Civ Dei l. 10. And as spending of our lives for God and our Brethren so the spending of our Estates all our Alms and charities are Evangelical Gifts and Oblations and Sacrifices therefore many times anciently made by Christians at the Altar See Heb. 13. 16. Phil. 4. 18. I have received c. the things that were sent from you an odour of a sweet smell a sacrifice accâ—…ptable c. All our doings then and all our spendings our souls and our bodies Rom. 12. 1. the spending of our lives and of our estates all these make up one compleat Holocaust which we owe unto God under the Gospel of which those under the Elements of the world were types and in which they are fulfilled after that our Savior had first begun to us and sacrificed instead of Beasts himself 1 Pet. 2. 5. Col. 1. 24. Now these the peoples sacrifices under the Gospel as those under the Law must of necessity have a Priest to offer them for the reason mentioned not only because they are so nothing worth the best we can bring of them and so unprofitable when we have done all we can and God so self all-sufficient without them whose offerings to him whatever are only his gifts to us 1 Chron. 29. 14. all of us but our sins being his but because by contagion of sin in us they are also all unclean for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Job 14. 4. and he so pure and so holy that we are in the same condition as Uzziah 2 Chron. 26. 18. or Nadab and Abihu unless there be one to bear the iniquity of our holy things and thro whose merits towards God and Gods love unto him they may be accepted To whom methink God speaks as Moses Exod. 19. Do thou come up c. but let not the people least I break forth upon them And unto us as disguised Joseph did to his brethren see not my face unless you bring your Brother with you Or as God to to the Friends of Job 42. c. 8. v. Take with you a sacrifice and go to my servant Job and my servant Job shall pray for you for him I will accept or as to Abimelech concerning Abraham Gen. 20. 7. He is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee and thou shalt live For these intercessors were set down for types of this supreme Mediator By our Savior therefore all these our Sacrifices must be offered or by us in his name which is all one Phil. 1. 11. and that not only our praiers and petitions where we need and ask something that they may be heard thro Jesus Christ our Lord but our giving of thanks and glory to God Alas what glory can we give where we present something that they may be accepted We then first come to him and he offers them for us so we are said to praise to give thanks to give glory to God by him See Heb. 13. 15. Rom. 1. 8. Col. 3. 17. 1 Pet. 2. 4 5. Therefore he stiles himself the way to the Father Jo. 14. 6. and the door Jo. 10. 9. thro which we must pass And to God be glory in the Church by Christ. Eph. 3. 21. The tongue being in the head that speaks for the body 3. But thirdly he not only presents and delivers our petitions for us c. but he hath procured for us free admission to the Father to deliver them our selves not in a body by presence indeed as yet but by the spirit Eph. 2. 18. and sent us unto the Father to ask any thing in his name see Jo. 16. 23 24 26 27. according to which the Church directs her praiers not to him as he saith vers 23. but to the Father telling us that the Father himself for his sake loveth us vers 27. Eph. 1. 6. Rom. 8. 39. love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In this far outdoing the mediation under the law where Moses indeed went up but the people were rail'd out and trembling and quaking stood afar off which preeminence of us the Apostle often intimates in the Epistles Heb. 12. 17. By him therefore now we also are said to draw nigh unto God to have access to the Father access with boldness to come boldly unto the throne of grace into the Holiest Heb. 10. 19 22. all our words and works to be accepted if done in his name c. See Heb. 4. 16. Eph. 5. 20. Heb. 7. 19 25. Eph. 2. 18. -3. 12. Col. 3. 17. And for these causes above-said it is that the Church so often in all Divine service repeats that holy dear name and St. Paul 't is noted in his Epistles above 500 times because to by thro and in Him and his name are all things said and done and to be done that are well and acceptably done Which name be it blessed for ever 4. After these acts of this High Priests intercession let us now proceed to the fruits and benefits thereof And first As the legal High Priest first after he had offered the sacrifice and again after he had carried in the blood into the Holyest blessed and put Gods name upon the people Lev. 9. 22. c. Numb 6. 27. So our Savior answerable to the first before he went into the Sanctuary Luk. 24. 50 and at other times blessed his people and answerable to the second also doth it since his going in blessing us from it because by his everlasting Priesthood needing to make no more offerings he is not to come out of it till the consummation of all things when he will yet in a more transcendent manner give us his blessing See Act. 3. 26. and what the blessing that he sent us was see Act. 2. 33. Upon whose blessing us from above that fire Act. 2. 2. descended upon the Apostles and consequently upon his Church ever since of which that material one which came out from before the Lord upon Aarons first blessing was a type Lev. 9. 24. Imagine him then first now speaking from Heaven putting his Fathers name upon us and pronouncing that form Numb 6. 24. and then after it all those spiritual and temporal blessings and deliverances of his Church here showred down by him but above all that fire of the Holy Spirit for ever burning upon the Altar of our hearts and hallowing all our sacrifices and elevating them unto God the manifold gifts and graces of which are mentioned elsewhere Only here take notice 1. Of the time of their collation and that was after his being ascended and entred into the Sanctuary and having interceded there See Jo. 7. 39. -16. 7. Act. 2. 33. Eph. 4. 7 8. Jo. 14. 28 29. So that we have and do receive far greâ—…ter advantages by his absence and service there then we could by his corporal presence here Blessed be God by whose wisdom all things serve for our good as also appears in his Disciples far more expert in knowledg
Father even in those perfections wherein he is equal to the Father by reason of his eternal generation as the Son yet now he hath another dependence also in this emptied condition as his creature in which respect he became so much his inferior It was the Spirit called also the power the glory of the Father Rom. 6. 4. 2 Cor. 13. 4. Luk. 1. 35. that overshadowed the Virgin at his conception that anointed and sanctified Jo. 10. 36. him at his Baptism Luk. 4. 18. Act. 10. 38. for he did not anoint or glorifie himself Heb. 5. 4 5. that sealed him Jo. 6. 27. comp Eph. 1. 13. that carried him into the Wilderness Matt. 4. 1. Luk. 4. 14. by which he fasted so long and did so many Miracles Act. 2. 22. Matt. 12. 28. by which he was said to be in the Father and the Father in him as he prayeth his Disciples also might be Jo. 17. 21 23. -8. 29. and these only by the Spirit could be so By which he had power to lay down and take up his life when he pleased in respect of mens power Jo. 10. 18. -2. 19. and to give and to Communicate life to whom he pleased c. for he received both this life and this Commandement to lay it down from the Father Jo. 10. 18. -2. 19. -5. 26. By which he offered up himself Heb. 9. 14. This is it that raised him from the dead Rom. 1. 4. -6. 4. 2 Cor. 13. 4. 1 Pet. 3. 18. Heb. 5. 5. and that justified him that he was all that he pretended to be 1 Tim. 3. 16. And the final justification of all the Saints also and declaration of them to be accepted by God will be by the same Spirit at their Resurrection glorifying them at last that exalted him to Heaven For from the Father it was that he received his glory and his Kingdom Act. 2. 23. Phil. 2. 8 9. Heb. 1. 9. -2. 9. and the administration thereof he shall one day also again give up unto the Father 1 Cor. 15. 28. So God is said to be his head as he ours 1 Cor. 3. 23. -11. 3. and dying into his hands he resigned his Spirit Luk. 23. 46. As Stephen afterward his into our Saviors Thus he received all things from the Father And from him after the ordinary way of Prayers Which he very often used and those very long ones Luk. 6. 12. as before the election of the Apostles Matt. 14. 23 25. after dismissing his Auditors Luk. 9. 1. and likely for the same purpose he usually retired out of the City at night to Mount Olivet see Luk. 21. 37. Mark 11. 17. which custome of his was observed by Judas Prayer both for himself and for others see Jo. 17. 15. where he praies that his Father would deliver them from the evil c. Luk. 22. 32. That Satan might not overthrow Peters faith and Matt. 16. 17. where he imputed Peters confession to the Revelation of his Father He praied to the Father for all things when wanted and returned thanks for them when received Jo. 11. 41. where his giving thanks that he was heard implies he praied the Father about raising of Lazarus tho this not set down Matt. 11. 25. see Matt. 26. 30. In which praiers too tho the Father heard him alwaies Jo. 11. 42. for all things he asked with a deliberate and plenary will 1 Jo. 5. 14. which was alwaies conformed to the Divine yet not for all the velleities of his sense and Humanity looking on things simply according to the bare inclinations of nature As in the request of the Cup passing from him And some think in that petition of exemplary charity Luk. 22. 34. Thus much of our Savior the eternal Son of God the Father his ungoding himself as it were and professing man which the Apostles sometimes speak so Emphatically 1 Tim. 2. 5. Act. 2. 22. and call the Father his God as he is ours See Eph. 1. 17. Ps. 45. 7. Jo. 20. 17. And sometimes distinguish him from God i. e. either as he is man or as God the Father is the fountain as it were of the blessed Trinity See 1 Cor. 8. 6. Jo. 17. 3. Eph. 4. 5 6. -5. 20. Col. 2. 2. Rom. 15. 6. 2 Cor. 11. 31. Eph. 3. 21. Of which descent of his I may say that this putting on so great weakness and then against all assaults of it so faithfully in all things serving his Father renders him if it were possible more capable of his Fathers love for this my Father loveth me because I lay down my life c. Jo. 10. 17. Jo. 15. 10. Because I keep his Commandements not seeking my own will but the will of my Father Jo. 5. 30. as a Saint obtains more here on Earth then when he serveth God in Heaven i. e. procureth a reward by his service on Earth which yet he cannot increase hereafter by his service in Heaven or as Mans infirmity is also said in the glorifying God to have some advantage of the Holy Angels perfection that it can suffer for him But however this good use we may make of this exinanition and incarnation namely to argue of it as St James of Elias Jam. 5. 17. Jesus a man subject to like passions as we so weak so tempted as we He assisted by the same spirit of the Father as we he did he endured he received so great things therefore we should and may do and suffer by the same spirit the like and if we do so shall receive the like 1 Joh. 3. 2 3. such as that man now is such men may be if such they now be as he was who was pleased to be in all things as they are saving the preeminences he hath from the hypostatical union Having shewed how and how far he became man to pass now from the form to the virtue of his manship and to shew how he was the second man to repair with advantage all the mischiefs coming to mankind by the first being made such a common person to them as none besides him but the first man was who in all things was a type and figure of him that was to come Rom. 5. 14. And the parallel between them we may read at large Rom. c. 5. from the 12. v. to the end And 1 Cor. 15. 20. c. 45. c. to the 50th And such a Covenant as was made with Adam of Reward for obedience Reward to him and to his seed if being enabled by the same spirit they should follow his steps In whom we may gather all the world should have been blessed had he stood because all were cursed in his fall unless Gods justice be larger then his mercies The same Covenant upon the first mans miscarriage we find enter'd into by the early promised seed of him that fell Christ that as by one man to us came death so by another might come life and that the second might conquer the Serpent by which the first
in all times but only to some generations according to the good pleasure of the Father to whom his kingdom is subject in every country and again to some Countries in every age Matt. 24. 14. How narrow was the sound of the promulgation of his kingdom at first Into any Village of the Samaritans enter ye not How obscure his Sermons And without a parable spake he not unto them How uncapable his Auditors Not able to bear his doctrines Jo. 16. 12. Luk. 24. 21. Great works were done when he was present here but greater to be done after his departing hence Jo. 14. 12. His personal presence with his servants which was a great encouragement to them being advanced into an assisting them with his presence with God in heaven and his spiritual presence not with but in them receiving there from the Father and giving unto them the Holy Ghost by which themselves ignorant whilst his body was with them were enlightned with all truth and thousands now at a time converted to the Truth Therefore was it expedient for the promoting of his kingdom to go hence His Commission before being only from the Jews I am not sent c. Maâ—…t 15. 24. but after his ascent receiving the promise for the Gentiles when he asked of God and had given him the Heathen also for his inheritance Ps. 2. 8. And shedding the gift of all manner of tongues upon his Disciples for instructing them And ever since hath he enlarged his borders and advanced to a further perfection towards his fulneâ—…s which is his body the Church Eph. 1. 21. still bringing more sheep into his fold Jo. 10. 16. and gathering up the children of the kingdom as his Father hath given them him here and there in this or in the next generation not loosing one of those be gives him and sending his Laborers hither and thither according as his harvest is ripe Now forbidding his Apostles to sow their seed in one place where he sees the ground is yet too stubborn to receive it as in Asia Act. 16. 6. and in Bithynia vers 7. They assayed to go into Bithynia but the spirit of Jesus as many Copies suffered them not and in Jerusalem Act. 22. 18 21. They in Jerusalem will not receive thy testimony concerning me make hast depart I will send thee to the Gentiâ—…es Again guiding them and that by appearing himself in person to other places where he saw he had by his Father given him much people as at Corinth Antioch Ephesus See Act. 13. 48. -16. 10. -18. 9 10. -8. 39. Then spake the Lord to Paul Be not afraid for I have much people in this City So in places where they might do him more service pricking them forward extraordinarily with the secret instigations of his spirit See Act. 17. 16. -18. 5. -19. 21. driving Paul without any rest to Jerusalem that he might convey him thence by occasion of a false accusation to sow the Gospel at Rome See Act. 13. 2. -8. 1 4. more spreading the Gospel by a persecution of the professors Gods work being not good without evil But Good out of evil All this zeal toward the Gentile after he had out of his dear affection to his own nation first made tender of their ministry to the Jew where then refused yet in the time appointed his standard shall be set up and they also shall bow unto his Scepter and unto Sion shall come the deliverer Rom. 11. 26. comp with Esai 59. 20. and the light of the Gentiles shall also be the glory of Israel Thus the Sun of righteousness goeth on and prospereth and none are hid from the heat thereof but also as the Sun he enlightneth not all this Sphere at once First rising upon the Jew from them shining on the Gentile amongst these first visiting the proselytes and those who were before introducted into the Jew's religion for such were most of the first Converts Act. 16. 14. -17. 4 12 17. 18. 7. but from these by little and little spreading to the rest of the Gentiles those before abounding in all idolatry and amongst these to the Eastern and Asiatick people sooner the light of the Gospel holding the same course with that of the Sun and night also since having succeeded the day in places where it first shined then to the European and the West those whom the Gospel visited later being recompensed in this that they have retained it longer But this so as the light is still increasing and far more here added to the fold of that great Shepheard then have there apostatized from it and still it proceeds and hath passed over the broadest Seas to new discovered kingdoms America and so from them hath made the round to the furthest East China to the posterity of Sem For by him was the East generally peopled as the North by Japhet and the South by Cham and from them shall at last return to the posterity of Abraham the bodâ—… of the Jewish nation from whence it set forth Rom. 11. with whom we hope that a remnant of Cham s seed also out of which hath sprung that great enemy of Christ shall be gathered to the Church Ps. 72. 10 11. and then that wicked one with those that obstinately follow him be utterly destroyed and then Noah's curse fully accomplished And 〈◊〉 observable that at the same time the Gospel began to decay in some parts it began to be planted in others When the Eastern and African Churches began to be overgrown with Apostacy and Heresy the Northern nations Germany Pole Denmark Sweden Norway c. began to be gathered into the Church And after that the West again had been overrun with the grossest superstitions Sects and Divisions the Gospel was hastily transferred to the East and West-Indies From Christian assemblies it hath grown to Christian States and from these again as it has been of a long time generally belived shall encrease into a Christian and the fifth and last Empire not that all that live then shall be Saints or that the world shall be under one Monarch an opinion made to serve the ends of sedition and tyranny but all or most for their religion Christians neither shall Antichristianism be universal either for place or time Of the 10 horns this Enemy shall prevail but over three Dan. â—… 8. and as he shall be toward the end of the world so shall he not continue unto it nor have the honor mundo secum moriente mori but those Kings at last shall make him desolate who before gave their strength unto him And our Saviour shall conquer the world first another way before by setting it on fire His spirit his word first shall prevail over it over the hearts and souls of men and they shall one day before the last become subjects not only to his power but to his truth when Satan also himself before the time that he shall be utterly destroyed shall first have shackles