Imprimatur CAROLUS ALSTON R.P.D. Hen. Episc. Lond. Ã Sacris Domesticis â—nii 26. 1686. THE Christian Life PART II. Wherein that FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF Christian Duty THE Doctrine of our SAVIOURS Mediation is Explained and Proved VOLUME II. By JOHN SCOTT D. D. Rector of S. Peters Poor London The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-head in S. Paul's Church-Yard and Thomas Horn at the South Entrance of the Royal Exchange 1687. AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER THis second Volume of the second Part of the Christian Life had long since been made Publick had it not been for an unfortunate Accident which befel me when it was almost finished by which I was necessitated almost to begin again and cast the whole into a different Method from what I first designed for according to my first Draught this second Volume had not ammounted to much above half of what it now is only I intended to have added some Notes at the end of it for the fuller proof and explanation of several Points therein handled which now I am forced to leave out the Book being already swell'd so much beyond my first Intention only three or four of them I am forced to Print with it because I had referr'd to them in two of the Sheets which were Printed before I new model'd the whole Design I pray God prosper this Work according to its honest Intention and that will be an abundant compensation for all the Pains and Labor I have undergone in composing it THE CONTENTS SECT I. OF the Signification and Notion of a Mediator pag. 4 c. Six general Articles proposed to our belief in Scripture concerning the Person and Offices of the Mediator First That he is designed and authorized to this Office by God who is our absolute Lord and Sovereign 6. Vpon what accounts the belief of this is necessary 8. Secondly That this Office to which he is Authorized consists in acting for and in the behalf of God and Men who are the Parties between whom he mediates 10. the belief of which Article carries with it the most indispensible Obligations to Christian Piety and Vertue 11. Thirdly That his Mediation proceeds upon certain terms and stipulations between God and Man which terms he obtained of God for us and in Gods Name hath published to us 17. what these terms are ibid. the performance of these Terms our Saviour solicits both of God and us 18. Fourthly That as he acts for and in the behalf of God and Men so be partakes of the Natures of both 23. That he should partake of the Nature of God was highly necessary to qualifie him for this sublime Office of mediating for God with Men 24. and the same necessity there was that he should partake of the nature of Man 27. That he should also partake of the nature of both no less requisite to qualifie him to Mediate for Men with God 30. That he is God as well as Man proved from Scripture 34. and also that he is Man as well as God 39. Fifthly That as he partakes of the Natures of both so that he might transact Personally with both he was sent down from Heaven to us and is returned from us to Heaven 42. Of the Birth and Personal Vnion of the Divine and Humane Natures in Christ 44. Of his Death Resurrection and Ascension 46 c. Sixthly That upon his return to Heaven there to mediate Personally for Men with God he substituted the Divine and Omnipresent Spirit personally to promote and effectuate his mediation for God with Men 49 50. This Divine Spirit is the third Person in the Triâ—une Godhead 50. That there is a third Person subsisting in the Divine Nature and that he is the same with the Spirit of God in the Old Testament 51. And first That this Spirit is a Person ibid. Secondly That he is a Divine Person 53. Thirdly That he is the third Divine Person 56. Of the subordination of these Divine Persons and that it arises not from any inequality of Essence but from the inequalities of their Personal properties 57 c. That there was always a subordination of the Son to the Father and of the Holy Ghost to both 58. That in the affair of the Mediation this subordination was founded not only in the inequalities of their Personal properties but also in a mutual compact and agreement 59. That the Holy Spirit acts and hath always acted under Christ in the Kingdom of God 60. That by the Holy Spirit Christ himself acted while he was upon Earth 60 61. That this Spirit is sent both from the Father and the Son and of the different nature of their Missions 61 c. Some things which the Holy Spirit hath done in the pursuance of his Ministry to our Saviour and hath long since ceased to do as first he inspired the Apostles and Disciples of our Saviour with the gift of Languages 65 66. Secondly He fully instructed them by his immediate Inspirations in the Doctrine which they were to teach the World 67 c. Thirdly He gave the most convincing evidence of the Truth and Divinity of their Doctrine 70. Fourthly He conducted them by his infallible advice through all the emergent difficulties of their Ministry 72. Of the cessation of these miraculous Assistances 74 c. Other things which the Holy Spirit hath always done and always continues in pursuance of this his Ministry as being continually present with the Church 76. We receive him in our Baptism 77. Of the different manner of his ordinary Operations now from what it was heretofore 78 c. That these his ordinary Operations are all performed by impression of thoughts 81 82. they are all reduced to five Heads First Illumination 83 c. Secondly Sanctification 85. Thirdly Quickning or Excitation 88. Fourthly Comforting and supporting 90. Fifthly Intercession 93. SECT II. Concerning the particular Offices of Christs Mediation From the respective states and conditions of the Parties between whom Christ mediates is shewn the necessity of his being Prophet Priest and King 98. The order in which our Saviour proceeds in the discharge of these Offices 100. SECT III. Concerning the Prophetick Office of Christ. The great need of this Office 101. That the Messias was to be a Prophet 102. Of the import of the word Prophesie 103. The admirable accomplishments of our Saviour for this Office shewn in three Particulars First That when he came down to Prophesie to us he came immediately from the Bosom of the Father 104. Secondly That he came down into our own Natures 160. Thirdly That while he abode among us he was always full of the Holy Ghost 109. how effectualy he discharged this Office shewn in six Particulars First He made a full declaration of his Fathers Will to the World 113. Secondly He proved and confirmed what he declared by Miracles 116. Thirdly He gave a perfect example of Obedience to what he declared and proved to be his Fathers
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
Essentials of Christian Worship 307 c. Thirdly In all the Essentials of Christian Regiment and Discipline 309. SECT X. Concerning the Ministers of the Kingdom of Christ. Which are of a fourfold Rank and Order First The supreme Minister of it is the Holy Ghost p. 315. Secondly next to him are the whole world of Angels both good and bad and as for the good they are subjected to Christ by the Order and appointment of God the Father ibid. That the good Angels were not subject to him as Mediator till his ascension into Heaven but had their distinct regencies over the several Gentile Nations 316 c. But upon Christs ascension these their distinct regencies were all dissolved and they subjected to Christs Mediatorial Scepter 320 c. And as for the bad Angels they were subjected to him by just and lawful Conquest 322. That this Conquest he obtained while he was upon Earth but especially in his last agony 323 c. Seven particular instances of the Ministry of good Angels under Christ first they declare upon occasion his mind and will to his Church and People 331 c. Secondly they guard and defend his subjects against outward dangers 333 c. Thirdly they support and comfort them upon difficult undertakings and under great and pressing calamities 334 c. Fourthly they protect them against the rage and fury of evil spirits 336 c. Fifthly they further and assist them in their religious Offices 340 c. Sixthly they conduct their separated spirits to the Mansions of Glory 342 c. Seventhly they are hereafter to attend and minister to him at the general Iudgment 345 c. The Ministry of evil Angels to Christ in four particulars First they try and exercise the vertues of his subjects 347 c. Secondly they chasten and correct their faults and miscarriages 351 c. Thirdly they harden and confirm incorrigible sinners 354 c. Fourthly they execute the vengeance of Christ on them in another world 357 c. The third sort of the Ministers of Christs Kingdom are the Kings and Governors of the world 361 c. by their subjection to Christ they are not deprived of any natural Right of their Sovereignty 363 c. But in the first place have the same commanding Power over all indifferent things and that in Ecclesiastical Causes as well as Civil that they had under the Law of Nature 364 c. And secondly are as unaccountable and irresistible as they were before 365 c. What thâ—se Ministries are which Kings are obliged to render our Saviour shewn in general from Isa. 49.23.476 c. Particularly first they are to protect and defend his Church in the profession and exercise of the true Religion 377.378 secondly they are to fence and cultivate its peace and good order 378 c. they are to chasten and correct the irregular 379 c. they are to provide for the decency of its worship and for the convenient maintenance of its Officers and Ministers 381 c. The fourth sort of Ministers of Christs Kingdom are the spiritual or Ecclesiastical Governors 383. That Christ hath erected a spiritual Government in his Church 384 c. That this Government is Episcopal proved from four Arguments first from the institution of our Saviour 388 c. secondly from the practice of the Apostles upon it 393 c. thirdly from the Vniversal Conformity of the Primitive Church to this Apostolick practice 404. fourthly from our Saviours declared allowance and approbation of both 421 c. Of the Ministers of this spiritual Government which are either such as are common to the Bishops together with the inferiour Officers of the Church as first to teach the Gospel 427 c. secondly to administer the Evangelical Sacraments 429 c. thirdly to offer up the publick Prayers and intercessions of Christian Assemblies 431 c. Or such as are peculiar to the Bishops as first to make Laws for the peace and good order of the Church 433. secondly to ordain to Ecclesiastical Offices 436. thirdly to exercise that spiritual jurisdiction which Christ hath established in his Church 439. fourthly to confirm such us have been Baptized and instructed in Christianity 446 c. SECT XI Of Christs Regal Acts in his Kingdom Which are of three sorts First such as he hath performed once for all of which there are four first his giving Laws to his Kingdom 449 c. That what Christ taught as a Prophet had the force of Law ibid. His Law spiritual 450. His Laws reduced under two heads first his Law of perfection 452 c. secondly his Law of sincerity 455 c. The second of those Regal Acts which he hath performed once for all is his mission of the Holy Spirit 457. A third is his erecting an external Polity and Government 458 c. Another sort of Christs Regal acts are such as he hath always performed and doth always continue to perform of which there are four first his pardoning penitent Offenders the nature of which is explained 461 c. the Scripture attributes it both to Christ and God the Father 462. that both of them have an appropriate part in it 463. The part of God the Father is first to make a general Grant of Pardon 464 c. secondly to make it in consideration of Christs death and sacrifice 466 thirdly to limit it to believing and penitent sinners ibid. c. The part which Christ performs in it is to make an actual and particular application of this general Grant of his Father to particular sinners upon their faith and repentance 474 c. The second of these Regal Acts of Christ is his punishing obstinate Offenders 476. A third is his protecting and defending his People and Kingdom in this world 479 c. The fourth is his rewarding his faithful subjects in the life to come 483 c. The third last sort of Christs Regal Acts are those which are yet to be performed by him of which there are three first he is yet farther to extend and enlarge his Kingdom by a more universal conquest of his Enemies 485 c. secondly he is yet to destroy Death the last Enemy by giving a general Resurrection 492 c. this proved from his own Resurrection ibid. The Objections against this argument and the Doctrine of the Resurrection answered 494 c. The manner of the Resurrection described at large from 1 Cor. 15.42.501 First this mortal body is to be the seed or material principle of our resurrection 502. secondly this seed must die and be corrupted before it is to be raised and quickened 503. thirdly this dead seed is to be raised and quickened by the Power of God 505. fourthly it is to be raised and quickned into the proper form and kind of a human body 508. fifthly this human body is to be very much changed and altered 510. the change that will be made in the bodies of good men is
true to live according to meer Natural reason is all that God expects from those to whom Christianity hath never been proposed for how can he expect that they should live by Principles which they either never heard of or have not sufficient reason to believe But where Christianity hath been made known and sufficiently proposed we cannot be good men unless we believe it and if we believe it we cannot be good Christians unless we practise upon it And since Christianity hath improved the duties of Natural Religion upon new Principles and enforced them with new Obligations to render our Piety and Vertue strictly and properly Christian it is necessary we should believe these new Principles and act upon these new Obligations otherwise we are at best but meer Natural men in the true sence of the Apostle i. e. men who are meerly conducted by the light of natural Reason and have not received the things of the Spirit of God that is the new Principles and Obligations which Christianity superadds to natural Religion 1 Cor. 2.14 In handling therefore of this great and necessary Principle of Christian Life viz. the belief and acknowledgment of Christ's being the one and only Mediator I shall endeavour these three things First To shew what it is that we are to believe in general concerning the Person and Office of this Mediator Secondly What are the particular Parts and Offices of his Mediation Thirdly What Evidence there is to induce us to believe him to be this one and only Mediator SECT I. What it is that we are to believe in general concerning the Person and Office of this Mediator THE Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Mediator signifies one that interposes between two Parties either to obtain some favour from the one Party for the other or to adjust or make up some difference between them And this undertaking of his is either first of his own head and voluntary undertaking without any Warrant or Authority from the Parties between whom he interposes in which case he acts altogether precariously and as a meer Orator and can only perswade and intreat on both sides or secondly it is Authoritative and this is two ways first when the Person who mediates is Authorized thereunto by the consent and designation of both Parties both being equal and consequently having an equal right to Authorize him For when the Parties are equal he must be authorized by both before he can pretend to any right to oblige and determine them but when once both Parties have agreed to put their case into his hands and refer themselves to his determination he from thenceforth commences a Mediator by Office and is the Legal Representative of both as being Authorized by them to act in their stead in all those points that are referred by them to his determination So that whatsoever he doth in the matter before him is in effect the act of both Parties who having both submitted their wills to his and voluntarily impowered him to will for them both are thereupon as effectually concluded and determined by what he doth as if it were their own personal Will and Action And in this sence a Mediator is the same with that which we in English call an Vmpire who is one that acts for both Parties by Authority from both and in whose judgment and determination both have obliged themselves to consent and agree But then secondly the Mediation is authoritative when he who mediates is Authorized thereunto by a superiour Party who hath a just Authority and Dominion over the inferiour For when a Mediator acts the part of two unequal Parties whereof the one is superiour and hath a just dominion over the other it is sufficient that he be Authorized by the appointment of the superiour and the subject or inferiour Party will be as much obliged by his determination as if he had voluntarily referred himself to him For a Mediator between a Superiour as such and a Subject is one who is Authorized to act on the part of the Superiour in requiring the Subjects Duty and Obedience and to act on the part of the Subject in impetrating the Superiour's favour and protection and there can be no doubt but every absolute Superiour hath right to Authorize a Mediator between him and his Subjects to act for him in ruling them and for them in soliciting his favour For he who Mediates between a Sovereign and Subject is the Sovereign's Vicegerent and the Subject's Advocate and he who without our consent hath a right to our duty and to all the favours he bestows upon us may whether we consent to it or no demand our duty by what Vicegerent and bestow his favours by what Advocate he pleases And as for the Subject he will be obliged whether it be by his consent or no to abide by the Mediator whom the Sovereign appoints and by the terms which he shall impose on him otherwise he will be justly liable to punishment Having given this short account of the general Notion of a Mediator I proceed to shew what it is in the general that the Scripture proposes to our belief concerning the Person and Office of this great Mediator between God and men the whole of which I shall reduce under these six heads First That he is Designed and Authorized to this Office by God who is our absolute Lord and Sovereign Secondly That this Office to which he is authorized consists in acting for and in the behalf of God and men who are the parties between whom he Mediates Thirdly That this his Mediation proceeds upon certain terms and stipulations between God and men which he obtained of God for us and in his name hath published and tendered to us Fourthly That as he acts for and in the behalf of God and men so he partakes of the natures of both Fifthly That as he partakes of the natures of both so that he might transact personally with both he was sent down from Heaven to us and is returned again from us to Heaven Sixthly That upon his return from us to Heaven there to Mediate personally for Men with God he substituted the Divine and Omnipresent Spirit personally to promote and effectuate his Mediation for God with Men. I. That he is Designed and Authorized to this Office by God who is our absolute Lord and Sovereign For since God for just and excellent reasons was resolved not to converse with sinful men immediately they having rendered themselves through their woful degeneracy utterly unsit for and unworthy of any such near and close access to his most holy Majesty and since his tender mercy and compassion towards us would not permit him utterly to reject and abandon us there was no expedient at least that we know of in which the holiness of his Majesty could so fairly accord with the tenderness of his Mercy as this of transacting with us by a Mediator by whose inter-agency he though a most holy Sovereign may
And therefore to satisfie us in this also after he had abode some time upon Earth after his Resurrection and satisfied his Disciples by frequent converses with them that he was really risen and given them all necessary Orders for their future conduct in the propagation of his Gospel he carried them out to Bethany where after he had lift up his hands and blessed them he ascended before their eyes into Heaven upon which it is said Luke 24.52 That they worshipped him and returned to Ierusalem with great Ioy surely not because their dear Lord was gone from them never in this World to be seen by them more that was cause of sorrow rather than joy to them but because he was gone to the right hand of the Father there to intercede in Person for them and for ever to exhibite that wounded and bleeding body of his by which he had made expiation for the sins of the World and purchased the promise of the Spirit and of eternal life upon this account indeed they had great cause to rejoyce because now they knew they had a sure Friend in Heaven where their main hope and interest lay even that very Friend who not long before had freely exposed himself to a most shameful and tormenting death to rescue them from death eternal and who after such an instance of love they could not but conclude would employ his utmost interest with the Father in their behalf and in a word who being the only begotten of the Father whose precious Bloud he had graciously accepted as a ransom for the sins of the World could not but have an interest with him infinitely sufficient to obtain for them all the graces and favours that were fit either for them to ask or for his Father to bestow So that now if we heartily comply with him as Mediating for his Father with us we have all the encouragement in the world to depend on him as Mediating for us with his Father since he doth not Mediate with him by a second hand or at a distance but in his own Person in that very Person which is not only infinitely dear to the Father as being his only begotten Son but hath also infinitely merited of him by offering him his own life at his command as a Sacrifice for the sins of the World. And accordingly upon this consideration the Apostle founds the hope of Christians 1 Iohn 2.1 2. My little Children these things write I unto you that ye sin not but if any man sin let him not presently give up himself as hopeless and irrecoverable for we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sins VI. And lastly Another thing which the Scripture proposes to our belief concerning this Mediator is that upon his return from us to Heaven there to Mediate Personally for Men with God he substituted the divine and Omnipresent Spirit Personally to promote and effectuate his Mediation for God with Men. When he went up to Heaven there to Mediate for us with God he did not thereby abandon his Mediation for God with us but immediately substituted a certain mighty spiritual Being to act for him whom he calls the Advocate or as we render it the Comforter and the Holy Ghost and who was to Mediate with Men in his behalf even as he Mediated with them in the behalf of his Father and to Advocate for his Authority as he Advocated for his Father's For so he tells his Ministers whom he left behind him to assert and propagate his Authority in the World I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter or Advocate i. e. to plead for and inforce your Ministry in my behalf whose Ministers you are that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth c. I will not leave you comfortless or without an Advocate I will come to you that is by this Spirit of Truth who is to be my Vicegerent even as I am my Father's Iohn 14.16 17 18. But for the fuller explication of this great and necessary Article I shall first shew what this divine Spirit is which Christ hath substituted to Mediate for God with us in his absence Secondly I shall explain his subordination and substitution to Christ in this part of his Mediation Thirdly I shall shew what it is that he hath done and still continues to do in order to the effecting this Mediation First What this divine Spirit is which Christ hath substituted to Mediate for God with us in his absence I answer it is the third Person in the Tri-une Godhead For that besides the Father and the Son there is a third divine Person subsisting in the Godhead seems to have been a current Doctrine among the ancient Writers both Gentile and Iewish and is most plainly and expresly asserted in holy Scripture which third Person is known in Scripture by the name of the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of the Lord. For that the Holy Ghost so often named in the New Testament is the same with that Spirit of the Lord so much celebrated in the Old S. Peter expresly asserts 2 Pet. 1.2 For the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost from which words it is evident that this Holy Ghost whom S. Peter here mentions is the very same with that holy Spirit or Spirit of the Lord by whom as we are told in the Old Testament the ancient Prophets were inspired vid. Isa. 63.11 2 Sam. 23.2 Mich. 2.7 and abundance of other places and accordingly S. Peter applies that Prophecy of Ioel 2.28 I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh to that miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost Acts 2.16 17. but this is that saith he which was spoken by the Prophet Ioel c. which could not be true if Peter's Holy Ghost were not the same with Ioel's spirit of the Lord. But it is most certain that the Holy Ghost whom S. Peter and the New Testament so often mention was in the first place a real Person and not a meer Quality as the Socinians vainly dream For so we every where find personal properties and actions attributed to him Thus he is said to speak Acts 28.25 and Heb. 3.7 yea and his speeches are frequently recorded so Acts 10.20 The Spirit said unto Peter arise therefore get thee down and go with them for I have sent thee and Acts 13.2 The Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them and how can we without horrible force to such plain historical relations which ought to be literal and not figurative attribute these speeches to a meer Vertue or Quality And elsewhere he is said to reprove the world Iohn 16.8 and to search into and know the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 11. and to divide his Gifts
Holy Spirit when he left the World to recollect and explain to his Disciples the Doctrine he had taught them and to enable them also to prove and assert it by Miracles For as Elias the Great Prophet of Israel when he was snatched up into Heaven let drop his Mantle and with that derived that holy Spirit on his Disciple Elisha by which he Prophesied and wrought his Miracles so Iesus the Great Prophet of the World when he ascended into Heaven derived that divine Spirit upon his Apostles and Disciples by which he himself Prophesied and confirmed his Prophecies by miraculous Evidences while he was upon Earth Vid. supra p. 66 67 c. For in all likelihood the Holy Ghost descended on the day of Pentecost not only on the Apostles but also upon all the rest of the hundred and twenty Disciples of whom we read in Acts 1.15 For of these consisted the Prophetick School of our Saviour who in all probability separated them while he was yet upon Earth from the rest of his Followers to be the Heralds and Preachers of his Gospel to the World and if so we may reasonably conclude that the Holy Ghost fell on them all as well as on the Apostles to qualifie them for that work which together with the Apostles they had been fore-ordained to Indeed as the Apostles were placed in a higher station than any of the rest as being authorized by Christ to superintend and preside over them so they received a peculiar Gift of the Holy Ghost in which none of the rest communicated with them and that was conferring by imposition of hands the Holy Ghost upon others For so in Acts 8. we find that when Philip had converted the People of Samaria he could not confer the Holy Ghost on them but Peter and Iohn are sent thither for that purpose who laid their hands upon them and they received the Holy Ghost verse 17. Now by thus deriving his Holy Spirit on his Apostles and Disciples the blessed Iesus still proceeded by them to Prophesie to the World till through their Ministry he had fully consummated his Prophetick Office and revealed and explained the whole Doctrine of the Gospel For till such time as the whole New Testament was compleated his Ministers generally preached by the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost who as I have shewn at large p. 67 c. not only recollected to their memories those Doctrines which Christ himself had taught them but also explained them fully to their minds and thereby enabled them to explain them fully to the World and when this was once finished and the whole Doctrine of the Gospel committed to Writing and collected into a Volume the Spirit of Prophecy was withdrawn from the Ministers of Christianity who were from thenceforth obliged to supply the want of it by their own study and industry For now the Gospel being fully revealed there needed no farther Revelation and for the Holy Spirit to reveal over again to mens minds what he had plainly enough revealed already and set before their eyes would have been but actum agere to multiply actions to no purpose Whilst the Gospel lay hid in the Eternal Counsel of God out of the reach and prospect of humane understandings it was necessary that the Holy Ghost should immediately reveal it to the minds of those who were to declare it to the World otherwise it is impossible it should ever have been known to Mankind but when once he had fully revealed it to them and declared it by them and transmitted their declaration by a standing Scripture to all succeeding Generations to what end should he still proceed to make new Revelations of it unless it were to gratifie mens sloth and idleness and excuse them from the trouble of searching and studying that Scripture in which he had taken care to transmit his Gospel to them But though that blessed Spirit hath never been wanting to Mankind in any necessary assistance yet when once he hath put things within our own power he always expects that we should do them and not sit still with our hands in our Pockets expecting that he should do them for us Since therefore by transmitting to us the Scripture he hath put it within the power of its Ministers to understand and teach the Gospel he expects that they should exercise that power in a diligent study of those things which lead to the true understanding of Religion and not depend upon new Revelations for the understanding of that which he hath already sufficiently revealed to them For thus till the whole Old Testament was finished God continued the Spirit of Prophecy in the Iewish Church after which he immediately withdrew it and wholly remitted his People to the conduct of the Priests and Levites who in their forty eight Cities which were so many Vniversities for their education in divine Learning diligently read and studied the Law and thereby accomplished themselves to preach and explain it to the People And in like manner God continued the same Spirit of Prophecy in the Christian Church till the whole New Testament was revealed and written and Copies of it dispersed through all the Churches and from thenceforth the Spirit of Prophecy ceased and in the room of its first inspired Ministers there succeeded an ordinary standing Ministry who by their Learning and Industry and diligent search of Scripture were to supply the defect of immediate Revelation and to qualifie themselves to teach and instruct the several Flocks that were committed to their Charge In short therefore the Spirit of Prophecy remained upon the Ministers of Christ till such time as it had fully revealed and clearly explained the Gospel to them and when this was done and they had transmitted its Revelations to writing there could be no farther need of it unless it be supposed either that he had not sufficiently revealed the Gospel to them or that he hath some new Gospel to reveal And thus you see what it is that our Saviour hath done in the discharge of his Prophetick Office. And considering all I know not what farther he could have added to compleat and perfect it and to render his Prophecy effectual to teach and instruct the World. So that if after all these mighty performances we still remain in darkness and ignorance the blame of it wholly redounds upon our selves for he hath in all respects abundantly performed his part towards the enlightening of the World and chalked out to us the way to our happiness with such plain and visible lines that if we are but willing to walk in it we cannot mistake or wander from it but if we will be so supine and negligent as to concern our selves no more about it than if it were only a Fanciful description of the Road to Vtopia or the High-way to the World in the Moon it is impossible we should be throughly acquainted with it how plainly soever it is described It is true there are some Doctrines in
them whether it be Fear or Sorrow or Ioy and it being in their power to excite our Passions to what degree they please there is no doubt but that being ministring Spirits they can and do minister Ioy and Comfort to us when ever our case and circumstances require it IV. Another instance of the Ministry of Angels in the Kingdom of Christ is their protecting his Subjects against the Rage and Fury of evil Spirits for considering with what a fierce and indefatigable malice those malignant spirits which in vast numbers rove about in the Air are animated against mankind and especially against the Subjects of Christ their most dreaded and implacable enemy and considering also the mighty power they have as they are Angels to do mischief it is not to be imagined but that were they not opposed and restrained by a mightier power than their own they would never be able to forbear exercising their direful rage and cruelty upon us till they had converted this Earth into Hell and made this School of our Probation the place of our Torments and as for the Kingdom of Christ whose Subjects have so solemnly renounced their Yoke and Dominion to be sure they would never cease infesting it with the fiery darts of their malice till they had utterly ruined and destroyed them and therefore to prevent their mischievous attempts God in mercy hath thought meet to commit us to the Guardianship of his holy Angels and to send them forth under the Conduct of Iesus our Mediator to fight against these Hellish powers in the defence of his Church and People for so God promised Ierusalem Zech. 2.5 that he would be as a wall of fire round about her i. e. as the most learned Expositors suppose by surrounding her with a Guard of Angels whom in the defence of his People against evil Angels he maketh a flaming fire as the Psalmist expresses it Psal. 104.4 and in Rev. 12.7 we read of a War in Heaven or the airy Region of which the Devil is called the Prince Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and the Dragon fought and his Angels which War Michael undertook as the foregoing verses tell us in the defence of the Woman that was cloathed with the Sun which all agree was the Christian Church so also in verse 9. of Iude's Epistle we read that Michael the Archangel contended and disputed with the Devil about the body of Moses or Jewish Church so called for the same reason that the Christian Church is called the Body of Christ. And it is very probably supposed that that Hedge which the Devil complained God had set about Iob and about his house by which he was hindered from breaking in upon him was no other than a Guard of Angels by which he was driven back as oft as he attempted to execute his Rage and Malice upon him Chap. 1.10 Now by what means or instruments the good Angels war against and repel the evil ones is I conceive an enquiry beyond our Cognisance Revelation from whence we receive all our notions of the state and Oeconomy of the invisible world being wholly silent in the case only thus much we may say without any way presuming beyond our Capacity that spiritual Agents can as easily strike upon spirits as bodily Agents do upon bodies and though we who are Spectators only of corporeal motion can give no account of the manner how one spirit acts upon another yet there is no reason at all to doubt but that they have some way of impressing one another and communicating to each other a mutual sense and feeling of each others pleasures and displeasures and if so then it is easie to suppose that the more powerful any spirit is the stronger and more exquisite impressions of its displeasure it can make upon other Spirits and consequently that the Good Angels who by preserving their innocence and improving their perfections have augmented and redoubled their natural strength and vigour are much more powerful than the bad ones who have rather impaired it and so are much more able to withstand and repel the violent impressions of the bad Angels than the bad Angels can theirs so that though the bad Angels may and oftentimes do resist and oppose the good yet they can never conquer them but in the conclusion are still forced to flee before them as being unable to withstand their more powerful impressions Since therefore we wrestle not with flesh and bloud i. e. only with flesh and bloud but against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers of the darkness of this World against spiritual wickednesses in high Places i. e. against the several Ranks of Devils that are in the Air under the Command and Conduct of Beelzebub their Prince Eph. 6.12 And since these Apostate Spirits are by much too strong and powerful for us so that were we left to grapple with them alone by our own single strength they would infallibly vanquish and lead us captive to eternal ruine God hath thought meet to subject his holy Angels to the command of our compassionate Mediator that so when ever we are too hardly beset by these evil spirits he might send them forth to guard and protect us against them and either to assist us in our conflicts with them or to chase them away from us when we are no longer able to withstand them and accordingly we have a sure word of promise that if we resist the Devil he shall fly away from us Iam. 4.7 not that our weak resistance is in it self sufficient to put those daring and mighty Spirits to flight but the meaning without doubt is that if when they assault us with any temptation to sin we do but oppose them with a sincere resolution God will not permit us to be vanquished by them but when ever they press too hard upon us will be sure to send down some good Angel to us to repel and drive them away from us for so he hath promised that he will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able but will with the Temptation also make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it 1 Cor. 10.13 which plainly implies that should God suffer him the Devil can tempt us above what we are able and this without doubt he is ordinarily hindered from by the timely interpositions of the holy Angels who when our strength begins to fail are always ready to second us and with their victorious arms to encounter and put to flight those evil spirits that do so importunately tempt us V. Another instance of the Ministry of Angels in the Kingdom of Christ is their furthering and assisting his Subjects in the Works and Offices of Religion for since they are said to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation there is no doubt but that they minister to them in the discharge of their Religious Obligations upon which their Salvation depends and since as our Saviour assures us there
swim how would it be possible for it in such a vast and unknown Continent ever to find its way to the Seat of the blessed without the conduct of some experienced guide And who can be better experienced in that Celestial Road than those winged Messengers of the Almighty King who in the execution of his high behests are always travelling to and fro between Heaven and Earth And therefore our Saviour hath committed the separated Spirits of his faithful Subjects to these most skilful and faithful Guides who in pursuance of his Commission are some or other of them still attending upon every good man's decease to receive his Soul into their Custody as soon as ever it is expired and to guard it against evil Spirits as it passes through the Air and thence to conduct it through all those spacious fields of Aether which extend themselves far and wide beyond all the visible lights of Heaven to those happy abodes which the divine goodness hath prepared for glorified Spirits VII And lasty Another instance of the Ministry of Angels to our Saviour in his Kingdom is their attending and assisting him in the great solemnity of the day of Iudgment for thus in all his most solemn and conspicuous works of Providence our Saviour hath still been pleased to make use of the Ministry of his holy Angels so when he came to ratifie his Covenant with Iacob the mysterious Preface of that great solemnity was a Ladder reaching from Heaven to Earth and the Angels ascending and descending upon it which was doubtless intended for an Emblem of that Everlasting Covenant by which Man was to ascend to God and God to descend to Man so also when the Law was delivered by him upon the Mount the Angels descended with him and pitched their Tents about it in Circles of flaming fire to signifie to the People those flames of vengeance that would certainly pursue and seize them if they were not obedient to those words that were thence delivered to them so also when he was born into the world the holy Angels came down to sing his Christmas Carol and at once to proclaim and celebrate his Nativity and it is the opinion of some learned men that that multitude of the heavenly Host which St. Luke speaks of and who sang that Anthem of Glory be to God on high at our Saviour's Nativity Luke 2.13 contained the whole Nation of Angels because in Heb. 1.6 it is said that when God brought in the first begotten into the world he said let all the Angels worship him that is as they understand it when our Saviour was born God gave order to all the Angels of Heaven to come down and do homage to him who was ere long to be their Sovereign Lord under the most high Father Thus also a little before Ierusalem was destroyed Iosephus tells us that the Heavens were spread with Troops of armed men who without doubt were the blessed Angels that by their phantastick combats in the Air did presignifie the ensuing Tragedy of that bloudy City It is no wonder then if the great solemnity of Doomsday of which Ierusalem's desolation was only a mournful Type shall also be adorned and illustrated with the presence and attendance of the holy Angels For this great Transaction is to be the winding up of the vast bottom of divine Providence over the whole Race of faln and degenerate Mankind and the close and conclusion of the Mediatorial Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour and therefore will without doubt be performed with the greatest Grandeur and Magnificence This is to be the great Day of our Saviour's Triumph wherein his Friends shall be Crowned and his Enemies made his foot-stool and such a solemnity may well deserve the attendance and Ministry of all the heavenly Angels who accordingly shall then descend with our Saviour from the highest Heavens in bright aetherial bodies such as shall render them gloriously conspicuous to all the lower world and so fit to adorn the Triumphs of that glorious day for so the Scripture assures us not only that he shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God 1 Thes. 4.16 but also that he shall come in his glory and all his holy Angels with him Matt. 25.31 and that he shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels and that he shall come in his own glory and in his Father's and of his holy Angels Luke 9.26 and in a word that he shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels Mar. 8.38 But what their Ministry is to be in that great Day I shall hereafter have occasion to shew when I come to discourse of that solemn transaction And now having explained the Ministry of the good Angels under Christ I proceed to treat of the Ministry of the evil Angels to him which principally consists in these four particulars First In trying and exercising the vertues of his Subjects Secondly In chastening and correcting their faults and miscarriages Thirdly In searing and hardening his incorrigible Rebels Fourthly In executing his vengeance on them in another World. I. The Ministry of evil Angels to Christ consists in trying and exercising the vertues of his Subjects for this being the state of our trial and probation wherein we stand Candidates for those everlasting preferments in the other World our blessed Lord hath thought meet to surround us with Difficulties and Temptations that so being in continual conflict with them we may never want opportunity to exert and exercise our vertues and to give the most glorious proofs of our Courage and Constancy For difficulty is the Spur of Endeavour and the Whet-stone of Vertue without which the fairest Graces that belong to Humane Nature would be altogether Vseless Worthless and Vnactive such as Faith and Patience Temperance and Equanimity Courage and Resignation to God all which would scarce deserve the name of Vertues if they had not some difficulties to contest withal Now one of the greatest difficulties with which our blessed Lord tries and exercises these Graces of our Nature is the Temptations of evil Spirits who as so many assisting Geniuses to the corrupt inclinations of our Nature are permitted by him to rove about the World in innumerable swarms to Tempt and Elicite those inclinations into action and these being Spirits have a much nearer access to the Souls of men than any material Agents whatsoever for though they are totally debarred from all kind of intercourse with the immediate operations of the reasonable Soul and can no more look into its thoughts than we can into the bowels of the Earth yet our Fancies and Imaginations lying open to them there is no doubt but they can and oftentimes do make what use they think fit of the Animal Spirits there and dispose and order and distinguish them just as the Painter doth his numerous Colours that lie confusedly before him in their several Shells into the Pictures
the Church is to Confirm such as have been Baptized and instructed in Christianity which Ministry was always performed by Prayer and laying on of hands upon which the Party so Confirmed received the gift of the Holy Ghost It is true upon the first institution of this Imposition of hands the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit such as speaking with Tongues c. were many times consequent but from hence it doth no more follow that it was intended only for an extraordinary Ministry that was to cease with those extraordinary Gifts that accompanied it than that Preaching was so which at first was also attended with miraculous operations The great intendment of those extraordinary effects was to attest the efficacy of the Function and doth it therefore follow that the Function must cease because those extraordinary effects did so after they had sufficiently attested its efficacy and consequently were of no farther use If so then all the other Ministries of Christianity must be expired as well as this And what though those extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit are ceased Yet since our Saviour hath promised a continual Communication of his Spirit to his Church is it not highly reasonable to believe that he still continues to communicate it by the very same Ministry of Prayer and Imposition of hands whereby he communicated it first and that he now derives to us the ordinary operations of it in the same way that he first derived the extraordinary ones Especially considering that this laying on of hands is placed by the Apostle in the same Class with Baptism and made one of the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ Heb. 6.1 2. and therefore must without all doubt be intended for a standing Ministry in the Church and as such the Church of Christ in all Ages has thought her self obliged to receive and practise it but as for the administration of it it was always appropriated to the Apostles and Bishops So in Acts 19.5 6. it was S. Paul that laid his hands on the Ephesians after they were Baptized in the name of Jesus whereupon it is said that the Holy Ghost came upon them and in Acts 8. we read that when S. Philip by his Preaching and Miracles had converted the Samaritans and afterwards Baptized them S. Peter and S. Iohn two of the Apostles were sent to lay hands on them upon which it is said that they received the Holy Ghost ver 17. by which it appears that this Ministry of Confirmation appertained to the Apostles since S. Philip though a worker of Miracles a Preacher a Prime Deacon and if we may believe S. Cyprian one of the seventy two Disciples would not presume to assume it but left it to the Apostles as their peculiar Province And accordingly in the Primitive Church it was always performed by the hands of the Bishops for though from later Ages some probable instances are produced of some Presbyters that Confirmed in the Bishops absence or by his delegation yet in all Primitive Antiquity we have neither any one Canon nor example of it from whence we may fairly conclude that this imposition of hands for Confirmation was peculiar to the Apostles in the Original and to their Successors the Bishops in the continuation of it SECT X. Of Christ's Regal Acts in his Kingdom HAving in the foregoing Section given an account of the several Ministers which Christ imploys in the Administration of his Kingdom we proceed in the next place to inquire what those Acts of Royalty are which he himself exerts in his Kingdom and by which he perpetually rules and governs it and these may be distributed into three Orders First Such as he hath performed once for all Secondly Such as he hath always performed and will still continue to perform Thirdly Such as are yet to be peformed by him before the surrender of his Kingdom First One sort of the Royal Acts of our Saviour are those which he hath performed once for all and these are reducible to three particulars 1. His giving Laws to his Kingdom 2. His Mission of the Holy Spirit to subdue mens minds to the obedience of those Laws and to govern them by them 3. His erecting an External Polity or Form of Government in his Kingdom I. One of those Regal Acts which Christ hath performed in his Kingdom once for all is giving Laws to it and this he performed while he was upon Earth in those excellent Sermons and Discourses which he then preached and delivered to the World. For though he preached as a Prophet yet it was as a Royal Prophet as one that had Regal authority to Enact what he delivered into Laws for he was a King while he was upon Earth vid. p. 853 854 c. so that all his Prophesies were inforced with his Regal Authority and he commanded as he was a King whatsoever he taught as he was a Prophet Indeed had he been a mere Prophet he could not have obliged men by any Legislative Authority of his own to believe and obey him his Declarations had had no farther Force in them than as they expressed the Will and Command of the Almighty Sovereign of the World and if what he declared had not been Law before it could not have been made Law by his declaring it But being a Royal Prophet his words were Laws and all his Declarations carried a commanding power in them And hence the Gospel is called the Law of Christ Gal. 6.2 and the Law of the Spirit of life in or by Christ Iesus Rom. 8.2 and that command of loving our Neighbour as our self is called the Royal Law i. e. the Law of Christ our King Iam. 2.8 for this our Saviour calls his Commandment John 15.12 and his new Commandment viz. that ye love one another even as I have loved you Joh. 13.34 and not only this but all other duties of the Gospel are called his Commandments Ioh. 14.21 and Matt. 28.20 by all which it is evident that in revealing his Gospel to the World he did not only perform the part of a Prophet but also of a Legislator and that by his own inherent Authority as he was a King he stamp'd those Doctrines into Laws which he taught and delivered as a Prophet And such as his Kingly power is such are his Laws and Commandments he is a spiritual King a King of Souls of Wills and of Affections and accordingly his Laws are spiritual and do extend their obligation to the Souls and Wills and Affections of his Subjects For they not only oblige our outward man but also the inmost motions of our heart they lay their reins upon our thoughts and desires as well as upon our words and actions and give directions to our inward intentions as well as to our outward actions so that to satisfie their demands it is not sufficient that we do well unless we also intend well that the matter of our actions be good unless the aim and design of them be so also for according
rewarded accordingly with the Government of ten Cities ver 16 17. the other had been faithful though not altogether so diligent and by his one pound had gained five and accordingly he is made Lord of five Cities ver 18 19. By which he plainly declares that by so much as we fall short of those improvements we might have made in Piety and Vertue so much he will substract from our furure reward So that the sense of the Law of perfection is this as you would not incur the forfeiture of some degrees of your happiness in the other life be sure you imploy your utmost diligence in this to improve your selves in every grace and vertue of Religion II. There is the Law of sincerity which requires the being and Reality of all Christian Graces and vertues in us together with the proper Acts and Exercises of them as we have opportunity and doth no farther forbid those gradual defects of them which are within our possibility to supply than as they are the effects of our gross continued and wilful neglect and so inconsistent with sincerity Now the Reality of these Christian Vertues in us consists in the universal and prevailing consent and resolution of our Wills to regulate our practice by them so as not wilfully to admit of any thing that is contrary to them upon any occasion or temptation whatsoever and so long as this resolution continues firm and prevails in our practice we are just in the eye and judgment of this Law of sincerity though we do not always exert it to the utmost of our possibility He therefore who hath so submitted his Will to God as to be throughly resolved without any reserve to obey him and not to do any thing that is contrary to his Will either against knowledge or through affected ignorance or inconsideration hath in this resolution the real being of all Christian vertues in him and so long as this holds he stands uncondemned in the judgment of the Law of sincerity But though this resolution includes in it the being and reality of all Christian vertue yet doth it not include the utmost possibility of it nor doth it at all follow that because I am sincerely resolved to conduct my life by the Laws of Piety and Vertue therefore I must be in all respects as Pious and Vertuous as it is possible for me to be considering my present state and circumstances I may be sincerely resolved and yet not be always equally diligent and active I may now be exceeding vigilant and watchful and what I am now I may always be if I always exert the utmost of my possibility yet it may so happen anon that though I am sincerely resolved still I may be more remiss supine and inadvertent and in this posture a temptation may surprize me before I am aware and hurry me into an action against which I am firmly resolved And there is no doubt but even the best of men might have beâ—n much better than they are had they always 〈…〉 their possibilities and applied themseâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 their utmost skill and diligence to the methods and Ministries of improvement Now though not to exert our utmost power in the avoidance of evil and the improvement of our selves in vertue and goodness is doubtless a sin yet it is only a sin against the Law of perfection the Penalty of which is only deprivation of some degree of our future reward but so long as we keep up a prevailing resolution in our Wills to govern our 〈◊〉 by the Laws of Piety and Vertue we stand â—â—ear in the eye of the Law of sincerity the Penalty of which is no less than everlasting Exile from the presence of God into the dark and horrible Regions of endless misery and despair only this proviso it admits that if after we have sinned against it we reassume our good Resolution and heartily repent and amend we shall be released from the obligation to this dreadful Penalty and be restored to that happy state of grace and favour from whence we fell by our transgression So that the great difference between the Law of Perfection and the Law of Sincerity is this that the penalty of the later is much more severe but the duty of the former much more comprehensive Having thus given this brief account of our Saviours Legislation and Laws I proceed to the II. Of those Regal Acts which Christ hath performed in his Kingdom once for all and that is his Mission of the Holy Spirit to subdue Mens minds to the Obedience of his Laws and to govern them by them For so the Apostle makes the Mission of the Spirit to succeed the Triumphal progress of our Saviour to his Coronation in Heaven Eph. 4.8 He ascended up on high he led captivity captive he gave gifts unto Men where by the gifts which he gave we are to understand the Holy Spirit and in him all those extraordinary Gifts which he poured out upon his Church on the day of Pentecost for so Acts 2.33 S. Peter makes the effusion of the Spirit by Christ to be the consequence of his advancement to his universal Royalty therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear Now the end for which he sent his Spirit was to supply his room when he went from earth and in his absence to preside as his Vicegerent in his Kingdom below Since therefore this blessed Spirit acts as our Saviours Agent whatsoever he doth that our Saviour doth by him So that all those operations he performs in order to the subduing us to the obedience of Christ and to the governing of us when we are subdued are truly the operations of Christ himself It is he that conquers and governs us by his Spirit our hearts are the Territories which Christ invades by him and his inspirations are the victorious Arms by which Christ conquers and subdues them Our Wills are the Thrones on which Christ sits and rules and governs by him and his holy suggestions are the awful powers by which Christ himself commands our obedience But what it is that this blessed Spirit doth and hath done in order to the subduing Men to Christs Laws and governing them by them hath been already shewn at large and therefore of this I shall need say no more at present III. And lastly therefore another of those Regal Acts which Christ hath once for all performed in his Heavenly Kingdom is his erecting in it an external Polity and Government What this Polity is and what are the functions of it hath been shewn at large and it is as well by this external Government as by the internal Ministry of his Spirit that Christ now rules his Kingdom for in all just and lawful things the lawful Governours of his Church do act by his Commission and Authority as being substituted by him the visible representatives of his
raise us up by Iesus Christ i. e. by his personal Power and Agency and accordingly Iohn 6. 39 40.44.54 Christ promises us over and over again that he will raise us up at the last day and Iohn 11.25 he thus declares himself to Martha I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and Iohn 5.28 he tells us that the hour is coming in which all that are in the Grave should hear his voice And of the truth of this he hath given a most sure and certain pledge by his own Resurrection which not only demonstrates the possibility of the thing that the dead may rise but also gives ample assurance that they shall For that he hath in him a power to raise the dead is evident by his raising himself and to be sure that Power and Spirit that was in him when he raised himself is able to raise all those in whom it resides Whoever therefore hath the Spirit of Christ that Spirit by which he rose from the dead hath the power of the Resurrection in him which power to be sure will not be always in vain but one time or other will most certainly be reduced into Act For so the Apostle assures us Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us And indeed considering that Christ in dying and rising from the dead acted as our Head and Representative we may justly conclude that as when he laid down his life he laid it down for ours so when he took it up again he took up ours with it and consequently that he vertually raised us by the same Spirit whereby he actually raised himself because he hath not only Power but also Will as he is our Head and Representative to raise us even as he raised himself So that we are already risen in our causes since our Head and Representative is risen and hath the same power to raise us as he had to raise himself and hence he is called the first-born from the dead and we the Sons of the Resurrection Col. 1.18 because our Resurrection is now in the same causes that is in the same Will and Power as his was before he arose And therefore also he is called the first fruits of them that rise that is the pledge and handsel of the general Resurrection because he is risen with the same Will and Power to raise us that he had when he arose to raise himself and hence we find the Apostle argues from the Resurrection of Christ to the general Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead If we are all agreed that Christ is risen what reason can any man have to doubt of the general Resurrection But if there be no resurrection from the dead then is Christ not risen ver 13. To say that we shall not rise is by consequence to deny the resurrection of Christ because that very same will and power which must have been the cause of Christs resurrection if he be risen must be the cause of ours if ever we rise and therefore if it be insufficient to raise us it could never have been sufficient to raise him and consequently he cannot be risen If it be objected against this reasoning of the Apostle that our resurrection will be far more difficult to accomplish than Christs was because his body was never corrupted nor were the parts of it ever dispersed as ours will be long before the resurrection and therefore that cause which was sufficient to raise Christ may not be sufficient to raise us It may easily be answered that to the infinite power by which Christ was raised all possible things are equally easie and therefore allowing our resurrection to be but possible it must be every whit as easie to that infinite power by which Christ was raised to reduce all our scattered atoms into one mass again and to reorganize them into a humane body and reunite it to its ancient soul as it was to quicken the yet uncorrupted body of our Saviour So that all the question is whether the thing be possible for if it be it will be every whit as easie to the omnipotent cause of our Saviours resurrection to raise our bodies as it was to raise his But I beseech you why should it be thought more impossible for God to raise a dead corrupted body whose parts are all dispersed and scattered throughout the vast wilderness of matter and reunite it to its primitive soul than it was at first to create the matter of it and then form it into a humane body and animate it with a humane soul He who at the first creation could separate the confused mass of matter into so many distinct kinds and species of Beings can doubtless at the general resurrection as easily separate the same matter into its distinct and several individuals For what should hinder him who numbers the stars of the Heavens the sands of the Sea and the hairs of our heads from keeping an exact account of all our scattered particles and from knowing what dust belongs to every body and what body to every soul Or how can it be difficult to him whose power is as immense as his knowledg to recollect all the parts of this curious piece of Clockwork which he both made and took in sunder and to restore every pin into its proper place every spring to its due vigour and activity and every wheel to its primitive figure and motion If it be farther objected that there is an impossibility in the nature of the thing for the same dead body after it is corrupted and its parts all disperst to be reunited and raised to life again I answer that since these dispersed parts of our bodies do not perish but are safely laid up in the Chambers of Nature however they are scattered or wherever lodged they are all within the ken of Gods knowledg and within the reach of his power and so long as they are so why should their separation render it impossible for them to be reunited how and when he pleases If you say that in that perpetual course of transmutation which the matter of humane bodies runs it may happen and sometimes doubtless it doth that the same particles at several times are incorporated into several bodies As for instance when one man eats either the flesh or that which hath the flesh or substance of another in it and digests it into a part of his own body and substance in which case how is it possible at the resurrection that the substance or matter of this part should be reunited to them both To this I answer that considering that scarce the hundredth part of what we eat is digested into
the Tribulation of those days in that prodigious irruption of Vesuvius in Campania the woful effects whereof were felt not only in Rome and Italy but in a great part of Africa in Syria Constantinople and in all the adjoyning Countries Vid. Dion Cass. lib. 66.68 but it is apparent that our Saviour here prophesies of the Judgment of Ierusalem as it was a Type and Representation of the general Judgment so that though his Prophesie respects Ierusalems doom immediately yet through this it looks forward to the final Doom of the World and therefore as in foretelling the former he prefigures the later so in foretelling the foregoing signs of the former he prefigures the foregoing signs of the later And since he here intended the signs of Ierusalems dooms-day only for Types and Figures of those signs which shall forerun the dooms-day of the World and seeing that Types have always less in them than are in the things which they typifie and prefigure there is no doubt but those signs which shall forerun the last judgment will be much more eminent and illustrious than those of Ierusalems judgment which were intended only to Typifie and prefigure them and accordingly St. Ierom tells us of an ancient Tradition of the Jewish Doctors to which our Saviour in this Prediction seems plainly to refer that for fifteen days together before the general judgment there shall be transacted upon the Stage of Nature a continued Scene of fearful Signs and Wonders the Sea shall swell to a prodigious height and make a fearful noise with its tumbling Waves the Heavens shall crack day and night with loud and roaring Thunders the Earth shall groan under hideous Convulsions and be shaken with quotidian Earthquakes the Moon shall shed forth purple streams of discoloured light the Sun shall be cloathed in a dismal darkness and the Stars shall shrink in their light and twinkle like expiring Candles in the Socket the Air shall blaze with Portentous Comets and the whole frame of nature like a funeral Room shall be all hung round with mourning and with Ensigns of horrour and when these fatal symptoms appear upon the face of the Universe then shall the Inhabitants of the earth mourn and the Sinners in Sion shall be horribly afraid being loudly forewarned by these astonishing Portents of the near approach of their everlasting Doom Having thus briefly shewn what shall be the Signs of our Saviours coming to Judgment I proceed to the III. The Third general which was to shew the manner and circumstances of his coming and here we will first consider the place from whence he is to come Secondly the State in which he is to come Thirdly the Carriage on which he is to come Fourthly the Equipage with which he is to come Fifthly the place to which he is to come I. The place from which he is to come which is no other than the Highest Heavens where he now lives and reigns in his exalted and glorified Humanity for him must the Heavens receive till the time of the Restitution of all things Acts 3.21 in that bright Region of eternal day that Kingdom of Angels and of spirits of just men made perfect he is to reign in Person till the last and terrible day and from thence he is to begin his Circuit when he comes to keep his general Assizes upon earth for he is to be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels 2 Thess. 1.7 and to descend from Heaven with a shout 1 Thess. 4.16 so that in the close of those dreadful Alarms which he will give the World by the preceding signs of his coming he will arise from his imperial Seat at his Fathers right hand and descend in person from those high habitations of inaccessible light and every eye shall see him as he comes shooting like a Star from his Orb and the sight of him shall affect the whole World with unspeakable joy or consternation the righteous when they see him shall lift up their heads and rejoyce because they know he is their Friend and brings the day of their redemption with him they shall congratulate his Arrival and welcome him from Heaven with Songs of Triumph and deliverance but as for the wicked they shall shreik and lament at the sight of him as being conscious to themselves that by a thousand provocations they have render'd him their implacable Enemy the sense of which will cause them to exclaim in the bitter Agonies of their souls O yonder comes he whose mercies we have spurned whose Authority we have despised whose Laws we have trampled on and all the methods of whose love we have utterly baffled and defeated and now forlorn and miserable that we are how shall we abide his appearance or whither shall we flee from his presence O that some Rock would fall upon us or that some Mountain would be so pitiful as to swallow us up and bury us from his sight for ever But wo are we within these few moments the Rocks and Mountains will be gone the Heavens and Earth will melt away and nothing will be left besides our selves for his fiery indignation to prey on Thus shall the sight of the son of man descending from his Throne in the Heavens to judge the World inspire his friends with unspeakable joy and strike his enemies with terrour and confusion II. We will consider the State in which he is to come which shall be far different from that in which he came sixteen hundred years ago Then he came in an humble and despicable condition clouded with poverty and grief and oppressed with all the innocent infirmities of humane nature but at the last day he shall come in his glorified state cloathed in that Celestial Body which he now wears at the Right hand of God. For so Acts 1.11 the Angel assures his Disciples This same Iesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven that is he shall return to Judgment in that self-same glorified Body wherein you now see him ascend and what a glorious one that is we may partly learn from that majestick description of it Rev. 1.13 14 15 16. In the midst of the seven Candlesticks was one like the Son of man his head and his hair were white as wool as white as snow his eyes were as a flame of fire and his countenance was as the Sun shining in its strength And partly from his transfiguration on the Mount which was but a short essay and specimen of his Glorification for it 's said that his face did shine as the Sun and that his Raiment was white as the light white with those beams of Glory which from his transfigured Body shone through all his Apparel Mat. 17.2 When therefore he descends from Heaven to judg the World it shall be with this glorified Body this Body of pure and immaculate splendor with its hair shining like threds of light its eyes sparkling with
of himself to God and if every one then to be sure the Righteous must as well as the wicked not that there will be any doubt of the righteousness of the Righteous in the breast of the Judge to whose all-seeing Eye the darkest secrets of all hearts lie open but yet for otheâ—â—â—asons it is highly convenient they should undergo a trial as well as others As first for the more solemn and publick vindication of their wronged innocence that all that infamy and scandal with which their malicious Enemies have bespattered them may be wiped off before men and Angels and that being assoiled before all the World they may triumph for ever in a bright and glorious reputation And secondly That all those brave and unaffected acts of secret Piety and Charity to which none but God and themselves were conscious may be brought into the open light and to their everlasting renown proclaimed throughout all the vast Assembly of Spirits for now we shall see all those modest souls unmask'd whose silent and retired graces do make so little shew and noise in the world and all their humble pieties and bashful beauties which scarce any Eye ever saw but Gods shall be exposed to the publick view and general applause of Saints and Angels Thirdly They shall be tried also for the vindication of Gods impartial procedure in proportioning their reward to their vertue that so the degrees of each mans proficiency in piety and vertue being exposed to the view of the world by an impartial trial Angels and Men may be convinced that in distributing the different degrees of happiness the Almighty Judge is no way biassed by a fond partiality or respect of persons but that he proceeds upon immutable Principles of Iustice and doth exactly adjust and ballance his rewards with the degrees and numbers of our deserts and improvements that so even those that are set lowest in those blessed Forms and Classes of glorified Spirits may not envy those that are above them or complain that they are advanced no higher but every one may chearfully acknowledge himself to be placed where he ought to be as being fully convinced that he is only so many degrees inferiour to others in glory as they are superiour to him in divine graces and perfections Fourthly and lastly The Righteous shall undergo this Trial for the more glorious manifestation of the divine mercy and goodness For which reason I am apt to think that even their sins of which they have dearly and heartily repented shall in this their trial be exposed and brought upon the Stage that so in the free pardon of such an infinite number of them the whole Congregation of the blessed may behold and admire the infinite extent of the divine mercies and be thereby the deeper affected with and more vigorously excited to celebrate with Songs of praise the goodness of their merciful Iudge For these reasons the Wise man tells us Eccles. 12.14 that God shall bring every secret thing to judgment whether it be good or whether it be evil which Proposition being universal must extend to the Righteous as well as to the Wicked But yet though their sores shall be then laid open it shall be done by a soft and gentle hand by a serene Conscience and a smiling Iudge who without any angry look or severe reflection or any other circumstance but what shall contribute to the joys and triumphs of that day shall read over all the Items of their guilt and then cancel them for ever For IV. This Iudgment of the Righteous doth also include their Sentence Although to us whose operations are so slow and leisurely by reason of the unwieldiness of these fleshly Organs with which we act such a particular trial as hath been before described of such an infinite number of men and women may seem to require an unreasonable length of time yet if we consider that then both the Iudge and those who are to be judged shall be array'd in spiritual bodies in which they will be able to act with unspeakable nimbleness and dispatch we shall find that a little time comparatively may very well suffice for so great a transaction for the Iudge being one that can attend to infinite causes at once without any distraction and they who are to be judged being by reason of their spirituality in a condition to attend to every ones trial while they are undergoing their own I see no reason we have to imagine that they shall be tried successively one after another and if not why may we not suppose that we shall all be tried together at the same time and consequently that the trial of all may be transacted in as short a time as the trial of one And that they shall all be tried together is very probable since it is apparent from Scripture that they shall all be sentenced together for thus Mat. 25.34 Then shall the King say to those on his right hand i. e. to them all together Come ye blessed c. Having first by an accurate and impartial Trial manifested their integrity to all the world he shall arise out of his flaming Throne and with an audible voice and smiling Majesty pronounce their Sentence all together in these or such like words Come ye blessed Children of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world to which welcome Sentence they will doubtless all immediately resound a joyful Choir of Halelujahs through Heaven and Earth Allelujah Salvation and Glory and Power be to the Lord our God for true and righteous are his Iudgments ' Salvation be unto our Lord that sitteth on the Throne and to the Lamb for wonderful are thy works O Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways O thou King of Saints And now all their business being finished here below they shall from henceforth be no longer detained in this Vale of tears and misery but with overjoyed hearts shall take their leave of it for ever For V. And lastly Another thing implyed in this their Iudgment is their Assumption into the Clouds of heaven For their blessed Lord having thus publickly acquitted and pronounced them blessed they shall immediately feel the happy effect of it for now he will no longer suffer them to stand below at the Bar but from thence will call them up to his Tribunal there to give them a nearer access to his beloved person and more intimate participation of his glory At which powerful call and invitation of his they shall in an instant all take wing together like a mighty flock of pure and innocent Doves and fly aloft into the air singing and warbling as they go to meet their Redeemer in the Clouds of Heaven For so the Apostle in 1 Thes. 4.17 Then that is after their Resurrection and Judgment we which are alive and remain who never died but only have been changed and glorified shall be caught up together with them who shall be raised from the dead
the Holy Ghost So that between these Sacred Three there is an internal necessary subordination that can never be altered or inverted and therefore there is no doubt but that as they will always be subordinate so they will always act subordinately The Father as the first the Begetter and the Fountain of Divinity will be always first and supreme in the divine Monarchy the Son as begotten by him will still reign in subordination to him and the Holy Ghost as proceeding from both will continue to reign in subordination to both Thus to everlasting Ages only the Trinity in Unity shall reign and by its own immediate Will and Influence rule and bless all that Heavenly World over which it spreads its Almighty Wings and so it shall be all in all SECT XII Of the Reason and Wisdom of this Method of Gods Governing sinful Men by his own Eternal Son in our Natures THough we are not able either by our natural Reason or Revelation to fathom the depth of the Divine Wisdom or to trace out all the reasons of its Methods and Conduct yet upon diligent inquiry we can plainly discern the Tracts of an admirable Wisdom in all the stated Methods of Providence and though we cannot say that this or that is the main or only reason why God doth so or so for infinite wisdom may have infinitely greater and infinitely more reasons of its actions than our short-sighted Reason can at present discover yet by comparing one action of his with another and diligently observing the drift and tendency of them all how they concur to one common end and subserve each other to promote and accomplish it we cannot avoid discovering reason enough in them to convince and satisfie us that they all proceed from a most wise and intelligent Agent and this more especially in the admirable Oeconomy of the Mediation viz. the eternal Son of God's assuming our Nature and therein becoming our Prophet Priest and King for what â—easons there are why he should assume our nature therein to be our Prophet and our Priest hath been shewn before And now we shall proceed so far as our short Inquiries will reach to shew what admirable reason there is why he should be our King also to rule and govern us in the same assumed nature wherein he is our Prophet and our Priest of which according to the best â—ight that Revelation affords us there are these five Reasons assignable First That he might govern us in a way more accommodated to this degenerate state of our Natures Secondly That he might the more effectually cure and prevent the spreading contagion of Idolatry Thirdly That he might the more powerfully incourage our obedience Fourthly That he might oblige us to himself with a stronger tie of Gratitude and Ingenuity Fifthly That he might give us the more ample assurance of our future Reward I. God governs us by his own eternal Son in our natures the better to accommodate his Government to this our degenerate state which renders us extremely unfit to be governed immediately by God. It is true whilst man continued in his Primitive Innocence and Perfection he was in a condition fit to converse with God face to face and to live under his immediate Dominion for then his Sense being under the conduct of his Reason and all his brutal affections intirely subjected to the government and directions of his superior faculties he was as much ruled and influenced by the objects of his Reason as he is now by those of his Sense and was as powerfully moved and affected by what he only knew and believed as he is now by what he sees and feels so that then God that great invisible Spirit who is removed from all the perceptions of bodily sense and is only perceivable by our Reason and Faith did as powerfully impress mans hopes and fears and all the other principles of action in him as he could have done had he appeared as amiable and dreadful to the mans sight and feeling as he then did to his faith and reason In this state and condition therefore man was duly qualified to be governed immediately by God to receive his impressions and to be moved and acted by the over-ruling influence of his immense perfections But when once he had degenerated from this pure and blessed State of his nature and had thrown off the Government of his reason and subjected himself to the tyrannick sway of his brutal appetites he thereby unqualified himself to live under Gods immediate Dominion For now he being governed by his sensual appetites and they by the sensual Objects that surround him scarce any thing else can strike upon his hopes and fears but what is carnal and sensual or if any thing else doth to be sure some carnal object immediately interposes and breaks the stroke and renders it faint and ineffectual so that now God who is solely the object of our faith and reason can scarce be admitted to speak with our hopes and fears by which we are made to be governed or if he be his soft still voice is immediately drowned in the perpetual clamour which these sensitive goods and evils raise about us Wherefore having thus unqualified our selves by our Apostacy from the primitive state of our nature to live under the immediate Wing and Government of God and he being resolved in tender commiseration to us not to abandon us for ever did in his infinite wisdom project a new Method of governing us more accommodated to this our degenerate state viz. by uniting himself to sensible matter and therein addressing to our bodily senses in audible voices visible appearances and finally in our own form and nature which of all other sensible things we are most apt to be affected with to love and honour and reverence and obey For so immediately after his Fall God appeared to Adam probably in a glorious human form and spake to him in an audible voice and afterwards he did the same to the Patriarchs and to the whole Nation of the Jews from Mount Sinai among whom he also dwelt in a visible glory by which means he acquired to himself the same advantage of governing those sensual men that sensible objects had which by striking on their bodily sense did more powerfully insinuate themselves into their Wills and Affections But all these sensible appearances of God were only as so many preludia to his assuming our nature into personal union with his Godhead and therein exhibiting himself familiarly to the bodily senses of mankind which tho he now ceases to do as being exalted far above our sight on the right hand of God the Father there to reign till the consummation of all things yet seeing we believe he is there visible in himself cloathed in a most glorious human form we can by imagination supply the want of our sight of him and reach him by our inward sense tho we cannot come at him by our outward and whereas were he a mere