the Apostle makes a Iew according to the spiritual sence of the Iewish Religion to be the same with a Christian for he is not a Iew saith he i. e. in a spiritual sence that is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Iew who is one inwardly i. e. who is a Jew according to the inward and spiritual sence of Judaism and Circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2.28 29. and if the spiritual Iew be a Christian then the spiritual Iudaism must be Christianity But though this obscure revelation of Christianity was sufficient to enable men that sincerely attended to it to grope out their way to eternal happiness yet it is impossible it should ever give them without some farther revelation a distinct and explicite understanding of it In general they understood that there was a rich vein of spiritual sence running all through the Letter of their Law that there were glorious mysteries wrapt up within those weak and beggarly elements like precious Diamonds under a rough coat For so not only the Author to the Hebrews but also Philo the Jew in his Allegories of the Law and almost in all his other Writings makes the Rites and Ceremonies of the Jewish Religion to be Types and Figures of Divine and Moral truths and particularly the High Priest and his Vestments to be a figure of the eternal Word and his perfections And as they understood this in general so from sundry passages in the book of the Psalms it is apparent that the good Jews had a prospect beyond the outside and letter of their Law even into the Mystical sence and meaning of it and that through its dark shadows they saw a great deal of the substance and reality of the Gospel Hence David observes in Psal. 25.14 that the secret i. e. mystery of the Lord is with them that fear him and he shall shew them his Covenant which implies that there was something of a Cabala of the spiritual sence of the Law among the true Israelites by which they were instructed a great deal farther than the bare Letter and outside of it especially considering that Prayer of David Psalm 119.18 Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law which is a plain argument that under the literal sâ—nce of that Law which was plain and obvious and had noâ—hing of depth or mystery he saw a spiritual and mystical sence in which some very wonderful truths were included For if there had bâ—en no more in it than the literal meaning it is not to be imâ—gined he would have prayed as he doth ver 19. Hide not thy Commandments from me and ver 27 Make me to understand the way of thy Precepts so shall I talk of thy wondrous works which plainly shâ—ws that there were mysteries coâ—â—hed under the Letter of the Law which were both wonderful in themselves and very difficult to be understand and accordingly ver 69. he tells us that he had seen an end of all perfections but that God's Commandments were exceeding broad which shews that he had discovered something in that Law beyond the literal sence of it which was far from being exceeding broad even a vast Mine of mystical sence whose bottom he was not able to reach Now this mystical sence as hath been shewed was Christianity which under that dispensation of it was so overcast with clouds and darkness that in all probability the most pious and inquisitive minds had but very imperfect and confusâ—â—â—ppâ—ehensions â—ppâ—ehensions of it But when our Saviour came into the World he unveiled the Jewish Religion and decyphered all â—hose mystical Characters wherein its spiritual sâ—â—ce was expressed and what he had revealed before only in obscure generals and mysterious types he now delived to the world in plain and explicite Articles of Faith. And having unriddled all those Types and Shadows and turned them inside outwards and revealed their hidden sence to the world in plain and naked Propositions he utterly repealed and abrogated them as things of no farther use those sacred truths which they contained and darkly intimated being now made manifest and set forth to open view in a far more clear and glorious light For the proper use and design of all those Types was to teach the Gospel so the Apostle the Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ Gal. 3.24 but it is evident they were designed to teach it but darkly and mysteriously For the Iews being bred among the Aegyptians who were wont to express their dâ—vine and moral Doctrines by sensible Images or Hieroglyphicks God in compliance therewith the Jews being infinitely fond of the manners of Aegypt thought it meet at first to express the Gospel to them in the same typical manner i. e. to represent the whole method and Oeconomy of it in visible signs and figures which he intended only for a rude draught of the Gospel which he purposed afterwards to draw to the life and express more clearly and exactly When therefore our Saviour had fully revealed to the World the sence and meaning of those Types and expressed what they did so mysteriously signifie in plain and clear Propositions they from thenceforth became altogether useless and for that reason were repealed and utterly expunged out of the Rubrick of divine Worship So that now the Gospel which hitherto ran under ground in a dark and mysterious Channel broke forth into a visible stream from underneath that surface of Types and Shadows which had hitherto covered and in a great measure concealed it from the sight and view of the world And therefore we need no longer grope after it among Shadows and Vmbrages as the good Jews were fain to do under the Mosaick Dispensation those Doctrines of it which before were all Mystery and overcast with Types and Shadows being now brought forth from behind the Curtain into open view and presented barefaced to our understandings in a most plain and easie and familiar sense Since therefore the Types of the Law and Iesus Christ taught the same Religion and only he taught more plainly and clearly what they taught more darkly and mysteriously it hence necessarily follows that those believing Jews who received and acknowledged Christ espoused no new Religion but still adhered to that good old Religion which the significant Rites and Ceremonies of their Law had all along preached to them and that it was only the unbelieving Jews who rejected Christ's Doctrine that were the true Apostates from the ancient Judaism which preached and exhibited to them all those holy mysteries of which the Religion of our Saviour is composed but as for those of them who believed in Jesus they continued stedfast in the mystick and spiritual sense of their ancient Religion and though they forsook their old School-master the Law under which they had been trained and educated yet
used this Technological Phrase in any different sence from its common acceptation he would have told us of it and not have given us such an unavoidable occasion to mistake in so great a Doctrine by clothing its sence in such Phrases as in the Language of the Age he wrote in signified so differently from what he meant and intended by them And as in the above-named Texts he is expresly stiled God so other Texts to convince us that he is not a meer titular Deity attribute sundry things to him which are peculiar to God Essential For so the making of the World is in sundry places expresly attributed to him which as the Apostle tells us Heb. 3.4 is peculiar to God For he saith he that made all things is God for so in the above-named Text we are told That by him were all things made and that without him was not any thing made which was made where by all things we must necessarily understand the whole World unless we will suppose the Apostle to equivocate because it was then a common and received Doctrine that the Word was the maker of the World. For so besides the above-cited Authorities the Chaldee Paraphrase upon Isa. 45.12 instead of I made the Earth and created man upon it saith the Lord renders it I by my word made the Earth and created man upon it and on Gen. 1.27 instead of God created man the Ierusalem Targum renders it The Word of the Lord created man and so in several other places This therefore being the Doctrine of the Age S. Iohn could not but apprehend that they would certainly understand these words of his in their own sence because in all appearance they are so to be understood if therefore he meant them in any other sence he ought immediately to have explained himself which since he hath not it is plain either that he meant according to the common sence or that he intended to equivocate but that he meant according to the common Doctrine of the Age is sufficiently evident from other Texts of Scripture For Heb. 11.3 the Apostle expresses this Article to the Jews in their own Language through Faith we understand that the Worlds were made by the Word of God now that by this Word he meant Christ is plain from Heb. 1.1 2. In these last days God spake unto us by his own Son by whom also he made the Worlds and that by these Worlds he means the whole Creation is evident from the 8 9 and 10. verses of this Chapter But unto the Son he said thy Throne O God is for ever and ever c. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity c. speaking still of the Son and then it follows And thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of thine hands for the conjunction And here plainly connects these words to the foregoing viz. But unto the Son he said c. so that still it is the same Son of whom it is said Thy Throne O God c. and thou Lord in the beginning c. the same Person whose Throne in verse 8. is said to be for ever and ever that is said in verse 10. to have laid the foundations of the earth So also Col. 1.15 16 17. Who is the Image of the invisible God the first-born of every Creature for by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are on earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things do consist where to shew that he means a proper and literal creation the Apostle describes it in those very words wherein Moses describes the creation of the World For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are on Earth and to shew that he doth not mean by creating renewing or regenerating as the Socinians will needs understand him he tells us that not only Men were created by him who are the only Subjects of this new Metaphorical creation but all things in general that are on Earth and not only all things that are on Earth but all things that are in Heaven too where there never was any thing new-created or regenerated for the Thrones and Dominions the Principalities and Powers i. e. Orders of Angels that are here said to be created by him have never been renewed or regenerated but those of them that fell fell for all eternity and they which stand have always stood and shall stand for ever and therefore by his creating them must be meant his giving them their being and existence And as the creation of the World is in Scripture attributed to Christ which speaks him a divine Being so there are other things ascribed to him which are peculiar to the Divinity as particularly his being Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end the first and the last in Rev. 22.13 and several other places which is a stile that God hath appropriated to himself Isa. 44.6 Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts I am the first and I am the last and besides me there is no God. If then Christ be the first and last as he himself declares he is Rev. 1.17 he must be that Lord the King and Redeemer of Israel Hitherto we have been proving that he is God but then there are other Texts that do as plainly prove him to be God-man For so in 1 Tim. 3.16 Without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the flesh which is the same with that of S. Iohn John 1.18 And the Word which in the first verse he saith was God was made flesh so also Phil. 2.6 7. For being in the form of God he thought it not Robbery to be equal with God but emptied himself and took upon him the form of a servant being made in the likeness of men from which words it is plain that Christ was in the form of God before ever he was in the form of a servant for it was by taking on him the form of a Servant that he emptied himself and his being in the form of a servant consisted in being made in the likeness of men so that his being in the form of God doth as much imply that he was God as his being in the form of a servant doth that he was Man and since in becoming man he emptied himself it necessarily follows that before he became so he was full and also that that fulness of his consisted in being in the form of God if then he was full by being in the form of God before he emptied himself into the form of a servant by being made in the likeness of men it is certain that he was in the form of God before he was in the form of man and that his being in the form of God
severally to every man as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 And not only so but such things and actions are attributed to him as can in no sence be attributed to the Father which would be non-sence if he were only the vertue or power of the Father and not a real Person distinct from him Thus the Holy Ghost is said to come as sent from the Father in the name of Christ Iohn 14.26 and in Iohn 16. he is said to come as sent from Christ verse 7. And when he comes Christ promises them that he shall guide them into all truth for he shall not speak of himself saith he but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak ver 13. Again he shall glorifie me saith Christ for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you verse 14. And to name no more the Holy Ghost is said to make Intercession for the Saints according to the Will of God Rom. 8.27 none of which things can in any tolerable sence be said of God the Father Since therefore not only personal actions but such personal actions also as cannot be attributed to the Father are frequently attributed to the Holy Ghost it hence necessarily follows that he is not meerly the vertue or power of the Father but a distinct principle of action from him that acts from and by himself and consequently is a real person or subsistence It being evident therefore from what hath been said that the Spirit of the Lord in the Old Testament is the same with the Holy Ghost in the New and that the Holy Ghost in the New is a real person distinct from the Father it hence follows in the second place that this Holy Ghost is a divine person because in the Scripture-forms of Baptism and Benediction he is always ranked with divine persons viz. the Father and the Son thus Baptism is in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 And the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all is the usual form of Benediction 2 Cor. 13.14 Now that the Father is a divine person all acknowledge and that the Son is so too hath been proved at large and therefore since the Holy Ghost is ranked with the Father and the Son both in our Baptismal Dedication and form of Benediction that is a sufficient evidence that he is a divine person also For what likelihood is there that in such solemn acts of Religion a meer Creature should be taken into copartnership with the divine Father and Son But besides both in the Old and New Testament divine actions and perfections are attributed to him Thus in Iob 33.4 Creation is ascribed to him The Spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life So also Iob 26.13 By his Spirit he hath garnished the Heavens Since therefore to Create is a divine Act and since every Act flows from the Essence of the Agent it follows that the Essence of this Spirit from which this divine Act of Creation flows is divine Again in Psal. 139.7 Omnipresence is attributed to this divine Spirit Whither shall I go from thy Spirit And if there be no place whither we can go from him as the Question plainly implies there is not then he must necessarily fill all places and be Omnipresent So again 1 Cor. 2.10 Omniscience is attributed to him for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God and that by searching here is not meant Enquiry but Knowledge and Comprehension the next verse will inform us For what man knows the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him Even so the things of God knoweth no man save the Spirit of God. If then the Spirit 's search be knowledge and his Knowledge comprehends all things what else is this but Omniscience And as the Actions and Attributes which the Scripture attributes to the Holy Ghost are divine so are the Honours also For so 1 Cor. 6.19 our bodies are said to be the Temples of the Holy Ghost which is in us now since there is nothing can make a Temple which as such is the house of God but only the Inhabitation of a divine Person and since no person can have right to the honour of a Temple which as such is made for divine Worship but he to whom divine Worship is due it will hence necessarily follow both that the Holy Ghost is a divine Person and that he hath right to divine Worship and accordingly 1 Cor. 3.16 the Apostle makes the Inhabitation of God's Spirit in us to be that which constitutes us Temples of God but how could his Spirit 's dwelling in us constitute us Temples of God unless he himself were God Besides all which he is in express words affirmed to be God. So in 2 Cor. 3.15 16 17. Even unto this day when Moses is read the Vail is upon their hâ—arts nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord the Vail shall be taken away now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty in which words the Apostle as all agree refers to Exod. 34.34 When Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him he took the Vail off until he came out from whence I argue that Lord whom Moses went in to speak with was Iehovah the true God this Iehovah the Apostle tells us is that Spirit this Spirit he also tells us is the Spirit of the Lord or the Holy Ghost therefore the Holy Ghost is Iehovah the true God. So also Acts 5.3 4. Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost c. Thou hast not lied unto men but unto God i. e. in Lying to the Holy Ghost who is God for if he were not God as we are sure he is not man it might as well have been said thou hast not lied unto men only no nor to the Holy Ghost only but unto God and indeed it ought to be so expressed supposing that by the Holy Ghost and God he did not mean the same thing because the design of the words was to aggravate Ananias his crime from the consideration of the greatness of the Person against whom it was committed and therefore had the Holy Ghost been any thing less than God as we are sure the Apostles were to whom the lye was immediately told he ought to have pursued the 〈◊〉 as well to the Holy Ghost as to men and then it must have been it was not meerly to men that thou didst lye no nor to the Holy Ghost meerly but unto God himself since therefore he places the Aggravation of his lying to the Holy Ghost in this only that he lyed not unto men but unto God it is plain that by the Holy Ghost and God he meant the same thing From all which Testimonies it is very apparent that this great
which he shed 1600. years ago he still intercedes for us with the same effect and success as when he first presented it to his Father in Heaven Upon which account there was no need that he should offer himself often as the High Priest entered into the holy place every year with bloud of others for then must he have often suffered since the foundation of the World but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself Heb. 9.25 26. So that Christ's one Sacrifice being of perpetual vertue and efficacy and being as such perpetually presented to the Father in heaven he therewithal makes a continued and uninterrupted Intercession for us and will continue to do so to the end of the World. Hence we are said to be sanctified through the offering of the body of Iesus once for all Heb. 10.10 And whereas every Priest standeth daily ministring and offering oftentimes the same Sacrifices which can never take away sin this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever sate down on the right hand of God vers 11 12. and this offering his one Sacrifice for sins in heaven being for ever it is a perpetually continued act of Intercession for us For so it is said that he ever lives to make intercession for us Heb. 7.25 i. e. he ever lives in Heaven so as by his perpetual presence there to make perpetual Intercession for us And upon the account of the perpetuity of this his Priestly Act of Intercession he is said to have an unchangeable Priesthood not barely because he continues for ever for so he might have done and yet â—eased to have been a Priest but because he continues for ever exercising his Priesthood or presenting his Sacrifice Heb. 7.24 And hence also he is said to be a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedeck that is not only to be a Royal Priest as Melchisedeck was which as I shewed before was the proper Character of Melchisedeck's Priesthood but to be a Royal Priest for ever Heb. 7.17 For Melchisedeck was not only a Royal Priest but also a Type or Shadow of an eternal Royal Priest and that as he was without Father and without Mother without descent or Genealogy having neither beginning of days nor end of life but made like unto the Son of God abideth a Priest continually Heb. 7.3 where the Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without descent or Genealogy explains what is meant by without Father and without Mother i. e. without any Father or Mother mentioned in the Genealogies of Moses so the Syriac version whose Father and Mother are neither of them recorded in the Genealogies in which he very much differed from the Aaronical Priests whose Fathers and Mothers names were constantly recorded in the Jewish Genealogies as appears from Esdr. 11.62 and so also Philo on the Decalogue tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the descent and Progeny of the Priests is kept with all manner of exactness So that there being no Genealogy at all of Melchisedeck in Scripture he is introduced into the History like a man dropt down from Heaven for so the Text goes on having neither beginning of days nor end of life i. e. in the History of Moses which contrary to its common usage when it makes mention of great men takes no notice at all of the time either of Melchisedeck's birth or death and herein he is made like unto the Son of God i. e. by the History of Moses which mentions him appearing and acting upon the Stage without either entrance or exit as if like the Son of God he had abode a Priest continually So that as Moses's History treats of Melchisedeck without taking any notice of his beginning or end as if he were a Royal Priest for ever so Christ in truth and reality is a Royal Priest for ever because by the perpetual Oblation and presenting his Sacrifice to the Father he perpetually exercises his Priesthood and makes a continued intercession for Mankind IV. This address being made by the continued Oblation or presenting of his sacrificed body to the Father is in the vertue thereof always effectual and successful For his Sacrifice as hath been shewn at large was the price of his purchace of those blessings he intercedes for the price which God by a solemn agreement with our Saviour had obliged himself to admit and accept For the only blessings he intercedes for are those which are specified in the New Covenant which New Covenant God granted to Mankind in consideration of the meritorious Death and Sacrifice of our Saviour and accordingly when he went to offer up himself a Sacrifice for us he tells us that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to what was determined or agreed on between his Father and himself Luke 22.22 And hence our Saviour tells us that his Father in consideration of what he was to suffer did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Covenant to him a Kingdom Luke 22.29 which Kingdom includes a Kingly power to bestow upon his faithful Subjects the Rewards of his Religion which are the blessings of the New Covenant and of this Covenant by which God obliged himself in consideration of Christ's Death to bestow this Kingly power upon him that of Heb. 10.7 seems to be intended then said I Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me to do thy will O God where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render the Volume of the Book may perhaps be more truly translated the Instrument Indenture or Covenant that is between thee and me For so the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answers signifieth any sort of writing and particularly a Bill Deut. 24.1 according to which sence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must here signifie the volume or folding of a Bill or which is all one an Indenture or Covenant When therefore he sâ—ith Lo I come in the Indenture or Covâ—nant which is between thee and me by which thou hasâ— bequeathed or covenanted to me a Kingdom or power to bestow such and such blessings on my faithful Subjects in this Covenant I say it is exprest or written that I should come to do thy will i. e. to offer up that body which thou hast prepared for me a Sacrifice for the sins of the World ver 5. And indeed how could it have been foretold of him as it is Isa. 53. that he should justifie many by bearing their iniquities and that he should see the travail of his soul i. e. for our Salvation and be satisfied had not the Father obliged himself by Contract and Covenant to justifie and save us in consideration of his Sacrifice And indeed this whole Prediction carries with it a Promise from the Father to Christ that upon the consideration of his Death and Sacrifice he should be effectually impowered to save and justifie us Since therefore the Sacrifice
Messias and by the Serpent the Devil who in the form of a Serpent had tempted our first Parents to that fatal revolt which drew after it all those miserable consequents which their Posterity have groaned under ever since by the Messias his bruising the Serpent's head is meant his assaulting and crushing under foot the very seat of all his strength and power and finally rescuing mankind from under his Dominion and Tyranny For this Promise was the first dawning the morning Twilight of the New Covenant and so far as we can find the only discovery of it to the Old World and therefore in all probability was the sole ground and object of that faith by which Abel and Enoch were justified in the sight of God Heb. 11.4 5. For though that Promise was but a dark and obscure intimation of the Gospel-Covenant yet thus much it plainly proposed to them that from the first Parents of the World there should descend a certain Person who should conquer the Devil that had conquered them and thereby repair the damage of their Apostasie by believing of which it seems and acting accordingly they found grace and favour in the sight of God but however it is apparent that the New Covenant was in force in the time of the Old World because it is evident both that the faith of the Ante-diluvian Patriarchs was actually accepted by God and that their faith could upon no other account have been accepted by him but only in the vertue of this New Covenant But after the Floud God more clearly and expresly renewed this gracious Covenant with Abraham and his Children Gen. 12.2 3. where he promises to bless him to make his name great and himself a blessing and to bless them that blessed him and curse them that cursed him and in him that is in the Messias who should descend from him vid. Gal. 3.16 to make all the Families of the Earth blessed which Covenant he again renews to him Cap. 13. and Cap. 15. and then in Chap. 17. he yet again renews it more largely and solemnly assuring him not only that he should be a Father of many Nations c. but that that Covenant should extend to his Posterity as well as to him and that he would be a God to him and to his Seed after him immediately after which he institutes the Ceremony of Circumcision for a perpetual Seal and Ratification of his Covenant between him and them and upon this Covenant it was that the Iewish Church was founded For so Circumcision which was the standing Seal of this Covenant was also the standing Rite of admission into that Church which is a plain argument that to be a Member of that Church and a Confederate in this Covenant was one and the same thing because they were admitted both by one and the same Rite Now from the New Testament it is evident that this Covenant with Abraham upon which the Iewish Church was built was the Gospel or New Covenant For so Gal. 3.8 the Apostle calls the delivery of this Covenant preaching the Gospel to Abraham which must be apparently fals if this and the Gospel Covenant were not the same and in verse 29. he tells them if ye be Christ's i. e. true Christians then are ye Abraham's Seed i. e. that spiritual Seed to whom the Covenant with Abraham extends and heirs according to the Promise i. e. of that Covenant but how could they be Abraham's seed by being Christians and heirs to the promise of Abraham's Covenant if the Seed with whom Abraham's Covenant was made were of a different Religion from Christians and the Covenant it self were of a different kind from the Christian Covenant But that it was the very same appears yet further because in the first place it requires the same Condition viz. an obediential or practical Faith. For so Gen. 15.6 it is said that Abraham believed in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness i. e. though he had formerly been guilty of many sins and at present could not challenge any reward from God yet upon that obedient faith which he exercised God acquitted and justified him or which is the same thing dealt with him as if he had been perfectly righteous and accordingly his Circumcision which was the Ratification of that Covenant is in Rom. 4.11 called the Seal of the righteousness of faith i. e. of his Iustification or being accounted righteous and dealt with accordingly by God upon his Faith or practical Assent to God's Promise And accordingly the Apostle Gal. 3.9 thus concludes so then they which be of faith i. e. sincere Believers as Abraham was are blessed with faithful Abraham in which words he expresly asserts that Abraham and Christians are blessed upon the same terms viz. upon an obediential and practical Faith. And as Abraham's required the same Condition with the New Covenant so it also contained the same Promises For although those Promises according to the outside and literal sence of them do contain only temporal blessings yet it is apparent that they had all the eternal blessings of that New Covenant lock'd and treasured up in the mystical sence of them For thus S. Paul expresly tells us that the Iustification of the New Covenant was couched in that Promise that was made to Abraham Gal. 3.8 The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through faith preached the Gospel before unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Natioâ—s be blâ—ssed which necessarily implies that in that blâ—ssing was included their Iustification in the sight of God. And as for divine Grace and Assistance to inable men to repent and persevere in well-doing the Prophet Micah tells us that one part of God's performing his truth unto Iacob and his mercy to Abraham consisted in his subduing our iniquities and casting our sins into the depths of the Sea Micah 7.19 20. And lastly as for eternal life the Apostle plainly tells us that God gave the inheritance i. e. of Justification to eternâ—l life to Abraham by promise Gal. 3.18 upon which gift we are assured that Abraham looked for a City which hath fâ—undations whose builder and makâ—r is God Heb. 11.10 Since therefore both the conditions required and the blessings promised in Abraham's and the New Covenant were in all particulars the same it necessarily follows thâ—t they were one and the same Covenant It is true indeed as to the manner of the revelation of it there was a vast difference for whereas in the Gospel it is revealed throughout with the greatest clearness and perspicuity and in plain and literal terms it was delivered vailed to Abraham and his Posterity under general and obscure expressions which at best exhibited to them but a dark and confused apprehension of it But however it is still the same Covenant notwithstanding it be thus differently expressed even as it is the same Sun that sometimes is overcast with clouds and other times shines forth with a full splendor Thirdly From the very
Prince or that that voice was a designed delusion Since therefore our Saviour declares that he is the first and the last which is the essential Character by which Iehovah the King of Israel describes himself and doth no where intimate a different sence of this Character as applied to himself from what it signified as applied to the Iehovah it necessarily follows that either he meant not sincerely or that himself and that Iehovah the King of Israel were the same Person And accordingly Zach. 9.9 which all agree is a Prophecy of our Saviour he is expresly called the King of Israel Rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Sion shout O Daughter of Ierusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee the most natural sence of which Phrase thy King is he that is now thy King not he that is hereafter to be so and if then when this Prophecy was delivered he was King of the Daughter of Zion or People of Israel to be sure he was always so and therefore the Prophet Malachi calls the Temple which was the Palace of the divine King of Israel the Temple of Christ Mal. 3.1 Behold I will send my Messenger i. e. John Baptist and he shall prepare my way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the Angel of the Covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts from whence I infer first that this Lord of Hosts which is the ordinary stile of the God of Israel was Christ whose Messenger and fore-runner Iohn Baptist was vid. Luke 1.76 And secondly That the Temple which was the abode of this Lord of Hosts was the Temple of Christ the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple which cannot be meant of God the Father because in the next words he is called the Angel of the Covenant which all agree is Christ if then the Temple of Ierusalem was the Temple of Christ and he was that Lord of Hosts that dwelt in it it necessarily follows that he was that divine King of Israel who under God the Father governed the Iewish Church And now having proved at large this fourth Proposition which is the principal Hinge upon which the whole Argument turns I proceed Fifthly That after his coming into the World he still retained this his Right and Title of King of Israel in particular till they finally rejected him and Apostatized from that Covenant on which his Kingdom is founded For he did not at all divest himself by his Incarnation of that Royal Authority he was vested with as he was the Eternal Word and Son of God hereafter to be incarnate For this his Royal Authority as I shewed before is necessarily implied in his Mediatorship of the New Covenant of which as I have also shewed he was always Mediator without any discontinuance or interruption So long therefore as the New Covenant continued in force with the Iews in particular so long he was their Mediatorial King in particular under God the Father Now it is certain that the New Covenant continued in force with them so long as they continued to be the Church of God because it was the New Covenant that made them so and it is certain they continued the Church of God many years after the Incarnation of our Saviour even till such time as by their obstinate rejecting of our Saviour and incurable Apostasie from that Covenant which made them the Church and People of God they had finally incensed him to reject them to break off his Covenant-relation to them and utterly to dispark and un-Church them And therefore we find that for several years both our Saviour and his Apostles continued in close Communion with the Iewish Church frequented their Temple and Synagogues and joyned with them in all the Solemnities of their Publick Worship by which they owned them to be the true Church of God and consequently to be yet in Covenant with him Since therefore they continued in the New Covenant after Christ's Incarnation Christ must also continue the Mediator of that Covenant to them and consequently their Mediatorial King. And hence he is stiled the King of the Iews in particular after his Incarnation for so the Wise-men in their enquiry after him Where is he that is born King of the Iews Matt. 2.2 And that he was born King of the Iews not merely as he was descended from the Loins of David but by a Title that he had Antecedent to his birth viz. as he was the Son of God hereafter to be Incarnate is evident by that confession of Nathanael Joh. 1.49 Rabbi thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel where his being the King of Israel is consequent to his being the Son of God and so Iohn 12.13 they who attended him in his progress to Ierusalem salute him with a Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord which S. Iohn makes the accomplishment of that forementioned Prophecy Zach. 9.9 Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Zion behold thy King cometh unto thee sitting on an Asses Colt verse 14 15. And this Title our Saviour assumes to himself in that good confession he made before Pontius Pilate who asking him Art thou King of the Iews He answered him Sayest thou this of thy self or did others tell it thee of me And when Pilate presses him for a more explicite answer he tells him My Kingdom is not of this world as much as if he had said I know the Jews mine enemies have insinuated to thee that by assuming to my self this Title of King of the Iews I design to usurp the temporal Dominion of Caesar thy Master but let not that trouble thee for though it is most certain that I am King of the Jews yet my Kingship and Caesar's are of a quite different nature and do no way clash or interfere with one another for whereas his Kingdom is Temporal mine is purely spiritual and not of this world and when Pilate insists farther Art thou a King then Jesus answers Thou sayest I am a King i. e. thou sayest truly so to this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness to the truth John 18.33 34 35 36 37. And as he retained the Title of King of the Jews after his Incarnation so we frequently find him exercising his Royal Authority among them For in the first place he not only authoritatively explained to them those old and eternal Laws of Morality which he delivered to them from Mount Sinai and inforced them with new Sanctions and Motives but he also gave them two new Laws viz. that of Baptism and that of the Lord's Supper to be continued in force to the end of the world Secondly He erected a perpetual form of Government and Discipline in his Church and gave Commission to his Apostles to exercise and administer it and to derive down their Commission to all succeeding Generations Thirdly
of the Earth For the Scripture not only foretels this universal conquest of his but also describes and delineates the whole method and progress of it which upon laying the Scripture Prophesies together in their proper Train and Series seems to me to be this that the opening of this great Scene of Providence will be the conversion of the Iewish Nation those obstinate and hitherto implacable Enemies of our Saviour whom notwithstanding they have been a thousand times over conquered slaughtered and oppressed and do to this day continue scattered over the face of the whole Earth he hath preserved by a strange and unparalleled Providence for above sixteen hundred years together a distinct and separate people from all the Nations of the Earth to shew his mighty power in them and once more render them what they have always been the Subjects of his miraculous conduct For by a wonderful effusion of his Holy Spirit upon them such as that was on the day of Pentecost though far more extensive he will all of a sudden and in a most surprizing manner open the eyes of this blinded Nation and powerfully convince them of the error and wickedness of their infidelity and malice against him whereupon with one heart and one mind they shall return to the Lord and with penitent tears wash off the guilt of the blood of their Saviour which like an Heir-loom hath hitherto descended upon them from one Generation to another for thus Rom. 11.25 26. I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery that blindness in part is hapned to Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till when the fulness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved as it is written there shall come out of Zion the deliverer c. From whence it is plain that that blindness which then hapned to Israel and which continues on them to this day shall one day be removed viz. about that time when the Conversion of the Gentiles shall be compleated and that then all Israel and not a small remnant of them as at first shall be saved so also 2 Cor. 3.14 16. But their minds are blinded meaning the People of Israel for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord the vail shall be taken away where he first supposes that Israel that till then was blinded and that till now remains so should turn unto the Lord and then asserts that then the vail of ignorance which hindered 'em from discerning Christ in the Figures and Prophesies of the Old Testament should be removed from before their eyes And now the Jews being thus converted by the power of our Saviour shall under his victorious Banners be conducted into the Holy Land and repossessed of their ancient native Country whither they shall be close pursued with mighty Hosts of the Eastern Infidels and be reduced by them into imminent danger of utter desolation in which extremity of theirs our blessed Saviour will make bare his Almighty Arm and in a most miraculous manner confound and scatter those mighty swarms of Infidels and crown his Israel with Victory and Triumph The fame of which miraculous events spreading far and wide even to the utmost ends of the Earth shall in a little time convince all the Heathen World of the truth of Christianity and prevail with the Kingdoms of the earth to become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ And now the Kingdom of Christ in this World being arrived to its full extent and growth Truth and Peace Charity and Justice shall reign and flourish over all the Earth Now all the World shall be Christendom and Christendom shall be restored to its ancient Purity For now he who is to come with the Fan in his hand will throughly purge the Floor of his Church from all that Chaff of Superstition and Idolatry Schism and Heresie Irreligion and Immorality with which it is almost totally covered and the true Faith the sincere Piety the generous and unaffected Vertue which Christianity teaches and prescribes shall be the universal livery and cognisance of the Christian World For much about the time of this Conversion of the Iews and that glorious Call of the Gentiles thence ensuing that corrupt and degenerate Faction of Christians whom the Scripture calls the mystical Babylon and the Antichrist and which for several Ages hath been the great Nuisance of Christendom will in these Western parts of the World muster up all its Forces to destroy and extirpate the purer Professors of Christianity by a general persecution in which attempt for some time this Faction will be very prevalent and successful when all of a sudden the Kings and Princes of the Earth who have thitherto been partakers with it in its foul Impostures and corruptions being either awakened by those miraculous Conversions of the Jews and Eastern Gentiles or convinced of their errors by the powerful impressions of his Spirit in whose hands the hearts of Kings are will turn their Swords upon this Antichristian Faction whose Cause they have hitherto espoused and conspire to root it out from off the face of the Earth which being effected the Western Church will universally reform it self according to the Standard of the Church of Ierusalem which will then be in a literal sense the Mother of us all Thus partly by destroying and partly by converting its Enemies our Saviour will yet mightily enlarge the borders of his Kingdom and advance it to the utmost pitch of purity and splendour that this state of mortality will admit and in this happy state he will preserve and continue it for several Ages till a little before the commencement of the General Iudgment at which time the Devil who had been hitherto chained up will be loosed again to work in the Children of disobedience to excite them to delude and deceive the World again and to persecute the sincere Professors of Christianity with incessant cruelties when all of a sudden and while they are securely triumphing in the success of their Villanies they shall be surprized with the Day of Judgment which like a Thief in the night shall come upon them and put an end to all their mischiefs for ever II. Another of those Regal Acts which he is yet to perform is to destroy Death the last Enemy by causing a general Resurrection of the Dead which being one of the great Articles of our Creed I shall insist more largely upon it and endeavour First To prove the certainty of the Fact and Secondly To explain the manner how it will be performed I. I shall endeavour to prove the certainty of the Fact viz. that our Saviour shall raise the dead which is as plainly and frequently asserted in holy Scripture as any Proposition contained in it for so 2 Cor. 4.14 we are assured that God will
in it and that death and Hell i. e. the grave shall deliver up the dead which are in them Rev. 20.13 All which expressions according to the literal sense of them from which without necessary reasons we ought not to depart do plainly import a resurrection of the same numerical bodies Our Resurrection therefore being a possible thing is as easie to an omnipotent Power as Christ's was and therefore his resurrection is a most certain pledge of ours since he rose as our common Head and Representative and consequently rose with the very same Will and Power to raise us which he had to raise himself Having thus proved the Truth of the matter of Fact viz. that Christ will raise us at the last day I proceed in the next place to the manner of the Fact how it is that he will raise us In treating of which I shall regulate my self by that account which the Apostle gives of it 1 Cor. 1.5 in which he having proved at large the truth of the Resurrection from ver 12. to the 35th he comes to answer an Objection concerning the manner of it but some man will say how are the dead raised up and with what body do they come In answer to which he gives a large description of it and by the similitude of seed explicates the manner how it shall be performed till he comes to ver 42. where he applies the similitude to the matter in hand so also is the Resurrection of the Dead and then goes on with a farther enlargement on it to the end of the Chapter So that this so also refers both to what went before and to what follows So also i. e. so as I have already in part described and shall farther explain in my ensuing Discourse This so therefore referring to the whole description implies these five particulars of which the whole consists First So is this mortal body to be the seed and material Principle of our Resurrection Secondly So must this Seed die and be corrupted before it be quickned and revived Thirdly So is this dead corrupted body to be raised and quickned by the power of God. Fourthly So is it to be raised by the Divine Power into the proper and natural form of an humane body Fifthly So is this humane body to be changed and altered in its Resurrection I. So is the Resurrection of the dead i. e. so is this mortal body to be the seed and material principle of the Resurrection For this is plainly implied ver 36. Thou fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die Intimating that as the Seed is the material cause of the Ear of Corn which afterwards springs up so are these mortal bodies which we sow in the Earth at least the main materials of those immortal ones into which we shall be quickned at the Resurrection Perhaps as the Seed digests and incorporates into it self the juyces of the Earth and shoots them up together with its own substance into the Stalk and Ear so in some particular instances at least there may be other matter at our Resurrection interwoven with the appropriate substance of our mortal bodies and together with it spring up into immortal ones Yet from the Apostles comparison it is apparent that this very mortal body which we sow in the Grave shall be at least the Seed and Embryo which shall receive our Soul at the Resurrection and by that supposing other matter be added to it assimilate and digest it into its own substance Now though to reproduce the scattered particles of our dissolved flesh and extricate them out of all those other substances whereinto they have been woven and entangled may seem to us at first view an impossible performance yet that it is not so I have already demonstrated and if a parcel of Quicksilver after it hath run a tedious course of alteration shifted it self out of its natural form into that of a vapour out of a vapour into an insipid water out of water into a white or red or yellow powder out of that into a salt and thence into a malleable Metal may by a skilful Artist be reduced out of all these various contextures into its natural form of plain and running Mercury why should we think it either impossible or difficult for a Being of immense knowledge and power to watch the wandering particles of our corrupted bodies through all their successive alterations and to retrieve them out of all those substances into which they shall be finally resolved to take out of one body what belongs to another and restore to each its own and finally to incorporate them all together into their natural forms and figures II. So is the Resurrection of the dead i. e. so is this Seed of our mortal body to die and be corrupted before it shall be raised again That which thou sowest is not quickened unless it die intimating that as the parts of the Seed are separated in the ground and dissolved into a liquid Jelly before it springs up into a Stalk and Ear so this mortal body of ours must be corrupted its parts must be dispersed and dissipated from one another before it quickens and springs up again at the general Resurrection and indeed the body must naturally corrupt when once it is separated from the Soul that enlivens it and that before it is raised and glorified the Soul should remain for some space separated from it seems highly necessary For the nature of Souls is such as requires a gradual and leisurely progression out of one state into another their faculties are such as cannot in a natural way be improved but by degrees or qualified in an instant for two extream conditions without a miracle But as for this mortal State and that of the Resurrection they are two such remote and distant extreams as that our slow paced natures cannot travel from one to the other under a long space of time and for a Soul to pass in one instant out of an Earthly into an Heavenly out of a fleshly into a spiritual out of a mortal into an immortal body seems too great a leap for a Being whose nature confines it to a gradual improvement For how should a Soul which hath been so long immured in mortal flesh so long accustomed to its sensual pleasures so cloged and incumbered with its unwieldly organs so pinioned and hampered by its brutish appetites How I say is it possible in a natural way for such a Soul to be immediately disposed to act and animate an Heavenly Body And therefore it is requisite that for some time at least it should continue in a separate state there to inure it self to a heavenly life and by a continued contemplation and love and imitation of God to ripen gradually into the state of the Resurrection and to contract a perfect aptitude to animate an heavenly body that so its powers being enlarged and improved by exercise it may be able to manage that active
hath given to the Soul agreeable to Iohn 6.33.35 such as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the House of the Father in which he dwells ib. de Migrat Abraham sutable to Iohn 14.10 but besides this I say they also attribute to him the very same Offices that the New Testament attributes to our Saviour for thus as the Scripture attributes unto Christ a Kingly Office under God the Father so they make this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or divine Word the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Governour of all things and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Viceroy of the great King Ib. de som de Agricul l. 2. where he also tells us that God who is King and Pastor of the World hath appointed the Word his first begotten Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to undertake the care of his Sacred Flock as his own Viceroy and Substitute and so also as the Scripture attributes to Christ the Office of an Intercessor between God and Man so also the same Author tells us which is highly worthy our observation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. but this excellent gift the Father of all things hath bestowed upon the Prince of Angels the most ancient Word that standing in the middle he might judge between the Creature and the Creator and he always supplicates the immortal God for Mortals and is the Embassador from the supreme King to his subjects and in this Gift he rejoyces as highly valuing himself upon it saying I stood in the middle between you and the Lord as being neither unbegotten as God nor yet begotten as you but am a middle between the extreams and a pledge for both for the Creature with the Creator that he shall not wholly Apostatize from him so as to prefer disorder before order and beauty for the Creator with the Creature to give him an assured hope that the most merciful God will never abandon his own Workmanship for I declare peace to the Creature from him who makes Wars to cease even God who is the King of peace In which words the same Mediatorial Office which the New Testament attributes to our Saviour is expresly attributed to this divine Logos And in the above-cited Book de Agricult he expresly teaches that this Logos or divine Word was that Angel whom God had promised to send before the Camp of Israel of which Angel Moses Gerund as he is quoted by Masius upon Ioshua Chap. 5. thus speaks Iste Angelus si rem ipsam dicam est Angelus redemptor de quo scriptum est Quoniam nomen meum in ipso est ille inquam Angelus qui ad Iacob dicebat Ego Deus Bethel ille de quo dictum est Et vocabat Mosem Deus de rubo Vocatur autem Angelus quia mundum gubernat scriptum est enim Eduxit nos Iehovah id est Dominus Deus ex Aegypto alibi Misit Angelum suum eduxit nos ex Aegypto Praeterea scriptum est Et Angelus faciei ejus salvos fecit ipsos De quo dictum est Facies mea praeibit efficiam ut quiescat denique ille Angelus est de quo vates Et subito veniet ad Templum suum Dominus quem vos quaeritis Angelus foederis quem cupitis That Angel to speak the truth is the Angel Redeemer of whom it is written Because my Name is in him this I say is that Angel who said to Iacob I am the God of Bethel he is also that Angel of whom it is said And God called to Moses out of the Bush for he is called the Angel because he governs the World wherefore it is written Iehovah i. e. the Lord God brought us out of Egypt and elsewhere he sent his Angel and brought us out of Egypt besides it is written And the Angel of his face saved them Of this Angel it is also said My Presence shall go before the Camp of Israel and shall cause it to rest Lastly This is the Angel of whom the Prophet speaks The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple the Angel of the Covenant whom ye desire By which last passage it is evident that by this Angel he meant the Messias to whom all the ancient Jews refer that Prophesie so that the divine Word according to Philo is the Angel that went before the Camp of Israel and that Angel according to Moses Gerundensis is no other than the Messias and that Philo himself by this Word understood the Messias is evident by his applying those words Ezek. 6.12 which the ancient Jews unanimously understood of the Messias to him in lib. quod deter potiorib insid soleat But to put all out of doubt the Targums use the Word of the Lord and the Messias promiscuously for so on those words Gen. 49.18 I have waited for thy salvation O Lord the Chaldee Paraphrase thus descants Our Father Iacob said I expect not the Salvation of Gideon the Son of Ioas which is a temporal Salvation nor the Salvation of Sampson the Son of Manoah which is a transitory Salvation but I expect the Redemption of Messias the Son of David who shall come and gather together the Sons of Israel his Redemption my Soul expects with which the Ierusalem Targum concurs almost word for word only with this difference that instead of those words But I expect the Redemption of Messias the Son of David it hath these words But expect the Redemption which thou hast promised to give us by thy Word that he should come to thy people Israel which is a plain evidence that by the Messias and this Word they meant the same thing so also on those words Even I am he and there is no God besides me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal Ionathans Targum runs thus When the Word of the Lord shall be manifested to redeem his People he i. e. the Word of the Lord shall say to all the people see now because I am he who was and is to come and there is no other God besides me I kill in my revenge and reviving do revive the People of the House of Israel I will heal them in the last days by which last days is evidently meant the days of the Messias who therefore must be the same with this Word of the Lord here spoken of Page 35. Line ult c For as they affirm of their word that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. always without time and alone eternal vid. Porphyry quoted by S. Cyril C. Iul. lib. 1. p. 32. that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most ancient Word of God Phil. de somn and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most ancient of all things that are 16. Leg. Allegor lib. 2. So S. Iohn affirms of his Word that he was in the beginning that is according to the pluinest and most obvious sense at least that he actually existed in the very beginning of the World and that