Father and the Son under the name of Wisdom Prov. 8. 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting I was brought forth just so doth the Psalmist express the Eternal generation of the Son Psalm 1103. Ex utero ante Luciferum genui te so was the old reading of those words in Jerome and Austin Brought forth and from the womb these words signifie that by Wisdom the Son is meant and the mention of the Womb of the Father doth signifie that this Son is of the same substance with the Father as children of the womb are of the same substance with their Parents and Before the morning Star signifieth that the Son was before time or any other Creature And that it may appear that by Wisdom the Son of God is meant the words of the Apostle will declare 1 Cor. 1. 24. where he calleth Christ The wisdom of God And as the Psalmist tells us that God made all things in wisdom So the Gospel tells us who this wisdome is viz. The Son The Word The Father created all things but he created them by the Son which St. John expresseth in these words Joh. 1. 3. All things were made by him that is by the Son or Word and this St. Paul doth clearly apply to Christ Col. 1. 16. For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers so that even the most glorious Arch-Angels and Angels are but the Creatures of this Son of God and this Wisdom of God Finally These men that tell us That God hath not always a Son may as well tell us that God had not always Wisdom But as they dare not deny the Wisdom of God to have been from Eternity so neither can they without very great impudence deny the Word or Son of the Father to have been from everlasting I will conclude this Chapter with the words of St. Basil who thus argued against the Anti-Trinitarians out of the words of St. John k Basil Hom. 16. To him that shall say There was a time when the Son or Word was not you may answer If this speech be true which the Gospel delivereth In the beginning was the Word I pray when was that time when he was not CHAP. IIII. Of the Holy Ghost That he is one of the Three Divine Persons and that he is to be prayed unto which is shewed both both by Warrant of Scripture and by the practice of the Primitive Christians and of the Church of England wherein he is confessed in Creeds and invoked in Baptisms and Doxologies THe Macedonian Hereticks confessed the Divine Personality of the Father and the Son but they denied the Person of the Holy Ghost and there are some among us who although they will not openly deny the Divinity and Person of the Holy Ghost yet they are doubtful and suspensive therein And this because they cannot or will not finde that any Prayers in Scripture are used or directed to the Holy Spirit as they are both to the Father and the Son They finde the Son of God praying to the Father Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit And Forgive them Father they know not what they do They Luk. 23. 46. 34. find also St. Stephen praying to the Son Lord Act. 7. 59. Jesus receive my Spirit For the satisfaction of such as these who are neither maliciously nor obstinately wedded to this error I will endeavour to shew both the Personality of the most Holy Spirit and also that he is to be prayed unto and both these by the evidences and precedents of holy writ and by the practice of our of our owne Church and also of the Primitive Christians First That the Holy Ghost is a Divine and distinct Person in the Trinity as well and as truly as either the Father or the Son We find that the Scriptures record and report many diverse actions and operations of the Holy Ghost which must needs be the performances of a Person for He appeared as a Dove And as fiery Tongues He teacheth He leadeth into all truth He brought into the Apostles memories whatsoever Christ had said He decreed in a Council Acts 15. He forgiveth sins by the Apostles by whom he was received and entertained for that purpose Joh. 20. 22. He is an Advocate or Comforter He distributeth gifts He spake by the Prophets and in the Apostles He calleth and maketh Ministers Act. 13. 2. And Bishops Act. 20. 28. where the very Original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I know not why our Translators rendred Overseers when in other places they Translated the very same word Bishops which is the very Text word without any alteration but only as it is formed to out English Idiom In a word this Holy Spirit is produced by St. John as a witness that Jesus is the Christ 1 John 5. 6. Secondly for Prayer We say that the Scripture doth evidently set down a Warrant and a Precedent of Prayer to the Holy Ghost which you will finde if you observe the words of St. Paul 2 Cor. 13. 13. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you This is a Prayer and here is not only a mention of the Holy Ghost but indeed all these words Grace Love and Communion do relate principally if not only to the Holy Ghost for the Spirit is the Grace and the Love of the Father and the Son and the grace of Jesus and the Love of the Father are conveyed unto us only by the Communion and Inspiration of the Holy Spirit The Spirit is the Conduit of them and the Cement or Ligament by which our conjunction fellowship Union or Communion is wrought and by which we are joyned and united in one Mystical body or corporation with the whole Trinity and this is the meaning of that saying of St. John Baptist concerning the Baptism of Christ He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost for those that are Mat 3. 11. baptized into Christ are by this Spirit united to him in one mystical body and so become One with him and by this Union with Christ they are united with the whole Trinity and therefore there is mention of the Holy Ghost in the formal words of Baptism because our Union is wrought only by this holy Cement of the Spirit for this reason it is that the Apostle prayeth for the Communion of the Holy Ghost Communion signifieth a mutual union of the Spirit with us and of us with the Spirit Communio is as much as Counio or uni◠cum The Scriptures are so plentiful in precedents of Prayers to the Holy Ghost that you may find them at least in thirteen of St. Pauls Epistles and at the beginning of every one of them for thus we read Rom 1. 7. Grace
Hoc praestat timor Dei ut alios timores contemnamus and St. Ambros speaking of the burning of the Martyr Laurentius saith e Ambr. Serm. 19. n. 41 Maâ—or slamma intrinsecus est The fear of God overcometh all humane fears and the fire of Gods Spirits within us wherewith our hearts burn is more ardent then the flames of Tyrants as cruel Antiochus was told by a Martyr f Ioseph de Macab Ignis tuus frigidus est O Magister crudelitatis i. e. That the Tyrants fire was but cold in respect of this Heavenly flame Thus doth the Scepter and Kingly power of Christ appear most in our weakness and this is the method of his Kingdom in this world But of the carnal domineering insulting ruffling and ranting Kingdom which Millinarians dream of Christ saith My Kingdom is not of this World SECT III. Of Christs Kingdom and Acts in Heaven of his Melchisedechical Priest-hood there The manner of his intercession Advocate-ship and Mediatorship for us in Heaven That it is not by sacrificing or praying for us there What Priestly act he there performeth WE are next to inquire whether Christ since his ascensioÌ„ hath any Kingdom or Dominion in HeaveÌ„ what he hath done there all this while for the English Socinian Commenter on the Hebrews tells us that this Epistle is a The Preface a. 3. the History of Christ in Heaven which is true in part although himself have depraved it but so are also other parcels of Scripture as may thus appear in his ascension he was attended and proclaimed King by Angels as Justin. Origen Jerom. Ambros and Chrysost understand these words Ps 24. 7. Lift up your Psal 24 heads O ye gates or O ye Princes and the King of glory shall come in for although as he is the Son of God or God the Word he was in Heaven before yet his humane nature was not there before his ascension as is well expressed by b Ruf. in Symb. apud Cyp. Ruffinus Ascendit ad Coelos non ubi verbum Deus ante non fuerat sed ubi verbum caro factum ante non sedebat being there he is said to have a Throne and that for ever and Heb. 1. 8. ever Ps 45. 6. a Throne is Kingly but this Throne is also on the right hand of God so it is the highest Throne thence he is said to give gifts unto men Eph. 4. 8. as The Holy Ghost at Pentecost was by him shed Act. 2. 3. So he gave Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers Eph. 4. 11. to those more gifts are added Gifts of healing helps in government diversities of tongues 1 Cor. 12. 28. besides many other sanctifying graces to holy men and women He â—hewed himself to be in Heaven and at the right hand of God to the Protomartyr Act. 7. 56. out of Heaven he spake to Saul and restrained him from persecuting Act. 9. He is called a Priest an High-Priest and a Bishop he maketh intercession for us in Heaven Rom. 8. 34. Heb. 7. 25. He is our Advocate with the Father 1 Joh. 2. 1. And our Mediator 1 Tim. 2. 5. c. What Act of Priest-hood and what kind of intercession Christ performeth for us in Heaven and what is meant by his session at the right hand of God we will inquire anon but first his Kingly authority is to be shewed After the Passion and Resurrection of Christ and before his ascension he said All power is Mat 28. 18. given unto me in Heaven and in Earth These words are weighty The giving is meant only of a gift to his humanity thus That all power in Heaven and Earth which was naturally in the Son or Word before his incarnation is now by the God-head even his own God-head communicated to his humane nature being personally united with his divine nature so that now the Emanuel or Christ or the Word made flesh hath all power in Heaven and Earth the whole power of the God-head is in him There is nothing done by God either in Heaven or Earth but what Jesus Christ doth because there is none other God but that God which he is for he is the one and only God The Father and the Spirit are with him but one God whatsoever the Father doth he doth it by the Son and whatsoever the Son doth he doth it from the Father and by the Spirit and whatsoever the Spirit doth he doth it from the Father and the Son Christ saith The Ioh. 5. 17. Father worketh and I work this because the works of one are the works of both He saith again I can of my self do nothing 30. this he said because the Father and the Son are one therefore the works of the Son are the works of the Father also This is to be understood of the Essential or Absolute works of the God head but not of the Personal or proper works of each several person he saith again The Son can do nothing of himself but what he 19. seeth the Father do This is not so to be understood as if the Father did first perform a work to be as a Sampler or pattern for the Son to work by and then the Son after him should perform such another work but that the very same individual work of the Father is also the work of the Son for example The Father made the world so did the Son make the same world If this work be not the one and self same work of the Father and the Son then as Austin argueth a Aug. in Ioan. tract 20. Da mihi alterum mundum quem fecit Filius you can not shew me two worlds one of the Fathers making and another of the Sons making Indeed before the incarnation of the Son all the power in Heaven and earth was in the pure God-head residing in the Father Word and Spirit But since the Word or Son was incarnate all that power is communicated by the same God-head to the Son incarnate who is thereupon called Christ and Emanuel There is now none other King of glory but that God which is in Christ St. Iude calls him both The only Lord God and our Lord Iesus Christ Iude 4. Ioh. 5. 22. 27. therefore himself saith That the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son that is to Christ and this Son shall therefore in the end in his assumed and visible nature judg the world If it be said that his humane nature is a creature and therefore must always be subject to his God-head we answer that it is true but nevertheless the Emanuel i. e. The Divine and Humane Nature joyntly govern all things for so the body of a King is subject to the soul or will of the King yet the King consisting of a Body and Soul with both ruleth If it be said that the Father and the Holy Spirit do also reign and govern all things as well as the Son though neither the Father
might save for the poor They tell us that the forbearing of one meals meat That one Jewel or Ring or one trunck of apparrel would feed and cloth many poor Christians Origen * Orig. in Lev. hom 10. pronounceth a blessing on them that imploy the parcimony of fasting for feeding of the hungry for as one of our English Arch-Bishops used to say in homely Latine but with a good meaning g Rog. Archiep Ebor. Bonus Servatius facit bonum Bonifacium i. e. Good Husbandry makes good Hospitality Charity is now when there is most need of it waxen cold among us upon another reason viz. by the Scandals of two factions for the Romanists say that our Solifidians have made men uncharitable by requiring only a bare Dogmatical or Doctrinal faith And the Solifidians say that Romanists have made Charity superstitious by their doctrine of Merit certainly both sides err for although Almes-deeds cannot merit Heaven nor deliver us from sin and eternal death so as Christ doth yet they may and often do deliver from temporal Vengeance and temporal death as the perfect works and obedience of Christ deliver from eternal punishments The advice of the Wise Dan. 4. 27. and Honourable Prophet Daniel was to this purpose O King let my counsel be acceptable to thee and break off thy sins by righteousness and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity The merciful distribution of Almes is called a 2 Cor. 9. 6. Sowing to signify that as the Earth returneth us our seed with increase so much more will God to our profit at least by with-holding deserved vengeance and giving us a longer time for amendment and happily will add b Joh. 1. 16. Grace for grace so that if the Grace of Charity be improved he will add the grace of faith and perseverance as he did to the Centurion Act. 10. 4. But then our Almes must be done without looking on our selves as if we were benefactors and doners unto God but as humble Debtors or Farmers paying and returning his due rent not with any presumption of redeeming or buying off our Sins but in the form of an humble Suppliant and Petitioner and with tears of Compunction just as a good man will give some recompence such as he can to his injured Brother as a Testimony and acknowledgement of the offence of his sorrow So a good Christian considereth his Almes as a part of his repentance Such Charitable distributions are of greater concernment then some will take notice of seeing our Saviour himself vouchsafed to be ministred unto by those devout Women Mary Magdalen Joanna Luc. 8. 2 3. Susanna and others not for any personal need that himself had for he did Miraculously feed more then 5000 at one time but as a pattern to us and for an encouragement he hath declared that what is given for his sake to his poor members is really given to himself He adviseth us a Luc. 6. 30. to give to every man that asketh this we should do least that poor Creature that is denied prove to be a poor Christ and then no marvel if our God stop his Ears at our supplications when we have stopped our Ears at his for the greatest and most honourable Christians are but beggers to him and every day do or should of him beg their daily bread This Christian duty is moreover sweetned by most gracious promises of reward as high as any other even with the inheritance of heaven when it is said Come ye blessed of my Father c. A great purchase for a small price and this not because Heaven is Vile or Cheap but because our Lord is gracious The old Testament calleth this Charitableness a lending to the Lord so doth the new Testament where Christ saith Do good and lend hoping for nothing again for if it be demanded Prov. 19. 17. Luc. 6. 35. how that can be called a lending which is an absolute gift the answer is that though it be a free gift to the poor yet it is a lending to God because he doth ingage himself to re-pay The Fathers translate the word Lend by faeneratur as lent to God upon Usury or increase which they call a Aug. Epist 215. immortal Usury as if the Scripture took notice of our covetousness thereby to invite us to works of Charity for our own profit The holy Woman Hannah said truly The Lord 1 Sam. 2. 7. maketh poor and maketh rich There is no doubt but that one grand reason why God permitteth so many poor to be in the World is to give us occasions and objects of Charity and this for the great benefit of the charitable giver for God needeth not our gifts no more then he doth our prayers We have more need to give then he hath to receive by the hands of the poor he could and can make all rich his great house the World is stored with provision sufficient for all his creatures If it were not he can supply defects and as Chrysostome notes he can rain down showers of Gold and all necessaries as we read in our own and forrain Histories of showers of flesh of Milk of Wool and of Rivers of VVine and Fountains of Oil as in Scripture of Manna and Quailes whereby it is apparent that the precept of Almes was intented for the benefit of the giver This is the reason that the Scriptures promise Treasures in Heaven and that the merciful are blessed and shall obtain Heb. 14. 13. mercy that our Almes are Sacrifices and Jam. 1 27. well pleasing to God certainly if Almes be Sacrifices then the Poor the Sick the Widow the Orphant and aged are the Altars on which his Sacrifices are to be laid The Apostle tells us That pure Religion is to visit the Fatherless and VVidows verily that Religion which neglecteth these duties is an impure Religion The ancient Fathers have left us many comfortable incouragements for it They say a Ambr. The man is blessed from whose house the poor never returns empty b Aug. That the charitable Almes-giver when he dies he departs with firm security and consolation c Chryst That at the great judgement the Saints and Angels will take notice of and commend their Charities That the poor whom they have relieved shall then openly declare them to have been their Patrones and Preservers as is intimated Luke 16. 9. That then Mercy will stand between them and Hell and will not suffer any of the merciful to pass that way Thus they But though neither Men nor Angels should then take notice of them yet it is most certain that the God of men and Angels will acknowledge and reward their persons and mercifulness And least we should be tired with long expectation of reward The Word of God seemeth to provide for that by promises of temporal requitals and those Mar. 10. 30. very considerable as we read Psal
know and S Austin giveth this good advice concerning the Articles of our faith which may be understood and those also which we cannot understand e Aug. in Ioh. Tract 35. Si potes Cape Si non potes crede i. e. Understand what you can and beleeve the rest for in those great mysteries it is safer to build our faith upon the sure word of God then to depend on a sandy foundation of humane reason and to be firmly assured of this as Epiphaninus saith f Ephiph haer 70. Quicquid Deus dicit verum est licet nos non intelligamus i. e. Whatsoever God hath said it is certainly true although we do not understand it and Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have beleeved Neither should our weakness and want of Joh. 20. 29. knowledge in such high mysteries either discourage us or move us to impatience for we may find in wiser men then our selves as great ignorance who yet were not ashamed to acknowledge it for even in things mundane and natural the wisest Philosopher said He Socrates knew nothing at all but his own ignorance and Themistius Anaxarchus another professed That The greatest part of his knowledg was but the least part of his nescience and another saith he did not know so much as his own wants of knowledge and many others by reason of this professed ignorance were called g Dion lacet in Pyrrhon Sceptici Ephetici Zetetici and Aporetici i. e. Considerers unresolved Seekers Doubters as in a Labyrinth without any passage of Egress Who knows the true manner of the motions of the Stars Men now doubt whether the Sun be moved at all or whether the Earth move or stand still we are not satisfied in the cause of Tides nor do we know the forms of many thousands of Creatures A great Philosopher said Dic formam lapidis Phillida solus habeto Our own soul knoweth not it self nor doth it know by it self what is within that body which it informeth although it is within it and in every part of it as Austin expresseth it h Aug. de Trin. l. 6. c. 2. Tota in Toto in qualibet ejus parte tora nor doth it know the forming of the body in the womb although it is under God instrumentally operative in that work If we patiently indure our ignorance in these things how much rather should we in the deepest mysteries of Religion as Athanasius advised i Atha Cont. Aâ—ian O. 3. Non quaerendam est quomodo Dâ—us gignat nec modum iâ—effabile est and just so doth Basil k Basil hom 25 Filius est Gâ—nitus ne quaeras quomodo dut quando est impâ—ssibilis responsio i. e. God hath a Son inquire not how or when he begot him for it is ineffable and an Answer is impossible the same Father saith that if he thought it possible Cont. Eunom lib. 3. to know all things then perhaps he would be ashamed to confess his ignorance but seeing the greatest Philosophers knew not the nature of a poor little Pismire how shall we be able to comprehend the great Mysteries of Epist 162. God Thus he The most learned of the Jews did not understand the meaning of their own Religion and Sacraments in the old Testament although they were so conversant therein as appeareth by Philo the learned Jew who confessed that he knew not the meaning of those words Gen. 1 26. Let us make man but he thought Philâ— de Mundi Opific p. 15. that God had assumed some other helpers in that work that so the miscarriages of man might be imputed to those other fellow-Creators and not to God Thus he Judaizeth not knowing or beleeving the Trinity So Id. Lib. de Circum pag. 811. again when he desired to shew to what end and purpose God appointed the Sacrament of Circumcision he doth it so poorly that it appeareth evidently that himself knew not the meaning thereof and verily at this day no Jews persisting in the Jewish Religion do understand the intent and meaning of their own Laws and Sacraments but only the bare Letter for if they did truly know to what purpose and signification their Sacrafices and Pascal Lamb were ordained they would not any longer continue in their Judaism and therefore Origen truly affirmeth l De lege Mosis melius quam Judaeus nos respondebinus Orig. Cont. Cels l. 2. i. e. A Christian can render a better reason and account of Moses Laws then the Jews themselves Touching the Obscurity of the Scriptures the Christian Doctors do generally acknowledg it and set down may reasons why the Holy Spirit would haue them so difficult For they say 1. If the Mysteries therein were so easily understood Truth would not so earnestly be sought nor be so pleasant when it is found 2. That these Obscuri ieâ— are prâ—fitable to incite us to a mâ—re ailigâ—nt ïnâ—â—isition 3. Because a gracious truth which wâ— understand not is the more loved and ad dired if it be beleeved 4. That thâ— Obscurity may prevâ—nt our satiâ—ty or weariness of them that they grew not tedious or despicable 5 To abate the pride of the mâ—st proâ—ound wordly Sciolists who may find themselves often posed in them These and many other Reasons are alledged by Divines of Gods ordering these obscurities and because we do not in all places of Scripture understand the word we should ascribe reverence to the Author and reserve humility to our selves and seeing there are truths manifest and sufficient to feed us that we should use the obscurer for our exercise and withal to know that what we cannot understand in the undoubted word of God we should notwithstanding beleeve and then our nescience cannot hurt us Clemens of Alexandria tells us truly m Clem. Alex Stro. l. 4. Difficilia non sunt necessaria necessaria non sunt difficilia i. e. Those things which are too hard to be understood are not necessarily to be understood and those things which are necessarily to be understood are not hard Neither are the profoundest Doctors and wisest men ashamed to acknowledg their ignorance in these high Mysteries Even King Solomon in the Person of Agur Prov. 30. 2. Prov. 30. 2. saith Surely I am more brutish then any man and have not the understanding of a man This he said in respect of his own humane and acquired knowledg but not of that wisdom which was inspired by God S. Basil was for his learning and profound knowledg in Religion called The Great yet he saith to every man n Bas hom 27. Quae ignoras superant cognita S. Hirome saith o Hier. n. 40. in sacris Scripturis pluâ—a nescio quam scio S. Ambrose saith p Amb. hexam lib. 6. libenter fateor me nescire quod nescio Austin the profoundest of them all saith q Aug. Epist 119. de Animae Orig. c. 16. Sanctis Scripturis multa nescio
shall begin his reign until his apearing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in flaming fire mentioned 2 Thes 1. 8. which assertion I conceive to be exceedingly injurious against the divine and humane Nature of Christ and also contrary to the Holy Scriptures For to deny the Kingdom of the Son or Word considered before or without his incarnation in his pure Divinity is all one as to deny his God-head for who can doubt but that he who is the Creator and the only and eternal God both doth reigne and hath reigned from the beginning of the World and shall reigne until the end thereof and after also to eternity and that he hath and doth govern all things in Heaven and Earth working together with the Father as himself saith The Father Ioh. 5. 17. worketh hitherto and I work and both these work by the Holy Ghost which is the Spirit of both The Kingdom of the God head is by divines thus distinguished 1. The Kingdom of power which even Heathens acknowledged in their supposed God O qui res â—ominumque Deumque Virg. Aen. â— Aeteruis Regis Impâ—riis fulmine terris 2. The Kingdome of grace whereby he reigneth in the hearts of the people inclining them to obedience by the Scepter of his Spirit against their carnal inclinations either lucriferous or voluptuous for this wee dayly pray Thy Kingdom come thy wâ—ll be done as on the contrary Satan or Sin is said to reign in the disobedient drawing them to evil 3. The Kingdom of Glory in Heaven in respect whereof the Son is expresly called The Psal 24. 7. King of Glory This I presume no Christian will deny But our question now is not concerning the Son as he is in his single and pure divinity or as he is God the Word or the Son of God But we must now consider him as he is The Son of Man and since his incarnation as he is Emanuel or the Word made flesh or the Anoynted of God or Christ for the pure God-head can not be anoynted because it is the anoynting neither could the Son of God be called Christ until he was incarnate nor can Christ be said to reign until he was made Christ that is until the Son of God by his humane nativity became the Son of Man For though the Son of God hath been a Son from eternity yet he was not Christ or Anoynted from eternity but his unction and title Christ began then as the Apostle saith Gal. 4. 4. When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman By this double consideration of Jesus wee may perceive the reason why the Scripture distinguisheth between God and Christ as 2 Tim. 4. 1. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and why we so often read The Lord Christ and the Christ or Anoynted of the Lora as Act. 4. 26. Ps 2. 2. The Lord Jesus in respect of his God-head is called Christus Dominus and the same Lord Jesus in consideration of his humane nature assumed is called Christus Domini i. e. he is both the Lord Christ and The Christ or the Anoynted of the Lord. So that we may truly say The Son of Man is the Christ or the Anoynted of himself as he is the Son of God These considerations being premised Our Question of Christs Kingdom is thus to be stated QUESTION Whether our Lord Iesus Christ ever yet had or now hath any Kingdom in and over this World FOr if it may appear that Christ formerly had and still hath a Kingdom here there will be no need of his corporal descending from Heaven in this fag end of the World to take possession of that which he had before and still retaineth Answer The answer to this question is That Christ now reigneth on earth and hath so done ever since he was Christ that is from the time that The word was made flesh that he reigneth in this world though his Kingdom is not of this world because it is not a visible reigning after a worldly way but in a heavenly manner he beareth not the Sword Material but a Spiritual Sword he raiseth not Armies of men but commandeth Legions of Angels his strong hold is Heaven his prison is Hell as 1 Pet. 3. 19. his Jaylors Divels his executioners Plagues Famines Winds Storms Serpents Wild-beasts evil Angels Sicknesses Deaths Temporal and Eternal his Laws are mild written in Milk the easie yoak of the Gospel his tribute and taxes are faithfulness and obedience his Kingdom doth not invade or disturb other worldly Kingdoms but establisheth them for he refused a worldly Kingdom when it was offered and refused to judg or arbitrate in a petty title of inheritance between two brethren much less will he in this world judg the grand titles of Monarchies and great possessions to be taken from the rightfull possessors to the use of Pretended Saints Let us see what the Scriptures say concerning the Kingdom of this Emanuel here on earth Isaiah saith of Christ as of a child born whom Isa 7. 14. he called In manuel which must needs be meant of the Son of God considered as incarnate That the government shall be upon his shoulders of the increase of his government and peace there shall Isa 9. 6. 7. be no end upon the throne of David and upon his Kingdom to order it from henceforth for ever Surely Davids throne must be upon this earth although it signifie the Church whilest it is Militant Consider we next what David himself saith concerning this Son of David in that memorable passage Psal 89 I have sound David my servant Psal 89. 20. 27. 29. 36. I will make hiâ— my first born higher then the Kings of the earth his Seed will I make to endure for ever and his Throne as the dayes of Heaven and as the Sun before me The David here meant must needs be this Son of David that is Christ who is often called David as Jâ—r 30. 9 They shall serve the Lord and David their King whom I will raise up and Ezech. 34. 23. My servant David shall feed them so Hos 3. 5. The children of Israel shall seek the Lord their God and David their King These Prophecies must needs be meant of Christ because the old David was dead before any of those Prophets were born Christ is called David because he was to be the Son of David and so is called by his Fathers name as o her children now are and the prophecies must needs be understood of the Man Christ because by his manhood only he is the Son of David and not otherwise nor can these sayings be verified of any other seed or Son of David Besides These speeches can not be meant of any worldly temporal Kingdom of David for that was taken of Davids posterity long before the birth of Christ and this David himself foresaw and confessed in the same Psalm But thou hast cast off thine Anoynted Thou hasi