life knowledge power to the gift and Communication and all he doth to the command and appointment and exemplar of the Father Himself to live by him to have life in himself as the Father hath but from his gift to be sent by him not only the man Christ Jesus to be sent to us in the flesh and human nature but the second Person in the Trinity then the only begotten Son of God the Father see 1 Jo. 4. 9. comp Jo. 3. 13 17. Jo. 6. 38 39. -17. 5. Heb. 1. 2 3. to be first also sent into the flesh and to take human nature upon him for he that was sent descended from Heaven and was made flesh see 1 Jo. 4. 2. Jo. 16. 28. Heb. 2. 14 16. 1 Tim. 3. 16. Jo. 6. 38. Again to judge do as he hears from him as he is taught by him Jo. 8. 28. as he hath seen him do the works he shews him operating as it were after his pattern see Jo. 5. 6. 7. 8. chapters Jo. 14. 28. -17. 3. 1 Cor. 15. 27. Jo. 10. 18. -5. 30. -8. 15. -10. 32. Matt. 20. 23. Many of which places if not all cannot be understood of his human nature Neither are these expressions incongruent to the second person of the Trinity since the like are granted to be used of the third the Holy Ghost See Jo. 15. 26. -16. 13 14 15. 2. But secondly which is more to our purpose in the mystery of the Incarnation here God the Father only represents the whole Deity in its Glory and Majesty and God the Son then divested stripped and emptied Himself of that form of God in which he was and in respect of the use and exercise of it further then as the Father pleased to dispense it unto him of all the Majesty and power of his Divinity In which thing our blessed Lord was fore-typified by Sampson for thus was he for the love of an Harlot we were no better willing to part with and to lay aside all his strength to be bound by his own Nation and delivered up to his enemies Judg. 15. 11. to be blinded and made sport with and to be put to death but by his death as Sampson destroying his enemies and getting the victory See Judg. 16. Thus he became in fashion only as a man Luk. 12. 50. undertaking all the imperfections that are without sin of human nature such as others have and receiving all the perfections of it from the gift of God the Father so as others do c. Suffering the imperfection and infirmities not only of the body but those innocent ones of the Soul too and these not only in the sensitive and appetitive faculties as fear sorrow Mark 14. 34. horror of death c. In so much that he was capable of being strengthened by one of those Angels whom he had made Luk. 22. 43. not to name that treating with him by Ambassadors from Heaven Luk. 9. 31. one from the law and another from the Prophets about his sufferings Besides those natural inclinations and velleities if I may so say that appeared in him of the lower faculties solliciting for things convenient to them tho alwaies ordered by reason and the Spirit to conformity with the will of God see Jo. 6. 38. Rom. 15. 3. Matt. 26. 39. Where we discover natural propensions diverse from those of the Spirit tho these proposing their own desires not opposing the others resolves But some think in the Intellectual part also either 1. The absence of some knowledge supernatural to man non debitoe inesse for some time by the suspension of the light of his Divinity from it as it is clear the Beatifical vision was suspended from it in the time of his sad and dolorous passion Which knowledg increased in him according to the dispensation of the Father See Luk. 1. 80. -2. 52. where Christ is said to increase in wisdom and spirit c. not in appearance only but with God as well as men see Mark. 13. 32. comp with Rev. 1. 1. and this with Rev. 5. 5 6. c. where the Lamb is said to be worthy to c. to have prevailed to open the book Of all future events and to look thereon c. and v. 12. To receive wisdom this being signified vers 6. by the 7 eyes as power by the 7 horns for that he was slain c. and Mark 6. 6. Matt. 8. 10. where he is said to wonder as if some thing happened unexpected Or 2. The absence of that experimental knowledg which he afterward acquired by sufferings see Heb. 5. 8. -2. 17 18. Or 3. at least see Jo. 16. 30. -21. 17. some restraint of the effects and external manifestations of his knowledge till the time the Father had appointed for them to be opened See Act. 17. comp with Rev. 1. 1. and Mark. 13. 32. Matt. 20. 23. Therefore he is said in his youth to have heard the Doctors of the Law and conferred with them tho by this doubtless he learned not from but imparted wisdom to them Luk. 2. 46 47. Nor did he offer to teach till the age allowed for Doctors to profess And not then till after he had as it were prepared himself for it in six Weeks solitude silence watching fasting prayer For he who prayed whole nights when all the day wearied with emploiments certainly omitted it not in that long vacation And so for the external operations of the Spirit it self tho he was by the Holy Ghost conceived and had it not stinted and given by measure as others Jo. 3. 34. Col. 1. 19. who yet are said also to be filled with the Holy Ghost as the blessed Virgin and St Stephen and some even from the womb as St John Baptist. See Luk. 1. 15. Act. 7. 55. yet the more publick functions of it were restrained till at 30 years of age that he was baptized that it at the solemnity visibly descended on him and then he began in the strength of it to preach do Miracles c. Luk. 4. 1. Jo. 2. 11. -4. 54. And so his power tho alwaies as God equal to the Fathers Jo. 3. 35. yet for the actual exercise and execution of it as man successively given him according to the fore-appointments of the Father In which respect he saith more emphatically and with signification of some enlargement of it I mean as Man All power is given me c. Matt. 28. 28. Jo. 5. 20. Jo. 14. 12. -17. 12. -16. 7. Matt. 11. 25. Eph. 4. 10. Rev. 1. 18. And it shall be yet more fully said by him at his second coming till when his fulness and his Kingdom in respect of his members is not prefected See 1 Cor. 15. 28. Eph. 1. 23. 2. Again receiving all perfections of this human nature not from the donation of the Word the second person united to it but from the Donation of the Father For tho as 't is shewed before he hath all dependence on the
stronger then he Jo. 12. 31. -16. 11. 1 Jo. 3. 8. Luk. 10. 18 19. Matt. 12. 21. Accordingly since our Saviors coming wee see the Devils former gross religions and delusions except in some out-skirts of the world America and China c. utterly ruined and him abridged most what of all his former inspirations for many of the lying Prophets were possessed and deceived themselves by an evil spirit see Micah 2. 11. 1 King 22. 20. possessions enthusiasms apparitions dictating Oracles by which he being very frequent in these was taken to be the great power of God See Act. 8. 10. 16. 16. comp 17. 1 Sam. 18. 10. 2 King 1. 2. 1 Cor. 12. 10. -14. 29 32. 1 Jo. 4. 1. and sustained by his frequent inanimations of them that gross worship of idols which are since grown contemptible according to the prophecies Zech. 13. 1 2. Esai 46. 1. comp Esa 45. 13 16. Esai 2. 18 20. Hos. 2. 17. So that now he is glad to use more fine and subtle arts for he is not yet utterly to be chained up And the cheif religion abhors idols and worships the true God that made Heaven and Earth but only opposeth the Savior thereof and him too not altogether rejecteth but diminisheth in comparison of the Divels Prophet Mahomet And tho he is not yet quite chained up from seducing the Nations nor tempting also the servants of Christ yet in respect of every one as he is weaker or stronger in grace so by him that sits now at the right hand of God are his temptations moderated and proportioned none suffering above what they are able to repel 1 Cor. 10. 13. And the weaker as they loose the glory of a conquest so have they the security of not being assaulted whereas t is much to be observed that for their greater reward our Savior permits Satan more liberty as it were to try Masteries with those that are stronger even sometimes to visible apparitions as he assaulted first their Lord and there want not examples of this done to many more when eminent in holiness as he did to Holy Job to the Apostles who by this discovered more of Satans wiles and more easily discern'd the spiritual powers that war against Christians and gave readier directions for the fight See Luk. 22. 31. 2 Cor. 12. 7. 2 Cor. 2. 11. Eph. 6. 12 16. Jam. 4. 7. 1 Pet. 5. 8 9. Eph. 4. 27. But when our Redemption is compleated which must not be before our Saviors appearing and his Kingdom 2 Tim. 4. 1. then shall we have by vertue of this our Redeemers ransom and conquest already performed and the full effects of which are already enjoied in his own person all freedom from them that can be imagined First Concerning sin That quite effaced and we Glorious Holy and without blemish not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but perfectly sanctified and cleansed and so as a pure virgin presented and espoused unto the Son of God Eph. 5. 26 27. 2 Cor. 11. 2. 2. Concerning the law love perfected and we necessitated to good in such a manner that our actions there shall no more be capable of reward or punishment and consequently that there shall be no more place for a law 3. As for death it shall be swallowed up in victory and cast into Hell Rev. 20. 14. 1 Cor. 15. 26. Rev. 22. 2 3. 4. Satan also who now goeth abroad to deceive the Nations shall then be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone and the Accuser of the Saints shall then be judged by them and condemned to those everlasting torments which are prepared for him and his Angels from the beginning Rev. 20. 10. 1 Cor. 6. 3. Matt. 25. 41. CHAP. VI. Jesus Christ the second Adam Author to Man-The life kind of life as the First of Death BY Gods good will and pleasure as Adam the first man from the Earth was made a common person by whose disobedience and fall all dyed So there was to be a second Adam from Heaven 1 Cor. 15. 47. made also a Common person by whose obedience and merits mankind should be repaired and have life 1 Cor. 15. 22. And this was the Son of God of whose supreme dignity and equality with the Father as having the same essence and perfection of nature and consequently the same glory power and all other divine attributes see Phil. 2. 6. Jo. 5. 18 23. -10. 29 30. -17. 5. Rev. 1. 4. -4. 8. comp with Rev. 4. 2. 5. which means the Father and Rev. 1. 8 17. this the Son And 't is not to be passed by that whereas there have been several apparitions of the first and second person of the Trinity they are both described much-what alike see Esai 6. Rev. 1. 13. of the Son Jo. 12. 31. comp Rev. 4. 2. c. of the Father as appears Rev. 5. 7. and Dan. 7. 9. comp 13. according to which attributes no person is before or after another And omnia opera Trinitatis essentialia ad extra i. e. such as have some influence into the creature and where there is no relating of one person to another must needs be indivisa i. e. if of one person of all Because all are but one and the same God yet in respect of acts and agency personal even before the Incarnation whether it be by vertue of eternal generation Ordo sine subordinatione cum una tantum sit essentia divina Missio in divinis non jussionem non imperium sed processionem unius personae ab alia cum novi effectus connotatione significat Bell. Judic de lib. Concordiae So Pater dicitur major filio ratione principii non ratione naturae Notatur enim quaedam authoritas in eo quod pater est principium filii non contra Ita Basilius Nazianz. Hilar. multi veteres c. Bell. de Christo l. 1. c. 6. Cur necesse est si dignitate ordine secundus est filius tertius spiritus natura quoque ipsos secundum tertium esse Basil. see Bell. de Christo l. 2. c. 25. In which sense Qui communicat essentiam naturam communicat potestatem scientiam c. as Aquin. recognitione authoritatis paternae donantis as Hilary or whether it be by the particular economy and dispensation of the Divine wisdom in order to the Creation and the Redemption of the World even before the Incarnation I say as the Father doth nothing without but all by the Son both in the Church and in the world and in these both in the creating and in the ordering and sustaining thereof see Jo. 5. 17 22. Heb. 1. 2 3. Jo. 3. 35. Col. 1. 16 17. Therefore is the Son distinctively from the Father called the Lord because of his immediate Dominion over all things Phil. 2. 11. 1 Cor. 8. 6. Act. 2. 36. 1 Cor. 15. 24. Rom. 1. 7. Eph. 4. 5 6. So the Son every where acknowledgeth all he hath
subject of whose songs is almost nothing else but Christ as we see from the expositions of them in the new Testament And because the promises were made more fully to Abraham and to David therefore hath our Saviour more chiefly the title of the seed of Abraham and of the Son of David then of others See Matt. 1. 1. And David was followed by the goodly fellowship of the Prophets whose light shined brighter and brighter 2 Pet. 1. 19. in those former darker ages so that some of them are called rather Evangelists then Prophets till the open day of the Gospel at last ascended upon the Earth in its full lustre and perfection And let this be observed to the glory of the mercies of God everlasting certain never-failing neither by Satans polices nor by mens sin how at a certain distance of time God alway mindful of his covenant with his elect For though God is no accepter of persons Act. 10. 34. Gal. 2. 6. for any external considerations of nation c. nor internal of properties and parts for the reason why any have these better then others is purely because he gave them yet he is an admitter or receiver of one mans person not anothers of one nation not another they being in all things equal or mostwhat he whom he receives some way inferior to gratuital favors for his own to us unknown pleasure no way grounded upon any thing in the person He preaccepteth none in point of justice so as to do wrong to any or deny to any their merit and due tho due only upon his promise by which he hath tyed himself to reward industry and our right use of his former gifts Matt. 25. 29. see Matt. 20. 13 14 15. But in point of liberality he doth so as to do more good to some then others without any cause at all that is in the person Rom. 9. 11. -3. 3. -11. 29. Esai 41. 2 4. Nor is this said as if he did not ordinarily give more with respect to some former gifts of his either those of nature or those of grace those acquisit by mans industry or infused by Gods mercy that are in such or such a person see Matt. 25. 15 29. but that he hath not tyed himself to give only where are former gifts and many times doth otherwise out of respect of the superabundance and overflowings of his mercies and of his Church upon earth which his everlasting purpose had determined notwithstanding mens frequent Apostacies to maintain from the beginning to the end of the world Rom. 3. 3 4. -11. 29 36. even then when he had most reason of all to desert it after it had begun to decline to idolatry Atheism c. sent new preachers of this Covenant and renewed the true Religion by them And how not in the best of times for a reward of obedience but in the worst ever out of a necessity of repair not in the growth but the decadency of former piety his eternal pitty still visited the world with new light and new Ambassadors Some 600 years after the Creation the world then full of ungodly sinners both in words and deeds Jude 14. Enoch was sent a Prophet who walked with God and in whom was shewed to the world the reward of righteousness and who denounced the last judgment day against the then wicked Again at a certain distance from Enoch before the flood when now not only the rest of the world but also the holy race was corrupt with oppression and violence from Gigantick people Gen 4. 23 24. and illegal conjunctions upon multiplication of women Gen. 6. 2. comp 1 4 â—…3 Mal. 2. 15. God sent Noah who walked also with God and was a Preacher of righteousness 367 years after the flood Idolatry also now growing rife and Shems holy race fallen away into it Josh. 24. 2 14. Gen. 31. 30 53. God called Abraham who commanded his children to keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18. 19. c. 430 years after this Gal. 3. 17. when the children of Israel were full of the Idols whoredoms and abominations of Egypt sacrificing unto Devils c. see Josh. 24. 14. -5. 9. Lev. 17. 7. Ezek. 20. 7 8 9 14. -23. 3. The reason why they were so prone to it at Sinai and upon every occasion so ready to start from the Lord God sent Moses but not for any merit of theirs at all therefore are they every where so frequently told of it See Deut. 9. 4 5 6. c. Not for thy righteousness nor for the uprightness of thine heart for thou wert c. but to perform the word which the Lord sware And Ezek. 20. and Ezek. 36. 21 22 31 32. where God saith when they would not cast away their abominations c. that he nevertheless wrought for his name sake and caused them to go forth c. see vers 8 9 10 14. c. see the like story Psal. 106. 8 43 45. comp with the rest of the Psalm Ps. 78. 38. comp 36. the reason of his compassion not their goodness but their mortality vers 39. 65. Jer. 30. 8. c. comp 15. -31. 19. Nor were their children he carried into Canaan better then their fathers Ezek. 20. 21. for which consider that strange passage Amos 5. 26 of which the modesty of Moses hath said nothing in the story the secret carrying along with them besides the Lords the effigies and Tabernacle which they made to themselves of Molech and Chiun c. But yet for his name sake c. vers 22. And see vers 37 40 41. How God promiseth after the expiring of his punishments and weariness of asflicting very frequent in the Prophets before any at least acceptable repentance of theirs a restorement of them to all his mercies and blessings upon which restorement saith he ye shall remember your waies and loath your selves when I have wrought with you for my names sake not according to your wicked waies vers 43 44. see Ezek. 16. 59. c. Not as if he did not require our repentance for to obtain the return of his favours especially to challenge or expect it which is so effectual to hasten his mercies and cut off the remains of justice See Lev. 25. 39. Ezek. 6. 8 9. But if this be not Mans impenitence or unbelief shall not frustrate for ever Gods faith promise glory Rom. 3. 3. But he will create new hearts in us rather and we shall repent after his mercies at least when not before and St. Paul shall cry out O the depth Who hath first given unto him Rom. 1l 35. For he who hath tyed himself upon repentance to shew mercy hath not tyed himself not to shew it but only upon repentance And indeed Gods judgments many times particularly war making men worse and his punishments by our desperate malignity increasing sin whence could any reformation begin but from himself who is forced at last when our sin contends in