will 118. Fourthly He sealed his Declaration with his own Blood 120. Fifthly He Instituted an Order of Men to Preach what he had declared to the World 121. Sixthly He sent his Holy Spirit when he left the World to recollect and explain his Doctrine to those whom he had ordained to Preach it and to inable them also to prove it by Miracles 123 124. SECT IV. Of Christs Priestly Office. To what persons the Priesthood antiently belonged 130. What the Melchisedecan Priesthood was and in what respects Christs Priesthood is of that Order 132. what the old Priesthood was and in what acts it consisted 136. That it consisted first in Sacrificing and secondly in presenting the Sacrifice to God by way of Intercession for the People 136 c. That this ancient Priesthood was in both these acts of it intended by God for a Type of the Priesthood of our Saviour 142 c. SECT V. Concerning the first Act of our Saviours Priesthood viz. Sacrificing That the death of Christ had in it all the requisite Conditions of a Sacrifice for Sin and what those Conditions are shewed in five Particulars 147 c. these Conditions applyed to our Saviours death as first In his death he was substituted in the room of sinful Men to be punish'd for them in order to their being released from their personal Obligation to punishment 151. Secondly He dyed a pure and spotless Innocent Thirdly His death was of sufficient intrinsick worth and value to be an equivalent commutation for the punishment that was due to the whole World of sinners 155. Fourthly His death was on his part voluntary and unforced 160 161. Fifthly His death was admitted and accepted of God in lieu of the punishment which was due to him from Mankind 164. The wisdom of this method of Gods· admitting Christs sacrifice for sinners in order to the reforming Mankind shewn in five Particulars â— First That the Sacrifice of Christs death was a most sensible and affecting acknowledgement of the infinite guilt and demerit of our sin 167. Secondly It was an ample declaration of Gods severity against sin 169. Thirdly It was a most obliging expression of the love of God and our Saviour to us 171. Fourthly It is a sure and certain ground of our hope of pardon if we repent and amend 174. Fifthly It is a seal and confirmation of the New Covenant 177. SECT VI. Of Christs Intercession or presenting his Sacrifice to God in Heaven by way of Advocation for us The Nature of it defined 183. The definition explained in the several parts of it which are four First It is a Solemn Address of our Blessed Saviour to God the Father in our behalf 184. Secondly This Address is performed by the presenting his Sacrificed Body to the Father in Heaven 186. Thirdly it is continued and perpetuated by the perpetual Oblation of this his sacrificed Body 190. Fourthly In vertue of this perpetual Oblation he doth always successfully move and solicit God 193. And that which he moves him to is First to receive and graciously accept our sincere and hearty Prayers 196. Secondly to impower him to bestow on us all those Graces and Favours which in consideration of his Sacrifice God hath promised to us 199. The admirable tendency of this method of Gods communicating his Favours to us through Christs Intercession to reform Mankind shewn in five Particulars First It naturally tends to excite in us a mighty awe of the Divine Majesty 204. Secondly It also tends to give us the strongest conviction of Gods hatred of Sin 206. Thirdly It secures us from presuming upon Gods mercy while we continue in our sins 208. Fourthly It encourages us to approach God with chearfulness and freedom 212. Fifthly It assures our diffident minds of Gods gracious intentions to perform to us all the good things which he hath promised to us upon our performing the condition of them 216. SECT VII Of Christs Kingly Office. Christs universal Royalty successâ—â—e to his Sacrifice and Intercession pag. 221 c. Christ had a particular Kingdom in this World viz. The â—ewish Church before his Incarnation and during his abode upon Earth 225. and therefore that which he was exalted to upon his ascension was the universal Kingdom of the World ibid. Six Heads proposed to be treated of concerning our Saviours Kingdom 226. SECT VIII Of the Rise and Progress of Christs Kingdom from the Fall to his Incarnation Of which an account is given at large in eight Propositions pag. 227. First That the Kingdom of Christ is founded in the new Covenant 228. Secondly That the new Covenant commenced immediatly after the Fall and was afterwards in a particular manner renewed to Abraham and his Posterity ibid. c. Thirdly That from its first Commencement Christ was Mediator of it and so he continued to be all along under that particular renewal of it to the People of Israel 233 c. Fourthly Christs being always Mediator of this Covenant necessarily implies his having been always King over all that were admitted into it and particularly over the People of Israel 235 c. and that he was the Divine King that reigned over Israel and who in the Old Testament is promiscuously called Jehovah and the Angel of Jehovah is proved in five Propositions 238 239 c. Fifthly That after his coming into the World he still retained this his right and title of King of Israel in particular 255 c. Sixthly That the main Body of the Jews rejected Christ from being their King and were thereupon rejected by him yet was there a remnant of them that received and acknowledged him 258. Seventhly That this remnant still continued the same individual Church or Kingdom of Christ with what it was before its main Body revolted they very much reformed and improved 259 c. Eighthly That to this individual Church or Kingdom of Christ thus reformed and improved was superadded all those Gentiles that were afterwards converted to Christianity 272 c. SECT IX Of the Nature and Constitution of Christs Kingdom The Kingdom and Church of Christ the same 275. The universal Church or Kingdom of Christ defined 277. This definition explained in the several parts of it which are eight 272 278. First It is one Vniversal Society consisting of all Christian People 278 c. Secondly It consists of all Christian People incorporated by the New Covenant 280 c. Thirdly These Christian People are incorporated by the New Covenant in Baptism 283 c. Fourthly They are incorporated under Iesus Christ their supreme Head 291. Fifthly This one Vniversal Society thus incorporated is distributed into particular Churches 292 c. Sixthly These particular Churches are distributed under Lawful Governors and Pastors 295 c. Seventhly These particular Churches thus distributed hold Communion with each other 298 c. Eighthly The Communion which these particular Churches hold is first in all the Essentials of Christian Faith 303 c. Secondly in all the
Essentials of Christian Worship 307 c. Thirdly In all the Essentials of Christian Regiment and Discipline 309. SECT X. Concerning the Ministers of the Kingdom of Christ. Which are of a fourfold Rank and Order First The supreme Minister of it is the Holy Ghost p. 315. Secondly next to him are the whole world of Angels both good and bad and as for the good they are subjected to Christ by the Order and appointment of God the Father ibid. That the good Angels were not subject to him as Mediator till his ascension into Heaven but had their distinct regencies over the several Gentile Nations 316 c. But upon Christs ascension these their distinct regencies were all dissolved and they subjected to Christs Mediatorial Scepter 320 c. And as for the bad Angels they were subjected to him by just and lawful Conquest 322. That this Conquest he obtained while he was upon Earth but especially in his last agony 323 c. Seven particular instances of the Ministry of good Angels under Christ first they declare upon occasion his mind and will to his Church and People 331 c. Secondly they guard and defend his subjects against outward dangers 333 c. Thirdly they support and comfort them upon difficult undertakings and under great and pressing calamities 334 c. Fourthly they protect them against the rage and fury of evil spirits 336 c. Fifthly they further and assist them in their religious Offices 340 c. Sixthly they conduct their separated spirits to the Mansions of Glory 342 c. Seventhly they are hereafter to attend and minister to him at the general Iudgment 345 c. The Ministry of evil Angels to Christ in four particulars First they try and exercise the vertues of his subjects 347 c. Secondly they chasten and correct their faults and miscarriages 351 c. Thirdly they harden and confirm incorrigible sinners 354 c. Fourthly they execute the vengeance of Christ on them in another world 357 c. The third sort of the Ministers of Christs Kingdom are the Kings and Governors of the world 361 c. by their subjection to Christ they are not deprived of any natural Right of their Sovereignty 363 c. But in the first place have the same commanding Power over all indifferent things and that in Ecclesiastical Causes as well as Civil that they had under the Law of Nature 364 c. And secondly are as unaccountable and irresistible as they were before 365 c. What thâ—se Ministries are which Kings are obliged to render our Saviour shewn in general from Isa. 49.23.476 c. Particularly first they are to protect and defend his Church in the profession and exercise of the true Religion 377.378 secondly they are to fence and cultivate its peace and good order 378 c. they are to chasten and correct the irregular 379 c. they are to provide for the decency of its worship and for the convenient maintenance of its Officers and Ministers 381 c. The fourth sort of Ministers of Christs Kingdom are the spiritual or Ecclesiastical Governors 383. That Christ hath erected a spiritual Government in his Church 384 c. That this Government is Episcopal proved from four Arguments first from the institution of our Saviour 388 c. secondly from the practice of the Apostles upon it 393 c. thirdly from the Vniversal Conformity of the Primitive Church to this Apostolick practice 404. fourthly from our Saviours declared allowance and approbation of both 421 c. Of the Ministers of this spiritual Government which are either such as are common to the Bishops together with the inferiour Officers of the Church as first to teach the Gospel 427 c. secondly to administer the Evangelical Sacraments 429 c. thirdly to offer up the publick Prayers and intercessions of Christian Assemblies 431 c. Or such as are peculiar to the Bishops as first to make Laws for the peace and good order of the Church 433. secondly to ordain to Ecclesiastical Offices 436. thirdly to exercise that spiritual jurisdiction which Christ hath established in his Church 439. fourthly to confirm such us have been Baptized and instructed in Christianity 446 c. SECT XI Of Christs Regal Acts in his Kingdom Which are of three sorts First such as he hath performed once for all of which there are four first his giving Laws to his Kingdom 449 c. That what Christ taught as a Prophet had the force of Law ibid. His Law spiritual 450. His Laws reduced under two heads first his Law of perfection 452 c. secondly his Law of sincerity 455 c. The second of those Regal Acts which he hath performed once for all is his mission of the Holy Spirit 457. A third is his erecting an external Polity and Government 458 c. Another sort of Christs Regal acts are such as he hath always performed and doth always continue to perform of which there are four first his pardoning penitent Offenders the nature of which is explained 461 c. the Scripture attributes it both to Christ and God the Father 462. that both of them have an appropriate part in it 463. The part of God the Father is first to make a general Grant of Pardon 464 c. secondly to make it in consideration of Christs death and sacrifice 466 thirdly to limit it to believing and penitent sinners ibid. c. The part which Christ performs in it is to make an actual and particular application of this general Grant of his Father to particular sinners upon their faith and repentance 474 c. The second of these Regal Acts of Christ is his punishing obstinate Offenders 476. A third is his protecting and defending his People and Kingdom in this world 479 c. The fourth is his rewarding his faithful subjects in the life to come 483 c. The third last sort of Christs Regal Acts are those which are yet to be performed by him of which there are three first he is yet farther to extend and enlarge his Kingdom by a more universal conquest of his Enemies 485 c. secondly he is yet to destroy Death the last Enemy by giving a general Resurrection 492 c. this proved from his own Resurrection ibid. The Objections against this argument and the Doctrine of the Resurrection answered 494 c. The manner of the Resurrection described at large from 1 Cor. 15.42.501 First this mortal body is to be the seed or material principle of our resurrection 502. secondly this seed must die and be corrupted before it is to be raised and quickened 503. thirdly this dead seed is to be raised and quickened by the Power of God 505. fourthly it is to be raised and quickned into the proper form and kind of a human body 508. fifthly this human body is to be very much changed and altered 510. the change that will be made in the bodies of good men is
Scripture his Ascension into Heaven there to intercede for us represented as a Triumphal progress to his Coronation wherein after the manner of Princes in that glorious Solemnity he scatters a Royal Largess among his Subjects Ephes. 4.8 It is true before his Ascension he tells his Disciples that all power was given him in Heaven and Earth Matth. 28.18 but this it is evident he spake by way of Prolepsis or Anticipation a very usual Scheme of speech in Scripture which is to express things of certain futurity as if they were actually existing according to which Scheme all power is given me imports no more than all power is shortly to be given me i. e. upon my Ascension into Heaven For so it is evident our Saviour must be understood in that parallel expression Iohn 5.22 The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son which words he spake long before his Death when it is evident that all judgment i. e. Vniversal Regal authority was not actually committed to him but there was only a certain futurity of it For so he himself tells us that his sitting down with his Father on his Throne or investiture with that Regal Authority which he now exercises was the reward and consequence of his overcoming or consummate victory on the Cross Rev. 3.21 By all which it is evident that it was upon his Ascension into Heaven and Oblation of his Sacrifice there by way of Intercession that Christ was installed in his Vniversal Mediatorial Kingdom It is true our Saviour had a particular Kingdom in this World viz. the Iewish Church not only before his Ascension but before his Incarnation as I shall shew hereafter but as for that Right of Dominion over the Gentile world too by which he became universal Lord and King he was not invested with it till his Ascension into Heaven And therefore he himself tells us that his Mission into this world was purely to the lost Sheep of the house of Israel Matth. 15.24 and accordingly in the pursuance of this his Mission when he sent forth his Ministers to preach his Gospel he orders them not to go into the way of the Gentiles nor to enter into the City of the Samaritans but to go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Matth. 10.5 6. which implies that at that time he was not actually authorized to subdue and reduce the Gentiles under his dominion but that his Authority extended only to the Iewish Nation but when he had told his Disciples in that proleptical speech after his Resurrection that all power was given him in Heaven and Earth it immediately follows go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father c. as if he had said now my Commission and Authority is inlarged and I am made Vniversal Lord and King go ye therefore in pursuance of it and by your Ministry endeavour to reduce all Nations under my dominion And hence it was that the Mystery of the calling of the Gentiles into the Kingdom of Christ was not revealed till after his Ascension vid. Acts 11.18 because it was upon his Ascension that he received his Vniversal Kingly Authority over them and till then it was to no purpose to reveal it So that it was over the Gentile world peculiarly that he received Power and Dominion upon his Ascension into Heaven he was King of the Iews long before but upon his Ascension he was invested with a right of Dominion over the Gentiles too and thereupon became the Vniversal Lord and Monarch of the World under the most High God and Father of all things but this I shall have occasion farther to explain hereafter In the prosecution of this great Argument I shall endeavour these six things First To give an account of the Beginning and Progress of this Kingdom of Christ. Secondly To explain the Nature and Constitution of it Thirdly To shew who are the Ministers of it under Christ. Fourthly To assign and explain the Regal Acts which Christ hath and doth and will hereafter exercise in it Fifthly To give an account of the End and Conclusion of it Sixthly and lastly To shew the reason and wisdom of this method of God's governing sinful men by this his Mediatorial King Christ Iesus SECT VII Of the Rise and Progress of Christ's Kingdom AS for the first viz. the beginning and progress of Christ's Kingdom I shall endeavour to give an account of it in these following Propositions First That the Kingdom of Christ is founded upon the New Covenant Secondly That the new Covenant commenced immediately after the Fall and was afterwards particularly renewed to Abraham and his Posterity Thirdly That upon its first Commencement Christ was the Mediator of it and so he continued all along in that particular renewal that was made of it to the People of Israel Fourthly Therefore that as Mediator of this Covenant Christ was King of all that were admitted into it and particularly of Abraham and his Posterity or the People of Israel with whom it was renewed Fifthly That after his coming into the world he still retained his Title of King of Israel in particular till they finally rejected him and the Covenant in which his Kingdom is founded Sixthly That though the main body of that Nation rejected him yet there was a Remnant of it that received and acknowledged him as their rightful Lord and King. Seventhly That this Remnant still continued the same individual Kingdom of Christ with the former though very much reformed and improved Eighthly That to this individual Kingdom of Christ thus reformed and improved was superadded all those Gentiles that were afterwards converted to Christianity First That the Kingdom of Christ is founded in the New Covenant For it is by the New Covenant that he engages himself to us to be our gracious and merciful Lord and that we engage our selves to him to be his faithful and obedient Subjects and from these mutual Engagements results the relation of King and Subjects between him and us So that the Church or Kingdom of Christ consists of all those People Nations and Kindreds who have been admitted into this Covenant-relation to him wherein by a solemn Vow of Fealty and Allegiance they have indispensably obliged themselves to serve and obey him but of this I shall have occasion to discourse more largely hereafter Secondly Therefore this new Covenant commenced immediately afâ—er the Fall and was afterwards in a particular manner renewed to Abraham and his Posterity For the New Covenant was a Plank thrown forth to Mankind immediately after that woful Shipwreck that was made by the Fall. For no sooner had God denounced his deserved Doom on our lapsed Parents but to support them from sinking into utter desperation he subjoyns that gracious promise Gen. 3.15 The Seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpent's head where by the Seed of the woman not only Christian but the ancient Iewish Interpreters understand the
he actually forgave sins Matth. 9.2 compared with the sixth where he doth not only pronounce to one that was sick of the Palsie Son thy sins are forgiven thee but declares that he did it by that power and authority which he had upon earth to forgive sins All which being acts of Regal power do sufficiently manifest that even whilst he was upon Earth he was vested with Royal Authority and that by assuming our nature he did not divest himself of his ancient Royalty but still continued King of the Iews so long as they continued a Church Sixthly That though the main body of the People of Israel rejected Christ and were thereupon rejected by him yet there was a Remnant of them that received and acknowledged him for their rightful Lord and King. For so as S. Paul observes it is foretold of Isaiah concerning Israel Though the number of the Children of Israel be as the sand of the Sea a remnant shall be saved Rom. 9.27 and accordingly it proved in the event For though the much greater part of the Jewish Nation obstinately persisted in their Infidelity and Rebellion against the blessed Iesus their King notwithstanding all those powerful Arts and Methods he had used to reclaim and save them yet there was a great number of them that willingly received and loyally adhered to him For not only the Disciples which he gathered whilst he was upon Earth but also the first Converts after his Ascension into Heaven were generally of the Iewish Nation within which not only his own Personal Ministry was confined but also the Ministry of his Apostles for some time after his Ascension For so S. Paul and Barnabas tell the Jews that it was necessary the Word of God should first have been spoken to them Acts 13.46 But this Proposition is so manifest from the whole Gospel that I shall not need to insist any farther upon it Seventhly Therefore that this Remnant still continued the same individual Church or Kingdom of Christ with the former though very much reformed and improved For it still remained upon the same basis with the former as having the self-same Covenant for its Charter which is the form that Identifies all Societies and notwithstanding the perpetual change and renovation of their parts still continues them the same individual Politick bodies Since therefore that remnant of Israel who believed in Christ continued still in the same Covenant with that whereupon the old Jewish Church was founded it necessarily follows that they were not a new or distinct Church but still remained the same individual sacred society with the old So that they were the unbelieving Jews that revolted from their old Church by rejecting the Mediator of that Covenant by which it was formed and constituted but as for the believing Jews who imbraced and acknowledged him they still continued in it and so remained the same continued Church as being still united and incorporated by the same Charter But though it was the same continued body with the old Jewish Church yet was it very much reformed and improved by our blessed Saviour For in the first plâ—ce whereas before it was extremely corrupted through the many false glosses and superstitious traditions of their Elders and like an unâ—â—est Garden was all overgrown with Thorns and Weeds its Religion being almost dwindled away into Ceremonies and outward observances and evaporated into a dead shew and formality our blessed Saviour repaired its ruines and decays removed its rubbish and reformed its disorders and restored it to its primitive beauty and purity For the great design of all his Sermons and Parables was to explain the Laws of it into their Genuine sence and to rescue them from the false Glosses and Comments of the Scribes and Pharisees to reprehend and expose its hypocrisie and formality and to refine its Religion from all those corrupt and heterogeneous mixtures with which it was dasht and sophisticated That Remnant of the Jews therefore who believed in Christ and submitted to his Doctrine when all the rest of them finally rejected him were the same individual continued body with the Old Jewish Church as purified and reformed from its errors and corruptions For by submitting to our Saviour's regulations they did not commence into a new Church but still continued the same body only with this difference that whereas before it was distempered with sundry corrupt humours now it was throughly purged and recovered And as our Saviour restored that Church to its ancient purity so secondly he advanced and improved it to a far more perfect state than it was in even under its primitive Constitution It is true as for the Religion of that Church it was for substance the same with that which our Saviour and his Apostles taught it proposed to them the same Covenant and the same Mediator and the very same Doctrines and Articles concerning this Mediator to create in them the same belief and oblige them to the same practice only with this difference that whereas it proposed him to their belief as hereafter to be incarnate and sacrificed to rise and to ascend into heaven it proposes him to ours as actually incarnate and sacrificed and as actually risen and ascended but this is only a circumstantial difference since that as to all the purposes of his Mediation his future Incarnation and Sacrifice c. had the same vertue and influence with his actual But though as to the main the ancient Iewish Religion was the same with ours yet in respect of clearness and easiness and amplitude there is a vast difference between them For first as to clearness it is evident that it was much more darkly and obscurely revealed to the ancient Iews than it is to us for to them it was revealed only either in general Promises out of which they were fain to argue and deduce particulars or in temporal Promises that carried a mystical sence with them and obscurely implied the spiritual blessings which the Gospel proposes or in dark Types and material Figures and Emblems which were Prophetick Pictures or as the Apostle calls them shadows of good things to come For thus in that general Promise In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed was included Christ and all those particular blessings which we receive by and through him under those temporal promises of deliverance from their enemies and peaceâ—ble possession of Canaan was couched their deliverance from sin and hell and their eternal rest and happiness in heaven and under their legal Sacrifices the all-sufficient Sacrifice of the blessed Mediator was exhibited and represented to them and in a word under the High Priest's offering the bloud of the Sacrifice in the Holy of Holies was intimated the Mediator's intercession for them in heaven Thus both the Promises and Types of the Iewish Religion were all of them obscure revelations of Christianity which is nothing but Mystical Judaism or Judaism explained into its spiritual sence and meaning And accordingly
Church of Christ. For under God the Father he is universal Lord and King of the World his Kingly power being upon his Ascension into Heaven extended as was shewn before to the utmost limits of the Vniverse For so he himself tells us by way of Anticipation that God hath given him power over all flesh John 17.2 i. e. over all mankind For his Regal power extends as far as his power of judging which is one of the principal Acts of his Regality and his power of judging is over all mankind for so we are assured that God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World by the man Christ Iesus Acts 17.31 and that Christ is ordained of God to be the Iudge of quick and dead Acts 10.42 and not only so but that when he shall sit down upon the throne of his glory all Nations shall be gathered before him Matth. 25.31 32. Since therefore by the right of his Royalty he shall judge all Nations it necessarily follows that all Nations are under his Empire and Dominion and accordingly the Apostle tells us that God hath set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the Church Eph. 1.20 21 22. So that the Kingdom of Christ in a large sence extends to all Nations in the World even to the Heathens and Infidels that never heard of his name and upon this account he is stiled The blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords 1 Tim. 6.15 and so also Rev. 17 14. But the Church is more peculiarly his Kingdom as consisting of that part of the World which owns and acknowledges his authority makes a visible profession of fealty to him and submission to his Laws and Regulations As for the other parts of the World they are all of right his Subjects by vertue of that Vniversal Regal Authority wherewith the most High God and Father of all things hath invested him but de facto they are Slaves to the Prince of darkness all whose Dominions in this World are nothing but usurpations on the Kingdom of Christ. But the Church is that part of the World that hath thrown off the yoke of this Vsurper and by a solemn Profession surrendered up it self to the Authority of Christ its rightful Lord and Sovereign and hence the Members of the Church are said to be translated out of the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Col. 1.13 The Church therefore being more peculiarly Christ's Kingdom as being that part of the World which is actually subjected to him and under his Government I shall with as much brevity as the Argument will admit inquire into the nature and constitution of it In general therefore the Church or Kingdom of Christ may be thus defined It is the one universal society of all Christian People incorporated by the new Covenant in Baptism under Iesus Christ its supreme head and distributed under lawful Governours and Pastors into particular Churches holding Communion with each other in all the Essentials of Christian Faith and Worship and Discipline For our better understanding of which definition it will be necessary to explain the several parts of it First Therefore it is the one universal Society of all Christian People Secondly Of all Christian People incorporated by the New Covenant Thirdly Of all Christian People incorporated by the New Covenant in Baptism Fourthly Of all Christian People incorporated under Iesus Christ its supreme Head and Governour Fifthly It is a Society of all Christian People distributed into particular Churches Sixthly It is distributed into particular Churches under lawful Pastors and Governours Seventhly It is distributed into particular Churches holding Communion with each other Eighthly The Communion which these particular Churches hold with each oâ—hâ—r is First In all the Essentials of Christian Faith and Secondly In all the Essentials of Christian Worship Thirdly In all the Essentials of Christian Discipline First The Church or Kingdom of Christ is one universal Society consisting of all Christian People who as was shewn before were at first comprised in one single Congregation at Ierusalem and then this single Congregation was the whole Church or Kingdom of Christ which by the continual accession of new Converts increased and multiplied by degrees till at length it was spread over the whole Earth So that the Christian Society as it is now enlarged is nothing but that Primitive Church diffused and dilated For it was not diffused into separate and independent Societiâ—s but into similar parts and members of the same Society and therefore as a man is one and the same person when he is full grown as he was when he was an Infant but of a span long because his growth consists not in an addition of other persons to him but only of other parts of the same person so the Church of Christ is the same individual Church now since it is grown to this vast Bulk and Proportion that it was in its infant state when it extended no farther than one single Congâ—egation because it grew not into other divided Churches but only into other distinct parts of the same Church and therefore since its growth consisted only in new accessions of similar parts to the same body it must be as much one Body or Society now as it was at first when it was but one single Congregation For this Congregation was the root out of which the Catholick Church sprang or as our Saviour phrases it the grain of mustard-seed which though a very small seed shot up into a mighty tree in whose far-spread branches the Birds of the Air came and lodged and therefore as the stock and branches grow up from the root in a continued Vnion with it and all together make but one Tree so all the Christian People in the World sprang out of this single Congregation and as they sprang were still incorporated and united to it so as that all together they make but one Church And this is that which in our Creeds is called the holy Catholick or universal Church For so the Apostle tells us that there is but one body or Church as well as one Spirit one Lord one Faith and one Baptism Eph. 4.5 6. and our Saviour tells us Other sheep have I meaning the Gentiles which are not of this fold meaning the Iewish Church and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd John 10.16 For so the Gentiles added to the Christian Iewish Church are said of twain to make one new man Eph. 2.13 and both together are compared to a building fitly framed together growing into an holy Temple in the Lord Ibid. ver 21. And indeed since all
Christians do enjoy in common and without any distinction the same priviledges and immunities they must of necessity be all of the same Community For it is by theiâ— peâ—uliar Faith and Laws and Rights of Worship and Promises and Priviledges that the Christian Society is distinguished from the rest of the World and therefore since these peculiariâ—ies are by the very institution of Christian Society mâ—de common to all Christian People it is non-sense to suppose them distinguished by that institution into separate and independent Communities For how can they be separate Societies which have nothing to separate and distinguish them but enjoy all things in common with one another Secondly The Church is one universal Society of all Christian People incorporated by the New Covenant For this is that which distinguishes râ—gular Societies from confused multitudes that whâ—reas the latter are only locally united so that as soon as â—ver their parts are dispersed into distant places they cease to be and are utterly dissolved the former are united by Laws and mutâ—al stipulations which are the Political Nerves and Arâ—â—ries by which their several parts how remoteâ—nd â—nd distant soever are united to one another Even as it is in our City Companies which are not only united while their Members are met together in their Common Halls but do also continue united after they are dispersed abroad to their several homes because that which unites them is not their being together in the same place but their being obliged together under the same Laws and stipulations and communicating with one another in the duties and priviledges of one and the same Charter by reason whereof though they suffer a continual defluence of old and access of new parts yet still they remain the same Societies even like natural bodies that are under a perpetual flux of parts because they still retain the same Laws and Charters which are the sâ—atique Principles or Forms that individuate them and keep them still the same And thus it is with the Church which partakes of the common nature of all other formed and regular Societies For hence in Scripture it is called a Kingdom a City or Commonwealth and compared to a natural Organized body to denote that it is a Regular Society all whose parts are united together by legal bonds and ligaments Now the legal bond which unites the Church and renders all its Members one regular Corporation is the New Covenant by which all Christian People are in one body obliged to all the duties it requires and entitled to all the Priviledges it proposes and by being all engaged together in this one Covenant whereby they are all concerned together in the same common duties and priviledges they are all incorporate together into the same Community And thus it was that the Iewish People were all united into one Church by their being all confederated as one party in one and the same Covenant whereby they all engaged themselves as one body to be God's People and God engaged himself to them as to one body to be their God which in Deut. 26.17 18. is thus expressed Thou hast avouched this day the Lord to be thy God and to walk in his ways and to keep his Statutes and his Commandments and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar People as he hath promised thee This therefore was that which united them into one Religious Society that they were all confederated with God in one and the same Covenant For thus saith God I entered into Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine Ezek. 16.8 and hence God is said to be married to thâ—t People Iâ—r 3.14 and to be their Husband Isa. 54.5 because by the Covenant which like a Matrimonial engagement was transacted between God and them they were all united into one Spâ—use and contracted to one Husband And in thâ— same sense the Christian Church is called the Bride and the Spouse of Christ vid. Rev. 22.17 and Christ is called her Husband 2 Cor. 11.2 because we by contracting our selves to him in one and the same Covenant do all become one Party and are incorporate together into one Spouse and he by contracting himself to us in one and the same Counterpart unites us in one common Husband and endows us in common with all his spiritual Goods and Blessings So that by the New Covenant which is the Nuptial Contract between Christ and Christians and in which we are said to be married to Christ Rom. 7.7 we are not only united to one head and Husband but are also incorporated into one body and Spouse And accordingly as the Iews by vertue of their Covenant with God were separated from all Nations and united together into a distinct body upon which account they are called God's peculiar Treasure a Kingdom of Priests and an holy Nation Exod. 19.5 6. so we Christians by vertue of our Covenant with God in Christ are separated from all other Societies and made a distinct Corporation from the World upon which account we are also called a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood and holy Nation and a peculiar people 1 Pet. 2.9 Thirdly The Church or Kingdom of Christ is the universal Society of all Christian People incorporated by the new Covenant in Baptism For so in humane Contracts it hath been thought meet even by the unanimous consent of all prudent Law-givers that the mutual engagements of the contracting Parties should not be legally Pleadable till they have been first mutually sealed and solemnly confirmed before witness And accordingly God who is wont to proceed with men in humane Methods hath always thought meet to strike and ratifie his Covenants with them by some visible sign or solemnity For thus he struck his Covenant with the Iews in that visible solemnity of Circumcision which was the sign by which God and that People sealed and consigned to each other their respective parts of that Covenant by which he stipulated to be their God and they to be his People And till such time as this outward sign was transacted between God and them the Covenant it sealed was not in force so as to oblige either Party or give them a mutual claim in one another And hence it is called God's Covenant in their flesh for an everlasting Covenant and they who refused to admit this sign unless it were under some great necessity in which case God accepted the sincere desire for the deed were to be cut off from that People i. e. to be treated as Aliens from that Church and that because they had broken or rejected God's Covenant i. e. by refusing that sign which was the Seal and ratification of it Gen. 17.13 14. But this bloudy sign as was shewn before being not so commodious for the state of the Christian Church which was to be diffused over all the World our Saviour abolished it and in its room introduced the sign of Baptism which was before used by the Iews for the initiation of their
them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost where that Phrase in the Name plainly imports as it generally doth in other places of Scripture by the Authority So that by this Commission Christ's Ministers are authorized and constituted the legal Proxies of the holy Trinity in the stead of those blessed Persons to seal the New Covenant with the Baptismal sign to those whom they baptize and thereby legally to oblige the Father Son and Holy Ghost to perform the Promises of it to all those Baptized persons who perform the conditions of it For that the Baptismal sign is a legal ingagement upon God as well as us to perform the New Covenant is evident from Mark 16.16 He that believes and is baptized shall be saved where it is evident that Baptism as well as Faith doth confer a right to Salvation and therefore since Faith confers it only as it is the Condition of the Covenant Baptism must confer it as it is the Seal of the Covenant And accordingly S. Peter exhorts his Converts to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost from whence it is evident that Baptism as well as Repentance has a great influence on our remission of sins and our communication of the Holy Ghost Since therefore Faith and Repentance are the whole condition of the promise of remission and of the Holy Ghost it necessarily follows that Baptism doth not influence it as it is the Condition but as it is the Seal of the Promise And so also in Baptism we are said to wash away our sins i. e. the guilt of them Acts 22.16 because the sign of Baptism seals to us on God's part the Promise of Forgiveness By all which it is evident that Baptism is a federal Rite in which God and we do seal and ratifie to one another each others part of the New Covenant and it is this sealing that makes the Covenant obliging to both Parties and gives to each a legal Claim and Title to each others promise and engagement to God it gives a legal Title to all that duty which we promise and to us it gives a legal Title to all those blessings which God promises So that till such time as we are Baptized the New Covenant is not struck between God and us nor have we any right or title to any of the blessings promised in it And though we should perform all that duty which the Covenant requires yet this will not at all intitle us to the blessings it promises For he who engages to walk a Mile for me upon my promise to give him a thousand pounds hath upon his performance a just claim and title to the whole Sum whereas he that walks ten Miles for me without any such promise hath a right to no more than what in strict justice he deserves And therefore since what God promises in the New Covenant infinitely exceeds the merit of what he requires our performance of what he requires doth not at all oblige him to bestow the blessings of his promise on us unless we perform it upon a Covenant-engagement and therefore till this engagement is made and sealed in our Baptism we can have no promise to rely upon and though we should nevâ—r so heartily endeavour to repent we canâ—â—t claim the divine grace and assistance and though we should actually repent we can plead â—o title to remission of sins and though we should pâ—rsevere in well-doing to the end we cannot challenge eternal life And since our endeavours do not merit God's grace nor our repentance his Pardon nor our perseverance eternal life he is no more obliged to bestow these blessings on us by his Iustice than he is by his Promise So that in this state all we have to rely upon is the hope of an extraordinary mercy that God will do for us that which he never promised and bestow upon us that which he is not obliged to But when once we have struck Covenant with him in Baptism we have him fast obliged to us to perform his part of the Covenant whenever we perform ours and our being thus tied together as one party in one and the same Covenant by this federal Rite of Baptism is that which makes us one Catholick Church or Community For our admission into this New Covenant which is the Churches Charter is our admission into the Church it self and it is by being intituled to all the blessings that belong to Christians in common by vertue of the New Covenant that we become Members of the Christian Community And hence we are said to be Baptized into the body or Church of Christ 1 Cor. 12.13 because Baptism which is our admission into the Christian Covenant is only in other words our admission into the Christian Church which is nothing but the Body of Christian People joyned and confederated by the New Covenant Fourthly The Church or Kingdom of Christ is one universal Society of all Christian People incorporated by the New Covenant in Baptism under Iesus Christ its supreme head And it is this also that makes all Christian People one Body and Society because they are all united under one and the same supreme head and Governour For as several neighbouring Congregations are called in Scripture one Church as I shall shew hereafter because they were all under the Government of one and the same Bishop so all the Churches under all the Bishops in the World are in Scripture called one Church because they are all under one Governour even Iesus Christ the supreme Bishop of our souls And accordingly the Apostle tells us that as there is but one body i. e. one Church so there is but one Lord or supreme Governour of that Church Eph. 4.4 5. and in Col. 1.18 he tells us that Christ is the head of this body the Church and again Eph. 5.23 that the Husband is the head of the Wife even as Christ is the head of the Church For Christ being Mediator of the Covenant by which we are incorporated into a Religious Society it must be under him as our immediate head and Governour that we are incorporate by it because as he is Mediator of it for God his Office is to govern us for and under God according to the terms and conditions of it Fifthly The Church or Kingdom of Christ is one universal Society of all Christian People distributed into particular Churches which distribution is made for the convenience of divine Worship For the Catholick Church being a vast Body composed of infinite parts which are separated from each other by vast distances of place it is impossible for it to celebrate the Offices of Divine Worship in any one Assembly or Congregation At first indeed the whole Catholick Church was only a single Congregation but this in a little time encreased and multiplied so fast that they could no longer exercise the Publick Worship of God together in one place or Assembly
to base Compliances with the lusts of men and the iniquities of times for a maintenance and that so Religion it self may not be exposed to contempt through their wretched Poverty and indigence who are the Ministers of it and who for want of a fair and honourable subsistence can never obtain Credit and Authority enough to do any considerable good in the World. And this is the food and sustenance of the Church without which it cannot long flourish either in true Knowledge or true Piety but must insensibly wither away and degenerate into Barbarity and Ignorance And accordingly if you consult Ecclesiastical History you will find that it was ever the practice of Pious Princes and Emperors to take care both for the erecting of decent and convenient Churches in all parts of their Dominions for the Celebration of Divine Worship and to furnish them with all the decent Accommodations and Ornaments that were proper thereunto and also for the endowing the Bishops and Pastors of the Church with such honourable subsistences as becomes the Port and Dignity of their several Orders and Offices in which they did no more than what they stood obliged to as they were the Viceroys of Jesus and the foster Fathers of his Church by vertue of which Relation to it they are bound in duty to supply it with decent Raiment and convenient Food And now having explained the subjection of the Sovereign Powers of the Earth to our Lord and Saviour and shewn what those Ministries are which they are obliged to render to him in his Kingdom I proceed to the Fourth and last sort of his Ministers by which he governs his Kingdom viz. the Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Governours in treating of which I shall endeavor these three things First To shew that Christ hath erected a spiritual Government to minister to him in his Church Secondly To shew in what hands this spiritual Government is placed Thirdly To shew what are the proper Ministries of this Government I. That Christ hath erected a spiritual Government in his Church And indeed supposing the Church to be a regular and formed Society subsisting of it self distinct from all other Societies it must necessarily have a distinct Government in it because Government is essentially included in the very notion of all regular Society which without Rule and Subjection is not a formed Society but a confused multitude for what else do we mean by a Humane Society but only such a company of men united together by such and such Laws and Regulations But how can any company of men be united by Laws without having in it some Governing Power to rule by those Laws and exact obedience to them So that we may as well suppose a compleat Body without a Head as a Regular Society without a Government Now that the Church is a Regular Society utterly distinct from all Civil Society is as evident as the truth of Christianity which all along declares and Recognizes the Law or Covenant upon which it is founded and by which it is united to be Divine and consequently to be superior to and independent upon all Civil Laws and if that which constitutes the Church be Divine Law and not Civil then the Constitution of the Church must be Divine and not Civil for that which makes us Christians at the same time makes us parts of the Christian Church and that which makes all the parts of the Church makes the Church it self which is nothing but the whole or Collection of all the parts together and therefore as we are not made Christians so neither are we made a Christian Church by the Laws of the Commonwealth but by the Laws and Constitutions of our Saviour which were promulgated to the World long before there were any Laws of the Commonwealth to found a Christian Church on for there was a Christian Church for three hundred years together before ever it had the least favour or protection from the Laws of Nations In all which time it subsisted apart from all other Societies and was as much a Church or Christian Society as it is now and as it is now it is only a continued Succession of that Primitive Church and therefore as to the Constitution of it must necessarily be as distinct now from all other Societies as it was then when it subsisted not only apart from but against the Laws and Edicts of all other Societies in the World in short therefore since the Church of Christ is founded on a Charter and incorporated by a Law that is utterly distinct from the Charters and Laws of all Civil Societies it hence necessarily follows that it self is a distinct Society from them all because that which individuates any Society or makes it a distinct body from all other Societies is the Charter or Law upon which it is founded and accordingly our Saviour tells Pilate when he asked him whether he was a King that he was a King indeed but that his Kingdom was not of this world Joh. 18.36 i. e. though my Kingdom be in this World yet is it not of the World for neither are the Laws of it Humane but Divine nor the powers of it external but invisible nor the Rewards and Punishments of it temporal but Spiritual and eternal From the whole therefore these two things are evident First That Government is Essential to formed and regular Societies Secondly That the Church of Christ is in the Nature and Constitution of it a formed and regular Society distinct from all other Societies from both which it necessarily followeth that it must have a distinct Government included in the very essence and being of it And accordingly in the New Testament besides the Civil Magistrates we frequently read of Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Governors so Heb. 13.17 there is mention made of the Rulers that watch for our souls and a strict injunction to obey and submit our selves to 'em and so again in the 7th and 24th Verses and in 1 Tim. 5.17 The Apostle speaks of the Elders that Rule well who are to be accounted worthy of double Honour And indeed the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a Bishop or Overseer doth in Scripture always import a Ruler or Governour Vid. Hammond Acts 1. Note 1. and therefore being applied as it is frequently in the New Testament to a certain Order of Men in the Christian Church it must necessarily denote 'em to be the Rulers and Governors of it and this power to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Oversee and Rule and Govern the Church was derived to 'em from Christ the Supreme Bishop of our Souls even by that Commission he gave 'em John 20.21 As the Father hath sent me so send I you i. e. so I Commission you with the same Authority in kind to Teach and Govern in my Kingdom as I my self have received from the Father and accordingly as Christ is called the Pastor or Shepherd which name imports Authority to Govern his Flock for
of the Earth For the Scripture not only foretels this universal conquest of his but also describes and delineates the whole method and progress of it which upon laying the Scripture Prophesies together in their proper Train and Series seems to me to be this that the opening of this great Scene of Providence will be the conversion of the Iewish Nation those obstinate and hitherto implacable Enemies of our Saviour whom notwithstanding they have been a thousand times over conquered slaughtered and oppressed and do to this day continue scattered over the face of the whole Earth he hath preserved by a strange and unparalleled Providence for above sixteen hundred years together a distinct and separate people from all the Nations of the Earth to shew his mighty power in them and once more render them what they have always been the Subjects of his miraculous conduct For by a wonderful effusion of his Holy Spirit upon them such as that was on the day of Pentecost though far more extensive he will all of a sudden and in a most surprizing manner open the eyes of this blinded Nation and powerfully convince them of the error and wickedness of their infidelity and malice against him whereupon with one heart and one mind they shall return to the Lord and with penitent tears wash off the guilt of the blood of their Saviour which like an Heir-loom hath hitherto descended upon them from one Generation to another for thus Rom. 11.25 26. I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery that blindness in part is hapned to Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till when the fulness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved as it is written there shall come out of Zion the deliverer c. From whence it is plain that that blindness which then hapned to Israel and which continues on them to this day shall one day be removed viz. about that time when the Conversion of the Gentiles shall be compleated and that then all Israel and not a small remnant of them as at first shall be saved so also 2 Cor. 3.14 16. But their minds are blinded meaning the People of Israel for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord the vail shall be taken away where he first supposes that Israel that till then was blinded and that till now remains so should turn unto the Lord and then asserts that then the vail of ignorance which hindered 'em from discerning Christ in the Figures and Prophesies of the Old Testament should be removed from before their eyes And now the Jews being thus converted by the power of our Saviour shall under his victorious Banners be conducted into the Holy Land and repossessed of their ancient native Country whither they shall be close pursued with mighty Hosts of the Eastern Infidels and be reduced by them into imminent danger of utter desolation in which extremity of theirs our blessed Saviour will make bare his Almighty Arm and in a most miraculous manner confound and scatter those mighty swarms of Infidels and crown his Israel with Victory and Triumph The fame of which miraculous events spreading far and wide even to the utmost ends of the Earth shall in a little time convince all the Heathen World of the truth of Christianity and prevail with the Kingdoms of the earth to become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ And now the Kingdom of Christ in this World being arrived to its full extent and growth Truth and Peace Charity and Justice shall reign and flourish over all the Earth Now all the World shall be Christendom and Christendom shall be restored to its ancient Purity For now he who is to come with the Fan in his hand will throughly purge the Floor of his Church from all that Chaff of Superstition and Idolatry Schism and Heresie Irreligion and Immorality with which it is almost totally covered and the true Faith the sincere Piety the generous and unaffected Vertue which Christianity teaches and prescribes shall be the universal livery and cognisance of the Christian World For much about the time of this Conversion of the Iews and that glorious Call of the Gentiles thence ensuing that corrupt and degenerate Faction of Christians whom the Scripture calls the mystical Babylon and the Antichrist and which for several Ages hath been the great Nuisance of Christendom will in these Western parts of the World muster up all its Forces to destroy and extirpate the purer Professors of Christianity by a general persecution in which attempt for some time this Faction will be very prevalent and successful when all of a sudden the Kings and Princes of the Earth who have thitherto been partakers with it in its foul Impostures and corruptions being either awakened by those miraculous Conversions of the Jews and Eastern Gentiles or convinced of their errors by the powerful impressions of his Spirit in whose hands the hearts of Kings are will turn their Swords upon this Antichristian Faction whose Cause they have hitherto espoused and conspire to root it out from off the face of the Earth which being effected the Western Church will universally reform it self according to the Standard of the Church of Ierusalem which will then be in a literal sense the Mother of us all Thus partly by destroying and partly by converting its Enemies our Saviour will yet mightily enlarge the borders of his Kingdom and advance it to the utmost pitch of purity and splendour that this state of mortality will admit and in this happy state he will preserve and continue it for several Ages till a little before the commencement of the General Iudgment at which time the Devil who had been hitherto chained up will be loosed again to work in the Children of disobedience to excite them to delude and deceive the World again and to persecute the sincere Professors of Christianity with incessant cruelties when all of a sudden and while they are securely triumphing in the success of their Villanies they shall be surprized with the Day of Judgment which like a Thief in the night shall come upon them and put an end to all their mischiefs for ever II. Another of those Regal Acts which he is yet to perform is to destroy Death the last Enemy by causing a general Resurrection of the Dead which being one of the great Articles of our Creed I shall insist more largely upon it and endeavour First To prove the certainty of the Fact and Secondly To explain the manner how it will be performed I. I shall endeavour to prove the certainty of the Fact viz. that our Saviour shall raise the dead which is as plainly and frequently asserted in holy Scripture as any Proposition contained in it for so 2 Cor. 4.14 we are assured that God will
Prince or that that voice was a designed delusion Since therefore our Saviour declares that he is the first and the last which is the essential Character by which Iehovah the King of Israel describes himself and doth no where intimate a different sence of this Character as applied to himself from what it signified as applied to the Iehovah it necessarily follows that either he meant not sincerely or that himself and that Iehovah the King of Israel were the same Person And accordingly Zach. 9.9 which all agree is a Prophecy of our Saviour he is expresly called the King of Israel Rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Sion shout O Daughter of Ierusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee the most natural sence of which Phrase thy King is he that is now thy King not he that is hereafter to be so and if then when this Prophecy was delivered he was King of the Daughter of Zion or People of Israel to be sure he was always so and therefore the Prophet Malachi calls the Temple which was the Palace of the divine King of Israel the Temple of Christ Mal. 3.1 Behold I will send my Messenger i. e. John Baptist and he shall prepare my way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the Angel of the Covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts from whence I infer first that this Lord of Hosts which is the ordinary stile of the God of Israel was Christ whose Messenger and fore-runner Iohn Baptist was vid. Luke 1.76 And secondly That the Temple which was the abode of this Lord of Hosts was the Temple of Christ the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple which cannot be meant of God the Father because in the next words he is called the Angel of the Covenant which all agree is Christ if then the Temple of Ierusalem was the Temple of Christ and he was that Lord of Hosts that dwelt in it it necessarily follows that he was that divine King of Israel who under God the Father governed the Iewish Church And now having proved at large this fourth Proposition which is the principal Hinge upon which the whole Argument turns I proceed Fifthly That after his coming into the World he still retained this his Right and Title of King of Israel in particular till they finally rejected him and Apostatized from that Covenant on which his Kingdom is founded For he did not at all divest himself by his Incarnation of that Royal Authority he was vested with as he was the Eternal Word and Son of God hereafter to be incarnate For this his Royal Authority as I shewed before is necessarily implied in his Mediatorship of the New Covenant of which as I have also shewed he was always Mediator without any discontinuance or interruption So long therefore as the New Covenant continued in force with the Iews in particular so long he was their Mediatorial King in particular under God the Father Now it is certain that the New Covenant continued in force with them so long as they continued to be the Church of God because it was the New Covenant that made them so and it is certain they continued the Church of God many years after the Incarnation of our Saviour even till such time as by their obstinate rejecting of our Saviour and incurable Apostasie from that Covenant which made them the Church and People of God they had finally incensed him to reject them to break off his Covenant-relation to them and utterly to dispark and un-Church them And therefore we find that for several years both our Saviour and his Apostles continued in close Communion with the Iewish Church frequented their Temple and Synagogues and joyned with them in all the Solemnities of their Publick Worship by which they owned them to be the true Church of God and consequently to be yet in Covenant with him Since therefore they continued in the New Covenant after Christ's Incarnation Christ must also continue the Mediator of that Covenant to them and consequently their Mediatorial King. And hence he is stiled the King of the Iews in particular after his Incarnation for so the Wise-men in their enquiry after him Where is he that is born King of the Iews Matt. 2.2 And that he was born King of the Iews not merely as he was descended from the Loins of David but by a Title that he had Antecedent to his birth viz. as he was the Son of God hereafter to be Incarnate is evident by that confession of Nathanael Joh. 1.49 Rabbi thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel where his being the King of Israel is consequent to his being the Son of God and so Iohn 12.13 they who attended him in his progress to Ierusalem salute him with a Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord which S. Iohn makes the accomplishment of that forementioned Prophecy Zach. 9.9 Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Zion behold thy King cometh unto thee sitting on an Asses Colt verse 14 15. And this Title our Saviour assumes to himself in that good confession he made before Pontius Pilate who asking him Art thou King of the Iews He answered him Sayest thou this of thy self or did others tell it thee of me And when Pilate presses him for a more explicite answer he tells him My Kingdom is not of this world as much as if he had said I know the Jews mine enemies have insinuated to thee that by assuming to my self this Title of King of the Iews I design to usurp the temporal Dominion of Caesar thy Master but let not that trouble thee for though it is most certain that I am King of the Jews yet my Kingship and Caesar's are of a quite different nature and do no way clash or interfere with one another for whereas his Kingdom is Temporal mine is purely spiritual and not of this world and when Pilate insists farther Art thou a King then Jesus answers Thou sayest I am a King i. e. thou sayest truly so to this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness to the truth John 18.33 34 35 36 37. And as he retained the Title of King of the Jews after his Incarnation so we frequently find him exercising his Royal Authority among them For in the first place he not only authoritatively explained to them those old and eternal Laws of Morality which he delivered to them from Mount Sinai and inforced them with new Sanctions and Motives but he also gave them two new Laws viz. that of Baptism and that of the Lord's Supper to be continued in force to the end of the world Secondly He erected a perpetual form of Government and Discipline in his Church and gave Commission to his Apostles to exercise and administer it and to derive down their Commission to all succeeding Generations Thirdly
obscure and burthensom and narrow it hence follows that that Remnant of Jews who received and embraced it were so far from renouncing their old Religion that they still admitted and professed and adhered to it under its greatest advantages and improvements that they renounced nothing of it but only its comparative defects and did only admit of these new reformations of it by which our Saviour advanced it to its utmost lustre and perfection and rendered it infinitely more clear and easie and extensive and since it was their old Religion thus reformed and improved that they still embraced and continued in upon their turning Christians it necessarily follows that they did not become a new distinct Church but were only a continued succession of the Old one And hence it is that Christians in the New Testament are sometimes called Iews Rev. 2.9 i. e. reformed Jews or which is the same true Christians and sometimes the Israel of God Gal. 6.16 and sometimes the Children of Abraham Gal. 3.7 and sometimes a chosen generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people which is the proper Character of the Iews because by their Faith and Religion which is nothing but the true spiritual and mystick Judaism they were Iews and Israelites and the Children of Abraham though they were not all so according to the Flesh as the Apostle distinguishes 1 Cor. 10.18 and hence also it is that the Christian Church is called the new Ierusalem Rev. 3.12 because it is nothing but the Old Ierusalem or Jewish Church renewed and enlarged Eighthly and lastly That to this individual Church or Kingdom of Christ thus reformed and improved was superadded all those Gentiles that were afterwards converted to Christianity When the main body of the Jews had rejected our Saviour his Kingdom was reduced to a very narrow compass and consisted only of one single Congregation of Christians in Ierusalem which through the blessing of God upon the indefatigable industry of his Apostles and Disciples was by degrees spread and dilated over all the World. For this single Congregation was the Primitive root out of which the vast stock of the Catholick Church sprung which hath since branch'd forth it self into particular Churches to all the ends of the Earth for it is of this Church that the Apostle speaks Acts 2.47 when he tells us that the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved So that all that were converted to the faith of Christ were but so many additions to this Primitive Church so many living stones incorporated into this spiritual building which by the industry of its builders did soon encrease and multiply into several other Congregations and these Congregations though they were several yet were not separate or independent but continued all of them united to the first as Homogeneous parts growing out of the same body or distinct Apartments superadded to the same building So that the Christian Church began in one Congregation and by degrees enlarged it self like a fruitful stock by branching forth it self into other Congregations in a continued unity with its own body which for the convenience of Worship and Discipline were afterwards formed into several though not separate particular Churches under the conduct of their particular Pastors and Governours And thus all the particular Churches that are now in the World are only so many Lines drawn from this Primitive Centre and united in it and it is upon this account particularly that they all of them constitute but one Catholick Church because they all grew out of one and so are but comparts of the same body and branches of the same root and are only that one Primitive Church multiplied into several Churches living in the same Catholick Communion and Vnity And accordingly the Gentile Converts are said to be grafted into the Jewish Church which the Apostle calls the good Olive tree in Rom. 11.17 18 For if some of the branches that is the unbelieving Jews be broken off i. e. rejected from being any more the Church and People of God and thou being a wild Olive Tree growing in the wild common of the World without the Pale and Inclosure of God's Church wert grafted in among them i. e. incorporated with the believing Jews and made a member of the body of their Church and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the Olive Tree i. e. communicatest with them in all the blessings of God's Promise to Abraham which is the foundation of their Church boast not against the branches but if thou boast consider thou bearest not the root but the root thee i. e. the Jewish Church grew not out of thee but thou out of that she is no branch of thee but thou of her as being ingrafted into her Stock and added to her Communion By which it is evident that the converted Gentiles were all but so many superadditions to that Primitive Church of Ierusalem which was the only remainder of the ancient Jewish Church and which from one single Congregation did by degrees increase and multiply it self into an infinite number of particular Churches in Vnion with it self from one end of the World to the other And this in short is the Progress of Christ's Kingdom which from Adam to Abraham consisted of all such as were true Worshippers of God of whatsoever Kindred or Nation from Abraham to Jesus Christ principally of the Iewish Nation and when the greatest part of that Nation had revolted from Christ and renounced their relation to him his Kingdom extended no farther than to the small Remnant of the Jews that adhered to him who made up but one single Congregation which Congregation by the diligence of its Ministers and the blessing of God increased and propagated from it self vast numbers of other Congregations and these were formed into particular Churches which like so many conquered Provinces were still united to that Primitive Kingdom till at last by a continued accession of new Conquests it was spread and enlarged into an universal Empire SECT VIII Of the Nature and Constitution of Christ's Kingdom THE Kingdom of Christ and the Church of Christ are phrases of a promiscuous use in holy Scripture and do import the same thing Thus Matth. 16.18 19. Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church and I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven where the Church and the Kingdom of Heaven are the same thing And thus to be translated into the Kingdom of Christ Col. 1.13 and called to the Kingdom of Christ 1 Thess. 2.12 imports no more than to be made a member of the Church of Christ. And thus also by the Kingdom Matt. 13.38 by the Kingdom of God Matth. 21.31 by the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. 11.12 and by the Kingdom of Christ Rev. 11.15 no other thing can be intended but only the Church of Christ. I confess the Kingdom of Christ taken in the largest sence extends a great deal farther than the
and therefore the first distribution of it was into several Congregations which in Scripture are called by the name of Churches as being similar parts of the Catholick Church even as every breath of Air is called Air and every drop of water water For thus those Believers who were wont to assemble in any one particular house to worship God together are frequently called Churches as for instances the Church in the house of Priscilla and Aquila Rom. 16.5 The Church in the house of Nymphas 1 Cor. 16.19 The Church in the house of Philemon Col. 4.15 In which houses in all probability there was an upper Room Consecrated and set apart according to the Custom of the Jews for divine Worship in which upper Rooms not only the Believers of the Family but several other neighbouring Christians were wont to assemble for the publick exercise of Divine Worship And so where ever the Scripture speaks of several Churches in the same Country as for instances the Churches of Iudea Gal. 1.22 of Samaria and Galileâ— Acts 9.31 it is evident that by these Churches no more is meant but only the several Congregations of Believers in those several Churches But these Congregations growing numerous there was a second distribution made of them by which many of those Congregations neighbouring upon one another were collected into one body under one head or Bishop who was the common guide and Pastor of all the Members whether Lay or Clergy appertaining to them And these Collections of several Congregations under their several Bishops or Governours are in Scripture also frequently called Churches for thus for instance the Church of Corinth contained in it several Congregations and therefore though in the Dedication of his Epistle the Apostle calls it the Church of God in the singular number which is at Corinth 1 Cor. 1.2 yet in the Epistle he enjoyns that the women should keep silence in the Churches 1 Cor. 14.34 which is a plain Evidence that in that Church there were several Churches or Congregations and so also we read of the Churches of Asia and Syria Cilicia and Macedonia all which were large Countries and did without doubt contain in them several Congregations of Christians and thus also we read of the Church of Ierusalem in the singular number and so of Antioch Ephâ—sus c. which Churches doubtless consisted of several Congregations in and about thâ—se Populous Cities which were all united into one body under the care and inspection of one Bishop or Governour Now as the first distribution of the Catholick Church into distinct Congregations was made for the convenience of Worship it being impossible for the whole Church when it began to encrease and enlarge it self to celebrate the divine Offices by the Ministry of one and the same Pastor so this second dâ—stribution of it into particular Churches consisting of several Congregations was made for the convenience of Government and Discipline it being impossible for the whole Church to maintain its Order Government and Discipline under the single inspection of any one Bishop or Governour But yet notwithstanding thâ—se distributions the Churches unity still remains for as the Empire was but one notwithstanding that for the convenience of Society and Government it was distributed into several Cities and Regions and those into several Provinces because they were all incorporated together under one Civil head the Emperor so the Church is but one though for the convenience of Worship and Government it be distributed into several Congregations and those into several particular Churches or Episcopacies because they are all incorporate under one spiritual Head even Jesus Christ the supreme Bishop and Pastor of our Souls Sixthly It is the universal Society of all Christian People distributed into particular Churches under lawful Governours and Pastors and it is this indeed that constitutes them distinct Churches viz. their being joyned and united together under distinct Pastors and Governours For thus a single Congregation is a distinct Church because all the Members of it do locally Communicate together in all the Offices of Divine Worship administred to them by a distinct Pastor and so also a Collection of several Congregations is a distinct Church because they all participate together of the direction and conduct of a distinct Governour For as I shewed before the reason of these distributions of the Catholick Church first into single Congregations was the Convenience of Worship and then into several Collections of several Congregations was the Convenience of Government and therefore since that which serves the convenience of Worship is the having distinct Pastors to administer it and that which serves the convenience of Government is the having distinct Rulers to exercise it it hence necessarily follows that that which makes a Congregation a distinct distribution of the Catholick Church must be its worshipping together under a distinct Pastor and that which makes a Collection of Congregations a distinct distribution of the Catholick Church must be its being united together under a distinct Governour because without their Pastor or their Governour they want the formal reason of their being distributed into distinct Churches And indeed there is no Church whatsoever whether it be a single Congregation or a Collection of Congregations can act as a Church without a Pastor or Governour No Congregation can lawfully communicate in the publick Offices of Divine Worship without a lawful Pastor to administer it no Collection of Congregations can lawfully exert any act of Church-Government without having an authorized Governour to exercise it For the administration of all Church-Offices is committed by our Saviour into the hands of the Churches Officers it is to them that he hath given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. Authority to admit or exclude or readmit men into the Communion of the Church It is they alone whom he hath made the Keepers of the Seals of the New Covenant viz. Baptism and the Lord's Supper they alone whom he hath authorized to teach the Gospel to bless the People and to offer up the Publick Prayers of Christian Assemblies And these are the proper acts of a Church considered as a Church so that without Pastors or Governours there is no Church can perform any of those acts that are proper to a Church and therefore since all action proceeds from the Essence of the Agent Pastors and Governours without which Churches as such cannot act must necessarily be essential to Churches and hence the Apostle tells us that the great purpose for which Christ ordained Apostles Prophets Evangelists and Pastors and Teachers was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the compacting or joyning together the Saints as one body in Church-Communion and Society Eph. 4.11 12. and hence also you find the Churches of Asia following the number of the Angels or Rulers of them Rev. 1.20 which plainly implies that therefore they were seven distinct Churches because they had seven distinct Rulers or Bishops and therefore though the Ordination of Pastors and
Bishops is not consined to the Ministry of any particular Church but extends to the Ministry of the Church Catholick for so S. Paul Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas all are yours and you are Christ's that is they are all Ministers of the Catholick Church in common of which you are Members and as such you have all a share in them 1 Cor. 3.22 23. yet it is the particular application of this their general capacity to this or that particular number of Christians or Congregations of Christians that constitutes them particular Churches and being first authorized Ministers of the Catholick Church they carry along with them into the particular Church they are sent to all that Church-Authority and Power by which it acts and operates as a Church So that without Pastors or Governours particular Churches are nothing but so many Bodies without Souls to animate and act them and therefore as in natural Bodies the form that acts them doth also constitute their Kind and Species so in these Ecclesistical Bodies the Pastors and Governours that move and act them as Churches do also constitute them Churches What these lawful Pastors and Governours are I shall have occasion to discourse hereafter when I come to treat of the Ministers of Christ's Kingdom it being sufficient at present to shew the necessity of them to the constituting particular Churches Seventhly The Church is one universal Society of all Christian People distributed into particular Churches holding Communion with each other by holding Communion with each other I mean owning each other as parts of the same body and admitting each others Members as occasion serves into actual Communion with them in all their Religious Offices It is true in the Primitive Churches there were sundry prudential acts of Communion pass'd between them such as their formed and communicatory Letters by which the holy Bishops gave an account to each other of the state and condition of their respective Churches and consulted each others judgment about them but these were not at all essential to that Communion which they were obliged as true Churches to maintain with one another All the Communion which they are obliged to as they are similar parts and distributions of the Catholick Church is that they should not divide into separate Churches so as to exclude each others Members from Communicating in each others Worship when ever they have occasion to travel from one Church to another For so long as there is no Rupture between distant Churches no declared disowning of each other no express refusal of any act of Communion to each others Members they may be truly said to maintain all necessary Communion with each other And that this Communion is absolutely necessary between all those particular Churches into which the Catholick Church is distributed will evidently appear from these four considerations First that by Baptism as was shewed before all Christian People are made Members of the Catholick Church and by being made Members of it they are all obliged to Communicate with it for how can they act as parts of the whole that hold no Communication with the whole They who are Members of any Society have not only a Right to communicate in all the common Benefits of it but also an Obligation to communicate in all common Offices of it and therefore since by Baptism we are made Members of the Catholick Church or Society of Christians we are thereby not only entituled to partake with it in all its Priviledges but also obliged to joyn with it in all its Offices But then secondly it is farther to be considered that the Catholick Church being all distributed into particular Churches we can no otherwise communicate with it than by communicating with some particular Church for how can we communicate with the whole that is all distributed into parts without communicating with some part of the whole And since the whole is nothing but only a Collection of all the parts what Communion can they hold with the whole who hold no Communion with any part of it So long therefore as there is any such thing as a visible Catholick Church upon Earth we are obliged by our Baptism unless necessity hinder us to maintain a visible Communion with it and so long as this Catholick Church is all distributed into so many particular visible Churches we cannot visibly communicate with it unless we communicate with some one of those particular Churches For how can we be in Communion with the whole body when we are out of Communion with all the parts unless we can find a body to communicate with without all its parts or some universal Church without all particular Churches But then thirdly it is also to be considered that as we cannot Communicate with the universal Church without Communicating with some particular one so neither do we Communicate with the universal Church by Communicating with any particular one unless that particular one be in Communion with the Church Universal For if I cannot communicate with the whole without being in Communion with some part of the whole it is impossible I should communicate with the whole unless I communicate with some part that is in Communion with the whole It is as possible for a Finger to communicate with a body by being joyned to an Arm that is separated from the body as it is for a Christian to Communicate with the Church Catholick by being joyned to a Church that is separate from the Church Catholick But then fourthly and lastly There is no particular Church can be in Communion with the Catholick that separates it self from the Communion of any particular Church that is in Communion with the Catholick For they who separate from any part of any whole must necessarily separate from the whole because the whole is nothing but all the parts together and it is a contradiction to say that they who are separated from any one part are yet united to all How then is it possible for any Church to separate it self from the Communion of any other Church which is a true part of the Church Catholick without separating it self from the Communion of the Church Catholick it self since the Church Catholick is nothing but a Collection of all true Churches and to be at the same time united to all true Churches and separated from one true Church is the same absurdity as to be separated from all true Churches and yet united to one In short the Catholick Church is one by the Communion of all its parts and therefore they who break Communion with any one part must necessarily disunite themselves from the whole For when two Churches separate from one another it must be either because the one requires such terms of Communion as are not Catholick or because the other refuses such as are Now that Church which requires sinful or uncatholick terms of Communion doth thereby exclude not only one but all parts of the Catholick Church from its Communion because they
with each other And this being the standing Government and Discipline of the Catholick Church no particular Church or Community of Christians can refuse to communicate in it without dividing it self from the Communion of the Church Catholick I say refuse to Communicate in it because it is possible for a Church to be without this Government and Discipline which yet doth neither refuse it nor the Communion of any other Church for the sake of it A Church may be debarred of it by unavoidable necessities in despite of its power and against its consent and under this circumstance I can by no means think such a Church to be separated from the Church Catholick it is indeed an imperfect and defective part of the Catholick Church and if this defect of it be any way owing to its own negligence it is a very great fault in it as well as an unhappiness But though this instituted Government is necessary to the perfection of a Church yet it doth not therefore follow that it is necessary to the being of it For even in the Jewish Church wherein all things were determined by divine institution even to the minutest Circumstances there were sundry notorious deviations from that Institution which yet did not un-church them It was a great deviation in them to offer Sacrifice in their High Places after God had determined them to Sacrifice only at the Temple at Ierusalem It was another great deviation in them to make Priests out of other Families after God had determined them to the Family of Aaron and yet it is certain that neither the one nor the other did un-church them And if these deviations from divine Institution which were the effects of their negligence did not yet un-church them it is not to be imagined that such deviations from it as are the pure effects of necessity should un-church others For though no necessity can dispence with the Eternal Laws of good and evil because the observance of them depends wholly upon our Wills and there is no such necessity can happen to us as can put them out of the power of a willing mind yet as for positive Institutions there are a thousand necessities may occur any one of which may render them wholly unpracticable and then no man can be obliged to do that which is impossible as for instance the whole Family of Aaron might have been extinct and if it had it is evident that positive institution by which God required the Jews to chuse their Priests out of the Family of Aaron must have been wholly unpracticable and consequently the Obligation of it must have for ever expired and they must have been obliged notwithstanding that positive Institution either wholly to have dropt their Priesthood and with that their Publick Worship which was much more necessary to them than that their Priests should be all of such a Family or to have chosen their Priests out of other Families of the Tribe of Levi and if in this exigence they had done the later there is no doubt but that the Divine Providence which created the necessity must thereby have designedly dispensed with its own institution and so have left them free to make Priests out of other Families And by the same reason when ever the divine Providence doth by unavoidable necessity deprive any Church of its Episcopacy it thereby for the present at least and whilst the necessity continues releases it from the obligation of the Institution of Episcopacy and allows it to administer its Government and Disscipline by a Parity of Presbyters And therefore so long as it doth not renounce the Episcopacy but still continues in Communion with other Churches that enjoy it it ought to be look'd upon and communicated with as a true Member though a maimed one of the Church Catholick For the Catholick Church never denied her Communion to any Christian or Community of Christians upon any unavoidable deviation from positive Institution It was without doubt as great a deviation from positive Institution for Lay-men to Baptize as for a Parity of Presbyters to Govern or Ordain c. and yet in cases of necessity the Catholick Church always allowed the Baptism of Lay-men as deeming Baptism in it self more necessary than the administration of Baptism by persons in Holy Orders and therefore where such persons could not be had she thought meet rather to admit that Lay-men should administer it than to suffer such as were qualified for it to die unbaptized And why may we not reasonably suppose that the Catholick Church will admit Presbyters to Govern and Ordain where there are no Bishops to be had since it hath admitted Lay-men to Baptize where there are neither Bishops nor Presbyters to be had Since the later is as great a deflection from positive Institution as the former And if the Catholick Church may be reasonably presumed to allow it in such necessary cases we must acknowledge either that she hath not Authority enough to provide against her own necessities which supposes her to be very defective or that her allowance is sufficient to authorize such persons to Rule and Ordain as well as to Baptize in case of necessity as are not authorized by positive Institution But though a Community of Christians may be a true part of the Catholick Church and in Communion with it though it hath no Episcopacy yet it is plain case that if it rejects the Episcopacy and separates from the Communion of it it thereby wholly divides it self from the Communion of the Catholick Church For whether Episcopacy be of divine Institution or no this is matter of fact granted on all hands that for twelve hundred years at least all those Churches into which the Catholick Church hath been distributed have been subject to the Episcopal Government and Discipline and therefore they who now separate themselves from the Episcopal Communion as such must in so doing separate themselves from the Communion of all Churches for twelve hundred years together and then either all those Churches must be out of the Communion of the Catholick Church and consequently during all that time there must be no such thing as a visible Catholick Church upon Earth or else those Communities of Christians which separate from all those Churches must be Schisms and Separations from the Catholick Church SECT IX Concerning the Ministers of the Kingdom of Christ. HAving in the foregoing Section treated at large concerning the Nature and Constitution of Christ's Kingdom I shall in the next place shew who the Ministers are by whom he Rules and Governs it And these are all included under a fourfold Rank and Order First The first and supreme Minister by which Christ rules his Kingdom is the Holy Ghost Secondly The second and next to him are the Angels of God. Thirdly The third are Princes and Civil Governours Fourthly The last are the Bishops and Pastors of the Church I. The supreme Minister by which Christ rules his Kingdom is the Holy Ghost or
Third Person in the Holy Trinity of whose Person and Ministry under our Saviour in his Kingdom I have treated at large from P. 49. to P. 98. II. Therefore the next Order of Ministers by which Christ rules his Kingdom are the Angels of God that is the whole world of Angels whether they be good or bad Angels of Light or Angels of Darkness In the prosecution of which Argument I shall endeavour first to prove the thing viz. That the Angels both good and bad are the Ministers of Christ in the Government of his Kingdom Secondly To shew wherein their Ministry doth consist First That the Angels both good and bad are Christ's Ministers in his Kingdom For as for the good Angels they are subjected to Christ by the Order and Appointment of God himself who is the Father of Spirits and to whom they are inviolably obedient And for the bad they are subjected to him by just Conquest contrary to their own Wills and Inclinations Of each of which I shall endeavour to give some brief account First The good Angels are subjected to Christ by the Order and Appointment of God to whom they are always inviolably obedient It seems at least very probable that before our Saviour was Exalted upon his Triumphant Ascension into Heaven to the universal Empire of the World under God the Father the Angelical Powers were not all of them subjected to his Mediatorial Royalty but that some of them had their distinct Regencies and Presidentships immediately under God the most high Father over such and such Nations and Countries as he in his Grace thought meet to allot to them for so it is evident the Septuagint thought when in Deut. 32.8 instead of he i. e. God set the bounds of the Nations according to the number of the Children of Israel they render it He set the bounds of the Nations according to the number of the Angels of God for as the ancient Jews distributed the Gentile world into seventy two Nations so they also reckoned seventy two Angels that presided over them and indeed considering what follows ver 9. For the Lord's portion is his People Iacob is the lot of his inheritance it seems very probable that this translation of the Septuagint was the true sense of the Original viz. that whereas God distributed the Gentile world into so many Nations as there were President Angels to be their Guardians and Governours he reserved Israel to himself as his own Lot and Portion over which he intended to preside immediately in his own person and therefore as a learned Writer of our own hath observed it is not at all improbable but that instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Sons of Israel as it is now in our Hebrew Copies the ancient reading whence the Septuagint translated might be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Sons of God and that El might either be mistaken by the Transcribers for a final abbreviation of Israel or changed into Il which is the contraction of Israel and if in the ancient Hebrew it was the Sons of God it is no wonder that the Septuagint rendered it the Angels of God the Sons of God being in Scripture a very common Appellation of Angels But whether this be so or not it is evident that when God threatned to withdraw his personal presence from Israel upon their worshipping the golden Calf and to put them under the Conduct of an Angel Exod. 33.2 3. the meaning of it was that he would no longer preside over them in his own Person but subject them to the Government of a President Angel and therefore ver 20. he bids them beware of this Angel and obey his voice and not provoke him for saith he he will not pardon your iniquities which plainly shews that this Angel was to have had a ruling power over them to pardon or punish them at his own pleasure so that that which God here Threatned was that he would put them in the same condition with other Gentile Nations who were subjected to the Government of particular Guardian Angels and so change their Theocracy into an Angelocracy And so as it is evident Moses understood him for ver 15 16. he thus prays If thy Presence go not with me carry us not up hence for wherein shall it be known here that I and thy People have found grace in thy sight is it not that Thou goest with us so shall we be separated I and thy People from all the People that are on the face of the Earth where it is very plain that that which distinguished Israel from all other Nations was this that God himself in his own Person immediately presided over them and that if this distinction were taken away by God's withdrawing from them and subjecting them to the Presidence of an Angel they would be left in the same condition with other Gentile Nations who must therefore be supposed to be under the immediate Conduct of President Angels And this is most evident of the Kingdom of Persia and the Kingdom of Greece in particular Dan. 10.13 20. where there is mention made of two Angels under the Character of the Prince of Persia and the Prince of Greece and also of a Third viz. Michael who is stiled one of the chief Princes and Michael your Prince ver 21. and elsewhere the great Prince which standeth for the Children of thy People Dan. 12.1 and upon what other account can we suppose them to be stiled the Princes of those Countries but because they presided over them as their Guardians and Governours It is true as for the last of them viz. Michael he is supposed by very learned Expositors to be no other than God the Son who as I have proved at large was always the Prince and Guardian of Israel but if he were not God the Son but merely a created Angel it is certain he was not the President or Guardian of Israel since as was shewn before they had no other Guardian but God himself but in all probability he was the Prince of those Angels that ministred to God the Son in his Guardianship and Government of Israel and consequently that Angel of his to whom he intended to subject them when he threatened to withdraw his personal Conduct from them upon which account he might be called their Prince because under Christ he had a Principal share in the Protection and Government of them Now these Guardian Angels seem to have been Archangels or the Princes of the distinct Orders of Angels for so Michael is not only stiled an Archangel Iude 9. but he is also said to have an Army of Angels under his Command and Conduct and with them to have fought with the Dragon or Satan who was also an Archangel and his Angels Rev. 12.7 Now though Michael supposing him to be a created Spirit was not a Guardian Angel yet the Prophecy of Daniel by stiling him one of the Chief Princes plainly assures us that he was an
to fall asleep again afterwards when their Lord was apprehended condemned and crucified At all which times they were doubtless rather more sorrowful than they were in the Garden and therefore it seems very probable that there was a much more powerful cause than sorrow in the case viz. a preternatural stupâ—faction of their senses by some of those malignant spirits that were then conflicting with our Saviour who perhaps to deprive him of the solace of his Disciples company did by their Diabolical Art produce that extraordinary stupor that oppressed them that so having him all alone they might have the greater advantage to tempt and terrifie him Fourthly and lastly If we consider the warning our Saviour gave his Disciples when they entered the Garden with him of the extraordinary danger they were in of falling into temptation it seems very probable that he expected and found there an extraordinary Concourse of Tempters or evil Spirits for as soon as they were entered with him into the Garden S. Luke tells us that he bid them pray that ye enter not into Temptation Luke 22.40 and when notwithstanding this admonition they fell asleep the first time he bids them again watch and pray that ye enter not into Temptation Matth. 26.41 which words plainly imply our Saviour's apprehension of some extraordinary danger they were in of being tempted in the very time and place of his Agony and what more probable account can be given of this apprehension of his than this that he â—ound vast numbers of evil spirits there by whom he himself at that very time was furiously tempted and assaulted and that therefore having experienced their power and malice in himself he thought meet to admonish his Disciples who were much less able to resist them than he to stand upon their guard lest they should tempt them as they had tempted him For these reasons it seems highly probable that this last Agony of our Saviour was nothing else but a mighty struggle and conflict with the powers of darkness who having by God's permission mustered up all their strength against him intending once more to try their fortune against him and if possible to tempt or deter him from prosecuting his design of redeeming the World were in the end gloriously repulsed by his persevering resistance and forced to flee before him and of this his glorious victory over them he made an open shew upon the Cross where in despite of all those terrors and temptations they had exercised him with if possible to divert him from laying down his life for the World he freely and voluntarily poured out his Bloud as a Sacrifice for the sins of mankind And hence the Apostle tells us Col. 2.15 that on his Cross he spoiled Principalities and Powers viz. in that victorious Act of laying down his life to ransom us from their power in despite of their most exquisite temptations to the contrary and made an open shew of them triumphing over them And by this glorious Victory he finished his Conquest of those Infernal Powers so that from thenceforth they never durst assault him more but like vanquish'd Slaves were forced to yield their unwilling Necks to the yoke of his Empire and though with infinite Reluctance to obey his Will and execute his Orders and hence we are told that by his Death our Saviour hath destroyed him that hath the power of Death that is the Devil Heb. 2.14 so that now at his powerful Name every knee must bow or every Being yield obeisance not only of things in heaven and of things on earth i. e. of Angels and Men but of things under the earth too i. e. of Devils who notwithstanding they are incensed with an implacable animosity against him and would gladly pull him down from his Throne if they had but Power answerable to their Malice yet having long since experienced the might of his victorious Arms even then when they had him at the greatest advantage and being thereby driven into everlasting despair of prevailing against him they have from thenceforth been forced by the mere dread and terrour of his power to submit themselves to him and to become his Servants and Ministers in his heavenly Kingdom so that now whatsoever they do it is by his Permission or Order who holds their mischievous power in Chains and lets it loose or restrains it as he pleases And thus having proved at large that both the good and bad Angels are Christ's Subjects and Ministers I proceed in the second place to shew wherein their Ministry to Christ in his Kingdom consists And in the first place I shall shew wherein the Ministry of good Angels consists And secondly wherein consists the Ministry of bad Angels And because the Philosophy of the Nature and Operations of Angels is far above the ken of our short-sighted understandings I shall not presume to inquire any farther into the Ministry of either good or bad Angels than the Scripture gives me light in which we find these seven following instances of the Ministry of good Angels under Christ. First They declare upon occasion his Mind and Will to his Church Secondly They guard and defend his Subjects against outward dangers Thirdly They support and comfort them upon great undertakings and under pressing Calamities Fourthly They protect them against the rage and fury of evil spirits Fifthly They further and assist them in all their Religious Offices Sixthly They conduct their separated Spirits into the Mansions of Glory Seventhly They are to attend and assist Christ in the great solemnity of the day of Iudgment I. One instance of the Ministry of Angels in the Kingdom of Christ is their declaring upon occasion his Mind and Will to his Church and People for thus most of those Prophetick Messages which God from time to time sent to the World were conveyed to the Prophets by the Ministry of Angels so Daniel for instance had all his Visions from an Angel of God vid. Dan. 8.16 and Chap. 9.22 23. as also Chap. 10.11 so also the Prophet Zechariah vid. Chap. 1.9 14 19. and Chap. 2.3 4. and sundry other instances there are of it in the New Testament vid. Matt. 1.20 21. as also Chap. 2.13 20 22. and Luke 1.13 30 31. and many other places and it was an ancient and Catholick Doctrine among the Jews that all Prophecy was communicated by the Mediation of Angels whence the Pharisees describing St. Paul as a Prophet thus pronounce concerning him We find no evil in this man but if a Spirit or Angel hath spoken to him let us not fight against God Act. 23.9 And accordingly we find our Saviour sending forth his holy Angels on Prophetick Messages to his Church for so St. Iohn received his Revelations from Christ by the hand of an Angel Rev. 1.1 Rev. 22.16 And an Angel is sent from Christ to Philip to bid him go to the Ethiopian Eunuch to expound to him the Prophecy of Isaiah Acts 8.26 And Cornelius received a Message from Christ
said now I find the Devil has the full possession of thee and that henceforth there remains no more hope of reclaiming thee go therefore and dispatch thy wicked purpose as soon as thou pleasest So that now it seems he was entirely delivered up to the Devil who thereupon immediatly hurries him to the execution of his black design IV. And lastly Another instance of the Ministry of evil Spirits to Christ is their executing his vengeance on incorrigible sinners in the other World. For since as I have shewn before our Saviour makes use of the power and malice of these evil Spirits to correct and chasten men in this life why may we not thence conclude that he makes use of the same to plague and punish them in the life to come especially considering that they bear the same malice to us in the other life that they did in this for they tempt us to sin here for no other end but that they may make us miserable there and therefore to be sure that same malice of theirs which excites them now to contribute all they can to our sin will equally provoke them then to contribute all they can to our misery and render them altogether as active in tormenting us in Hell as they were in tempting us upon Earth and then considering that Spirits can act upon Spirits as well as Bodies upon Bodies and that the more powerful any Spirit is the more vigorously it can act upon other Spirits we may be sure that those evil Spirits being Angels by nature are incomparably more powerful than the souls of men and therefore can act upon them with unspeakable more force and vigour than one Soul can on another for the weaker any Spirit is the more passive it must necessarily be to those Spirits that are stronger and more powerful and therefore by how much weaker wicked Souls are than wicked Angels by so much more passive must they be to their power and consequently be so much more liable to be vexed and tormented by them and since in all probability the disproportion which Nature hath made between the power of Angâ—ls and Souls is far greater than that which sin hath made between the power of one Angel and another we may reasonably conclude that wicked Souls are far more impressible by the power of wicked Angels than wicked Angels are by the power of good Angels and therefore since the good Angels can make such violent impressions upon the wicked ones as they are not able to endure but are still forced to fly before them as oft as they encounter them vid. P. 965. what intolerable impressions can wicked Angels make upon wicked Souls when they are abandoned by God to their malice and fury for though our Souls are no more impressible by corporeal action than the beams of the Sun are by the blows of a Hammer yet that they can feel the force of spiritual action we find by every days experience for so a thought which is a spiritual action if it be very horrible or dismal doth as sensibly pain and aggrieve our Souls as the most exquisite Corporeal torment can our Bodies Now there is no doubt but evil Spirits can suggest preternatural horrors to our minds and repeat and urge them with such Importunity and vehemence as to render them most exquisitely painful and dolorous of the truth of which we have a woful Example in that miserable Wretch Francis Spira who upon that woful breach he made in his Conscience by renouncing his Religion notwithstanding he had received several kind admonitions from Heaven to the contrary was forsaken of God and delivered up alive into the hands of those dire Tormenters of Souls whereupon though he had not the least symptome of bodily melancholy he was immediatly seized with such an inexpressible Agony of mind as amazed his Physicians astonished his Friends and struck terror into all that beheld him for he was so near to the condition of a damned Spirit that he verily believed Hell it self was more tolerable than those invisible lashes that his Soul endured without any intermission and therefore he often wished that he were in Hell and as often attempted to dispatch himself thither in hope to find sanctuary there from those direful thoughts which continually preyed upon his Soul. Now that these Horrors were inflicted on him by Diabolical suggestion is evident both by the impenetrable hardness and obstinacy of his mind against all the motives of Repentance that accompanied them and by the horrible blasphemies they frequently extorted from him And if now in this life they have so much power to torment our minds whenever God thinks it meet to let them loose upon us what will they have hereafter when our wretched Spirits shall be utterly abandoned to their mercy and they shall have a free scope to exert their fury on us and glut their hungry malice with our Torment and vexation And since it is evident they do not want power we may certainly conclude even from that natural malignity that is in the temper of a Devil they do not want Will to plague and torture us in the other World. And this Will and Power of theirs our Saviour makes use of as the Common Executioner of his Vengeance upon incorrigible sinners in the other Life for as soon as ever a wicked Soul departs from its Body it is immediatly consigned into the hands of those Diabolical Furies who like so many hungry Hounds seize it with infinite greediness and fall a tearing and worrying it with horrible suggestions without any pause or intermission and by continually recording its sins to it and reproaching it with the folly of them and putting it in mind of that dismal eternal futurity it must suffer for them do incessantly sting and vex it with swarms of dire reflections and tormenting thoughts which are the only Instruments of Torment that can fasten upon a Soul. And hence in Matt. 18.34 the Devils to whom the wicked Servant was delivered up by his Master for his cruelty toward his fellow Servant are called Tormenters as being the Ministers of our Saviours just Vengeance upon wicked and incorrigible offenders And thus having shewn at large that the good and bad Angels are the Ministers of Christ and wherein their Ministry to him consists I proceed to the III. Third sort of the Ministers of Christs Kingdom viz. The Kings and Governours of the World for though there are many Infidel Kings in the World that know not Christ and that never submitted themselves to his Empire but instead of that do openly defie and persecute his holy Religion yet these of right are subject to him though in fact they are inslaved to the Devil and he hath the disposal of their Crowns and the command of their power and doth actually imploy and use it even as he doth the power of the Devils in the prosecution of the righteous ends of his Government And though too many of those Kings who by
their visible profession of Christianity have actually submitted themselves to the Scepter of Christ have yet together with Christianity espoused the Interest of sundry Antichristian Principles in pursuance of which they have been as inveterate Enemies and Persecutors of the truth as it is in Iesus as any of the Heathen Kings or Emperors yet these also notwithstanding their male-administration are the Subjects and Ministers of our Saviour and it is by his Authority and Commission that they Reign and by his Omnipotent Providence that all their wicked designs and actions are over-ruled to gracious ends and purposes so that all the Sovereign Powers of the Earth are subjected by God to the Dominion of our Saviour and in their respective Kingdoms and Empires are only his Substitutes and Vicegerents for so we are told not only that all judgment is committed to him and that all power is committed to him in heaven and earth and that he is Heir of all things and hath power over all flesh but also that he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords the only Potentate the head of all Principality and Power and the Prince of all the Kings of the Earth vid. P. 810. and so the Fathers of the Council of Ariminum tell Constantius the Arrian Emperor that it was by Christs Donation that he held his Empire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by him i. e. Christ thou art appointed to Reign over all the World upon which account Liberius advises him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do not fight against Christ who hath bestowed this Empire upon thee do not render him Impiety instead of Gratitude and to the same purpose Athanasius tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. that Christ having received the Throne hath translated it from Heathen to holy Christian Kings to return them back to the House of Iacob So that both from Scripture and the current Doctrine of the Primitive Church it is evident that all the Sovereign Powers upon Earth are subjected to our Saviour and are only the Ministers and Viceroys of his universal Kingdom But for the farther prosecution of this Argument I shall shew in the first place that by this their subjection to Christ they are not deprived of any natural Right of their Sovereignty and secondly that they are obliged by it to certain Ministries in the Kingdom of Christ. First That by their subjection they are not deprived of any natural Right of their Sovereignty for when our Saviour pronounced the Sentence Give unto Cesar the things that are Cesars he thereby renewed the Patent of Sovereign Powers and reinvested them in all the natural Rights of their Sovereignty which doubtless are included in the things that are Cesars for upon the Pharisees asking him that captious question Is it lawful to pay Tribute to Cesar He doth not answer yes it is lawful which yet had been a sufficient reply to their Question but calls for a Tribute Peny and having asked them whose Image and Superscription that was upon it and being answered Cesars he returns them an Answer much larger than their Question Give unto Cesar the things that are Cesars i. e. it is certain that you are obliged not only to pay Tribute to Cesar but also to render him whatever else is due to him by vertue of his Sovereign Power for Sovereign Power being immediatly founded on the Dominion of God hath from thence these two unalienable Rights derived to it to which all the essential Rights of Sovereignty are Reducible First to Command in all things as it judges most convenient for the publick good where God hath not Countermanded for the Power of Sovereigns descending from God can only be limited by God or themselves for if they are limitable by any other Power they are Subjects to that Power and so can no longer be Sovereigns and if they are limitable only by God or themselves then where they are not limited either by God or themselves they must necessarily have a right to command Secondly The other unalienable Right that is derived to them from God is to be accountable only to God for by deriving to them Sovereign Power God hath exalted them above all Powers but his own and therefore since no Power can be accountable but to a superiour Power and since Sovereigns have no Superiour Power but God it is to God only from whom they received their Power that they are accountable for the administration of it These therefore are the natural Rights of Sovereign Powers and these Rights remain intire and inviolate in them notwithstanding their subjection to the Mediatorial Scepter of our Saviour as I shall endeavour to shew in the particulars First Therefore by this their subjection to Christ they are not deprived of their natural Right of Commanding in all cases as they shall judge most convenient for the publick Good where God hath not countermanded them For the Christian Religion is so far from any way retrenching the power of Princes that it abundantly confirms and enforces it by requiring us to submit to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake to be subject to the higher Powers and that not only for wrath but for conscience sake to submit to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates to render Tribute to whom Tribute is due Custom to whom Custom Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour i. e. to submit to all the lawful impositions of our Princes whether it be of Taxes or of any other matter whatsoever and in all the New Testament there is only one limitation made of our obedience which is a natural and eternal one and that is that we ought to obey God rather than Man that is when Mans Command and Gods do apparently clash and interfere with each other for in this case the Magistrate hath no Right to be obeyed because his Will is countermanded by a Superiour Authority by which Exception this general Rule is confirmed that in all cases whatsoever whether Temporal or Spiritual Civil or Ecclesiastical Sovereign Powers have an unalienable right to be obeyed For if their Right to be obeyed in the Kingdom of Christ extended only to Civil and Temporal causes their Authority would be very much lessened and Retrenched by their subjection to our Saviour since before their subjection to him it undoubtedly extended to all causes whatsoever because being Sovereign under God it could have no other bounds or limits but what God had set to it and therefore since before their subjection to Christ God had bounded their Authority by no other Law but that of Nature it must either be made appear that the Law of Nature did then limit their Authority only to Civil causes which I am sure is impossible or it will necessarily follow that it extended also to Spiritual and Ecclesiastical and if it did so then it must do so still unless it be made appear that Christianity hath retrenched and lessened it It is true Christ hath erected a standing form of
Subjection to Christ to render his Church is to Fence and Cultivate its Peace and good Order either by wholsom Laws of their own or by permitting and requiring it when occasion requires to make good Laws for it self and if need be by inforcing 'em with Civil Coercions for so when the Church was either broken by Schisms or corrupted by Errors and disorderly Customs it was always the practice of Christian Kings and Emperors even from the time that they became Christians to restrain and give a check to those Divisions and Disorders either by their own Royal and Imperial Edicts or by convening the Ecclesiastical Governors to Councils there to consult and agree upon such good Laws and expedients as the present necessities of the Church required and because these Laws being grounded upon mere Spiritual Authority could as such be inforced by no other Penalties than Spiritual which by bold and obstinate Offenders were frequently despised and disregarded therefore those holy Kings and Emperours thought themselves obliged as they were the Ministers of Jesus to strengthen and reinforce 'em with temporal Sanctions and Penalties by which means they became the Laws of the Empire as well as of the Church Of all which I have given sufficient Instances and all this was no more than what they were obliged to by vertue of their Subjection to Christ for being subjected to him they are his Viceroys in the World and do Reign and Govern by his Authority and since their Authority is his they must be accountable to him if they do not imploy it for him in Ministring to the necessities of his Church and Kingdom and therefore if when it is in their power to check a prevailing Schism or Corruption in the Church by wholsom Laws and Edicts they refuse or neglect to do it they must doubtless answer to him from whom they received their power and who being himself the Supreme Head of the Church hath constituted 'em its Guardians and Nursing-Fathers III. Another of those Ministries which Princes are obliged to render his Church is to Chasten and Correct the irregular and disorderly Members of it for though there are Spiritual Rods and Corrections which Christ hath solely committed to the Spiritual Government and which if men understood and considered the dire effects and consequences of 'em are sufficient to restrain and keep in awe the most obstinate Offenders yet when men are stupified in sin and do feel nothing but only what pains or pleases their bodies these Spiritual Corrections are insignificant to 'em they being such as make no impression on their corporeal Senses and so when men are hardened in Schism or Heresie to be sure they will despise the Ecclesiastical Rods as being confidently perswaded that they cannot be justly applied to 'em and that where they are applied unjustly they are only so many Spiritual scare-crows that can only threaten but not hurt 'em and therefore in these cases the Secular Powers are obliged by vertue of their Subjection to Jesus to second the Spiritual with the Temporal Rod and to awe such offenders with corporeal corrections as are fearless and insensible of the Censures of the Church And conformable hereunto hath been the constant practice of all good Kings and Emperors even from their first Conversion to Christianity as might easily be demonstrated by innumerable Instances out of Ecclesiastical History for they not only made Laws inforc'd with temporal Penalties for the regulation of the Clergy as well as Laity not only commanded and obliged their Bishops in case of notorious neglect to execute the Church Censures on the Schismatical Heretical and disorderly of both sorts but when they found those Spiritual Executions ineffectual they very often seconded 'em with temporal such as pecuniary mulcts Imprisonments and Banishments and though in the case of error and false belief they were always very tender and gentle yet whenever they found men busily propagating their Errors into Sects and Divisions to the disturbance of the Churches peace they thought themselves obliged to restrain their petulancy with temporal Chastisements And indeed as they are the Vice-roys of our Saviour they are ex officio the conservators of the peace of his Kingdom and stand obliged to exert that Authority he hath devolved upon 'em in the defence of its Unity and good Order which in many cases they can no otherwise do but only by restraining the Schismatical and disorderly with the terror of temporal corrections so that as well in the Church as in the Civil State they are the Ministers of God to us for our good and therefore if we do that which is evil we have just cause to be affraid for they bear not the Sword in vain for they are the Ministers of God Revengers to execute wrath upon them that do evil Rom. 13.14 IV. And lastly Another of those Ministries which Princes are obliged to render to Christ's Church by vertue of their subjection to him is to make good provision for the Decency of its Worship and for the convenient maintenance of its Officers and Ministers to take care that it hath decent and commodious places set apart for the publick Celebration of its Worship and that those places be supplied with such Ornaments and Accommodations as are sutable to those venerable Solemnities that are to be performed in them that so its Worship may not be exposed to contempt by the slovenliness and Barbarity of its outward appendages and this is the clothing of the Church which as it ought not on the one hand to be too Pompous and Gaudy that being naturally apt to distract and Carnalize the minds of its Votaries and to divert their attention from those spiritual exercises wherein the life and soul of its Worship consists so neither ought it on the other hand to be sordid and nasty that being as naturally apt to prejudice and distaste men against it and to create in their minds a loathing and contempt of it Now the furnishing the Church with such decent Places and Ornaments of Worship as do become the grave Solemnities of a spiritual Religion being a matter of Cost and Charge must necessarily belong to the Civil Powers who alone can lay Rates upon the Subject and have the sole Command and disposal of the publick Purse and therefore by vertue of their subjection to Christ they are obliged to take care that such Religious Places and Ornaments be provided as the Decency and convenience of his Worship do require And then as for the Ministers and Officers of his Church they are under the same Obligation to take care that they whose Office it is to serve at the Altar should live upon the Altar and that according to the different stations and degrees wherein they are placed that so they may neither be necessitated for a subsistence to involve themselves in secular affairs and thereby to neglect their spiritual Calling which is Burthen enough of all conscience for any one mans shoulders nor be tempted
it a great many years after for so Ignatius who was his Cotemporary in his Epistle to that Church stiles him Polycarp your Bishop and earnestly exhorts his Presbyters and Deacons as well as the Laity to be subject to him and Irenaeus who personally knew him hath this passage concerning him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Polycarpus was not only instructed by the Apostles and did not only converse with many of those who had seen our Lord but by the Apostles who were in Asia was made Bishop of Smyrna Euseb. Hist. l. 4. c. 15. and in their Encyclical Epistle of his Martyrdom the whole Church of Smyrna stile him Bishop of the Catholick Church of Smyrna ibid. So also Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus who was thirty eight years old when Polycarp suffered tells us that he was Bishop and Martyr in Smyrna Euseb. Hist. l. 5. c. 24. And the same is attested by Tertullian Eusebius and S. Ierom and indeed by all Ecclesiastick antiquity so that it is a plain case that one of these Angels to whom S. Iohn writes was Bishop of the Church whereof he stiles him the Angel and since one was so to be sure all were so especially considering that very near if not at the very time when these Epistles were written we have certain accounts that there were Bishops actually presiding in these seven Churches So within twelve years after these Epistles were written Ignatius in his Epistle to the Ephesians makes mention of Onesimus their Bishop whom he exhorts them all as well Presbyters and Deacons as Laity to obey That there was also at the same time a Bishop in Philadelphia is abundantly evident from Ignatius his Epistle to that Church though he doth not name him and about the same time Carpus was Bishop of Thyatira as the ancient Roman Martyrology testifies and Segasis of Laodicea Vid. Euseb. Hist. lib. 4. c. 25. And Melito Bishop of Sardis ibid. And as for the Church of Pergamus Paraeus in his Commentary on Chap. 2. of the Revelations proves out of Aretas Caesariensis that Antipas that faithful Martyr mentioned Rev. 2.13 was Bishop of it immediately before the Angel of that Church to whom S. Iohn wrote and that that Angel was one Gaius who as he proves out of Clemens immediately succeeded Antipas in the Episcopal Chair Since therefore it is apparent that at the writing these Epistles to these seven Churches there was a Bishop actually presiding in one of them and that about the same time there were Bishops presiding also in all the rest there can be no colour of Reason to doubt but that all those Churches had Bishops in them when S. Iohn wrote to them and if so to be sure those Bishops being the Governours of those Churches and having the charge of them committed to them were those very Angels whom S. Iohn wrote to because he all along writes to them as to those who were the Overseers and Governours of their respective Churches and if those Angels were Bishops then in them our Saviour expresly allows and approves of the Episcopal Order since he not only dignifies them with the name of Angels but calls them stars in his own right hand The sum of all therefore is this If our Saviours own institution seconded by the practice of his Apostles upon it and succeeded by the Conformity of all the Primitive Churches to it and this Conformity of theirs authorized by the express approbation of our Saviour be a sufficient argument of the Divine Right of any form of Church-Government then must the Episcopal form which hath all these things you see to plead for it self be of Divine Right and Ordination Having thus shewn at large what that Ecclesiastick or spiritual Government is which Christ hath established in his Church I proceed Thirdly and lastly To shew what are the proper Ministries of this Government in the Kingdom of Christ and these are of two sorts First such as are common to the Bishops or Governours of the Church with the inferiour Officers and secondly such as are peculiar to the Bishops or Governours First Such as are common to the Bishops together with the inferiour Officers of the Church and these are 1. To teach the Gospel 2. To administer the Evangelical Sacraments 3. To offer up the Publick Prayers and Intercessions of Christian Assemblies I. To teach the Gospel which is the first Ministerial Act mentioned by our Saviour in the Commission which he gave his Apostles Go teach all Nations Mat. 28.19 and accordingly the Apostles declare Acts 6.2.4 that preaching the Word was one of the principal imployments appertaining to their Office but yet it is evident that it never was restrained to their Office for not only the Apostles but the seventy Disciples also were Commissioned to Preach the Gospel by our Saviour Luke 10.9 10 11. and even in the Apostles days not only they but Philip also and Stephen and Lucius of Cyrene who were no Apostles did yet preach the Gospel to the World and besides the Apostles there were Prophets Teachers and Evangelists that preached the Gospel as well as they But yet as for the Office of Preaching it is plain that none were ever admitted to it but either by immediate Commission from our Saviour or by Apostolick Ordination or by an immediate Miraculous Unction of the Holy Ghost by which they were inspired with the gift of Preaching and enabled freely and readily and without any study of their own to explain and prove and apply the Doctrines of the Gospel to their Hearers and that either in their own or other Languages as occasion required which gift was the same with that which is called in Scripture the gift of utterance and it being bestowed upon them for the publick benefit and edification of the Church the very bestowing it without any other Ordination was an immediate Mission from the Holy Ghost only they who pretended to it were to be tried by such as had the gift of discerning of Spirits vid. 1 Cor. 12.10 compared with 1 Cor. 14.29 and if upon that trial their pretence was found real they were owned and received without any more ado as authorized Preachers sent by the Holy Ghost and it was upon this extraordinary Mission as it seems very probable that those extraordinary Offices of Prophets and Evangelists were founded both which included Authority to preach the Gospel and therefore upon the Cessation of this extraordinary Mission those Offices ceased immediately with it as depending wholly upon it and from thenceforth none were ever admitted to the Office of Preaching but by ordinary Mission and Ordination from the Apostolate derived to the Bishops and Governours of the Church For though there are some very early instances of learned Lay-men that were admitted to preach upon some emergent occasions and upon special license from the Bishop yet can there no one instance be produced of any that were admitted to the Office of Preaching without Episcopal Ordination II. Another of the
find in Scripture that all Ecclesiastick Commissions were either given by the hands of some of those first Apostles who received their Commission immediately from our Saviour or else by some of those secondary Apostles that were admitted into Apostolick Orders by them which secondary Apostles as was shewn before were the same with those whom we now call Bishops for so in Acts 6.3.6 the seven first Deacons we read of were Ordained by the Apostles the whole number of the Disciples being present but the Apostles only appointing and laying their hands on them and in Acts 14.23 we are told that Paul and Barnabas two of the Apostles ordained Elders in every Church that is of Lystra Iconium and Antioch and though these two were Ordained Apostles of the Gentiles by certain Prophets and Teachers in the Church of Antioch Acts 13.1.3 yet there is no doubt but those Prophets and Teachers where such as had received the Apostolick Character being ordained by the Apostles Bishops of the Churches of Syria for otherwise how could they have derived it For so Iudas and Silas are called Prophets Acts 15.32 and yet ver 22. they are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Rulers among the Brethren or Bishops of Iudea and afterwards we find that Ordination was confined to such as had been admitted to the Apostolate for so the power of laying on of hands in the Church of Ephesus was committed by S. Paul to Timothy whom he himself by the laying on of hands had ordained the Apostle or Bishop of that Church 1 Tim. 5.22 1 Tim. 1.6 so also the power of Ordaining in the Church of Crete was by S. Paul committed to Titus whom he had also Ordained the Apostle or Bishop of that Church Tit. 1.5 for this cause left I thee in Crete to ordain Elders in every City Thus all through the whole Scripture History we find the power of Ordination administred by such and none but such as were of the Apostolick Order viz. either by the Prime Apostles or by the secondary Apostles or Bishops And if we consult the Primitive Antiquities which to be sure in matters of fact at least are the best Interpreters of Scripture we shall always find the power of giving Orders confined and limited to Bishops which is so undeniable that S. Ierom himself who endeavours his utmost to equalize Presbyters with Bishops is yet fain to do it with an excepta Ordinatione Ep. ad Evagr. Quid facit excepta Ordinatione Episcopus quod Presbyter non faciat What can the Bishop do except Ordaining that the Presbyter may not do also III. Another peculiar Ministry of the Bishops and Governours of the Church is to execute that spiritual Iurisdiction which Christ hath established in it i. e. to Cite such as are accused of scandalous offences before their Tribunals to inspect and examine the Accusation and upon sufficient evidence of the truth of it to admonish the offender of his fault and in case he obstinately persist in it to exclude him from the Communion of the Church and from all the Benefits of Christianity till such time as he gives sufficient evidence of his Repentance and amendment and then to receive him in again For that Christ hath established such a jurisdiction in his Church is evident from that passage Mat. 18.16 17 18. Moreover if thy Brother shall trespass against thee go tell him his fault between him and thee alone if he shall hear thee thou hast gain'd thy Brother but if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three Witnesses every word may be established i. e. that thou mayst be able in case he doth not then amend to produce sufficient testimony of his guilt before the Churches Tribunal to which thou art next to apply thy self and if he shall neglect to hear them i. e. to promise amendment upon their admonition take them along with thee and tell it to the Church that so she may examine the matter and upon thy proving his guilt by sufficient witness may Authoritatively admonish him to amend but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen man and a Publican i. e. give him over for a desperate sinner as one that is to be ejected from the Communion of the Church and no longer to enjoy the common benefits of a Christian for verily I say unto you that it is to you of the Church before whom this obstinate Offender is cited and accused for now he speaks no longer in the singular number Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven i. e. whomsoever ye shall for just cause eject from the Communion of the Church into the state of a Heathen man and a Publican I will certainly exclude out of Heaven unless he reconcile himself to you by Confession and promise of amendment and if thereupon you pardon him and receive him into the Churches Communion I will most certainly pardon him too if he perform his promise for that by binding and loosing upon Earth our Saviour means excluding out of the Church and receiving in again is evident from that Parallel passage Mat. 16.19 I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven where by the Keys of the kingdom of Heaven is plainly meant the Authority of a Steward to govern his Church or Family for so Isa. 22.21 22. God promises Eliachim that he would cloath him with the Robe of Shebna who was over the Houshold ver 15. i. e. Steward of the Kings Family and that he would commit Shebna 's Government into his hand c. and then it follows And the Key of the House of David will I lay upon his shoulders so he shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none shall open that is in short I will make him the Governour of the Family and give him power to admit or exclude what Servants he pleases and accordingly by the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven must be meant the Government of the Church for so Keys denote Authority to Govern vid. Rev. 3.7 and by binding and loosing the power of shutting out of or readmitting into it and therefore in Iohn 20.23 this binding and loosing is thus expressed whose sins ye remit or loose shall be remitted or loosed whose sins ye retain or keep bound shall be retained or kept bound for though the words are different from those in S. Matthew yet they are of the same import and signification and consequently our Saviours meaning must be the same here as there viz. whose sins you loose from the penalty of exclusion from the Church I also will loose from the penalty of exclusion out of Heaven and whose sins
Person and the Executors and Administrators of his Power and Dominion Whilst therefore they act within the compass of their Commission they act in his stead and as his Vicegerents and whatsoever they bind he binds and whatsoever they loose he looses their Commands are his their Decrees and Sentences are his and all their authoritative Acts carry with them the same force and obligagation as if they had been performed by him in his own person For it is he that wills and speaks and acts by them because they Will and Speak and Act by his Authority For so he himself declares to them Luke 10.16 He that heareth you heareth me i. e. because I speak by you and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me because my Authority is in you even as my Fathers is in me and therefore he who despises mine in you despises my Fathers in me whence mine in you is derived Your Authority is mine and mine is my Fathers and therefore he who rejects yours doth therein reject both my Fathers and mine And this authority is given them by Christ for the same end that his Authority was given him by the Father for he came into the World to seek and to save lost souls Luk. 19.10 He came not to judge the world but to save the world Joh. 12.47 And to call sinners to repentance Mar. 2.17 And upon the very same errand he sent all those whom he appointed to propagate and govern his Kingdom in his absence for he set them up as so many Lights to the benighted World to reduce Men from those dangerous paths in which they were wandering to eternal misery and shew them the way to everlasting happiness and all the power he devolved upon them was for edification and not for destruction 2 Cor. 13.10 and to them he hath committed the care and charge of Souls whose blood he will one day require at their hands if they miscarry through their neglect or default Heb. 13.17 and that he might the better secure these precious beings for whom he shed his blood from miscarrying for ever he placed this spiritual Polity in a subordination of Officers and made the inferior accountable for their charge to the superior Officers as well as both accountable to himself So that whereas had he placed it in co-ordinate hands there had been only one soul accountable to him for each particular Cure or Charge of Souls because then each single Pastor would have been supreme in his particular Cure and consequently no other Pastor or Pastors would have been accountable for not calling him to account now each particular Cure of Souls is under the charge and inspection of several orders and degrees of Pastors who in their several stations are all accountable for it to the Tribunal of Christ. For first the inferior Pastor who hath the immediate Charge of it and is obliged by his Office to teach and instruct it by good Example and Doctrine and to administer to it the holy Ordinances of Christianity stands accountable to Christ for every soul in it that miscarries through his neglect or omission next the Bishop stands accountable for not correcting the neglects and misdemeanours of the inferior Pastor and then the Metropolitan for not taking Cognizance of the default of the Bishop Thus in that excellent form of Government which Christ hath established in his Kingdom he hath made all possible provision for the safety and welfare of Souls for according to this Oeconomy he hath taken no less than a threefold security every one of which is as much as a Soul amounts to that every Soul within every Cure shall be plentifully supplied with the means of Salvation that so none of them might miscarry but such as are incorrigibly obstinate So that now if any Soul within the Dominions of our Saviour perish for want of the means of Salvation there are no less than three Souls one after another besides it self accountable to him for its ruin Having thus shewn what these Regal Acts are which Christ hath once for all performed in his Kingdom I proceed II. To declare what those Regal Acts are which he hath always performed and doth always continue to perform and these are recucible to four particulars First His pardoning penitent sinners Secondly His punishing obstinate Offenders Thirdly His protecting and defending his faithful Subjects in this life Fourthly his blessing and rewarding them in the life to come I. One of the Regal Acts which our Saviour always hath and always continues to perform is his pardoning and forgiving penitent sinners which being one of the Articles of our Creed I shall endeavour to give an account of it more at large the Apostle defines sin to be a transgression of the Law 1 Joh. 3.4 Now the Law obliges us under a certain stated Penalty to do and forbear what it commands and forbids whenever therefore we transgress the Law we are thereby obliged to undergo the Penalty it denounces and this is that which we call the guilt of sin viz. its obligation to punishment and it is this guilt which pardon and forgiveness relates to For to pardon is nothing else but only to release the sinner from the obligation he lies under to suffer the penalty of the Law. Now the penalty of the Law of God for every known and wilful sin is no less than everlasting perdition and therefore from this it is that we are released by that pardon and indemnity which the Gospel proposes So that the pardon or remission of sins whereof we are now treating consists in the loosing of sinful men from that obligation to eternal punishment whereunto they have rendered themselves liable by their wilful disobedience to the Law of God. Since therefore this pardon consists in the release of offenders from the penal Obligation of the Law it must be a Regal Act because the Obligation of the Law can be dispenced with by no other Authority but that which made it and therefore since to make the Obligation of the Law is an Act of Regal Authority to release or dispence with it must necessarily be so also and accordingly forgiveness of sin is in Scripture attributed to our Saviour as one of his Regal Rights Acts 5.51 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sin So that now it is by Christ immediately that our sins are pardoned and our Souls released from those Obligations to eternal punishment in which they have involved us for the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son Joh. 5.22 So that now it is by him immediately that the Father judgeth us i. e. absolves and condemns us for so Col. 3.13 the Apostle exhorts them to forbear and forgive one another even as Christ forgave them and Col. 2.13 Christ is said to have forgiven them all trespasses It is true forgiveness
his continual intercession in Heaven Royal Authority to dispense that Promise to us doth by vertue of that Authority actually pardon us upon our actual repentance So that as soon as ever we perform the condition of Gods grant of pardon our Saviour who knows the inmost thoughts of our hearts and perfectly discerns our sincerity immediately pronounces our sentence of pardon and by a particular application of that general grant to us absolves us from our obligation to eternal punishment and freely receives us into Grace and Favour For though the completion and publication of our pardon is reserved for the day of judgment when we shall be absolved from all punishment i. e. not only of eternal misery but also of corporal death and temporal sufferings in the publick view and audience of the World yet it is certain that every penitent Believer in Jesus is actually pardoned by him in Heaven as soon as ever he believes and repents that is he is in foro Christi and before the Tribunal of his Royal Judgment Absolved from the obligation to suffer eternal misery which he lay under during his state of impenitence and Christ in his own mind judgment and estimation hath Judicially thus pronounced concerning him By vertue of my Fathers grant to all penitent offenders and of that Royal Authority which he hath committed to me I freely release thee from all that vast debt of everlasting punishment which thou hast too justly incurr'd by sinning against him Thus as the Father forgives us vertually by that publick grant of mercy which for Christs sake he hath made to all penitent offenders so the Son forgives us actually by that Royal Authority which the Father hath given him to make a particular application of that his general grant to us upon our actual repentance and as it is by the Fathers grant that the Son pardons us so it is by the Sons application of it that the Father pardons us and therefore we are said in or by Christ to have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sin Col. 1.14 i. e. to be forgiven for the sake of his blood in consideration whereof God the Father hath given him power to forgive us for so he himself tells us that all power in Heaven and Earth was given him Matth. 28.18 and there is no doubt but in all power the power of forgiving sins was included for so S. Peter tells us that through his Name i. e. by his Authority or judicial sentence Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins Acts 10.43 And thus you see what the first Regal act is which our Saviour hath always performed and will always continue to perform viz. forgiving of sins II. Another of his Regal acts of this kind is punishing obstinate offenders For as he mediates for his Father in ruling and governing us he must be the Minister of his Fathers providence and being so whatsoever divine punishments are inflicted upon offenders are to be look'd upon as the stroaks of his hand and the Ministries of his power for he hath the Keys of Death and Hell i. e. the power of punishing both here and hereafter Rev. 1.18 and accordingly he threatens the corrupt Churches of Asia that he would remove their Candlestick and that he would fight against them with the sword of his mouth that he would come upon them as a Thief and that he would spew them out of his mouth Rev. 2.5.3.16 and Chap. 3. Vers. 16. all which is a sufficient proof that the punishment of offenders both here and hereafter is committed to him as a branch of that Royal Authority with which he is invested by the Father in the execution of which Commission he many times Chastens bad men in this life in order to their reformation and amendment for as many as I love saith he i. e. wish well to I rebuke and chasten Heb. 3.19 and many times he persecutes them with exterminating judgments thereby hanging them up in Chains as it were as publick examples of his vengeance to warn and deter the World from treading in their impious footsteps For so he threatens Iezebel and her followers I gave her space to repent of her fornications and she repented not behold I will cast her into a bed i. e. into a Bed-rid and irrevocable condition and them that commit Adultery with her into great tribulation and I will kill her Children with death and all the Church shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and heart and I will give unto every one of you according to your works Rev. 2.21 22 23. And though for wise and gracious ends he oftentimes spares bad men in this life and sometimes shines upon them a continued day of prosperity without any cloud or interruption yet he always overtakes them with the fearful storms of his vengeance in the life to come For no sooner do their souls depart from their bodies but they are immediately consigned by his warrant into the hands of evil Angels those skilful spiteful and powerful executioners of his justice under whose savage Tyranny they indure all the tortures and Agonies that the wrath and power of Devils together with their own awakened consciences and furious and unsatisfied affections are able to inflict Of which see Part 1. Ch. 3. For that the souls of bad men are transmitted into a state of wretchedness and misery immediately upon their separation from their bodies is evident from the Parable of Dives and Lazarus wherein in the first place Dives immediately after his death is said to be in great torment in Hell and this while his body lay buried in the grave Luk 16.22 23. which is a plain argument that in all that interval between death and the resurrection of the body the souls of bad men abide in a state of torment for secondly this torment of Dives's soul in hell was then when his Brethren were living upon earth and under the teaching of Moses and the Prophets ver 27. and 28 29 30 31. which shews that our Saviour supposes it to be at that very time when he delivered this Parable and consequently he supposes all bad men who were then dead and whose condition he represents by that of Dives to be then in Hell and there suffering unspeakable Agonies and Torments and if so then it 's plain that when ever impenitent souls leave their bodies they are carried by Devils into some dismal abode and there kept under a perpetual discipline of torment and in this deplorable state they remain expecting that fearful day of accounts when their condition through their reunion to their bodies and that dread bodily Torment they must then be condemned to will be rendered yet far more intolerable III. Another of those Regal Acts which our Saviour hath always and always will continue to perform is his protecting and defending his Kingdom in this World. For thus he promises his faithful Church of Philadelphia Because thou hast kept the
word of my Patience I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the World to try them that dwell upon the Earth Rev. 3.10 By which it is plain that the power of protecting and defending his Subjects is inherent in Christ as an essential part of his Regal Authority and this power he continually exercises now he is is heaven for it was for this end among others that he promises to be with his Church to the end of the World Mat. 28.20 namely to guard and defend it by his Providence against the outragious attempts of its numerous enemies For it is for this end that the Father hath put all things in subjection under him and that he hath left nothing that is not put under him Heb. 2.7 8. that so having the Universal Government of all things in his hand he might by his over-ruling Providence render them all subservient to the interest of his Church For so Eph. 1.21 we are assured that the Father hath put all things under his feet and given him to be head over all things to his Church i. e. hath vested him with an universal power over all things that so he might order and direct them all to the interest and advantage of his Church And accordingly now he is in heaven the defence and preservation of his Church is the great business which he intends upon earth there he now sits looking down from his Throne with a watchful eye to observe all the motions and trace out all the dark designs of her enemies and from thence he stretches forth his Almighty hand to guard and defend her against them to repel or over-rule their malice to drive back their venemous Darts upon themselves or to temper their Poyson into Physick and extract a healing Balm out of the Stings of those Scorpions In which how careful and diligent he hath been is abundantly manifest from the glorious success for considering the vast opposition that hath been made against it even from its infancy how is it possible it could ever have subsisted had it not been guarded by an invisible hand No sooner did this light upon a Hill appear in the World but all the four Winds immediately conspired to blow it out yet which is miraculous to consider still the harder they blew the brighter it flamed and though for the first 300 years it was the main and almost constant exercise of the Power and Policy the Wit and Cruelty both of Devils and Men to suppress and ruine it yet still it thrived and encreased under the most powerful means of its extirpation It conquered by suffering gathered strength by bleeding and like a head-strong Floud still the more it was checked the more it swelled and over-flowed till at length it filled the Earth as the Waters cover the Sea. Which if well considered is an amazing instance of the vigilant and powerful Providence of our Saviour which hath not only preserved this burning Bush from consuming but made it spring and flourish in the flames And though since those Primitive Persecutions he hath many times for wise and gracious ends let loose the Wolves upon his Flock and permitted them to worry and sometimes almost to devour it yet still he hath kept a strict and steady Reign upon their Power and Malice and when they have served his ends hath check'd and stop'd them in their savage career and when they have thought the trembling Prey their own hath stretched out his own Almighty Arm and snatched it from their devouring jaws So that while they are clubbing all their Power and Policy against it he that sits in the Heavens laughs them to scorn the Lord hath them in derision and doth contemn their impotent malice which he can manage as he pleases he can either prevent the mischievous effects of it or cause them to recoile upon themselves or make those very persecutions with which they design to destroy his Church the means of its enlargement and propagation and what in his own infallible Wisdom he thinks best that he hath always done and will always do for his Church and People For many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel or the Church of Christ now say many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet have they not prevailed against me the Plowers have plowed upon my back they have made long furrows but the Lord is righteous he hath cut asunder the Cords of the wicked and in his own due time will confound and turn back those that hate Sion And as he exerciseth a most vigilant Providence over his Church in general so doth he also over all the faithful and obedient Subjects of it whose interest is as dear and precious to him as his own bloud for they are not only the purchase of his bloud but also the Trophies and Conquests of his Spirit which makes them his by a double Propriety and more peculiarly entitles them to his care and protection they are living Members of his own Body and as such he feels their pains by a most tender sympathy and therefore his Providence is as much concerned for their defence as his Eye-lid is to defend the Apple of his own Eye Zech. 2.8 and therefore though he exercises a merciful Providence over all men yet these he incloses out of the Common of the World and fences about with a peculiar care These are his Iewels and he keeps them in his Treasury under the strongest and most inviolable security He is always watching over them for good and it is his peculiar and continual concern to protect and defend them to keep off Temptation from their Souls and Calamities from their Bodies and so to over-rule and direct the course of things as that whatever befals them may concenter in their happiness For though he many times corrects them with his own hand and permits them to be oppressed and afflicted by others yet still he doth it with a most gracious intention either to cure or prevent some disease in their minds or to excite and exercise their graces or to wean them from the love of this vain World and discipline them for a blessed Eternity and whatsoever evils happen to them in the course of his Providence still he takes care to extract good out of them and so to contrive and order the whole Scene of Affairs as that in the issue all things may still work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose Rom. 8.28 IV. And lastly Another of those Regal Acts which our Saviour hath always and doth always continue to perform in his blessing and rewarding all his faithful Subjects in the Life to come for this as he himself declares he hath power to do so Rev. 2.7 To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God i. e. I will admit him in a
of himself to God and if every one then to be sure the Righteous must as well as the wicked not that there will be any doubt of the righteousness of the Righteous in the breast of the Judge to whose all-seeing Eye the darkest secrets of all hearts lie open but yet for otheâ—â—â—asons it is highly convenient they should undergo a trial as well as others As first for the more solemn and publick vindication of their wronged innocence that all that infamy and scandal with which their malicious Enemies have bespattered them may be wiped off before men and Angels and that being assoiled before all the World they may triumph for ever in a bright and glorious reputation And secondly That all those brave and unaffected acts of secret Piety and Charity to which none but God and themselves were conscious may be brought into the open light and to their everlasting renown proclaimed throughout all the vast Assembly of Spirits for now we shall see all those modest souls unmask'd whose silent and retired graces do make so little shew and noise in the world and all their humble pieties and bashful beauties which scarce any Eye ever saw but Gods shall be exposed to the publick view and general applause of Saints and Angels Thirdly They shall be tried also for the vindication of Gods impartial procedure in proportioning their reward to their vertue that so the degrees of each mans proficiency in piety and vertue being exposed to the view of the world by an impartial trial Angels and Men may be convinced that in distributing the different degrees of happiness the Almighty Judge is no way biassed by a fond partiality or respect of persons but that he proceeds upon immutable Principles of Iustice and doth exactly adjust and ballance his rewards with the degrees and numbers of our deserts and improvements that so even those that are set lowest in those blessed Forms and Classes of glorified Spirits may not envy those that are above them or complain that they are advanced no higher but every one may chearfully acknowledge himself to be placed where he ought to be as being fully convinced that he is only so many degrees inferiour to others in glory as they are superiour to him in divine graces and perfections Fourthly and lastly The Righteous shall undergo this Trial for the more glorious manifestation of the divine mercy and goodness For which reason I am apt to think that even their sins of which they have dearly and heartily repented shall in this their trial be exposed and brought upon the Stage that so in the free pardon of such an infinite number of them the whole Congregation of the blessed may behold and admire the infinite extent of the divine mercies and be thereby the deeper affected with and more vigorously excited to celebrate with Songs of praise the goodness of their merciful Iudge For these reasons the Wise man tells us Eccles. 12.14 that God shall bring every secret thing to judgment whether it be good or whether it be evil which Proposition being universal must extend to the Righteous as well as to the Wicked But yet though their sores shall be then laid open it shall be done by a soft and gentle hand by a serene Conscience and a smiling Iudge who without any angry look or severe reflection or any other circumstance but what shall contribute to the joys and triumphs of that day shall read over all the Items of their guilt and then cancel them for ever For IV. This Iudgment of the Righteous doth also include their Sentence Although to us whose operations are so slow and leisurely by reason of the unwieldiness of these fleshly Organs with which we act such a particular trial as hath been before described of such an infinite number of men and women may seem to require an unreasonable length of time yet if we consider that then both the Iudge and those who are to be judged shall be array'd in spiritual bodies in which they will be able to act with unspeakable nimbleness and dispatch we shall find that a little time comparatively may very well suffice for so great a transaction for the Iudge being one that can attend to infinite causes at once without any distraction and they who are to be judged being by reason of their spirituality in a condition to attend to every ones trial while they are undergoing their own I see no reason we have to imagine that they shall be tried successively one after another and if not why may we not suppose that we shall all be tried together at the same time and consequently that the trial of all may be transacted in as short a time as the trial of one And that they shall all be tried together is very probable since it is apparent from Scripture that they shall all be sentenced together for thus Mat. 25.34 Then shall the King say to those on his right hand i. e. to them all together Come ye blessed c. Having first by an accurate and impartial Trial manifested their integrity to all the world he shall arise out of his flaming Throne and with an audible voice and smiling Majesty pronounce their Sentence all together in these or such like words Come ye blessed Children of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world to which welcome Sentence they will doubtless all immediately resound a joyful Choir of Halelujahs through Heaven and Earth Allelujah Salvation and Glory and Power be to the Lord our God for true and righteous are his Iudgments ' Salvation be unto our Lord that sitteth on the Throne and to the Lamb for wonderful are thy works O Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways O thou King of Saints And now all their business being finished here below they shall from henceforth be no longer detained in this Vale of tears and misery but with overjoyed hearts shall take their leave of it for ever For V. And lastly Another thing implyed in this their Iudgment is their Assumption into the Clouds of heaven For their blessed Lord having thus publickly acquitted and pronounced them blessed they shall immediately feel the happy effect of it for now he will no longer suffer them to stand below at the Bar but from thence will call them up to his Tribunal there to give them a nearer access to his beloved person and more intimate participation of his glory At which powerful call and invitation of his they shall in an instant all take wing together like a mighty flock of pure and innocent Doves and fly aloft into the air singing and warbling as they go to meet their Redeemer in the Clouds of Heaven For so the Apostle in 1 Thes. 4.17 Then that is after their Resurrection and Judgment we which are alive and remain who never died but only have been changed and glorified shall be caught up together with them who shall be raised from the dead
those dreadful words Go ye cursed into everlasting fire the persons concerned will immediately perceive the dire effects for all on a sudden they will see the Clouds from above and the Earth from beneath casting forth Torrents of fire upon them which in an instant will set all the World in a Blaze about their ears At the sight of which all this wretched World will be turned into a mournful Stage of Horrours in which the miserable actors being seized with inexpressible amazement to see themselves all on a sudden encompassed on every side with flames will raise a hideous Roar and outcry millions of burning men and women shrieking together and their noise shall mingle with the Archangels Trumpet with the Thunders of the dying and groaning Heaven and the crack of the dissolving World that is sinking into eternal ruins In which miserable state of things whither can the poor Creatures fly or where can they hope to find a Sanctuary If they go up to the tops of the Mountains there they are but more openly exposed to the dreadful lightnings of Heaven if they go down into the holes and caverns of the Rocks there they will be swallowed up in the burning furnaces of the Earth if they descend into the deep there they will soon be overtaken with a storm of fire and brimstone and where-ever they go the vengeance of God will still pursue them with its everlasting burnings And thus having no retreat left them no avenue to escape out of this burning World here they must remain for ever surrounded with smoak and fire and darkness and wrap'd in fierce and merciless flames which like a shirt of burning pitch will stick close to and pierce through and through their passive bodies and for ever prey upon but never consume them And now the Almighty Judg having seen his dread sentence executed will arise from his Throne and from thence return to the Seat of the blessed in a solemn and Glorious Triumph with all his holy myriads of Angels and Saints who as they follow him through the Air and aether will with loud Hosanna's and triumphant acclamations celebrate the praises of their Redeemer Thus shall the Ransomed of the Lord return with him with Songs to the heavenly Zion and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads and everlasting praises in their mouths For being arrived into those blissful Regions there in those glorified Bodies which they put on at their Resurrection they shall live for ever in unspeakable pleasures and delights and be entertain'd not only with all that happiness which they enjoyed in the state of their separation when they were only blessed Spirits but also with all the satisfactions and delights that their glorified Bodies can require and enjoy So that now their blessedness shall be consummate and all the capacities of their humane nature compounded of body and soul shall be fulfilled with bliss till they overflow and can contain no more But wherein the happiness of their glorified Bodies shall consist I shall not presume to inquire the Scripture being silent concerning it And what the happiness of their souls shall be hath been shewn at large before Part 1. c. 3 4. So that as to that state of eternal life in which our Saviour shall place his faithful servants in the conclusion of this great Judgment I need say no more of it in this place SECT XI Concerning the conclusion and surrender of the Kingdom of Christ. WHen our Saviour hath finished that last and most glorious act of Royalty viz. Iudging the World and hath finally condemned to everlasting fire the irreclaimable enemies of God and crowned all his faithful subjects with eternal Glory and Beatitude the Apostle tells us He shall deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father 1 Cor. 15.24 For our better understanding of which we are to consider that the Kingdom of Christ is twofold First Essential as he is God Essential and doth subsist in the divine Essence by the supereminent perfections of which he being exalted above all things hath an essential Right of Dominion over all things and this is Co-eternal with himself and is as inseparable to him as his Being this he can no more deliver up than he can his Godhead which without ceasing to be can never cease to be supreme over all things But then in the second place there is his Mediatorial Kingdom which is that of which we have hitherto been treating and this as hath been shewn before was by solemn compact and agreement confâ—r'd upon him by the Father upon condition that he should assume our Nature and therein make expiation for our sins in consideration whereof the Father obliged himself to grant a Covenant of Grace to the sinful World and to constitute him the Mediator of it by which Mediatorial Office he is authorized to rule for God according to the tenour of that gracious Covenant as well as to intercede for us and in ruling for God according to that Covenant he is to crown and reward all such as return to and persevere in their duty with everlasting happiness and to render eternal vengeance to all such as obstinately persist in their rebellion So that when this is done as it will be in the conclusion of the day of Judgment the whole business of his Mediatorial Kingdom is at an end then the Covenant of which he is now Mediator will be completely executed and consequently his Mediation will cease as being of no farther use and having no farther part to act For now God and Man being made completely one the Office of a Mediator ceases of its own accord for a Mediator is not a Mediator of one Gal. 3.20 and therefore the two parties being perfectly united there is no farther use of a Mediator between them Wherefore as our beatifical Vision will supercede the necessity of his prophetick Office to teach and instruct us as our perfection and intire fruition will supercede the necessity of his Priestly Office to offer and intercede for us so the security of our possession of both will supercede the necessity of his Kingly Office to protect and defend us and therefore when our Affairs are once reduced to this happy issue his Kingly Office as well as all other parts of his Mediatorship will for ever cease But since this great Mystery is no where expresly delivered in Scripture but only in that forecited 1 Cor. 15. I shall endeavour to give a brief account of the whole passage which lies in vers 24 25 26 27 28. Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God even the Father when he shall put down all Rule and all Authority and all Power for he must reign till he hath put all Enemies under his feet the last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death for he hath put all things under his feet but when he saith all things are put under him it is manifest that he is excepted which did put
all things under him and when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him which did put all things under him that God may be all in all the whole sense and meaning of which passage I shall cast into these Propositions First That the Kingdom or Dominion here spoken of was committed to him by God the Father Secondly That he is to possess this Kingdom and Dominion so long and no longer as till all things are actually subdued to him Thirdly That during his possession of it he is subject to the Father Fourthly That after his delivering it up to the Father he will be otherwise subject to him than he is now Fifthly That he being thus subjected to the Father all Power and Dominion shall from thenceforth be immediately exercised by the Deity I. That the Kingdom or Dominion here spoken of was committed to him by God the Father and this is expresly affirmed vers 27. For he i. e. the Father hath put all things under his feet which words are a quotation of Psal. 8. ver 6. Thou madest him to have Dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet which words are to be understood literally of the first Adam but mystically of the second as is evident not only because 't is here applied to Christ by S. Paul but also by the Author to the Hebrews Heb. 2.7 8. where he expresly tells us that it was God the Father that crowned Christ with Glory and Honour and that did set him over the works of his hands and put all things in subjection under his feet and accordingly our Saviour himself declares that all Power in Heaven and Earth was given him i. e. by the Father and that it was the Father that committed all judgment to him and the Apostle expresly tells us that it was God that exalted him with his own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour Acts 5.31 From all which it is evident that the Dominion which the Apostle here treats of is not the Essential Dominion of Christ which as he is God Essential is Co-eternal with him but that Mediatorial Dominion which was committed to him by the voluntary disposal of his Father and which once he had not and will hereafter cease to have II. That he is to possess this Kingdom or Dominion so long as and no longer than till all things are actually subdued unto him So vers 24. you see the time of his delivering up this Kingdom is then when he shall have put down all Rule and all Authority and Power i. e. till he shall have converted or destroyed all those Powers of the Earth that oppose themselves against him for so vers 25 26. For he must reign till he hath put all Enemies under his feet the last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death which plainly implies that when he hath conquered all Enemies and destroyed Death which is the last Enemy by giving a glorious Resurrection to his faithful Subjects then and not till then his Mediatorial Reign is to conclude For so Psal. 110.1 to which the Apostle here refers the Psalmist brings in Iehovah the Father thus bespeaking Iehovah the Son The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand until I make thine Enemies thy footstool now to sit at the Right Hand of God when ever 't is applied to our Saviour doth in Scripture always denote his possessing and exercising this his Mediatorial Kingdom so that the meaning of the Psalmist is this the Father hath Commissioned his Son to continue the exercise of his Mediatorial Dominion till such time as either by the dint of his Almighty Vengeance he hath trampled all his Enemies under foot or by the power of his Grace reduced them voluntarily to prostrate themselves before him and indeed the end for which this Kingdom of our Saviour was erected was to subdue the Rebellious World to God and either to captivate men into a free submission to hâ—s Heavenly Will which is its first intention or if they will not yield to make them the Triumph of his everlasting vengeance which end at the day of Judgment will be fully accomplished for then the fate of all the rational World will be fixed and determined then the faithful Subjects will be crowned and the incorrigible Rebels condemned and executed and so one way or t'other all things will be subdued unto him So that from hence-forth the end and reason of this his Mediatorial Dominion will cease and when the end of it ceaseth he who never doth any thing in vain will immediately deliver it up into those hands from whence he received it For when he shall have put down all Rule and all Authority and Power i. e. conquered and subdued all that resisted and opposed him then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God even the Father III. That during his possession of this Kingdom he is subject to the Father So Ver. 27. But when he saith all things are put under him it is manifest that he i. e. the Father is excepted which did put all things under him As if he should say Do not mistake me for when I say all things are put under him my meaning is all things except God the Father for it was he that did put all things under him and it 's manifest that he who gave him this superiority over all things must himself be superior to him and indeed considering Christ as Mediatorial King he is no more than his Fathers Viceroy and doth only act by deputation from him and rule and Govern for him and hence the Father stiles him his King Psal. 2.6 Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Zion So that now he is subject to the Father in the capacity of a Vice-King to a supreme Sovereign and whatsoever he doth in this capacity he doth in his Fathers Name and by his Authority for he Mediates as for men with God in doing which he is our Advocate so for God with men in doing which he is our King. Gods part is to Govern us and our part is to sue to him for favour and protection and both these parts our Saviour acts as Mediator between God and us He acts our part for us in being Advocate and Gods part for him in being King. So that in that Rule and Government which he now exercises over us he is only the supreme Minister of his Fathers Power and Dominion and as the Father reigns by his Ministry so he reigns by the Fathers Authority But tho now while his Mediatorial Kingdom doth continue he is subject to the Father in the Admistration of it yet from this passage of S. Paul it is evident IV. That when he hath delivered it up to the Father he will be otherwise subject to him than he is now for so ver 28. and when all things shall be subdued unto him that
every day spread and increase even in Ierusalem it self where the thing was acted and where the reporters of it lived and that not only for a few days or months but from year to year even till Ierusalem it self was destroyed since I say all this is so evident what greater argument can we desire of the truth and integrity of those that attested it And supposing them to be honest their testimony must be true because it was not matter of opinion in which it is possible for the wisest men to be mistaken but matter of Fact of which they had certain information from their own senses and he who says that he saw such a thing and it 's evident that his senses were not imposed on lies against his own conscience if it be not true that he saw it IV. Another Circumstance requisite to render a Testimony highly credible is that there is no apparent motive to induce the Attestors of it to testifie falsly For whether they are honest or no we cannot well suppose that in a matter of importance they will testifie falsly without some great motive inducing them thereunto but as for the witnesses of our Saviours Resurrection had they not been certain of the truth of it they could have no imaginable motive to induce them to attest it for they could never hope to reap the least advantage from it either here or hereafter not here for their Lord had told them beforehand that if they would be his Disciples they must suffer persecution and they themselves could not but foresee that by testifying his Resurrection they must infallibly alarm all the World against them because the Doctrine which they confirmed by it was extremely opposite both to the present Religion and Interest of the Iews and to the common Theology of the Gentiles and that therefore by going about to establish it they must in effect proclaim War against all the World and consequently expose themselves to the utmost Rigor and Severity that the wit and malice of men could invent or inflict which must be a very sorry motive sure to induce men in their wits to undertake the propagation of a known Imposture But perhaps it may be thought they did all this for the glory and reputation of being the founders of a new Sect. But from whence I beseech you could they promise themselves success not from their Master Iesus who if their testimony was not true they could not but know was still detained under the power of the grave not from God whom if they testified falsly they were conscious they wickedly belyed in suborning his power and veracity to bear witness to a falshood not from the force and charms of their own Eloquence or Sophistry for that they pretended not to not from their Riches for their Staves and Scrips were all the Treasure they carried with them nor from any Authority or Power they had or ever were like to have for how could such poor illiterate persons as they ever expect to arrive to an Authority great enough to contest with all the power and wisdom of the World which was armed against them in a word not from any proneness they found either in Iews or Gentiles to imbrace the Doctrine which they designed by this their Testimony to confirm and assert that being every where gainsaid and opposed by the interests and affections of both and if their Testimony was not believed as 't was very unlikely it should if it had not been true what could they expect but to be branded to all posterity as a company of infamous Cheats and Impostors So that unless they had been assured that their testimony was true they had all the reason in the World to expect that it would prove the most fatal and unprofitable Lye that ever was invented or broached among mankind since it was so far from promising them any worldly advantage that it visibly exposed them to all the miseries and calamities of human life And then if they knew this Story of Christs Resurrection which they attested to be a Lye they had a great deal less reason to expect any advantage from it in the World to come for either they believed that Religion which they sought to confirm by attesting this story or they did not if they did not how could they hope to fare ever the better in the other World for endeavouring to propagate a false Religion in this if they did how would they hope to be made happy hereafter by telling a Lye for that Religion which excommunicates Lyars out of the Kingdom of Happiness Since therefore if their testimony had been false they could expect to reap no advantage from it in either World doubtless they would never have been so mad as to assert and attest it had they not known it to be true for what man in his wits would ever tell a lye that hath no reason to expect any other fruit from it but only to die for it here and to be damned for it hereafter V. Another Circumstance requisite to render a Testimony highly credible is that the testifiers of it do give some great security for the truth of what they say and therefore it is required by human Laws that in all great matters of Fact the Witnesses should give the security of their Oaths or of some great pledge to be forfeited by them in case their Testimony prove false But never did any men give greater security of their truth than the Witnesses of our Saviours Resurrection for they sealed their Testimony with their Blood and rather chose to undergo the most witty and exquisite torments than to recant any part or circumstance of what they had seen and testified concerning it For of all the Apostles who were the chief Witnesses of it there was only one that escaped a violent death and he as the Ecclesiastical Story tells us had not been delivered from it but by a Miracle And doubtless those other Disciples who saw and conversed with our Saviour after he was risen and together with the Apostles bore witness of it to the World did proportionably run the same fate And how is it imaginable that so many men should all turn so mad together as to lay down their lives for a pledge of the truth of a Story which they knew to be all a mâ—re cheat and imposture Some men indeed have suffered Martyrdom for professing Propositions that were false but then they thought them to be true but no man in his wits ever died in the defence of an Assertion which he knew to be false But as for the testifiers of our Saviours Resurrerection they did all of them witness upon certain information and did assuredly know whether their Testimony were true or false so that if Christ did not rise as they reported they died in the defence of a known Lye which is such a piece of folly as doth exceed all instances of extravagance Suppose that Aesop should have died a Martyr to