiled the day of redemption Ephes 4.30 There is a redemption by way of price and a redemption by way of power The redemption of both our soules and bodies in a way of price was finished by Christ in the worke of his humiliation and he rested from it upon the day of his owne resurrection The redemption of our soules by power is perfected in the houre of death But the redemption of our bodies by power will not be consummated untill the day of our resurrection and then they shall be fully delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God And thus have I confirmed our future conformity in soules and bodies unto the all fulnesse of glory that dwelleth in the humanity of Christ Now the certainty hereof should comfort us against the sinfull corruptions of our soules the naturall cumber and wearinesse the most ignominious deformities the most painfull infirmities of our bodies all other wants and miseries of our lives and lastly the feare of death a King of terrours unto all that are out of Christ 1. Against the sinfull corruptions of our soules There is no evill of so malignant a nature as sinne and therefore nothing so great and grievous a burden unto a pious and sanctified spirit Nothing so strong an argument for griefe and mourning But now the assured hope of our conformation unto Christs glory will put due limits and bounds unto this our sorrow so that it will keepe it from degenerating into despaire and keep us from being swallowed up of over much sorrow 2 Cor. 2.7 for it assureth us that all our corruptions shall one day be totally and finally subdued and we shall be endewed with a spotlesse holinesse that cannot be defiled and so shall be presented unblameable and unreproveable in the sight of God Col. 1.22 Secondly Here is comfort against the naturall cumber and wearinesse the ignominious deformities the painfull infirmities of our bodies c. For our resurrection will be a glorious redemption from them all Here many times our dull and unactive bodies are unable or unready to obey the commands to performe the desires of our soules and so are burdensome clogs and not serviceable helps unto them That which is sowed in weakenesse shall be raised in power Glorified bodies shall be endewed with such a power as shall render them most obedient able and agile instruments of their soules The Speed of their motion shall be like that of the devouring fire in a heape of drie stubble and the height of it shall surpasse the towring flight of the eagle For they shall be able to meet the Lord in the aire 1 Thes 4.17 when he comes to judgment and afterwards mount up unto the third and highest heavens Suppose we have blemishes either naturall or contracted that render us deformed in the sight of men Why the glory and beautie of the resurrection will exclude all defects The most unhansome ill-favoured and mis-shapen body of a saint shall be fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body Our bodies here are little better then receptacles of frailty and paine subject unto all manner of inward distempers or outward annoyances But the impassibility and clarity of our bodies in their glorified condition be will an abundant compensation for all this He that can with an eye of faith behold the future configuration of his vile body unto Christs body of glory will with patience support his spirit under the tedious languishment of a lingering consumption under the raging violence of a pestilentiall feaver under the otherwise unsupportable torments of the goute cholick stone c. And in the third place he will patiently undergoe all other wants and miseries of this life As for wants he knoweth that we have Gods promise to supply them Phil. 4.19 God shall supply all your need according unto his riches in glory by Christ Jesus As for all the most grievous aflictions of this life he expects a far more exceeding weight of glory that will overpoyse them 2 Cor. 4.17 The Apostle there expresseth our future blisse in foure gradations 1. It is glory 2. it is massie or weightie glory whereas our aflictions are but light 3. it is eternall and in comparison of that our aflictions are but for a moment 4. it is a farre more exceeding weight then our aflictions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceedingly exceeding or above measure exceeding that is it is unmeasurable I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 This life unto the best is Bochim a vale of
interruption Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus Lord it is good for us to be here if thou wilt let us make here three Tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias And yet Peter was only a spectator of this glory and had himselfe no share in it O then what infinite satisfaction may we expect in the beholding of Christs glory in heaven for it will be accompanied with an everlasting enjoyment thereof the lustre of it will be diffused unto us so that some shall enjoy the glory of the Sun some of the Moone some of the Starres 1 Cor. 15.41 We may conclude then of heaven as Peter of the mount of Christs transfiguration Lord it is good for us to be here In earth we are surrounded with spectacles of discontent but in heaven the glory of Christ will be an all-pleasing object for in the sight of it will stand part of our blisse and therefore it should command our hearts and draw unto it our thoughts and affections Christ glorified is our treasure and where your treasure is there will your heart be also Math. 6.21 Wheresoever the body is thither will the Eagles be gathered together Luk. 17.37 Math. 24.28 Hosea chap. 1.11 Prophesying of the true members of the Church under the Gospell giveth them this character They shall appoint themselves one head and ascendent è terrâ they shall come up out of the land that is they shall ascend from earth to heaven in their desires In Cant. 8.3 the motion of the Church even here in her state militant is ascension Who is this that commeth up out of the wildernesse Though she be in a wildernesse condition yet the texminus ad quem of all her motions is the land of promise the heavenly Jerusalem she is still comming up out of the wildernesse The constant prayer of the Church is for the comming of her Lord and Husband Christ Jesus and the spirit dictates this prayer unto her The spirit and the bride say come Revel 22.17 She knoweth that the day of his comming will be her wedding day And hath she not reason to long for the consummation of her marriage with so all-glorious an husband She is assured that the day of his comming will be her coronation day wherein he will grant her to sit with him in his throne Revel 3.21 and place upon her head a crowne of righteousnesse 2 Timoth. 4.8 of life Jam. 1.12 and glory that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 5.4 What more tempting and alluring then the beauty of such a crowne the glory of such a throne And therefore she hath great cause to love the appearing of the Lord Jesus 2 Timoth. 4.8 and to desire that it may be hastened 2. From Christ's all-fulnesse of glory and the certainty that we have of our participation thereof we may be exhorted to use our strictest endeavours in our declining of sinne pursuite of holinesse and tracing the waies of new obedience Hath not Christ decreed to make us glorious like himselfe The glory which thou gavest me I have given them Joh. 17.22 and is it not then a very undecent thing for us to have here inglorious soules base and unworthy affections and conversations He hath prepared for us riches of glory And unto such riches will not poore and low soules be unsuitable We are begotten by the refurrection of Jesus Christ unto a lively hope an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us 1 Pet. 3.4 and unto such an undefiled and heavenly inheritance will not defiled consciences and earthy minds be altogeather disproportioned and so unqualified and unmeete for the partaking of it If you compare vers 20 21. of 3 Phil. you may find an argument to stirre us up unto heavenly mindednesse We looke from heaven for the saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body c. Therefore let our conversation be in heaven Here on earth as it was said of Lazarus Luk. 16.25 we receive our evill things Even a Jacob complaines of the few dayes of his Pilgrimage as evill Gen. 47.9 and unto a Solomon all things under the sunne were vanity and vexation of spirit Eccles 1.2 and therefore while our bodies are fastened unto the earth this theater of misery our soules should soare up to heaven in devotion Because those that have chosen Christ for their Head and King shall ascend from earth to heaven in their bodies at the resurrection ascendent è terra Hos 1.11 They shall come up out of the land therefore it is fit that now in this life they should come up out of the land ascend and mount unto heaven by divine and spirituall meditations and heavenly affections When Christ took Peter James and John to be witnesses of his glorious transfiguration he bringeth them up into a high mountaine apart Math. 17.1 and why might not this betoken that to qualifie us for the contemplation of Christ's glory here and the fruition of it hereafter there is requisite an elevation and separation of our hearts from the distractions of all things here below Saint John having propounded our future conformitie unto Christ's glory 1 Job 3.2 when he shall appeare we shall be like him c. he presently addeth vers 3. that the hope of this conformitie is accompanied with unfeigned endeavours after purity and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himselfe even as he is pure And indeed it would be very irrationall for a man to hope to be like Christ in his glory and happinesse and at the same time to resolve to be unlike him in his grace and holinesse In Rom. 8.23 they that waite for the Adoption that is the consummation and manifestation of their adoption to wit the redemption of their bodies are described by the Apostle to be holy and penitent persons such as have the first fruits of the spirit Gal. 5.22,23 and such as groane within themselves that is under the sight and sense of their lusts and corruptions This connexion of spirituall sorrow and humiliation with the first fruits of the spirit is very congruent because there is a great deale of equity in this that we should mourne and groane for that which grieveth the Spirit by whose graces we are sealed that is marked out for redemption Ephes 4.30 In heaven the spirits of just men shall shall be made perfect Ephes 12.23 and if we desire after death to be rankt amongst them we should labour by the promises to cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the feare of God 2 Cor. 7.1 to be perfect as our father which is in heaven is perfect Math. 5.48 When we awake satisfaction with the image or likenesse of God will be our reward Psal 17. vers last and therefore here it is our duty to put on the new man which is renewed after the image
is farre above all principality 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 vers 21 should descend so low as to reckon himselfe made full and compleat by weak and unworthy men rather wormes and no men that he who is so full as that he filleth all in all should yet be pleased so farre to humble himselfe as to call his members his fulness who alas are naturally empty of all spiritual good and full of sinne and misery A second duty unto which we may hence be exhorted respects the Church Is the Church Chrift's fulness then compassionate her sufferings doe and suffer your utmost for her delivery To see the fall of great men the funeral or ruine of great cities workes in those that either see or hear of it a kind of relenting or commiseration Why the Church of God his body his fulness is all in flames and shall not this command our most serious passions our sincerest and heartiest prayers and our utmost endeavours for her deliverance A Third exhortation regards themselves and it is to walk worthy of their high relation not to discredit it but to adorne it rather in an holy conversation The misdemeanours of favourites reflects upon their Princes And doe not the evil lives and actions of the Churches members redound unto the dishonour of Christ the head of the Church especially seeing he hath taken them into so streight and intimate a fellowship with him as that he hath made them of his body and fulness As they that honour him shall be honoured so they that cast any disgrace upon him or his body shall be sure to meet with shame and dishonour at the last Let them therefore be exhorted not to receive so great a favour as exaltation to be a part of Christ's fulness in vaine but to walke fittingly to the excellency of so high a condition as becometh the members of him who filleth all in all Lastly those that after an impartial examination of their relation unto the Church find themselves not only to be in her but of her as true proper and living members may upon this their assurance ground diverse consolations and that especialy in these five following particulars Use 1. Of consolation 1 If you are members of the Church and so consequently parts of Christ's fulness why then you may rest confident of all true blessings all spiritual honour and advancement He will be unto you a sunne and a shield he will give you grace and glory no good thing will he withhold from you Psal 84.11 You are his own and therefore he is neerly interested in your good your bliss and prosperity and consequently will be as careful of promoting it as you your selves will or can be For who will not use his utmost care and fidelitie in his own concernments All the members of the Church are one with Christ in a very near relation so that he and they make but one Christ they are as parts and portions of himselfe they are his fulness and therefore in all their advancements he is honoured and after a sort farther filled Whereupon divers Interpreters translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Eph. 1.23 passively and render the words thus qui omnia in omnibus adimpletur which is filled all in all that is is filled in all his Saints according to all graces and vertues requisite unto their eternal salvation By conferring then any grace or vertue or any other blessing upon them he conferreth it as it were upon himselfe he honoureth and filleth himselfe and on the contrary if he should deny blessings unto them he should deny them unto himselfe which is a thing not to be imagined Because the Church is Christs fulness because the members of the Church are said to be parts and portions of this fulness therefore as the Apostle phraseth it Hebr. 3.14 they partake of Christ they partake of all his communicable perfections 1. Of the satisfaction and merit of his death and sufferings Phil. 3.10 1 Pet. 4.13 2 of the graces of his spirit Joh. 1.16 3 of his glorious dignities priviledges and relations We are by him a royal Priesthood spiritual Kings and Priests sonnes and coheirs with him Nay 4 We shall reap from him not only relative but real glory when he shall appear we shall be like him 1 Joh. 3.2 and that not only in our soules but in our bodies Phil. 3.21 It is said of him that at the day of judgment he shall be glorified in his Saints 2 Thes 1.10 There is saith D. Sclater upon the place a personal glory of the Mediatour Joh. 17.5 And there is his social glory as I may terme it resulting unto his person from the glory which he communicates unto his Children And of this the Apostle here speakes Conjunct with the glory of Saints is the glory of Christ so neerely at that in their glorification himselfe is glorified Every Saint then may warrantably be assured that Christ will take all possible care for his glorification 2 You may hence find great cause of consolation in and against the forest afflictions For being parts of Christ's fulness whatsoever evil befals you he will deeply resent it he will be most tenderly affected with it nay exceedingly afflicted in it In all their afflictions saith the Prophet he was afflicted Isai 63.9 that is he compassionates their afflictions and as it were sympathizeth with them He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities Hebr. 4.14 Zech. 2.8 Judg. 10.16 Psal 106 44. Hereupon is it that Christ looked upon Saul's persecution of his members as reaching himselfe and therefore cried unto him from heaven Saul Saul why persecutest thou me I am Jesus whom thou persecutest Act. 9.4,5 Thus when the foot is trodden on the tongue in the head complaineth why treadest thou on me linguam non tetegit compassione clamat non attritione saith one Clemens Monilianus speaking of this passage of Saul The partie complained of toucheth not the tongue at all and therefore this cry and complaint of the tongue is not so much out of d Hinc autem Theologi quidam putant ostendi sanctorum passiones fidelibus prodesse ad remissionem poenarum quae vocatur Indulgentia Ex hoc tamen Apostoli loco nobis non videtur admodum solide statui posse Non enim sermoiste quo dicit Apostolus se pati pro Ecclesiâ necessario sic accipiendus est quod pro redimendis peccatorum poenis quas fideles debent patiatur Estius in Col. 1.24 paine or passion as sympathy and compassion Now the ground of Christ's thus sympathizing with his members is their mystical union with him As Christ the head and his body make one Person mystical one full Christ so the passions of the head and of the body and members make one compleat masse or body of passions with such difference for all that between the one sort and
and lively description of Christs exaltation 1. from the antecedent 2. from the parts or branches thereof 1. We have the antecedent of it Christs humiliation He humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the crosse Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him c. Not only Papists but divers Protestants as Peter Martyr and Zanchy are of the opinion that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quapropter wherefore denoteth a meritorious cause and not only a bare antecedent Doctor Featly to compose the controversy distinguisheth of Christ considered as a mediatour and as man Albeit saith he as mediatour he merited for us yet as man he might also merit for himselfe I should rather say that by his humiliation he merited his exaltation not for himselfe but for us in our behalfe and for our behoofe He merited it as it was the exaltation of a publique person the head of the Church The first light of this I confesse I had from Mr Cartwright in his answer unto the annotations of the Rhemists upon Philippians 2. v. 9. Whereas the Rhemists had alleadged Revel 5 9. Thou art worthy to take the booke c. for thou hast slaine and hast redeemed us v. 12. The place saith Mr Cartwright is nothing to this question For the worthinesse there spoken of is not considered in regard of that wich Christ was worthy to receive for himselfe but in regard of that which he was worthy to receive for us Now he was worthy for himselfe after the personall unitie to know all misteries and to receive all glory without regard of any worke that ever be did But to be worthy to receive it that we might be partakers of it could not be with safety of Gods justice but by his obedience and that to the death of the Crosse And this is the worthinesse which the Angels do so dignifie and commend in Jesus Christ v. 12. 2. Christ's exaltation is here made to consist in two particulars Transcendency of renowne v. 9. Supremacy of Authority vers 10 11. 1. Transcendency of renowne Gave him a name which is above every name The Lord rold David 2 Sam. 7.9 the type of Christ that he had made him a great name like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth But here we see that he hath given Christ the Antitype a name farre surmounting that of the greatest men upon the face of the earth A more glorious a more unspotted a more powerfull name 1. A more glorious name How narrow is the fame of the most renowned of the sonnes of men in comparison of that of Jesus Christ which is like the circuite of the sunne universall successively unto the whole world Hath the persons of any men been adored and worshipped with that Zeale and sincerity as Jesus Christ hath been by his Saints What mortall wight or immortall Angell hath been so much upon the tongues and hearts of men as he Whose life hath been read or heard with that assent that admiration and those affections as his No name you see hath been so celebrated and magnified as his And indeed none deserveth the praise and glory that his doth For what are the conquests of the greatest warriers unto that victory of his over our spirituall adversaries on the Crosse Where he spoiled principalities and powers and made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it Col. 2.15 No scepter like unto the rod of his strength Psal 110.2 no earthly throne like to his on the right hand of the majesty on high The exploits of the greatest conquerours by the most formidable armies are but triflâ—… compared with his atchievements by the ministery of a few weake despised men 2. Christs name is more unspotted then any other name whatsoever and therefore in this respect it out shineth all other names farre more then the light of the sunne doth that of the dimmest taper The greatest chieftaines in the world have had some blot some odious but or other upon their names that have darkened all their glory Thus the name of Alexander the great was sullied with pride drunkenesse and Luxury the name of Hanniball stained with cruelty the name of Julius Caesar spotted and blur'd with ambition and tyranny But the name of Christ is as a most glorious so a spotlesse name Heb. 7.26 which is holy harmlesse undefiled separate from sinners In a third place It is a most powerfull name that hath all the world at a beck and that unto the very end of it The power of mens names hath seldome out-lived their persons Those that in their life time have most flourished in military glory whose very names hath awed not only their owne but bordering kingdomes yet we see their authority hath died with them After death their names have had a weake influence upon those of their servants and subjects whom they have most obliged In the Charnell house the greatest coward may tread upon the dust of the greatest conquerour The great name of Alexander could not secure his mother sister wives concubine posterity from violent and untimely ends The great name of * Three daies the corps of this great Monarch is said to have laine neglected while his servants attending to imbeazle his moveables in the end his youngest Son Henry had it conveyed to the Abbey of Cane where first at the entry into the Towne they who carried the corps left it alone and ran to quench an house on fire afterward brought to be intombed a Gentleman stands forth and in sterne manner forbids the interment in that place claiming the ground to be his inheritance descended from his Ancestors taken from him at the building of that Abbey appealing to Row their first founder for justice Whereupon they were faine to compound with him for an annuall rent Such adoe had the body of him after death who had made so much in his life to be brought to the earth and of all he attained had not now a roome to containe him without being purchased at the hand of another men esteeming a living dog more then a dead lyon Daniel Hist England p. 50 51. William the conquerour could not procure him in his own dominions a respectfull quiet and undisturbed funerall But now the name given unto Christ in his exaltation was no empty powerlesse thing but accompanied with the vast empire and authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as Beza noteth dignitatem celebritatem nominis cum re ipsâ conjunctam He gave him such a name that thereat every knee should how of things in Heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confesse that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father v. 10 11. In which words we have the supremacy of Christs authority set forth unto us by three particulars à correlato ab adjuncto occupato à fine 1. From the generall subordination of all creatures unto it 2. From
pardon of any sin He answereth that it would not be idle and in vaine and his confirmation of it will mutatis mutandis with due change serve our turne Neque id est otiosum sicut potentia Dei non est otiosa etiamsi infinita possit operari quae non operatur qùia est attributum quoddam connaturale ipsi Deo pertinens ad perfectionem ejus Ita enim infinitus valor propriorum operum est quasi naturalis proprietas Dei hominis pertinens ad perfectionem ejus Gods power is not idle though it can worke infinite things which it never worketh because it is a connaturall attribute of God belonging unto his perfection So the infinite value of the satisfactory works and sufferings of Christ is as it were a naturall property of God man and therefore we cannot say that any of them be superfluous though they be not applied unto those unto whom they are appliable A Second Argument may be framed thus The bloud of Christ is of infinite price and therefore every drop of it sufficient to cancell the sins of the whole world Christ therefore did endure much more then was necessary for the redemption of man and of his superabundant satisfaction the treasure of the Church principally consisteth Unto this I shall answer 1. in the words of Dr. Francis White in his reply unto the Jesuite Fisher pag. 553 554. Although one drop of Christs bloud even when he was circumcised and whipped might have been sufficient for mans redemption if God had so ordained yet presupposing the Divine decree and ordinance to the contrary one drop of Christs bloud is not sufficient to make satisfaction for our sins because sufficiency in this kind is to be measured by the wisdome will and acceptation of the ordainer which requireth as much as himselfe appointed and decreed should be and neither more nor lesse 2. A confutation of this popish conceit touching a sufficiency in one drop of Christs bloud to satisfy for sin you may fetch out of another Bishop Dr. Bilson in his survey of the sufferings of Christ c. pag. 103. Nothing saith he did fully satisfy the justice of God for sin nor make a perfect reconciliation for us with God but his obedience unto death For that which must satisfy for sin must be death other ransome for sin God neither in his wisdome and counsell would nor in his truth and justice could accept after his will once determined and declared It was the first wages appointed and denounced by God to sin In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Gen. 2. or certainly thou shall diâ— the doubling of the word noting the inflexibility of Gods counsell and justice The Apostle witnesseth the same when he saith the wages of sin is death Rom. 6. Then as sin was irrevocably rewarded with death so must it necessarily be redeemed by death which rule stood so sure that when the son of God would give himselfe for us to redeem us he could not do it by reason of Gods immutable counsell and decree but by death Wherefore the Apostle calleth him Heb. 9. the mediatour of the new Testament through death for the redemption of transgressions And where a testament is there must be saith he the death of the testator He contenteth not himselse to say there was but there must be the death of the testator before we could be redeemed A necessity not simply binding Gods power but plainly declaring his counsell to be fixed and his will revealed I have alleadged the testimony of these two Bâ—shops because I find others of the same ranke to speak another language And those that have been the most rigid assertors of the prelaticall cause have made this Monkish dreame one piece of their Divinity and have bespattered as Puritans all that have adventured upon any limitation or mitigation of this hyperbole of Bernards Thirdly I shall referr the reader for further satisfaction unto x Illud non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intelligitur de totali causa meriti Christi sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 duntaxat departiali causa nempè dignitate atque habilitate perscuae satisfacientis c. Ludovicus Lucius against Gittichius the Socinian who doth what he can to qualify the Rhetorick of such Protestants as say with Bernard that one drop of Châ—ists blood is enough to ransome all mankind pag. 22. and withall he proveth pag. 121. out of Heb. 9.15 that in strictnesse and propriety of speech there was need not only of some few drops of his bloud but of his very death it selfe for satisfaction of Gods justice Unto him I shall also fourthly adde Chamier tom 3 lib. 24. cap. 12. sect 7 8 9. p. 1093. Who there thus argueth against the Papists in this particular The Scripture ascribes the redemption and salvation of the elect as to the blood so to the death of Christ We were reconciled unto God by the death of his Son Rom. 5.10 You that were sometimes alienated c now hath he reconciled in the body of his flâ—sh through death Col. 1.21,22 Now will they play the sophisters with Christs death as with his bloud and say that some are redeemed with one part and others with another branch of his death What can be more absurd then such a distribution of the application of Christ's death As all the elect considered joyntly are redeemed by the whole death of Christ so every one of them severally and apart Paul is not ransomed by one portion of his death and Peter by another But each of them by the same whole death considered entirely in all its kinds members and degrees Now if by the scripture the whole death of Christ is requisite for the redemption of but one single soule then it is but a curious and rash presumption so peremptorily to affirme that but one drop of Christs blood one teare of his eie one drop of his sweat is more then sufficient for the ransome of all mankind Unto all these I shall in the last place subjoyne out of Ames Bell. Enervat tom 1. lib. 2. Cap. 2. pag. 93. a passage that proveth one or a few drops of bloud to be an unmeet satisfaction unto the divine justice for the numerous and heinous sins of men Quamvis valor passionis pensandus sit ex dignitate patientis tamen ut passio idonea esset ad valorem illum in talem usum sustinendum proportio fuit observanda inter poenam debitam solutam Although the value of Christ's passion be to be weighed and measured by the dignity of his person suffering yet notwithstanding that his passion might be fit to receive or sustaine the now mentioned value requisite it was that a proportion should be observed between the punishment that was due from us and that which was paid and suffered by him That Christs sufferings might be satisfactory there was requisite not only dignitas personae but also gravitas poenae not only the
It takes * Pareus away the cause and the effect It stops up not onely the fountaine Originall corruption but all the rivulets of actuall transgression The fulnesse of satisfaction in the humiliation of Christ was like the fulnesse of water in the sea And the sea by reason of it's huge vastnesse can drowne mountaines as well as molehils Even so the fulnesse of Christ's satisfaction can swallow up the greatest as well as the least sinnes A second head of disparity is in regard of the potency and prevalency of their effects The offence of Adam brought in a kingdome and tyranny of death If by one mans offence death raigned by one ver 17. But now the obedience and righteousnesse of Christ hath purchased and erected a farre more powerfull eminent and glorious kingdome the Kingdome of life Much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousnesse shall raigne in life by one Jesus Christ ibid. It is very remarkable that whereas the Apostle saith in the former part of the verse by one mans offence death reigned by one he doth not to answere this say in the latter part of the verse life shall raigne by one man Christ Jesus but they which receive abundance of grace c shall reigne in life by one Jesus Christ For this Estius giveth two reasons 1. Because it sounds more sweetly and comfortably to say that justified persons shall reigne by Christ then to say that life shall reigne in those that are justified by Christ And secondly it is to put a difference between the Kingdome of death and the Kingdome of life The Kingdome of death destroyeth all its vassalls but the Kingdome of life contrariwise exalts all its subjects and maketh them to be Kings partakers of the heavenly Kingdome with Christ And thus have you seen out of the Apostle that there is such a wide imparity between the obedience of Christ and the disobedience of Adam as that the satisfaction and merit of Christs obedience is by far more beneficiall unto the Church and people of God then the guilt of Adams sin was prejudiciall In the next place the Apostle prosecutes a comparison of similitude between the efficacy of the sin of the one unto condemnation and of the righteousnesse of the other unto justification and life And this he doth first in proper and then in metaphoricall tearmes In proper tearmes vers 18 19. As by the offence of one judgment came upon all men unto condemnation Even so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous In which words we have the influence of Adams offence and Christs righteousnesse resembled in regard of both intensivenesse and extensivenesse 1. Intensivenesse they are like though not equall in the intension or degree of their efficacy As Adams offence was effectuall to make his posterity sinners to involve and inwrap them in guilt and condemnation so Christs righteousnesse and obedience was available to invest all his members with justification to make them righteous before God unto everlasting life 2. They are resembled proportionally in regard of the extensivenesse of their objects As by the offence of one to wit Adam judgment came upon all men that were his naturall seed by propagation Even so by the righteousnesse of one Christ Iesus the free gift came upon all men that were his spirituall seed by regeneration unto justification of life Secondly This similitude is propounded in metaphoricall tearmes ver 21. That as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reigne through righteousnesse unto eternall life by Iesus Christ our Lord. Whereas the kingdome of Originall sinne is made the sequel of Adams transgression So the kingdome of grace is made the consequent of Christs obedience Originall corruption may be tearmed a King in regard 1. of vastnesse of dominion It reigneth before regeneration in all men and in all of men in their mortall bodies as well as their soules 2. In regard of greatnesse of power It hath all the powers of the soule and parts of the body untill they be renewed by the holy Ghost under such a command as the Centurion had his servants or souldiers Math. 8.9 And unto this kingdome of sinne the kingdome of grace by Christ is answerable As sinne reigneth unto death so grace reigneth through righteousnesse by Jesus Christ Now unto the grace and favour of God a kingdome an-answerably is ascribed in two respects 1. in regard of it's powerfull efficacy it is as able to protect and exalt all those to whom it is extended as Originall sinne is to ruine and destroy those that are under it's plenary subjection 2. in regard of its plentifull fruits grace reigneth by Jesus Christ By him there is a large kingdome a great abundance of grace answerable to the kingdome and abundance of sinne in us to the reigning of sinne unto death The subjects of this kingdome receive abundance of grace and of the fruit of righteousnesse ver 17. There is one thing more in the text that much conduceth unto the glory of this kingdome of grace and that is the continuation of it unto eternity Other kingdomes may expire But grace shall reigne through righteousnesse unto eternall life And thus the Apostle declareth what a great purchase Christ by his all-sufficient merits hath made in the behalfe of his members He hath purchased for them grace and favour with the God of heaven nay a powerfull rich and an absolutely eternall kingdome of grace O how happy and glorious shall all those soules be that are found in Christ standing by faith under the coverture of His merits and righteousnesse Grace shall reigne over them through righteousnesse unto eternall life Secondly Christ may be considered according unto his state of exaltation and so there dwelled in him an all fulnesse of glory There was a manifestation of the All-fullnesse of glory that was essentiall unto his Godhead A reall collation of an all-fulnesse of glory upon his manhood First then in the exaltation of Christ there was a manifestation of the all-fulnesse the infinitenesse of glory that was essentiall unto the Godhead This divine glory of his was for a time as it were laid aside clouded and eclipsed by the forme of a servant the infirmities of his humane nature the miseries of his life and by the shame and paine of his death But in his exaltation the father glorified him according unto his desire and prayer John 17.5 with his owne selfe with the glory which he had with him before the world was that is the father manifested and displayed in him that glory which he had from all eternity in a way of equality with himselfe By the resurrection he was declared to be the sonne of God with power Rom. 1.4 and therefore possessed of an infinite glory for the sonne of God
secundum dictamen rationis Sed tunc dicetur corpus spirituale quia omnes tales motus erunt plenè subjecti spiritui In quart lib. Sentent dist 44. quaest 5. The former more distinctly thinks that this subjection stands either in the purity and refinednesse of the sensive operations or else in a perfect and totall obedience of the sensitive faculties unto the conduct and guidance of reason without any reluctancy of the flesh against the Spirit Lastly here is the cause of this change Christ himselfe Who shall change our vile bodies He is the cause thereof as man by his merit and intercession But our Apostle speakes of his Causation thereof as God by his omnipotency really effecting it Whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himâ—elfe He can subdue all things to himselfe put all things under his feete and therefore he can subdue death and the grave he can conquer and destroy all their sad and painefull forerunners ghastie and dreadfull attendants and consequently he can swallow them all up in a most full and compleate victory A Second place is Psalm 17.15 I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likenesse I shall be full of thy Image it is by some translated A gracious and sanctified soule is satisfied with the likenesse of God as soone as it is separated from the body but the satisfaction spoken of in the text is deferred untill the day of the generall resurrection When those that dwell in the dust awake and sing Esay 26.19 When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likenesse The likenesse c Secundum hoc homo est particeps beatitudinis quod ad Imaginem Dei existit Imago autem Dei primò principalitèr in mente consistit sed per quandam derivationem etiam in corpore hominis quaedam representatio imaginis invenitur secundum quod oportet corpus anima esse proportionatum Unde beatitudo vel gloria primò principaliter est in mente sed per quandam redundantiam derivatur etiam ad corpus Aquin. in lib. Senten dist 49. quaest 4. art 5. in solutione secundi and Image of God is primarily and principally in the soule But yet it is in the body too secondarily by way of reflex and derivation And it is of this likenesse of God that David is to be understood When I shall awake thy likenesse thy Image shall by way of redundancy be derived unto my very body and it shall be satisfied filled therewith in it's measure so far as it is capable A third place is 1 Cor. 15. as we have borne the image of the earthie we shall also beare the image of the heavenly vers 49. As we have been conformed unto the image of the first man the fountaine of all mankind who is here tearmed earthy dusty or slimy in partaking from him by naturall propagation a body like his after his fall earthie dustie â—…imie fraile mortall and corruptible subject to age many blemishes and deformities to diseases within and violence without a naturall body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is an animale or soulie body that is quickned by the soule onely which cannot quicken or susteine the body without the assistance of naturall animall qualities which must be continually repaired by sleepe food and sometimes costly medicaments So shall we beare the image of the heavenly that is our bodies shall be made conformable unto the body of Christ in his resurrection who is here tearmed the heavenly to wit man as in regard of his miraculous conception by the holy Ghost and his divine and infinite person so also in regard of those celestiall and glorious qualities wherewith his body in its rising was adorned and these we have specified above vers 42 43 44. incorruption glory power and spirituality 1. Incorruption It is sowen in corruption it is raised in incorruption an immortality farre beyond that of Adams body in paradise to wit an exemption from even the possibilitie of dying for they shall be quite freed from the mutuall action and passion of corruptible and corrupting elements But neither is this all for such an immortality and incorruption shall be found even in the bodies of the damned This incorruption therefore of the glorified bodies of the saints is an utter impassibility which excludes not onely death but also whatsoever is penall any corruptive that is harmefull malignant afflictive passion any passion that is either contra or praeter naturam Flesh and bloud saith the Apostle cannot inherit the kingdome of God 1 Cor. 15.50 Where in the following words the Apostle explaining thinks * In tert St. Thomaetom 2. disp 48. Sect. 1. pag. 521. Suarez what is meant by flesh and bloud subjoyneth neither doth corruption inherit incorruption to shew that not the substance but the mortality of flesh and bloud is excluded from the kingdome of God As by the word corruption the Apostle there understandeth all bodily miseries so by incorruption saith * In 4. Sent. dist 44. §. 15. pag. 265. Estius he would signify a state of the body exempt from all misery whatsoever To prove that glorified bodies shall be thus impassible the Schoolmen alleadge these following scriptures Revel 7.16,17 They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the sun light on them nor any heate For the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feede them and shall lead them unto living fountaines of waters and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes Revel 21.4 God shall wipe away all teares from their eies and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain For the former things are past away A hot dispute here is among the Schoolmen whether the impassibilitie of glorified bodies be intrinsecall or extrinsecall Here we must premise with Durand that glorious bodies are not impassible per privationem principii passivi for they shall consist of matter and there shall be in them a temper of elementary qualities that have contraries Impassible then they are onely per aliquod praestans impedimentum actualis passionis ne fiat All the doubt then is whether the hinderance or prevention of this actuall passion be from without or from within 1. Scotus Durand and others resolve that it is onely from without ex manutenentia Dei by Gods providence assisting and preserving of them either by positive resistance of the corruptive influence of second causes or else as Scotus resolveth by not cooperating with any such causes He illustrates it by the similitude of Shadrach Meshech and Abednego in the fiery furnace Dan. 3. That the fire did not consume their bodies it was not from any intrinsick impassibility in them arising either from the want of passive power or from something seated in their bodies contrary unto fire and so making head and resistance against it But the cause of it was onely from without Because Gods will was not to concurre
is the brightnesse of his fathers glory Hebr. 1.3 the Prince of life Acts. 3.15 the Lord of glory 1 Cor. 2.8 But in a second place in the exaltation of Christ besides this externall declaration of the glory of his Godhead there was farther a reall collation of an all-fulnesse of glory upon his manhood It is generally resolved by the Schoolmen and for ought I know not gainesaid by Protestants that Christ in regard of his soule was from the very first instant of his conception comprehensor blessed full of glory and injoyed the happinesse of heaven for the substance of it This Aquinas proveth part 3. quaest 34. art 4. Because even then he received grace not by measure But now if his grace should fall short of that of comprehensors the saints and Angels in heaven If he should not have enjoyed the light of glory If his graces had not beene alwaies acted in the vision fruition and comprehension of God there had been a measure in his grace The spirit had beene given unto him by measure Unto Aquinas I shall adde Becanus who upon the same argument thus reasoneth Sum. The. par 3 tract 1. c. 9. quaest 2. Christ according unto his humanity had the cleare vision of God from the very instant of his conception The reason is because it is manifested that he had this vision before his death But the reason and ground of his having of it before his death was the hypostaticall union Therefore seeing this reason or ground of the beatificall vision agreed unto him from the very instant of his conception therefore we must say that he had the vision of God from the first moment of his conception The major is plaine from that in Joh. 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came downe from heaven even the sonne of man which is in heaven Where the verbe ascendit is of the preterperfect tense whereby Christ signified that he had now already ascended into heaven which could not be true of a corporall ascent but of a spirituall by the beatificall vision The same thing may be gathered from that in John 12.26 If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be And from Chap. 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me From these and the like places it is evident that Christ when he spake these things was in the estate of blessednesse unto which he also wished and desired that the Apostles might come Whence I conclude that he was alwaies in that state from the very instant of his conception because there is no reason why he should be in it then and not before Of this heaven-happniesse in the soule of Christ from the beatificall vision there would alwaies without Gods miraculous restraint and prevention have beene two as it were connaturall sequels 1. a fulnesse of unspeakable and unconceivable joy solace delight pleasure and comfort in his soule 2. a redundancy of glory from his soule unto his body But by the speciall dispensation of God the resultancy of the former was suspended and withheld in the time of his passion and the latter the a Secundum naturalem habitudinem quae est inter animam corpus ex gloria animae redundat gloria ad corpus Sed haec naturalis habitudo in Christo subjacebit voluntati Divinitatis ipsius Ex quâ factum est quod beatitudo remaneret in anima non derivarâ—tur ad corpus sed care pateretur quae conveniunt naturae passibili secundum illud quod Damasc dicit quod beneplacito Divinae voluntatis permittebatur carni pati operari propria Aquinas part 3. quaest 14. ar 1. Anima Christi a principio suae conceptionis fuit gloriosa per fruitionem Divinitatis per fectam Est autem dispensativè ut ab anima gloria non redundaret incorpus ad hoc quod mysterium nostrae redemptionis suâ passione impleret Et ideo peracto hoc mysterio passionis mortis Christi statim anima in corpus in resurrectione resumptum suam gloriam derivavit Et ita factum est corpus illud gloriosum Aquinas par 3. quaest 54. ar 3. derivation of glory from his soule unto his body was totally deferred untill his Exaltation And then indeed the interruption of joy in his soule the interception of glory from his soule to his body was altogeather removed 1. His soule was filled with all that joy solace pleasure delight and consolation which can possibly flow from the sight of an object so infinitely pleasing as is the essence majesty and glory of God In the presence of God he had fulnesse of joye at his right hand pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 God made him full of joy with his countenance Act. 2.28 2. His body was replenished with as much glory as was proportionable unto the most vast capacitie of the creature It was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a body of glory that is a most glorious body in it selfe and the spring of glory unto others Of this glory of Christs body Peter James and John had a glimpse in the transfiguration Math. 17.2 He was transfigured before them and his face did shine as the sunne and his rayment was white as the light Glory was coevall unto his soule from it's first creation but the flowing of it unto his body was stope to qualifie him for the worke of our redemption for that was to be wrought by suffering and if his body had been glorified it would have beene impassible and could not have suffered But now here at the present by speciall dispensation God giveth way unto the redounding of glory from his soule unto his body and this transitory glory was such as that it changed the naturall darknesse of his flesh and made his face to shine as the sun nay it brake through the obscurity of his rayment and made it white as the light His rayment became shining exceeding white as snow so as no fuller on earth can white them Mark 9.3 Of the fulnesse of glory that was conferred upon Christ in his exaltation there were diverse prophecies and types in the old Testament most cleare and pregnant affirmations in the new Testament 1. Divers prophecies and types in the old Testament 1. Prophecies and the most remarkable prophecy hereof is in Psalm 16. v. 9 10 11. which is applied unto Christ by the Apostle Peter Acts. 2. vers 25. usque ad 32. Thou wilt not leave my soule in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption Thou wilt shew me the path of life In thy presence is fulnesse of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore In these words the Psalmist prophesieth of the resurrection of Christs body and the glorification of his soule 1. Of the resurrection of his body and that he
describeth 1. in regard of the tearme from which 2. In respect of the tearme unto which it was 1. In regard of the tearme from which it was It was a deliverance from death and corruption 1. From death and the grave by way of subvention and release Thou wilt not leave my soule in hell that is my person considered in its mortall part in the state of the dead 2. It was a deliverance from corruption that is putrefaction by way of prevention and preservation Neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption that is to feele and to suffer rottennesse 2. Christs resurrection is here set forth in regard of its tearme unto which as it was the way unto a glorious and immortall life Thou wilt shew me the path of life vers 11. or as Peter quotes it Act. 2.28 Thou hast made known unto me the wayes of life that is in my resurrection thou hast given me experience of the way unto life from death Secondly David prophesyeth of the glorification of Christs soule consequent unto the resurrection of his body In thy presence is fulnesse of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore Which passage we have thus abbreviated in the Apostle Peter's quotation of it Acts. 2.28 Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance Here we have the 1. Matter 2. Measure 3. Duration 4. The Causes of that glory with which Christs soule in his exaltation was repleate 1. The matter of it joy and pleasures The Apostle Peter speaking of the imperfect and begun joy of Believers here in this life saith it is unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 The joy then of Christs soule in its glorified condition is glorious beyond all comprehension 2. Here is the measure or degree of it fulnesse of joy God hath promised to make all that trust in him to drinke of the river of his pleasures Psalm 36.8 But in the heart of his son Christ Jesus there is an ocean of joy The Spirit was given not by measure unto him John 3.34 And as the Spirit was the principle of his grace so it was the fountaine of his glory and therefore his glory as well as his grace was unmeasurable Thirdly here is the duration of this glory pleasures for evermore All his life long he was a man of sorrowes and acquainted with griefe Is 53.3 Towards his passion his soule was exceeding sorrowfull even unto death Math. 26.38 And in the dolefull time of his passion that fearfull houre of darkenesse his sorrowes were beyond measure Math. 27.46 But for all this God made him ample amends in the eternity of his joy and pleasures at Gods right hand Lastly we have the causes of this glory of Christs soule the full vision and the infinite power of God 1. The full vision of God In thy presence is fulnesse of Joy which in Acts. 2.28 is thus varied Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance 2. The right hand that is omnipotency of God elevating his soule unto this vision by the light of glory At or rather by thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Jesus was exalted by the right hand of God Acts. 2.33 Unto this prophecy I shall adde three more The first is Isaiah 4.2 In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautifull and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely c. In which words Christ if we understand them of him in respect of his humanity is called the branch of the Lord in reference unto the active principle of his conception the holy Ghost the power of the highest Luk. 1.33 The fruit of the earth in respect of the passive principle of his conception the Virgin Mary Another prophecy is Isaiah 52.13 Behold my servant shall be exalted and extolled and be very high In that nature according unto which he is my servant he shall be exalted and be very high Here are divers tearmes of the like import heaped up to expresse the unexpressible glory of Christs humanity in its Exaltation The last prophecie which I shall mention is Ezek. 17.22,23 Thus saith the Lord God I will also take off the highest branch of the high Cedar and will set it I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one and will plant it upon a high mountaine and eminent In the mountaine of the height of Israel will I plant it and it shall bring forth boughs and beare fruit and be a goodly Cedar and under it shall dwell all fowle of every wing In the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell Here Christ in regard of his Humiliation was but a tender one cropt off from a young twig In his exaltation he will be a goodly or stately Cedar which God will plant upon a high mountaine and eminent In the mountaine of the height of Israel that is not only in the Church militant which is tearmed Gods holy hill of Sion Psalm 2.6 But also in the Church triumphant intitled Heb. 12.22 mount Sion the city of the living God the heavenly Ierusalem With the prophecies concerning Christs glory concurre also the types of it I shall instance but in a few 1. The Arke of the Testament was to be overlaid with pure gold within and without and to have a crowne of gold round about it Exod. 25.11 2. The Altar of Incense also was to be overlaid with pure gold the top thereof and the sides thereof round about and the hornes thereof and it was also to have a crowne of gold round about Exod. 30.3 And all this may be to typify the plentifull glory that was to be in Christs humanity He was to be glorious within and without he was to be covered and crowned with glory Unto these two types of Christs fulnesse of glory I shall adde a third the garments of the high Priest that were for glory and beauty Exod. 28.2 In Levit. 16.4 the high Priest was to weare in the day of expiation plaine linnen garments and this figured thinkes Aynsworth the base estate of Christ here on earth And why may not we say answerably that his glorious and golden garments typified his glorious estate in heaven These forementioned prophecies and types receive cleare light from expresse affirmations of Christs glory in the new Testament Christ after he had suffered enter'd into his glory Luk. 24.26 Where glory is as it were appropriated unto him as the most eminent subject and principall efficient of glory He had as it were the monopoly of glory All the glory in heaven was in some sort his glory God crowned him with glory and honour Heb. 2.7 and set him at his owne right hand in heavenly places Ephes 1.20 Where by placing of him at Gods right hand is understood a conferring upon his humanity as soveraigne authority so also unspeakable glory and dignity Unto these places we may also refer all those passages that speake of Christs exaltation Col.