shewed you already how it was as the Glory of the only begotten Son by shewing you the great Agreement and Similitude there was between the Glory of Christ when he dwelt in the Tabernacle of Moses and in the Tabernacle of our Nature And when I consider how plainly this Text doth allude to the Shechinah or Divine Presence of the Word in that ancient Tabernacle I am very much induced to think that we ought not to exclude this Sense of it namely that as he dwelt in the Tabernacle of our Nature like as he dwelt in the Tabernacle of Moses so that Glory of his which they beheld in the Tabernacle of our Nature was like unto that Glory in which he appeared in the ancient Tabernacle But then this Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes also taken for a Note of Confirmation So Psal. 73. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truly God is good to Israel And thus St. Chrysostome understands it here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is not a Note of Similitude and Comparison but of Confirmation and unquestionable Distinction as if the Evangelist had said we saw his Glory such as became and was fit for the only begotten and truly natural Son of God For my Part I see no Reason why the Words may not be fairly understood in both Senses since they are no Ways opposite to nor inconsistent with one another and if so then this must be the Meaning of the Words We beheld his Glory which was like unto that Glory in which the only begotten Son appeared in the old Tabernacle and which was such as was every Way becoming the only begotten Son to appear in The first of which Senses I have proved to you already that the Glory of Christ in the Tabernacle of our Natures was like unto his Glory in the Tabernacle of Moses and therefore now I shall only prove the second that it was such as became and was every Way worthy of the only begotten Son of the Father and this I doubt not will plainly appear by considering the several Particulars of it 1st That visible Splendor and Brightness in which he appeared at his Baptism and Transfiguration was such as became him and was worthy of him For in all Probability that Splendor consisted of Angelical Beings clothed in bright and luminous Bodies because as I have formerly proved to you that Brightness in which he appeared upon the Mount and which he displayed from between the Cherubims was nothing else but those Angels of Light or ministring Spirits which he made to appear as Flames of Fire round about him and therefore that Train of Angels whom Esay saw filling the Temple Esay 6. 1. Our Saviour calls the Glory of the Lord Jo. 12. 41. that is that visible Glory in which the Lord appear'd from between the Cherubims And if that visible Glory consisted in a Train of Angels appearing in glorious Forms then there is no doubt but that visible Glory of our Saviour at his Baptism and Transfiguration was the same since as I have already shewed you it is described by the same Name and in the same Manner of Appearance and if so how well did it become the only begotten Son to be surrounded with the illustrious Guards of his Father's Court and attended on with those high-born Spirits whose Office it is to minister before the Throne of the most High For never was the most glorious Potentate upon Earth attended with such a splendid Train and Retinue the meanest of which was far more illustrious than the greatest and most high-born Monarch in the World So that as the most High God did by a Voice from Heaven both at his Baptism and Transfiguration declare him to be his beloved Son so by the glorious Train of Attendants he sent him he manifested the Truth of his Declaration for we must needs suppose him to be the Son of the most High when we see the most glorious Beings in all the Creation so willingly submit themselves to his Service and Attendance And when we see the most High adorning his Outside with the luminous Bodies of Angels we may reasonably conclude that there was a Divinity within and that the Iewel was God because the Casket was Angels But whatsoever this glorious Splendor was in which he was clothed at his Baptism and Transfiguration it was apparently such as very well became the only begotten Son not only because as the Philosopher saith that if God would ever take upon him a Body it would be certainly Light which is a Vestment most suitable to his Glory and Majesty but also because that miraculous Splendor was an infallible Token of the Presence of the Divinity in him for it never was but where God was present and therefore it is called the Glory of God it being the inseparable Concomitant of his more peculiar Residence For thus as I have shewed you upon the Mount and in the Tabernacle it was a visible Demonstration of the special Presence of the invisible God and wheresoever in all the Old Testament any Mention is made of its Appearance you shall find that there God himself did peculiarly reside And therefore it is not to be imagined that God would have communicated to our Saviour this inseparable Token of his own Presence unless the Divinity had resided in him For Iesus Christ was the only Person upon whom this visible Glory descended never did the Hand of Heaven put such a Robe and Diadem of Glory upon any Person in the World as this which our Saviour wore at his Baptism and Transfiguration which plainly denotes that he was the only Person in whom the Divinity was substantially united and did essentially dwell So that as this visible Glory was a certain Token of God's peculiar Residence in the Tabernacle and Temple so it was also of his special Presence in Christ for the History of his Baptism tells us that it did not only make a transient Appearance but that it remained on him signifying that the Divinity whose Presence was denoted by it had made him his Habitation and Place of constant Abode For though that visible Glory after some Time disappeared and went off from him yet the Thing signified by it viz. the Divine Presence always remained in him for by that outward Glory he was clearly manifested to be the Holy One of God the Tabernacle and Sanctuary in which God was and where he had taken up his Residence for ever that his Humane Nature was that sacred Temple where the Divinity intended to dwell and from whence for the future he would deliver all his Oracles and communicate all his Blessings to Mankind So that in this Respect this visible Glory was such as highly became the only begotten Son because it plainly denoted that the Fulness of the God-head dwelt bodily in him and had chosen him for his Habitation for ever and therefore Iohn Baptist tells us that though he knew him not yet this God had revealed
or no That such inert and sluggish Bodies should by their impetuous jostling together awaken one another out of their senseless Passiveness and make each other hear and feel their mutual Knocking 's and Jostlings and then from this sense into which they have thus awakened one another and which they are as incapable of as a Musical Instrument is of hearing its own Sounds or taking pleasure in the harmonious Aires that are playd upon it should proceed and consult together to make wise Laws and contrive the best Models of Government to investigate the Natures of Things and deduce from them the several Systems of Arts and Sciences in a word how is it possible that a Company of fluid Motes and Particles of Matter should ever be so artificially complicated and twisted one with another as to form an Vnderstanding that can lift up its Eyes and look beyond all this sensible World into that of immaterial Beings and conceive abstracted Notions of things which can never be Objects to any material Senses such as a pure Point Equality and Proportion Symmetry and Asymmetry of Magnitudes the Rise and Propagation of Dimensions infinite Divisibility and the like Notions that never were in Matter nor consequently could ever be extracted out of it That can correct the Errors of all our material Perceptions and demonstrate Things to be vastly different from what they apprehend and report them can prove the Sun for instance to be one handred and sixty times bigger than the Earth when to our Eye and Imagination it appears no bigger than a Bushel that can lodg within it self all that Mass of sensible Things which taketh up so much Room without it and when it hath piled them up upon one another in vast and most prodigious Numbers is still as capacious of more as when it was altogether empty in a word that can grasp the Vniverse with a Thought and comprehend the whole Latitude of Heaven and Earth within its own indivisible Center how senseless is it to imagine that such Noble Operations as these can be performed by a meer Complex of dead Atoms and senseless Particles of Matter And if they cannot as doubtless they cannot then from hence it will necessarily follow that the Soul of Man is an immaterial Thing Furthermore we see that tho the Soul takes in Objects of all sizes yet when once they are in they are not as Bodies in a material Place in which the Greater take up more Room than the Less For the Thought of a Mile or ten thousand Miles doth no more fill or stretch a Soul than that of a Foot or an Inch or a Mathematical Point and whereas all Matter hath its Parts and those extended one without another into Length and Breadth and Thickness and so is measurable by Inches Yards or solid Measures there is no such Thing as measurable Extension in any thing belonging to the Soul For in Cogitation which is the Essence of a Soul there is neither Length nor Breadth nor Thickness nor is it possible to have any Conceit of a Foot of Thought or a Yard of Reason a Pound of Wisdom or a Quart of Vertue And if what belongs to a Soul be immaterial it will necessarily follow that the Soul it self is immaterial too and as such capable of Immortality For immaterial Natures being pure and simple having neither contrary Qualities nor divisible Parts in them as material Things have can have no Priciples of Alteration and Corruption in them and being devoid of these they must needs be capable of living and subsisting for ever What Noble Beings therefore are the Souls of Men which together with those vast capacities of Vnderstanding of Moral Perfection of Ioy and Pleasure are naturally capable of Immortality and consequently of improving in Knowledge in Goodness and in Ioy and Pleasure unto all Eternity And therefore certainly a Soul must needs be a most precious Thing that can thus â—â—t-live all sublunary Beings and subsist for ever in so sâ—ublime a state of Glory and Beatitude Having thus shewn you the invaluable Worth of the Soul in Respect of its own natural Capacities I proceed 2. To shew you of what vast Esteem it is in the Judgment of all those who we must needs suppose do best understand the Worth of it and that is the whole World of Spirits For to be sure Spirits must best understand the Excellency of Spirits because they have a clearer In-sight into each others Natures and a more immediate Prospect of the Vertue Power and Excellency of each others Faculties For as for us whilest we are in this imbodied state and do understand by corporeal Organs we generally judge of the Worth and Excellency of Things by the Impression they make upon our Senses and as these are more or less gratified and affected with them we set a higher or lower Value upon them Since therefore Spirits are a sort of Beings that cannot touch or affect our Bodily Senses it is impossible we should be competent Judges of the true Worth and Value of them and therefore in this matter we ought to be guided by the Judgment of Spirits who must needs be supposed to have a more intimate Acquaintance with one anothers Natures And if we will be guided by these we shall find the whole World of Spirits even from the highest to the lowest unanimously rating the Souls of Men at an inestimable Price and Value And to make this appear I shall shew you the vast Price there is set upon them 1. By God the Father 2. By God the Son 3. By God the Holy Ghost 4. By the Holy Angles 5. By the Devils 1. Let us Consider the vast Price which God the Father hath set upon Souls For when he intended to form these Noble Beings and transmit them into terrestrial Bodies that so being compounded with a sensitive Nature they might clasp the Spiritual and Animal Worlds together he being sensible of the vast Hazards and infinite Snares they would be exposed to was so deeply concerned for their Preservation that he thought nothing too dear to save and secure them And fore-seeing their Fall from that terrestrial Happiness which he originally designed them notwithstanding the liberal Care he had taken to preserve them in the State of Innocence he designed to remove the Scene of their Happiness from Earth to Heaven being resolved if possible to repair the Loss of a terrestrial with a caelestial Paradise For which end instead of the Covenant of Innocence the Blessings whereof by their Sin they had for ever forfeited he introduces the Covenant of Repentance that so by the help of this Plank after their general Ship-wrack they might be preserved and go safe to the Shoar of a happy Eternity And that by this Covenant he might the more effectually recover them he designed to grant it to them in such a Way and upon such a wise and weighty Consideration as might at once affect them with the greatest sense of
And when he sees that they are utterly lost by their own Madness and Folly and that it is in vain to follow them any farther he casts a sorrowful Look upon them and like a grieved Friend after the utmost strugglings and extream Efforts of his affronted Goodness unwillingly leaves them to their own sad Fate and gives them up as it were with the Tears in his Eyes And can you think this blessed Spirit would be so industrious as he is in his Ministry for Souls that he would take such infinite Pains to save them be so extreamly urgent and solicitous for their Welfare if He did not know them to be a sort of Beings of an inestimable Worth and Value O blessed God what are not our Souls worth that are worth all the Pains thy blessed Spirit takes to save and make them happy That not only thou thought'st worth all those vast Thoughts and Counsels which thou hast spent upon them that not only thy Son thought worth all those vast Condescentions he stooped to to put those Thoughts in Execution but thy blessed Spirit also thinks worth all that unwearied Pains and Endeavour all that incessant Care and Importunity which he employs about them to save and rescue them from Sin and Misery Doubtless those Beings must needs be exceeding precious for whose Safety and Welfare all the blessed Trinity are so unspeakably concerned 4. Let us consider the vast Price which the Holy Angels put upon Souls For tho they are the Crown and Top of all the Creation of God and do by their essential Perfections border nearest upon him yet such is their Opinion of the Souls of Men that they think it no Disparagement to converse with and minister to them but from the begining of the World till now have been always ready to maintain a close Intercourse and intimate Correspondence with them and so far forth as they are permitted by the Laws of their invisible World they are continually attending to stretch forth a helping Hand to them in all their Needs and Necessities Tho they are the most Illustrious Courtiers of Heaven yet they disdain not to be the Life-Guards of Souls to pitch their Tents round about them as the Psalmist expresses it Psal. 34. 8. And interpose between them and their Danger to prompt them to and assist them in their Duties to strengthen them against or to remove their Temptations to comfort them in their Sorrows and chase away from them those malignant Spirits that are always about them watching all Opportunities to seduce and destroy them Hence Heb. 1 14. They are said to be ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation And how much they are concerned for the Safety and Welfare of these precious Beings they are charged with is evident by that Passage Luke 15. 16. There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth So Considerable are the Lives of Souls to the Angels of God that tho they are always entertained with the most ravishing Pleasures yet Heaven it self cannot divert them from being overjoyed at the Repentance of a Perishing Soul and celebrating its Recovery with a new Festival And when-ever the happy News is brought them that such a dying Soul is revived they not only attend to it in the midst of all their Joys and Triumphs but upon the hearing of it they shout for Joy and fill the Heavens with a new Acclamation And when-ever such a Penitent Soul hath bidden adieu to the Body those blessed Spirits stand ready to recieve and guard it through those Legions of malignant Spirits that do always infest these lower Tracts of Air and to conduct it safe to those happy Abodes where it is to lodge till the Resurrection for it is said of Lazarus's Soul Luke 16. 22. That it was carried by Angels into Abraham ' s Bosom All which is a clear Demonstration of the vast Esteem which those blessed Angels have of Souls For can it be thought that such noble Beings who have a God and themselves to converse with and have so immediate a Prospect both of his Beauty and their own to exercise their Faculties and employ their Contemplation would be so ready and willing as they are to attend upon Souls and minister to their Safety and Happiness if they had not a mighty Value and Estimation of them Surely if these immortal Spirits within us were not unspeakably dear and precious those Angelical Beings who have always the most sublime and enravishing Objects before them to employ and entertain their Faculties would never have thought it worth the while to stickle so zealously in their Affairs and concern themselves so much about them And thus our Saviour himself argues Mat. 18. 10. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in Heaven their Angels do behold the Face of my Father which is in Heaven that is do not undervalue any Soul for how mean or little soever some of them may appear to you they are under the Guardianship of those blessed Angels that are the Courtiers of God and do always attend upon his Majestick Presence 5. And Lastly Let us consider the vast Price which the Devils themselves do put upon Souls for ever since those malignant Spirits through their own Pride and Ambition revolted from God and conspir'd to make War with Heaven and revenge their Expulsion thence the constant Drift of all their Designs and Actions hath been to seduce and ruin them being conscious that of all the Beings that are within the reach of their Power there are none so dear to God as these and that by seducing from him these his most precious Creatures they shall do him the greatest spight and most effectually revenge upon him their own Damnation For doubtless were there any Beings below the Moon more dear to God than these they would bend their Force and Malice against them and not make these as they do the only Centers of their mischievous Activity Had they any nobler Game to fly at their ambitious Malice would disdain to stoop to the Quarry of Souls but because of all others These are the noblest and best worth the ruining therefore do these malignant Spirits turn all their Artillery upon them and level all their fiery Darts against them And how ambitious they are of seducing our Souls and training them on to Perdition is evident by the infinite Wiles and Snares and Stratagems they contrive against them by their unwearied Diligence to watch all Opportunities against them to surprize them where they are careless and assault them where they are weakest and cheat them with disguised Suggestions to inspect their Humours and apply themselves to their Interest and nick their Tempers with convenient Temptations And if after all their Labour Craft and Contrivance they can but seise the Game they hunt for the Blood of a Soul is so rich a Draught that
to him Vpon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost And I saw and bear Record that this was the Son of God Joh. 1. 33 34. where you may observe that though it was revealed to him only that he was the Person that should baptize with the Holy Ghost upon whom the Spirit descended yet he bare Record also that this Person was the Son of God rationally concluding that this visible Glory which was such an infallible Token of the special Presence of the Divinity was never to be communicated to any but the Son of God And it is very observable that at both these Times when our Saviour was arrayed in this glorious Splendor he is declared by a Voice from Heaven to be the Son of God it being the Father's Intention at once to manifest him to be his Son both by Word and Deed and at the same time when he declared him to be his Son to array him in such a Glory as became the Dignity of his Person 2dly The great and stupendous Miracles that he wrought were such as became his only begotten Son 'T is true it cannot be denied but several Miracles have been wrought by meer Men they being authorized by God and assisted by his Almighty Power but so many and so great as our Saviour wrought were never performed by any Mortal For as to the Number of them they were more than ever were wrought by Moses and all the Prophets together for besides those that are recorded which were all performed within the Space of four Years at most St. Iohn tells us that he wrought so many that the World could not contain the Records of them Ioh. 21. 25. which though it be an Hyperbolical Expression yet denotes thus much at least that the Number of them was so great that they were almost innumerable And as to the Greatness of them they did apparently exceed all that ever were wrought before in the World For he did not only raise the Dead but he raised himself also after he had been barbarously murdered by his Enemies He made the Winds and Sea obey him and with the Word of his Mouth vanquished the Devils and drave them from their Habitations and forc'd them against their Wills and their Interest to acknowledge him to be the Son of God And whereas the Miracles of Moses and the Prophets were most of them noxious they being Acts of Divine Vengeance upon the Wicked and Vngodly and consequently more apt to terrify than to oblige those that beheld them the Miracles of our Saviour were all of them Expressions of his unfeigned Love and Good-Will to the World For among all that vast Number of wondrous Works that he wrought there is not one to be found by which any Man was ever prejudiced unless it was his dismissing the Devils into the Swine of the Gadarens which without all doubt he did in Kindness and Good-will to the Owners who being so cruel to themselves as to prefer their Swine before their Saviour it was great Charity and Mercy to deprive them of that which was so apparent a Hindrance to their Enjoyment of a far greater Good So that all his wondrous Works were nothing but Acts of Kindness and Beneficence for he went about doing Good curing all that were possessed with the Devil and healing all manner of Diseases And whereas none of those that wrought Miracles before him could ever pretend to perform them by any immanent Power of their own but had only a transient Power given them for the present Miracle which they either obtained from God upon their Prayers and Supplications or was given by God for the Execution of his own Will and Command the blessed Iesus had this Power subjected and abiding in him so that he could exert it when and where and as often as he pleased and whether he were absent or present with the Word of his Mouth he could do what he would yea and many times he performed his wondrous Works without any Word or Sign intervening even by a silent Virtue proceeding from that miraculous Power with which he was endued and of all his Miracles there is only one which he performed upon Prayer and Supplication to his Father and that was his raising Lazarus from the Dead the Reason of which he himself gives Ioh. 11. 42. Because of the People which stand by that they may believe that thou hast sent me Intimating that he did not offer up this Prayer to his Father with design to obtain of him any new Power of working Miracles which he was already endued with in an abundant measure but that hereby I might signify to the People how acceptable I am to thee and let them see that I do all my Works in thy Name And that he had this Power is evident in that he did so plentifully communicate it to his Apostles and Followers which neither Moses nor the Prophets were ever able to do For thus Luke 10. 19. he expresly tells his Seventy Disciples Behold I give you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions and so also when he dismissed his Twelve Apostles into Iudea Matth. 10. 8. he bids them Go heal the Sick cleanse the Lepers raise the Dead cast out Devils for freely ye have received saith he and therefore freely give From all which it is apparent how far the miraculous Works of our Saviour did exceed all those that ever were done before him and being so great and excellent so far transcending all that ever was done by any Mortal they plainly demonstrated him to be the Son of God and very well became the Dignity of his Person For how could he have done all these mighty Things by a Power immanent in himself had he not been the Son of an Omnipotent Father And in what more becoming Way could he have expressed that Omnipotent Power which he derived from his Father than in those astonishing Miracles of Love which he wrought in the World 3dly The excellent and divine Doctrine which he taught was such as became the only begotten Son For certainly if we consider the excellent Frame and Contrivance of the Christian Religion we cannot but confess it to be most Divine and Godlike most worthy of that infinite Wisdom and Goodness from whence it was derived For Religion in general is the means of advancing Rational Beings to that Perfection and Happiness for which the great Creator hath designed and intended them and certainly never was there any Religion in the World more adapted to advance this noble Design of God than that which our Saviour hath taught For as for its Agenda what it requires to be done they all consist in acting reasonably and according to the Dignity of our Nature in thinking speaking and practising in loving and hating desiring and delighting hoping and fearing as becomes Reasonable Beings placed in our Condition and Circumstances and do require nothing of us but