LOOK UNTO JESUS OR An Ascent to the HOLY MOUNT TO SEE JESUS CHRIST IN HIS GLORY WHEREBY The Active and contemplative Believer may have the Eyes of his Understanding more inlightned to behold in some measure the Eternity and Immutability of the Lord JESUS CHRIST I. In his Divine Generation II. In his Power over the World III. In his Power over his Church in her twofold estate I. MILITANT II. TRIUMPHANT As the List of CONTENTS which followeth next to the PREFACE doth more particularly declare At the end of the Book is an APPENDIX shewing the certainty of the Calling of the JEVVS Written by EDWARD LANE M. A. Vicar of Sparsholt c. in the County of South alias Hamshire London Printed by Thomas Roycroft for the Authour and are to be sold by Humphrey Tuckey at the Black spread-Eagle in Fleet-street and by William Taylor near the Checquer Gate in Winchester 1663. Imprimatur Liber ut eò magis imprimatur JESUS Decemb. 6. 1663. M. FRANCK S. T. P. Reverend in Christo Patr. Dom. Episc Lond. a Sacris Dom. OPTIMO MAXIMO 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DEO DOMINO DOMINI DEI Patris Omnipotentis Filio Unigenito omnisque Creaturae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est Primo-Parienti Primogenito Necnon Inter Deum Homines Mediatori Unissimo Fidelissimo Catholicae etiam Ecclesiae Militantis Triumphantis Capiti unice colendo Ad cujus Nomen supra omne Nomen flectendum est omne Genu Celestium Terrestium ac Subterraneorum Tractatum hunc de Aeternitate Immutabilitate Nominis sui Praestantissimi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 susceptum Protractum Peractum EDOVARDUS LANE in domo ejusdem Domini Servorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inutilissimus Cum humili Indignationis ob multas Infirmitates Deprecatione ardenti Benedictionis Supplicatione Meritissimo Consecravit Voto Reverendo in Christo Patri ac Domino Domino GEORGIO Episcopo WINTONIENSI Vigilantissimo Aureae Periscelidis Praesuli Clarissimo Domino suo Dioecesano Summopere Observando Incrementum Gratiae apud JESUM CHRISTUM 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perinde ac Honoris apud Homines in Translatione sua ad hanc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Provinciam Bona Fide Toto Corde Precatur EDOVARDUS LANE Annos nunc plus minus 27. Ecclesiae Paroechianae in Villa SPARSHOLT in agro SOUTH Vicarius Quinetiam una cum ABRECH Congratulationis Librum hunc ad Celelebrandum JESU CHRISTI Nomen Honorandum in Saecula Praeparatum eidemque Supremo Nomini Perpetuae Gratitudinis ergo Consecratum Ad Gravem Religiosam ejusdem Reverendi Patris Inspectionem Disquisitionem lubente dicavit Studio JESVS SIT TIBI JESVS A PREFACE To the Pious and Judicious Reader GOOD READER HEre is a Treatise presented to thy view wherein through the guidance of Gods grace and the conduct of his word is attempted an assay to set forth the honour of the great Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and to make his praise glorious A Design doubtless very acceptable to all that are Christians indeed who cannot but rejoyce in any thing that may tend to the Exaltation of our dear Crucified and Glorified Redeemer who is the Rock of Ages the eternal excellency of his Church the joy of all Generations A work it is wherein all the company of Heaven is to be exercised unto all eternity And albeit whatsoever is undertaken by Men or Angels in this kinde will come infinitely short of his Merit yet it is but fit that what any one hath here seen of his glory either in his word or works he be free in the communication thereof Possibly there have been sundry attempts made already of the like nature and such that this may seem to some at first sight to be superfluous However Let not the day of small things be despised by us If some new materials which will endure the searching fire of Gods spirit be here added to the gold and silver which others have before built upon this foundation there can be no just offence taken thereat Sure I am they will not be disallowed by the Master of the house and therefore ought not to be rejected by those that are employed and salaryed by him to be Co-workers with me in the building It was not God knoweth any vain ambition or self-seeking that did first put me the meanest of the Lords Servants upon this work which is indeed Opus Dei the work of God neither is it any such sinister aim that makes me rush upon the censure of the judicious in the enlargement and compleating of it Onely if Jesus Christ may hereby be magnifyed and his Church edifyed I have my desire and it shall be the Crown of my rejoycing I confess notwithstanding there was an occasion offered that did first induce me to this Undertaking and it will not be amiss here to make a short mention of it Thus it was In the heat of the late Schisme it fell to my lot to preach a Sermon in the Cathedral Church at Winton upon the 26 day of December wherein because I said An Dom. 1654 I would not judge those people in the liberty of their Consciences who did observe the Feast of our Saviours Nativity to the Lord though withall I then * Which is here also inserted in its proper place spake severely against the prophane abuse of it I was accounted a superstitious person and a malignant such was the discriminating terme that was then used and reported far and near that I had done more hurt by that one Sermon then other Ministers that were employed in that Lecture could be able to repair again by many Which reproachful slander was so great a trouble unto me though I was then justifyed by Persons of very good quality that were both wise and godly that I was often minded being perswaded by those persons and sundry others that heard of it to publish in print the Sermon that I then preached to the end the World might see how causelesly I was traduced I did nevertheless forbear the said publication not out of fear of the persecutions of those evil dayes for I did my self observe that Anniversary Festivity in my own Parish preaching and administring the Sacrament of the Lords supper when very few durst adventure to do the like But having begun upon this occasion to prepare it for the Press and finding in the pursuance of it my Meditations enlarged to other matter then I at first delivered I slighted the Calumny wherewith I was asperst as not worthy to be so much heeded and breaking through many difficulties and hinderances have by degrees extended that very Sermon to this length which is now before you The greatest part whereof I have for some years kept by me without further additions but of late I must confess I was as the Apostle if I may so say pressed in spirit to finish what had begun and to publish the whole
Job 14.14 The Creature therefore must wait all the daies of their appointed time untill their change come Now the time when this shall be is here very significantly called the Manifestation or Revelation of these Sons of God which word of the Apostle is in Travel as Rebecca with a Twin of Interpretations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it may be taken not only in a Passive sense as some will have it but also in an Active Consider it first Actively These Sons of God that is The Angels shall be sent forth by Jesus Christ and employed in an eminent Work of Revelation four several waies First They shall break open the Chambers of Death and bring out the naked Bodies of the whole Race of Mankinde that have been there shut up and laid to sleep from the beginning of the World not one shall be missing Secondly They shall gather all the Saints which are God's Jewels together Mal. 3.17 and leave the Wicked which are the dross and dregs of the World by themselves thereby manifesting the one from the other each side to receive a Sentence from the Righteous Judge according to their Works Thirdly That Righteous Judgment which shall then pass must also have its manifestation according to the Apostles word Rom. 2.5 Rom. 2.5 And who but these Sons of God shall be the Messengers and Instruments of Justice at that day So saith Jesus Christ himself in the Parable of the Tares the Reapers that is Mat. 13.30 the Angels have their charge given them not only to gather the Tares together but to binde them in bundles to burn them and as for the Wheat they must bring that safely into the Barn Fourthly and above all these Sons of God shall be employed in the manifestation of the Son of man when he comes in his Glory for they shall in effect proclaim the Name of the Lord before him unto all the World as once it was when he passed before Moses being in a Cleft of the Rock Exod. 34. The Lord the Lord God Ex. 34.6 7 merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and that will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the childrens children Ps 50.3 unto the third and fourth Generation A fire shall devour before him and the Lord shall descend from Heaven as the Apostle speaketh 1 Thes 4.16 with a Shout a Shout that will make the Earth to quake and the World to ring and with the Voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God And what doth this imply but that these Sons of God shall minister unto Jesus Christ at that day in the manifestation of his Glory The Scripture we know speaketh often of the Manifestation and Revelation of Jesus Christ and his Glory 1 Cor. 1.7 1 Pet. 1.7.13 1 Pet. 4.13 c. And though it be most true that the Lord will then make himself known by the Judgment which he then executeth and by his appearing in his peculiar Glory yet doubtless the innumerable multitude of the Heavenly Hostes that attend upon him at his comming will also make his Praise glorious else would not the Wisdom of God have so contrived it that his Appearance should be also made solemn and formidable by reason of his Attendants that wait upon him And to this purpose the Apostle speaks expresly 2 Thes 1.7 So Beza renders it Act. 14.27 15.4 2 Thes 1.7 The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven But how With his mighty Angels in flaming fire or by his mighty Angels as the Preposition there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth also signifie And thus we see how these Sons of God shall be Active in the great Work of Manifestation at the last Day But then secondly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also as hath been said to be rendred in a Passive signification Thus these Sons of God shall themselves be manifested and that in two respects first of their Nature secondly of their Number First Their Nature shall be made manifest to the World for though they have appeared often under several Forms sometimes in the shape of Men sometimes like unto flaming fire for the comfort of the Godly and terrour of the Wicked yet doth it not clearly appear thereby what they are Spirits indeed they are Glorious and Heavenly and Immortal Spirits created after the Image of God of marvellous Agility excellent in Strength able to do Wonderously beyond the power of all other Creatures in the World Yet this and all else that we know of them doth not argue but that there will be a more perfect knowledge of them at the time of their Manifestation then shall it appear plainly what Relation they stand in unto God how they come to have cognizance of things done upon the Earth how they have been present in the Assemblies of the Saints and assistant unto them in the solemn duties of Divine Worship and Service 1 Cor. 11.10 then shall it be known and manifested how and wherein they have been a Guard to the people of God to keep them in all their waies and to conclude then shall they more freely and familiarly converse with men not keeping themselves at a distance as he did who reproved Maneah Judg. 12.18 saying Wherefore enquirest thou after my Name seeing it is secret So that a clear manifestation there will be of them in this regard Secondly Mat. 25.31 Their Number or whole Multitude shall then be also manifested For the Lord Jesus shall come with all his holy Angels not only with his Legions Mat. 26.53 Judg. 5.14 Es 40.26 Mat. 26.53 but his holy Myriads attending upon him He will bring out his Hosts by number saith the Prophet calling them all by Names as a General doth his Souldiers on a Training day not one of them shall fail Well may it therefore be called the Manifestation of the Sons of God when there shall be such a general Appearance of them The Lord among them as in the Holy Place Ps 68.17 Psal 68.17 Thousand thousands ministring unto him and ten thousand times ten thousands standing before him And thus have I given my sense of this Particular also which I submit to the examination of the Church it being I confess somewhat singular the Place being taken generally so far as the narrow extent of my poor Reading doth reach for the manifestation of the believing Saints of whom indeed the Evangelist speaketh after the like manner 1 John 3.2 1 John 3.2 which hath inclined Expositours to give the same Interpretation here Now saith he are we the Sons of God it should rather be rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Children of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him
be burnt up which implies a total Abolition of the Heavens and of the Earth How then can there be such a Restauration For answer to this Objection if a late Writer may be heard he will tell us that this place of S. Peter is to be understood of the Destruction of Judaea and not of the end of the World Which suggestion of his I shall not for my part insist upon it being an unwarrantable Interpretation differing not only from the Prophet before and the Apostle himself after him in the 7th Verse where he clearly expresseth presseth his meaning to be of the general Conflagration as it were of the Heavens and of the Earth at the Day of Judgment That which I have to say unto the Objection shall be folded up in a twofold Reply Answ 1 First We see the Apostle speaks there of Heavens in the Plural Number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as comprehending all Heavens So that if the place be to be taken in that sense as that the Heavens and the Earth shall so pass away 1 Reg. 8.27 Es 63.15 Heb. 12.28 as to be no more then we must conclude also that even the Heaven of the Blessed which is the Heaven of Heavens the Habitation of Gods Holiness and Glory shall be altogether taken away likewise But that is a Kingdom which cannot be moved therefore surely it is not so to be understood Answ 2 Secondly Whereas the Apostle speaks of the Dissolution of these inferiour Heavens being on fire and their passing away with a great noise of the Elements also melting with fervent heat and the burning up of the Earth and the Works that are therein the meaning is not as if the substance of these Creatures shall be annihilated and reduced to nothing but only that their present Form and quality shall be changed For first the Quintessence of the Heavens is not combustible by any Elementary fire if the Apostles sense should be taken with a reference to any such kinde of fire it being a most certain Maxime Coelum à subcoelestibus nihil patitur that is Heaven cannot fall under the power of any thing that is below it self for being next unto the Angels the prime Agent in Nature it cannot possibly be Passive And if it were subject to any such Consumptive fire then should that fire which is a far more ignoble Creature have a Being in its greatest height and glory when the Being of the Heavens is under a Decay which is too great an absurdity to be imagined by any that take pleasure in searching into the great Works of the Almighty Yea more considering that the constant Product of such fire is nothing else but Ashes it will follow that when the Heavens and the Earth are consumed the Ashes thereof must remain in the presence of God as if he favoured only the Dust of the Creatures But doubtless in stead of Ashes there shall be a glorious Beauty upon the face of Nature at that Day which beauty even that very fire that shall then visibly flame out shall also be a means through the mighty working of the most High to bring forth We will not too curiously search into the nature of that fire possibly it may be such as that wherein God appeared unto Moses in the Bush but consumed it not Ex. 3.2 and connatural with that which took up Elias into Heaven not destroying his body but changing it into a glorious estate 2 Reg. 2.11 In both which Apparitions as in many more the Ministry of Angels was imployed whom as the Psalmist speaks God maketh a flaming fire And therefore when the innumerable multitude of these Angels shall appear at the last Day waiting upon the Lord Jesus when he comes in his Glory well may Heaven and Earth be then said to be in a flame and as it were all on fire But let the Nature of that fire be as it is ordered by the Wisdom of the Creatour far surpassing our shallow Apprehensions being sparkles of those everlasting Burnings that are in himself This fire at that day shall put a new Form and Quality upon the Heavens and the Earth But how Or what I say again we know not neither is it indeed fit for us to know while we are in this our present estate This we know because God hath promised it there shall be new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness that is it may be such Heavens and such Earth at least as there was in the beginning wherein Adam dwelt when he was in his Innocency This also we know that the Angels who are this flaming fire as they are now employed by God in the Ordering Guiding and Governing the Heavens and the Earth which now are so they shall in the end be instrumental in making all things new for they shall take away every thing that doth offend and like unto fire separate the Precious from the Vile which will necessarily bring on a perfect Renovation and this Renovation is that which will surely be the Dissolution of the former both Heavens and Earth so as they shall not be remembred nor come into minde according to the word of the Prophet Es 65.17 Add unto this the melting of the Elements which the Apostle also mentioneth a plain Metaphorical expression what doth it imply but that they shall be brought into a new form even as Mettal when it is melted loseth not its substance but only the faeculency and dross is taken away and the Mettal transformed into another shape then it had before And thus in like manner the Prophet David when he had spoken Ps 102.26 of the perishing of the Heavens doth declare what his meaning thereof was in the words immediately following viz. All of them shall wax old like a Garment Ps 102. 26. as a Vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed He speaketh not of other Heavens but the old changed into better The wrong side of the Vesture is for the present only discernable but the day shall come when it shall be seen in all its Glory Unto this we have the concurrent assent of Expositours both Ancient and Modern whose words because they are so clear and pregnant in the confirmation hereof I judge it fit to intersert them at large as I finde them Holy Hierom upon Isaiah writes thus Extrema illa Coelorum mutatio erit tantum renovatio illorum promotio in meliorem statum That is The change which shall be of the Heavens at the last Day will be nothing else but their Renovation and a promotion of them to a better estate And in his Commentary upon the 102 Psalm writing on these words They shall perish and wax old as a Garment gives his judgment thus Coelorum iste interitus non erit abolitio corum sed reformatio redintegratio that perishing of the Heavens shall not be their Abolition but their Reformation and Redintegration So likewise S. Augustine on the same
yea and the greater was our sin that after we had some large experience of this great Glory wherein Divine Goodness had put us we should through our absurd folly deprive our selves of it This for the second Consideration arising from the said Doctrine The third brings a Light in her hand to guide us in the first Resurrection and to shew us the Glory of the second First we are hereby taught to fit and prepare our selves against this time of Restauration viz. By raising up our dull heavy and carnal hearts from this present evil World where they are too apt to lie groveling and by setting our Affections on things above and upon this Comfortable time of Refreshing wherein the Lord Jesus will freely and fully manifest his love and faithfulness unto his beloved people And indeed seeing that these things shall be dissolved and again restored What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness Scarce any among us I dare say but do look for new Heavens and new Earth that is expect Salvation in the Day of the Lord. But can we be so deluded as to think that the old Adam should bring us thither A Delusion notwithstanding it is wherewith multitudes are miserably deceived But beloved Brethren let it be remembred that the flaming Sword which keeps the Way to the Tree of Life will never suffer any to enter there under such a Conduct There must dwell nothing but Righteousness neither shall there in any wise enter into it any thing that defileth Rev. 21.27 nor whosoever worketh Abomination or maketh a Lye If therefore we carry our sins along with us we shall certainly stand without amongst Dogs and never be admitted Rouze up thy Soul therefore O poor Sinner and with Indignation shake off whatsoever it be that may hinder thee from having a part in that Glory that shall be revealed For be assured the Lord Jesus Christ will never suffer his new Creation to be sullied with the least spot or stain of Uncleanness He will not have his poor Creature to be ever groaning and when he hath once freed it it shall be freed for ever none but the new Creature shall be the Inhabitant of his new Creation Let all old things then be done away both in our hearts and in our lives and let all things become new I shall conclude this first Branch with that excellent Gloss of Mr. Calvin upon that of the Apostle 2 Pet. 3.10 Non subtiliter de igne procellâ c. Disputare voluit Apostolus sed tantum inde elicere exhortationem quam mox attexit nempe ut enitamur nos quoque advitoe novitatem The Apostle's design is not subtlely to argue about the sire c. that shall be at the last Day but from the consideration of the change that shall then be to draw forth an Exhortation to perswade men to newness of life So say I let us not busie our selves about too curious an inquisition after the manner of that change that shall be made of the Heavens and of the Earth rather it should be our care according to the advice and warning of the Apostle that seeing we look for such things as new Heavens and new Earth 2 Pet. 3.14 to give all diligence that we be found of him who is the faithful Authour of this Change in peace without spot and blameless And thus are we guided by this Doctrine to the first Resurrection Secondly it will shew unto us somewhat of the Glory of the second For according to the Power and Wisdom of the Workman so is the Work to be expected that cometh out of his hands if he be able and expert in his Art whatsoever it be his Work will be answerable Now it is to be presumed that Jesus Christ who is the Wisdom of God and the Power of God will like himself produce a most glorious Work in his Restauration of all things for herein also he will be the same which he was from the Beginning What therefore the Prophet spake in a certain place may very well be applied to this purpose Es 64.4 Since the beginning of the World for in the beginning there was some kinde of resemblance of that Glory which shall be Eye hath not seen as the Apostle renders it nor Ear heard 1 Cor. 2.9 neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him The Eye of man hath seen much the Ear perhaps hath heard more but the Heart conceiveth more then Eye hath seen or Ear heard but Eye Ear and Heart are all too narrow to comprehend or describe the exceeding weight and superlative Greatness of that fulness of Glory It may suffice that it is of his wise and powerful ordering who is the same yesterday to day and for ever In the 14 of S. John the Lord speaketh to his Disciples in these words which have a measure that reacheth unto all Believers I go John 14.2 saith he to prepare a place for you a place with himself that where he is there also may his people be Being then I say of his preparation who is the Lord of Glory and of his Prepossession too how can it possibly be but exceeding Glorious Kings do not use to erect Cottages but set forth their Magnificence in sumptuous Buildings How stately then shall that place be which is prepared by Jesus Christ the King of Glory It was as he himself faith elsewhere prepared from the foundation of the World Mat 25.34 Yet after some thousands of years he saith again I go to prepare a place for you Once more behold here by the way how Jesus Christ is still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same that excellent Work which he made and prepared at first and which was afterwards lost and forfeited by man'd Disobedience he will now prepare it again for all those that believe in him for in him there is no variableness nor ever shall be That Preparation therefore that is to be made will be it seems in part the Reparation of that which was made in the Beginning In part I say for it will not become us to mete out or to set Bounds to this great Work of Christ by any Topographical Delineations otherwise then we have the Word to guide us neither indeed can we positively determine what it shall be 1 John 3.2 It doth not yet appear saith the Evangelist what we our selves shall be though for the present we be the Children of God And what the Glory was of our first Creation we are not able in this our low estate to finde out much less do we know what that Glory is which Christ is preparing But notwithstanding this is certain because it is revealed there shall be new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness and where Righteousness dwelleth there must needs be great Glory For if Righteousness here where she is but a Forreiner
presumptuously into a Christian Oratory and there with a most abominable profanness pissed upon the holy Table Consecrated for the Sacrament of the holy Eucharist But he was suddenly pursued by a just judgment of God and taken with a terrible disease his Bowels rotting within him the Excrements no more went from him by their natural passages but that cursed mouth which had been the Trumpet of blasphemy was the passage of them Arius that arch enemy of Jesus Christ even when by the strength of his Faction he had so far prevailed that he was ready to make his Triumph over the truth of God concerning the Deity of Christ in the publick Court of the Emperour was forced to withdraw himself as some think by reason of a terrible affrightment that then fell upon his Conscience so the Centurists relate it whereby thinking to recollect himself by hardning his heart or as it is generally reported endeavouring to disburthen Nature his inward parts which as I may say were very wickedness and all his Bowels gushed out so fearfully perishing with a kind of death fitting for such a blasphemous and filthy wretch Nestorius his Tongue rotted in his mouth being eaten with worms Cent. 5. cap. 5. wherewith he had blasphemed Christ He held that the honour of Christs Godhead was conferred upon him as a compensation of his Merit Valens also that Neronical Tyrant was exceedingly mad against Jesus Christ of whom Histories record that in favour of Arianism he executed most horrible cruelty upon the Orthodox Christians persecuting them from Country to Country giving liberty to all sorts of people to profess what Religion they pleased excepting such who maintained the Doctrine of the Eternal Deity of the Son of God resolving by all waies and means to root it out of the World and when he could not prevail Cent. 4. cap. 7. he forced a great multitude of those that professed that Doctrine into a Ship causing the Ship to be set on fire in the midst of the Sea Cent. 4. cap. 10. So furiously was he enrag'd in his cruelty towards the faithful Servants of Christ But behold how visibly the just judgment of God did appear against him sundry waies His Son being desperately sick was by the earnest prayer of Basil the Great that faithful Bishop of Caesarea restored to health beyond expectation Valens thereupon being convinced of his impetuous malice against Christ renounced his Heresie and seemed to repent of his cruelty Cent. 4. cap. 4. quietly submitting himself to the truth as it was preached unto him by that good Bishop but within a short time after he returned again to his former Biass endeavouring also to perswade Basil himself to be an Arian whose consent when he saw he could not obtain he commanded an Order to be drawn up for his banishment whereto being about to affix his name suddenly was his Pen in a miraculous manner shivered to pieces yet still persisting in his resolution he called for another and a third to both which happened the like remarkable Accident a fearful horrour at length seizing upon him he was forced against his will to retract that banishment His rage nevertheless encreasing still more and more against the poor Church of Christ upon the account only of Christs eternal Godhead the revenging hand of God in the end overtook him for being engaged in a War against the Gothes and wounded with an Arrow he betook himself into a poor Shepherds Cottage which being set on fire by the Gothes he there miserably perished The like judgment also befel one of his Attendants who threatning a certain holy man called Aphraates for his zeal and faithfulness in advising the Emperour to forsake his Arianism was in a very signal manner pursued by the vengeance of God for the Emperour willing him to go and make ready for him his Bath whilest he was preparing it suddenly being stricken with madness he leap'd into the Caldron of scalding water and with fearful howlings wofully died his former Menaces so falling deservedly upon his own Pate In a word the Persecution that was in those times only for this Cause of Christ raged so much through the whole Eastern parts especially Constantinople that scarce was there any of the Heathens Nero Domitian Decius or others that did or could in their greatest fury shew greater cruelty then the Arians did But the jealous and the righteous God who hath said his Glory he would not give unto another did not then suffer with impunity his Glory to be taken from him by sinful men for a miraculous hail was sent from Heaven upon those parts of an extraordinary bigness like stones in hardness which destroyed multitudes both of men and Cattel overthrew Cities and with a great Famine was Phrygia then utterly ruin'd Thus hath the Lord from Heaven with his out-stretched arm appeared visibly in the vindication of his great and glorious Name and will surely do the like again whensoever it shall seem good unto him for he is the same still without any change at all so that the World may say This hath the Lord done and it is marvellous to behold verily he is a God that judgeth the Earth And now briefly to make some Application of this There hath been and still is a Generation of men in these times of whom it may be said as it was of Belshazzer Though they know all this Dan. 5.22.23 viz. That God hath most remarkably manifested his displeasure from Heaven upon the World for this great rebellion against the Crown and Dignity of Jesus Christ yet do lift up themselves against the Lord of Heaven and the God in whose hand their breath is and whose are all their waies they will not glorifie And oh that England would look about her that this Treason against the Lord Jesus Christ be not sound therein for if this Iniquity should be marked before the Lord as an indeleble blot upon our Church and State it would undoubtedly be the fore-runner of an over-spreading Desolation The time hath been not long since when Socinianism grew to a very great height among us not that it was publickly professed God forbid we should ever be guilty of such a Racevian Impudency but it had taken such degrees that he who was most skilful to maintain it and could propose doubts most Sceptically about the Deity of Christ Satisfaction for sin and Imputation of Righteousness was amongst a sort of unstable Athenian Novelists who were the Ringleaders of the late Sect of Seekers best accounted of for subtlety and acuteness of Learning yea and Books also too many were printed and prepared for the Press containing most damnable blasphemy against the Son of God insomuch that high time it was to put a stop to the current of this pestilent Heresie And therefore was there a Canon expresly set forth against it in the year 1640. confirmed by the Kings Authority But afterwards when a purer Reformation was cried up and great
God Whereby surely is not meant that the Father is subservient in either of these respects but the first Mover and efficient cause in both so is the Son also in the work of Creation though the Father is said to work by him for he saith John 5.17 My Father worketh hitherto and I work John 5.17.19 And what things soever the Father doth these do the Son likewise V. 19. As the Father therefore is the sole Creatour of all things so in like manner is the Son John 10.30 because the Father and the Son are both one the Father by the Son and the Son from the Father excluding only all Creatures in Heaven or in Earth from having any concurrency herein To conclude Peter Lombard's sense concerning this Point or rather S. Chrysostom's quoted by him will give us some clear light in this Mystery and it is indeed well worthy to be remembred by us The Father Lib. 2. Dist 13. saith he worketh by the Son Quia tum genuit omnium opificem Because he begat him in that ineffable and eternal Generation the Creatour of all things and if the Father be the cause of the Son secundum quod Pater est As he is Father much more is he the cause of those Creatures which are created by the Son Hence it appeareth John 5.26 that as the Father hath life in himself and hath given to the Son to have life in himself so the Father hath this honour soo modo ordine In his glorious Rank and Order to be the Creatour of all things and he hath given to the Son in his order likewise to be the Creatour too the like we may say also of the Holy Ghost in his Order Since then it is the priviledge of the Son by virtue of his Divine Generation to be entituled to this Honour in an equality with the Father let him be as the Apostle calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bringer forth of every Creature Col. 1.15 And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Authour the Beginner Rev. 3.14 the Prince of the whole Creation the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he and none but he He it was that stretched forth the Heavens alone Es 44.24 Psal 104.9 Ps 147.4 and did spread abroad the Earth by himself he made his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flaming fire He telleth the number of the Stars and calleth them all by their names or as it is rendred Giveth names unto them He prepared the Light and the Sun Ps 74.16 Ps 104.19 Job 38.28 29. Job 38.22 Ps 135.7 Ps 33.7 Ps 24.1 the Moon also he appointed for seasons And what Father hath the Rain but he Or who but he hath begotten the drops of Dew Out of whose Womb came the Ice And the hoary Frost of Heaven who but he hath gendred it He created the treasures of the Snow the Hail and the Wind and he laid up the Depth in Storehouses The Earth is his and the fulness thereof whether it be in the Surface or in the Bowels of it the round World and they that dwell therein In fine the Apostle sums up altogether Col. 1.16 By him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in the Earth visible and invisible Col. 1.16 whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him And the Evangelist agrees in the same account saying All things were made by him John 1.3 and without him was not any thing made that was made Thus was Jesus Christ Yesterday that is in the beginning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only he in the work of Creation He himself undertook it without the assistance of Angels whom Saturnius Basilides Cent 2. cap 5. and other Hereticks of old would obtrude upon him to be his Co-agents in the Work And he was likewise the same in carrying on his work there was no variableness in him whilest he continued in it exercising his Divine Artifice and Dexterity in the Magnitude Variety Multitude Distinction Order Harmony of his Creatures which he produced one day after another till all was finished At which time he look'd upon all with much complacency and delight beholding the Travel that he had gone over and was satisfied therewith not retracting the least thing that had passed through his fingers for he was not ashamed of his Work but set his Seal unto the whole giving this Testimony of it That it was all very good Gen. 1.31 With men indeed there is a marvellous mutability in their Works either they are not able to perfect what they begin and so are not the same when they have wearied themselves about their work as they were at first entrance upon it ashamed and vexed to see their expectations frustrated As it was with Solomon after he had stretched forth his uttermost Abilities which in truth surpassed all others to extract the most exquisite Spirits and purest Quintessence for his delight which the variety of the Creatures could afford how miserably alas was he deluded I locked saith he on all the works that my hands had wrought R◠2.11 and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit Or else they are not wise enough to carry on their Enterprizes to such a progress and maturity as may probably produce any desirable Issue being fain to sit down many times re infectâ even as wise as they began or out of envy they are not willing to impart their Experiments to others Plutarchus in vita Alex. As Alexander would not have Aristotle to publish his Acroamatical Sciences for wherein saith he shall we excel others if those things which thou hast secretly taught us be made common to all O! but the Lord Jesus Christ is the same all along in his Works shewing forth the immutability of his Wisdom Coodness and Power therein for by his Wisdom he made the Heavens and by his Wisdom he made the Worms Gen. 1.25 which though they may be generated by corruption Ps 136.5 Gen. 1.25 yet they had their Original by virtue of the Principles of the first Production caused by that Omnipotent Fiat which gave Being to all things and the smaller the Creature is the more is the Divine Workmanship to be admired both in the shaping and in the using thereof The Hebrews have an opinion as it is observed that Enchanters cannot shew their skill in little things if they be less then a Barley-corn and therefore the Sorcerers of Egypt failed in producing Lice Exod. 8.18 But the Wisdom of the great Creatour is the same in the smallest Creature of the World as in the greatest the organical body of a little Ant is no less to be wondred at then the huge body of Behemoth His goodness also is the same shining clearly throughout the whole Creation It was not out of any need that he began this Work
their period and determination But who is he and where is he that dares put this indignity upon the eternal and immutable Jehovah Will not common experience convince him that the same good hand which created all things hath been ever and still is stretched forth in Upholding and Preserving Whence is it else that amidst such Variety there is such excellent Order still continued Yea that in such Contrariety Confusion doth not break in to the ruine of all Much might here be added to shew the constancy and immutability of Jesus Christ in governing and preserving the World But we shall now contract what might be enlarged The holy Scripture is clear in this matter ascribing unto Christ the power and sovereignty in ruling and preserving the whole Creation By him saith the Apostle Col. 1.17 doth all things consist visible and invisible And the reason as I conceive seems to be there annexed in the former words viz. He is before all things like a Captain in the head of his Army without whom they would be of no force but consume to nothing like a Basis or Foundation in a Building which as it must have a priority in time before the Building so being first laid it upholdeth all that is built upon it To which also the Apostle alludeth Heb. 1. when having made mention of the Worlds being made by Christ he addeth That he upholdeth all things by the word of his power that is his powerful Word which word is very emphatical Heb. 1.3 implying that in the things themselves there is no power no virtue at all for their own preservation but that it is his Rule Order Wisdom alone that keeps the World upright For as in a Structure the stones and other materials cannot subsist in the Building by any qualities or inherent virtues of their own but only by the subsistence which they have upon the Foundation So is it in the World the several Creatures that are therein could never of themselves hold together with that exact Symmetry Comeliness and order that appeareth amongst them but would certainly run headlong to ruine were it not for the mighty Word of command that ruling Virtue which constantly issueth out from Jesus Christ whereby they are upheld and sustained His mighty Power it is alone that upholdeth the Earth that stretcheth out the Heavens that sendeth forth the winds that raiseth up the high and great Waves of the Sea and again saith unto them Peace and be still Yea in the very smallest things is his Power and Providence in governing and ordering the World exercised and made known He it is that maketh the Feather to move Mat. 10.29 30. his mighty hand leadeth the Fly in her way yea more the same force which now shaketh a Leaf if he had sent it against a Mountain it would have turned it up from the foundations and the same strength that bloweth up the Dust if it came against the whole Earth it would shake the bottoms of it For it is not the natural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher calls it that is as some interpret it the continual progressive Agitation or perfect Adeption of the Creatures that makes them run on in their course But it is that Omnipotent Arm that gave a Being to all things that ordereth and disposeth the motion of them all as seemeth good unto him And for their parts they are willingly subject unto his commands When he saith Go they go when he saith Come they come when he saith Do this they do it as cheerfully as ever the Centurion's Servant did what his Master appointed him though many times they be put upon Services contrary to their ordinary course and those natural Instructions which they received in the Creation for they are sensible of the power of their Lord and in order to his Glory and their own preservation do unanimously agree that his Wisdom must not be controlled To conclude Ps 36.6 He it is saith the Psalmist that preserveth Man and Beast for he having created all all things therefore must be under his Inspection and Care yea it is his glory and honour to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only He in guiding and governing and preserving the World as well as in creating it which honour we find given unto him by the Prophet Ps 40.26 He that created these things bringeth out their Hoste by number he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might for that he is strong in power not one faileth And when he calleth them Es 48.13 they like dutiful Servants stand up together Es 48 13. We shall not proceed any further in the confirmation of a Point so clear only answer a Cavil conceived and produced in these times through a mis-understanding of the Sovereign power of Christ over the Creatures In which mistake since he did as it is manifest give a Being to the World and thereupon had free liberty to order and govern it as seemed good unto him we shall make it appear they do not only strike at the Mediatory Scepter of the Lord Jesus but at his Wisdom also in the management of his natural Dominion Which being done we shall come to derive some inferences from what hath been said concerning this matter for our further edification Objection If this power say some belongeth unto Christ and to Christ alone to guide and govern the World because he gave a Being unto it why then are men set up in the Throne with him Doth he need helps in Government Or is he like Moses not able himself to bear all the people alone Is he not wise in heart and mighty in strength to manage his own power Doth he govern the whole Hoste of Heaven by his immediate Scepter and must he have Coadjutours in Office with him to rule over men Far be it from us to judge so meanly of this great Preserver of Men. Away therefore with Kings and all the Powers that are upon Earth Down with Magistracy what ever it be that is of a Humane Constitution set up in Competition with him we have no King but Jesus for in him we live and move and have our being To him then alone be Glory for ever Amen Solution Even so Amen Let the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory be ascribed unto him for ever and ever and let all the people say Amen For these things indeed saith The Amen the faithful and true Witness himself he saith it once yea twice once in the Law and a second time in the Gospel without Retractation that Power and Dominion belongeth unto him and whosoever they be that say the contrary That they will not have him to reign over them let them be executed in his presence for Rebels and Traitours So then a hearty Concurrency is readily yielded to the exalting of the Lord Jesus neither shall there be any Name whatsoever in heaven or in Earth named by us at any time to
and meets with many checks Pro. 14.34 exalteth a Nation as Solomon tells us much more will she Adorn and Beautifie the place of her own Habitation where she shineth without any Eclipse and where she ruleth without any Disturbance or Resistance whatsoever A most Glorious Provision doubtless it will appear to be which will also abundantly satisfie When God was about to bring his people into the Land of Promise he tells them what was prepared for them viz. Great and goodly Cities which they builded not Deut. 6.10 11. House full of all good things which they filled not Wells digged which they digged not Vineyards and Olive Trees which they planted not all should be made ready to their hands against their coming thither so shall there be a preparation made by Jesus Christ for the Saints in the life that is to come of all things whatsoever their Souls can desire And since we have made mention of this Land which the Lord promised to give unto his People when he brought them up out of Egypt and which is indeed a Symbol of the Eternal Inheritance let us proceed a little further in this matter confining our Mediations to a short Parallel between that Land and the Celestial Canaan which shall be given to all that are Israelites indeed for their everlasting Possession In the third Chapter of Exodus Ex 3.8 God tells Moses that he would bring his People unto a good Land and a large unto a Land flowing with Milk and Honey unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebuzites Now since that Heaven and Earth as they are prepared by Jesus Christ shall be the Receptacle of the Saints hereafter let us in a short Survey see how they will both answer their Type in the several parts thereof First for Heaven It is surely a good Land to speak of it by way of Allusion the Holy Ghost in Scripture leadeth us herein and that in this very Particular Heb. 11.16 calling Heaven a Country Good in respect of Vicinity for where there are good Neighbours the place is commonly by those that are good the better liked Now in Heaven there dwells Goodness it self a good God and a good Saviour good Angels and good Souls All very Good As it is therefore a part of the Torment which the Damned suffer in Hell to be ever in the Company of evil Angels and ugly Devils so surely is it a great happiness to be ever in the sweet Society of Saints and glorious Angels nay of God himself Good then in respect of good Neighbourhood good also in respect of the abundance of good things that are there flowing I say not with Milk and Honey but with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory There are good things for the Soul and good things for the Body which being largely laid open by others we shall not insist upon them here There is the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good but not of the least Evil whatsoever How good is it to behold the King in his Beauty Es 33.17 1 John 3.2 to see God as he is in his Glory This is the Ne plus ultra of the Soul hitherto she aspires and no further For in his presence is fulness of joy and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore This is the Priviledge of that place alone and therefore surely it is very good so good that it is impossible it should be better and impossible also for us that are so evil as yet fully to know it Well was it therefore sung in that Anthem of old Quis Chalcedon Quis Jacinthus Norunt illi qui sunt intus When once we come to taste of this Goodness and to drink of the River of these Pleasures we shall then see that clearly which now we can see but through a Glass darkly It is also a large Land so large that no hand but his that stretched it forth can be able to mete it out though there have been some who have too vainly busied themselves in calculating the Dimensions of it Some have undertaken to set out the extent of it thus As the Element of Water is ten times bigger then the Earth the Air ten times bigger then the Water the Fire ten times bigger then the Air So with the like proportion each Heaven bigger then another And thus do the Grashoppers of the earth skip beyond their Line Es 40.22 who because they can as they think bestride the Molehil of their own Element from whence they were extracted will presume also to take the length of the span of God's right hand But away with this Arrogancy far unbeseeming those that dwell in houses of Clay rather indeed should our thoughts be swallowed up with astonishment when we take into our consideration the largeness of the Place and our affections likewise should be enlarged towards it remembring what our Saviour calleth it John 14.2 His Fathers House wherein as he saith there are many mansions Therefore it must needs be very great We see how it is here in this life according to the greatness of persons so commonly are their houses enlarged Luke 12.18 Even the rich Tool in the Gospel when he perceived the world coming in fast upon him he presently concludes to pull down his Barns and to build up greater And when Nebuchadnezzar grew to be Great in the earth Oh how he prides himself in the sutableness of his Neast Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babylon saith he that I have built for the honour of my Majesty Thus do filly men stand like Cocks crowing upon their Hillocks applauding themselves in the largeness of their Train and Elbow-room which they have obtained in the world answerable forsooth to the heighth and greatness of their Spirits when yet notwithstanding poor Creatures they are but walking pieces of earth and a small Ell possibly of that ground which they tread upon will one day be big enough to hold them Well then if this be the manner of men to have House and Land here agreeable to their little Greatness how great and large is that place where the great God himself dwelleth And where he will gather his Children together into their Mansions ordained for them Surely it is beyond all expression beyond all admiration We shall indeed come to see and know it in that day when we walk the Round with Jesus Christ who will certainly then shew unto us all the Glory and Beauty of his House which yesterday that is from the beginning he built and created and now again in his faithfulness is gone to prepare for us but till then we must not be too busie in our shallow apprehensions of it Thirdly As it is a good Land and a large so it is the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebuzites that
a time of clearer Light coming which when the shadows were removed and that old Tabernacle taken down should make the way plainer to those that should walk in that Light for the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth certainly signifie this kind of manifestation by Light as we may see in sundry places of Scripture and not such an Apertio portarum an opening of the gates of Heaven as these Popish Phantasticks vainly imagine who do hereby onely manifest their gross Ignorance in that whereas the Apostle saith the way to Heaven was not manifest in regard of knowledge They will against all sense and reason maintain that the way to Heaven was not open in regard of Entry as if the way could not be open to enter because it was not manifesty known Upon which account as one well observeth they may shut out our Christian Infants at this day who do not onely not manifestly but not at all know the way to Heaven and if the way to Heaven be open to them for entry although it be shut in regard of knowledge how much more was it open to the faithful under the Law who as to sufficiency knew the way to Heaven although not so manifesty as we do As for that which hath been Objected out of our Common Liturgy viz. When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of Death thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers I answer they are much mistaken who render the sense of the said words in that manner to the derogation of Christ's merit for if they be interpreted aright they do rather advance the honour of the Lord Jesus in that way and kinde that we have here insisted upon And as Athanasius used them who was the Authour of them then in the least degree detract from it the genuine meaning of them as we use them being this Jesus Christ after his death did open the Kingdome of Heaven to all Believers viz. to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews whereas before it was open onely unto the Jews Lastly Where as it is said by some that though the Fathers were not shut up in Limbo as the Papists fondly dream but immediately after Death were carried up into Heaven yet they were not admitted to that Vbi that place of Glory wherein they have been ever since our Saviour's Ascension I Answer till such time as we can see some constat for this in Scripture we must take leave to declare our Judgment against it rather because the Holy Scripture is so clear that Jesus Christ was the same Yesterday which he is to day we may admire that the least scruple should arise in the thoughts of any that the power of his Resurrection could not put forth the same Virtue to the Saints of old so as to make them Quoad statum separationis as perfectly happy as it doth unto those that have and shall come after We are not to be regulated by the Opinions of Men in this matter whether Antient or Modern though in some other points that are not of so great concernment we may happily afford a willing compliancy In this case we will call no man Father upon Earth for one is our Father which is in Heaven To the Law therefore and to the Testimony whosoever speaks not according to this Word in Order to Christ's Glory and the Salvation of his Church it is because there is no Light in them And now when I was even about to leave this point so to proceed unto that which followeth I have met with a spoke in my way upon which I must stop a little being well assured notwithstanding that my Text will bear down all Opposition that may be raised against it There have been we know in these late times certain strange Opinions scattered about such as have been of pernicious consequence to Religion And if amongst the rest I meet with any which strike at the Honour of our Lord Jesus Christ which our present Text ascribeth unto him I hope I may take liberty to bear Witness against them of how great Name soever the Authours thereof may be that have maintained them I shall forbear to nominate any Persons but doe heartily wish they would seriously consider with themselves how they may for the Church's sake retract that which they have of this Nature so unadvisedly written It hath been maintained and published by one Authour especially of great and eminent Note That the Object of the faith of the Patriarchs and Fathers of old was not Jesus Christ the Mediatour but God alone that is God the Father And that such efficacy as the expiatory sacrifices of the Law had was not so much in reference to the sacrifice to be made of Christ as extrinsecal and affixed by the Divine ordinance and institution of Almighty God Yea that the very Heathen did in those times without Christ even by the light of Nature attain unto such a Knowledge of God as was enough for their everlasting Salvation That these Cockatrice Eggs were hatched by Hereticks of old is well known The Church was much pestred with these Pelagian vermine in former times But that after they have been crushed with the hammer of Divine truth in the hands of Holy Antients and Servants of Christ of late that they should I say be now brought to Light again perking up with such boldness as they do and that among us in this Church who have been taught by terrible things in righteousness to set up and adore the Lord Jesus Christ in his Throne It is and will be surely too great a provocation of God's jealousie against us Having therefore mett with such Assertions as these so destructive to the Piety of the times and so diametrically contrary to the Doctrine that hath been insisted upon being derogatory to the Merits of the Lord Jesus making them useless to the World before the time of his coming I conceive a necessity is laid upon me to protest against them It hath been the great design of Satan at all times to bring the world to be as little beholding to Christ as may be and to that purpose hath he bewitched men with strong delusions one while suggesting to their minds prejudicate opinions concerning the ways of Christ that they are greivous unprofitable and unreasonable ways another while infusing into them Principles of self-sufficiency that so long as they have materials enough of their own to finish their building what need they go to seek in another's Quarry sometimes perswading them that the Saints in Heaven must be his Coadjutours in office to obtain grace for his people here and to help them in time of need again making them believe that after this Life is ended their souls must lie down in Purgatory for a time before they can be carried up into Heaven And why is all this and much more attempted by this grand Adversary the Devil but because as I said he would draw men to have as little dependance upon Christ
Day so was the Law before the Gospel in Reference unto this Day When therefore the Night is spent and the Day come we may conclude that a great Light greater then what was before hath appeared in the World and as it was foretold so can we say It is fulfilled The People that walked in Darkness have seen a great Light Es 9.2 they that dwell in the Land of the shadow of death upon them hath the Light shined so then it is a great Light Thirdly It is likewise a marvellous Light as Saint Peter calleth it 1 Pet. 2.9 Leading its followers into a knowledge that passeth knowledge either Humane or Angelicall So Zanchy interprets the Place Eph. 3.19 Revealing such things which Eye never saw nor Eare ever heard 1 Cor. 29. nor could have entred into any heart to conceive Marvellous to the Blessed Angels whose Glory and Crown though it be to be Angels of Light alwayes beholding the face of God in Heaven yet perceiving a Light here also in this Day of the Gospel Mat. 18.10 whereby they might come to have more experience of the manifold Wisdome of God they are said with much greediness of Speculation to stoop down and to gaze upon it Marvellous to the Children of the Day who are on all sides filled with Admiration of the glorious appearance of that shining Light which they constantly behold in the dispensations of Grace and wherein they conceive themselves ten thousand times happier then if they had the Glory of the world laid at their feet Marvellous also to the Children of this World it being the Astonishment of Nations that all their Projects and Attempts to put out the Light of this Day have ever been frustrated and blown away like the Spiders web for loe the powers of the Earth and the Gates of Hell were Assembled they passed by together they saw it and so they marvelled they were troubled and hasted away Ps 48.4.5 Ps 48.4 5. Veniunt vident vanescunt they come and see and vanish together Yea fourthly so invincible is the light of this day that all the powers of darkness shall never be able to extinguish it To illustrate this particular let us take into consideration the invincible nature of that light whatsoever it is which God who is the Authour of Lights hath set up among the Creatures in this World And to this purpose give me leave to intersert a very pithy and pertinent Meditation of an Anonymous Authour that I have met with in a late Writer which may lead us farther into the knowledge of the Light of this day we see and prove saith he by dayly Experience how powerfull and dreadfull a thing the darkness of the Night is for when it falleth it covereth and muffleth up the face of the whole World it obscureth and hideth the hue and fashion of all Creatures it bindeth up all hands and breaketh off all employments it arresteth and keepeth Captive all living Wights Men and Beasts that they must be still and rest there where it arresteth them yea it maketh them fearfull and faint-hearted full of fancies and much subject to frights It is of all other such a powerful and unconquerable Tyrant as no man is able to withstand And yet nevertheless it is not of that Might that it is able to overwhelme or to quench the least Light in the World For we see that the darker the Night is the clearer the Stars shine yea the least Candles-light that is lighted withstandeth the whole Night and not only suffereth not the darkness to cover or to smother and oppress it but it giveth Light also even in the midst of the Darkness and beateâ—h it back for some space and distance on every side of it So that which way soever it is borne or wheresoever it cometh there must Darkness depart and give place unto Light all the power and dreadfulness of it cannot help or prevaile ought against it And though the Light be so weake that it cannot cast Light far about or drive the Darkness far from it as in the sparkle of an hot Coale yet cannot the the Darkness cover or conceale and much less quench it but it giveth light to it self alone at least so that it may be seen afar off in the darke and it remaineth unconquered of the dark though it cannot help other things nor give light unto them Yea that that is yet more wonderful a rotten shining piece of wood which hath the faintest light that can be found yet remaineth invincible of all the power of darkness and the more it is compassed about with darkness the clearer light it giveth so little is darkness able to overcome or keep down any light but that it ruleth and vanquisheth and expelleth the darkness which else overwhelmeth and snareth and fettereth and putteth all things in fear Now if this natural light be so powerful and so able to prevail against the darkness of the night why should not the glorious light which now shineth in this day of the Gospel continue still in its Brightness notwithstanding all the attempts that are made by the Prince of Darkness and his Adherents to put it out Continue doubtless it shall and remain invincible to the end of the World Yea according to that measure and proportion of the darkness of errour which in sundry Generations is raised up to obscure and deface it It shall certainly encrease into a greater Glory And though this may carry with it the sound of a paradox in the ears of some people unacquainted with the ways of God yet it will be found to be a most certain truth because this day of the Gospel is not a day of small things of things to be despised of things easy to be reduced to a non-entity as if they never had been such as the designes of Men oftentimes to their shame prove to be but excellent things they are surpassing the comprehensions of Angels which are the fruit and ofspring of this day even the Arcana Coeli Magnalia Dei The secrets of Heaven and the great things of God things which many Prophets and righteous men in the generations of old have desired to see but could not are now clearly made known to the Church in this day which is therefore called the Day of the Lord's power Ps 110.3 Ps 10 3. Dies exercitus dies successus dies victoriae A day of assembling his armies that is his Apostles and Ministers to subdue the World A day wherein his mighty acts have appeared unto men and the glorious Majesty of his Kingdom ruling in the midst of his enemies and making himself known to his Church not onely by the name of God Almighty but to be the faithful Jehovah giving such a being to all his promises as never could be the like in the Generations that were before and therefore whensoever any adverse power shall now rise up against him to hinder or interrupt him in the
and our Vision of him For when we shall see him as he is we shall be like him to the full extent of our susceptibility of his Likeness and the immediate irradiation of his Light and Power shall overshadow us and transform us into the same Image both in soul and body This this I say is the complement of our future happiness the perfection of our eternal glory And this the Apostle clearly testifies concerning our vile bodies that even they shall be made like unto his glorious body Phil. 3 21. Phil. 3.21 From whence we may safely collect that as the Image of Christs body shall possess our bodies so shall the Image of his soul possess our souls and the Image of his spirit our spirits Whereupon it will follow we shall be wholly possessed with his Glory when we shall see him as he is in the Glory of the Father He shall then be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Same in himself respecting his Existence which as I have said will infinitely tend to the advancement of the Saints happiness and then also the Same to his Church respecting his Power though in the exercise and administration of it he be not the Same His Power I say both over us and in us Over us he is now as our Head to guide and govern us so he will be then for his Headship over his Church as his preheminence over the creatures he will not relinquish neither will the Father deprive him of it even when God shall be all in all And this I conceive to be undeniable though it may sound strangely unto some for the Humane nature of Christ being eternally united to the Divine it is not to be imagined that as Man he should be in an equality with the Saints but have a superiority over them and to be the Head of that Triumphant Church unto all Eternity without doing any office that belongs unto that Honour is inconsistent with the dignity and wisdome of the Sonne of God If any should now require an account of the particulars wherein Christ will hereafter do the office and exercise the authority of a head over the Church Triumphant in Heaven I must tell them They are to stay for an answer to their too curious question till in Heaven we come to see him as he is for then and not before shall we know even as we are known 1 Cor. 13.12 1 Cor. 13.12 Nevertheless in the generall this we know for the present Jesus Christ shall then be the head of his Church alone without any Power subordinate unto him as now For saith the Apostle All Rule and all Authority and Power both Celestial and Terrestrial shall then be taken away 1 Cor. 15.24 No humane Ordinance or Government of whatsoever Creation it be shall there be of any use no nor the Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though now as some conceive they have divers offices assign'd unto them according to the diversity of their names and titles for the discharge of their Ministery to which they are appointed of God 1 Pet 2.13 for those who shall be heirs of Salvation Hebr. 1.14 yet when all the heirs are settled in their Inheritance they shall then be devested of all their Rule Authority and Power Bruno their very Titles of distinction utterly cancelled and disannulled for to the Angels shall not be put in subjection the world to come and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day Furthermore As a Head he will preserve and uphold all the members of his mysticall Body in their glorious Being for as all things visible and invisible both in Heaven and in Earth were made by him and for him so by him must they consist Col. 1.16.17 Col. 1.16.17 Again As a Head he will keep them in a perfect unity together that they may be one according to the Divine Patterne before them As the Father is in him and he in the Father Joh. 17.21 Joh. 17.21 Lastly As a Head he will shew unto them those glorious Mysteries which for the present are beyond their reach and capacity so as they shall be plain and obvious unto them To which particular Saint Augustine whose judgment in the Interpretation of holy Scripture is worthy of all acceptation beareth his witness whom I find giving the sense of our Saviours words in his Prayer to his Father Joh. 17.26 in this manner Clarificavi illis nomen tuum c. I have Declared unto them thy name that is saith he In this World so far as they are able to receive it And I will Declare it that is saith he In the world to come more perfectly Yea give me leave to add one Meditation more touching this weighty matter which I confess I received long since from a Divine of eminent Note in his writing unto me In Glory saith he The Relation of Head and members between Christ and us shall not cease but shall be rather perfected by the enjoyment of that for which God did appoint it which is the shedding abroad of his love upon those that are made conformable to the Image of his Son Rom. 8.29 For the end and aime which God hath in the decree of Election is to make those whom he did fore-know and predestinate to be conformable to the Image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many Brethren Now when God shall have accomplished this aime and we shall be fully conformable to the Image of his Son then shall we be susceptible of the Love wherewith he loveth his Son as he is Man for the love wherewith he loveth him as God none can partake of but he alone and when by this conformity to his Image we shall be susceptible of this Love then the brother-hood between Christ and us shall not cease or be made void nor shall then his Prerogative of being the first-born among many Brethren be taken from him but it shall rather be most gloriously compleated when not onely the Fathers Love wherewith he loveth the first-born shall be extended to all those that are fully conformable unto his Image but also the Love of the first-born himself shall have its full and glorious Influence upon his younger Brethren By all which it is clear Jesus Christ will be over his Church Triumphant in Heaven as he is now over his Church Militant here on Earth Again As he will be then over us so likewise he will be in us In us he is now by Faith but Faith which gives him entertainment in our hearts and Hope which attends upon him there shall vanish with this Life and expire in their Service as being of no use in Heaven for Faith is of things not seen and therefore ceaseth when vision cometh Hope also if it be seen is not Hope onely Love remaineth to be the constant Bond of an eternal Union betwixt Christ and us and by love it is that he will take Possession of our hearts
that Age and to the apprehension of the Prophet though the Judaical observation of Jubilees was to cease long before the expiration of the time that he was insisting upon But enough of this Let us proceed The time of Jacobs going down into Egypt is as hath been said before very remarkable and may be esteemed a fit Epocha for the beginning of these seventy Jubilees The grounds and reasons of which conjecture I do now here offer to consideration First when Jacob went down into Egypt God promised him to make him a great Nation Gen. 46.3 And withall designed that very place for the performance of his word which was there fulfilled For thus Moses tells the people Deut. 10.22 Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the Stars of Heaven for multitude Whence we may collect this journey into Egypt was the beginning or providential occasion of forming this people into a Nation and whereby God did visibly fore-lay his design of proving himself unto them to be the great Jehovah in giving a being to his Promise made before unto Abraham Therefore very fit to be the Epocha of the Vision and Prophecy concerning this people Secondly Egypt was the place where Israel was first as a Childe trained up under his Fathers discipline and for the sins wherewith they there sinned God made them there to pass under the rod and brought them first into the bond of the Covenant Lev. 17.7 Josh 24.14 Ezek. 23.3 so that in all likelihood there did the time of Jacobs trouble begin which in the purpose of the Almighty was as the Angel here speaketh cut out and pared for this people And as they continued in their undutifulness forgetting the God that formed them so was their trouble also continued afterwards by sundry punishments inflicted on them in their several Generations but especially in the Babylonish Captivity and to this day lengthned out in their present dispersion into all Lands where the Lord hath scattered them And have we not good reason then to suppose that Jacobs going down into Egypt at the commandment of the Lord was eminently subservient to these ends that God might enter upon his work his great work which he had determined concerning this people Somewhat surely there is in it that the Spirit would have us to take special notice of because we find it so often mentioned in the Scripture see Gen. 46.6 Deut. 10.22 Deut. 26.5 Josh 24.4 Psal 105.23 Act. 7 15. It may be said Abraham also went down into Egypt two hundred and sixteen years before Jacob this account therefore of Jubilees may as well begin from that time as from Jacobs going thither A negative answer must hereunto be given For first though Abraham went into Egypt yet it was not at the commandment of the Lord Ps 105.14.15 but as a traveller from one Country to another as his affairs called him and it was but for a short time for he went up from thence again and which is remarkable All that he had he brought away with him Gen. 13.1 But as for Jacob he went not thither but at the express word of the Lord and there he continued till the day of his death and his Posterity removed not from thence till the Lord led them forth with a strong hand and stretched-out arm Secondly when Abraham went thither God had not made known unto him the afflictions that his Posterity should endure in that Land and therefore he might be at his liberty before to go thither or not as seemed good unto him but when once this was revealed unto him Gen. 15. there must then be no more journeying into Egypt by these Patriarchs till the very beginning of that time came which is here by the Angel said to be cut out for this people that is as I have said for their growing up into a Nation and suffering such chastisements which the Divine Wisdome had appointed for them Gen. 26.2 And hence it was very probably that an express inhibition was given unto Isaac that he should not go down into Egypt as his Father Abraham had done though it seems a necessity lay upon him to relieve himself and his family at that time by the plenty of Egypt being put to as hard a strait by reason of a second famine in the Land of Canaan as his Father Abraham was Thirdly Jacobs going into Egypt was a Type of our Saviours going thither one resembling the other in sundry notable circumstances and in that regard is the greater notice to be taken of it To instance First Jacob went thither at the commandment of the Lord so was Jesus carried thither by a Message from Heaven Secondly Joseph was a means of bringing Jacob into that Land so did another Joseph carry Christ into it Thirdly Jacob went down into Egypt that being the Countrey chosen of God for Israels infancy for he grew a lovely Childe there God taught Ephraim to go taking them by their arms Hos 11.1.3 So was the Holy Child Jesus carried into Egypt to be there for a while kept at nurse as I may say with his mother and during his * Sabellicus Historiographus scribit Josephum cum Maria puero Jesu in Aegypto 7. annos exulasse tantum scil temporis debuit implendae Herodis malitiae Minority to have that education as was meet and convenient for him Fourthly Jacob went thither to preserve his life from the Famine Gen. 45.5.7 And Jesus was carried thither to keep him out of harms-way and to preserve his life from those that sought to destroy it Fiftly Jacob and his posterity were to stay there till the time came which the Lord had set for their dismission from thence so Jesus was not to be brought out of Egypt till he was called according to the saying of the Prophet Hos 11.1 Out of Egypt have I called my Son and word brought by the Angel for that very purpose Matth. 2.13.19 These things being so may we not infer that the time of Jacobs going into Egypt was a time of great remark in Scripture and that it is the fittest of all other to make an Epocha from whence these seventy Jubilees are to derive their commencement and beginning Another argument there is yet to be considered for the confirmation of this sense of the Angels words taken from the end or final cause for which these 70 sevens were determined which is here said To finish the transgression and to make an end of sinnes and to make reconciliation for iniquity that is that no unrighteousness of what kinde or degree soever whether that single transgression of Jacob in the sinful manner of supplanting his brother Esau or that unnatural cruelty of his ten sons against their brother Joseph or the numberless multitude of sins whereof they have since been guilty or their most execrable iniquity against the Lord of life and his Gospel sent among them
manifest X. Episcopal Government in the Church proved by Scripture to be of Divine Right XI The Liturgy of the Church of England cleared from Superstition XII The Church of Rome justly charged with Novelty XIII A Remedy prescribed to cure the Distempers of our Nation and Times about Order and Church-Government The Contents more particularly and more punctually described THe Apostles intent and scope in the words of the Text viz. Jesus Christ the Same yesterday to day and for ever is rendred page 1. A threefold interpretation given of the Text p. 4. 1. With a respect to the Divine Nature 2. With a reference to the whole Creation 3. With a more especial respect to the Church An Apology for these several interpretations ibid. The first Interpretation Proved by Scripture and the concurrent Testimony of sundry Authours p. 5. Objections answered First taken from Prov. 8.22 c. p. 11. Second taken from Luk. 1.35 p. 13. Third taken from Col. 1.15 ibid. Instructions deducted viz. First Though Christ took upon him our nature yet he continued still to be the Same p. 19 Secondly We must give unto Christ the glory due unto his Name p. 21. 1. In worshipping him with Divine Adoration p. 21. 2. In a zealous appearance for him against his enemies p. 23. Of whom there are two sorts especially in these times that must not be spared viz. Those 1. Who raise up men above their proper sphaere equallizing them with Christ p. 24. 2. Who level the Lord Jesus with poor dust and ashes p. 25. 3. In the ready hearkening to the voyce of his Word p. 28. Corroboratives of this Argument 1. The Father will have Christ to be thus honoured p. 29. 2. Christ himself expects of us the same service ibid. 3. The Eternity of Christ is a clear evidence of his Wisdome and Gravity ibid. 4. A necessity lyes upon us to hearken to this his infallible Wisdome p 30. How else shall we escape the snares of Satan What improvement can we make of our Talents in our masters service p. 31. 5. He hath highly honoured us ibid. Thirdly how God hath been wont to make manifest his sore displeasure against those that have been the professed enemies of the eternal Deity of his beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ p. 33. A particular Application p. 37. The second Interpretation p. 41. Wherein it is observed how Christ is the Same 1. In the work of Creation 2. In the work of Preservation 3. In the work of Restauration How in the work of Creation p 42. Though Jesus Christ be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therein yet the Father and the Holy Ghost are not excluded 1. Christ is equal with the Father in that eternal Counsel and Decree from whence all things had their first rise and origination 2. The Same in the execution of that Decree 3. The Same without any Coadjutor 4. The Same without any variableness in the creating of all things Inferences from hence First this may lead us to a further knowledge of Jesus Christ p. 47. When we consider the Heavens p. 48. When we consider the Deep p. 49. When we consider the Earth ibid. When we consider our selves p. 50. We must say O Lord our Lord How excellent is thy Name Secondly we are to let Jesus Christ enjoy peaceably without any repining his absolute Sovereignty over all the earth to dispose of it as seemeth good unto him p. 50. How Jesus Christ is the Same in the work of Preservation and Government of the world p. 52. An Objection answered viz. If this Power belongeth unto Christ to guide and govern the world What need is there at all of any other government p. 54. In answer hereunto three things are largely proved First Government by men is an Ordinance of Divine appointment p. 57. Secondly Government is ordained to be subservient unto Christ p. 62. Thirdly Christ will have this subservient government and order to be continued so long as the world endureth p. 66 The folly of Fift-Monarchy men is made manifest p 70. A conviction of those that look no further then secondary causes p. 71. They who applaud their Fortune in their successes are reproved ibid. They also who consult with Astrologers p. 72. And that run to Witches for their help ibid. That when extraordinary tempests are raised are apt to impute the cause thereof to Conjuring p. 73. Such as murmure at the happy change which the Divine Providence hath brought upon this Nation p. 74. A conviction of sundry others who in effect disclaim Christs Sovereignty over them p. 76. viz. The Covetous The Ambitious The Proud and Vain-glorious The Profane Politician An Instruction to all that fear God not to be dismayed at the appearance and apprehension of death p. 78. Nor at the troubles that come upon the world or that may befall themselves p. 80. A lesson to incline us to a constant dependance upon Divine Providence p. 81. We are nothing without Christ ibid. How Jesus Christ is the Same in the Restauration of all things p. 82. In order hereunto the Apostles words in Rom. 8.19.20.22.23 are at large expounded p. 83. Where is to be seen how 1. The creature is subject to vanity p. 84. It hath lost a great part of its primitive beauty and goodness p. 85. A necessity lyes upon it to serve the enemies of the Creatour ibid It is still declaring the glory of God but man regards it not ibid. It is troubled at the inverting of the order which the Creatour at first established p. 86. It is instrumental in mans sin ibid. 2. The creature waiteth and groaneth to be delivered p. 87. 3. When this Deliverance shall be p. 89. viz. When the Son◠of God that is the Angels are manifested ibid. Which manifestation shall be both active and passive p. 90. Active four several ways They shall break open the chambers of Death 90 They shall manifest the Saints from the wicked ibid. They shall manifest the judgement pronounced ibid. They shall be employed in the manifestation of the Son of man p. 91. Passive two ways In respect of their Nature p. 92. In respect of their Number ibid. 4. The manner of their deliverance p. 93. An Objection out of 2 Pet. 3.10 concerning the dissolution of all things by fire answered p. 95. Fift monarchists and Millenaries reproved p. 103. See the excellencie of our Creation p. 105. A light to guide us in the first resurrection p. 106. A light to shew unto us somewhat of the glory of the second p. 107. Wherein may be seen 1. How the new heaven that shall be is resembled unto Canaan p. 109. 2. How the new earth that shall be is also so resembled p. 112. The third Interpretation viz. Jesus Christ is the Same yesterday to day and for ever with a more especial respect unto his Church p. 116. First of yesterday that is p. 117. All the time of the old Testament A Doctrine here-hence derived viz. The
time of the Old Testament with all the legal Ordinances attending upon it is a day that is set and expired being yesterday and therefore not to be brought into our account neither are we to walk in the light of it p. 118. Proved by sundry instances ibid. Whereupon followeth The conviction of those who in this day will grope after the obscure light of yesterday these are First the Jews p. 121. Secondly they that seek to be justified by the works of the law p. 126. Thirdly the Papists p. 128. Fourthly they that now-a-days pretend to Oracles and wait for Miracles p. 129. Where is to be seen What we are to judge of the pretended Visions and Revelations of these times ibid. And what Miracles are now to be regarded in the time of the Gospel p. 132. A second Doctrine propounded viz. Jesus Christ was the Saviour of his Church in the time of the Old Testament even as nâ—w in the time of the New p. 134. Proved ibid. A Question resolved How Christ could be a Saviour before he was in a capacity to suffer death by taking our nature upon him for the expiation of sin p. 135. Jesus Christ was a Prophet from the beginning p. 136. Jesus Christ was a King from the beginning p. 138. Jesus Christ was a Priest from the beginning p. 149. A difference observed in respect of the dispensation and manifestation of Christ to the Fathers and us p. 155. Examples of sundry of the Fathers believing in Christ Adam Abraham Job Daniel c. p. 156. Moses's intercourse with Jesus Christ upon the Mount p. 159. Whereupon followeth 1. An exhortation to the Jews to look unto Jesus p. 164. 2. A warning to take heed of despising the ages before us p 166. 3. Our religion proved to be the onely true Religion p. 169. 4. The Limbus Patrum of the Church of Rome proved to be an absurd forgery p. 170. 5. To hold that the object of the faith of the Patriarchs of old was not Jesus Christ is a gross errour p. 175. 6. And as gross is it to maintain that we are not now justified by the Object but by the Act of Faith p. 176. Of the second course or computation of time viz. To day Wherein first this Doctrine is propounded viz. The time of the Gospel is a time of light p. 180. It is a true light p. 181. It is a great light ibid. It is a marvellous light ibid. It is an invincible light p. 182. Whereupon follow The duties of those who are the children of this day 1. To rejoyce and be glad in it p. 184. An Objection But this day is a day of trouble of rebuke and blasphemy p. 186. Answered ibid. 2. To let the light of this day shine in upon their souls p. 188. A Question put viz. What is this light p. 189. Answered 1. It is the light of Life ibid. 2. It is the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ p. 190. 3. It is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God ibid. 3. To walk in this light p. 191. A two-fold walk 1. Walk in the Commandments of the Lord ibid. Motives hereunto 1. It is the great design of Almighty God this day to save his people from their sins p. 192. 2. We are to walk worthy of our calling p. 194. 3. Consider the length of our way p. 195. 4. This day will have an end p. 196. 2. Walk in the Ordinances of the Lord p. 199. Let then the world be awakened that lyeth asleep in the darkness of sin and ignorance p. 202. Let the Ignorant be roused p. 202. Let the profance be alarum'd p. 203. A Question put viz. How cometh it to passe that wo and misery falls so inevitably upon profane people this day p. 207. Answered 1. The sin of such persons is found out by the light of this day ibid. 2. Their sin doth finde out them p. 208. Application p. 209. Another Doctrine propounded viz. Jesus Christ is the Same to his Church now in the time of the Gospel which he was before under the Law p. 212. Proved by Scripture p. 213. An Objection But we see there is a change to day from what was yesterday in the form of Divine worship How then can Jesus Christ be the Same p. 215. Answered ibid. Inferences thereupon First the Imputations of Novelty upon those Churches which adhere to this foundation charged on them by the Church of Rome cannot be just p. 217. The said Imputations justly retoried upon the Romish Church ibid. Secondly an Exhortation to let the same minde be in us which was in Christ Jesus that is to be the Same in things pertaining to God p. 220. An Application hereof to us of this nation with a free and plain discovery of our late inconstancy p. 222. An Objection Shall we then be the Same which we have been in profaneness and superstition p. 227. Answer God forbid ibid. 1. The bad Old Cause did not preserve us from either p. 228. 2. The League and Covenant though contrived to strengthen the said Cause yet as it was illegal in it self so was it treacherously carried on p. 229. It is objected But is there not a return to Superstition when the Lyturgie Ceremonies and Episcopacy are restored p. 233. It is answered ibid. Where 1. The Lyturgie and Ceremonies are vindicated p. 234. Particularly 1. Our bowing at the name of Jesus p. 235. 2. Our bowing at our entrance into and departure from the Congregation p. 236. 3. Our Lyturgie and Ceremonies are acknowledged to be a will-worship which is plainly manifested to be in some respects lawful p. 238. But that they are extracted from Romish Missals is a slanderous untruth p. 242. 2. Episcopacy is clearly proved by the Scripture to be of Divine Right Sensu Primario p. 248. An Exhortation to the Jews p. 262. Matter of rejoycing to the Gentiles p. 268. An Application hereof to our own Nation p. 270. A serious Expostulation with Anabaptists ibid. Of the third course or computation of Time viz. For ever p. 273. A Doctrine propounded In the midst of the various changes and chances that may come upon the Church to the end of the world Jesus Christ will be unto it still the Same Ibid. Proved by Scripture p 274. Inferences from hence 1. Assurance may be had of the Churches perpetuity p. 275. 2. A remedy to cure the sad distempers of our Church about Order and Church-Government p. 276. 3. An Exhortation and Christian Advice given to those who pretend they cannot for conscience sake submit to Church-Government by Bishops p. 277. 4. Comfort to all who live goldy in Christ Jesus both in respect of themselves and their posterity p. 281. Another Doctrine propounded viz. Jesus Christ will be the Same unto his Church in her Triumphant and Glorious estate in heaven unto all Eternity p. 282. Wherein first The full sense is given of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 283. Secondly how
persons putting them upon this Blasphemy that they poor worms are as well and as truly God as Jesus Christ And why Because they have their Being in God Act. 17.28 are partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and are one with Christ John 17.21.22 c. Now if this were admitted what a sordid profession would Christianity be What in time would become of Satisfaction for Sin Imputation of Righteousness the Purity Dignity Royalty of the Blood of God How ridiculous and contemptible would the pretended terrour of the great Day seem unto the World For a Contest might possibly arise who should be the chief Judge at that time and according to the person and quality of the Judge so would the Judgment be But to these deluded ones we may well say as Moses did to Korah and his Complices Num. 16.9 10. Seemeth it a small thing unto you that God hath separated you Numb 16.9 10. and brought you near unto himself but you will seek the Priesthood also What is it nothing to be as you pretend your selves to be advanced to the knowledge of the true God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord to have the Image of God consisting in Righteousness and true Holiness 2 Pet. 1.4 to be repaired and renewed in you which is the participation of the Divine Nature but that you will aspire like the Devil 1 Tim. 3.6 to be equal with God speaking after the language of him who said in his heart I will ascend into Heaven Es 14.13 14. I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God I will sit upon the mount of the Congregation in the sides of the North. I will ascend above the heights of the Clouds I will be like the most High Is the iniquity of our first Parents too little for you from which we are not cleansed until this day but that you will rise up and rebel against the Lord even after the same manner as they did What have you been coeternal with Jesus Christ and immutable like unto him Can ye say You are the same yesterday to day and for ever Where were you then Job 38.4 when God laid the foundations of the earth Declare if you have understanding When he prepared the Heavens when he set a compass upon the face of the Depth when he established the Clouds above when he strenghned the Fountains of the Deep Were you then by him Pro. 8.27 as one brought up with him rejoycing alwaies before him Have you known the mind of the Lord Or have you been his Counsellours Were you joyn'd in Commission with Jesus Christ to be his Co-agents in the great Work of Redemption Es 63.3 Did you help to tread the Wine-press in the discomfiting of his Enemies Or to establish a Church so as the Gates of Hell should not prevail against it Look then now on every one that is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked in their place hide them in the dust together and bind their faces in secret Then will I confess to you that you are free from those Delusions that are charged upon you and unjustly tax'd with Blasphemy whereof otherwise you cannot but be deeply guilty But enough of this The other Project of Hell which is now on foot against Jesus Christ in these our daies is to level him with poor dust and ashes not allowing him a preheminence above the sons of men unless it be such as hath been devised by the Devil for the more close conveyance of his inveterate malice I do not say it is an Egg lately hatch'd by that Cockatrice for it is of an old brood and did exceedingly infest the Church in former times as hath been said before but though it was smitten through and through with the two-edged Sword of Gods word yet there are now again sprung up new Heads of that old monstrous and malicious Hydra who with the faces of Sodom and Gomorah dare publickly tell us that our great Redeemer of whom we make our boast is no other then a meer man I am prone to believe that such as love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity do find their hearts shivering within them at the very mentioning of this horrid Blasphemy but behold yet greater Abominations What an amazement must it be to all the Churches of Christ to read or hear that In A. B. his Exposition of the 17th Chap. of S. John which I have read of Socinus In the reciting whereof there may be some doubt as one said in another case whether you should be desired to open or to stop your ears the speech being so horrible as it is a wonderful patience of God that the Earth opened not her mouth to swallow him up quick yea it may seem strange that the dumb and dead paper did not stand up refusing to take that Ink wherewith such an abominable Blasphemy should be either printed or written which is expressed in these words viz. This Doctrine of Christs Deity is so absurd that the Christian World will one day be ashamed of it and that the word Trinity may be in time as much abhorred as Transubstantiation and the Mass What shall we say to this but as the Angel spake to the Devil Increpet Dominus Es 6.1.3.5.8 John 12.40 41. Psal 102.19 22 23.26 27. Heb. 1.10 11 12. Let the Lord rebuke them whosoever they be that have their Tongues thus set on fire of Hell against Christ and his Glory The Apostle tells us Phil. 2.6 That being in the form of God he counted it no robbery to be equal with God Yet these wretches do in effect say that he is a Thief and a Robber if he shall lay claim to such an equality What Is he the great Jehovah Eternal and Immutable the same yesterday to day and for ever and all this while but a meer man Could a meer man be able to wade into the vast Ocean of the wrath of the Almighty and not be swallowed up everlastingly therein Could he be able to enter into a Plea with Divine Justice and put her to a Non-suit To undertake by his own Righteousness to justifie so many Myriads of Saints and not find to his shame his covering infinitely too narrow to hide the deformities of so great a multitude To encounter with Death and Hell and overcome them in their own Den Surely we must needs say with him in the Gospel If this man were not of God Nay If this man were not God he could do nothing nothing I mean in these great noble and glorious Atchievements For admit that he was perfect in himself both in his birth and in his life the power of the most High when it came upon the Virgin in her Conception stopping up the Current of original sin that it could not pollute him and his own proper power preserving him all his life-time from the least spot of any actual sin yet alas wherein could this single
involved in First It hath lost a great part of that Beauty and Goodness which the Creatour put upon it in the Beginning it being by the sin of man much dulled and disabled to Act and Communicate its Virtues as it did at the first Creation And though Nature doth not according to the Vulgar Opinion meerly through the length of time as she groweth in years fall into decay yet it cannot be denied but the Primitive vigour of the Creature is much impaired and that she hath lost much of that Comeliness which was upon her before the Curse came forth from God for Mans Disobedience Secondly There is a necessity lies upon the Creature to do Service unto the Enemies of the Creatour The Sun must shine not only upon the Good but also upon the Evil and the Rain must fall upon the Just and on the Unjust The Influences of Heaven make fruitful the Field of the Wicked as well as the Field of the most Righteous man in the World the Earth giveth out of her fulness to one as to another and is forced to receive into her Bowels the Ungodly as well as the Godly And this a sore Bondage unto it that makes it to be still groaning till the time comes wherein it shall vomit up again the Carkasses of the Reprobate as a Morsel that it could not well digest Thirdly Whereas the Creature is still proclaiming the Glory of God being unto Mankinde as it is observed God's Leiger-book By Dr. Henry Kâ—ng now Bishop of Chich. wherein his marvellous Acts are fairly written every Species a Line in that Book and every peculiar Work a Character for Man to read his Maker And when the curiosity of the Stile and variety of the Story therein contained might in reason invite all eyes to run it over to the end that the invisible things of God even his eternal Power and Godhead might be clearly seen by the things that are made when the Creature I say is thus industrious in her kinde to teach man the knowledge of God must it not needs be a vexation unto her to see him so stupid and indocible that he will not learn Fourthly It is a misery to the Creature that there is through the sin of man such a preposterous inverting of that Order which the Creatour hath in his wisdom established and such a Hysteren Proteron to be found in the Creation viz. That he whom she gloried in at first to be her Lord and Governour in regard of those excellent Abilities that were in him for that end should now so far degenerate as to be in many respects inferiour to brute Beasts For very clear it is that divers Beasts surpass man in many Virtues as the Dove in simplicity the Ant and the Bee in diligence and industry the Stork in humanity the Dog in love and fidelity the Lamb in meekness the Lion in magnanimity the Serpent in wisdom the Oxe and the Ass in a thankful acknowledgment of benefits and all of them in sobriety and contentment But which is worse as touching Vice therein Man surpasseth all Beasts being more treacherous and cruel then a Wolf craftier then a Fox prouder then a Peacock more voluptuous and unthankful then a Hog and more dangerous then a Viper Yea to fill up the measure of his Evils those pestilent and noxious inclinations which are alone and particularly in divers Beasts are oftentimes found to be altogether Concatenated or at least a great part of them in one man for there are many men courteous proud cruel envious unthankful and Oppressours all at one time And this is a sore Evil with which the poor Creature is much grieved seeing and beholding her Darling who was so Divinely qualified in his first Instalment for that Dominion which was granted unto him to be now eccentrick from his Honour destitute of Understanding and to be a Companion yea to be inferiour to the Beasts that perish Fifthly Add unto this that which is indeed an Addition to the former Misery and a great aggravation of it This Creature so excellent in her first appearance so industrions and indefatigable in promoting the Glory of her Creatour so tenderly affectionate towards Mankinde as hath been said yet is put to a most vile Drudgery being made though unwillingly the Instrument of Man's sin which is in truth the most sordid kinde of slavery that it could possibly be exposed unto Yea it is never at rest being continually made to dance Attendance after a hard Master for there is not any sin that can by man be likely produc'd into Act but the Creature must in some respect or other be serviceable thereunto Ps 19 5. The Sun saith the Psalmist rejoyceth like a Giant to run his Race But alas what a check is it unto his joy when he is taken up every hour by the way to be a Guard and Convoy unto sinful men in the pursuance of their ungodly Lusts The Earth in like manner lieth under this Servitude for though we hear often of her Childrens Tripudiations and Exultations the little Hills rejoycing on every side and the Valleys when they stand thick with Corn that they do laugh and sing yet sure we are she is not without her Trepidations neither and that because of man's sin wherein she is also involved whether she will or no. It was once spoken by Nabal in a churlish manner against good David but the Earth may speak it out of a just Indignation against a sort of riotous Unthrifts whom it fosters every day Shall I take my Bread and my Water and my Flesh and give it to such a Crew Alas poor Creature it is indeed sore against thy will to pour out Drink to fill the Drunkard to provide Meat to cram the Glutton to expose thy Territories to the boundless desires of the Ambitious to empty thy self to yield choice of Pleasures to the Voluptuous But what remedy If wretched man will Lord it imperiously and make thy Service more and more insupportable through his sin and folly who can help it It is an Affliction that is not to be avoided imposed upon thy shoulders by the just hand of the Almighty God because of thy Propinquity with him who consented to the Devil in a plain Rebellion against the Majesty of Heaven And thus we see some particulars of the Creatures misery though more might be added and what Vanity and Bondage it is made subject unto Secondy This Creature notwithstanding is in hope to be delivered and therefore waiteth and groaneth and travelleth in pain till the time of her Deliverance cometh In which words our Apostle useth a certain Figure called Prosopopaeia whereby humane Actions and Affections are ascribed unto that Creature to whom they do improperly belong Which figure we finde often made use of by the Prophets when they bring in the Flouds clapping their hands the Hills skipping the Mountains leaping the Heavens speaking the Land mourning c. Not that any should
as he is But I hope I may without offence give in my poor Judgment as I have done concerning this Scripture considering it is not inconsistent at all with the scope of the Holy Ghost therein and being guided hereto by some certain Probabilities First They are Angels we know and a great multitude of them who did at the Birth of Jesus Christ proclaim Peace to the Creature as well as Good-will towards men the Creature therefore may be in expectation of the manifestation of the Angels that this Promise or Salutation given by them might be made good and perfected Secondly It is not without some reason that the Holy Ghost doth use the different terms of Sons and Children in this Scripture viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sons in the 19 Verse and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children in the 29 Verse especially considering that that which is predicated of each carrieth with it also a great difference too for the manifestation of the Sons of God answers the expectation of the Creature But the Deliverance of the Creature is not there to be terminated but only by the liberty of the Children of God Now there seemeth to me to be some probability that the varying of the terms should imply also in this place a varying of persons viz. The first to be understood of the Angels of God and the latter of the Saints the latter word also being comprehensive of the first and not the first in a true propriety of speech of the latter considering withall what hath been before said that the Creature must have the Angels employed in working their Deliverance but not the Saints Sons being also fitter then Children in the bringing to pass so great a Work as delivering the Creature out of Bondage is like to be More might be added but this shall suffice for the third Observation from this Scripture viz. The time of satisfying the Creatures expectation that is at the manifestation of the Sons of God Fourthly That which is next offered to our View is the manner of the Deliverance of the Creature or to what it shall be reduced at the expiration of its Bondage it shall be delivered into the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God For it is but subjected saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hope or under hope of a happy change to a better Estate and though this hope deferred maketh the poor Creature to faint yet the patient abiding thereof shall not perish for ever For hope maketh not ashamed especially when it is fixed upon such a sure Foundation Rom. 5.5 as Gods Eternal Purpose which cannot be disanulled A Deliverance therefore shall undoubtedly arise unto the Creature even as there shall be to the Children of God for as in this corrupt estate wherein they are involved for the present by the first Adam they are both together fellow-sufferers so shall they together in their several Capacities be set at liberty and have their Pristine Excellencies restored yea much more enlarged unto them by Jesus Christ the second Adam who being the Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End of the Creation the same yesterday Rev. 21.5 6. to day and for ever is of power sufficient to make all things new It is indeed upon the Childrens account that the Creature shall be Interessed in that glorious Deliverance for as the Apostle speaks in another case Doth God take care for Oxen So may we say doth God so respect the Creature that is the frame of Nature that he will vouchsafe for its own sake to beautifie it when it is deformed Or doth he altogether for our sakes that are his Children For our sakes no doubt shall this glorious Work be accomplished that even the Creature it self also may in a free and liberal manner which is earnestly desired by it be subservient unto his Glory And thus we finde the Preposition here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated into is taken by some as carrying the force of another viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Propter which signifieth for so reading the word thus The Creature shall be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption for the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God that is That the Childrens Liberty might by their service be the more Glorious For as God made the Creature in the beginning for Man and because of him subjected it likewise unto Vanity that so it might not even in the daies of Vanity be superiour to him for whom it was created So will he deliver it again for Man's sake that is for the Accumulation and Illustration of his childrens Glory Though I confess upon the Creature also it self as it is said before shall be conferred a Glory which shall be in the proportion of its Nature a sutable Advancement unto it as the glory of the children shall be unto them And this I conceive in short to be the sense of the Apostle as to this Particular whereby we may see clearly that there shall be a Restauration of the Creature that is as saith S. Peter 2 Pet. 3.13 Now Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness Which words of new Heavens and new Earth as they are used in a certain place by the Prophet Isaiah being spiritually understood Es 65.17 are I confess appliable to the state of the Church in the times of the Gospel under the Kingdom of Christ when it should be so renewed that it should seem to be as 't were a new World old things being done away 2 Cor. 5.17 Types and shadows removed yea the whole Service of the former Tabernacle abolished and all things made new 2 Cor. 5.17 So that in this sense this Prophecy is already fulfilled Nevertheless though the words of the Prophet may be so taken yet we are not to confine the Spirit of God thereunto especially when he hath declared his meaning elsewhere to be of a larger extent as he hath done in this very particular for the Apostle S. Peter in the forecited place Commenting upon the Prophet speaks of the new Heavens and the new Earth as not so much to be seen in this World as in that which is to come his whole Scope in the said Chapter tending thereunto Let then the spiritual sense be acknowledged by us yet that hinders not but that the other sense viz. That there shall really be new Heavens and a new Earth at the last Day may be acknowledged also even as Glory is said to be begun here in those Graces that are shed abroad by the Holy Ghost in the hearts of the Elect which shall notwithstanding shine forth in its full Splendour in the Kingdom of Glory Objection I hear what is objected unto this viz. That in the Day of the Lord 2 Pet. 3.10 The Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall
have attained to that Eternal Glory even as good Fathers are wont for the honour of their Children to put some Ornaments upon their Servants Piscator also upon the same place writeth thus Rom. 8. Coelum Terra inn vabuntur quum Patâ—fiet Gloria filiorum Dei Heaven and Earth shall then be renewed when the Glory of Gods Children shall appear Ravanellus likewise a late Writer in his Bibliothecâ Sacrâ saith Etiam Terra quoad substantiam erit Eterna Yea the Earth in respect of its substance shall be Eternal Lastly To name no more Brentius Hom. 53. in Luc. thus argueth Num Coelum Terra transibunt ita ut nihil eorum omnino maneat Minime omnium non transibunt omnino sed mutabuntur abjicient vestimentum corruptionis induent novam vestem incorruptionis Futura quidem Coeli ac Terrae mutatio non autem in totum abolitio Shall Heaven and Earth so pass away that nothing of them shall remain No verily they shall not altogether pass away but they shall be changed they shall cast of the Garment of Corruption and put on a new Robe of Incorruption There shall indeed be a change of Heaven and Earth but not a total Abolition I have not here mentioned any of our own Writers who notwithstanding many of them Grave Learned and Reverend Divines whose Works praise them in the Gates do unanimously Assert the same Doctrine And thus we see the concurrent Judgment of Writers both old and new inclining this way viz. That it is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only as the Apostle's word is in another place 1 Cor. 7.31 and which some construe to this very purpose The Figure the Habit the Form and Fashion of the World that shall hereafter pass away not the Substance Nature and Essence of it for that shall be purified and perpetuated in Glory to all Eternity And though the Scripture speaks of a Conflagration Dissolution and Preterition which they who are of a contrary judgment in this Point do much insist upon yet since they speak no where of an utter Abolition or Annihilation we may with safety abide by what we have declared But here take this Caution it behoves us in these matters to be wise according to so briety and in all humble mod esty to content our selves with this general discovery of the renovation and restauration of the World for we see the Apostle speaks of it in the general term of the Creature meaning the frame and sabrick of the World as hath been said consisting of Celestial and Elementary Regions Now if we should enter too curiously to search what Creatures else of the World shall be restored what place shall contain them what actions they shall have what properties they shall be endued with wherein they shall be serviceable and useful to the Glorified Saints c. If we should I say launch out to venturously into this Deep we shall not have the Cynosure of the word to guide us and so shall certainly fall upon the flats of our own foolish Imaginations or run desperately upon the Rocks of most dangerous errours such as Cerinthus and the Chiliasts have done It is enough for us that we have this general discovery made of the Minde of God herein viz. That the Creature shall be restored and delivered from the bondage of corruption into or for the glorious liberty of the Children of God and that a reparation shall be made by Jesus Christ of that which sin hath so much defaced and disordered And now to conclude Doth not all this evidently speak out that Christ will not fail in the exercise of his power over the World But as he began to manifest it in the Creation and to continue it in the preservation so he will perfect it in the restauration of all things declaring himself thereby mightily to be the Son of God Yesterday to Day and the same for ever But before we dismiss this Point Let us as we have done with the former bring in some few Corolaries to wait upon it for it is not fit that a doctrine of so noble a sublimity should be without Attendants that may some way be useful for the Church of God The first then that appears comes with a rule or a rod to rectify an old errour newly revived For if this truth be admitted as it must unless wee will shut out the Lord Jesus Christ from a most eminent part of his Glory that is then an Errour to be exploded and repented of which is very confidently maintained by many in these times concerning that outward Glory made up of a temporal peace safety and happiness with an affluence of all good things which they have imagined the Saints shall here in this life be Partakers of before the end of the World grounding their opinion upon such Places of Scripture which make mention of this restauration that we have insisted upon But if this Restauration shall not be till after the general Judgment as hath been made to appear I hope such Persons who have been of that erroneous perswasion will finde cause hereafter to be of another Minde I will not deny but that upon the downfal of that Man of Sin the Church may shine forth in a more beauteous lustre in respect of spiritual Glory before the end commeth then now at this present can be discerned in her but whatsoever that may prove it shall certainly be attended with much trouble from the World and from the Divel for the promises that are made to the Church while she is Militant Mor. 10 30 2 Tim 3.12 are accompanied with this Proviso viz. That she must look for Persecution And therefore to look for a Kingdom of Saints here which shall continue a thousand years free from troubles is so Vain a thing that methinks without a strong delusion of Satan it should not enter into the hearts of any that pretend to be acquainted with the Counsels of God in his Word It is not meet that the Spouse should finde her way through Ease and Pleasure when her Lord is gone before through much Labour and Sorrow The Disciple is not to be above his Master nor the Servant to be above his Lord It is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master and for the Servant that he hee as his Lord If the Master of the House was rejected and despised by men yea made a Man of Sorrows while he was here upon earth Es 53.3 how much more should the same Lot befal those of his household It will assuredly be the Glory of the Church while she is in her warfare to be still in the feild fighting the Lords battels and to resemble the Captain of her Salvation who went through Water and Bloud and was made perfect by sufferings For him Luk. 24.26 2 Tim. 2.12 Mat. 30.23 He ought as he said of himself to suffer and so to enter into his Glory And surely the Church must follow
is the place of the Angels that sinned and which kept not their Principality Jud. v. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2.4 but left their own habitation as the Apostle S. Jude speaketh whom God threw down into Hell delivering them into Chains of darkness to be reserved unto Judgment I do not nor dare not say as some that one ground of God's election of men unto life was to fill up that place in his Presence which was made void by casting out the reprobate Angels and that such a number of elect Saints shall come in their stead and no more These are but the froathy Conceits of men of corrupt mindes who will be wiser then Daniel Ezek. 28.3 and no secret must be hidden from them But this I say that in this particular also as well as in the former the Parallel holds between the Land of Canaan and the Celestial Inheritance for as God did plant his own chosen people in that good Land Deut 7.1 from whence he drove out the Heathen that were the Inhabitants thereof Nations greater and mightier then they So will he surely bring his Saints into that heavenly Country which he hath promised to give unto them from whence those Angels whose height was like the height of the Cedars in comparison of such a poor shrub as man is were for their Rebellion driven into perpetual banishment Amos 2.9 Moreover as Heaven which God will give unto his people at the last day being purchased and prepared for them by Jesus Christ may in some respect be likened unto Canaan such as hath been mentioned so that new Earth which is also to come may in like manner be resembled unto it It is not safe to speak of what we have not seen nor to make other discoveries concerning this matter then such as the Holy Ghost hath already made This we may say seeing there shall be a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness we may affirm it shall undoubtedly be a good Land Abounding I say not again with Milk and Honey but with such store of Delights as are proper for Glorified Saints who shall stand in no need of any bodily sustenance from the Creature as they do here in this life And what a good Land will this be when there shall be nothing in it that doth offend all the Carkasses of the Reprobate purged out of it and that Curse which God laid upon it at the beginning quite taken away It shall also be a large Land even the whole compass of the Earth shall at that day to the uttermost parts of it be the Saints Inheritance that promise being then perfectly fulfilled Ps 37.11 Mat. 5.5 viz. That the meck shall inherit the earth That which is now the place of the Canaanites and of the Hittites and of the Amorites c. That is to say of all the Wicked and Unbelievers in the World shall be unto the Godly for an everlasting Possession and that in a more noble and more excellent way then it is now unto any whom for the present Mammon dandles upon his knee as his most beloved Darlings Nay further when there shall be no more Sea as it is said Rev. 21.1 which place according to the concurrent judgment of sundry Divines is to be understood literally as well as figuratively That fire whatsoever it may be at the Worlds end possibly drying it quite up this earthly Inheritance will certainly be then much more enlarged far beyond the narrow extent of what hath been before possessed by the Sons of men Behold then O ye Children of men what a Glory is prepared for you by Jesus Christ at that great Day of Restauration Glory in Heaven and Glory in Earth Glory for your Souls and Glory for your Bodies wherein you will have the advantage of the glorious Angels in a special resemblance of Jesus Christ whereof they are not capable Phil. 3.21 for your Bodies though they be vile for the present in regard of their Original shall then be made like unto Christ's glorious Body and your Bodies and his also being Originally taken out of the earth the earth also shall be given you as a measure of Glory above that of the Angels for your Inheritance Go up now to Pisgah and in a Spiritual Rapture take a view of your Inheritance before you enter into it An Inheritance glorious and honourable wherein you shall be Co-heirs with the Lord of Glory an Inheritance safe and sure free from all Intrusions and Encroachments of the World the Works of the Devil being all destroyed 1 John 3.8 2 Pet. 3.10 and the Works of the Earth utterly burnt up that is all the Oppressions Pollutions Snares Insinuations Persecutions of wicked men and Devils which formerly troubled you come to a perpetual end an Inheritance Durante vitâ to hold so long as Eternity it self lasteth where there are many Mansions common to all those that are accounted worthy to obtain that World for Meum Tuum these terms Mine and Thine which make such a strife in this World shall not then be once named amongst them as a Language out of use and improper for that Country which is a place of Glory What shall be mine shall be then Yours that now read what is here written and what shall be yours though you be now Princes of the Earth shall then also be mine though I be now of a lower degree for we shall be all of a Society in this Inheritance Fellow-heirs and Fellow-citizens together and of the Houshold of God united according to a most perfect Pattern by an indissoluble Bond even as the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father John 17.21 yea more united together in them as our Center wherein all the Lines of our Union and Fellowship do meet for so much doth the same Text witness unto us What shall we then say to these things If Heaven and Earth with all that is therein desirable will satisfie us we shall be fully and perfectly happy And now let us admire and adore the Lord for this his constant and unchangeable Goodness and for his wonderful Works which he hath done from the Beginning and will also do to the Worlds end even unto all Eternity for the Children of men Certainly who so is wise amongst us will observe these things and ponder this Superlative exceeding weight of Glory that is prepared for them which whosoever doth with a quiet and holy dependance upon God for it they shall understand more of the loving kindnesses of the Lord far surpassing that which is here but poorly and with a narrow and straitned Spirit revealed unto them But as for the Tools of the Earth that will not leave their folly but most unthankfully like the people of old who despised that good and pleasant Land Ps 106 24 that Land of Desires Psal 106.24 will suffer themselves to be bewitched with this present evil World and putting away from
but what saith the Answer of God unto him I will make all my Goodness pass before thee and I will proclaime the Name of the Lord before thee And what could a poor Creature in this World desire more Oh what admirable Honour is this that the Lord vouchsafeth unto his Beloved Favourite what an incomparable Priviledge is This Moses now partaker of above his Brethren But it is the Lord who may do what he pleaseth for so he saith I will be Gracious to whom I will be Gracious and I will shew Mercy on whom I will shew Mercy Nevertheless we may with Modesty enquire how and by what means this glorious Goodness came to be presented unto Moses and that we shall finde to be even by this good old Way which we have here been speaking of viz. the Mediation of Jesus Christ I go not about to wrest this excellent Scripture by forcing upon it a sense which may not agree with the minde of the Holy Ghost therein That be far from me what I have to say concerning it I shall leave to the Judgement of the Wise and Godly First I shall by the way take this for granted because it hath been already proved that Moses had to do with Jesus Christ as the rest of the people had while He and they were together in the Wilderness And it must be confessed that there was as much need of the help and interposition of a Mediatour in this matter that we are speaking of as in any thing els which I say was in great Mercy dispensed unto Moses as is manifest First by the Preparation that preceded this glorious Appearance Secondly by the Form and Method of the Proclamation of the Name of the Lord at the time of that appearance As for the Preparation which is mentioned in the three last Verses of this thirty third Chapter the particulars thereof are very remarkable viz. concerning the place that is said to be by the Lord Ex. 33.21 22 23. and the Lord 's putting Moses into the cleft of the Rock and covering it with his Hand which that we may the better understand and see how apposite they are to our present purpose it will be needful for us to take into Consideration that whole intercourse between the Lord and Moses First Moses prayeth unto the Lord V. 13. in these words Shew me now thy Way What is that Thy Way say some that thou meanest to take with this people in bringing them to the Land which thou didst promise to give unto their Fathers I will not deny but that this might be in the minde of Moses now when the Lord was pleased to admit him into his presence because he was ever zealous for the peoples good But there are some Circumstances which follow that do incline me to another sense at least to joyn another with this both which may be allowed together being not inconsistent each with other but tending both to one and the same end It seemeth unto me that Moses here prayeth that the Lord would reveal himself unto him out of the Cloud in some shape and form as he might be visible unto his bodily sight which he therefore calleth his Way because he had been wont to do so to the Patriarchs before him whom he likewise knew by Name And I do the rather conceive this to be the sense because of the ground and reason of his desire which is added by him in the words following Lord saith he Shew me thy way that I may know thee and that I may find grace in thy sight True it is the Lord promiseth him immediately after this that his Presence should go with him as being an Answer to his request in the behalf of the people the necessity whereof Moses also urgeth and insisteth upon V. 15 16. Yet doth the Lord give him a further Answer in the Words that follow V. 17. as to a thing somewhat differing from that which concerned the people I will saith he do this thing also that thou hast spoken for thou hast found grace in my sight and I know thee by Name Now since the Lord had before consented that his Presence should go along with him in the Conduct of the people and that Moses had given his Restipulation thereunto resting him fully satisfied with what the Lord had promised to what purpose is this other Consent now superadded and that with a note of difference from what had passed before if it be not this which I have here declared viz. that the Lord would according to his desire Visibly appear unto him out of the Cloud in a humane shape as he had been accustomed to do to others whom he knew by Name which sense being admitted how clear will the Circumstances following that are preparatory to the great discovery of God in the next Chapter be unto us which otherwise will prove very intricate and obscure Behold saith the Lord there is a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a Rock and it shall come to pass while my Glory passeth by that I will put the in a Cleft of the Rock Now what place upon Earth can be said to be neerer to the Lord then another seeing he filleth Heaven and Earth with his presence And what Rock or Cleft of a Rock could be able to secure Moses from the danger of being consumed by that excellent Glory which did appear seeing the Rocks are cloven to pieces Nah. 1.6 and thrown down before him How then could these things be It is in vain now to produce an Anthropopathy and so stretch it so far as to make it level with every Circumstance for doubtless there was a Reality in this matter and every particular of it was done and effected to Moses sense and to the full satisfaction of his expectation so far as might stand with the safety of his Life Granting therefore that Jesus Christ appeared unto Moses as a Man there might then be a place said to be according to the ordinary course of Nature neerer to him in that Mount where the Lord was wont to meet this his servant then another elsewhere he might also put Moses into the Rock and cover him with his Hand to preserve him from the imminent Danger and then take away his Hand that so Moses might see some glimpse of that Glory that passed by Yea more it is said Exod 34.5 that the Lord Descended in a Cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the Name of the Lord and yet in the sixth verse it is said The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed to stand still with Moses proclaiming and to pass by before him proclaiming too seemeth in reason not to hold well together the true meaning therefore undoubtedly is this Jesus Christ who is Jehovah the Mediatour came down upon the Mount in a Cloud and then after he was descended appears visibly unto Moses according to his former Promise and stood with him there to protect him from Danger while
the Same Yesterday to Day and for ever Fourthly We may upon the Consideration of this Doctrine see how absurd and foolish that Dream is of a certain Vbi a Place of confinement for the Souls of the Faithful who lived and died Yesterday in that long tract of time under the Law and before it which place is by the Papists called Limbus Patrum for in regard the work of Redemption was not fully accomplished by Jesus Christ till he had suffered Death upon the Cross therefore say they all those Patriarchs and Prophets and Holy men of old from the beginning of the World unto that time could not enter into Heaven but were shut up in some lower parts of the Earth bordering upon Purgatory which say they is next door to Hell For saith Bishop Mountague as if some of their Masters had been soon sent thither to take a survey thereof they do quarter out that infernal Clime into four Regions And this place amongst the rest which they have assigned unto the Fathers they determine to be the uppermost Fringe as the Word Limbus signifies or the verge of Hell It is not my purpose to descend so low as to examine the particulars of this their Subterraneous Chorography I believe the Vanity thereof is Visible enough to all that have not their Eyes put out with the smoke of Purgatory Rather let the strength of our present Doctrine be set in opposition to this fond dream of that false and Apostatical Church of Rome which hath obtruded many such like idle Fopperies upon those poor people that are bewitched with her Sorceries and then let all mankinde judge which is the Truth True it is Bishop Mountague of Nor. they make much boast of Antiquity in the upholding of this their fabulous Limbo though as learned an Antiquary as any possiby that ever was in their Conclave affirmeth that Antiquity will not own it Nevertheless if it should it shall be of no Value with us if it clash with the Divine Oracles of the Holy Scriptures They tell us that the Souls of the godly are in the bundle of Life with the Lord their God 1 Sam. 25.29 1 Sam. 25.29 Ec. 12.7 And that the spirit returns unto God that gave it Ec. 12.7 That the Soul of Lazarus was carried by the Angels who always behold the face of God in Heaven Mat. 18.11 into Abrahams Bosome Luk. 16. Luk. 16.22 And therefore it is well observed against the Rhemists upon that place that Limbo being supposed to be under the Earth and Lazarus's Soul from Earth was carried upwards If he went to Limbo the Angels were not well acquainted with the Way in that they carry him above the Earth when they ought to have carried him to a place underneath the Earth Add hereunto what a world of Absurd ities would follow if this Pepish devise should pass for currant Act. 15.11 How could Saint Peter say Act. 15. We believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they Luk. 20.38 How could the Patriarchs be said to live with God if they were banished out of his Sight Luk. 20. And if this Limbo be the Brim or Hem of the damned places how is it said that the Glutton in Hell saw Abraham afar off with Lazarus in his Bosome and that there was a great Gulfe and Distance between the Damned's place and that wherein Lazarus abode As for Abraham it may be collected clearly from Heb. 11.9.10 that he immediately after Death was received up into Heaven Heb. 11 9.10 according to his expectation Contented he was with his flitting Tabernacles while he continued as a Sojourner here in this Life because there was a City to come after this Life that would be firm and steddy wherein he looked to be admitted and which should make full amends for all his wearisome Peregrinations Where we may see that that City having Foundations which the Holy Patriarch by Faith expected is by an Antithesis set ad oppositum to those Tabernacles which he formerly lived in with Isaac and Jacob whereby is intimated that he was not received into any other building after his death then that which is permanent Into which City he being received it must necessarily follow that all the faithful people of God who were transported by Angels into his Bosome as Lazarus was were there received and entertained likewise Moreover because this Parable is much perverted by the Papists to their sinister sense when Abraham opposeth Lazarus's Comfort to the Glutton's Torment it is evident that he being in infinite Torment the other was in infinite Joy which because it cannot be but in Heaven A term appropriated by the Holy Ghost to the Ages of the Church before Christ But not fit to be used now in the time of the Gospel Gerard. Rom. 5.15 as in the Lord's Presence-Chamber it followeth that the †Bosome of Abraham is the Rest that his faithful and right begotten Children have in Heaven In fine That which chiefly I have to say against this absurd errour is this viz. That it derogateth from the Merits of Jesus Christ making him not to be of yesterday and his death to be effectual onely à parte post to those that come after him An Opinion therefore to be Anathematized by all the Churches of the Saint yea further the Sin of Adam is by this means contrary to the Doctrine of the Apostle Rom. 5.15 made more powerful to Condemnation then Christ's Righteousness can be unto Salvation for the Sin of Adam casteth his Wicked and Unbelieving Posterity into Hell immediately after Death whereas by their Doctrine the Communication of Christ's Righteousness with them that believed in him could not immediately after Death lift them up into the Kingdom of Heaven How this can stand with Christ's honour or how it agreeth with the aforesaid Scripture let the Jesuites themselves tell us if they can Objection Well but yet the Scripture notwithstanding they affirm will bear them out in this their opinion for saith the Apostle Heb. 9.8 The way into the Holiest of all was not made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing Heb. 9.8 Upon which place these Limbonians do much harpe for the maintenance of their foolish errour collecting as they think very strenuously that the way to Heaven was not open before Christ's Passion and therefore the Patriarchs and good men of old must needs have some other place of rest assigned unto them for their abode until that time Solution A short Answer to a vain Cavil may suffice briefly then let it be observed The Apostle saith not the way to Heaven was shut up while the first Tabernacle was standing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was not yet clearly manifested Whereby he gives us to understand that the people of God under the Old Testament knew the way to Heaven but darkly viz. through the vail of Types But withall that they knew there was
as possibly he can and consequently that he might by degrees totally eclipse the glory of the Lord Jesus for he hates him with a perfect hatred and utterly frustrate in the end the great work of Redemption From this Forge it is I doubt not to say it that this old Antichristianisme now newly revived concerning the needlesness of the Knowledge and Faith of Christ under the Law hath had its forming and contrivance wherein some of late have exceeded above measure It would be too tedious here to intersert all that is written of this matter in a Book called Theologia Veterum and to give answer thereunto this onely would I know how the Lord Jesus could Quatenus Mediatour be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yesterday If all that is said concerning Justification and Salvation not onely of the Fathers that were of old taken into Covenant with God but of the very Heathen not in and through Jesus Christ but onely by a general knowledge of God the maker of Heaven and Earth be true Doubtless there cannot be truth in both these assertions and if any shall assert Doctrines contrary to the express Word of Scripture whether it is better to hearken to the Holy Ghost or them judge you But I shall leave this matter to their second thoughts who have been too rash in spreading about these Anti-scriptural Paradoxes hoping that those who continue still too pragmatically Active therein will now find Cause to repent them betimes of their errour and retract it Onely I must here add if this Errour be to be repented of how much more that other which is made the ground of it and which doth indeed snatch the Crown off from the head of Christ not suffering him to have any thing to do at all in the salvation of his people from the beginning of the World to the end thereof viz. That God was pleased to make choice not of the Object but the Act of faith The T◠Credere as it is called to be imputed to his people for Justification And what I beseech you doth this signifie but that God was not so well pleased with his Son as with us poor sinful Creatures Or as if it stood with the Wisdom and Justice of God to make choice and accept of that which was imperfect for so is Faith in the strongest Believer considering it in the Act to make sinful man Rectus in Curia righteous in his Sight and to reject that which was most Perfect If this be not to dishonour both the Father and the Son I know not what is But as the Holy Martyr said of old in retam sancta Deliberatio non habet locum When such affronts as these are put upon the Almighty God we must not be mealy-mouthed how dares any man utter such a notorious untruth as this God was not pleased to make choice of the Object of Faith for our Justification If an Angel from Heaven should come and preach this Doctrine we should spit in his face and hold him accursed Can there be any thing in this world dearer to us then this that the Lord is our Righteousness Is not this the foundation of our Comfort here and of our hope that we may lift up our heads with confidence hereafter at the great day of Retribution against all the pleas of the Law and the clamours of the great Accuser of the Brethren what Doctrine is there that the Apostle Saint Paul doth more clearly and more frequently insist upon in all his Epistles then this that It is the Righteousness of Christ and Christ alone that is imputed to us for our Justification Rom. 5.19 1 Cor. 1.30 2 Cor. 5.21 Gal. 2.16 1 7 To give some instances Rom. 5.19 By the obedience of one that is Christ many shall be made Righteous 1. Cor. 1.30 Christ Jesus is of God made unto us Righteousness 2 Cor. 5.21 We are made the Righteousness of God in him Gal. 2.16 17. Knowing this a man is justified by the faith of Jesus Christ that is by Christ himself as is plain in the Verse next following Yea and the Apostle for himself particularly professeth saying I live not but Christ liveth in me Gal. 2.20 for I live by the faith of the Son of God See how he glorieth in the Object of his Faith as that which is the staff of his Life viz. of his justification in the sight of God without which he confesseth himself to be a dead man True it is Rom. 4.5 that he saith elsewhere viz. Rom. 4.5 Faith is counted for righteousness but that must be understood relatively as faith is fixed upon the object and as the object puts virtue into it otherwise we should make the Apostle to contradict himself and it is very observable that whensoever Saint Paul speaketh of faith in this point of justification he still renders it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is through faith or by faith as implying somewhat that we receive by faith but never thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is for faith as if Righteousness were a recompense given unto us for the bare Act of believing Neither is it ever said in an active sense faith justifieth but by faith we are justified that is Passively by a forein Righteousness which by faith as the recipient onely is applied unto us When a beggar puts forth his hand to take an almes from a liberal man should he say mine own hand or the sense of my poverty that made me beg hath releived me in my want and have no regard to the Giver or to the Alms it self whereby his Life is sustained When our Saviour tells his Disciples Mat. 5.14 They were the Light of the World Math. 5.14 Joh. 1.9 did he then deny himself to be that light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World Joh. 1.9 A power is given unto Ministers of the Gospel in many places of Scripture such as properly belongeth unto God himself and his Son Jesus Christ As for example the works of Regeneration Conversion Remission of Sins everlasting Salvation what are all these but works far beyond the reach of man or Angel being such as hath been said belong unto God and Christ yet we know all these are by the Gospel ascribed unto Ministers 1 Cor. 4.15 Act. 26.18 Joh 20.23 1 Tim. 4.16 for they are said to beget men unto God as also to convert them opening their eyes turning them from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan unto God to remit their Sins yea to save them but now because these things are spoken of Ministers in a way of subserviency unto Jesus Christ will any man be so void of reason therefore as to exclude Christ himself and say not Christ but Ministers do regenerate convert forgive and save those that do believe Yet thus do our adversaries argue in this case because it is said faith is counted for righteousness and we are justified by faith
compleating of his most glorious design in this day of his power he will most certainly get himself a name in casting it down and having commanded his Light to shine out of Darkness Joh. 1.5 though the darkness of mens hearts will not receive it yet his Commandment still continueth in force and his word runneth very swiftly In a word true and great and marvellous and invincible is the light of this day concerning which much might be spoken from the predictions of the Prophets who prophecyed of this day and much might be added from the triumphant exultations of the Apostles whose eyes were first opened to see the light of this day but there is no need to undertake any further the clearing of the truth of this point for the day it self doth declare it the Sun which is the light and life of this day being not onely risen but ascended and not onely risen and ascended but fixed in his Meridian never more to descend till time be no more Nescit occasum Let us therefore now come to improve it by some close Applications unto us all whose lot it is to live under this Light First Seeing that this time of the Gospel is such a Lightsome day we then that are the Children of the day are to take notice of those Duties which the day requireth of us First whereof is that we rejoyce and be glad in it Truely Light is sweet saith Solomon and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sun Eccles 11.7 1. Duty Ec. 11.7 How sweet then and pleasant a thing is it to behold the light of this day wherein the Glory of the Lord is risen upon the Church Es 60.1 as the Prophet foretold it should Es 60.1 That glory which since the beginning of the world was out of the reach and apprehension of any Creature which yet notwithstanding was earnestly longed for by the Holy and faithful Servants of God of old How happy would Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses David Hezekiah Josiah Esaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel c. have accounted themselves to have seen that Glory which is now revealed How full of joy would they have been in the light of this day wherein with open face we behold as in a Mirroir the Glory of the Lord saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3. 2 Cor. 3.18 Nay wherein all flesh seeth the Salvation of God wherein the Word of God comes with power and evidence and Demonstration wherein the Spirit is shed forth abundantly in the hearts of Believers wherein knowledg covereth the earth even as the waters covers the seas so that God's people now need teach no more every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother the sense and meaning of the Shadows and Ceremonies of old saying Jer. 31.34 Know the Lord the Lord whom these things do typifie and so far as such carnal Ordinances are able make known unto you for now is fulfilled that which then the Lord promised saying they shall all know me from the least of them to the Greatest of them The whole Mystery of Godliness is now clearly revealed in so much that they who are endued with the Spirit of God know all things yea 1 Job 2.20 Act. 2.17 even Children and Handmaidens people of all sorts and Sexes understand more fully the Doctrine of Salvation then the Prophets and great Rabbies of old could be able to reach into And therefore it is worth our considering how emphatically the Spirit of God in scripture doth found out this word now in reference to the great glory of this day of the Gospel to that very end that all who are I say Children of the Day may see the Light and rejoyce in it Observe some instances Behold now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 Now is manifested the Righteousness of God Rom. 3.22 2 Cor. 6 2. Rom. 3.22 Eph 3.10 Eph. 3.5 Col. 1.26 1 Joh. 2.8 Now is made known the manifold Wisdom of God Eph. 3.10 The Mystery which was hidden from Ages and Generations is now revealed Eph. 3.5 Col. 1.26 The Darkness is past the true Light now shineth 1 Joh. 2.8 Now Now Now implying that now and never before the dawning of this day there was a light in the world to be reckoned of the highest value O blessed and happy Day And for ever and ever blessed be that good Providence of Heaven that hath brought us to see the Light of this Day making it unto us a good Day A Day of good tidings A day of Reconciliation with the God of Heaven A Day of joy and gladness Let us therefore I say again and again rejoyce and be glad in it Let the Children of the World glory some in their carnal wisdom some in their strength some in their riches But let us glory in this that we underl and and know the Lord. Now in this serene and joyful day of his gracious visitation did Abraham with great pleasure and rapture of spirit rejoyce to see this day afar off and shall not we now rejoyce when it is at hand yea when it comes upon us and the Light of it shineth round about us Surely we are not Abrahams Children unless we do the works of Abraham and if herein we do not rejoyce we are not of the Faith of Abraham and consequently shall not be blessed with him Objection But alas you 'll say this day is a day of trouble of rebuke and blasphemy of trouble to the Churches of Christ throughout the world of rebuke for God is angry with the world for sin of Blasphemy the Provocations wherewith God is provoked every day being very great reaching up into Heaven And should we now rejoyce Answer I Answer It is indeed a day of trouble to the people of God and possibly if they had rejoyced more for the consolation which their eyes have seen they had not seen so much trouble upon them as they do this day But nevertheless albeit there be so great and sore afflictions lying upon the Churches which all the Children of the Day must be sensible of yet in the midst of all this sorrow there is cause of rejoycing for why it is not a Night of trouble wherein no succour or comfort can be found but the Light of the Lord so shineth out before his people that they may plainly see his good works which with an out-stretched arme he hath wrought and still doth for their deliverance Ps 112.4 Vnto the Righteous saith the Psalmist Ps 112.4 Ariseth Light in Darkness that is in the darkest times of trouble then hath their light of comfort been wont to arise most And therefore though in some respect the day be somewhat cloudy yet it is not a Dismal Day though the Affliction be great yet the consolations of God are not so small with us but we may glorifie God in this day and rejoyce before him True you 'll say But alas we remember
which is Christ Jesus And other salvation can no man expect then that which hath been from the beginning there being no other name given under Heaven nor in Heaven neither whereby believers may ever get to Heaven Via seculi Via Antiqua Ps 139. ult It is the decree of Heaven not to be disanulled till time be no more It is the way everlasting wherein the Wisdome and Power of the Almighty shall be gloriously manifested to the eternal confusion of that grand apostate the Devil and all his Angels whose inveterate malice hath from the beginning been principally bent against Jesus Christ In the handling of this Subject our business should be to consider Jesus Christ in the execution of his Mediatorial Office For that indeed hath been the work of this day And which hath made this day more glorious then yesterday Yesterday 't is true he was as it is said before the onely Mediatour between God and man being ordained of the Father to that high honour but it was by virtue of that which he hath to day actually accomplished both in his life and in his death Whatsoever therefore hath been spoken concerning him must be understood with a reference unto the work of this day whereby all the former mediation in the High Court of Heaven for the Fathers of old is made good and effectual in the Law of God and ratified for eternity And this speaks him still to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same or the onely he who was willing in this day of his power to perfect for ever them that in all the Ages of the Church have been are or shall be sanctified that is consecrated and separated out of the world and dedicated to be vessels of honour unto God We shall not enter into a large survey of that which Christ hath done and suffered nor make any strict search into his office whereby it may in all points be made manifest that he hath now in this time of the Gospel fully perfected the work of redemption and so proved himself to be the same to day which he was yesterday We have spoken somewhat of these things before and therefore shall for bear to speak much of them now and there have been Writers of late who have magnified the Office of Christs Mediatourship therein doing eminent service both unto him and his Church Yet it is but meet that we should for our methods sake take this sweet subject also along with us though it be folded up but in some general termes which being opened particularly would enlarge our discourse too much wherein already I may be judged by some to have gone beyond my bounds In the first of the Revelation we read how the Lord Jesus Christ appears unto his beloved Disciple St. John clothed in his regal and pontifical attire Rev. 1.13 intimating that he is now ready fitted for that whole Oeconomy to which he was designed from the beginning and implying that he is now solemnly inaugurated into and possessed with that honour which did alwayes belong unto his Office Never did he in all his apparitions of old shew himself in such a manner as now he doth This garment was then laid up as I may say in the Cabinet of Gods Purpose and Decree wherein the smell of it was very acceptable to the Father inclining him to give out his blessing to his children who did then by faith according to their capacity lay hold upon it But now since that this our great Lord Advocate and Mediatour the first begotten among many brethren hath been actually called of God unto his office and assumed the right of his Primogeniture he appears vested with it exercising his authority fulfilling the will of his Father and confirming all that he hath done in the preservation of his people and their reception to himself since the World began With which confirmation Divine Justice rests her self fully satisfied and the Pleas of the Law and the clamours of Satan are all husht and silenced Having then thus put on this garment for the execution of his office what doth it argue but that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same which he was from the beginning A Prophet to day as he was yesterday teaching his people the way of God truly and fore-telling them what shall happen to them in the way A Priest to day as he was yesterday wherein he hath offered up a sacrifice for sin and maketh intercession for us A King to day as he was yesterday protecting preserving and providing for his Church ruling in the midst of his people ruling also in the midst of his enemies Precisely and punctually the same as yesterday without any variableness or shadow of turning Yea so far is he now from being defective in any thing that concerns his office that he rather is the same to day in a more transcendent manner then he was yesterday Heb. 6.20 For observe it he is said Heb. 6.20 to be made an High Priest after his entry into Heaven not that he had not been a Priest before for his Church but because it was never so clearly manifested in former times as it was after his ascension when he shed abroad his Grace and powred down his Spirit abundantly upon his Church We shall not multiply Proofes for this out of Scripture some mention having been hereof before Take onely one instance viz. Rev. 1.8 Rev. 1.8 Where the Lord saith I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the Ending which is and which was and which is to come In which last words the order that he useth in the description of himself as Mediatour is to our purpose very observable For mark first he saith I am which is and then followeth which was c. Whereas according to the course and method of time that which was should have had the precedence But here we see It is by Christ speaking of himself with a respect unto his Mediatourship as appears by the 11.13 and 18. verses following he doth put in the second place to note unto us that his present estate in his office is to be preferred before that which was and gives a Being unto it Objection But it may possibly be objected How can this be that Jesus Christ is the Same to day as yesterday when we see a revocation of Divine Ordinances that were of old instituted for the Publick Worship of God and the benefit of his People and others now appointed in their stead Was not the seventh day in the week commanded to be kept Holy to the Lord and is it not now changed to the first Did not God give unto Abraham the Covenant of Circumcision for an everlasting Covenant to him and to his seed adding also a terrible penalty upon the least failing thereof in these words Gen. 17.14 The Vncircumcised Man-child whose flesh of his foreskin is not Circumcised that Soul shall be cut off from his people he hath broken my Covenant Yet now
did to a greater perfection making this day to be more abundant then what hath been before for in so doing we shall also resemble Jesus Christ who made his work which the Father had given him to do to appear this day under the Gospel in a more spiritual glory then it did yesterday under the Law But my meaning is that we be still the same not forsaking our first love as the manner of some is nor declining from that close and sincere walking with God whereunto we have happily by reiterated vows and solemn engagements devoted our selves after we escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Jesus Christ A needful warning it will be to us for the truth is mans nature is a wondrous masterpiece of inconstancy No creature under the whole heaven being so variable as man is Nay it is a matter of some difficulty as the world goes amongst a multitude to finde a Man that is One who for a Masculine spirit indeed may deserve the name of a Man or as some render the original word in Scripture A Man A Man Lev. 15.2 Ps 49.12.20 that is A Man both wayes in regard both of the outward and inward man For there are some Men-Men and some Men-Beasts which made the Cynick at noon-day to go up and down in a throng of people with a Lanthorne and Candle in his hand searching as he said for a Man that is A Man for Constancy and Prudence as well as in outward appearance and Seneca also in his time counted it a great rarity Sen. Epi. 128. Magnam rem puta saith he unum hominem agere It is a hard thing to Act a Man kindly meaning to be alwayes One and the Same For one that doth so How many are there that disfigure themselves with diversities of shapes One while they will be frugal and grave another while prodigal and vain Such levity Holy Bernard sweetly taxeth Non paucos frequenter experimur c. We oftentimes meet with many who scarcely one houre continue in the same minde but are like drunkards nodding and reeling too and fro changing their judgment yea without judgment wavering still from what they had determined Semper quod non habent cupientes quod habent fastidientes Alwayes desiring what they have not and loathing that which they have This inconstancy speaks men to be like unto Reuben Vnstable as water Gen. 49.4 Far unlike this our Heavenly Pattern who was alwayes the same No nor like that honest Roman of whom it was said that it was as easie to turn the Sun out of his course as to make him go from his Word or change his resolution But especially in the high and weighty matters of Religion to be wavering and inconstant argues too much feebleness of spirit unbecoming those that are separated from the world to be the followers of Jesus Christ the Rock of ages who never changeth As Nehemiah said Is it for such a man as I to flee So say I for such to fall from their stedfastness One-while to be Zealous and forward in the wayes of Holiness another while backward and indifferent taking up a Form of Godliness according as their humour and fancy leads them like unto those of old whom Hilary speaks of that had a Monethly or a Yearly-Faith what a shame is it Sunt qui menstruan vel annu m fidem habent Yet alas too many there are in these dayes among us of this halting Generation who are apt to turn with every winde of temptation I speak not here with a reference unto changes in point of external order in the Church which may sometimes be excusable as we shall shew hereafter though there be a sort of dissolute and debauched people who can finde no other change to spend their invectives upon the better to palliate their own wickedness but when the life and power of Religion is so far neglected as that we can recede from those engagements and resolutions wherewith we have solemnly devoted our selves to God To turn aside after Vanity walking according to the course of this world in wayes of Licentiousness and Profaness this surely is matter of just complaint Alas we consider not it seemes what a dishonour we bring upon our holy profession How much we grieve the spirit of God nor what advantage we give unto Satan to encroach upon us when we are not Godly and Religious in a constant and continued Course but off and on fast and loose in the Covenant of our God which we made in our Baptisme When with Pilate we are inquisitive after Truth but presently as he did turn our backs upon it seeme to consult with God and his word about our spiritual estate and in the same breath many times cast him quite out of our thoughts as if we could do well enough without him Like unto Saul who in all haste calls out Bring hither the Ark But then go to it skills not greatly Socrates lib. 3. cap. 13. carry it back again Such unsavoury Salt as Ecebolius for his treacherous halting in Religion justly stiled himself can have no rellish in it acceptable to God or his Church Away therefore with this spirit of giddiness which hath too much prevailed in these dayes and let us quit our selves like men in being still the same When we have a Rock appointed for our standing by the wisdome and Faithfulness of the Almighty whereon we may be safe against all the stormes and tempests of the Prince of the power of the air shall we turn away from it and in our Conversation swim with the stream of this present evil world or in our judgement roll our selves upon the waves of new-fangled opinions where we may be tossed to and fro and carried about with every winde of Doctrine and where nothing is to be expected but to be swallowed up at last in the bottomless gulfe of errour and confusion Oh shall we thus dally in a business of so great moment Far be it from us Rather let us Look unto JESUS and follow his Example in being still The Same And now that we may deal impartially herein Let it be a Word in season to us of this Nation who have not like our Pattern been the same of late what we have formerly been We have made it our boast since we separated from Rome and cast off the Yoke of Anti-Christ that we have received Christ Jesus the Lord professing his Gospel to be a Law unto us But how we have walked in him and been Obedient unto it as we have been taught yea taught of God in the Ministery of his faithful servants our deeds may declare Time was when truth was of so high account with us that if it had been possible we would have plucked out our own eyes rather then to have parted with it But we have seen the time wherein Servis dormientibus The Lord pardon us in this Truth was fallen in our Streets and
Being literally signifies an Age which English word is observed to have some affinity with that Greek termination and an Age of what extent soever it be hath an uninterrupted being Now this word being here put in the plural number may probably intend the several ages of both worlds First of this present world together with the sundry revolutions that are in it one generation passing another succeeding And secondly of the world to come This sense I conceive with submission may be allowed for where the word is put in the singular number there is often intended the one world or the other Sometimes it is put for this world as Luke 20.34 Matth. 28.20 Sometimes again it is written for the world to come as Joh. 6.51.58 But being here rendred in the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it may well be said to comprehend the several ages of both worlds Joh. 6.51.58 I confess the world to come is often in Scripture per se rendred in the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and with an amplification too in sundry places of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but where the sense will bear a further latitude as it doth here too narrow a confinement is not to be set unto it v. g. Consider we the place of the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.17 1 Tim. 1.17 the Lord is there called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King of Ages or Worlds that is of all Ages in this world and of that everlasting Age in the world to come because indeed as the Psalmist speaketh His Dominion endureth throughout all Ages both here and hereafter So in the Doxologie affixed to the Lords Prayer as Dr. Hammond observeth The same words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must intend both Ages or Worlds the present and the future For the Kingdome the Power and the Glory is the Lords not onely in this world but in the world that is to come And therefore we do well in that to ingeminate the words in our English Translation proverbially For ever and ever that is for this world which is one for ever and for the next which is another for ever The same sense and meaning very probably do the words of our Text likewise carry for the Mediatorship of the Lord Jesus Christ to which they do referre hath and shall have its virtual operation between God and his Saints for ever in this world and as we shall presently shew for ever in the world that is to come Let the words then have their utmost extent and full latitude comprehending both worlds viz. This world till time hath spun out it self to the very last mâ—nute And that which follows with all those years of Eternity that shall never cease The second thing to be considered is How Jesus Christ will be the Same to his Church for ever in the world to come For seeing as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15.24.28 He must reign till all enemies are put under his feet and That when all things are subdued unto him he shall deliver up the kingdome to God even the Father that so God may be all in all we may inferre that there shall be a change in him and conclude that therefore he cannot be the Same But let us not be too forward to conclude before we have understood the premises aright as we ought to do First therefore to allude unto what I said before As Jesus Christ is the Same to day under the Gospel which he was yesterday under the Law but in a different way of the dispensation of the mysterie of Godliness so he will be the Same to his Church for ever in heaven but not after the same manner As Moses delivered up his dispensation unto Christ when the mystery of God was translated from the shadow to the Substance from the letter to the Spirit so will Christ deliver up the kingdome to the Father when by his Spirit he hath done all that the Father appointed him to do Yet as he was under Moses the Same in effect to his Church which he is now so will he be under the Father Not indeed so darkly with such glimpses of his appearance and secret illapses of his Light and Love into the hearts of his people as now but with a more free and full manifestation of his own and his Fathers glory without the least interposition of any let or hinderance whatsoever For now saith the Apostle we see through a glass darkly but then face to face c. Which Beatifical Vision as Christ hath here obtained for us by his Merit so will he for ever hereafter be the efficient cause of the uninterruptible continuance thereof unto us by his being in us But that I may not seem to deliver any thing in so important a matter without my warrant let us search the Scriptures and see what Testimony they give of Jesus herein It is not expedient to enquire after or to speak of those things which we have not seen It doth not yet appear saith the Evangelist what we shall be much less can we be able fully to discern what the Lord Jesus Christ shall be either in his Subjection to his Father or in his Relation to us when God shall be all in all Good therefore is it for us to be wise unto sobriety and to content our selves with what is revealed First then this we may assert for a most infallible truth that Jesus Christ will for ever be the Same in the Hypostatical union of his Humane nature with the Divine even then when he hath delivered up the kingdome to God even the Father And in this respect shall he then be subject to God For otherwise 1 Cor. 15.28 according to the word of the Apostle seeing he subsisteth ever in the real essential Form of God so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2.6 is to be understood as it is taken in the same place Phil. 2 6. where the Apostle speaks of the Form of a servant he shall as he hath ever been according to his proper right without any injurious encroachment upon the Father be equal with him Though I confess his subjection to the Father is not limited to this sense as we shall see hereafter From which Hypostatical Union of his two Natures so inseparably to be continued unto all Eternity Joy unspeakable and full of Glory will undoubtedly arise to all those who are of the same Humane nature with him that shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world O what a happiness will it be to behold this our Lord and Redeeming Kinsman sitting at the right hand of the Throne of God exalted sarre above all Principalities and Power and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named Yea and from hence it will come to pass that the Divine nature whereof by Christ we have been made partakers in the state of Regeneration shall never cease to have a being in us but shall be perfected rather by his Presence
in Heaven as he doth by faith here upon Earth 1 Cor. 13.8 Love saith the Apostle never faileth Not the Love of Christ to his Church nor the Churches Love unto Christ even in respect of their relation to each other begun here in this life shal ever suffer the least diminution First I say the love of Christ to his Church as it is his mystical Body shall never be out-dated For amongst us saith the Prophet Malachy Mal. 2.16 He hateth putting away therefore much less will he himself give his Church in Heaven when he hath presented it a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing c. a Bill of Divorce but will ever own her and delight in her as his beloved Spouse having loved her he loveth her unto the end yea and beyond the end to all Eternity And for the Churches love unto Christ in Heaven How can it chose but be more enlarged Partly because she will ever look upon Christ as one that had been when time was her faithful Mediator and with eternal acclamations will applaud him as her Saviour who hath brought her to life and immortality when she was near unto death and everlasting ruine But chiefly because the love of the Father wherewith he loved Christ shall Job 17.26 according to Christs own prayer be in her that is take full possession of her and consequently as it is added in the same place will Christ himself be in us likewise as the blessed result of that infinite love of the Father towards his Elect people For a further opening of this extraordinary point and because it hath not had that regard given unto it as it deserveth it being seldom thought upon I shall here crave leave to write the more freely of it And first let me once more insert the judgement of the aforesaid Divine in his writing unto me concerning this matter whose words I do offer to the consideration of the wise and godly The Saints saith he speaking of their estate in Glory after the resurrection are sealed up to God by his name formerly written in their forehead as it is Rev. 14.1 Rev. 14.1 Nor is the name of the Father onely said to be written upon them but the new name of Christ is also written upon them and the name of the new Jerusalem which cometh down from Heaven as it is Rev. 3.12 And their names once written upon them shall never be blotted out again therefore Christ shall be for ever in them by his name written upon them Rev. 3.12 For by the impression of their names upon them they are fitted to receive eternally the influence of the Fathers and the Sons love And I conceive that when the work of Christs Mediation shall be at an end and that Christ shall give up all those whom he hath brought to glory unto the Father that the Father may be all in all in them That then Christ also as to them shall receive a new name by which he shall be in and over them for ever For Christ as he is the head of the new creature to purchase life eternal to all that are to be brought unto the Father so now since he hath purchased that life he hath gotten a name above every name And when he shall have brought all the redeemed unto the possession of the life prepared for them then shall they become his fulness and by their conjunction to him he shall have a new state of glory as the fruit and effect of his Mediatorial administration shining upon him which I take to be his new name which then also shall be written upon his redeemed for ever And they shall be exalted to sit with him in his Throne as he was exalted and sat with his Father upon his Throne Rev. 3.21 Rev. 3.21 By all which saith the said writer I conceive it is evident that in the state of eternal glory Christ shall be in us as the fountain and head-spring of life eternal unto all mankinde over whom by and in the Fathers love and name which he hath declared unto them and put upon them to remain for ever and to be all in all with them He shall shine in his own everlasting love and new name Thus he Whether or no according to truth judge ye I might in the pursuance of this subject alledge sundry other places of Scriptures that have a tendency hereunto Luk. 1.33 viz. that of Luk. 1.33 Where the Angel Gabriel tells the blessed Virgin that that holy thing that should be born of her should reign over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdome there should be no end Which was also foretold by Daniel the Prophet Dan. 7.14 Where speaking of the Messiah Dan. 7.14 he saith his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away and his Kingdome that which shall not be destroyed Both which places St. Austin with much vehemency referreth to Christs Kingdome over his Saints in Heaven In securda parte quaestionum ex Nov. Test Tom. 4 Rom. 8.17 Et qui horum testimonium retractandum putat saith he perfidiâ plenus est that is whosoever he be that shall judge their witness viz. of the Angel and Prophet to be of no force is himself full of falshood I might also add what the Apostle saith Rom. 8.17 That the Saints shall be heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ which clearly implieth that his relation to his Church as the first-born among many brethren and chief heir shall continue for ever And that of Eph. 5.26.27 Where it is said that Jesus Christ gave himself for his Church Eph 5.26.27 c. That he might present it to himself a glorious Church c. Yea and that also of Rev. 19.9 might very well be insisted upon to this purpose where mention is made of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb Rev. 19.9 Coeâ—a eo quod est ultima refectio Rev. 21.23 which signifieth that ultimate rejoycing which the Church shall have with her Lord and Husband in Heaven where the light not onely of God but also of the Lamb shall shine and gloriously encompass about the Bride the Lambs Wise which is the new Jerusalem that is the Church Triumphant for ever But I forbear to prosecute this Point any further let us now summe up the Premises together and when we have answered an Objection that is considerable we shall put a period to this whole matter I say therefore if the Personal Union of both Natures Divine and Humane in Jesus Christ shall never be dissolved which will heighten marvellously the Glory of the Saints in Heaven And the Mystical Union between Christ and his Church shall also uncessantly continue in Heaven to all eternity who is there that is not destitute even of the light of Reason but will infer that Jesus Christ will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Same to his Church for ever in Glory which
what it is for the Son to deliver up the Kingdom to the Father It is even that which the Apostle saith Phil. 2.10 then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all whence it followeth that this subjection is the same with the delivery up of the Kingdom An interpretation therefore here seems to be necessary that the Son may be acknowledged to be subject to the Father and yet nevertheless that he may be said to have an everlasting Kingdom which may be called the Kingdom of the Son because then at the Name of Jesus every knee must bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the Earth When all things do confess the Lord Jesus and are made subject unto him whether it be by constraint or by consent then shall the mystery of one God be made manifest unto all and all praise shall redound unto the Father of whom are all things that so when preaching that is the creatures service in proclaiming the Name of God shall cease the one onely God may be known in the mystery of the Trinity For when all rule and all authority and power shall bow the knee to Christ then shall the Son manifest himself that it is not he of whom are all things but that he is his Son and that in him he himself is to be seen according to his own words Joh. 14.10 Joh. 14.10 This then is the subjection and the yeilding up of the Kingdome Christ subjecteth himself unto the Father proclaiming the Father to be he of whom are all things confessing also that he himself is of him For so great Majesty and Glory will appear in the comming of the Son that all the powers of Heaven and company of Angels may possibly look upon him as God alone But our Saviour when he shall say I am not he that is the Father but his Son he delivers up the Kingdome to the Father and yet continueth to be King still Herein then I say is manifested both his subjection and his delivery up of the Kingdome because when he professeth that he himself is of the Father he confesseth that whatsoever he hath is of the Father ascribing unto him the glory of being the complement of all things Besides this the same Saint Austin adds yet another sense concerning Christs delivery up of the Kingdome to the Father interpreting the said Kingdome for the people of the Kingdome that is his charge of the Elect Saints which he received of the Father not suffering one of them to be lost Ad Oro. Cont. Priscillia cap. 7. tom 6. Cum tradiderit Regnum Deo Patri id est cum perduxerit sanctos suos ad contemplationem Patris c. He shall deliver up the Kingdome to the Father that is when he hath brought all his Saints to behold the Glory of the Father and his own Glory which he had with the Father before the World was Now whether we understand the Apostle in this sense or that other before either of which we may safely adhere unto and unto one or both of them without question must the words of the Apostle be reduced we may conclude infallibly that Christs delivery up of the Kingdome to the Father shall not deprive him of that power and authority which he had before over his Church but that he shall continue to be King thereof unto all eternity August eodem loco Quod autem dicit Apostolus deinde finis cum tradiderit Regnum Deo Patri ibi finem non consumentem sed perficientem significat And whereas the Apostle saith then cometh the end when Christ shall deliver up the Kingdome c. That is not to be understood of the end bringing with it destruction and dissolution but rather that which bringeth perfection wherein shall be a clearer demonstration of Christs Power and Wisdome in the governing of his Church then is possible now to be discerned For as Luther upon these very words of the Apostle saith well Est idem hic in Terris regnum quod postea in Coelis futurum erit nisi quod jam contectum oculis nostris non pateat It is the same Kingdome here upon Earth which shall be hereafter in Heaven but that we are not able now abiding in this mortal and sinful estate to perceive it being hidden from our eyes I could multiply Authours both Ancient and Modern who do all agree in this that when Christ delivers up the Kingdome to the Father he then onely layeth down his Mediatorial Office not continuing any longer the Fathers Deputy in the governing of his Church but that his Kingdome notwithstanding shall everlastingly be the Same The same in the manifestation of his Wisdome Power Love Goodness towards his redeemed people to all eternity Onely how and wherein he will exercise the Authority of a Head over his Church otherwise then is before related there is none that is wise unto sobriety that will speak of it or be inquisitive after it Such knowledge is too wonderful for us it is high we cannot attain unto it Now therefore let all the ends of the Earth that is Application all the Inhabitants of the World farre and near Look unto Jesus and be saved Consider him in his Divine Nature Es 45.22 as he is begotten of the Father from eternity to eternity consider him also in the several works of creation continual preservation and future restauration of all things look unto him in his relation to his Church what he hath been is and eternally will be without any variableness or shadow of turning you 'll finde him in all that which the Apostle here proclaims him to be the same yesterday to day and for ever Look unto him then I say that you may more and more long after his apperance love him and delight in him Look unto him that you may follow his example an example equivalent with all Rules of righteousness in those things which he did and commanded though not altogether in those things which he did but commanded not What better object can you have to fix all the thoughts of your hearts upon He is the pattern set for your imitation according to the depth of Divine Wisdome He is the gift of God to the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 4.10 a greater gift then which though God be great in power and infinite in love he hath not to give Eph. 1.6 He is the beloved in whom the Father is well pleased deliciae Dei humani generis the darling of the Almighty Hag. 2.7 Ps 45.2 Cant. 5.10 and the desire of all Nations fairer then the children of men white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand white in his Divine Nature according to the sense of some late Expositours which was the brightness of his Fathers substance and red in his humanity being of the same substance with
is enquire into Moses and the Prophets They are they that testifie of me But Quoad dispensationis modum c. The Manifestations of God's Presence with his People are not now after the same manner as in the time of old and the outward form of his Worship which he hath prescribed is not the same with us as it was with the Fathers yet nevertheless this doth no more impeach the Immutability of the Mediator by whom the change is made then a Covenant written and expressed more plainly with a distinct form of words from what it had before doth put an imputation of Inconstancy upon him that granted it Of which more shall be said hereafter The Scripture is very clear for the confirmation of the proposed Doctrine Even Yesterday was the setting of that Day foretold for Daniel prophecied of the putting out of the Light thereof Dan. 9.27 viz. Dan. 9.27 Jer. 31.31 Mal. 1.11 of the cessation of the old Sacrifices and Jeremy foretelleth of a new Covenant Jer. 31.31 c. and Malachy of a new Oblation and the Jews themselves acknowledge according to these Prophecies that when Messiah shall come he shall turn their Day into Night and change their Laws Answerable hereto is that of our Saviour Luke 16. The Law and the Prophets were untill John Luke 16.16 which John was indeed the true Janus who saw both daies the Concluder of the former and the Beginner of the latter There will be no great need to insist much upon the proof hereof the Epistle to the Galatians is in a manner wholly spent upon this Argument let us single out some places wherein the Apostle giveth very pregnant testimonies concerning this matter We saith he Gal. 4.3 Gal. 4.3 when we were children that is before we had that true manly knowledge and wisdom whereto we have now in the fulness of Time attained were in bondage under the elements of the world Heb. 9.10 Carnal Ordinances which were the Abecedarian Rudiments of the Paedagogy of the Law were the Light of that Day but these Elements are now utterly destitute of their former Influence Luster and Vigour being become but weak and beggarly Gal. 4.9 Gal. 4.9 of so mean account are they now even in the judgment of him who saith of himself When he was a childe he spake as a childe making his boast of them 1 Cor. 13.11 verily thinking with himself that he ought to do many things according to those Rudiments but when he became a man he put away all those childish things True it is they had as one saith well been Elements in their time and God had used them as the first Letters of the Book to schole his People with but their Office was ended that fulness of Time which brought Christ into the World and that fulness of Knowledge and Grace which Christ brought with him was their Diminution The Light which they gave though Glorious in that Day is by reason of a more excellent Brightness that now shineth quite extinct and of no value even as the poor light of a Candle is of no use when the Sun appeareth in his full strength Again the same Apostle tells us in the same Epistle Gal. 3.23 Gal. 5.18 Rom. 6.14 Gal. 3.23.5.18 and so also Rom. 6.14 that we are not under the Law And what is the priviledge that we have hereby Surely very great for we are not only not under the Curse of the Law but not under the guidance and conduct of the Law as it was in the hand of Moses John 1.17 He indeed gave the Law that is the Letter of it and that was all the light that he could give and the Veil upon his face did then shadow out the Veil upon the peoples hearts which was not taken away in the reading of the Old Testament 2 Cor. 3.14 2 Cor. 3.6 but the Ministry of the New Testament is not the Ministry of the Letter but of the Spirit and the Veil which was of old under the Law in the reading of the Old Testament is now under the Gospel done away by Christ So that I say again we are not under the Law in the Letter of it as they of old were neither can the Veil of Moses hinder us as it did the people formerly As here so likewise in other places of Scripture doth the Apostle bear witness to this truth Col. 2.14 v.g. Col. 2.14 * Or De crees Deleto quod adversum nos erat Chirographo Doctrinis Christ hath blotted out the Hand-writing or Obligation of Ordinances whereby is principally understood the Law of Ceremonies which was an Act of Yesterday Or Christ hath by his Doctrines that is new Statutes of the Gospel blotted out the Hand-writing viz. of the Law which was against us for so the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be rendred without the least perverting of the Apostles sense Let it be construed either way it plainly demonstrates that the Obligation which was of Yesterday in the time of the Old Testament in full force and virtue is now utterly cancelled made void and of none effect And least some might cast out a scruple that though it be blotted yet still it may be legible the Apostle further saith He hath taken it out of the way yea and that it may not be suspected that it should be afterwards brought to light again it is added for the removal of all fears and jealousies whatsoever that he nailed it for our greater security to his Cross that is to die with him and so rent it in pieces Again Col. 2.17 Col. 2.17 having spoken of certain Customs and Rites proper to the Time of the Old Testament he saith of them They were but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shadow of things to come And what things were those Such things as many Prophets and Kings have desired to see Luke 10.24 but could not A Complication of all which glorious things the Apostle there ascribeth unto Christ calling him the Body which when it is come there is no more use at all of the shadow but it must give room thereto and vanish away Types are to endure but till the time of Rectifying Heb. 9.10 that is Heb. 9 10. the Evangelical Jubilee which sets all in their due Order and Station Lastly To insist upon no more in Heb. 1.1 2. there is set down a plain difference between Then and Now observe God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last daies spoken unto us by his Son To them at sundry times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by many parts as the word importeth now a part of his will and then a part the Lord was then in the way only of revealing his Minde to his Church letting forth Light by little and little till the Sun of Righteousness Jesus Christ arose he had not told his whole Will And so
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in divers manners and troops not revealing his Will after one manner but sometimes by a lively Voice sometimes by Visions sometimes by Dreams by inspiration by Urim and Thummim by Signs from Heaven by Types and Ceremonial shadows c. One while making known his Grace under the Promise of the Seed of the Woman breaking the Serpents head which in all likelyhood was the constant Doctrine that the Patriarchs those Preachers of Righteousness in the first Age of the World insisted upon So Luther speaking of Enoch saith Summâ fiduciâ prae aliis Patriarchis Satanae Cainitarum ecclesiae se opposuit confitendo semen mulieris praedicando de conterendo capite Serpentis Another while entituling himself The Lord God of Shem Gen. 9.26 27. who first of all Men upon Earth had God entailed unto him in a special reserved sort of peculiar Appropriation and Noah prophecies concerning him that God should dwell in his Tents that is So Musculus Meo judicio simplicius est ut intelligamus loqui Noc de Deo qui fuerit habit turus in Tabernaculis Shem i e. Omnia illius posteros quoque benedicturus in omnibus illi adfuturus c. Ita etiam Mercer Ex. 3.15 Mat. 19.28 John 15.15 2 Cor. 3.18 2 Cor. 4.6 that his presence should peculiarly be confin'd to him and his Linage Afterwards Ex. 3.15 The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob professing that this should be his Name for ever and his Memorial to all Generations that is till the time of Regeneration should come spoken of Mat. 19.28 Thus diversly did the Light of that Day break out and shine forth which various Light is now vanished and another more firm and steddy more resplendent and glorious displaies his Beams over our Horizon for in these last daies God hath spoken unto us by his Son and that not in part but this Messenger of the Covenant hath made known the whole Counsel of God nor obscurely for with open face we may behold as in a Mirroir the Glory of the Lord and the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God shineth now clearly to us in the face of Jesus Christ Now the kindness and love of God towards man hath appeared more plentifully more clearly then ever before being now discovered unto the Church under the Title of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom he hath opened all the Treasures of his bounty in whom his Name is more magnified and his Grace more exalted then Yesterday in all the Ages that were from the beginning From all which it appeareth that the time of the Old Testament with the whole Order and Institute of it is a Day that is past being Yesterday and therefore not to be recalled Which being so this serveth then for the conviction of all those who in this Day will be still groping after the obscure Light of Yesterday The first sort that come under this Censure are the Jews who are still of Yesterday and will know nothing of the Light of this present Day Poor people what wait you for Let me speak unto you in the words of truth and soberness Your Fathers of old did well to take heed unto that sure Word of Prophecy giâ—en unto them by the holy Spirit of God as unto a Light that shined in a dark place whereby they did foresee and acknowâ—edge the expiration of their Day even in the same manner as it hath already come to pass and did discern afar off this present Day which the Lord hath made Rejoycing in it Oh that you would now also in this Day when the Sun of Righteousness hath gotten up into the Meridian of his full Strength take Counsel of the same Word too possibly your eyes may then be opened so as you may plainly perceive the Change that hath been wrought how the great God who hath the Times and Seasons in his own Power hath concluded the Light of Yesterday not onely in Demolishing your Temple and Depriving you of all your Glory but in the full Accomplishment of all whatsoever was written in that Word concerning the Messiah who is the Light of this our Day If you have not Faith to believe this let the faith of the Gentiles convince you of your Unbelief Is it not a clear demonstration without all controversy seeing Light is sprung up to the Gentiles who sat in Darkness that the former Light is vanished and utterly destitute of its Brightness I speak not of a few Proselytes that might be gathered unto you from among the Nations but that whole Nations and Kingdoms should so Unanimously joyn together to believe in the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and with one voice to cry out as they did of old 1 Reg. 8.39 Jehovah is the God Jehovah is the God What can it argue but that God hath taken them into Covenant with himself even as he hath done you Time was indeed when you were his peculiar People Deut. 4.7 Ps 147.19 20. and there was no Nation how great soever that had the true God so nigh unto them as you had in all things that you called upon him for Hee made known his Word unto Jacob his statutes and his judgments unto Israel He did not deal so with any Nation and as for his judgments we did not know them But now every Nation that worketh righteousness and feareth God is accepted of him now may we make our boast of Abraham as well as you if we walk in the steps of the Faith of our Father Abraham for we finde it by experience to our Comfort that God hath made him according to his Promise the Father of many Nations Gen. 17.5 God doth not now limit his Presence to an Ark as he did before but as it was Prophecyed by Malachi from the rising of the Sun even to the going down of the same Mal. 1.11 his Name is great among the Gentiles and in every place for no place is now Unclean Incense is offered unto his Name and a pure offering for the Lord of Hostes had said it and his Word must stand that his Name should be great among the Heathen Yea and the Prophet Esaiah likewise telleth us Es 11.10 that In that day that is another Day distinct from that wherein the Prophet lived there shall be a root of Jesse that is a sprig sprouting out and springing up from Jesse as from a Root which shall stand up for an Ensign of the people To it shall the Gentiles seek that is repair and flock together as to their Sanctuary and Refuge wherein they shall trust Now what have we Gentiles to do with Jesse were it not for Jesus this Root should for ever have lain hid in the Earth and we should have joyned with those who once said Look to thine own House David were it not for the Son of David in whom we trust Alas alass your continued Contempt of us