of him should not be broken tho theirs that suffered with him were That the Scripture might be in all things fulfilled in him And by the eating and the sprinkling of the blood of this as of that see Exod. 12. Lamb it is but we must do it with our staves in our hands and our loins girt as then i. e. prepared for another country that we obtain the true and everlasting redemption of which that other was but a type from Satan the destroying Angel and from all the plagues which are to fall upon the Spiritual Egypt of the reprobate world even upon all those who have no share in this Lamb who is worthy to receive power and riches c. because he was thus slain and hath redeemed us with his blood Rev. 5. 9 12. CHAP. V. Jesus Christ the Redeemer from Sin the Law Death Satan MAN made upright but under a Law not only disposed by the integrity of nature but enabled by supernatural grace to keep it upon his fall presently Gods justice substracting his violated grace first became a subject and slave ever since to the dominion of carnal concupiscence and of sin stiled also frequently the flesh The old man to obey it in all the lusts thereof and to bring forth perpetual fruits of unrighteousness See this tyranny of sin and slavery of man Rom. 7. 7. expressed so far as that he is said even to be not only captiv'd but slain by it Ver. 11. so Eph. 2. 1. Dead in trespasses c. and Rom. 8. 10. the body dead because of sin and sin reviv'd and I dyed Rom. 7. 9. see Jo. 8. 34. comp 32 35 36 44. Man did not abide in the house and family of God but lost his inheritance because of a Son of God Luk. 3. 38. he became a Servant to sin and a Son of the Devil 2. Upon this he presently incurred a second miserable servitude and bondage unto the law keeping him under as a strict Schoolmaster and still exacting its task of him Debtor to the whole law Gal. 4. 3. -5. 3 and no way able now as before by supernatural grace to perform it and he not performing it It presently wrought wrath against him Rom. 4. 15. pronouncing its curse upon him Gal. 3. 10. and so committing him a child of wrath Eph. 2. 3. into the hands of Gods justice 3. Now the penalty of this law not observed was death and so man became also subject unto bondage all the rest of his life thro fear of death Heb. 2. 15. The wages of his sin Rom. 6. 23. which also reigned over him Rom. 5. 14. the enemy of mankind and of all of them the last subdued 1 Cor. 15. 26. 4. Of this death Satan was to be the Executioner As the first creature that was the object so ever since and that not unwillingly made the instrument of Gods vengeance toward any other creature both comforting his own pains as it were with the society of their misery and satisfying his hate against God in any mischief upon his image And so upon sin we were presently seized upon by this Jaylor his Captives and prisoners reserved for destruction upon whom he inflicts also for the present all other miseries here suffered for sin See 1 Cor. 5. 5. 1 Tim. 1. 20. Ps. 78. 49. Exod. 12. 23. Rev. 9. 11. 1 Cor. 10. 10. 1 Chron. 21. 1. compared with 2 Sam. 24. 1. Luk. 13. 15 16. And therefore all venemous and noxious creatures to us are called his instruments Luk. 10. 19. But secondly we are not subject to him only as an Executioner and an inflicter of punishment but as the Prince the God 2 Cor. 4. 4. of this lower world that upon the departure of the good spirit presently possessed us as his best house and lodging here below Matt. 12. 44. Col. 1. 13. the spirit that worketh mightily saith the Apostle in the children of disobedience Eph. 2. 2. and we are become of Gods his children Act. 13. 10. Jo. 8. 44. And the lusts of him our Father now we do so that as in innocency we did no good but by the assistance of the good spirit so since the fall we hardly do any evil but by the suggestion of the ill spirit See Act. 5. 3. 1 Cor. 7. 5. 1 Chron. 21. 1. 1 King 22. 22. 1 Tim. 5. 15. 2 Cor. 2. 11. c. So that as he hath power as Gods Sergeant to inflict death at last so he hath power as Gods enemy in this his Kingdom of the Air of Darkness of this world to make us serve him while we live power both regal and paternal over us yet without either the protection of a Prince or affection of a Father making us do that only for which afterward he may punish us God indeed having put enmity between him and man from the beginning Gen. 3. He being told that at last he should be destroyed by the womans seed and therefore rejoycing in nothing so much as to destroy her seed Rev. 12. And into the hands of this his enemy was now man faln And him a very powerful and dreadful enemy Eph. 6. 12. For note 1. That as man hath not by his fall so neither the Devil by his lost all the priviledges of his nature and being permitted still his being is allowed also all the operations belonging to it retaining power and subtilty 2 Cor. 2. 11. Eph. 6. 11. according to the measure of the spiritual strength and knowledge of other Angels 2. That tho as man sinning was ejected out of Paradise so he out of the blessed place of his first habitation Jude 6. unto these lower and darker regions of the world called Prince of them because they are the place of his abode yet here hath he not received the final restraint and judgment for his sin which shall be passed upon him when upon others i. e. at the general day of doom as well for Angels as men see Rev. 20. 10. 1 Cor. 6. 3. 2 Pet. 2. 4. 3. That mean while in this dejection As God hath not taken away their natural power of hurting and seducing from wicked men so neither from the wicked spirits which power the Devil exerciseth as a tempter toward the good and as a Prince over the wicked in this his kingdom of the air Only as God restrains the power of wicked by the opposition of good men so of the wicked by the opposition of good Angels of the Holy Spirit of Christ himself King over all and both evil men and angels by the secret limitations of his providence Job 1. 10. and restrains those so much more who are less resistable and this more in respect of some then of others the children of God being more protected from his seducements by a greater power of the Holy Spirit residing in them c. 1 Jo. 4. 4. Luk. 22. 31. the children of disobedience more abandoned to his will and commands 2 Tim. 2.
his own power as our Savior answered his Disciples when they were inquisitive about his Kingdom Act. 1. 7. as in other acts going forth already conquering and to conquer Neither are all his enemies to be subdued at once but one after another First Antichrist then Satan the last death See Rev. 19. 20. -20. 10 14. 1 Cor. 15. 26. And so are the same enemies also overcome by degrees They first hindred from conquering his elect which power over them he received at the very first then hindred from assaulting For already by the power of his spirit neither the flesh nor Satan are suffered to overcome us except by our own default but only permitted for the exercise of our virtues still to assail us And that meanwhile many by these assaults perish 't is not from any defect of the power or goodness of this king who is so dilâ—…gent that of all that his Father gives him he calleth them all by their names goeth before them leadeth them out fleeth not from them when the wolf cometh looseth not one Jo. 10. 13 12. -17. 12. Ps. 23. 1. and in heaven in the presence of the Angels rejoyceth like the woman that had found her lost piece and the shepheard that had regain'd his straying sheep for the recovery of every sinner See Luk. 15. 7 10. But from the eternal wisdom and law of the Father which law his power must not transgress not to take away free will from man which done all further demerit and reward ceaseth and by which left he must still have a possibility to sin till the consummation of the world But this only Free-will being continued to man without which as vice so all virtue expireth and what is there that he could have done for his vineyard that he hath not done for there is nothing in or without us that can oppose him concerning ns if we our selves do not See Rom. 11. 23. When we believe not when we will not Matt. 23. 37. Mark 6. 5. Rom. 11. 23. Jo. 16. 12. These are the bounds the Father not to overthrow the nature of man hath set to the power of his Son they arguing no impotency nor unwillingness in him but incapability in us Else all things that can make man happy shall be accomplished by the omnipotent power of this King of Saints in their proper season But to express the manner of this kingdom yet more fully we are to know that as God by our Saviors coming into the world and first appearance of the kingdom of God removed away the weak elements and imperfections of the former times and by this light caused all those shadows to vanish so he compleats not this kingdom neither all at once but makes it to grow like Elijah's cloud from the bigness of a man's hand till it cover all the earth and like those waters Ezek. 47. 3. c. by which doubtless are meant the larger and larger effusions of the spirit till the day of the Lord come Act. 2. 17 18 comp 19 20. Umbra in Lege Imago in Evangelio veritas in Caelo S. Ambrose and advanceth it by gentle degrees to more and more perfection till the end come therefore compared to a mustard-seed and a piece of leaven Luk. 13. 19 21. It was the Disciples error Act. 1. to think that the Kingdom of Christ that was but then vagient in its infancy should presently appear in its full strength without any intermediate growth which had it then come to pass and so nothing have been capable of any further perfection the world must also presently have concluded the fulness of all perfection being only in the last scene of the last Act thereof For there is no decrease or revolution to imperfection or standing at a stay in the work of God Man his image cannot endure this in his petty contrivances but increasing alwaies and advancing to that just height he hath determined for them A prognostication of which governing the world he hath left us in the 6 daies work of the Creation of it And so our Saviors kingdom is not yet come to its period of perfection See Dan. 7. 14 9. Heb. 2. 8. Rev. 11. 15. -16. 17. -19. 6. Luk. 19. 11. c. 1 Cor. 15. 25 26. Dan. 2. 34 44. Act. 3. 21 23. but in a constant progress toward it both in respect of the subduing of his enemies And the more and more enlarging of his dominion till all the Heathen be his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth his possession And for the first To repeat more largely what was briefly said before tho all power in heaven and earth be already givea unto Him in respect of himself Matt. 28. 18. Tho God hath made him both Lord and Christ Act. 2. 36. and we see him crowned already with glory and honor Heb. 2. 9. yet all things are not as yet put under him in reference to his body tho sitting at the right hand of God in his person he is suffering still in his members Col. 1. 24. Saul why persecutest tâ—…ou me At his resurrection long ago he then led captivity i. e. Sin Satan and his instruments Death and its associates captive so as to suffer no more at all from them in his own person nor to suffer in his body the Church so far as that it should be conquered by them Luk. 22. 32. Matt. 16. 18. he then disarming them of their formerly mortal weapons but yet not so far that it should by them be no more assaulted nay the stronger assaults are now toward the latter end of the world as his members are more by him enabled to bear them His servants also conquering the same way as himself they never so much as now since he sits on the Throne being given up to martyrdom and overcoming death by death Christianity is yet only under the conduct of their spiritual Moses travailing afresh in the wilderness toward another Canaan expecting not entred into rest Moses was but a type of Christ the Israelites of the Church Egypt and Babylon and Antiochus of Antichrist that is to be revealed in the last times against whom Christ comes first with aids of grace before he comes with the glory of his presence going forth conquering and to conquer but by several degrees and one enemy after another first triumphing over the Beast and then over his image and the false Prophet first by the constancy the witness and blood of the Saints Rev. 12. 11. Then by the sword of vengeance Râ—…v 19. 15. Then over Satan first so far as to bind him from doing hurt then casting him into destruction Rev. 20. 2 10. and last of all over Death the last of all his enemies that shall be destroyed vers 14. And as the subduing of his Enemies so the enlarging of his dominion is effected by certain degrees He brought salvation to all people but not therefore it tendered to all persons
eye on the beauty of God the Original of all that is called fair in that Sanctuary is struck infinitely in love therewith and enamoured cries out whom have I in heaven c. Ps. 73. 25. the vehement longing after which 't is supposed drew those expressions from the High Priest himself in this his exile from it How am I straitned Luk. 12. 50. and with desire have I desired Luk. 22. 15. and from his servant St. Paul I am in a strait cupiens dissolvi c. Phil. 1. 23. And then this love to the Deity of the Temple will naturally produce the service of it In his Temple doth every man speak of his glory Ps. 29. 9. eternal singing of praise and giving of glory unto him even like those inflamed Cherubims that rest not night nor day nor no more do the Saints Rev. 7. 15. crying one to another alternately Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus Rev. 4. 8. Esai 6. 3. whose imploiment we envy not only because we love not God grant that we may not slothfully or heavily perform that duty here which must be our eternal imploiment hereafter unless we be eternally miserable To conclude the last act of our Savior as High Priest is coming again out of the Sanctuary For as the people waited without praying Luk. 1. until the Legal High Priest having made a full attonement came forth again and blessed them from the Lord. Numb 6. 23. Lev. 9. 22. So unto them that look for him shall Christ who was once offered to bear the sins of many appear a second time here without sin i. e. bringing us full remission hereof unto our final salvation Heb. 9. 28. For tho before it was noted how he staying there blessed us from the Sanctuary yet 't is not a compleat blessing till his return when coming forth with his face shineing like Moses from the glory of him before whom he stands he shall also glorifie us not only in soul but in body like himself and take and carry us in with him into the Sanctuary to see his glory and his Fathers glory Jo. 17. 24. and to be for ever with them 1 Thess. 4. 7. Which coming forth and glorious appearance of the great God and our Savior therefore all the Saints as the Israelites did of old are said by the Apostle to love to look for and patiently to wait for 1 Cor. 1. 7. 2 Tim. 4. 8. 2 Thess. 3. 5. Tit. 2. 13. Who yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10. 17. Amen CHAP. VIII Jesus Christ the Lord and King governing protecting the Church GOD in the beginning made the world by his Son the second Person of the Trinity Jo. 1. 3. Heb. 1. 2 10. God the Father working by interior purpose or decree the Son in exterior production of the effect The Holy Ghost by an internal virtue residing as it were in the thing that is produced God the Father in or thro the Son doth all things by the spirit The Father resolves the Son commands the Holy Ghost works The first the Agent the second the wisdom the third the power See 1 Cor. 12. 4 5 6. the three persons And by him sustained and conserved it into its being Heb. 1. 3. Col. 1. 17. And by him governed it in all its motions and changes The divine eternal relations of the Son to the Father must needs conclude this since he is the word Jo. 1. 1. the wisdom 1 Cor. 1. 24. of the Father without which none will say the world was made or is governed See Prov. 8. 22. But yet in a more special manner by him in all ages governed the Church of which God the Son was alwaies the Head Eph. 1. 22. and the careful Conductor amongst all its enemies even from the Creation as it were in a preludium of its redemption by him And the Holy Spirit that guided the Prophets as now so then was sent from him by which he alwaies preached the will of his Father unto men 1 Pet. 3. 19. and he was alwaies in the world tho the world knew him not and alwaies the light of men that enlightned every one coming into the world See 1 Pet. 1. 11. 2 Pet. 1. 21. 1 Pet. 3. 19. comp 2 Pet. 2. 4 5. Jude 14. 2 Sam. 23. 2. Jo. 8. 56 58. where note that St. John every where much vindicating for in his time it received some opposition the eternal divine nature of our Savior whence in honorem he was stiled Theologus John the Divine speaks frequently of his operations not only as come in the flesh but also as the eternal Son of God and as working all things with the Father before incarnate Jo. 12. 41. 1 Cor. 10. 9. Heb. 11. 26. Exod. 23. 20 21. comp 33. 3 14. 1 Cor. 10. 9. By which it appears our Savior was the Conductor of the Church in the wilderness refusing afterward upon their sin to go with them himself least his holiness and hatred to wickedness should consume them c. Exod. 33. 2 3. and deputing another Angel for this office but deprecated by Moses vers 12 14. Deut. 4. 34. Esai 63. 9. and reassuming their conduct c. see Act. 7. 38 39. Eph. 2. 20. He called the Corner stone and foundation of the Prophets as well as Apostles Gen. 32. 24 28. and Hos. 12. 3 4. Anciently assuming many times an human shape as a fore-personating of his Incarnation See Josh. 5. 13 14 15. comp Exod. 3. 5. and Rev. 19. 10. -22. 9. Head of the Army of God Judg. 2. 1 5. Exod. 14. 10. comp 13. 21. Judg. 6. 12 14. c. And as by him all things were thus made and governed c. so being the eternal Son of God the Father he was alwaies the Heyr of all things Heb. 1. 2. -3. 3 4 6. and for him they were made Col. 1. 16. Thus was our Savior before his Incarnation enthroned in the bosom of the Father Jo. 1. 18. and the most High in his glory before the world was Jo. 17. 5. And all power and government and judgment committed to him from the beginning and in a particular manner the protection and Headship of the Church In which office he gave his spirit as since to the Apostles so also of old to the Prophets and when he came into the world is said to have come to his own and to be born King c. Jo. 1. 10 11. Yet this he did first out of an infinite desire of his Fathers greater glory and to If I may so say recover his kingdom and reduce it into peace first by the rebellion of the Angels and then the revolt and falling away and enmity to him of man also by the instigations of the Prince of the air much troubled as it were and diminished from what at first it was Not that all things forced by his overuling power do not still yield subjection unto God for who hath