word perish the raising a new frame is signified by the word changed as if the Spirit of God would prevent any wrong meaning of the word perish by alleviating the sense of that by another which signifies only a mutation and change as when we change a Habit and Garment we quit the old to receive the new As a Garment as a Vesture Thou shalt change them * Septuag 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt fold them up The Heavens are compared to a Curtain * Psal 104.2 and shall in due time be folded up as Clothes and Curtains are As a Garment encompasseth the whole body so do the Heavens encircle the Earth * Estius in Heb. 1. Some say as a Garment is folded up to be laid aside that when there is need it may be taken again for use so shalt thou fold up the Heavens like a Garment that when they are repaired thou mayest again stretch them out about the Earth Thou shalt fold them up so that what did appear shall not now appear It may be illustrated by the metaphor of a Scrole or Book which the Spirit of God useth Isa 34.4 Rev. 6.14 The Heavens departed as a Scrole when it is rouled together When a Book is rouled up or shut nothing can be read in it till it be opened again so the Face of the Heavens wherein the Stars are as Letters declaring the Glory of God shall be shut or rouled together so that nothing shall appear till by its renovation it be opened again As a Garment it shall be changed not to be used in the same fashion and for the same use again It seems indeed to be for the worse an old Garment is not changed but into raggs to be put to other uses and afterwards thrown upon the Dung-hill But Similitudes are not to be pressed too far and this will not agree with the new Heavens and new Earth physically so as well as metaphorically so 'T is not likely the Heavens will be put to a worse use than God designed them for in Creation However a change as a Garment speaks not a total corruption but an alteration of qualities as a Garment not to be used in the same fashion as before We may observe 1. That 〈◊〉 probable the world shall not be annihilated but refin'd It shall lose its present form and fashion but not its foundation Indeed as God raised it from nothing so he can reduce it into nothing yet it doth not appear that God will annihilate it and utterly destroy both the matter and form of it part shall be consumed and part purified 2 Pet. 3.12 13. The Heavens shall be on fire and dissolved nevertheless we according to his promise look for a new Heaven and a new Earth They shall be melted down as Gold by the Artificer to be refined from its Dross and wrought into a more beautiful fashion that they may serve the design of God for those that shall reside therein a new world wherein Righteousness shall dwell The Apostle opposing it thereby to the old world wherein wickedness did reside The Heavens are to be purged as the Vessels that held the Sin-offering were to be purified by the fire of the Sanctuary God indeed will take down this Scaffold which he hath built to publish his Glory As every Individual hath a certain term of its duration so an end is appointed for thâ— universal nature of Heaven and Earth Isa 51.6 The Heavens shall vanish like Smoke which disappears As Smoke is resolved and attenuated into Air not annihilated So shall the world assume a new face and have a greater clearness and splendor As the Bodies of Men dissolved into Dust shall have more glorious qualities at their Resurrection As a Vessel of Gold is melted down to remove the batterings in it and receive a more comely Form by the Skill of the Workman 1. The world was not destroyed by the Deluge It was rather washed by water than consumed So it shall be rather refined by the last fire than lie under an irrecoverable ruin 2. 'T is not likely God would liken the everlastingness of his Covenant and the perpetuity of his spiritual Israel to the duration of the ordinances of the Heavens as he doth in Jer. 21.35 36. if they were wholly to depart from before him* Though that place may only tend to an assurance of a Church in the world while the world endures yet it would be but small comfort if the happiness of Believers should endure no longer than the Heavens and Earth if they were to have a total period 3. Besides the Bodies of the Saints must have place for their support to move in and glorious objects suted to these glorious senses which shall be restored to them Not in any carnal way which our Saviour rejects when he saith there is no eating or drinking or marrying c. in the other world but whereby they may glorify God though how or in what manner their senses shall be used would be rashness to determine only something is necessary for the corporeal state of men that there may be an employment for their Senses as well as their Souls 4. Again How could the Creature the world or any part of it be said to be delivered from the bondage of Corruption * Rom. 8.21 into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God if the whole Frame of Heaven and Earth were to be annihilated Rom. 8.21 The Apostle saith also that the Creature waits with an earnest expectation for this manifestation of the Sons of God v. 19. which would have no foundation if the whole frame should be reduced to nothing What joyful expectation can there be in any of a total ruin How should the Creature be capable of partaking in this glorious liberty of the Sons of God * Hâ—per in Heb. 1. As the World for the sin of man lost its first dignity and was cursed after the fall and the beauty bestowed upon it by creation defaced So it shall recover that ancient glory when he shall be fully restored by the Resurrection to that dignity he lost by his first sin As Man shall be freed from his corruptibility to receive that glory which is prepared for him so shall the Creatures be freed from that imperfection or corruptibility those stains and spots upon the face of them to receive a new glory suted to their nature and answerable to the design of God when the glorious liberty of the Saints shall be accomplisht * Mestraezat sur Heb. 1. As when a Princes Nuptials are solemnized the whole Country eccho's with joy So the inanimate Creatures when the time of the Marriage of the Lamb is come shall have a delight and pleasure from that renovation The Apostle sets forth the whole world as a person groaning and the Scripture is frequent in such Metaphors as when the Creatures are said to wait upon God and to be troubled * Psal 104.27 29. the
his Immense Power for he that is Eternal without limits of Time must needs be conceived Powerful without any dash of Infirmity Again when He is said to be a Child born and a Son given in the same breath he is called the Mighty God * Isai 9.6 'T is introduc'd as a ground of Comfort to the Church to preserve their Hopes in the accomplishment of the Promises made to them before They should not imagine him to have only the Infirmity of a Man though he was vail'd in the Appearance of a Man No they should look through the disguise of his Flesh to the Might of his Godhead The Attribute of Mighty is added to the Title GOD because the consideration of Power is most capable to sustain the drooping Church in such a condition and to prop up her hopes 'T is upon this account he saith of himself that whatsoever things the Father doth those also doth the Son likewise John 5.19 In creation of Heaven Earth Sea and the Preservation of all Creatures the Son works with the same Will Wisdom Vertue Power as the Father works Not as two may concur in an Action in a different manner as an Agent and an Instrument a Carpenter and his Tools but in the same manner of operation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we Translate Likeness which doth not express so well the Emphasis of the word There is no diversity of Action between Us what the Father doth that I do by the same Power with the same Easiness in every respect there is the same Creative Productive Conservative Power in both of us and that not in one work that is done ad extra but in All in whatsoever the Father doth In the same manner not by a delegated but Natural and Essential Power by one undivided operation and manner of working 1. The Creation which is a work of Omnipotence is more than once ascrib'd to him This he doth own himself the Creation of the Earth and of Man upon it the stretching out the Heavens by his Hands and the forming of all the Host of them by his Command Isai 45.12 He is not only the Creator of Israel the Church verse 12. but of the whole World and every Creature on the face of the Earth and in the Glories of the Heavens which is repeated also verse 18. where in this act of Creation he is called God himself and speaks of himself in the Term Jehovah and swears by himself verse 23. What doth he swear That unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear Is this Christ Yes if the Apostle may be believed who applies it to him Rom. 14.11 to prove the Appearance of all Men before the Judgment Seat of Christ whom the Prophet calls verse 15. a God that hides himself and so he was a hidden God when obscur'd in our fleshly Infirmities He was in conjunction with the Father when the Sea receiv'd his Decree and the foundations of the Earth were appointed not as a Spectator but as an Artificer â—or so the word in Prov. 8.30 signifies As one brought up with him it signifies also A cunning workman * Cant. 7.1 He was the East or the Sun from whence sprang all the light of life and Being to the Creature so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 22. which is translated Before his works of old is rendred by some and signifies the East as well as Before But if it notes only his existence before 't is enough to prove his Deity The Scripture doth not only allow him an existence before the World but exalts him as the cause of the World A thing may precede another that is not the cause of that which follows a precedency in Age doth not entitle one Brother or thing the cause of another But our Saviour is not only Ancienter than the World but is the Creator of the World Heb. 1.10 11. Who laid the foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the works of his hands So great an Elogy cannot be given to one destitute of Omnipotence Since the distance between Being and not Being is so vast a Gulf that cannot be surmounted and stept over but by an Infinite Power He is the First and the Last that called the Generations from the beginning †Isai 41.4 and had an Almighty voice to call them out of Nothing In which regard he is called the Everlasting Father Isai 9.6 as being the Efficient of Creation as God is called the Father of the Rain or as Father is taken for the Inventor of an Art as Jubal the first framer and Inventor of Musick is called the Father of such as handle the Harp Gen 4.21 And that Person is said to make the Sea and form the dry Land by his hands Psal 95.5 6. against whom we are exhorted not to harden our hearts verse 8. which is applied to Christ by the Apostle Heb. 3.8 in the 15 verse he is called a great King and a great God our Maker The Places wherein the Creation is attributed to Christ those that are the Antagonists of his Deity would evade by understanding them of the New or Evangelical not of the first Old and Material Creation But what appearance is there for such a sense Consider 1. That of Heb. 1.10 11. 't is spoken of that Earth and Heavens which were in the beginning of Time 't is that Earth that shall perish that Heaven that shall be folded up that Creation that shall grow old towards a decay that is only the visible and material Creation The Spiritual shall endure for ever it grows not old to decay but grows up to a perfection it sprouts up to its happiness not to its detriment The same Person creates that shall destroy and the same World is created by him that shall be destroyed by him as well as it subsisted by virtue of his Omnipotency 2. Can that also Heb. 1.2 By whom also he made the worlds speaking of Christ bear the same plea It was the same Person by whom God spake to us in these last times the same Person which he hath constituted Heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds And the Particle Also intimates it to be a distinct act from his Speaking or Prophetical Office whereby he restored and new created the World as well as the rightful foundation God had to make him Heir of all things It refers likewise not to the time of Christ's speaking upon Earth but to something past and something different from the publication of the Gospel 'T is not doth make which had been more likely if the Apostle had meant only the New Creation but hath made ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 referring to time long since past something done before his appearance upon Earth as a Prophet By whom also he made the Worlds or Ages all things subjected to or measured by Time which must be meant according to the Jewish Phrase of this Material visible World So
the Divine Nature is the natural foundation for his Dominion He hath Wisdom to know what is fit for him to do and an immutable Righteousness whereby he cannot do any thing base and unworthy He hath a fore-knowledge whereby he is able to order all things to answer his own glorious designs and the end of his Government that nothing can go awry nothing put him to a stand and constrain him to meditate new Counsels * Caâ—â—â—â— p. â—â—1 Aâ—â—â—â—â— Dissert p. 72 73. So that if it could be supposed that the World had not been created by him that the parts of it had met together by chance and been compacted into such a Body none but God the supream and most excellent being in the World could have merited and deservedly challenged the Government of it Because nothing had an excellency of Nature to capacitate it for it as he hath or to enter into a contest with him for a sufficiency to Govern 2. 'T is founded in his act of Creation He is the Soveraign Lord as he is the Almighty Creator The relation of an intire Creator induceth the relation of an absolute Lord he that gives Being Life Motion that is the sole cause of the being of a thing which was before nothing that hath nothing to concur with him nothing to assist him but by his sole power Commands it to stand up into being is the unquestionable Lord and Proprietor of that thing that hath no dependance but upon him And by this act of Creation which extended to all things he became universal Soveraign over all things And those that wave the excellency of his Nature as the foundation of his Goverment easily acknowledge the sufficiency of it upon his actual Creation His Dominion of Jurisdiction results from Creation When God himself makes an oration in defence of his Soveraignty Job 38. His chief arguments are drawn from Creation and Psal 95.3 5. The Lord is a great King above all Gods the Sea is his and he made it And so the Apostle in his Sermon to the Athenians As he made the World and all things therein he is stiled Lord of Heaven and Earth Acts 17.24 His Dominion also of Property stands upon this Basis Psal 89.7 The Heavens are thine the Earth also is thine as for the World and the fulness thereof thou hast founded them Upon this Title of forming Israel as a Creature or rather as a Church he demands their service to him as their Soveraign Oh Jacob and Israel thou art my Servant I have formed thee thou art my servant Oh Israel Isaiah 44. 21. The Soveraignty of God naturally ariseth from the relation of all things to himself as their intire Creator and their natural and inseparable dependance upon him in regard of their being and well beings It depends not upon the election of Men God hath a natural Dominion over us as Creatures before he hath a Dominion by consent over us as converts As soon as ever any thing began to be a Creature it was a vassal to God as a Lord. Every man is acknowledged to have a right of possessing what he hath made and a power of Dominion over what he hath fram'd He may either cherish his own work or dash it in peices he may either adde a greater comeliness to it or deface what he hath already imparted He hath a right of property in it no other man can without injury pilfer his own work from him The work hath no propriety in its self the right must lie in the immediate framer or in the person that employed him The first Cause of every thing hath an unquestionable Dominion of propriety in it upon the score of Justice By the Law of Nations the first finder of a Countrey is esteemed the rightful possessor and Lord of that Country and the first inventor of an Art hath a right of exercising it If a man hath a just claim of Dominion over that thing whose materials were not of his framing but from only the addition of a new figure from his skill as a Limner over his picture the Cloth whereof he never made nor the colours wherewith he draws it were ever endued by him with their distinct qualities but only he applies them by his art to compose such a figure much more hath God a rightful claim of Dominion over his Creatures whose intire being both in matter and form and every particle of their excellency was breathed out by the word of his mouth He did not only give the matter a form but bestowed upon the matter its self a being It was formed by none to his hand as the matter is on which an Artist works He had the being of all things in his own power and it was at his choice whither he would impart it or no there can be no juster and stronger ground of a claim than this A man hath a right to a piece of brass or Gold by his purchase but when by his engraving he hath form'd it into an excellent Statue there results an increase of his right upon the account of his artifice Gods Creation of the the matter of man gave him a right over man but his Creation of him in so eminent an excellency with reason to guide him a clear eye of understanding to discern Light from Darkness and Truth from falshood a freedom of Will to act accordingly and an original Righteousness as the varnish and beauty of all Here is the strongest foundation for a claim of Authority over man and the strongest obligation on man for subjection to God If all those things had been past over to God by another hand he could not be the supream Lord nor could have an absolute right to dispose of them at his pleasure That would have been the invasion of anothers right Besides Creation is the only first discovery of his Dominion * Stoughton Righteous Mans Plea Serm. 6. p. 28. Before the World was framed there was nothing but God himself and properly nothing is said to have Dominion over its self this is a relative Attribute reflecting on the works of God He had a right of Dominion in his Nature from eternity but before Creation he was actually Lord only of a nullity Where there is nothing it can have no relation nothing is not the subject of possession nor of Dominion There could be no exercise of this Dominion without Creation What exercise can a Soveraign have without Subjects Soveraignty speaks a relation to Subjects and none is properly a Soveraign without Subjects To conclude from hence doth result Gods universal Dominion For being maker of all he is the Ruler of all And his perpetual Dominion For as long as God continues in the relation of Creator the right of his Soveraignty as Creator cannot be abolisht 3. As God is the final Cause or End of all he is Lord of all * Vid. Lessium de perfect Divin p. 77. 78. The End hath a greater Soveraignty in
new appearance the grace of God hath appeared * Tit. 1.11 6. Proposition A change of Laws by God argues no change in God when God abrogates some Laws which he had setled in the Church and enacts others I spake of this something the last day I shall only add this God commanded one thing to the Jews when the Church was in an infant state and removed those Laws when the Church came to some growth The Elements of the world were suted to the state of Children * Gal. 4.3 A Mother feeds not the Infant with the same diet as she doth when it is grown up Our Saviour acquainted not his Disciples with some things at one time which he did at another because they were not able to bear them Where was the change in Christs Will or in their growth from a state of weakness to that of strength A Physitian prescribes not the same thing to a person in health as he doth to one conflicting with a distemper nor the same thing in the beginning as he doth in the state or declination of the disease The Physicians Will and Skill are the same but the capacity and necessity of the Patient for this or that Medicine or method of proceeding are not the same VVhen God changed the Ceremonial Law there was no change in the Divine Will but an execution of his Will For when God commanded the observance of the Law he intended not the perpetuity of it nay in the Prophets he declares the cessation of it he decreed to command it but he decreed to command it only for such a time so that the abrogation of it was no less an execution of his Decree than the establishment of it for a season was The commanding of it was pursuant to his Decree for the appointing of it and the nulling of it was pursuant to his Decree of continuing it only for such a season So that in all this there was no change in the Will of God The Counsel of God stands sure what changes soever there are in the World are not in God or his Will but in the events of things and the different relations of things to God 'T is in the Creature not in the Creator The Sun alway remains of the same hue and is not discoloured in it self because it shines green through a green Glass and blew through a blew Glass the different colours come from the Glass not from the Sun The change is alway in the disposition of the Creature not in the Nature of God or his Will 5. Vse 1. For Information 1. If God be unchangeable in his Nature and Immutability be a Property of God Then Christ hath a Divine Nature This in the Psalm is applyed to Christ in the Hebrews Heb. 1.11 where he joyns the citation out of this Psalm with that out of Psalm 45.6 7. Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the Oyl of Gladness above thy Fellows and thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth c. As the first must necessarily be meant of Christ the Mediator and therein he his distinguish'd from God as one anointed by him so the other must be meant of Christ whereby he is made one with God in regard of the Creation and Dissolution of the World in regard of Eternity and Immutability Both the Testimonies are linkt together by the Copulative and and thou Lord declaring thereby that they are both to be understood of the same Person the Son of God The design of the Chapter is to prove Christ to be God and such things are spoken of him as could not belong to any Creature no not to the most excellent of the Angels The same Person that is said to be anointed above his Fellows and is said to lay the Foundation of the Earth and Heavens is said to be the same that is the same in himself The Prerogative of sameness belongs to that Person as well as Creation of Heaven and Earth The Socinians say it is spoken of God and that God shall destroy the Heavens by Christ If so Christ is not a meer Creature not created when he was incarnate for the same Person that shall change the World did create the World If God shall change the world by him God also created the world by him He was then before the world was for how could God create the world by one that was not That was not in Being till after the Creation of the world The Heavens shall be changed but the Person who is to change the Heavens is said to be the same or unchangeable in the Creation as well as the Dissolution of of the world This sameness referrs to the whole Sentence * Placeus de deitate Christi The Psalm wherein the Text is and whence this in the Hebrews is cited is properly meant of Christ and Redemption by him and the compleating of it at the last day and not of the Babylonish captivity That captivity was not so deplorable as the state the Psalmist describes Daniel and his Companions flourished in that Captivity It could not reasonably be said of them that their days were consumed like Smoke their heart withered like Grass that they forgot to eat their Bread * as it is V. 3.4 Besides he complains of shortness of Life * V. 11. But none had any more reason to complain of that in the time of the Captivity than before and after it than at any other time Their Deliverance would contribute nothing to the natural length of their lives Besides when Sion should be built the Heathen should fear the Name of the Lord that is worship God and all the Kings of the Earth his Glory * V. 15. The rearing the second Temple after the deliverance did not proselyte the Nations nor did the Kings of the Earth worship the Glory of God nor did God appear in such Glory at the erecting the second Temple The second Temple was less glorious than the first for it wanted some of the Ornaments which were the Glory of the first But it is said of this state * Ver. 16. that when the Lord should build up Sion he should appear in his Glory his proper Glory and extraordinary Glory Now that God who shall appear in Glory and build up Sion is the Son of God the Redeemer of the World He builds up the Church he causes the Nations to fear the Lord and the Kings of the Earth his Glory He broke down the partition Wall and opened a Door for the entrance of the Gentiles He struck the Chains from off the Prisoners and loosed those that were appointed to death by the Curse of the Law * Ver. 20. And to this Person is ascribed the Creation of the World and he is pronounced to remain the same in the midst of an infinite number of changes in
crucis Lib. 3 cap. 7. p. 211. It is not like the Union of Stones in a Building or of two pieces of Timber fastned together which touch one anotâ—er only in their Superficies and outside without any intimacy with one another By such a kind of Union God would not be man The Word could â—ot so be made Flesh Nor is it a Union of Parts to the whole as the Members and the Body the Members are Parts the Body is the whole for the whole results from the Parts and depends upon the Parts But Christ being God is independent upon any thing The parts are in order of Nature before the whole but nothing can be in order of Nature before God Nor is it as the Union of two Liquors as when Wine and Water are mixed together for they are so Incorporated as not to be distinguish'd from one another no man can tell which Particle is Wine and which is Water But the Properties of the Divine Nature are distinguishable from the Properties of the Humane Nor is it as the Union of the Soul and Body so as that the Deity is the form of the Humanity as the Soul is the form of the Body For as the Soul is but a part of the Man so the Divinity would be then but a part of the Humanity as a Form or the Soul is in a state of Imperfection without that which it is to inform so the Divinity of Christ would have been Imperfect till it had assumed the Humanity And so the perfection of an Eternal Deity would have depended on a Creature of Time This Union of two Natures in Christ is incomprehensible And it is a mystery we cannot arrive to the top of How the Divine Nature which is the same with that of the Father and the Holy Ghost should be united to the Human Nature without its being said that the Father and the Holy Ghost were united to the Flesh but the Scripture doth not encourage any such Notion It speaks only of the Word the Person of the Word being made Flesh And in his being made Flesh distinguisheth him from the Father as the only begotten of the Father Joh. 1.14 The Person of the Son was the term of this Union 1. This Vnion doth not confound the Properties of the Deity and those of the Humanity They remain distinct and entire in each other The Deity is not changed into Flesh nor the Flesh transform'd into God They are distinct and yet united They are conjoined and yet unmixt The Dues of either Nature are preserved 'T is impossible that the Majesty of the Divinity can receive an alteration 'T is as impossible that the meaness of the Humanity can receive the Impressions of the Deity so as to be changed into it and a creature be metamorphos'd into the Creator and Temporary Flesh become Eternal and Finite mount up into Infinity As the Soul and Body are united and make one Person yet the Soul is not changed into the perfections of the Body nor the Body into the perfections of the Soul There is a change made in the Humanity by being advanced to a more Excellent Union but not in the Diety as a change is made in the Air when it is enlightned by the Sun not in the Sun which communicates that brightness to the Air. Athanasius makes the burning Bush to be a type of Christs Incarnation Exod. 3.2 The Fire signifying the Divine Nature and the Bush the human The Bush is a branch springing up from the Earth and the Fire descends from Heaven as the Bush was united to the Fire yet was not hurt by the slame nor converted into Fire there remained a difference between the Bush and the Fire yet the properties of the Fire shined in the Bush so that the whole Bush seemed to be on Fire So in the Incarnation of Christ the Human Nature is not swallowed up by the Divine nor changed into it nor confounded with it But so united that the properties of both remain firme Two are so become one that they remain two still One person in Two Natures containing the glorious perfections of the Divine and the weaknesses of the Humane The fulness of the Deity dwels bodily in Christ Col. 2.9 2. The Divine Nature is vnited to every part of the Humanity The whole Divinity to the whole Humanity so that no part but may be said to be the Member of God as well as the Blood is said to be the Blood of God Acts 20.28 By the same reason it may be said the Hand of God the Eye of God the Arm of God As God is infinitely present every where so as to be excluded from no place so is the Deity hypostatically every where in the Humanity not excluded from any part of it As the light of the Sun in every part of the Air as a sparkling splendor in every part of the Diamond Therefore it is concluded by all that acknowledge the Deity of Christ that when his Soul was separated from the Body the Deity remained united both to Soul and Body as light doth in every part of a broken Christal 3. Therefore perpetually united Coloss 2.9 The fulness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily It Dwels in him not lodges in him as a Traveller in an Inn It resides in him as a fixed habitation As God describes the perpetuity of his presence in the Ark by his habitation or dwelling in it Exod. 29.44 so doth the Apostle the inseparable duration of the Deity in the Humanity and the indissoluble Union of the Humanity with the Deity It was united on Earth it remains united in Heaven It was not an Image or an Apparition as the Tongues wherein the Spirit came upon the Apostles were a Temporary Representation not a thing united perpetually to the person of the Holy Ghost 4. It was a personal Vnion It was not an union of persons though it was a personal union So Davenant expounds Col. 2.9 Christ did not take the Person of Man but the Nature of Man into subsistence with himself The Body and Soul of Christ were not united in themselves had no subsistence in themselves till they were united to the Person of the Son of God If the Person of a Man were united to him the Human Nature would have been the Nature of the Person so united to him and not the Nature of the Son of God Heb. 2.14 16. Forasmuch then as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham He took flesh and blood to be his own Nature perpetually to subsist in the Person of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which must be by a Personal Union or no way The Deity united to the Humanity and both Natures to be one Person This
a Chain as a ravenous Lion or a furious wild Horse by the Creator and Governour of the World What remedy could be used by Man against the activity of this unseen and swift Spirit The World could not subsist under his Malice he would practise the same things upon All as he did upon Job when he had got leave from his Governour turn the Swords of Men into one anothers bowels send Fire from Heaven upon the Fruits of the Earth and the Cattle intended for the use of Man Raise Winds to shake and tear our Houses upon our Heads daub our Bodies with Scabs and Boils and let all the humors in our Blood loose upon us He that envied Adam a Paradise doth envy us the pleasure of enjoying its out-works If we were not destroyed by him we should live in a continued vexation by Spectrums and Apparitions affrighting sounds and noise as some think the Egyptians did in that three days Darkness He would be alway winnowing us as he desired to winnow Peter Luke 22.31 But God over-masters his strength that he cannot move a hairs breadth beyond his Tedder not only he is unable to touch an Upright Job but to lay his fingers upon one of the Unbelieving Gadarens forbidden and filthy Swine without special licence Mat. 8.31 When he is cast out of one place he walks through dry places seeking rest Luke 11.24 new objects for his Malicious designs but finding none till God le ts loose the reins upon him for a new employment Though Satans Power be great yet God suffers him not to tempt as much as his Diabolical appetite would but as much as Divine Wisdom thinks fit And the Divine Power tempers the others active Malice and gives the Creature victory where the Enemy intended spoil and captivity How much stronger is God than all the Legions of Hell Luke 11.22 as he that holds a strong man from effecting his purpose testifies more ability than his Adversary How doth he lock him up for a Thousand years in a Pownd which he cannot leap over Rev. 20.3 and this restraint is wrought partly by blinding the Devil in his designs partly by denying him concourse to his motion As he hindered the active quality of the Fire upon the Three Children by withdrawing his power which was necessary to the motion of it and his power is as necessary for the motion of the Devil as for that of any other Creature Sometimes he makes him to confess him against his own interest as Apollo's Oracle confest †Caeteâ—â—â— deos aeâ—eos esse c. Grot. â—eâ—it reâ— lib. 4. And though when the Devil was cast out of the possessed person he publickly owned Christ to be the Holy one of God Mark 1.24 to render him suspected by the People of having commerce with the Unclean Spirits yet this he could not do without the leave and permission of God that the power of Christ in stopping his mouth and imposing silence upon him might be evidenced and that it reaches to the Gates of Hell as well as to the quieting of Winds and Waves This is a part of the Strength as well as the Wisdom of God Job 12.16 that the deceived and the deceiver are his Wisdom to defeat and Power to over-rule his most Malicious designs to his own glory 2. In the restraint of the Natural Corruption of Men. Since the impetus of Original Corruption runs in the Blood conveyed down from Adam to the Veins of all his Posterity and universally diffus'd in all Mankind what wrack and havock would it make in the World if it were not supprest by this Divine Power which presides over the hearts of Men Man is so wretched by Nature that nothing but what is vile and pernicious can drop from him Man drinks Iniquity like water Job 15.16 being by Nature abominable and filthy He greedily swallows all matter for Iniquity every thing suitable to the mire and poyson in his Nature and would sprout it out with all fierceness and insolence God himself gives us the description of Mans Nature Gen. 6.5 that he hath not one good imagination at any time Rom. 3.10 c. And the Apostle from the Psalmist dilates and comments upon it There is none righteous no not one their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood c. This Corruption is equal in all natural to all 't is not more poysonous or more fierce in one Man than in another The Root of all Men is the same all the Branches therefore do equally possess the Villanous nature of the Root No Child of Adam can by Natural descent be better than Adam or have less of baseness and vileness and venom than Adam How fruitful would this loathsom Lake be in all kind of steams What unbridled Licentiousness and head-strong Fury would triumph in the World if the Power of God did not interpose it self to lock down the Floud-gates of it What rooting up of Humane society would there be how would the World be drencht in Blood the number of Malefactors be greater than that of Apprehenders and Punishers How would the prints of Natural Laws be raz'd out of the heart if God should leave Humane nature to it self Who can read the first Chapter to the Romans 24 25 26 27 28 29 Verses without acknowledging this Truth where there is a Catalogue of those Villanies which followed upon Gods pulling up the Sluces and letting the malignity of their Inward Corruption have its natural course If God did not hold back the fury of Man his Garden would be over-run his Vine rooted up the Inclinations of Men would hurry them to the worst of Wickedness How great is that Power that curbs bridles or changes as many head-strong Horses at once and every minute as there are Sons of Adam upon the Earth The floods lift up their waves Psal 93.3 4. the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many Waters yea than the mighty waves of the Sea that doth hush and pen in the turbulent Passions of Men. 3. In the ordering and framing the hearts of Men to his own ends That must be an Omnipotent hand that grasps and contains the Hearts of all Men the Heart of the Meanest person as well as of the most towring Angel and turns them as he pleases and makes them sometime ignorantly sometime knowingly concur to the accomplishment of his own purposes When the Hearts of Men are so numerous their Thoughts so various and different from one another yet he hath a Key to those Millions of Hearts and with Infinite Power guided by as Infinite Wisdom he draws them into what Chanels he pleases for the gaining his own ends Though the Jews had embrued their hands in the Blood of our Saviour and their Rage was yet reeking-hot against his Followers God bridled their Fury in the Churches Infancy till it had got some strength and cast a Terror
they entitle God in their Liturgy the Lord of Ages that is the Lord of the World and all Ages and Revolutions of the World from the Creation to the last Period of Time If any thing were in Being before this frame of Heaven and Earth and within the compass of Time it receiv'd Being and Duration from the Son of God The Apostle would give an Argument to prove the equity of making him Heir of all things as Mediator because he was the Framer of all things as God He may well be the Heir or Lord of Angels as well as Men who created Angels as well as Men All things were justly under his Power as Mediator since they deriv'd their Existence from him as Creator 3. But Thirdly what evasion can there be for that Coloss 1.16 By him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him He is said to be the Creator of Material and Visible things as well as Spiritual and Invisible of things in Heaven which needed no restoration as well as things on Earth which were polluted by Sin and stood in need of a new Creation How could the Angels belong to the new Creation who had never put off the honour and purity of the first Since they never divested themselves of their original Integrity they could not be reinvested with that which they never lost Besides suppose the Holy Angels be one way or other reduc'd as parts of the new Creation as being under the Mediatory Government of our Saviour as their Head and in regard of their confirmation by him in that happy state In what manner shall the Devils be ran'kd among new Creatures They are called Principalities and Powers as well as the Angels and may come under the Title of Things invisible That they are called Principalities and Powers is plain Ephes 6.12 For we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities and Powers the Rulers of the Darkness of this World against Spiritual wickedness in high places Good Angels are not there meant for what War have Believers with them or they with Believers They are the Guardians of them since Christ hath taken away the Enmity between our Lord and theirs in whose quarrel they were engag'd against us And since the Apostle speaking of All things created by him expresseth it so that it cannot be conceived he should except any thing how come the finally Impenitent and Unbelievers which are Things in Earth and visible to be listed here in the Roll of New Creatures None of these can be called New Creatures because they are subjected to the Government of Christ no more than the Earth and Sea and the Animals in it are made New Creatures because they are all under the Dominion of Christ and his Providential Government Again the Apostle manifestly makes the Creation he here speaks of to be the Material and not the New Creation for that he speaks of afterwards as a distinct act of our Lord Jesus under the Title of Reconciliation Coloss 1.20 21. which was the restoration of the World and the satisfying for that Curse that lay upon it His intent is here to shew that not an Angel in Heaven nor a Creature upon Earth but was placed in their several degrees of excellency by the Power of the Son of God who after that act of Creation and the entrance of Sin was the Reconciler of the World through the Blood of his Cross 4. There is another place as clear John 1.3 All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made The Creation is here ascrib'd to him Affirmatively All things were made by him Negatively There was nothing made without him And the Words are Emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not one thing excepting nothing including invisible things as well as things conspicuous to sense only mentioned in the story of the Creation Gen. 1. not only the intire Mass but the distinct parcels the smallest Worm and the highest Angel owe their Original to him And if not one thing then the Matter was not created to his hands and his work consisted not only in the forming things from that Matter If that one thing of Matter were excepted a chief thing were excepted if not one thing were excepted then he created Something of Nothing because Spirits as Angels and Souls are not made of any pre-existing or fore-created Matter How could the Evangelist phrase it more extensively and comprehensively This is a Character of Omnipotency to create the World and every thing in it of Nothing requires an Infinite Virtue and Power If all things were created by him they were not created by him as Man because Himself as Man was not in Being before the Creation If all things were made by him then Himself was not made Himself was not created and to be existent without being made without being created is to be unboundedly Omnipotent And if we understand it of the New Creation as they do that will not allow him an existence in his Deity before his Humanity it cannot be true of that for how could he regenerate Abraham make Simeon and Anna new Creatures who waited for the salvation of Israel and form John Baptist and fill him with the Holy Ghost even from the womb * Luke 1.15 who belong'd to the new Creation and was to prepare the way if Christ had not a Being before him The Evangelist alludes to and explains the History of the Creation in the beginning and acquaints us what was meant by God said so often viz. the Eternal Word and describes him in his Creative Power manifested in the framing the World before he describes him in his Incarnation when he came to lay the Foundation of the restoration of the World John 1.14 The Word was made flesh this Word who was with God who was God who made all things and gave Being to the most glorious Angels and the meanest Creature without exception this Word in time was made flesh 5. The Creation of things mentioned in these Scriptures cannot be attributed to him as an Instrument As if when it is said God created all things by him and by him made the Worlds we were to understand the Father to be the Agent and the Son to be a Tool in his Fathers hand as an Ax in the hand of a Carpenter or a File in the hand of a Smith or a Servant acting by Command as the Organ of his Master The Preposition Per. or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not alway signifie an Instrumental cause When it is said that the Apostle gave the Thessalonians a Command by Jesus Christ 1 Thess 4 2. was Christ the Instrument and not the Lord of that Command the Apostle gave The immediate Operation of Christ dwelling in the Apostles was that whereby they gave the Commands to their Disciples When we are called by God