This could not be done by us But through the Obedience of Christ by vertue of this his Mystical Conjunction with the Church the Law was so fulfilled in us by being fulfilled for us as that the Glory of God in the giving of it and annexing eternal Rewards unto it is exceedingly exalted see Rom. 8. 3 4. THIS is that Glory of Christ whereof one view by faith will scatter all the fears answer all the objections and give relief against all the Despondencies of poor tempted doubting souls and an Anchor it will be unto all believers which they may cast within the Vail to hold them firm and stedfast in all Tryals Storms and Temptations in Life and Death CHAP. X. The Glory of Christ in the Communication of himself unto Believers ANOTHER instance of the Glory of Christ which we are to behold here by Faith and hope that we shall do so by sight hereafter consists in the Mysterious Communication of himself and all the Benefits of his Mediation unto the souls of them that do believe to their present happiness and future eternal Blessedness HEREBY he becomes theirs as they are his which is the Life the Glory and Consolation of the Church Cant. 6. 3. Chap. 3. 16. Chap. 3. 10. He and all that he is being appropriated unto them by vertue of their Mystical Union There is there must be some Ground formal Reason and Cause of this Relation between Christ and the Church whereby he is theirs and they are his he is in them and they in him so as it is not between him and other Men in the World THE Apostle speaking of this Communication of Christ unto the Church and the Union between them which doth ensue thereon affirms that is a Great Mystery for I speak saith he concerning Christ and the Church Ephes. 5. 32. I SHALL very briefly enquire into the Causes Ways and Means of this Mysterious Communication whereby he is made to be ours to be in us to dwell with us and all the benefits of his Mediation to belong unto us For as was said it is evident that he doth not thus communicate himself unto all by a natural Necessity as the Sun gives light equally unto the whole World nor is he present withall by an Ubiquity of his humane Nature nor as some dream by a Diffusion of his rational Soul into all nor doth he become ours by a carnal eating of him in the Sacrament but this Mystery proceeds from and depends on other Reasons and Causes as we shall briefly declare BUT yet before I proceed to declare the way and manner whereby Christ communicateth himself unto the Church I must premise something of Divine Communications in General and their Glory And I shall do this by touching a little on the harmony and Correspondency that is between the Old Creation and the New 1. ALL Being Power Goodness and Wisdom were originally essentially infinitely in God And in them with the other Perfections of his Nature consisted his Essential Glory 2. THE Old Creation was a Communication of Being and Goodness by Almighty Power directed by Infinite Wisdom unto all things that were created for the manifestation of that Glory This was the first Communication of God unto any thing without himself and it was exceeding glorious see Psal. 19. 1. Rom. 1. 21. And it was a curious Machine framed in the subordination and dependency of one thing on another without which they could not subsist nor have a continuance of their Beings All Creatures below live on the Earth and the products of it the Earth for its whole production depends on the Sun and other Heavenly Bodies as God declares Hos. 2. 21 22. I will hear saith the Lord I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth and the Earth shall hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oil and they shall hear Jezreel God hath given a subordination of things in a Concatenation of Causes whereon their Subsistence doth depend Yet 4. IN this mutual Dependency on and Supplies unto one another they all depend on and are influenced from God himself the Eternal Fountain of Being Power and Goodness He hears the Heavens and in the Continuation of this Order by constant Divine Communication of Being Goodness and Power unto all Things God is no less glorified than in the first Creation of them Act. 14. 15 16 17. Chap. 17. 24 25 26 27 28 29. 5. THIS Glory of God is visible in the Matter of it and is obvious unto the Reason of Mankind for from his Works of Creation and Providence they may learn his Eternal Power and Godhead wherein he is essentially glorious 6. BUT by this divine Communication God did not intend only to glorifie himself in the essential Properties of his Nature but his Existence also in Three Persons of Father Son and Spirit For although the whole Creation in its first framing and in its Perfection was and is by an Emanation of Power and Goodness from the Divine Nature in the Person of the Father as he is the Fountain of the Trinity whence he is said peculiarly to be the Creator of all things yet the immediate Operation in the Creation was from the Son the Power and Wisdom of the Father Joh. 1. 1 2 3. Col. 1. 16. Heb. 1. 3. And as upon the first Production of the Mass of the Creation it was under the especial care of the Spirit of God to preserve and cherish it unto the production of all distinct sorts of Creatures Gen. 1. 2. So in the Continuance of the whole there is an especial Operation of the same Spirit in all things Nothing can subsist one Moment by vertue of the Dependance which all things have on one another without a continual Emanation of Power from him see Psal. 104. 29 30. BY these divine Communications in the production and preservation of the Creature doth God manifest his Glory and by them alone in the way of Nature he doth so and without them although he would have been for ever essentially glorious yet was it impossible that his Glory should be known unto any but himself Wherefore on these divine Communications doth depend the whole Maninifestation of the Glory of God But this is far more eminent though not in the outward Effects of it so visible in the new Creation as we shall see 1. ALL Goodness Grace Life Light Mercy and Power which are the Springs and Causes of the New Creation are all originally in God in the divine Nature and that infinitely and essentially In them is God eternally or essentially glorious and the whole Design of the New Creation was to manifest his Glory in them by external Communications of them and from them 2. THE first Communication of and from these things is made unto Christ as the Head of the Church For in the first place it pleased God that in him should all the fulness of these things dwell so as that the whole New Creation might consist
in him Col. 1. 17 18 19. And this was the first Egress of divine Wisdom for the Manifestation of the Glory of God in these holy Properties of his Nature For 3. THIS Communication was made unto him as a Repository and Treasury of all that Goodness Grace Life Light Power and Mercy which were necessary for the Constitution and Preservation of the New Creation They were to be laid up in him to be hid in him to dwell in him and from him to be communicated unto the whole Mystical Body designed unto him that is the Church And this is the first Emanation of divine Power and Wisdom for the Manifestation of his Glory in the New Creation This Constitution of Christ as the Head of it and the Treasuring up in him all that was necessary for its Production and Preservation wherein the Church is chosen and preordained in him unto Grace and Glory is the Spring and Fountain of divine Glory in the Communications that ensue thereon 4. THIS Communication unto Christ is 1. Unto his Person and then 2. With respect unto this Office It is in the Person of Christ that all Fulness doth originally dwell On the Assumption of human Nature into personal Union with the Son of God all Fulness dwells in him bodily Col. 2. 9. And thereon receiving the Spirit in all Fulness and not by Measure all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge were hid in him Col. 2. 3. and he was filled with the unsearchable Riches of Divine Grace Ephes. 3. 8 9 10 11. And the Office of Christ is nothing but the way appointed in the Wisdom of God for the Communication of the Treasures of Grace which were communicated unto his Person This is the end of the whole Office of Christ in all the parts of it as he is a Priest a Prophet and a King They are I say nothing but the Ways appointed by infinite Wisdom for the Communication of the Grace laid up in his Person unto the Church The transcendent Glory hereof we have in some weak measure enquired into 5. THE Decree of Election prepared if I may so say the Mass of the New Creation In the old Creation God first prepared and created the Mass or Matter of the whole which afterwards by the Power of the holy Spirit was formed into all the distinct Beings whereof the whole Creation was to consist and animated according to their distinct Kinds AND in order unto the Production and Perfecting of the Work of the new Creation God did from Eternity in the holy purpose of his Will prepare and in design set apart unto himself that Portion of Mankind whereof it was to consist Hereby they were only the peculiar Matter that was to be wrought upon by the Holy Ghost and the glorious Fabrick of the Church erected out of it What was said it may be of the Natural Body by the Psalmist is true of the Mystical Body of Christ which is principally intended Psal. 139. 15 16. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect and in thy Book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them The substance of the Church whereof it was to be formed was under the Eye of God as proposed in the Decree of Election yet was it as such imperfect It was not formed or shaped into Members of the Mystical Body But they were all written in the Book of Life And in pursuance of the Purpose of God there they are by the holy Spirit in the whole course and continuance of time in their several Generations fashioned into the Shape designed for them 6. THIS therefore is herein the glorious Order of divine Communications From the infinite eternal Spring of Wisdom Grace Goodness and Love in the Father all the Effects whereof unto his end were treasured up in the Person and Mediation of the Son the holy Spirit unto whom the actual Application of them is committed communicates Life Light Power Grace and Mercy unto all that are designed parts of the New Creation Hereon doth God glorifie both the essential Properties of his Nature his infinite Wisdom Power Goodness and Grace as the only eternal Spring of all these things and also his ineffable glorious Existence in three Persons by the Order of the Communication of these things unto the Church which are originally from his Nature And herein is the glorious Truth of the Blessed Trinity which by some is opposed by some neglected by most looked on as that which is so much above them as that it doth not belong unto them made precious unto them that believe and becomes the Foundation of their Faith and Hope In a View of the glorious Order of those divine Communications we are in a steady Contemplation of the ineffable Glory of the Existence of the Nature of God in the Three distinct Persons of Father Son and Holy Ghost 7. ACCORDING unto this Divine Order the Elect in all Ages are by the holy Spirit moving and acting on that Mass of the New Creation formed and animated with spiritual Life Light Grace and Power unto the Glory of God They are not called accidentally according unto the external Occasions and Causes of their Conversion unto God but in every Age at his own Time and Season the holy Spirit communicates these things unto them in the Order declared unto the Glory of God 8. AND in the same manner is the whole New Creation preserved every Day every moment there is vital Power and Strength Mercy and Grace communicated in this Divine Order to all Believers in the World There is a continual Influence from the Fountain from the Head into all the Members whereby they all consist in him are acted by him who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure and the Apostle declares that the whole Constitution of Church-order is suited as an external Instrument to promote these Divine Communications unto all the Members of the Church it self Eph. 4. 13 14 15 16. THIS in general is the Order of Divine Communications which is for the Substance of it continued in Heaven and shall be so unto Eternity For God is and ever will be all and in all But at present it is invisible unto Eyes of Flesh yea the Reason of Men. Hence it is by the most despised they see no Glory in it But let us consider the Prayer of the Apostle that it may be otherwise with us Ephes. 1. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23. For the Revelation made of the Glory of God in the old Creation is exceeding inferior to that which he makes of himself in the New HAVING premised these things in general concerning the Glory of Divine Communications I shall proceed to declare in particular the Grounds and Way whereby the Lord Christ communicates himself and therewithal
secured We were created in a Covenant Relation unto God Our Nature was related unto him in a way of Friendship of Likeness and Complacency But the Bond of this Relation and Union was quickly broken by our Apostasy from him Hereon our whole Nature became to be at the utmost Moral distance from God and Enmity against him which is the depth of Misery But God in Infinite Wisdom and Grace did design once more to recover it and take it again near unto himself And he would do it in such a way as should render it utterly impossible that there should ever be a Separation between him and it any more Heaven and Earth may pass away but there shall never be a Dissolution of the Union between God and our Nature any more He did it therefore by assuming it into a substantial Union with himself in the Person of the Son Hereby the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in it Bodily or Substantially and Eternally Hereby is its Relation unto God eternally secured And among all the Mysterious Excellencies which relate hereunto there are two which continually present themselves unto our consideration 1. THAT this Nature of ours is capable of this glorious Exaltation and Subsistence in God No Creature could conceive how Omnipotent Wisdom Power and Goodness could actuate themselves unto the Production of this Effect The Mystery hereof is the Object of the Admiration of Angels and will be so of the whole Church unto all Eternity What is revealed concerning the Glory way and manner of it in the Scripture I have declared in my Treatise concerning the Mystery of Godliness or the Person of Christ. What mind can Conceive what Tongue can Express who can sufficiently Admire the Wisdom Goodness and Condescention of God herein And whereas he hath proposed unto us this glorious Object of our Faith and Meditation how vile and foolish are we if we spend our thoughts about other things in a neglect of it 2. THIS is also an ineffable Pledge of the Love of God into our Nature For although he will not take it in any other Instance save that of the Man Christ Jesus into this Relation with himself by vertue of personal Union Yet therein he hath given a glorious Pledge of his Love unto and Valuation of that Nature For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham And this kindness intends unto our Persons as Participant of that Nature For he designed this Glory unto the Man Christ Jesus that he might be the first-born of the New Creation that we might be made conformable unto him according to our measure and as the Members of that Body whereof he is the Head we are Participant in this Glory 3. IT is he in whom our Nature hath been carried successfully and victoriously through all the Oppositions that it is liable unto and even Death it self But the Glory hereof I shall speak unto distinctly in its proper place which follows and therefore shall here pass it by 4. HE it is who in himself hath given us a Pledge of the capacity of our Nature to inhabit those blessed Regions of Light which are far above these aspectable Heavens Here we dwell in Tabernacles of Clay that are crushed before the Moth such as cannot be raised so as to abide one foot breadth above the Earth we tread upon The heavenly Luminaries which we can behold appear too great and glorious for our Cohabitation We are as Grashoppers in our own eyes in comparison of those Gigantick Beings and they seem to dwell in places which would immediately swallow up and extinguish our Natures How then shall we entertain an Apprehension of being carried and exalted above them all to have an everlasting subsistence in places incomprehensibly more glorious than the Orbs wherein they reside What capacity is there in our Nature of such an Habitation But hereof the Lord Christ hath given us a Pledge in himself Our Nature in him is passed through these Aspectable Heavens and is exalted far above them It s eternal Habitation is in the blessed Regions of Light and Glory and he hath promised that where he is there we shall be and that for ever OTHER Encouragements there are innumerable to stir us up unto diligence in the discharge of the Duty here proposed namely a continual Contemplation of the Glory of Christ in his Person Office and Grace Some of them the Principal of them which I have any Acquaintance with are represented in the ensuing Discourse I shall therefore here add the peculiar Advantage which we may obtain in the diligent discharge of this Duty Which is that it will carry us chearfully comfortably and victoriously through Life and Death and all that we have to conflict withal in either of them AND let it be remembred that I do here suppose what is written on this Subject in the ensuing Discourse as being designed to prepare the minds of the Readers for the due Improvement of it AS unto this present Life it is well known what it is unto the most of them who concern themselves in these things Temptations Afflictions Changes Sorrows Dangers Fears Sickness and Pains do fill up no small part of it And in the other hand all our Earthly Relishes Refreshments and Comforts are uncertain transitory and unsatisfactory all things of each sort being embittered by the Remainders of sin Hence every thing wherein we are concerned hath the Root of Trouble and Sorrow in it Some labour under Wants Poverty and Straits all their days and some have very few hours free from Pains and Sickness And all these things with others of an alike Nature are heightened at present by the Calamitous Season wherein our lot is fallen All things almost in all Nations are filled with Confusiens Disorders Dangers Distresses and Troubles Wars and Rumors of Wars do abound With Tokens of farther approaching Judgments Distress of Nations with perplexities mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth There is in many places no Peace unto him that goeth out nor to him that cometh in but great Vexations are on the Inhabitants of the World Nation is destroyed of Nation and City of City for God doth vex them with all Adversity And in the mean time Vexation with the ungodly deeds of wicked men doth greatly further the Troubles of Life the sufferings of many also for the Testimony of their Consciences are deplorable with the Divisions and Animosities that abound amongst all sorts of Christians BUT the Shortness the Vanity the Miseries of humane Life have been the subject of the complaints of all sorts of considering Persons Heathens as well as Christians nor is it my present business to insist upon them My enquiry is only after the Relief which we may obtain against all these evils that we faint not under them that we may have the victory over them THIS in general is declared
26. The same is frequently expressed elsewhere Rom. 14. 9. Phil. 2. 5 6 7 8. So much as we know of Christ his Sufferings and his Glory so much do we understand of the Scripture and no more THESE are the Two Heads of the Mediation of Christ and his Kingdom and this is their Order which they communicate unto the Church first Sufferings and then Glory If we suffer we shall also reign with him 2 Tim. 2. 12. They do but deceive themselves who design any other Method of these things Some would reign here in this World and we may say with the Apostle would you did reign that we might reign with you But the Members of the mystical Body must be conformed unto the Head In him Sufferings went before Glory and so they must in them The Order in the Kingdom of Satan and the Word is contrary hereunto First the Good Things of this Life and then Eternal Misery is the Method of that Kingdom Luk. 16. 25. THESE are the two Springs of the Salvation of the Church the two anointed ones that stand before the Lord of the whole Earth from which all the golden Oyl whereby the Church is dedicated unto God and sanctified doth flow This Glory of Christ in his Exaltation which followed on his Sufferings is that which we now enquire into And we shall state our Apprehensions of it in the ensuing Observations 1. THIS is peculiarly that Glory which the Lord Christ prays that his Disciples may be where he is to behold it It is not solely so as it is considered absolutely but it is that wherein all the other Parts of his Glory are made manifest It is the Evidence the Pledge the Means of the Manifestation of them all As unto all the Instances of his Glory before insisted on there was a Vail drawn over them whilst he was in this World Hence the most saw nothing of it and the best saw it but obscurely But in this Glory that Vail is taken off whereby the whole Glory of his Person in it self and in the Work of Mediation is most illustriously manifested When we shall immediately behold this Glory we shall see him as he is This is that Glory whereof the Father made grant unto him before the Foundation of the World and wherewith he was actually invested upon his Ascention 2. BY this Glory of Christ I do not understand the Essential Glory of his Divine Nature or his being absolutely in his own Person over all God blessed for ever But the manifestation of this Glory in particular after it had been vailed in this World under the Form of a Servant belongs hereunto The Divine Glory of Christ in his Person belongs not unto his Exaltation but the Manifestation of it doth so It was not given him by free Donation but the Declaration of it unto the Church of Angels and Men after his Humiliation was so He left it not whilst he was in this World but the direct Evidence and Declaration of it he laid aside until he was declared to be the Son of God with Power by the Resurrection from the Dead WHEN the Sun is under a total Eclipse he loseth nothing of his Native Beauty Light and Glory He is still the same that he was from the beginning a great Light to rule the Day To us he appears as a dark useless Meteor but when he comes by his course to free himself from the Lunar Interposition unto his proper Aspect towards us he manifests again his Native Light and Glory So was it with the Divine Nature of Christ as we have before declared He vailed the Glory of it by the Interposition of the Flesh or the Assumption of our Nature to be his own with this Addition that therein he took on him the Form of a Servant of a Person of mean and low Degree But this temporary Eclipse being past and over it now shines forth in its Infinite Lustre and Beauty which belongs unto the present Exaltation of his Person And when those who beheld him here as a poor sorrowful persecuted Man dying on the Cross came to see him in all the infinite increated Glories of the Divine Nature manifesting themselves in his Person it could not but fill their Souls with Transcendent Joy and Admiration And this is one reason of his Prayer for them whilst he was on the Earth that they might be where he is to behold his Glory For he knew what ineffable Satisfaction it would be unto them for evermore 3. I do not understand absolutely the Glorification of the Human Nature of Christ That very Soul and Body wherein he lived and died suffered and rose again tho that also be included herein This also were a Subject meet for our Contemplation especially as it is the Exemplar of that Glory which he will bring all those unto who believe in him But because at present we look somewhat further I shall observe only one or two things concerning it 1. THAT very Nature it self which he took on him in this World is exalted into Glory Some under a Pretence of great Subtilty and Acuracy do deny that he hath either Flesh or Blood in Heaven that is as to the Substance of them however you may suppose that they are changed purified glorified The great Foundation of the Church and all Gospel Faith is that he was made Flesh that he did partake of Flesh and Blood even as did the Children That he hath forsaken that Flesh and Blood which he was made in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin wherein he lived and died which he offered unto God in Sacrifice and wherein he rose from the Dead is a Socinian Fiction What is the true Nature of the Glorification of the Humanity of Christ neither those who thus furmise nor we can perfectly comprehend It doth not yet appear what we our selves shall be much less is it evident unto us what he is whom we shall be like But that he is still in the same Human Nature wherein he was on the earth that he hath the same rational Soul and the same Body is a fundamental Article of the Christian Faith 2. THIS Nature of the Man Christ Jesus is filled with all the Divine Graces and Perfections whereof a limited created Nature is capable It is not Deified it is not made a God it doth not in Heaven coalesce into one Nature with the Divine by a Composition of them It hath not any Estential Property of the Deity communicated unto it so as subjectively to reside in it It is not made Omniscient Omnipresent Omnipotent But it is exalted in a Fulness of all Divine Perfection ineffably above the Glory of Angels and Men. It is incomprehensibly nearer God than they all hath Communications from God in glorious Light Love and Power ineffably above them all But it is still a Creature FOR the Substance of this Glory of the Human Nature of Christ Believers shall be made Partakers of it for when we see
IN this State all things that were made depended immediately on God himself without the Interposition of any other Head of Influence or Rule They had the Continuance of their Being and its Preservation from the immediate Actings of these Properties of the Divine Nature whereby they were made and their Dependance on God was by Vertue of that Law which was implanted on the Principles and Powers of their several Natures by God himself 5. THUS in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth He provided himself of two distinct Rational Families that should depend on him according to a Law of Moral Obedience and thereby give Glory to him with two distinct Habitations for them cognate unto their Nature and Use Heaven above and the Earth beneath The Earth he appointed for the Habitation of Man which was every way suited unto the Constitution of his Nature the Preservation of his Being and the End of his Creation in giving Glory to God Heaven he prepared for the Habitation of the Angels which was suited unto the Constitution of their Nature the Preservation of their Being and the End of their Creation in giving Glory to God Wherefore as Man had Power and Dominion over all things here below and was to use them all unto the Glory of God by which means God received Glory from them also though in themselves bruit and inanimate so the Angels had the like Dominion over the Coelestial and AEtherial Bodies wherewith God had fitted the Place of their Habitation that through the Contemplation and Use of them God might have a Revenue of Glory and Praise from them also To suppose any other Race of Intellectual Creatures besides Angels in Heaven and Men on Earth is not only without all Countenance from any Divine Testimony but it disturbs and disorders the whole Representation of the Glory of God made unto us in the Scripture and the whole Design of his Wisdom and Grace as declared therein Intellectual Creatures not comprehended in that Government of God and Mystery of his Wisdom in Christ which the Scripture Reveals are a Chimera framed in the Imaginations of some Men scarce duly sensible of what it is to be wise unto Sobriety 6. THIS Order of things was beautiful and comely Hence were they all said to be exceeding good For each of these Families had their own immediate distinct Dependance on God He was the immediate Head of them There was no other common Head interposed between God and them They were not an Head unto one another There were no Communications unto them but what were immediate from God himself And their Union among themselves was in this alone that all their Obedience did meet and center in God So God made the Heavens and the Earth and two distinct Families in them for himself 7. THIS beautiful Order in it self this Union between the two Families of God was disturbed broken dissolved by the Entrance of Sin For hereby part of the Family above and the whole Family below fell off from their Dependance on God and ceasing to center in him as their Head they fell into Variance and Enmity among themselves For the Center of this Union and Order being removed and lost nothing but Enmity and Confusion remained among them Hereon to shew that its Goodness was lost God cursed the Earth and all that was in it for it was put in Subjection unto Man who was now fallen from him Howbeit he cursed not the Heavens which were in Subjection unto the Angels because some of them only left their Habitation and the Habitation of the Residue was not to be cursed for their Sakes But Mankind was wholly gone off from God 8. THE Angels that sinned God utterly rejected for ever as an Example of his Severity the whole Race of Mankind he would not utterly cast off but determined to recover and save a Remnant according to the Election of Grace which how he did it in a way of Condecency unto all his Divine Perfections I have elsewhere declared 9. HOWBEIT he would not restore them into their former State so as to have again two distinct Families each in an immediate Dependance on himself though he left them in different and distinct Habitations Eph. 3. 15. But he would gather them both into one and that under a new Head in whom the one Part should be preserved from sinning and the other delivered from sin committed 10. THIS then is that which the Apostle declares in these Words To gather together in one all things which are in Heaven and which are in Earth even in him And so he again expresseth it Col. 1. 20. To reconcile all things unto himself in him whether they are things in Heaven or things in Earth all things were fallen into disorder and confusion by sin they were fallen off from God into variance among themselves God would not restore them into their first Order in an immediate Dependance on his Divine Perfections He would no longer keep them in two distinct Families but he would in his infinite Wisdom and Goodness gather them up into one common Head on whom they should have their immediate Dependance and be reconciled again among themselves 11. THIS New Head wherein God hath gathered up all things in Heaven and Earth into one one Body one Family on whom is all their dependance in whom they all now consist is Jesus Christ the Son of God incarnate see 1 Cor. 11. 3. Eph. 1. 21 22 23. This Glory was reserved for him none other could be meet for it or worthy of it see Col. 1. 17 18 19 20. 12. TO answer all the Ends of this New Head of Gods recollected Family all Power in Heaven and Earth all Fulness of Grace and Glory is committed unto him There is no Communication from God no Act of Rule towards this Family no Supply of Vertue Power Grace or Goodness unto Angels or Men but what is immediately from this New Head whereinto they are gathered In him they all consist on him do they depend unto him are they subject in their Relation unto him doth their Peace Union and Agreement among themselves consist This is the Recapitulation of all things intended by the Apostle 13. IT is true that he acts distinctly and variously towards the two parts of the Recollected Family of Angels and Men according as their different States and Conditions do require For 1. We had need of a Reparation by Redemption and Grace which the Angels had not 2. Angels were capable of immediate Confirmation in Glory which we are not until we come to Heaven Therefore 1. He assumed our Nature that it might be repaired which he did not the Nature of the Angels 2. He gives us Union unto himself by his Spirit which exalts us into a Dignity and Honour meet for Fellowship with them in the same Family THIS is a brief Account of the mysterious Work of Divine Wisdom in the Recapitulation of all things in Jesus Christ and