God and Man and the high Priest and Apostle of our professiion in that thereby he hath both contracted an affinity and kindred to us as is partly said afore and hath had experience of what is in man even of the weakness and frailty of the nature of man and what temptations oppositions and evils from Men and Devils they are exposed to and meet with that walk with God and by Word and Conversation witness against the wickedness of men and warr against the lies and deceipts of Sathan As also he hath had an experimental knowledge of the weakness of the nature of man to stand under and bear the Wrath of God the hidings of his face from or strokes of his hand upon him Inasmuch as he being made man the Son of man hath proved the frailties of man and as a good man obeying his Father hath grappled with the contradictions of sinners and the rage and malice of evil man and Devils and as bearing our sins in his own body on the Tree hath felt in his humanity the force and power of the Wrath of God And so also hath had tryal of poverty reproaches hunger thirst weariness c. Through which he is the meeter to be the high Priest over the house of God and the mediator for us This the Apostle mentions Heb. 2.17 18. Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be made like to his Brethren that he might be a merciful and a faithful high Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people For in that he suffered being tempted He is able also to succour those that are tempted And in Heb. 4.14 5. As the greatness of his Person in being the Son of God and gone into the Heavens So also the reality of his Manhood and therein the experience he had of our condition is made an incouragement to a bold and confident approach to him and so to God for his mercy and grace to be extended to us for our seasonable help for so those words imploy wherein it is said Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith for we have not an high Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like to us without sin And that was also for our great advantage that he sinned not under any temptation for he thereby is the more pure and acceptable to the holy and pure God in all his actings for us with him Let us therefore go boldly c. Were there any sort of men of any Profession or occupation that stood in need to Petition the King in any thing of concernment for their welfare or for removing any impediment thereto redressing any grievance or the like of what great advantage would it be to them to have a friend that is set up purposely by the King to seek their welfare so gracious with the King as that there is none like him with him his ear and eye and heart and hand all at his dispose as it were And this person one advanced from among the men of that Profession and occupation and one that himself had been sometime before such his advancement tryed and exercised with the very same grievances that they now groan under and seek redress in Surely in such a case though they might have no incouragement to hope of success upon their own account as being ignorant how to draw their Petition and how to present it in such manner as might be becoming the person and presence of one so Mighty having been also rebels against him yet in the confidence of their friends interest in him and faithfullness to them how might they be assured of speeding in putting up their Petition by his hand and as directed formed and tendred by him Such our case Our Lord Jesus that came on purpose into the World to save sinners and is gone up to the Father to be our friend with him A Prince and Saviour ever living as the great high Priest to make intercession for them that come to God by him is one of us as it were a real man and our kinsman and hath been tryed with our infirmities temptations and grievances and so knows our mold and temper as to the weakness and frailty of it by his own proper experience And how also may that give incouragement to hope for mercy and help from him as in mediating with God for us so in ordering the government of God as the great Prince and Lord over us so as not to lay upon us more then we can bear much less more then is equal and right He being also such a lover of us as is manifest in the next consideration Namely that 3. He therefore became the Son of Man and so a real very man that he might be in a capacity to suffer and offer for us what was needful and behooveful for our Redemption from sin and death and for obtaining for us Gods favour and blessing It was his great business in coming into the World to save sinners And to that purpose to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself 1 John 3.5 Heb. 9.26 Now in all Sacrifices for Sin there was the suffering of the Sacrifice to Death that being given and taken in exchange for the Sinner who ought to have suffered else for his own sin and then there was the offering of it up unto God on the Altar as a gift as it were to him Now then Christ being come into the World to take or purge away our sin by Sacrifice was first to bear our sin on himself even the punishment of it and so suffer for it as to satisfie Gods Justice and make amends to the Law that sin had violated that so God might with equity and justice release the punishment and forgive the sinner and so destroy the interest right and title of him that had the power of Death that is the Devil to urge for or be an arbitrary inflicter of punishment upon us according to his will Christ as in the form of God and as God could not suffer the weight of our sin and punishment unto Death Therefore it was behooveful that he should be made in a nature capable of suffering And what should that be for us men but the nature of man even the same that sinned And so it 's said in Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch as the Children were partakers of flesh and blood He himself also took part of the same that by Death he might destroy him who had the power of Death that is the Devil As implying that he could not have destroyed the Devil that is made null his Power and Jurisdiction over us but by death Nor could he have died to that end if he had not been partaker of flesh and blood with us and therefore he took part with us in flesh and blood that is was made of a Woman and under the Law in the similitude of sinful flesh The Son of Man
3.16 17. 2 Cor. 5.19 The whole World 1 John 2.1 2. Thence his grace is said to be saving to all men And it 's every where made mens fault in neglecting the Truth the Wisdom the Son of God in his calls and counsels the rejecting and putting him away not answering his calls or obeying his voice that they do or shall perish As Psal 81.9 10 11. Prov. 1.20 22 24 25 26 c. Isa 66.3 4. John 3.19 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. Yea the very Heathens that have least means of knowledge are in the same way charged Rom. 1.18 19 20 21 28. And as God and his Spirit in the Apostles yea and in the Prophets Isa 25.6 7. Psa 98.1.2 3 4. 145.8 9 have lifted him up as a Medicine prepared for all men sick of whatever diseases or wounds of Sin and its fruits during the day of his grace willing that all be saved and come to the acknowledgement of the Truth and not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance So are we also to lift him up to and for all that so all or any to whom we lift him up may be perswaded to look to him and be saved And they that upon any pretence whatsoever as of following other Doctors for their reputed zeal or learning or number or any imaginations and reasonings of their own in which not comprehending the shining of the Light of Gods sayings they wrangle against them and by blind mistakes oppose them do otherwise they are therein faulty and injurious to the Souls of people and opposite to Christs order here who saith As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up But our Saviours saying shall and must prevail against them do what they can to hinder it 8. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness for the healing of the wounded whatever or how many soever were their wounds without fore-preparing them for the virtue thereof by other means as of Medicines Searching Launcing or any other way applying any thing to their wounds but this was the first thing and the only thing powâ—rful to heal Viz. The Serpent lifted up And that was immediately without any intervening or preceding course to be looked to So is Christ to be lifted up as the Direct means and the immediate cure and Medicine for all diseases of the Soul without putting men upon other rules or devises courses to prepare them for healing by him as necessary to be first looked to of them Thus the Apostle saith He delivered to the Corinthians first of all or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the first things That Christ dyed for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose from the dead the third day according to the Scriptures 1 Cor. 15.3 4 5. And as much less did Moses go about to heal them and then let them see the Brazen Serpent when somewhat amended first So no more should any go about to regulate or qualifie any first for Christ as if they were too badly wounded to be admitted to look as yet to Christ or for Christ though looked to to heal them till they first be by the Law or some devises of men somewhat made better as humble men penitent sinners holy sinners or the like which is as if Moses should have hindred some from looking to the Serpent because so deeply and so dangerously wounded and their sores so many till they had got rid of some of them otherwise And as such a course would have been a dangerous derogation from the virtue of Gods Ordinance there so is this putting men upon qualifying themselves by other means first to better them before Christ may be Preached to them or they directed to look to or behold him a dangerous derogation from Gods order and Ordinance here Indeed as there if any being wounded by a Serpent had denied or doubted whether he was wounded by a Serpent and so needed to look to the Brazen Serpent it might have been necessary to perswade him and demonstrate to him that he was stâ—ng and so needed to apply himself to that way of cure the Brazen Serpent for healing So in case men doubt or deny that they are Sinners or have sinned and have need of Christ it may be needful to shew and demonstrate to them that they have sin and have sinned and need to look to Christ that they may be saved And so men may make use of the Law as a discoverer of Sin to that purpose And yet the best way to shew men their need for looking to Christ is to lift up Christ as given of God through his Death for them to be their helper and their Salvation So the Apostle We thus judge that if one died for All then all were dead That 's a demonstration most certain and effectual that every one needs to mind him and to apply themselves to him for Salvation as being sinners that Christ hath died for them all 2 Cor. 5.14 15. But of that way of Conviction they have no skill that do not believe that Apostolical Doctrine the denying and rejecting of which leads them to fall upon other courses as necessary to prepare them and make them not only to see themselves Sinners but also endeavour to work some reformation and good frames in them first before they lift up Christ to them and direct their eyes to him that so they might see some cause first to judge that there are at least some probable Signes of their Election in them upon which they may ground a hope or confidence that Christ dyed for them and so that there is in him saving virtue for healing them 4. As to the end of their lifting up And so 1. As the Serpent was lifted up by Moses as for all the stung People so also for all manner of stings and wounds received from the fiery Serpents yea for those that were inflicted as punishments for slighting other Types as the Manna was for slighting of which and for Murmuring against Christ therein the fiery Serpents were sent unto them and bit them Num. 21.5 6. Yea surely had a Serpent bitten any Man for despising the Brazen Serpent there had been no cure for him but in looking to the Brazen Serpent Even so the Son of Man is and must be lifted up for the pardoning healing and delivering from all sins and the misery that comes by them Yea for sinnings also against Christ and the grace and blessing in him There is forgiveness in him for our neglects of him and wickedness against him in refusing to be governed by him while yet it is a day of grace and patience and men be not as it were quite dead of their wounds whence Christ calls them who for some time have loved their simplicity when instructed by him yea scorners and lovers of their scorning and those that have been some long time fools and have hated
That whosover believeth on him might not perish but have eternal life He doth not say indeed that Gods end is simply that every one might have eternal life without respect to their believing or whether they believe or not But yet he saith Verse 17. That the world through him might be saved Which is as much as that the world through what he hath done and doth for them might in looking to and believing on him would they so do be saved As also it 's said He gave his flesh for the life of the world John 6.51 That is that the world set free by his death sustained in his flesh from the first death so as out of it to as all shall 1 Cor. 15.21 22. be raised might also in feeding thereon live and not dye the second Death Nor doth he say that every one might believe on him and be saved and have eternal life but it is said that John bare witness to the light that all men through him might believe John 1.7 8. And the Apostle saith God wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge or acknowledgment of the truth 1 Tim. 2.4 And another Apostle that God would not that any man should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 And God sent the Prophet Ezekiel to say to the People As I live I have no pleasure in the Death of the wicked but rather that he should turn and live which is all one as if he had said that he might believe and have eternal life for of such a life the Prophet doubtless is to be understood But he saith here that every one that believeth or whosoever believeth on him might not perish but have eternal life In which we may note these six Points or Observations implyed and signified Viz. 1. That men even the World as the next verses mention are in themselves generally in danger of or in the way to perishing 〈◊〉 there needed no indeavour for preventing it if no danger of it 2. That God hath no pleasure or likement that they should perish but rather that they should have eternal Life His using such a means or providing such a remedy to prevent the perishing and that men may obtain the life eternal clearly implies that in both its branches 3. That the Son of Man is the only person or Medium by whom we may be preserved from perishing and obtain eternal life And he is the Medium God hath appointed to those purposes This is clear in the whole scope of the Verse and in the verses following 4. That thereto it 's needful even for escaping perdition and obtaining eternal life and it's Gods good will that men believe on him the Son of Man so ordered of God for them 5. That it 's the gracious mind of God that every one that believeth on the Son of Man should not and accordingly whoso believeth on him shall not perish but have eternal life 6. That in order both to mens believing on him and also to their not perishing but having eternal Life in their so doing it 's Gods gracious mind and in it self needful and necessary that He the Son of Man be so lifted up as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness Of these in order and with convenient brevity or inlargement Obser 1. That men even the World are in themselves generaâ—ly in danger of or in the way to perishing This is evidently declared in the Scriptures of truth Yea all that God hath done to Christ in abasing and raising him and all that he doth through Christ in his words and works in his calls counsels repoofs corrections c. are declared to be done primarily and directly while it is a day of his grace and patience towards any to prevent or keep men from perishing which would have been and would be needless and groundless if they were not without it in danger of perishing Far be it from us to make God the God of Wisdom or only wise God to do or say so much in vain or needlesly or without ground or cause Nor is that perishing simply a bodily dying which God doth nothing to prevent that it should not at any time or at all come upon us but a perishing from Gods presence so as to be utterly lost miserable and undone Man was wholly and universally fallen into sin and misery even under the sentence of Death and Condemnation the first Death in the first Adam and therein we were in danger to have perished bâ—cause 1. As the people here in the Wilderness were bitten by the fiery Serpents and their bite was so poysonous venemous and perilous that it caused Death Num. 21.6 So there the old Serpent the Devil and Sathan inticing and tempting man to sin through Adams and Evah's listening to and acting according to his temptation he got power over them and all in them that is all men to bite them to Death by bringing them under the sentence of that righteous Law wherein God hath denounced death to them in case of their acting so as he inticed them For therein 2. All have sinned and are come short of the glory of God or are deprived of it Rom. 3.23 By one man sin entred into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed over all men because all had sinned Rom. 5.12 The wages of Sin being Death Rom. 6.23 Not only a bodily Death but a Death of the whole person that sinned in being deprived of the favour and presence of God Psal 30.5 3. And from this no man could deliver himself nor be delivered by any other Creature the sentence of God and his Law standing against us and binding it upon us which no meer Creature could bear upon himself so as to redeem us from it nor had any power enough to raise us up from under it for who can stand under or prevail against God's anger Psal 98.7 8 9 11. 130.3 Nah. 1.6 If Christ had not dyed for us yea and risen again we had all perished in this Death and there had been no Resurrection out of it 1 Cor. 15.12 18 21 22. But we are redeemed from this first death by Jesus Christ having therefore given himself a Ransom for all and dyed for all and brought all to be under his gracious Lordship and dispose having so satisfied the justice and pacified the wrath of God for that offence as that whereas all had sinned and came short of the glory of God they are all justified by his grace as to that through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ And as by one offence the Judgment was unto all men to Condemnation So through the Righteousness of one the free gift is unto all men to justification of life 1 Tim. 2.6 Rom. 14.9 3.23 24. 5.18 So that no man shall perish in this first Death for ever but all shall be raised again there-from For as in Adam all dye so in Christ all shall be made
all that trust in him should be happy Psal 2. Yea all Nations are exhorted to gladness upon the account of his Victories and Reigning Psal 47. 97.1 2 c. 98.1 4 c. Yea they only point to one that should be the Seed of the Woman the seed of Abraham of Isaac of Jacob of David a root of Jesse c. Who should yet be the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace Gen. 3.15 22.18 26.4 28.14 Psal 89.3 4 19 20. Isa 9.6 11.1 10. 2. In the writings of the Apostles the accomplishment of those Prophecies is declared to be made in the raising up Jesus He being the Son of God sent forth by him made of a Woman and made under the Law Act. 13.32 33. Gal. 4.4 Made in the similitude of sinful flesh and an offering for sin to condemn sin in the flesh Rom. 8.3 Delivered up to Death for our offences and raised again for our Justification Rom. 4.25 That there is Salvation in no other nor any other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved Act 4.11 12. The Law being not able to help us being too weak and unprofitable Rom. 8.3 Heb. 7.14 19. 10.4 5. God therefore prepared a body for his own Son and made him therein the Son of man that he might be able to do that for us and to us that none other could that He in the nature of man might bear our sins and make satisfaction to Gods Justice therein and atonement for us and offering up himself to God as a spotless Sacrifice through the eternal spirit receive into himself the fulness of the grace and blessing of God his Father that as the head of us men he might derive it to us and we receive it from him both Light and Teaching for renewing our minds and directing us unto peace and happiness and Spirit to inliven quicken and strengthen us to walk in the way he directs us in unto them And for working all the works of God in us and giving protection and defence against all adversaries and adverse power and whatever grace and blessing may be necessary for us and advantagious to us which as the Great High Priest in the virtues of that his Sacrifice appearing in the presence of God for us he obtaines to be given us And who so fit to be mans Saviour as such a one as is also man and so as our kinsman had right to redeem us and having proved our infirmities and miseries can pity and Sympathize with us and will not terrifie or affright us And what man could be able to satisfie Gods Justice by any Sacrifice yea though of himself and obtain his grace and blessing for us or be able to receive the fulness of Gods grace and blessing for us and derive it to us besides him that is also God Gods only begotten Son such a one being our Prophet must needs be able to speak forth the mind and counsel of God to us being one with him and in his bosom and so acquainted fully and most certainly with all his secrets as we have before considered Heb. 1.2 3. And is most worthy to be hearkned and diligently attended to in all things by us Heb. 2.1 3. 3.1 7. 12.25 Such an High Priest must needs be great with God as well as pitiful to us who is both the Son of God passed into the Heavens and made higher then the Heavens and is holy harmless undefiled and seperated from sinners and yet hath had experience of our infirmities and temptations Heb. 4.14 15. 7.26 And such a King and Lord as is Gods only begotten Son is and must needs be able to Protect and save us from what may harm us and being one chosen out from the People will be ready to hear and save when we call upon him and to redeem us poor men from the deceits and violences of Sathan and his instruments and account of our lives as precious and come down like showers of blessing upon the humble and obedient Subjects Psal 2.6 89.19 20. 72.4 5 6 14. 20.9 And what need is there or can there be of any other Saviour when he is so every way fit powerful and all-sufficient for us therefore He and He alone is propounded to us and to Him alone God and his Spirit and his Servants direct and call us None else did God elect and chuse to this office and service but him who alone was crucified for us Isa 4â— 1 1 Cor. 1.13 To none else hath he given nor will give his honour and glory Isa 42.8 None else hath received a name above every name into which we may be baptized for the forgiveness of our sins and the gift and blessings of the Holy Spirit to be given us Phil. 2.10 11. 1 Cor. 1.13 Yea seeing it hath pleased God that all fulness of grace and blessing and of the Godhead should dwell in him bodily what can all other things and persons of themselves be and as in competition with him or any other ways but as in subserviency to him and as made use of by him as instruments for conveying grace and vertue to us from him but meet emptinesses and vanities Col 1.19 2.9 Psal 4.2 Joâ— 2.8 Surely as the Brazen Serpent was the onely Medicine prepared for the cure of the stung and wounded Israelites and the River Jordan the onely remedy for Naamans Leprosie So this Son of Man being such a one may well be the onely Salvation for us miserable sinners Vse 1. And this may be a sufficient testimony evidence to us both of the exceeding greatness of our misery needing such a remedy as was hinted in the first Observ And also that God loves us that he hath raised up such an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David Luke 1.69 Herein is the love of God manifested to us that â—e sent his onely begotten Son into the world and made him the Son of Man for us that we might live through him Herein is love noâ— that we loved God but God loved us and gave this his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins 1 John 4.9 10. This this was a far greater testimony of his good will to us and that he desired not our perishing but eternal happiness then if he should have sent down Angels to us in our particulars to tell us he loves us He did send divers of his Angels with gracious messages and his Law was given by the disposition of them But the best news that any of them ever brought was what they brought concerning this Son of man and his being appointed sent forth and impowred of God to save us Luke 2.10 11. That this Lord of men and Angels looked after us as the good Shepherd and came to deliver us from our destructions If God said to Abraham that he knew he feared him in that he withheld not Isaac his onely Son from
be corrupted from the simplicity in Christ 2 Cor. 11.2 3. and so they should fall from the sincerity and stedfastness of their believing And where there is a decay and danger of falling off there can be no expectation or possibility of present growth and going forward in the Believing nor can any thing possibly recover the decayed and backslidden soul to its believing again but the undecieving the soul and so purging out of it those low and unwholesome thoughts and apprehensions it hath Sucked in of Christ to the poysoning of it from its believing on him and how can that be done but by a fresh and more convincing Discovery of the Excellencies and Perfections in Christ or the truth of the Testimony of God concerning him formerly doubted of or rejected by the soul in its departing from him Therefore we find the Lord and his Apostles lifting up of the Son of Man not only to and for the drawing in men to believe on him But also 1. To preserve them in the Faith and so to keep them from withdrawing and falling from him and to hearten them to abide in him and continue and go on in their believing on him Thus our Saviour himself to instruct and strengthen his Disciples to abide in him sets before them his own Excellencies as the true Vine and the Priviledges and Benefits they should derive from him in abiding as Branches in him John 15.1.4.7 8. The Apostle Peter too thought it needful for him to put the Believers in remembrance of the Grace in Christ Jesus As how Through the knowledg of him all things are given us pertaining to Life and Godliness And that they were no cunningly devised Fables that were Preached to them by them concerning the Power and Coming of the Lord Jesus and put them upon taking heed to the Words of the Prophets and commandments of the holy Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus Of whose coming again and faithfulness to perform his promises therein he also minds them that they might not be Led away with the errour of the wicked and so fall from their own stedfastness 2 Pet. 1.3 4.16.18 and 3.1 2 10.14.17 So also the Apostle John to perswade to abide in believing on Christ sets before the Believers what a one Christ is and the great Grace in him and the Testimony of God concerning him 1 John 1.1 2 3.9 and 2 1 2.24 25 26.28 and 5.10 11 12 13. That knowing they have eternal life in him they might believe That is go on to believe on him 2. To perswade to and promote growth in their believing on him that they might be rooted and grounded in him and be established in the Faith abounding therein with thanksgiving and that they might grow in Grace and in the knowledg of Christ See to this purpose Col. 2.2 3 4.6 Ephes 1.17 18 19. and 3.8.17 18 19. and 4.16 2 Pet. 5.6 with 3.18 and many other places 3. To recal and recover such as began to decline and turn aside from him to other things and so as the Apostle Peter wrote the things above mentioned to secure from declining after false Teachers 2 Pet. 2.12 c. So the Apostle Paul understanding that the Galathians through some false Apostles lifting up Circumcision and the Observation of Moses Law as necessary to Salvation thereby obscuring and darkning of the Grace in Christ were greatly indangered insomuch that he was afraid he had bestowed on them labour in vain To preserve and restore them makes it his business to lift up or set forth Christ and the Grace in him so Travelling in birth again till Christ might be formed in them Gal. 1.4.6 7. and 2.16.20 21. and 3. throughout with 4.4 5.11 12.19 and 5.2 3 4. Even as Christ also for recovering the Angels of the Churches of Ephesus Sardis and Laodicea to their first Love Life and Zeal sets himself before them and wishes them to remember whence they were fallen how they had received and heard and counsels to buy of him Gold tried in the fire c. All which implies a need of continuing to lift up to the Son of man to the preserving in promoting of and recovering to the believing on Christ So also the Apostle Paul for recovering some of the Corinthians from their denial of the Resurrection as also to preserve the rest in the belief of that Article and dependance on Christ for the Benefit included in it and promoting all their stedfastness and growth in Piety and good Works minds them of the Gospel fore-preached to them by him concerning Jesus Christ his Death Burial and Resurrection his answering and giving us Victory over the Law Sin and death c. 1 Cor. 15.4.58 CHAP. XIX Two other Conclusions shewing the Fulness and Sufficiency of this means for begetting and preserving in the Faith of Christ and for bringing to the Salvation and Eternal life to which it is appointed WHen two things are so ordered and disposed one for and toward the other as that one be the way and means to the other and that other the end whereto that way and means is directed in case that which the means to the end be some rare singular and costly thing it may be supposed that when such a means is made use of for and towards that end there was some necessity for it either as to the absolute or at least the most excellent attainment thereof as well as also that the end to be attained was of great usefulness excellency or necessity But much more is it requisite in such a case of the excellency and necessity of that which is the end that what is ordered as the means should be apt proper and sufficient for the attainment of that end for otherwise the means would be useless or in vain and therefore I here add That Conclusion 3. The lifting up of the Son of man in the sense aforesaid is a full perfect proper and sufficient way or means for prevailing with men in their giving up or attending to it to believe on him and for preserving and increasing the Faith of those that do believe I put in that parenthesis in their giving up or attending to it because Faith is of hearing where men stop the Ear and close the Eye and harden the Heart left they should see with their Eyes and hear with their Ears and understand with their Heart There is no marvel if under the most excellent means they be not converted and healed or believing follow not Yea and where there is no taking heed to the things heard that they slip not out No marvel if the believing begun be so far from increasing that it come to nothing The aptness fitness and perfection of a means is sufficiently evidenced if being duly applied it produce its effect No man judges a Medicine unfit or defective that cures not the Malady without using or applying it if but set in the Window looked on with the Eye or taken in the
Peoples injuries and be sensible of their miseries He that toucheth them toucheth the apple patient bearing Injuries and Evils and going through with his Work so as nothing turned him back Isa 50.5 6. Heb. 12.2 Temperance for the Honours and Preferments Riches and Pleasures of this World could not move him from his course neither when Satan bad for his Service the Kingdoms of the World and their Glory Mat. 4.8 9. Nor when the people would have made him a King John 6.15 Prudence for its fore-testified of him by his Father Behold my Servant shall deal prudently Isa 52.13 And he is the Spring of all these Excellencies to all that listen to and obey his Doctrine giving them to know and understand all things Prov. 28.5 1 John 2.20 27. And to discern the things that differ and approve the things that are excellent Rev. 3.18 Phil. 3.10 11. Makes them to remember him and in him God and his Goodness and what he sees good for them by his Spirit bringing all things to their remembrance John 14.26 Cant. 1.4 Gifts them severally as he pleases with Knowledg Invention and Finding out of Secrets Prov. 1.2 3 4. Renews the Affections to love good and hate evil and in a word through the discoveries of his Glory he changes them into his own Image making them a new man indued with all manly Qualities and Virtues Righteousness Fortitude or Courage in induring Adversities and going on in his ways with all Perseverance Temperance in denying their Lusts and Appetites and living Soberly and Righteously in this present world and prudence in walking wisely yea in all wisdom to all well pleasing 2 Cor. 3.18 Ephes 2.6 and 4.15 16 21 22 23. Col. 1.9 10 11. and 3.10 Tit. 2.11 12. As may be seen in his Worthies who through the Faith of him have loved and wrought Righteousness so as for the sake thereof to suffer and endure all things as may be seen in that Cloud of Witnesses Heb. 11. with 1 Sam. 18.30 Gen. 39 1 2 8 9 21 22 23. Dan. 1.8 9.12.17 and 6.4 5. c. Yea 3. He had not only even in his mortal state too the perfections of the first Man as to matter of Virtue and Integrity of mind but also in that state he managed them far better then the first Adam did For Adam though in a Garden of delight or Paradise free from Infirmities in himself or trouble from without him having the abundance of all Delights or Mercies before his Eyes every one of which might have minded him of Gods Goodness and the good reason he had to love and cleave to him yet merely by the Temptation of a Creature fell from his Obedience at the first on-set Evah by the temptation of the Serpent and Adam by her suggestion But Christ who though in the state before his Incarnation was higher then the first Adam being the Lord in Heaven the Image of the Invisible God and so owned by the Angels as the Lord at his coming into the World before which he also lived with his Father in the height of Glory and Happiness Phil. 2.6 yet now in his Incarnate state had emptied himself of all that for us yet in this State though made in the similitude of sinful Flesh and compassed about with Temptations among Men and Devils though led into a Wilderness where he eat nothing for forty days and forty nights among no pleasant Fruit-trees or Objects of such Content and Delight but among wild Beasts tempted by Satan resisted him all along in manifold assaults and got the Victory over him and kept his Integrity Yea though all his life after he was set upon with diversity of Enemies and Assaults and met with nothing in the world in a manner but Trials and Griefs the worst Rejections Reproaches and Sufferings Yea though tempted both of Men and of Devils and tried to the uttermost by his Father yet held fast his Integrity and was obedient to the Death the Death of the Cross indeed for our sakes though as Innocent in himself as and more perfect in his conforming himself to Gods Will then Adam yet he was not here in the form of the first Adam while Innocent as to his outward man and state He was not so free from Mortality and Infirmity for he was tempted in all points even as we with Hunger Thirst Weariness Grief Torments c. nor had such power in the world over the Creatures as to his visible Form but was in the Form of a Poor-man and a Servant who had not whereon to lay his head Yea he was in all the state of the fallen man made sin and under the Law and bare our Curse in which he shewed forth the exceeding greatness of his Love and Obedience to his Father and Charity to us men Virtues far transcending all that was found in the first Adams acting though made good and upright Yet through Death having satisfied Gods Justice and pacified his Wrath for us overcome Death spoiled Principalities and Powers risen a Conquerour and gone up to the Right-hand of God As he was before much Higher then the first Man being the Lord in Heaven 1 Cor. 15.45.50 So now also he hath restored the Nature of man in himself from under all the Miseries that the first Adams sin occasioned to it and to him in it and hath Exalted it and is Exalted in it to far higher Happiness and so we find in him both as in himself before and as Man now 4. All the perfections of man that he first laid aside in his first appearance for us to suffer in the Flesh Yea all and greater then all Adam had in all the Honour God put upon him and the Provisions he made for him in his Innocent state For as he made himself of exceeding rich through his great charity and grace to us poor that through his poverty we might be made rich so to that end that he might inrich us He is become in the manhood far richer then the first Adam was for the Father loves the Son and hath given all things into his hands Joh. 3.35 So as all that the Father hath is his Joh. 16.15 and he is Lord of all Act. 10.36 He that was in the form of God made himself in the form of a Servant and in the habit of a Man even of an ordinary man for our sake having neither outward form or beauty when we see him that we should desire him nor Authority and Power to command any man but such as voluntarily became his Disciples but now the Sun is not so glorious much less was the body of Adam in his innocency as his body being glorified is Act. 26.13 Philip. 3.21 Nor is there any Authority beside comparable with his Adam indeed had Dominion over Gods works that are visible in Earth and Sea but all Authority both in heaven and earth is now given to him and he doth exercise it over them Adam knew how to call all the names
THE BRAZEN SERPENT OR GOD'S Grand Design VIZ. CHRIST'S Exaltation for MAN'S Salvation in his believing on Him OR The Right Way to Regeneration and therethrough to the Heavenly and Eternal Kingdom Discovered by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself for our sure Direction therein Considered Opened and Applyed with a double Excursion touching the Glory and Excellency 1. Of the Gospel of Christ 2. Of Christ Himself By J. HORN an Unworthy Servant of God in the Gospel of his Son Jesus Christ and sometimes Minister of Lin Allhallows in Norfolk Isa 52.13 Behold my Servant shall deal prudently or shall prosper He shall be exalted extolled and be very high As many were astonied at thee his visage was so marred more than any Man and his form more than the Sons of Men so shall He sprinkle many Nations the Kings shall shut their mouths at Him c. Isa 55.5 Nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the holy one of Israel for He hath glorified thee Psal 99.10 Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his Foot-stool for He is holy Psal 21.13 Be thou exalted O Lord in thine own strength so will we sing and praise thy power Respiciamus nos in faciem serpentis aenci elevati Christi si volumus à pravorum Daemonum suggestionibus serpentinis liberari respicere autem est fide in ipsum tendere Bern. de pass Dominica LONDON Printed for Benjamin Southwood at the Star near to Serjeants Inn in Chancery-Lane 1673. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Gentle Reader LO Here I present thee with what as to the matter treated of is a most needful and excellent Subject worthy thy most serious consideration the Grand Design of the God of Glory the Devise that He in his Infinite wisdome and goodness devised for our recovery from sin and misery and for reducing and bringing us back to life and safety the product and birth of his eternal purposes and most deep counsels for our welfare and happiness A Subject never sufficiently looked upon never throughly enough seen into while we can see but with mortal eyes and imperfect understandings the great Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen yea very intensively pryed into 1 Pet. 1.12 of Angels preached to us Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory 1 Tim. 3.16 The great Catholicon the Soveraign and Vniversal Remedy for all our spiritual distempers and diseases the supply of all our wants the support of us in all our weaknesses temptations and troubles the instructer and helper of us in and unto all our services the stay of us in this life in and under all its various vicissitudes and changes the joy and comfort of our hearts in Death the Raiser and Resurrection both of our Souls to lively hope and comfort when oppressed with griefs and cast down with sadness and also of our Bodies to immortality and Eternal happiness in a word the spring original and fountain of all our felicity the great subject of the Doctrine both of the holy Prophets and of the holy Apostles the substance and body of all the types and shadows in the Law of Moses the accomplishment and fulfilling of Predictions and Prophecies and the ground and end of all our future hopes and expectations Such I say not is this Treatise but the subject treated of and directed to herein for it is no other than Christ himself and Him crucified and through sufferings and death raised up again and glorified Glorified of God for thee in his own glorious actings in and upon Him and glorified of God to thee by the spirit of God in his word and testimony glorified both ways to save and deliver thee from the stings of the old Serpent and to bring thee to glory A Subject which who can sufficiently treat of for who can shew forth all his marvailous acts who can set forth all his praises Psal 106.2 A Subject much too great for my imbecillity and stupidity too deep and high and large and long for my narrow head and heart to reach its dimensions so as to handle it and set it forth worthily A Subject in my reception of it into and conception of this Discourse about it in my mind and earnestness of my heart to draw it out and incorporate it in this body and give it these lines and lineaments so pleasing to me or perhaps rather my exercise therein that it drew me on with so eager an intention and rapid a motion as indangered my miscarrying of it before its perfection for I received in my self in a manner the sentence of Death before I had finished it till God renewing my strength beyond my expectation and confidence it attained to this Period God therein both shewing me my weakness and perhaps also chastening my unworthiness and unmeetness for such an undertaking and my darkning wisdome so much by words without knowledge and so slenderly and slovenly handling so excellent a subject both therein and since in its sticking so long and coming out at length with so many Errata's in its impression and yet also shewing his great power and goodness in what I received of him for my reviving I confess I had some eye in it upon a good and gracious Woman who had met with some exercise in the death of her only Son and intended she should have had one of the first rights of it as for comforting her also I put in some expressions respecting that her tryal in some part of its application but the Lord pleased to put an end to her days also before it could arrive at her and be perused by her He designing to comfort and satisfy her spirit I trust with another and far perfecter sight of the glory of this blessed Son of man here treated of then this so weak a discourse could have given her of him I trust its conception was not altogether without the Holy Ghost though as it was imbodyed in and by me I cannot but see and acknowledge its too great likeness to me in imperfection It is a rule in Philosophy that Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis Whatsoever is received of another is received after the manner or measure of the receiver We cannot expect that a Bucket can contain the Ocean and the purest Wine received in a fusty Cask will somewhat tast of it The Eternal Word as conceived in the Virgins Womb was made partaker of her Flesh and as therein brought forth by her appeared a weak and little one not according to the Immensity and Infinity of the Word but in such small and finite dimensions as agreed to the humane nature and the narrowness of her Womb in which it was formed and therefore He was capable of being wrapt in swadling cloths and laid in a Manger and afterward of being taken up in old Simeon's armes and of growing in stature in wisdome and in favour both with God
him Gen. 22.12 How may not we then much more perceive the love of God to us in not withholding but sending down his onely begotten Son from Heaven and making him the Son of Man that he might save us This is Love indeed passing all parallel yea all knowledge Surely we need not as the Pharisees seek after another or greater sign from Heaven that God desires not our ruine but our salvation and happiness but may well rest in this unspeakable gift of God as a sufficient demonstration thereof to us accepting it with all reverence love and thankfulness This is a faithful saying and worthy all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 To save us from the curse of the Law from the wrath of God from the state of death and destruction from the power malice and rage of the Devil and in a word from all that might harm us And had that been all it had been very much but it was not all he sent him also to bring us back to him and so to eternal life glory and happiness 1 Pet. 3.18 John 3.16 Surely this may engage us also Secondly To think well of God to land and bless him perpetually as our great Benefactor our merciful Father our mighty yea almighty Helper as one that so desired our good so loved the world as to send us such a one to save us He may well expect from us and we give to him upon this account all possible love thanks dutifulness and ready obedience He is worthy to be honoured by us that had such a respect for us Well may we cry out with admiration Lord what is man that thou shouldst so magnifie him and that thou shouldst so set thine heart upon him as to send thine own and onely Son not by Adoption and Regeneration a Son onely but by eternal and divine Generation thine onely begotten Son to be the Son of Man and so in Relation and of Kindred to him to help and save him when none else could help him This was the Lords own doing and greatly worthy our admiration Psal 118.22 3. And well may we accept of and confide in such a one as this Son of Man Gods onely Son as a person fit and meet and All-sufficient to save us and to bring us to Heaven and Happiness Good encouragement may this consideration give us as well as it shews us a necessity there being Salvation and Life in none other for us to hearken to him and give up our selves wich full assurance of faith and expectation of good success to his direction and dispose We need not fear but God will be with him to help him in and carry him on with success in all his undertakings for us seeing God is in him and he is God When God sends any on any gracious message he uses to accompany them and give them good success So he was with Moses and Aaron when he sent them to Pharaoh and gave them a command to bring Israel out of Egypt and they effected it in his name notwithstanding the many threatning difficulties and discouragements they encountred with though they were but Gods servants neither of them his proper Son Indeed they led not the people into Canaan because they failed in their faith in and obedience to him not sanctifying him before them at the waters of strife He sent Joshua therefore to lead them in thither expelling and driving out the Gentiles to divide the Land to Israel for their Inheritance And God was with him therein and did not fail him nor forsake him or them that followed him and obeyed his commands but made them successfull by his assisting presence He was with Gideon also when he sent him against their enemies so as with a small handful by unlikely means he vanquished an innumerable number of enemies And what should I mention David Cyrus and divers others Now if God strengthned his servants always in their obedience to him in what he sent them to do how shall we question or doubt the Sufficiency and prevailing powerfulness of his onely Son with whom and in whom he was reconciling the world to himself and is still after a more wonderful way of presence and union of Being then with any of them Surely we may have high expectations of Life and Salvation by him He being sent of God to such purposes to and for us He being neither liable to sin as Moses Aaron and many others did nor hath death any place upon him much less dominion as it had over all them so as that he should fail there-through in his undertakings till he hath perfected what concerns us Indeed his undertakings or the things God sent him to do are and were of a far higher nature and heavier then ever he sent any others about As to take away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Destroy the power of Satan Abolish death through his own death And to save our souls But by how much his work was and is greater by so much is his person more excellent and glorious And why then should we not thankfully entertain and embrace him depend on and trust to him yielding up our selves to his guidance with greatest confidence and fullest assurance both of his sufficiency and faithfulness For in that he is Gods Son his onely Son he hath his power and virtue strength and all-sufficiency rendring him able to save us And in that he is his onely begotten he hath in him his perfect likeness and similitude and therefore God being Love or Charity full of goodness and faithfulness to us he is so also being the express character of his person the brightness of his Glory And being our Kinsman and our Brother and become so on purpose for our good what may we not expect of compassion and faithfulnes from him upon that account also Object But if the Son of God was in his love sent to be our Saviour and he so able and willing to do the work he was sent about how is it then that all are not in the issue saved from perishing nor have eternal life But so many and great multitudes as the Scriptures imply perish If he will save us who can hinder him therein seeing he being Gods onely Son and coming in his Name and Power is Almighty to do what he pleases for and to us Answ He was not sent or came to save us so as to bring us to eternal life absolutely by his omnipotent power otherwise then in a way of willing obedience to him performed by us being endued by him with capacities for such obedience He is able to save us to the utmost and he is willing but he expects that we should come and seek to him in the grace wherewith he prevents us that we may be saved by him and live with him and through him as is agreeable to what we observed in the next place viz. CHAP. XII The Fourth Observation considered and therein the necessity
affliction we must enter into Gods Kingdom Acts 14.22 No partaking of this life but through death and that 1. Through a Spiritual Death or death in and of our Spirits to false life as to the life of or in sin life to the world and to the Law as thinking to have life thereby as in our own righteousness according thereunto No living to righteousness and to God but in dying to sin and to the world so as to cease to be slaves or servants to them Rom. 6.10 11. Gal. 6.14 1 Pet. 2.24 nor is there any living to Christ and so to God but through dying to the Law as to our hopes and rejoycings in our own righteousness according thereunto Gal. 2.19 And in these kinds of deaths there are pains in self-denials taking up our cross for Christs sake Mat. 16.24 2. Through the bodily Death for neither is there any entring into the joys and glories of Heaven and of the life to come so as to the actual full fruition of them but through bodily Death and Grave except of such as shall be found alive at his appearing 1 Thes 4.15 16. that so we may be made conformable to the death of Christ and be planted therethrough into the likeness of his Resurrection in our body also For the way to this life is also 2. Through the Resurrection from the dead otherwise if we should dye in our selves to false lives and never rise up in a true and divine life we could not have eternal life The life of Christ is a life from the dead whence he is called the first begotten or first-born from the dead Col. 1.18 Rev. 1.5 and so all that share with him therein are raised up to a life from the dead too First raised up in their spirits with him through the faith of the operation of God Col. 2.12 3.1 crucified with Christ to self and flesh and sin and all false life but yet so as they live yet not they but Christ liveth in them Gal. 2.20 And then also at the great day of Christs glorious appearing their dead bodies shall be raised up by him and be made like his Thence the Resurrection said to be to those that have done good a Resurrection to Life Joh. 5.28 29. and Christ in telling us that they who believe on him shall have everlasting life once and again adds And I will raise him up at the last day Joh. 6.40.44 as implying that they must pass through death and be raised up again thereunto 2. In respect of the manner of their having it they have it as they have Christ himself who is their life the ground foundation authour and the fountain of it Col. 3.3 4. and so only in receiving abiding in and enjoyment of him and so 1. They have it here in a sense not in the fulness and perfection of the fruition of it for we are not capable of having it so now and here while we have not Christ in Person with us but they have it now 1. In Christ the Heir of it and the root and spring of it that eternal life that was with the Father and was manifested to us 1 Joh. 1.2 5.11 12 13. as they have him theirs and have union with and interest in him through whom also they have it 2. In a first fruits of the Spirit and of the Life that is in and by it and so in a begun life or happy state of forgiveness acceptance spiritual quickning c as before said 3. In the promise of the whole even of the full fruition of it to be had hereafter God and Christ have given it them in his Will and Testament so as in believing on the Son of Man they are made Heirs of it Tit 1.2 3.7 1 Joh. 2.25 This is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life 1 Joh. 2.25 See also Gal. 3.29 And so they have it 4. In the hope of it Tit. 1.2 1 Pet. 1 3 4. 2. In the state to come they shall have it 1. Upon their dissolution and going to Christ in their spirits more fully resting in and with Christ and being blessed Phil. 1.21.23 Rev. 14.13 2. Upon their Resurrection in the full perfect and perpetual possession and fruition of it for ever Mark 10.30 A portion infinitely desirable and worthy the looking after and yet this is the portion of every one that believeth on the Son of Man without exception No respect of persons no difference of stronger or weaker believer as to the future enjoyment or present right to and interest in it by and through Jesus Christ There is neither Male nor Female Jew nor Greek Circumcision nor Uncircumcision bond or free but all are one in Christ Jesus and if Christs then Abrahams Seed and Heirs according to promise Gal. 3.28 29. And yet in the rewards to be received in the Davidical Kingdom or the thousand years reign at the coming of Christ and before he deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father and God be all in all there will doubtless be different degrees of Glory and Honour conferred according to mens different works services faithfulness and fruitfulness in their services and greatness of their sufferings for him as is hinted in those parabolical passages Be thou Ruler over ten Cities be thou Ruler over five Luc. 19.17 19. otherwise it would be all one to serve Christ little or much here to be abundant or sparing in the work of the Lord contrary to that of the Apostle He that soweth liberally shall reap liberally and he that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly 2 Cor. 9.6 Though yet a shorter work more singly done may have equal reward with a larger not so singly done as the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard Mat. 20. may seem to import Wherefore Let us be always stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the works of the Lord knowing that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord Rev. 20.6 with 5.10 1 Cor. 6.2 3. with 15 24 28.58 CHAP. XV. The application of the two former viz. the fourth and fifth Observations in part in exhortation to believe reproof for not believing incouragements to continue in believing on the Son of Man and some directions thereto THE consideration of the two last mentioned observations shewing the necessity and advantage of believing on the Son of Man as also the nature of this believing is and may be very useful upon diverse accounts As to Use 1. Exhort and press all men to believe on the Son of Man the Lord Jesus Christ as declared and set forth unto them in and by the discoveries teaching and operation of God and his Spirit vouchsafed to them And that they may believe on him to listen to mind and embrace and hold fast the Faith or Doctrine of him in which is the power spirit and hand of the Lord moving and enabling to believe yea begetting in the heart this faith that is so necessary and profitable for men For
the Lord your God but not believe on his Prophets And therefore if Christ the Son of man were not also the Son of God and God Jehovah he were not a lawfull object to be believed in or relyed and depended on for procuring or conferring safety and eternal life nay nor for the mercies of this life much less those which are of that nature that it 's not possible for any that is but a creature to procure or confer But we are bid and commanded to believe on the son of man Jesus Christ Believe in God believe also on me Joh. 14.1 And this is his commandement that ye believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God c. 1 Joh. 3.23 2 Had he not been lifted up by men upon the Cross as thereto appointed of God and so called forth to supported under his sufferings for us he had still not been an object to be believed on for life and salvation as the son of man because there could have been none in him for us but we had been left under the necessity of perishing for ever the law of God being broken by us and the sentence and curse of it therethrough falling upon us we naked and open thereunto Under the Law the figure of heavenly things there was scarce any thing purged but by blood and without shedding of blood was no remission Heb. 9.22 Shadowing and signifying the necessity of the death of a sacrifice for our redemption from under the wrath of God and for the remission of our sins But no sacrifice of the law could make an expiation because of the weakness and unprofitableness of them For it was not possible for the blood of Bulls and Goats to take away sin wherefore God rejected them when it was said Sacrifice and Offerings thou wouldst not have but a body hast thou prepared for me Heb. 5.6 Which was spoken prophetically of Christ the Son of God becoming the son of man signifying the necessity and certainty of his being made a sacrifice and shedding his precious blood for us to make atonement for us And indeed if our sins could have been purged or expiated and redemption obtained without the death of Christ for us and his bearing and therein and thereby making satisfaction for our sins then would his death and sufferings be rendred vain and needlesse which is horrible for us to think that God would put his own and only begotten son to such agonies sorrows and death without need for them as the Apostle implies when he saith I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness be by the law then Christ dyed in vain that is needlesly The end of his dying might have been brought about without it Gal. 2.21 Some rich man might have redeemed his brother by buying and giving to God a multitude of those legal sacrifices for him contrary to Psal 49.6 7 8. Yea and the Apostle by saying if righteousness be by the law excludes righteousness by any other means than by the death of Christ Taking it for granted that the law was the most absolute way for getting righteousness that ever was in the World besides the death and sufferings of Christ it containing precepts and appointments ordered of God and if that was insufficient surely all the riches and honours in the World could not procure it nor any doctrines or documents of the Phylosophers or wise men of the Gentiles or of any people whatsoever they being far short of God and his wisdome in appointing things pleasing in his sight so that it follows that there was a necessity of Christs death and of his being lifted up in such sense as we shewed before that he was exalted and lifted up therein because otherwise he could not have been an Object to be looked to or beleived on for salvation because no salvation or redemption from death and curse and by consequence no eternal life or lawfull power to give it could have been in him but by his death and sufferings 3. Necessary hereto also it was that he should not himself perish in his sufferings as to his humanity but be raised up again otherwise he could be no object still to be believed on for life and salvation Because had he not risen again from the dead but been lost and perished therein he could not have been as the Son of man in any capacity of helping us nor could we have been justified and acquitted from our sins by his sufferings seeing his body in which he bare our sins was the payment given to law and justice for them and had not that been raised the debt had not been acknowledged as sufficiently paid or to have been sufficient to satisfie justice Yea he being our Champion had he perished in the conflict or combate and not returned Victor we had all been routed as it fared with the Philistines when Goliah was slain by David or rather as it would have fared with Israel had Goliah killed David If Christ be not risen preaching is vain and our faith is vain we are yet in our sins 1 Cor. 15.14.17 Nor could he as the Son of man have been in a case to releive or help us any further much lesse to keep us back from perishing and give us eternal life For from a person dead while dead what help can be expected 4. Nor could he be an Object to be believed on or we have had any ground to believe on him for procuring for us further grace or dispensing it to us for preserving us from perishing in the second death or for directing leading us in the way to or bringing us to the injoyment of eternal life if he had been only raised to live as a private person or in a mean condition as before on the earth again without being exalted to Gods right hand and invested in the nature of man and as the Son of man with those Offices of the great Prophet and Apostle and High-Priest of our profession the great King of Saints and Nations and Lord of all creatures If he had not been glorified with the glory of God and filled with his fulnesse If he had been here on earth still he should not have been a Priest seeing there were Priests that offer gifts according to the Law Heb. 8. Nor would the comforter have been sent to his Apostles and servants seeing it behooved him to present himself to God as the perfect sacrifice and become the great High-Priest even in the Heavens themselves appearing in the presence of God for us and making intercession for transgressors and for all that come to God by him that he might purge the Heavens themselves from the effects and cries of our sins there and sprinkling the vertues of his precious blood there in the presence of God make an attonement and obtain and receive the holy spirit for us to shed forth upon us and to remove the guilt of our sins from before God that it might be dispensed
co-workers with and under him we are subject to his Spirit and sowing thereto we shall reap a good reward even life everlasting Gal. 6.8 Rom. 6.19 And indeed God will accept of no praises or commendations of him from us in which we neglect and lay by his Son the Son of man according to the measures of the Revelation given us of him seem our praises and commendations of him never so glorious The Pharisees would have had the blind man give the glory of his seeing to God so as to detract it from the Son of man as a sinner out of envy and opposition to him Joh. 9.24 But were they accepted think you in such a pretended glorifying of God Surely no Nor yet those zealous Pharisees and Jews who being zealous of God but not according to knowledge through ignorance of Gods righteousness went about to establish their own righteousness and submitted not to the righteousness of God which is Christ Jesus the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believes Rom. 10.1 2 3 4. and no better but rather worse be those Antichristian spirits who taking offence at the Cross of Christ and lifting up themselves above it not holding the head do talk of God and Spirit but so as they confess not Christ come in the Flesh but through their knowledge of him after the flesh and ignorance of him according to the spirit of God lay him by as an unprofitable thing or thing out of date as much as the Ceremonies of Moses Law Joh. 4.2 3. Motive 2. Herein we shall be profitable to men to whom we lift him up that being the way to do them good and bring them in to believe and so to be saved from destruction and be made partakers of eternal life And what can we do better for them then to be Instruments of so great good to them Indeed this is the way to be profitable to them in every thing for if we be means of bringing them to Christ and planting them into him then are we means of their being made apt and fit for doing that which is good and well-pleasing in the sight of God in all things It being the only thing that puts Men into a sound and right plight both towards God and men and then we are means too of their being made able to bear and endure all kinds of tryals and exercises profitably which may befall them Yea this is the way to make them live both comfortably and acceptably to God and to dy in the favour of God and so to be happy for ever There is nothing then wherein we can be more friends to men or more beneficial to them then in a due lifting up the Son of man before them in word and conversation therefore it is that God calls upon us so frequently to praise bless exalt and magnify the Lord even Jehovah which Title or Name is attributed to the Lord Jesus also And he must needs be included in the object of that act inasmuch as God accepts not of our praises to him but in and through him as was shewed before especially the Servants of the Lord who stand in the House or Courts of the Lord they are called upon to exalt lift up or praise the Lord or the Name of the Lord Psal 134.1 2. and 135.1 2 3. And they are they that are chiefly set in the World to be Instruments of good to and in it and this is the way in which they are directed to do Men good even by praising and commending the Lord to them as we might consider in viewing particulars how all their service in the House of the Lord and in the World is to be done with this Engine or Instrument the praising or lifting up the Lord the Son of man As for instance Instance 1. Would we convince the World of Sin for not believing on Christ the way of the Holy Spirit is to do it by witnessing of him lifting him up and setting him forth as the object to be believed on the Christ the Saviour the Son of God that hath dyed for them and is risen again this presently pricks them at the heart as it did those in Act. 2.36 37. at the Apostle Peter's Preaching and till Men see and be convinced that He is such a one they think not themselves guilty in rejecting him seeking safety and happiness in the works of the Law or some other things till Paul see that Jesus of Nazareth was such a Person He was so far from thinking that He sinned in not believing on him that He thought He ought to do many things against his name Act. 26.9 But when he came to perceive who he was then he was convinced of sin in that and judged himself for it ever after as unworthy therefore of such mercy as was conferred upon him 1 Tim. 1.12 13 14. 1 Cor. 15.9 Eph. 3.8 This then is our way to convince men of sin for their unbelief on Christ let them see that He is anointed and appointed of God to be their Saviour their only Saviour that He hath dyed for them and is risen again and is every way able and ready to save them and therefore is to be looked to and to be believed on for all grace and blessing and then they who thought before that they might not believe on and hope in him they are so bad and unworthy will see it s their sin not to believe on him and that that is a greater evil then all their sins besides as binding them all upon them and hindering them from receiving the pardon of them they may be convinced of other sins by the Law as Murther Adultery Theft c. But not of this that they sin in not coming to Christ and depending on him for all grace and blessing but in his being lifted up and evidenced to be so excellent and glorious an one Joh 16.8 9. And again Instance 2. Would we shew men the odiousness of all other sins how hateful they are to God and how needful it is that they turn from them to Christ to receive forgiveness of them and washing and cleansing from them The way is not so much to tell them of the Law and what that saith as to let them know what Christ suffered for them and that through his death and sufferings only there is forgiveness and cleansing of them that way will do it if men in hearing hear and in seeing see and perceive what is set before them as we shewed before Thus the Apostle saw and judged all to be dead and in an utterly lost state in themselves in this that One died for all 2 Cor. 5.14 15. Instance 3. Would we convince the most seemingly righteous and just man in his own righteous walking and working that He is a sinner lost in himself and needs to believe on Christ and seek Justification and Righteousness in him the way is to set forth Christ and lift him up as the Son of
man and Saviour of the World that hath dyed for all men and through his Death hath the only name in which there is salvation and that He is the only Justifier of men that will convince them of a need of going out of themselves and all their own works and righteousness unto Christ to believe on him 2 Cor. 5.14 Gal. 2.15 16. Those who were not sinners of the Gentiles but Jews and had great fleshly priviledges which they looked upon as advantage to them yet hereby were convinced of their righteousness that it would not profit them even by the Spirit witnessing to and glorifying Jesus in and by the Ministry of his Servants Phil. 3.4 7 8. as it is said He the Holy Ghost namely shall convince the World of righteousness because I go to my Father and ye see me no more Joh. 16.10 And that 's our way through the Spirit to convince such too And so Instance 4. Would we convince men of righteousness in Christ for them the righteousness of God freely prepared for and given to them of God that so they may come to believe on him This is the way glorify Christ and Preach his acceptable Sacrifice which He hath offered for us that He the Son of God the Word by whom all things were made hath given himself the ransome for all the Propitiation for the sins of the whole World and that He hath offered up so acceptable a Sacrifice to God that in the vertues of it He is ascended up to God and is entertained of him so as He comes down no more to be abased or to suffer for us In the sight of this that men are not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Jesus which implies the vertues of his Death and Sacrifice and the acceptableness thereof for taking away sin and obtaining favour for the approachers to God thereby the Apostles and others were moved to let go their trusting in their own righteousness according to Law and to believe in Christ that they might be justified Gal. 2.16 And so in the lifting up of the Son of man all that have come in to believe on him have been prevailed with thereto it being as well through his Name that any do believe on him as that they that do believe on him do and shall receive there-through remission of sins Act. 10.43 1 Cor. 1.21 Instance 5. Would we convince the World of Judgment that their judgment is naturally false and wrong and that God will judge the World in righteousness and give to every man according to his works The way is to lift up the Son of man and shew forth the truth as it is in him for that light makes manifest whatsoever is reproved and lays open the foundation of the Eternal Judgment and discovers the truth certainty and impartiality thereof Upon this ground and in so lifting up the Son of man Paul preached to the Athenians the reproof of their former judgment and the certainty of the Judgment to come Act. 17.30 31 32. And to the Corinthians He saith that their judgment concerning both Christ and all men besides so as no more to know them after the flesh sprung from their understanding and judging that Christ dyed for all as also from thence he grounds the judgment and the appearance of all before Christ's Tribunal 2 Cor. 5.10 14 15 16. with Rom. 14.9 10 11 12. Because Christ hath dyed for all and released all from under the first judgment and is there-through become Lord of all and all ought to live to Him and not to themselves Instance 6 Would we have men to Repent yea or exercise Faith The way to move them thereto is to lift up the Son of man So the Apostle Paul that saith He testified both to Jews and Greeks repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus tells us he did that in testifying the Gospel of the Grace of God Acts 20.21 24. And that he fulfilled his Commission given him of Christ To open the eyes of the blind and turn them from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan unto God in shewing to them at Damascus and at Jerusalem and throughout all the Coasts of Judea and to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do good Works meet for Repentance All which he did in Witnessing both to small and great saying no other things but those which Moses and the Prophets did say should come to pass to wit that Christ should suffer and be the first that should rise from the Dead and should shew light to the People and to the Gentiles Acts 26 18.20.22 23. Or with these Arguments he moved them to that Repentance and Faith which he Preached and Urged Instance 7. Would we dehort from any sin This is our way to do it lift up the Son of man shew him to be Lord and Christ that to him we owe subjection and obedience and that he hath suffered for sins the Just for the unjust that he might bring us to God and therein hath given himself for us that he might redeem us there-from to himself So the Apostle disswades from Fornication 1 Cor. 6.14.18 19. and so we may disswade from Covetousness Fraud Envy Malice and every evil thing as is implied Rom. 6.1 2 3.9 10 11. Tit. 2.11 12 13 14. and 3.4 5. Yea it 's the usual way of the Apostles first laying down the Doctrine of Christ and therein lifting him up in the former part of their Epistles then in the latter part to dehort and disswade from all evil and provoke and stir up to all Virtue and Goodness And therefore also Instance 8. Would we perswade to Obedience and Virtue This is the powerful Argument to be used and the way wherein to do it Lift up the Son of man and shew how all is due from us to God upon account of the Grace in him and brought to us by him by which he Teacheth us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope c. Tit. 2.11 12 13. And so that 's here observable that we noted in the foregoing going particular concerning the manner of the Apostles in their Epistles as may be seen in the Epistles to the Romans Galatians Ephesians Hebrews c. Instance 9. Would we convince of Errour The way is to hold forth the Truth as it is in Jesus Lifting up and Glorifying the Son of man So the Apostle refutes those that denied the Resurrection of the Dead by minding them of the Gospel Preached to them and therein of the Death Burial and Resurrection of Christ 1 Cor. 15.1 2 3. And so he reproves the Errours of the false Apostles and the Galatians by minding them of the Lord Jesus his giving himself for our sins that he might deliver us from the present evil world and of the Grace in and of him Gal. 1 2 3 4 5
designs to do it hateth the light neither cometh to the light least his deeds should be reproved Joh. 3.19 20. and so we find the Scriptures every where assert that the cause of Mens destruction is their voluntary rejections of the remedy as in Psal 81.10 11 12 c. When God offered himself to Israel to be their God bidding them open their mouth wide and he would fill it their refusing him his advise and counsel not hearing his voice nor accepting him to be their helper but preferring others before him procured his leaving them to themselves and their Idols and then what but misery and destruction could befall them the like we see in Prov. 1.20 24 25. Wisdom addresses her self to all within and without the City or Church of God reproving their love of their simplicity scornfulness and folly and tendring her grace and spirit to them but they generally will not answer her calls and hear her counsels nor regard the stretching forth of her hands to relieve help or draw them in to her self but put away all her counsels and will none of her reproofs and therefore destruction comes upon them the like may be seen in Isa 66.3 4. Jer. 7.24 25 26. And the like we find our Saviour and his Apostles say of the cause and reason of mens perishing not to be any want of goodness or graciousness in God or want of provision in Christ or readiness in him to help them but mens own wilfulness in refusing and putting from them the grace and truth discovered of God in and by Christ to them for their salvation that they receive not the love of the truth that they may be saved believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. That they stop the ear close or wink with the eye least they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted and he should heal them Matth. 13.14 15. Acts 28.20 27. Yea the very Heathens who had the least discoveries of God and his goodness and grace that through Christ he exerciseth towards and among men yet perish upon this account that they with-hold the truth in unrighteousness that when they know God they glorified him not as God nor were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkned that they liked not to have God in their knowledge and the like Rom. 1.18 21 28. 2. As to the equitableness and justness hereof what more just and equitable then that men who will not be saved should perish that they who refuse the most excellent remedy and compleat Medicine and way of healing which the most wise and gracious God in his most perfect understanding and heighth of love and affection hath devised and prepared for them dye of their wounds which through their own default and wickedness they have brought upon themselves Yea when God hath been at a great cost and charge to provide man a Saviour and prepare them help and shewed forth his great goodness therein for their happiness when He hath not spared his own Son but delivered him as made man the Son of man for our offences and raised him again for our Justification and therein and thereby hath saved men from perishing in the first Death into which they were fallen in and through Adam and therein cured that deadly wound given them at first by the Serpent and hath glorified him and filled him with his own infinite fulness of power spirit and all spiritual grace and blessing therein both impowering him and appointing him to raise all men out of the first death which he also will not fail to do and also providing in him all things by which he is furnished for calling and drawing them in to believe and in believing on him to preserve them from the second Death and to make them to live for ever being furnished with authority and fitness to cure all such stings of the old Serpent as might and would otherwise sting them to that second Death and all this without their knowledge motion or desire Yea and through him also and by him making known to us what he hath done and calling and counselling us to come to him and accept of his grace and salvation in and through him through whom also we live and move and have our beings and are made capable of hearing and coming at his call to him in whom we are so compleatly provided for that there is no defect or want of any thing needful for our salvation and everlasting well-being yea and that we might have both the greatest ground of assurance of finding help in him and the greatest ingagements upon all accounts to hearken to and comply with his counsels and yield our selves subject to his will and commandements he hath set before men both his alsufficiency as being the Son of God and God and his having in him all the fulness of God and also the greatness of the love both of the Father in not sparing him but giving him forth and preparing him through so great sufferings to be our Saviour and of the Son in sustaining them for our sakes that there-through he might be so perfected for us how should he not be provoked to great displeasure and so to leave us to dye and perish of our wounds if they or any of us after and notwithstanding all this refuse his calls and will not submit to him to be saved and be made happy for ever by him What man of us and especially what Prince or Nobleman if he be at great cost and labour to prepare either a feast to entertain or a Medicine to heal his poor neighbours likely otherwise to perish through want or diseases could take it well if after that they scorn his love and make light of his provision and yet such is the case of Mankind towards God as the parables in Matth. 22.1 14. and Luc. 14.17 24. shew And surely the offence is so much the greater and the more inexcusable and unpardonable in us men and lays open to the greater and deserves the more severe punishment then any can be deserved from or inflicted by the greatest or mightiest man by how much God is greater than man and more uningaged to us than man and by how much his provision and love therein and the tenders and proffers thereof to men exceed all that can be found in or from men So that God will certainly be just in his proceedings against men in his condemning them and will be justified in the eyes and sight of all his Creatures both Angels and men yea the condemned ones themselves when he is judged as is said Rom. 3.4 And there will be nothing found by men to plead for themselves or condemn him when he enters into Judgment with them not so much for that his power and greatness will bear them down as because of the exceeding great equity and righteousness that will
perfect possessing them of himself and of that Eternal life that is in him Such the true Church its Manners and Priviledges Use 10. Lastly that at length we may come to a Conclusion By all that hath been said we may be and let us be provoked and stirred up to admire Love Laud and Magnifie the Lord even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and his great Love and Grace that hath devised found out made set forth and discovered such an Object as this to be looked to by us and therein such a way of Salvation and Life Eternal for us That hath chosen out of the People the Son of man one of us as it were as to his Humanity and united that to and filled it with the Deity and its infinite Virtues and perfections that he hath magnified his blessed Son and that through so great Sufferings and Abasement to so high Dignity and Glory in the Nature of man for us and so lifted him up also in the discoveries of him by his Spirit in the Gospel to us even to us such sorry and miserable Creatures so fallen and rendred so unprofitable that we neither could or can be of any advantage or profit to him that so in his being lifted up before us and looked to by us we might be healed of all our spiritual Diseases and Maladies delivered from all the things of the old fiery Serpent the Devil and Satan the venome and poyson of it and the pain and destruction brought into and upon us by it the sin and guilt thence derived the infirmities death grave hell that it brought upon us Yea and from all the several stingings of the said Serpent and his Angels and Instruments whether by inward Temptations and their Prevalencies or outward sufferings and afflictions keeping us alive that we may not die of them Yea so expelling the venome and poyson of them and infusing Virtue and Vigour into us that we may be safe and found from them and live in a perfect life and walk in a perfect way and serve and honour him This Grace may be somewhat Illustrated by Gods dealings of old with Israel they were in a sore and heavy Bondage in Egypt God beheld it came down and with various Wonders wrought deliverance for them so as he brought them all out thence not one of them being left behind and then also he became their Perfect Alsufficient Merciful and Faithful Leader and Bringer in in their following after him into the Land of Canaan Even so God seeing us mankind all in great misery and destruction under the Power and Tyranny of the Devil and the first Death and Judgment which we fell into in and through Adam came down in the person of the Son and by more wonderful ways of bearing the Judgment and Curse of the Law for us tasting Death for every man and giving himself a Ransome for all men hath bought all men from under that misery the Free gift being to all men through his Righteousness to Justification of Life Rom. 5.18 So as to justifie them from that fault and condemnation so as they live now under the patience of God and merciful Lordship of Christ as Lord of all through his said Death and Sufferings who also offers to all men in the Gospel a free Justification of them from all their forepast sins in yielding themselves up to his Government so as they may live in his Sight Yea and now the same Christ that died for all and every one and hath so Ransomed us is become the Leader and Captain of our Salvation calling all men to look to and follow him Isa 55.4 Heb. 2.10 with Psal 50.1 Prov. 1.20 23. Isa 45.22 And he will save them in so doing and every way secure them from perishing and bring them into the possession of an Heavenly Canaan an everlasting and glorious Kingdom For which Guidance and Conduct of us thereto he is every perfected and most gloriously Accomplished with Power Authority Strength Wisdom Riches for Supply of all Wants and is infinitely Merciful and Gracious Compassionate and Faithful and will not fail or be discouraged but will bring every faithful Follower of him or Believer on him to the Injoyment of his Kingdom Indeed as there God having saved his People out of Egypt afterward destroyed those that believed not which also for our Admonition the Apostle Jude would have us to remember though we have once known it but that was not through any defect or want of Power Pity or Faithfulness in God toward them but through their unbelief not depending on him obeying and Following him but stubbornly rebelling against him and provoking him to anger with their Disobediences towards and withdrawings from him So also here though all men be Ransomed by Christ from perishing in the first Death and Condemnation that namely which passed upon all men in Adam before any man was Born to him yet there will many perish in the second Judgment that which shall be by Christ after all are Dead and Raised again In the second Death but that proceeds not neither from want of Power or Pity Fulness or Faithfulness in Christ but from the want of their Compliance with his Calls and Counsels to believe on and Obey him as the Scripture every where declares as was Noted before in Use 7. It 's most sure that every one that will hearken to his Voice and Believing on him Follow him shall have Eternal Life Yea and though many Sins and Failings may be found with us in our Hearing and Following him as well as many sticks and Hang-backs before our first yielding to him to be Followers of him as were also found in Israel Exod. 5. and 14. Yet as there were many Sacrifices and a Priesthood appointed to make atonement for their offences so as they were kept still in Gods favour and under his conduct to the Land of Promise not stubbornly and persistingly rebelling against him so here also we have a far better Priest and Sacrifice greater fuller and faithfuller and of an eternal vertue and continuance to keep the Followers after Him from perishing from Gods favour and for bringing them to the injoyment of eternal glory so that we may well say Herein is manifested the love of God to us in that He sent his only begotten Son into the World that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.9 10. Yea we may well cry out with admiration and thankfulness Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him and the Son of man that thou hast so visited him c. Heb. 2.6 7. Yea surely in the mindfulness and consideration of this his so rich and wonderful love and mercy which led him to this as the next verse saith God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him might not perish but
That he might be capable of suffering such things as Death and Curse for us to redeem and deliver us from death and curse and from the fear of them And to the same purpose he speaks of his offering in Chap. 8.3 With 10.5 6 10. Every high Priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices wherefore also it was necessary that this man should have something to offer And what that was is said Chap. 10.5 6 10. Namely the body that God prepared for him the body of his flesh that died This through the eternal Spirit being raised from the dead he offered up unto God for us as an offering of a sweet smelling savour unto him In which God finding rest and well-pleasedness through him he is gracious and propitious to us Upon this account therefore and upon this mainly it was needful that Christ should be the Son of man very man for us For as Adam was something before he was a man namely dust and clay something below the nature of man and therefore in that form incapable of knowing and praising God till being made into a man indued with a reasonable and understanding Soul he was made capable so even so Christ also was something before he was a man something higher and better then earthly man even the Lord in heaven and therefore not capable as being in the form of God of dying and so of being an offering and sacrifice for man so as in the Nature of man he was and this is that wherein the greatness of Gods grace was testified toward us in making his only begotten Son the propitiation or propitiatory Sacrifice for our sins to prepare him a body for us and to lay the iniquities of us all upon him therein And this is the foundation and bottom as well as also the great and main matter of his declaration to us of what concerns us to know and the foundation and ground of his appearing for us with his Father as Mediator of God and Man and the great high-Priest over his house and his being Man the Son of Man Verily man fitted him for this both as thereby he had what to suffer in and what to offer as also I might adde as therein he became our Brother and Kinsman as is said before and so according to the Law of Moses Levit. 25.48 49. The The right of redeeming us appertained to him For the man that hath sold himself for a servant must be redeemed by one of kin to him as is there said And that he might hint to us all this grace of God in these forementioned branches we may understand him stiling himself the Son of Man That 's the Fourth Reas 5. Lastly he stiles himself the Son of Man or as some read it That Son of Man with reference to that Prophecy of Daniel that went before of him in which he was represented in such an appearance and so declared that he might signifie that he is that Son of Man of whom the said Prophet wrote and spoke in his said Vision And so to shew himself to be what is therein signified which what it was may be perceived by considering the place It is in Dan. 7. Where God shewed to Daniel the things that were to come to pass in the World The Kingdoms that should be set up and take place therein And so he saw first four great Beasts arise up out of the Sea which the Angel afterwards tells him should be four Kings that is succesionâ— of Kings or Kingdoms with their Kings as may appear by comparing ver 17. With ver 23. Now those four Beasts Kings or Kingdoms were the four Kingdoms or Empires of the Gentiles or Heathen that should with their Kings and Emperours have the great command of the Earth and they are represented like Beasts there or as the word properly signifies Wild or Savage Beasts as the Lyon Bear Leopard and the fourth a composure of them all Ver. 7. With Rev. 13.2 To signifie and imply the Savageness Brutishness and unreasonableness of those Governments That they should rule by Might Will and Power more then by yea with a neglect and contempt of right reason and equity as indeed they have generally done But then in ver 13. There is a Vision of one said to be like the Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven brought near to the ancient of days to whom was given dominion and glory And a Kingdom that all Nations Peoples and Languages should obey and serve him Now this is afterward interpreted to be the Kingdom of the Saints or of the People of the Saints of the most high God ver 26 27. In which Christ shall be the great King and Governour and he therefore is principally and properly denoted by that one like to the Son of Man to whom was given the Dominion Glory and Kingdom as was before expressed But by the opposition of this mention of his appearance to the mention of the appearance and resemblance of the other Kings and Kingdoms is denoted doubtless not only that he should be a real Man as to the verity of his human nature to whom the Kingdom should be given But also that he should be as the Son of Man as to his Government and ordering of the Kingdom in distinction from or opposition to those that would be and Govern like Savage and Ravenous Beasts Namely that he should Govern and his Kingdom be governed or ordered by right reason equity mildness gentleness and discretion c. Which things belong to man as made of God and in distinction from the Bruit and Savage Beasts And so that He should reign in righteousness and his Princes the Saints reigning with him should decree Justice and govern with Law and equity Isa 32.1 2. Now our Saviour in calling himself the or that Son of Man May and as I apprehend did therein imply and signifie that he was that person spoken of in that Vision and Prophecy to whom the Kingdom and Glory and Dominion was appointed and should be given of God To whom all Peoples Nations and Languages owe obedience and service And who should and will Judge the Nations of the Earth both as to that Judgment exercised in his Word and Providences and by his Spirit now And as to his ordering the Government of God judging disposing and reigning at the last in his glorious Kingdom with his Saints in equity and righteousness according to the rules of that reason that is sound indeed even according to the word and mind of God To this purpose it is also that our Saviour said John 5.22 23 26. That the Father Judgeth no man but hath committed all Judgment or Government to the Son that all men might honour the Son even as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father that sent him And he hath given him power to execute Judgment also because he is the Son of man even the or that Son of Man who in the