them they are come to is to Mount Sion of which for the clearer comprehension of the Apostles meaning by it some things may be particularly considered of that Mount as it stood circumstanced under the Law and this in especial that the great Honour that is put upon it in Scripture is principally with respect to the Temple that then stood upon the top of it and which was meant and signified by it this was the place whither all the Males were to come three times a Year and the solemn part of all the Jewish Worship could be no where else performed and their private Worship where ever they were at home or abroad upon Solomon's request to God at the first dedication of it was generally directed towards this place This we may see in the case of Jonah who in the Whale's Belly thought of directing his Prayer towards this Holy Temple and the Prophet Daniel when it was pulled down and lay in Rubbish prayed even then towards it three times a day as we see in the 6th of Daniel This Temple placed upon Mount Sion was the only sanctified House where the mighty God was pleased to take up his dwelling since the World began the Tabernacle was small and ambulatory and but preparative to this glorious sanctified solemn Fabrick the City of Jerusalem and the Land of Canaan were only holy relatively and upon collateral accounts the City with reference to the Temple the place of God's residence but the Temple was inherently Holy made so by God's own dedication and descent into it at the first this was the place where day and night God was served without ceasing according to his own ordination and therefore he is said to love it above all the dwelling places of Jacob. Here the long expected Messiah the Son of God Christ himself was brought and all that the Law required performed about â—im in this Sacred House But sure we are the Apostle intended nothing literal about this Mount his drift is wholly spiritual and therefore having premised thus much of the literal typical State of this Mount we must now examine what it means in this place and as it lyes in the comparison and the sense intended seems very obvious by Mount Sion the heavenly Jerusalem and the City of the living God the same thing is intended and this is the meaning ye are come to all that was typified by them and all that was promised on the Churches behalf to them to every Promise made to the Church under those denominations which is no other but the Gospel-state and the blessed Priviledges and Administrations thereof in its fulness and glory the Apostle declares the meaning of these places to be spiritual and neither of private interpretation nor literal signification that the Jews might cease doting upon them in that low and mean sense and might be convinced that the Gospel vertually contains all that was excellent in them Mount Sion as was before said had its value from the Temple that stood upon it and therefore when the Gospel is prophesied of by it 't is said the mountain of the Lord's house shall be exalted on the top of the mountains Now instead of this material Temple every Christian under the Gospel is himself a living Temple of the Holy Ghost a Temple wherein God dwells and all spiritual Worship and Service is continually offered up and the whole Church is one intire living Temple wherein God is always spiritually served so 't is expressed in the 2d of Ephes Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the houshold of God and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord And he that is arrived at this true Gospel-state and all the glorious Enjoyments of it to have access to the Father through the Son by that one Spirit he is come to the true Mount Sion and the real Temple where God will dwell for ever he abides in the nearest access to God he is capable of and in all those holy and sanctified Qualifications which the Temple signified as it was then the Seat and Center of all the true Worship of God The second thing the Apostle tells the Jews they are come to is the heavenly Jerusalem the City of the living God and although the signification of this is the same with Mount Sion yet it is greatly farthering to the Apostle's design the mention of it that so the Jews might think nothing valuable amongst them was lost but all to be found with great advantage in the profession of the Gospel the whole Religion of that National Church of the Jews being contained in this City and therein vertually comprised the whole state of the Gospel The Catholick Church with great reason and signification under the Gospel every where spread and under no confinement is stiled a City and is called Jerusalem a vast difference there was between coming to that dreadful barren Mount Sinai in the Wilderness of Horeb and the City of the living God Several things are considerable in this City to heighten the comparison taking it to be made either with Mount Sinai or Jerusalem literal 1st The Noble and Honourable Government of this City 'T is governed by the great Charter of the Gospel none have any Rule but the living God himself no Laws are in force here but what come from Christ's own Mouth the Gospel Church is built up and managed as the Temple was which was the soul and glory of this City in every particular by God's own punctual direction and there is his delight there his Soul rests where he is served by Laws of his own composing and enacting 2dly This City is a place of invincible strength and security the Jews knew to their cost the earthly Jerusalem was not so here 's the Mount Sion that cannot be moved the Gates of Hell can never prevail against it 't is sure to remain against all opposition till it be safely taken up into Heaven from whence it came 3dly The Inhabitants of it are all united 't is a City compact together not with carnal and earthly but spiritual Ligaments there is such an union in it as God has chosen and takes pleasure in amidst great variety they have but one Head they all minister under him as fellow-citizens for the good of each other they are all guided and animated by one Spirit and they all tend to one and the same end 4thly 'T is a City of wonderful Beauty the City of the great King the Palace of the living and eternal God as the Psalmist says comprehensively and prophetically of it under the name of Sion Beautiful for scituation is mount Sion the joy of the whole earth this Beauty lyes in the Presence of God and in its Sanctity and in that Image and Superscription of God that it
every Man comes naturally to speak and understand this heavenly Language when he is born of the Spirit and brought up in the Nurture and Instruction of the Holy Ghost The prophane part of the World are ever deriding this and making it a constant part of their diversion Now what a profound solid part of Discretion do such Men act who have in contempt the Result and Effects of Infinite Wisdom The Papists have a Saying That never any Dog barked at a Crucifix but he run mad The Moral of that Fable is very good and may serve to instruct a prophane Protestant God himself gives a very solemn and withal dreadful Caution and Premonition to all prophane Scoffers by the Prophet Esaias Be not Mockers saith he lest your Bands be made strong that is lest I chuse your Delusion and give you irrecoverably up to your own prophane sence which will be found at last to be the worst sort of Madness I will not believe any will be so unnecessary critical and nice as to blame the Title of this small Tract in regard the Catholick Church under the Gospel is so very often in Scripture denominated by Mount Sion called the Mountain of the Lord's House which is to be set up upon the top of the Mountains And to this Mount Sion that is to the Gospel-Catholick Church are some way or other related all the blessed and glorious Spirits that are extant the fallen Angels are only excluded for by coming to this Mount the Apostle tells us we are come to God the Judge of all to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant to an innumerable company of Angels and to the Spirits of Just Men made perfect A great part of a true Christian's Life and I am sure the best part of it is a Converse with Spirits the best and noblest part of Man is a Spirit and he must shortly for some time exist only in that part and when the Body is reunited to it that second Coalition and Constitution will be altogether Spiritual for a Soul and a Spiritual Body conjoyned will render a Man not less Spiritual than he was while he existed singly in his Soul but will make him perfectly like to an Angel so we are told by our Saviour That in the Resurrection the Saints shall be like to the Angels of God Upon this account God is training us up and gradually fitting and preparing of us for this state he is acquainting us as much as our present condition will allow with himself and other Spirits here that so we may joyfully resign up our earthly state to become of their number and at last abide in that condition that will be purely Spiritual without any sort of Terrene Allay and such who live without any Communion with Spirits here and have no sort of foretaste nor any preparative relish of that state must needs if they any way make use of the thinking faculty leave their Bodies with very great Amusements The Mount of Spirits Hebrews 12.18 For ye are not come unto the Mount that might be touched and that burned with fire nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest Verse 19. And the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more Ver. 20. For they could not endure that which was commanded and if so much as a beast touch the mountain it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart Ver. 21. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Ver. 22. But we are come unto Mount Sion and unto the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels Ver. 23. To the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect Ver. 24. And to Jesus the Mediatour of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel THis Epistle is a Funeral Sermon preached at the Interment of the Law the material Body of Moses God himself buried long before and no man ever knew the place of his Sepulture and now his mystical Body his Doctrine growing old and ready to vanish away ripe for abolition or rather dissolution not so much by being repealed or rescinded but its use ceasing the end and substance of it appearing and its glory being naturally and of course swallowed up and dissolved into a greater glory that excels The Holy Ghost himself by this Epistle lays it honourably in the grave and so we have the Sepulchre of this mystical Body of Moses abiding with us at this day And happy had it been for the whole Nation of the Jews if this Sermon had had its due effect upon them God in his wise and gracious Providence gave them this Warning this Holy Instruction and Admonition to prevent their obstinate adhaesion to the Mosaical Rites and violent opposition of the Gospel thereby which ended in a very few years after the writing of this Epistle in the sad and utter Ruine of their Temple their City and themselves The Penman of this Epistle by such Probabilities as come very near to a Certainty appears to be St. Paul the great Doctor of the Gentiles and that Person whom it pleased God so eminently to make use of in the glorious Fulfilling of that early prophetick Prediction God shall perswade Japheth to dwell in the tents of Sem. The exact Time when this Epistle was written is very uncertain Antiquity affords us little or no Information about it what Knowledge we can have of it must be by consulting the Scripture and comparing it with it self It seems reasonable to suppose that St. Paul wrote it after his Release at Rome from two Years Imprisonment there with which the Story of the Acts of the Apostles ends wherein is contained an Ecclesiastical History of the Church for about 28 Years after our Saviour's Resurrection unto the 7th Year of Nere that he wrote it after his Release appears from hence that Chap. 13. v. 23. he intends and promiseth a Journey with Timothy which had he been a Prisoner and not in his own power is not reasonable to think he would have done 'T is likewise very probable to be written before the sharpest and most violent Persecutions fell upon the believing Jews before the slaughter Herod made at the instance of the Jews of St. James and those at Jerusalem because he tells them in this Epistle they had not yet resisted unto Blood and 't is very evident to be writ and to be well known to the Jews before St. Peter wrote his second Epistle for therein he seems very plainly to refer to this Epistle and if so then 't is plain also beyond denial the Author of it was St. Paul And Account says he that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation even as our beloved
aw'd and taught to reverence the Law God raised by them the Smoak and the Fire at Mount Sinai 3dly It was they that shook and rent the Rock 4thly It was they that sounded the Trumpet And 5thly from the consideration of which the great Emphasis of the Apostle's Speech chiefly ariseth 't was they framed and effected the articulate Voices and Words from God by which he spake to the People and by which the Law was conveyed to their Ears that is the Angels received the Law from God's Mouth and uttered it by Sounds and Expressions to the People and thereby became so the publishers of the Law as that it is truly and very properly called the word spoken by Angels and may be very significantly said to be ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator 'T will be a thing in its nature most instructing and full of the greatest spiritual delight and satisfaction to consider over the Apostles first Point those glorious Excellencies of Christ that are appertainant unto him by which he hath the preference of all that went before him and by which he is infinitely exalted beyond what ever can possibly succeed him and therefore a Revelation made and a Religion setled by him must needs with the supreamest Authority command our utmost obedience First he informs us of two transcendent supereminent and unparalled Qualifications of this glorious Person by whom God now speaks first that he hath appointed him Heir of all things and secondly that by him he made the Worlds The first of these relates chiefly to his Assumption of the Humanity and as he is Man this is an eternal statute of the Trinity that the second Person humbling himself to become Man and assuming the Humane Nature to the Divine as he was Man should be Heir of the whole Creation and inherit as a Prince and a Saviour all created Supremacy and Glory and therefore he himself often affirms in St. John that all authority and judgment is given unto him upon this very account because he is the Son of Man a Title only given to him in Scripture by himself and by no other and another expression of the Seed of the Woman that very Humane Nature that look'd so meanly and was such a stumbling-block to the Faith of the Jews and the Philosophy of the Gentils had annexed unto it the Lordship and Dominion of all this could not simply belong to the Humane Nature in it self but was by Divine Ordination of the Father by him of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named and therefore the Apostle saith that God has appointed him heir of all things and by this insinuates to the Jews that if he were Heir of all things then has he power in the Church to alter and settle what Religion he pleaseth dispose of their Ecclesiastick Fabrick as he thought good and that if they did intend to keep those eminent and peculiar Priviledges they had above the rest of the World they must own him and enjoy all from him and under him because God has ordained him Heir of all things But the second is that I shall chiefly insist on by which the Apostle inculcates his Divinity that by him God made the worlds this is a discovery that at first view seems rather to stupifie and amuse the Object so far exceeding the Faculty than any way to encourage us to contemplate or enquire or farther to think over this matter nor can any one Meditation about it be drawn from any other Topick than pure Revelation this is a great Oracle let fall from Heaven for the instruction of the Church and we must with all humble and thankful adoration enquire how far the Holy Ghost has inform'd us in this matter and not farther gaze lest we lose our selves in vain fruitless and unbecoming Speculations By whom also he made the worlds By the Worlds is not meant as some have conceived several Successions of the same World but 't is meant in the sense the Jews took the word to whom the Apostle accommodates himself and they reckoned upon three Worlds that above of Angels and Spirits that beneath them of Sun Moon and Stars and this inferior World in which we converse the Apostles drift is to shew that what was any where created was created and made by him and that according to St. John without him was nothing made that was made and this appears to be his meaning from Col. 1.16 For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible By whom not as a created instrument any way inferior to himself so it cannot be taken for we are told by Sr. John that the word by which all things were made was in the beginning with God and was God but by him as his own eternal Word Wisdom and Power that is to say the making of the World was an act peculiar to the second Person in the Trinity and the whole Deity in making the World acted by the second Person for 't is not said absolutely that Christ made the World but God by him which notifies to us the order of working in the Trinity and the distinct subsistence and operations of the persons and not bare instrumentality True it is that the act of each Person in the Trinity is in some sense the act of all the three yet by the Trinity a threefold Record is said to be born in Heaven and distinct acts are applied to each of the three and God does appear to us under distinct actings in the same eternal and blessed Essence by that threefold Record To make this deep and important Point as plain and overt as we can the best way is to view over those Scriptures where the Holy Ghost treats most expresly touching this matter St. John begins his Gospel with a great discovery of it In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made The Apostle's design in this Gospel is evidently to begin it with the Divinity and Godhead of Christ as the rest had begun theirs with the Original and History of his Humanity and Incarnation and this Declaration of his Divinity must needs be very short for no man can write a History of God or make any Narrative of his Eternal Existence the Apostle therefore in a few words tells us all that was needful and proper to be told about his Divinity and all that could be known about the Man Christ Jesus as he was God In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God In the beginning 't is an allusion to what Moses says about the Creation In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth that is before any thing created was extant and so here St. John says In the beginning was the word
carefully with tears Which is in other words to say take great heed least any of you Apostatize from the Christian Doctrine to Judaism and that by such example many others be seduced to do the like For in so doing you will resemble profane Esau who so easily as upon the pressure of a little temporary hunger and the relief of one poor meal sold his birthright and primogeniture upon which God had entailed the Priesthood and the Dominion of the Family the double portion and the blessing of the Covenant for so long as God was served within private walls and before the Tabernacle and Temple were erected to the first born was appurtenant the Priesthood and the right of performing all Holy and sacred Ministrations before the Lord and upon these accounts the Apostle calls him Profane Esau the apostatizing Jews would resemble him and that in a twofold respect 1st Because the Gospel that contained all the glorious priviledges was their peculiar birth-right the promises being made originally as we are told in the 9th of the Romans to them Christ came of them and first offered himself to them and the Gospel was preached in the first place to the Jews and tender'd to them as their particular Right before it reached the Gentiles 2dly If out of the impatience of some Temporary persecution and to obtain some present worldly ease and repose they should quit and forsake the Gospel they would become like prophane Esau who despised all his Spiritual Priviledges to satisfie his present appetite and sold them for so mean a carnal advantage as one poor meal Before we come to a distinct consideration of each particular of the Apostles comparison and for the clearer understanding of it some things may be previously noted First We have here set forth how much more Honourable the call of a Christian is then that of a Jew and how much greater and nobler attainments we arrive at by the Gospel then ever the Jews could pretend to by the Law And this is done First Negatively By shewing that we are past and not come to those lower and more terrene Dispensations and Methods of the Law but we are come to all the wonderful priviledges and advantages of the Gospel it has been God's way from the Beginning to proceed gradually in the Reveration of his love and good will to the World and still to advance farther and farther in discoveries of himself and in methods of Grace till at last the intercourse between God and Man upon the assumption of the Human Nature to the Divine is as near as it can be and Men come to have access to God in the manner the Apostle tells us Eph. 2. ver 18. For through him we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father which is to Worship in the Grace Glory and Efficacy of the whole Trinity and to have as much Communion and Fellowship with each Person distinctly and as much enjoyment of them as we are capable of in this lower World Secondly The Apostle here sets before the believing Jews the form of giving the Law and the effects of it both which had in them all the discouragement and disswasive imaginable from deserting the Gospel and returning to that for the giving forth of the Law was with all the amazing affrighting Terrour that possibly could be to represent the eternal Majesty and Soveraignty of God the Supream Legislator The dreadful Consequences of breaking his Laws and falling under his Justice and Wrath and how fearful a thing it is for a sinner without some reconciliation to fall into the Hands of the living God and the effect of this dreadful promulgation was suitable to it for the People fell under the Highest consternation and petitioned that God would please to speak for the future to them by Moses being far unable to endure any such personal converse with the Almighty Nay even Moses himself that had so long and so intimately conversed with God was not able to abide by this dreadful appearance but fell into a paroxism of quaking and fear and this sufficiently represented by the vast distance there was between God and Man in this dispensation and how impossible it was for Man under that Law ever to approach unto God with any comfort and satisfaction Thirdly By the Apostles so punctually setting forth the giving of the Law upon Mount Sinai and opposing that fingly to the Fabrick and State of the Gospel is contained this insinuation that it was comprehensive of their whole constitution the highest Priviledge and Honour the Jewish Church had to boast of and that wherein they did most eminently stand distinguished from the rest of the World was their being brought unto Mount Sinai and God Personally meeting them there and himself delivering his Law unto them By this they were most eminently in their publick national State taken into Covenant with God above all the kindreds of the Earth and constituted there by a political State and a National Church unto himself and the Apostle reckons it as one of their highest priviledges the giving of the Law Now the force of the Apostles Discourse lies in this the greatest thing you have to boast is your Law and God's giving it himself to you upon Mount Sinai thence came all your National Priviledges and that was indeed no other then a splendid Ministration of Death Man stood there before God under the greatest Guilt Condemnation and Misery and God ap peared with the severest and most awful aspect that Man could behold him in nothing but Thunders Earthquakes Voices Fires and dreadful Horror round about him The Pardon the Peace the Reconciliation the near Approach unto God that Man stood in need of these things belong to Mount Sion to which we are come by the Gospel and 't is a very sorry change for any Jew that had embraced the Christian profession and viewed the Glory of this spiritual Mount and the Inhabitants of it to return back to Mount Sinai and all the dreadful circumstances appurtenant to it I come now to the distinct consideration of each particular in these verses For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire or as some better read it the fire that burned the Apostle's scope is to discover the Excellency and Glory of the Gospel-state by a Negative comparison of it with that of the Legal and 't is one good step towards the shewing what a thing is to shew comparatively when the comparisons lie near what it is not you are not come says he unto that mount that might be touched coming to that Mount which your Fathers came to is quite out of date that is not your present business that is not the Dispensation God calls you to now but you are by his call come to another Mount a much nobler and better state of things we are said to be come to that to which God calls us unto and to which he requires our
bears here are to be seen the Beauties of Holiness and the Stamp of all the Divine Attributes and this City as it is called the heavenly Jerusalem and the City of the living God is opposed to the earthly Jerusalem as it abode during the whole state of the Law for we are told in the Epistle to the Galatians that that was in bondage with her Children as well as Mount Sinai but Jerusalem which is above says he is free which is this heavenly Jerusalem he here speaks of the Apostle means not by Jerusalem above the Heavenly State that is plain by the Context but he means the State of the Gospel-Church here upon Earth the thing to be enquired after is upon what account 't is called the heavenly Jerusalem and Jerusalem above and that we shall find to be a most proper and reasonable Appellation of it and that upon several accounts 1st It comes originally down from Heaven Divine Revelation is the Ground and Foundation of it 2dly All the Inhabitants of Heaven dwell also here both the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost by their gracious Presence and Influences and in that respect this is said to be their Dwelling-place and their Abode for ever and therefore in the following words the Apostle tells them who the Inhabitants are of this Mount and City to which they are come God the Judge of all Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and an innumerable company of Angels the Angels are all as ministring Spirits and Servants present in it and conversant about it and such Inhabitants must needs make an holy City 3dly It is made up of Members part in Heaven and part on Earth the blessed Angels and the Saints departed as well as the Saints living on Earth are parts of it and so it has a good Title to be called Heavenly and Jerusalem above 4thly All the true Members of it even upon Earth are holy and heavenly Persons their conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their City-conversation is in Heaven and they are all travelling towards their everlasting rest there And so this Heavenly Jerusalem is the Heavenly State of the Catholick Church under the Gospel which is not fixed to any one earthly place nor can it be in bondage or come under captivity but is free is the Mother of us all comes from above and returns thither it may be said of it as it was of Christ when he was the Son of Man upon Earth he was also the Son of Man in Heaven and so this Jerusalem this heavenly City whil'st it is upon Earth it is also in Heaven the nature of it is purely spiritual and heavenly and the whole World both Jews and Gentiles are comprehended in it making as the Apostle speaks of them twain one new man The third think Believers are said to come to is an innumerable company of Angels the expression is taken out of the 7th of Daniel where it is said speaking of God Thousand thousands minister unto him and Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him ye are come to Miriads of Angels which is well render'd an innumerable company of Angels and this is made good several ways 1st We are come so to them as to be of the same Society and Family with them they are part of Christ's Houshold only inhabit a Story above us for by the Blood of his Cross all things in Heaven and Earth are gathered together in and under him as their Supreme Head and Soveraign and make but one Incorporation they all joyn together in the same Adoration and Worship for God hath said let all the Angels of God worship him and they declare themselves upon all occasions to be fellow-servants with the Saints in all Christ's Concerns in all the Affairs of his House and Family 2dly We are come to these Angels by having a secret invisible yet constant and sweet Communion with them great is the invisible influence the Angels have upon us and the converse they have with us taking notice of all our private Devotions and farthering us therein by many unthought of and undiscerned yet very advantageous circumstances such as lyes in their way to administer and also by being present in the publick and solemn Assemblies of the Church where they not only joyn and concur in the Worship and Service performed but without all doubt in such methods as are proper to them to operate in they are aiding and assisting and both in the private and publick Worship of the Saints continually preventing and opposing the malignant endeavours of Satan and the other Angels and so there is always a sweet Communion maintained between the Saints upon Earth and them in Heaven as the Saints here look upwards and rejoyce in their fix'd and establish'd Happiness and Glory above so they are continually ascending and descending and visiting the Saints here below and using all endeavours to bring them safe to the same blessed state with themselves and beholding the whole Trinity so employed as they are for Man's recovery and taking such complacency in it and they themselves having received Orders in Heaven from their Supreme Soveraign and Head to that purpose their whole Endeavours tend that way and to assist in the compleating of the Church as it is their peculiar Province so it is also their great Delight and Satisfaction 3dly We are come to those Miriads of Angels as they are Christ's supreme invisible Agents and Officers in his Church and to all the Advantages of their Service and Ministry in general they have the care of all the Elect the whole Body of the Faithful are committed to their charge and keeping we are told the Angels of the Lord encampeth about them that fear him as they did about Elisha of old How many gracious and wonderful Deliverances does Christ effect for his Church in general and each individual Member of it by the Angelical Ministry the manner of which though we enjoy the benefit is to us unknown and as they were under the Old Testament employed to make extraordinary Revelations of the Will of God to the World so they are now employed to be continually suggesting the Mind and Will of God to the Hearts and Spirits of his chosen and to counter-work the Devil in all his Temptations and Suggestions to the contrary this is not done in such a way as the holy Spirit operates who is an indweller with us and cohabits with the Soul but the Angels work upon us only as external Operators and so what they do is by making impressions upon our Faculties from outward and external Means and Circumstances suted thereunto and from our present Inclination and Disposition sutable to which they accommodate their Actings but they convey not as the Holy Ghost does any inward Power of Acting nor any new Abilities to our Souls 4thly As the evil Angels are constant observers of all the Transactions of the Church in general and of every Member of it in particular in order
all the Title and Right of Primogeniture appurtenant unto them This infinitely exceeds the state of the Jews who were but a typical People their general Assembly was but a national Assembly and though many excellent particular Saints were amongst them yet they were in their National Constitution but a figure and representation of this true Saintship and the whole that belonged to them was but a shadow and Image of this true Catholick Church and not the thing it self they were enrolled indeed but it was upon Earth and upon an Earthly account to preserve their Tribes distinct and so to adjust their Earthly inheritances in Canaan The greatest difficulty that seems to be in this part of the Apostles Comparison is what is meant by this expression the general assembly since there neither was nor ever will be a time that all the Members of the Church under the Gospel shall meet together till Christ's second coming the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used I take to signifie the same thing and the latter to be exegetical of the former 't is not meant of the Church of the first-born of all assembling in any one place but of that Church every where assembling in several and distinct parts 't is spoken in opposition to the Assemblies of the Jews who were but one particular nation assembling at one place in Jerusalem to which they were confin'd the generality the Apostle means does not arise from their meeting all in one place but from their meeting without confinement all the World over to this general Assembly of the Gospel-Church every Believer is come and to it is united but 't is after a Spiritual manner and therein lies the excellency of this Union this Assembly where ever or in what parts soever they are met are animated by one Spirit they have the same Faith and Hope the same Priviledges and Enjoyments and wherein the Life of the Union lies they are all united under one common Head and are but one Body belonging to it and so the sense seems to be this which contains in it the force of the Apostles comparison ye are not after an Earthly manner come with your Bodies to any such assembly as that at mount Sinai nor as that of the Males at the earthly Jerusalem but ye are come which is infinitely better in your Souls and Spirits unto the Society and Fellowship of all the Sanctified and saved throughout the World who now every-where Worship the Father in Spirit and Truth and are all present together in one Spirit though corporally divided having but one common interest rejoycing in the welfare and prosperity of each other and closely united in their mutual prayers and concerns each for other This is of all others the most truly Honourable and Noble Society that we can converse with in this World here the Blessing is commanded life for evermore here 's the Crown of all Mans glory and Happiness to be obtained he that is no Member of this Association is under a black Character and comes no farther then the Assembly of the fallen Angels and their Associates the Scripture informs us that the Wrath of God abides upon every such Man and the Judge stands at the Door shortly to execute it the foundation of this Glorious Happy and Blessed Assembly stands sure and this is the seal of it the Lord knows them that are his they are those God has eternally designed for Happiness and Glory their Record is on high their Names are in the Roll of God's eternal Determinations And this ought to seem strange to none for no Man can with any tollerable sense conceive that infinite Wisdom should make any thing and not at the same time design it to its utmost end 't is contradicted by our own finite and imperfect discretion who still have our eyes upon the ultimate end of all that we enterprize and to me it seems that the whole system of those objections that are made against the Doctrine of God's Decrees touching Mens eternal condition is fully discarded with this one consideration that God infinitely foreseeing and perfectly knowing from all eternity whatever any creature he made would do and how he would behave himself when he should be brought into being and existence 't was all one for him in point of Justice to determin his condition before he was made as to determine it at the day of Judgment after all the actions of his Life were over the prescience of God cannot with any tollerable satisfaction to our own reason be denyed for whatever potentiality God created he must needs know and foresee the utmost extent of it or else he could not design any certain end to himself by it but might remain ignorant of the success and event of a Creature which he had from himself given being to which is absurd to suppose for infinite knowledge must needs comprehend and look beyond all finite actions and therefore when God made Man with freedom of choice he must needs foreknow that made that faculty which way his will would incline and the utmost journy it could possibly lead him or else he must remain wholly ignorant what would be the suceess of his own Work and incapable of making any certain determination with himself about him We find in Scripture prescience and election always go together and prescience has the precedence so in St. Peters first Epistle he calls those to whom he wrote elect according to the foreknowledge of God and St. Paul in his deep and solemn discourse about this matter tells us whom he did foreknow them also he did predestinate 5thly They are said to come to God the Judge of all they are come to the Lord paramount of the Church the great author and end of all transactions therein coming to him and drawing near to him in Scripture Phrase is coming to partake of his Fovour and Grace or else coming to the Judge of all were of all conditions the most dreadful the wicked he keeps at a distance and is said to know afar off this is of all attainments the most Superlative all that the Heart of Man can wish is included herein to come to his Maker with acceptation and to find favour in his sight whose favour is better then Life it self and to have the Supream Judge of all on his side As this mighty Judge was accompanied with all possible terror and dread at Mount Sinai and all the People kept upon pain of Death at a great distance from him to tell us how far removed from God every Man is by the Law and in his sinful estate so by the Gospel we are come as near to him as humane nature will admit and he appears to us in all the glory of his reconciling Grace and receives us into intimate fellowship and converse with him for this is the declared state of the Gospel We have fellowship with the Father and with the Son and the blood
of Jesus cleanseth us from all sin Several things result from this Supreme Priviledge of the Gospel That we are come to God the Judge of all as reconciled to him and having his righteous judgment on our side First That he will certainly revenge the Churches Cause upon all their implacable Enemies who alone is the Judge of all Causes and Complaints and whatever Controversie hath been at any time in any Age between Satan and the Church and between the wicked prophane persecuting part of the World and the Church God the Judge of all will determine it on the Churches side will vindicate their innocency and their faithful adherence to him his own interest and theirs being the same And how great a comfort ought this to be to every sincere Christian however persecuted and oppressed by Men to consider that yet the righteous God is of his side and that the Supreme Judge who cannot do unrighteously whose Judgment is the very perfection of Justice and whose Judgment is final and irreversible will be sure to give judgment for him at last and reward his Enemies with shame and confusion 2dly He will certainly recompence all his Servants for every faithful service they shall perform for him the reward of all their Works will be sure to follow them into the next World this is the great stay and support to all true Christians under their present pressures that their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord this St. Paul encouraged himself in the prospect of in the midst of all the Heroclitons and Hurricanes of Persecution he met with There is says he laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give unto me 3dly All the dreadful fears and apprehensions of God that ever since the fall have inhabited the minds of Men are by this access unto God discharged and dismiss'd this is that which hath kept the whole World in bondage all their days the fear of God as their Judge standing at the door ready to execute Wrath upon all Disobedience this is the inward invisible Wound Mankind carry about them this is the inward heart-afflicting Fear and Terror of every sinner nor can he any way discharge or disburden himself of it for 't is engraven in his being and is part of himself every Man 's own Conscience which is the ability he has to judge of himself with reference to the Judgment of God is God's Vice-Roy and whether he will or no will give in evidence for God against him and justifie truth against carnal and corrupt interest What sad and doleful reflections has the sense of God's judgment occasioned in Men Men think of God and are troubled and say with Job Destruction from God was a terrour to me and by reason of his highness I could not endure How uneasie are Men in all Humane Comforts and Enjoyments where the sense of this abides A Man that has God for his Enemy at last and nothing but this present World for his Portion is meanly and wofully circumstanced now by the Gospel all this is removed we come to the Judge of all as our best friend and are able to say with an holy boast and exâ—ltation Who shall condemn 't is God the Judge of all that justifies who shall lay any thing to our charge since the Supreme Judge of all the World is for us what now can trouble us what is it can now engender sorrow in our breasts we are now impregnable against ever being made truly miserable he that has God of his side can never be made unhappy the false corrupt judgment of this wicked degenerate World will be of mean value with us and little concern us since the Judge of all is on our side and we are secure of being by his judgment made eternally happy for as the Apostle tells the suffering Saints God will reward tribulation to them that trouble them but to those that are troubled eternal rest and glory 6thly We are said to be come to the spirits of just men made perfect that is compleated in the full reward of their Christian course the Apostle mentions all the parts of the Gospel Catholick Church both in Heaven and in Earth to manifest to what a Noble and Honourable Society we are joyned and incorporated by the Faith of the Gospel and how desperate and irrecoverable an evil Apostasie from such a Communion were this Expression throws that foolish idle Fiction of Purgatory quite out of dores 't is by this Expression of the Apostle excommunicated and utterly cast out of the Catholick Church for ever for all the departed Saints are reckoned here to be in one only condition they are not some in one state and some in another but they are all perfect and compleat which utterly confutes all the fictitious doting Dreams of such a refining state as Purgatory every departed Saint's spirit is in a state of perfection with God they are all in his presence and therefore they are by the Apostle in this enumeration placed next unto him The best way of considering this Expression is to discover what prospect we can gain by it into the other World and what can be certainly collected from it of the state of the blessed in Heaven These three things are very plainly deductive from hence 1. That all the Saints departed are in a state of Perfection and enjoy a blessed Communion with God 2. That they also enjoy a Communion with the Church militant here And 3. That the Church here enjoy also a Communion with them both which last particulars are implied in our being said to be come unto them The Souls departed hence have this Communion with the Church below 1. They worship as they do him that sits on the Throne and the Lamb they adore the Merit of Christ's Blood and the Glory of free Grace for ever and wheresoever any Gospel-worship is offered up upon Earth they are present in spirit and concur in it the Service and Worship of Heaven is of the very same nature with that of the Saints upon Earth thô performed in the Royal Presence and in the heavenly Temple and in some respects differently circumstanc'd 2. They have a tender regard to all the labouring fighting striving Servants of Christ here below wishing a happy success to them well remembring that themselves were lately in that condition the state of the Church here that is at Sea and tossed with many storms no doubt is much in their minds thô they are safely arrived themselves in the Harbour of Eternal Rest and Happiness 3. They rejoyce greatly in all the Churches prosperity and particularly in its increase if the conversion of sinners on Earth cause great joy in Heaven no doubt but the Spirits made perfect are partakers of it as well as the Angels for they are altogether as one Society and they are equally capable of it as they are for they are like the Angels of God and they have much
inseparably appurtenant to both is the Blood of Sprinkling which he says speaks better things than the Blood of Abel this is particularly and emphatically mentioned because the death and suffering of Christ the shedding of his precious Blood was the greatest performance of his mediatory Work here upon Earth the grand Fundamental of the New Covenant and of all the effects and consequences of it all was purchased by this as the price of it and in regard the Jews had been much accustomed under the Old Covenant to the shedding of Blood without which there was no remission the Apostle instructs them that this New Covenant infinitely excels the other in that very particular and he calls it the Blood of Sprinkling because there was no Blood at any time offered under the Law but part of it was sprinkled and as the Old Covenant at Horeb was confirmed by Moses the Mediator of it by sprinkling the Blood of the Oxen then sacrificed so this New Covenant is ratified by the sprinkling of Blood but 't is such Blood as of which all that was shed before was but typical and such Blood as is of an infinite value the Blood of God himself and as the Apostle in the 9th Chap. makes the comparison if the blood of bulls and goates says he could serve for Legal Typical and Ceremonial Purifications how much more shall the blood of Christ who by the Eternal Spirit offer'd up himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead Works so that by this expression the Apostle calling this blood the blood of sprinkling we are to understand that this is the soul purifying soul-justifying and soul-saving blood of which all the Sacrific'd Blood since the World began since Abel's first Sacrifices were but a Type and Prefiguration 't is being sprinkled with this that gives entrance and admittance into Heaven the true sanctuary of which admittance into the Earthly sanctuary by the sprinkling of blood was but a Type and this blood as 't is of transcendent Power and Vertue so it has a general and universal efficacy so the Prophet Esau tells us Esau 52.15 Where 't is Prophesied that Christ should with his Blood sprinkle many Nations which refers to that universal advantage the gentile World should reap by it this blood is not like the blood of the legal sacrifices that was often shed and reached but to one Nation this blood is of that infinite value that the whole race of Mankind the whole World are sprinkled with it in order to Justification and Salvation and there needs no repetition of it for by this one Sacrifice offer'd up Christ has for ever perfected them that are sanctified and there remains no more Sacrifice for Sin this blood the Apostle says speaks better things then the blood of Abel which was a consideration of great moment unto the Jews Some modern interpreters for I see it in no ancient Author conceive by the blood of Abel here is not meant his own blood but the blood of the sacrifices he slew which were the first we read of that God accepted and he gave such a Testimonial to them that in the foregoing Chapter the Apostle says upon that account he is yet spoken of not as 't is vulgarly rendred yet speaketh but is yet spoken of That which induc'd them to make this meaning of the Apostles Words was I suppose the little advantage there seems to be in the comparison to compare the blood of a Saviour with the blood of a murdered Man then which nothing could speak worse for it must needs call for vengeance and punishment and therefore there seems at first view to be little commendation given to the blood of Christ by saying that it speaks better things then the blood of Abel for it could not speak worse but to say it speaks better things then the very first sacrifice we read of that God accepted and gave testimony to of the best Man then in the World carries great advantage in the comparison this interpretation upon this account seems probable and is plausable but 't is not as I conceive the sense of the Apostle and to me it seems rejected By the words upon this account that the voice and cry that Abel's blood is said to have was after his death and God tells Cain his Brothers blood cryed unto him and so it was Abel's own blood that cryed now 't is plain the Apostle in saying that Christ's blood speaks better things then the blood of Abel speaks alludes to the speaking and crying of Abel's blood from the ground unto God as 't is recorded in Genesis the Jews had not only many false and pernicious instructors ready to diswade them from receiving the Gospel at first but after any of them had received it there were many false Judaizing Apostles who endeavour'd all they could to engage them to a relapse and apostasie either in whole or in part the Apostles business as has been often suggested is to prevent this latter and to establish such as had received the Christian Doctrine but were in danger of drawing back Now 't is most certain that amongst other discouragements that were suggested to the Believing Hebrews this was one of the chief and with which they were much affected that they and their rulers having shed the blood of this Mediator and taken it upon themselves and their posterity and some of the Apostles having openly to their faces reproached the Jewish Nation with it that they had been the betrayers and murderers of this Holy and Blessed Jesus the Son of God they could not reasonably hope for nor expect any benefit from that blood they had so murderously shed To obviate this objection the Apostle after he had mentioned the Mediator of this New Covenant and his blood wherewith he sprinkles the World to which he tells them by the Gospel they were come adds this which is of peculiar force and reference to the Jews and very emphatically argumentum ad hominem that this blood speaks better things then the blood of Abel Abel was murdered and his blood spake and cryed from the Ground to Heaven for yengeance upon his brother that murdered him but Christ was Betrayed and Murdered and his blood calls and cries aloud for pardon and forgivness for his very betrayers and crucifiers so that none of them need to fall into Cain's desparation and quit the Gospel upon any such sad consideration for this Blood though it was shed like Abel's yet had quite another Cry and Language attended it it called for no vengeance upon any man but for Peace Pardon and Reconciliation for all men even the very worst of his Enemies and Crucifiers and this renders the Comparison of wonderful advantage and efficacy to that end for which it was intended Nothing is more usual in St. Paul's Writings especially in his Epistle to the Romans than to answer Objections that were then well and commonly known without reciting them of which we at this day