and super-exceeding Excellency of the Doctrine published and delivered the Gospel in the very kind and constitution of it utterly exceeding all the Dispensations of God that ever preceded it being the very natural genuine and proper Issue and Product of them all Divine Revelations since the World began tended to Christ and the Gospel as their ultimate End and Center Although God had by sundry Ways and by divers Persons both Angels and Men at several times distinctly declared his Mind to the World yet he never before spake by his Son this is the Memorial of the Gospel throughout all Generations that it was first published by the Lord and after confirmed by those that heard him it came first from the Oracle of his Sacred Mouth and was sanctified by his most Blessed Lips and upon that account well may it be called as it is in the 1st of Timothy The glorious Gospel of the blessed God 'T is true that all former Divine Revelations brought to us either by the Ministry of Angels or Men were the Voice of God and had him for their Author but herein lyes the peculiarity of the Gospel Glory above them all that now he speaks to us without any intermediate Instrument personally Himself in his Son he comes Himself from Heaven Tabernacles in Humane Flesh becomes Emanuel converseth with us and speaks Face to Face with us in our own Nature Let us with an Holy Astonishment as Moses said in another case turn aside and view this great Sight and cry out with the Psalmist in Holy Admiration Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou shouldest so visit him and consider deeply what infinite condescention was this that when nothing else would serve to recover the lost World God comes from Heaven himself to treat with us about our recovery so that no man can now reasonably say who shall ascend into Heaven to instruct us from thence or who shall fetch Divine Knowledge beneath from the Deeps for all that we need to know and all that we can know is brought home to our Dores is put into our Hearts and into our Mouths by God himself in the fashion of a Man and like to us in all things sin only excepted Two things the Apostle seems to insinuate in his very first entrance and the beginning of this Epistle God who at sundry times and divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son First That it was the same God that spake now that spake before by Moses and the Prophets and so prevents their taking prejudice against the Gospel as if it came from any other hand than the God of Israel or were built upon any other Foundation than Moses and the Prophets And Secondly That God speaking now by his Son we may reasonably expect to hear more than ever was yet known and all that we are like ever to know by way of Revelation from above such a Person as He may well be supposed to bring down all God's Errand to the World at once he has none greater to send by and upon that account it is that the Gospel times are called in Scripture the last times because no more Revelation is to be expected If we consider Christ as he is God he is exalted far above all Heavens and beyond all reach of Comparisons if we consider him in that conjunction as he was Man even in that state he is Heir of all things he is the First-born of every creature and in all things has the pre-eminence he exceeds the noblest of creatures the Angels those glorious Spirits who in their very make and constitution were nearest of kin of all others to their Creator and are called Elohim a sort of Gods for God never said unto any of them thou art my Son this day speaking both of Christ's Incarnation and Resurrection have I begotten thee but at the Son 's first arrival in the World to give an eternal Instance of his Divinity he commands all the Angels of God to worship him and to worship him with the greatest Prostration and Adoration imaginable for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used upon this occasion intimates That the Apostle should treat so much when he is dealing with the Jews of the Preference of Christ above the Angels we may well conceive when we consider that he himself in this Epistle declares that the Law was the Word spoken by the Angels and Gal. 3. says that it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator not as if this were to be taken as Grotius and some learned men have conceived that the Law upon Mount Sinai was originally given forth by a created Angel there for it was most certainly published authoritatively by God himself there present nor is it any where said to be originally given forth by Angels but to be spoken by them and given forth by their Manage and Ministry In the 68th Psalm we are told The chariots of God are twenty thousand even thousands of thousands the Lord is among them as in Sinai by which 't is evident enough the glorious and eternal Jehovah was there personally present after a very peculiar and eminent manner And in Stephen's last Sermon he tells the Jews in that Historical Recapitulation of their whole Affairs that they had received the Law by the disposition of Angels and had not kept it So that the meaning is the delivery of the Law was by the Ministration of Angels and their ordering of things upon Mount Sinai though it was uttered by God himself but the delivery of the Gospel is singly by the Ministry of the Son of God in person And when we are told the Law was the Word spoken by Angels and that it was ordained by Angels it is in this sense and no other to be understood and well may it be so stiled if we reflect upon these several things 1st The whole heavenly Hoast of Angels those glorious Guards of Spirits that attend the Eternal Jehovah were all there present in a solemn and particular manner such as we no where else read of in their courses and order to execute what their Supream Lord came about and beholding with wonder and admiration the Wisdom of the Supream Legislator in giving forth those wise Laws to the World upon which the legal Dispensation was chiefly founded which was the reason perhaps made them so earnest afterwards to look down into the Gospel Dispensation having seen so much of the legal and been such Actors in it and behold the glory of that for by it the Apostle tells us expresly the manifold wisdom of God is made known unto them and by beholding the second Person incarnate they saw somewhat more of Heaven upon Earth then they could see in Heaven it self 2dly It was by the Ministry of Angels that those prodigious Terrors were effected by which the People were so
the behalf of Mankind He it is that by his own Arm brings Salvation and singly undergoes the Burden and Weight of all Humane Miseries and Misfortunes the care of all the concerns that belong to Mankind are laid upon him and the recovery of the fallen Posterity of apostate Adam is solely left to his Undertaking Conduct and Manage ever since that first Promise concerning him set forth by the Seed of the Woman Mankind has been his Care and the Church his peculiar Province the Faith of all the Holy Men in the first times was built upon his promised and intended coming It was prophesied of him in the 72 Psalm Prayer also shall be made for him continually that is for his coming and incarnation before he did come and for the success of his Kingdom and his second coming after he was come It is he that hath been with the Church in all Ages and appeared so often to the Fathers in the Patriarchal times in humane shape to confirm their Faith and assure his future Incarnation and when the fulness of time for his being born of a Woman and born under the Law that is standing in Man's steed and obliged to the mediatory righteousness God required from him came the whole course of his Life his Sufferings Death and Resurrection and his Intercession above are all on the Churches account to make a full and ample provision for all the Declensions and Apostasies of Humane Nature and secure Man's Eternal Happiness with himself for ever so that 't is evident that God's making the World at first by the second Person was in order to the discovery of his manifold Wisdom and infinite Grace in redeeming and recovering it by the same blessed Person Thirdly This will appear from hence because that the whole Dominion and Soveraignty over Mankind the intire disposal of Man is committed unto him how correspondent is it to all God's revealed purposes touching his own Glory and Man's Happiness that a mediatory Dominion should be vested in the second Person that the creating and redeeming Right over Man should all concenter in him sometimes we are in Scripture told of his creating Right so in the first of St. John's Gospel He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not sometimes we are told of his Right by Redemption The Father so he himself tells us judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son and the reason given for it is because he is the Son of Man the true Seed of the Woman and the only Mediator between God and Man and upon that account 't is said he will judge the World by that man whom he hath appointed the ordering governing and final disposal of Man belongs alone to this blessed Person he that made us and knew our original frame he alone could best tell how to recover and remake us and from everlasting 't was God's pleasure it should be so In his Redemption all is taken care for all is recover'd and fetch'd back not a Hoof of what was made and lost is left behind there is a Plaister provided for every Sore and a Remedy for every Malady an infinite Treasury of Grace provided and suted to all depraved humane Faculties to unite Man again to his Maker and Redeemer with cords of love and bands of a man to influence the whole Soul of Man to convince his Understanding and govern him in a way of true Wisdom and Knowledge to seize his Affections with the most heart-affecting Motives and most glorious Objects and to fix the unruly Will in a right Path out of which it should never again wander All the Workings since Adam's fall of the Souls of Men towards God and the Influences of God and his Spirit upon them they are all transacted managed and will be finally judged of by the second Person this is the Kingdom of God and the great Realm of Christ within Men not a Divine Whisper into any Man's Breast by the Holy Ghost but 't is from the Mediator and a consequent of his Ordination and Government the great Effect of Christ's ascending Conqueror into Heaven was the sending down the Holy Ghost and till he did so the Holy Ghost could not in that glorious eminent manner appear as afterwards he did for he came from Heaven with the Ratification of that Peace and Reconciliation that Christ had purchased this we are positively told in the 7th of St. John's Gospel The Holy Ghost was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified It appears to be an eternal determination by the blessed Trinity that till the mediatory Work was all compleated and Christ was ascended and had made his triumphant appearance in Heaven as a Conqueror the Holy Ghost should not be sent down and therefore our Saviour tells his Disciples plainly Unless I go away the comforter cannot come and it is expedient for you upon that account that I do go away for if I go I will send him unto you this is the grand effect of Christ's ascention to procure the descent of the Holy Ghost that great Engine of Salvation the Sword of the Lord in Christ's hand the mighty Operator by which the Mediator erects his Kingdom and without whose Influences upon the Souls of Men to change and remark them no Laws of Grace no Terms of Salvation though never so easie would ever have proved effectual for Man's Recovery and Happiness this is the great effect of what Christ hath purchased for the World for Men to receive an ability from Heaven to believe and obey what God requires of us had not this been the Conditions of the Gospel would have been as little performed as those of the Law this sending down the Holy Ghost from Heaven St. Peter tells us the Angels desire to look into 't is an Allusion unto the Cherâ—bims that were made with their Faces looking upon the Mercy-seat to let us know that the Angels above diligently behold the glorious effects of God's Grace to this lower World and two sights they have had by their attentiveness thereon which were both stupendious and wonderful First The second Person leaving Heaven descending upon Earth becoming Man and making his abode for a time here And secondly Upon his return so soon as the second Person ascended the Holy Ghost coming down to manage all the concerns Christ left behind him here below And as all the Operations of the Holy Ghost upon the Spirits of Men are under the Mediator's Conduct so the Behaviour of all Men is noted in his Book and laid up in his Records in order to a future Judgment which Judgment is of everlasting duration for after he has given up the Kingdom to the Father both the Righteous and the Wicked will for ever remain in the same posture and condition his Judgment left them the Wicked will be for ever miserable by vertue of his Sentence and the Righteous enjoy their everlasting portion of
all such things and so the Creatures are now enjoyed not by vertue of Man's first right to them in Creation but by vertue of Christ's Purchase and Redemption St. Paul ranks things in this order All things are yours speaking to the Saints and you are Christ's and Christ is God's To a Believer every Creature is good not as it was originally so made but as it is by Christ restored into that condition the Curse removed and as it is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer to a Man unrenewed and unreconciled to God in the Mediator God's original Curse upon the Creatures still remains and he enjoys them with that doleful circumstance That his Table is a Snare and upon that account the Holy Ghost tells us That a little that a righteous man has is better than the great riches of the wicked and that to them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure Solomon lays it down as an undoubted Maxim That the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked where-ever Adam's original Rebellion is upheld and promoted there the primitive Curse then pronounced upon the Creatures remains 't is only removed by Christ to those that have interest in him and are reconciled to God by him Secondly As the Curse upon the Creatures is in all Ages gradually taken off as to their use and enjoyment to such as believe and obey the Gospel so by vertue of the Price Christ has paid and the restoring recovering Power put into his Hand thereupon the whole Creation at last shall be rescued from the Slavery and Deformity it has lain under and be restored to its primitive Beauty and Excellency we may say in this case as St. Paul says of Death For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive As the Creatures fell and died as it were with Man so shall they be restored and have a resurrection in his recovery their Restoration is one part of Christ's Purchase as they were cursed for Adam's sake so they shall be again revived and blessed for Christ's sake who can imagine that the Creation shall always groan under Bondage to the Lusts Passions and Debaucheries of Men and not at last put on again its beautiful Garments and in a right and due manner be serviceable to that end which was the use and delight of Man while he lived in communion with his God for which it was originally made This Restoration will be accomplished at Christ's second coming for then will be the great Jubile the Creation has so long groaned after Many Passages there are in Scripture that give in Evidence to this Truth but I will endeavour the Proof of it only from three Texts the first of which as to the proof of this Matter is very probable the other two very positive the first is in the 65th of Esau The wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock and dust shall be the serpents meat they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain saith the Lord. This seems to me a plain Prophesie of the Deliverance and Restoration of the Creatures When the primitive Order of Creation was lost as Man fell into Rebellion against God so the Creatures fell into Rebellion against him and into implacable enmity one against another This seems to be a Prophesie of the Creatures recovery and of their reconciliation towards Man and towards each other Some take it for a metaphorical Description of the future Effects of the Gospel upon the Spirits of wicked bestial and unreasonable Men and that Reconciliation and Harmony the Gospel should produce amongst Mankind But I conceive this Text is literally to be understood and cannot be fairly so taken for divers considerable Reasons 1st Because the time to which this Prophesie relates and in which it is to be accomplish'd is when there shall be a new Heavens and a new Earth and what more proper to conceive than that when the Heavens and Earth are to be new the Creatures should have new Qualities and Conditions It is plain so to be if you look back to the 17th Verse and read on to this For behold I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into mind And from thence to the 25th and last Verse is a perfect Description of the State of this new Heaven and new Earth and the happy condition the Creation shall be restored unto This new Heaven and new Earth is to be at Christ's second coming when the restitution of all things is to be for the new Heavens and new Earth and the restitution of all things in Scripture-phrase are the same and what time so likely so fit and proper for this to be effected as then and 't is certain it must be then or never The other Prophesie of this Matter in the 11th Chapter of this Prophesie in these words The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lye down with the kid and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them and the cow and the bear shall feed their young ones shall lye down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox and the sucking child shall play upon the hole of the asp is to be when knowledge shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea which is but an expression of the same time before mentioned in other words it shall be when Christ shall come and shall set all to rights 2dly It seems more reasonable to take this Text literally than metaphorically allowing for the Rhetorick of the prophetick Stile because these opposite Creatures are said to lye down and quietly cohabit one with another retaining their own distinct and proper Natures still though a Lion lye down with a Lamb yet he is a Lion still the very life of the Prophesie lyes in that that a Lion whil'st a Lion shall lye down with the Lamb the creature is the same only the hurtful enmity removed Now should we take it metaphorically the Gospel-change is rather to make a Lion a Lamb to alter the very Nature and Disposition and to infuse new Habits and Qualities and so a Lamb would lye down with a Lamb and not a Lion or a Wolf with a Lamb if we take it in strict sence and then what is intended to signifie would not well agree to what is signified 3dly Some Parts and Passages of these Prophesies cannot fairly be construed in any such metaphorical sense as that the Lion shall eat Straw like the Ox and Dust shall be the Serpents Food by which the removal of the Creatures enmity one to another and their devouring one another as an effect thereof seems to be singly and literally signified and an account given how they shall live in that state when
1000 Years but how and in what order and manner and in what succession all these things will be effected and whether the new Heavens and the new Earth will precede the first Resurrection or not are Questions not pertinent to be asked because they are as yet impossible to be resolved Thus we have seen by what hath been discoursed upon this Argument how all the great and eternal Designs of God touching this World were laid in his creation of it by the second Person and that by him all the glorious and blessed ends God proposed to himself there by are brought to pass and accomplished as all was made by him so all was made for him and the glory of all results to God through him The Apostle in this Epistle sets forth many Qualifications of the blessed Person of our Lord Jesus Christ that the Jews might think themselves no losers by changing their Legislator by taking him instead of Moses in respect of his Divine Nature he was infinitely exalted above all comparisons in respect of his Humane Nature he was exalted above the Angels as a Prophet he exceeded Moses as far as the Master of a Family exceeds his Servant for he is the Son in his own house and as a Priest he much exceeded Aaron by once for all offering up himself a compleat and perfect Sacrifice and shedding thereby the Blood of God for the Sins of the World and as a King and Priest together by reason of his absolute perfection in Sanctity and Soveraignty and that he is the great Reconciler of Earth and Heaven the great Peace-maker between God and Man he that brings down and proclaims Peace upon Earth and Good-will towards Men the true King of Salem he infinitely preceded Melchisedech having also the power of an endless Life and being indeed without beginning or ending of Days which Melchisedech was only in Historical Figure and in the Type And throughout the whole Epistle shews the wonderful excellency of the Gospel above that of the Law not only from its Original and Founder but also from the Nature and Constitution of it being a heavenly Frame pitch'd by God himself the other but an earthly one and all the Appurtenances to it the Sacrifice the Ordinances of Worship the Covenant and the efficacy of the whole sutable thereunto and all this to bring the Jews to own the truth of their own Religion to acknowledge their true and natural Messiah of whom as purtaining to the flesh Christ came after his departure and ascension Christ who compassionately wept over Jerusalem and that People while he was upon Earth was pleased to afford them this glorious Luminary to follow them with this Instruction and to kindle this Heavenly Lamp before them that ought to have been a Light to their Feet and a Lanthorn unto their Paths to have led them from Mount Sinai to Mount Sion from Mount Sion literal to Mount Sion spiritual and from the earthly to the heavenly Jerusalem but the success proved otherways for the State of the Jews the governing part of that Nation together with the Body of the People continued in the utmost rage and opposition they could possibly express against Christ and his Doctrine till that remove of their oeconomy and Worship which is here but spiritually and doctrinally laid before them and tendred to them for their information and instruction came to be materially sensibly and dreadfully put in execution to their utmost horror and confusion That People being chiefly concerned in this Epistle and having been so stupendious a Stage of singular Blessings and extraordinary Judgments a short Digression touching that People and Nation in particular cannot in this place seem either heterogeneal or impertinent A short Digression touching the Jews The Jews who were so long proprietors of the true God and in possession of the only instituted Religion of which he was the Author of whom it might for many Ages be said considering and comparing them with the rest of the World That Salvation was of the Jews that People that had so much advantage above all others every way and that made so great a divine and religious Figure in the World and so true a one for so long together having in Promises Types and Significations the Christian Religion it self amongst them for out of that Root it sprang there it was in Oar though it was afterwards coin'd and stampt and that as yet do remain as wonderful Monuments both of Divine Justice and Mercy and the Subjects of many Prophesies to be yet fulfilled to this very day a right Account of this People and a due and serious Consideration of them cannot but be of excellent use to all the ends of the Christian Religion Their Original was from Abraham they never pretended to derive themselves higher and therefore encountred our Saviour with what they most valued themselves upon We have Abraham for our father he was the first friend God was pleased to make to himself upon Earth and with him it was that God personally established the Covenant of Grace in all the Essentials and Substantials of it and the legal Covenant as the Type Figure and Forerunner of that in his Natural Capacity he was the Father of the Jews but restrictively by the Seed of the Promise in Isaac with whom the Covenant of Circumcision was made an Institution of great Sanctity and Distinction and whereby they obliged themselves against all false Gods and Idolatry to the Worship of the only true God as he himself declared the meaning of it to be and in his Spiritual Capacity as one that believed and obeyed what God revealed to him and followed him fully he was the Father of all the faithful who have ever since all gone to Heaven by treading in the steps of their Father Abraham but this must not be so strictly taken as if these two Seeds of Abraham were always subjectively divers for they were often the same and this the Apostle proves at large in the 9 10 11 Chap. to the Romans in the Instances of Isaac and Jacob and the Remnant of Israel that were at that time saved who were both Heirs according to the Flesh and according to the Promise the Gospel was all virtually utter'd unto him in that one expression In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed the meaning of which was that the Promise of the Messiah having yet lain at large and in very general terms and proceeded no farther than the first Promise made of him that the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's Head God would graciously advance one step farther and not only enlarge that Promise by declaring that in the Seed of the Woman all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed but also make it known of what People of all the Nations and Kindreds of the Earth the Messiah should come and from whose Loins according to the Flesh he should proceed and this honour is done to Abraham and he of
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
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