happiness from his adjudging them thereunto so that he is to all Men their Alpha and Omega in Creation in Redemption in Superiority and Government and in that final irreversible and eternal Judgment he will at last pass upon them Fourthly This important Truth is evident from hence The supreme End of all God's Works is his Glory now 't is plain that the glory God designed to himself by the making and forming of Man 't is all given up and handed unto him in by and through the Son upon that account he that honours the Son honours the Father the creating Work of our Lord Jesus his redeeming Work his mediatory Government all his Workings and Operations by the Holy Ghost upon the Hearts and Spirits of Men and his final Judgment at last they are but to collect and bring in a Revenue of Glory for the Father and when the Kingdom is delivered up to the Father all the Glory of it will for ever center in him This will farther appear the larger View we take of the Particulars First In the Creation of Man by the second Person how greatly does the glory of God's Power manifest it self in bringing into being such a creature as Man first was so stupendiously constituted and ever after so fearfully and wonderfully propagated compounded part of Heaven and part of Earth between an Angel above and a Beast that perisheth below a spark of Divinity and Eternity put into a lump of mouldering Clay intended to be separated after a dreadful manner and as wonderfully to meet again and be reunited such is the Soul breathed into the Body a Creature made able still to mount upwards be guided by his nobler part and cleave to his Maker as his chief good and also under possibility of being influenced by his meaner and lower part and still sinking down into vanity sensuality and folly a Creature so made as to be of everlasting duration and a future Subject of mighty Rewards and Punishments and his Person by reason of the wonderful and unbounded workings of his Soul a Stage of stupendious Transactions wherein the whole Trinity are most eminently manifested all the Angels both above and below most highly concern'd and in which the welfare of all the rest of the Creatures and of this lower part of the World is much bound up this Creature although he may derive himself from the eternal pleasure of all the Persons in the Godhead yet his Creation was the peculiar Act and Operation of the second Persons and the Glory of that Creation results to the Deity through him Secondly The Glory of God's innate Mercy and Goodness is exceeding transparent from hence no sooner had Man lost himself but the flood-gates of Divine Bounty are let open by the undertakings of the Son nothing imaginable nothing possible could so display Divine Grace as Christ's undertaking to leave Heaven and become Man and do what he did for Man's sake no Glass but this could have shew'd at once the compleat and intire Glory of that Attribute the Faculties of Angels and Men though they are large and inquisitive comprehensive and sagacious yet they are quite silenc'd and extasiz'd by this Transaction the Object quite over-matching the Faculty when God gives his Son and himself in him what Creature can think himself into the Heighths and Depths of that Gift or pretend to span its Dimensions in his Imagination all we can utter upon this Subject is what St. Paul in a Sacred Extasie says in the 8th of the Romans What shall we say to these things and improve it as he does there by that holy Interrogation He that has given us his Son will he not with him also freely give us all things Thirdly How transparent is the Glory of God's Justice in punishing Sin upon his own Son and redeeming the World by no less a Sacrifice than the Blood of God this is to exalt the Glory of that Attribute to its utmost heighth and for ever to abase Man and lay him as low as he can be this is a stupendious Instruction to the prophane ignorant World to let them see what Sin is and what the sense is God has of it and how hard a thing it is for a rebellious creature to be reconciled again unto God when we consider the absolute boundless Dominion and Soveraignty God has over us as our Maker and the uncontroulable Authority that is inherent and resides in that infinite Being that gives being to all besides himself and whose Laws are in their nature perfect and the very quintessence of all rectitude we must needs then reflect upon that rebellious Evil and Poyson that is in Sin no contradiction can consist with such a Being as God is and therefore no Man can oppose him and prosper whil'st Man abides in a state of subjection and conformity to him he is happy and nothing can make him miserable but when he turns aside to Rebellion and the Madness and Folly of Sin he becomes naked a dread and terror a frightful Ghost to himself and renders himself exposed to all the Misfortunes and Miseries his Being is capable of Fourthly By the second Person is given up unto God the glory of his rectoral and magistratical Authority over all his Creatures and therefore in the second Psalm God calls him his King being both from him and for him this is done by Christ's Rule and Government as Head of the Church the whole Creation is put into subjection to him and he that is in our own nature our Redeemer and Saviour him has God made to be Ruler and Lord of all By his Government all the Divine Attributes are clearly and evidently display'd all the righteous Methods of Government pursu'd and all the true and noble Ends of it brought about and accomplished All the various Turnings and Windings of Humane Affairs here below as they are under the Mediator's regulation are but subservient to a discovery and manifestation of God's Wisdom his Power his Grace and other Divine Attributes and through them all perfect Methods are pursu'd and at last the right Ends will be attained giving every Man according to his Works and setling Rewards and Punishments in their due places In two respects the Excellency of Christ's Government does chiefly appear 1st In respect of the World as he is King of Nations And 2dly In respect of the Church as he is King of Saints With respect to the World the Glory of Christ's Government appears eminent in these four things 1. In his providential Endeavours in the course and motion of Humane Affairs for their Information Reformation and Salvation bringing Men out of Satan's Kingdom and embodying them with his Church over-ruling things in the course of the World to tend that way his Heart is still upon Salvation and his ultimate design to make Men eternally happy 2. In respect of those spiritual invisible Influences and Convictions by which he more nearly treats with the World about their Eternal Welfare and all
the Long-suffering he exercises to that purpose 3. By his mighty over-ruling all the violent and raging Oppositions made by the World and the Powers thereof against Him his Church and his Interest and doing it in such a manner as that whatever is most maliciously intended against them shall be rendred useful and subservient to them 4. By his compleat Conquest over and final Judgment upon all his incorrigible Enemies at last Secondly With respect to the Church there he is most eminently triumphant in his Glory and Government for he dwelleth in Heaven and ruleth on Earth but reigneth in Sion the Church is his peculiar Province where he displays the manifold Wisdom of God in curious variety 1. They are all redeemed with his own Blood St. Peter tells us We are not redeemed with corruptible things 2. They bear his Image look upon the Frame and Constitution of every true Christian and if you ask whose Image and Superscription is this the answer is it is Christ's and therefore the same treatment he met with here below the very same will always attend the Church every Christian is a Member of the New Creation Christ has remade him all over herein lyes the great Power and Glory of Christ's Kingdom in remaking and new making of the Sons of Men and this New Creation 't is an Abomination to the fallen Angels and all apostate and unrecovered Men and so will be to the end of the World 3. The tender Heart and gracious Disposition of Christ is most transparently beheld in the Government of his Church of his own House and Family 't is here you may have the report of all his unwearied Kindness and unutterable Forgiveness of all his Attendance upon and Endurance of the froward and perverse Spirits of Men here you may see all the fulfilling of the good pleasure of his Goodness and the work of Faith with power and all those gentle easie and obliging Methods he useth to gain Souls to himself and render them happy how many Faults he bears with and forgives in his People how many Temptations he shields them from and how many sore Lapses he pities them in and recovers them from under and puts forth his Hand as he did to Peter to every sinking Soul what that eminent Apostle and Servant of Christ said of himself is much more verified in his great Master and ours upon him lyes continually the care of all the Churches and of every particular Member and that not only in one Age but throughout every Generation Laftly The Greatness and Excellency of this Government appears herein that he makes all subservient unto it and brings all his Subjects safely to their Eternal Inheritance all Humane Motions are so over-ruled as to promote the great Work of Salvation as all things were designed in their first make to be serviceable to the manifestation of Divine Grace therein so they are made to be in the future Revolutions of all Ages how glorious and wonderful an Enclosure is the Church out of this prophane apostate World God the Father is the Supreme Benefactor sets the great Wheel going For the Son does nothing but what he sees the Father do And in the great Volume of God's Book this peculiar Memorandum is made and 't is recorded of him that he came to do the Father's Will I come to do thy will O God All that Christ does is but the Execution of the Father's designs the Holy Ghost is their peculiar Comforter and Companion the grand Operator in Christ's Kingdom and that mighty Instrument by which all is effected that heart-changing life-reforming wonder-working Spirit by which all the stubborn unruly unconquerable Lusts of Men all the Wills of the Flesh and of the Mind are all subdued Leopards Spots quite washed away Ethiopian Skins made white and Men old in sinning and such as are accustomed to do evil are so instructed convinced and changed that they readily learn to do well resign up themselves as Temples for that blessed Spirit to dwell in and are no more led by depraved unruly Appetites but wholly conducted and managed by that safe and blessed Adviser Here 's the great delight of God in the Creation restored in Man new made and remade by the mighty workings of the Holy Ghost in the Mediator's hand 's God says of these Men the world is not worthy of them but the World are quite of another opinion for they cry out Away with such fellows from the earth it is not fit they should live Thirdly and lastly As it appears that the whole design of God touching both Angels and Men was laid in his first creation of them by the Son so is it in reference to all the rest of the Creation the inferior Creatures were so made as that God would receive all the Homage of them from Man they were made for his use and put in subjection to him Man's Habitation is this lower World and the Creatures are the Furniture of it given to him of God and as the Dominion and Soveraignty of this inferior part of the World was vested in Man by an unalterable Law of Creation so it has ever since been involved in his condition while Man abode in his primitive state all the rest of the Creatures kept their original lustre and beauty In Man's fall they also fell when Man fell into Rebellion this lower World fell under a Curse for his sake and that Curse is gradually taken off from the Creatures as Man is renewed and restored by that gracious Covenant of God sealed in the Blood of the Mediator so at last when the Church is compleated the whole Creation shall be restored to its original and first created Glory The Scripture gives plain evidence to both these things First That the Curse is gradually taken off from the Creatures as Man is restored and the Church built up but 't is in this sense to be taken and no farther that the Curse is taken off from the Creatures As to Man's use and enjoyment of them the Curse upon them lay in two things 1st A natural defacing of them and degrading them from their original Image for at first every thing was very good and there was no deformity nor any such production as Briers and Thorns And 2dly By inverting the use they were created for which was to be a Blessing and laying the enjoyment of them by Man under a Curse and a Judgment for Sin 's sake In respect of the first The Creatures contiliue alike to all and will do so till the restitution of all things the Creatures are naturally the same to good and bad and enjoyed by both alike without any such distinction or change But as to their enjoyment and use the difference is plain As Man is by the Mediator reconciled unto God so he comes to a sanctified enjoyment of and right to all the Creatures for God in the gift of his Son has with him also freely by a second Donation given us
them they are come to is to Mount Sion of which for the clearer comprehension of the Apostles meaning by it some things may be particularly considered of that Mount as it stood circumstanced under the Law and this in especial that the great Honour that is put upon it in Scripture is principally with respect to the Temple that then stood upon the top of it and which was meant and signified by it this was the place whither all the Males were to come three times a Year and the solemn part of all the Jewish Worship could be no where else performed and their private Worship where ever they were at home or abroad upon Solomon's request to God at the first dedication of it was generally directed towards this place This we may see in the case of Jonah who in the Whale's Belly thought of directing his Prayer towards this Holy Temple and the Prophet Daniel when it was pulled down and lay in Rubbish prayed even then towards it three times a day as we see in the 6th of Daniel This Temple placed upon Mount Sion was the only sanctified House where the mighty God was pleased to take up his dwelling since the World began the Tabernacle was small and ambulatory and but preparative to this glorious sanctified solemn Fabrick the City of Jerusalem and the Land of Canaan were only holy relatively and upon collateral accounts the City with reference to the Temple the place of God's residence but the Temple was inherently Holy made so by God's own dedication and descent into it at the first this was the place where day and night God was served without ceasing according to his own ordination and therefore he is said to love it above all the dwelling places of Jacob. Here the long expected Messiah the Son of God Christ himself was brought and all that the Law required performed about â—im in this Sacred House But sure we are the Apostle intended nothing literal about this Mount his drift is wholly spiritual and therefore having premised thus much of the literal typical State of this Mount we must now examine what it means in this place and as it lyes in the comparison and the sense intended seems very obvious by Mount Sion the heavenly Jerusalem and the City of the living God the same thing is intended and this is the meaning ye are come to all that was typified by them and all that was promised on the Churches behalf to them to every Promise made to the Church under those denominations which is no other but the Gospel-state and the blessed Priviledges and Administrations thereof in its fulness and glory the Apostle declares the meaning of these places to be spiritual and neither of private interpretation nor literal signification that the Jews might cease doting upon them in that low and mean sense and might be convinced that the Gospel vertually contains all that was excellent in them Mount Sion as was before said had its value from the Temple that stood upon it and therefore when the Gospel is prophesied of by it 't is said the mountain of the Lord's house shall be exalted on the top of the mountains Now instead of this material Temple every Christian under the Gospel is himself a living Temple of the Holy Ghost a Temple wherein God dwells and all spiritual Worship and Service is continually offered up and the whole Church is one intire living Temple wherein God is always spiritually served so 't is expressed in the 2d of Ephes Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the houshold of God and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord And he that is arrived at this true Gospel-state and all the glorious Enjoyments of it to have access to the Father through the Son by that one Spirit he is come to the true Mount Sion and the real Temple where God will dwell for ever he abides in the nearest access to God he is capable of and in all those holy and sanctified Qualifications which the Temple signified as it was then the Seat and Center of all the true Worship of God The second thing the Apostle tells the Jews they are come to is the heavenly Jerusalem the City of the living God and although the signification of this is the same with Mount Sion yet it is greatly farthering to the Apostle's design the mention of it that so the Jews might think nothing valuable amongst them was lost but all to be found with great advantage in the profession of the Gospel the whole Religion of that National Church of the Jews being contained in this City and therein vertually comprised the whole state of the Gospel The Catholick Church with great reason and signification under the Gospel every where spread and under no confinement is stiled a City and is called Jerusalem a vast difference there was between coming to that dreadful barren Mount Sinai in the Wilderness of Horeb and the City of the living God Several things are considerable in this City to heighten the comparison taking it to be made either with Mount Sinai or Jerusalem literal 1st The Noble and Honourable Government of this City 'T is governed by the great Charter of the Gospel none have any Rule but the living God himself no Laws are in force here but what come from Christ's own Mouth the Gospel Church is built up and managed as the Temple was which was the soul and glory of this City in every particular by God's own punctual direction and there is his delight there his Soul rests where he is served by Laws of his own composing and enacting 2dly This City is a place of invincible strength and security the Jews knew to their cost the earthly Jerusalem was not so here 's the Mount Sion that cannot be moved the Gates of Hell can never prevail against it 't is sure to remain against all opposition till it be safely taken up into Heaven from whence it came 3dly The Inhabitants of it are all united 't is a City compact together not with carnal and earthly but spiritual Ligaments there is such an union in it as God has chosen and takes pleasure in amidst great variety they have but one Head they all minister under him as fellow-citizens for the good of each other they are all guided and animated by one Spirit and they all tend to one and the same end 4thly 'T is a City of wonderful Beauty the City of the great King the Palace of the living and eternal God as the Psalmist says comprehensively and prophetically of it under the name of Sion Beautiful for scituation is mount Sion the joy of the whole earth this Beauty lyes in the Presence of God and in its Sanctity and in that Image and Superscription of God that it
bears here are to be seen the Beauties of Holiness and the Stamp of all the Divine Attributes and this City as it is called the heavenly Jerusalem and the City of the living God is opposed to the earthly Jerusalem as it abode during the whole state of the Law for we are told in the Epistle to the Galatians that that was in bondage with her Children as well as Mount Sinai but Jerusalem which is above says he is free which is this heavenly Jerusalem he here speaks of the Apostle means not by Jerusalem above the Heavenly State that is plain by the Context but he means the State of the Gospel-Church here upon Earth the thing to be enquired after is upon what account 't is called the heavenly Jerusalem and Jerusalem above and that we shall find to be a most proper and reasonable Appellation of it and that upon several accounts 1st It comes originally down from Heaven Divine Revelation is the Ground and Foundation of it 2dly All the Inhabitants of Heaven dwell also here both the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost by their gracious Presence and Influences and in that respect this is said to be their Dwelling-place and their Abode for ever and therefore in the following words the Apostle tells them who the Inhabitants are of this Mount and City to which they are come God the Judge of all Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and an innumerable company of Angels the Angels are all as ministring Spirits and Servants present in it and conversant about it and such Inhabitants must needs make an holy City 3dly It is made up of Members part in Heaven and part on Earth the blessed Angels and the Saints departed as well as the Saints living on Earth are parts of it and so it has a good Title to be called Heavenly and Jerusalem above 4thly All the true Members of it even upon Earth are holy and heavenly Persons their conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their City-conversation is in Heaven and they are all travelling towards their everlasting rest there And so this Heavenly Jerusalem is the Heavenly State of the Catholick Church under the Gospel which is not fixed to any one earthly place nor can it be in bondage or come under captivity but is free is the Mother of us all comes from above and returns thither it may be said of it as it was of Christ when he was the Son of Man upon Earth he was also the Son of Man in Heaven and so this Jerusalem this heavenly City whil'st it is upon Earth it is also in Heaven the nature of it is purely spiritual and heavenly and the whole World both Jews and Gentiles are comprehended in it making as the Apostle speaks of them twain one new man The third think Believers are said to come to is an innumerable company of Angels the expression is taken out of the 7th of Daniel where it is said speaking of God Thousand thousands minister unto him and Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him ye are come to Miriads of Angels which is well render'd an innumerable company of Angels and this is made good several ways 1st We are come so to them as to be of the same Society and Family with them they are part of Christ's Houshold only inhabit a Story above us for by the Blood of his Cross all things in Heaven and Earth are gathered together in and under him as their Supreme Head and Soveraign and make but one Incorporation they all joyn together in the same Adoration and Worship for God hath said let all the Angels of God worship him and they declare themselves upon all occasions to be fellow-servants with the Saints in all Christ's Concerns in all the Affairs of his House and Family 2dly We are come to these Angels by having a secret invisible yet constant and sweet Communion with them great is the invisible influence the Angels have upon us and the converse they have with us taking notice of all our private Devotions and farthering us therein by many unthought of and undiscerned yet very advantageous circumstances such as lyes in their way to administer and also by being present in the publick and solemn Assemblies of the Church where they not only joyn and concur in the Worship and Service performed but without all doubt in such methods as are proper to them to operate in they are aiding and assisting and both in the private and publick Worship of the Saints continually preventing and opposing the malignant endeavours of Satan and the other Angels and so there is always a sweet Communion maintained between the Saints upon Earth and them in Heaven as the Saints here look upwards and rejoyce in their fix'd and establish'd Happiness and Glory above so they are continually ascending and descending and visiting the Saints here below and using all endeavours to bring them safe to the same blessed state with themselves and beholding the whole Trinity so employed as they are for Man's recovery and taking such complacency in it and they themselves having received Orders in Heaven from their Supreme Soveraign and Head to that purpose their whole Endeavours tend that way and to assist in the compleating of the Church as it is their peculiar Province so it is also their great Delight and Satisfaction 3dly We are come to those Miriads of Angels as they are Christ's supreme invisible Agents and Officers in his Church and to all the Advantages of their Service and Ministry in general they have the care of all the Elect the whole Body of the Faithful are committed to their charge and keeping we are told the Angels of the Lord encampeth about them that fear him as they did about Elisha of old How many gracious and wonderful Deliverances does Christ effect for his Church in general and each individual Member of it by the Angelical Ministry the manner of which though we enjoy the benefit is to us unknown and as they were under the Old Testament employed to make extraordinary Revelations of the Will of God to the World so they are now employed to be continually suggesting the Mind and Will of God to the Hearts and Spirits of his chosen and to counter-work the Devil in all his Temptations and Suggestions to the contrary this is not done in such a way as the holy Spirit operates who is an indweller with us and cohabits with the Soul but the Angels work upon us only as external Operators and so what they do is by making impressions upon our Faculties from outward and external Means and Circumstances suted thereunto and from our present Inclination and Disposition sutable to which they accommodate their Actings but they convey not as the Holy Ghost does any inward Power of Acting nor any new Abilities to our Souls 4thly As the evil Angels are constant observers of all the Transactions of the Church in general and of every Member of it in particular in order
sincere Man in the Gospel account and without all controversie in the high road to Everlasting Happiness 't is our great wisdom to possess our selves now with those thoughts we shall be sure to have when God summons us to make our Appearance before him whatever it is that keeps us from so doing engages us to the highest folly and renders a Man the Scripture-Fool that is the Fool in God's account which is the true Fool a Man made up and constituted of folly about his greatest concerns when the mirth and pleasant part of the World is a diversion from this we may well say of Laughter that it is Madness and when we employ our selves in the wisest and most serious part of the World in order to secure us from this we do but seed upon Vanity and Lies a deceived Heart leads us aside and we cover our selves with such a sorry garment as will shortly be stript from us and we shall be left exposed and naked how great and how miserable a Fool is that Man that is top full of this World and the Business of it and thinks of nothing else when God calls him privately aside and tells him This night shall thy soul be taken from thee and from henceforward to all eternity thou shalt have nothing to do but to converse with thy own Sins and with me in the effects of my Justice Several appurtenant Circumstances the Apostle reckons up to this Mount to which they were not come which they might contemplate with much satisfaction and the more highly value Gospel-Attainments 1st That it might be touched the meaning of which was only this that the intangibility of it by Man or Beast was only by vertue of Divine Sanction and Command and so it was but figuratively so but the Mount in it self might be touched and was a carnal earthly thing sutable to that dispensation which was but an earthly Tabernacle pitch'd by Man but Mount Sion he compares it withal is a thing impossible to be touched and is in its own nature purely spiritual the sum is your Fathers came with their Bodies to a Mount that might be touched though it must not be touched but by the Gospel you are come in your Spirits to a Mount that cannot corporally be touched that is altogether heavenly and spiritual 2dly It was full of Fire 3dly There was Blackness 4thly Darkness And 5thly Tempests Fire is of all parts of the Creation most dreadful to flesh and blood and in it self terrifying tormenting devouring and therefore to make his Majesty the more dreadful God 't is said descended upon the Mount in Fire and the Law here given is thence called a fiery Law in the 5th of Deut. we find the People three times together expressing their dreadful fear of this Fire and the Psalmist alludes to this in the 97th Psalm when he says A fire goeth before him As the most dreadful part of the Creation Hell it self is oftenest set forth by it this Fire was accompanied with Blackness Darkness Tempest Lightnings Thundrings and Earthquakes the most affrighting astonishing Composition that could be set before Humane Eyes and in that conjunction rendring each other more terrifying and amazing all representing the obscurity and severity of that Dispensation and the sad and sore Punishments the Law inflicted upon every transgressor as Hell is called Fire so 't is also called the Blackness of Darkness and by the Tempest was signified what Storms and Confusions the Law makes in the Minds of convinced Sinners when no Remedy appears 'T is not now possible to conceive what a terrifying heart-breaking killing Sight that Mount was so circumstanced and the Apostle gives them no small ground of consolation when he tells them they are not come to this Mount 'T is true that all this is called by the Holy Ghost in the New Testament Glorious but 't is meant of the Glory of God's Justice and of his severity which we are told is much excelled and in a sort eclipsed by the Glory of his Grace and Mercy 6thly and 7thly To compleat the Terrour of this Mount the Apostle mentions the sound of the Trumpet by which God summoned the People to appear before Him and the voice of words which the people were not able to bear the hearing of Of the sacred use of Trumpets we read much in Scripture sometimes to summon to great Judgments and sometimes preparative calls to great Mercies they were used in calling Assemblies and in a solemn manner in proclaiming the Jubile every 50th Year upon which account the People were said to be blessed that heard the joyful sound There was also every first Day of the 7th Month a Memorial of blowing of Trumpets to summon the People to the Day of expiation the preaching of the Gospel is often typically represented by a Trumpet sounding 't is also in the Revelation introductive of all the great Judgments towards the end of the World the seven Trumpets there are said to sound for that purpose and in the very last coming of Christ he is said to come with the Voice of the Arch-Angel and the Trumpet of God This that the People heard here was not a real Trumpet but the sound of one possibly the Voice of the Arch-Angel uttered in the sound of a Trumpet as perhaps the Voice of the Arch-Angel and the Trumpet of God when Christ shall come is only the Voice of the Arch-Angel utter'd in the sound of a Trumpet this Trumpet upon Mount Sinai is said to wax louder and louder signifying God's nearer approach until he uttered the Law unto them The sound of it was most terrifying and dreadful and had this signification That God will call all Flesh before him and alarum them to receive the Judgment pronounced by his Laws and the call will be so loud that no Mortal Ear can exclude it To the sound of the Trumpet is added the voice of words with which the People were so greatly affrighted their fear arose not only from the Matter of the Words but from the manner of their delivery and that dreadful sound in which they were uttered as appears by their petition put up which was not that God should not speak to them any more but that he would speak by Moses and not himself personally any more least they should die This appears in the recapitulation of this story in Deut. 5. the People are there said to desire Moses Go thou near and hear all that the Lord our God shall say The Apostle adds they could not bear that which was commanded the weight of the Law was unsupportable and to add to the terror of all Disobedience to it if so much as Man or Beast touched the Mountain from whence it was delivered it was immediately to die and even Moses himself who had often been so near unto God and so conversant with him was not able to abide this dreadful scene but fell into consternation and horror an evident intimation that the
to accuse calumniate and misrepresent before God so these blessed Angels are constant Spectators and publick Notaries of all the Proceedings of the Church and all the Actings and Sufferings of every Member thereof in order to bear a faithful Witness before God and be a punctual Record thereof at the Day of Judgment And in this sense we are come unto them they are not only present in publick Assemblies but conversant in the Closet of every Saint and take an exact view of all their devout and fervent Addresses unto God upon this account it is that St. Paul tells us that the Apostles by their Preaching and Suffering were a Spectacle to Angels the holy Angels beheld their Spiritual Courage and Conquest with wonderful satisfaction and upon this account it is that St. Paul chargeth Timothy before the Elect Angels to look well to the discharge of his Work and Office because they are Witnesses appointed of God to take punctual notice of his Behaviour therein and the Presence of the Angels is made an Argument by the Holy Ghost for the well-ordering our selves and all our Actions in Church-Assemblies 5thly The Angels as they are God's Officers employed for the guard and security of the Church so they are also for the revenging of his Wrath upon their Enemies so it often was under the Old Testament and so it is under the New and will continue till the end that wretched prophane Herod who added to all his former wickedness to shut up John in Prison and after added to that addition to cut off his Head to please a Dalilah and at last came to make himself his own Idol by taking to himself that glory that should have been ascribed to God at last an Angel smote him and dispatch'd him to his own place by a woful and miserable Catastrophey the Angels stood all ready when our blessed Saviour was led to the Cross to have rescued him upon the least Command this our Saviour himself told the Jews when he was encompass'd with a Roman Guard he could upon request to his Father have more then twelve legions of angels to rescue and assist him which exceeded the number of Men the Romans then had in their whole Army for their Army at that time did not consist of twelve Legions and in the Revelations we find the Angels constantly employed by God as the great Executioners of his Wrath upon the Churches Enemies to the end of the World 6thly We are come to this innumerable company of Angels as to our truest Friends and most faithful Companions for they never leave us till they have brought us home 1st To the rest of our Souls in Heaven for they wait upon every dying Believer to comfort and chear his spirit so soon as ever it hath left the Body and safely to convey it into that Blessed fellowship above and into that glorious place and state of rest called Abraham's Bosom And 2dly They will be assisting and instrumental though it be effected by the mighty Power of God to call and raise the Bodies of the Saints out of their Graves at last when Christ comes to effect the first Resurrection he will be attended with all his Glorious Angels and by their Ministry the Dead in Christ shall rise first the Trumpet that will sound to summon them out of their ashes will be an Angelical sound probably the Voice of the Arch-Angel and when they arise out of the Earth they will together with all the Saints then living be caught up by the Angels and conveyed by them to meet the Lord in the Air the last office the Angels will have to perform and so will ever abide with him Whose heart would not burn within him upon the contemplation of these things that God should be such a lover of Men that the Eternal Son should by his death redeem them his own spirit by his influences come down and dwell in them and all the Angels in Heaven made their Guardians and their whole Ministry and Service employed on their behalf How blessed a condition does the Gospel instate us in above the Law in reference to this particular When Man first fell by sin the Angels became his most avowed Enemies and Executioners of Wrath that went out against him for the Cherubims stood with a flaming Sword to keep the Tree of Life and to shut Man out of Paradise he made his Angels Spirits and at that time his ministers a flame of fire When the Law was given upon Mount Sinai and Man considered only in his natural state the Angels were most dreadful and terrible in their appearance but now under the Gospel Angels and Men by the Blood of the Cross are embodyed into one Fellowship and Society united in and under one head engaged in the same Worship and Service and enjoy a sweet and most endeared communion each with other all which is fully insinuated and intimated by the Apostle in telling the Believing Jews they were come to this innumerable company of angels 4thly The Apostle tells them they are come to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in Heaven This is an expression of that part of the Catholick Church here upon Earth to which by the Gospel all Believers come and with which they are incorporated and imbodyed two things are intended hereby to shew the preference of the Gospel-state before that of the Legal 1st That instead of the Assembly of all the Males three times a Year at Jerusalem which is called in Scripture the great congregation they are come now to the great Assembly of all the Members of the true Catholick Church amongst Mankind to all the true servants of God both of Jews and Gentiles that any where call upon God in Spirit and Truth and that God would have such a general Assembly and such an universal Church of the first-born throughout all Nations without any farther respect to the Jews or their Church was a secret undiscovered till the Gospel Revelation came 2dly That this assembly consists only of real and true Saints such as have the right of the first born the great inheritance that men are born capable of in this World is the possession of Heaven at last those that obtain that are the eldest sons of this lower World and the first-born amongst Mankind in the Scripture sense and none obtain this inheritance but such as are eternally elected in Christ to it and therefore the Apostle when he names the Church of the first-born adds as explanatory of it whose names are inrolled in Heaven that is in the Lamb's Book of Life in the Roll of God's eternal purposes and councels there they are Registred and not in an Earthly Register as the Jews were this Church of the first-born is called in Scripture the first fruits of the whole Creation unto God and the Lamb they are said to be Heirs to God and Joynt-heirs with Christ they are made Kings and Priests unto God and so have
all the Title and Right of Primogeniture appurtenant unto them This infinitely exceeds the state of the Jews who were but a typical People their general Assembly was but a national Assembly and though many excellent particular Saints were amongst them yet they were in their National Constitution but a figure and representation of this true Saintship and the whole that belonged to them was but a shadow and Image of this true Catholick Church and not the thing it self they were enrolled indeed but it was upon Earth and upon an Earthly account to preserve their Tribes distinct and so to adjust their Earthly inheritances in Canaan The greatest difficulty that seems to be in this part of the Apostles Comparison is what is meant by this expression the general assembly since there neither was nor ever will be a time that all the Members of the Church under the Gospel shall meet together till Christ's second coming the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used I take to signifie the same thing and the latter to be exegetical of the former 't is not meant of the Church of the first-born of all assembling in any one place but of that Church every where assembling in several and distinct parts 't is spoken in opposition to the Assemblies of the Jews who were but one particular nation assembling at one place in Jerusalem to which they were confin'd the generality the Apostle means does not arise from their meeting all in one place but from their meeting without confinement all the World over to this general Assembly of the Gospel-Church every Believer is come and to it is united but 't is after a Spiritual manner and therein lies the excellency of this Union this Assembly where ever or in what parts soever they are met are animated by one Spirit they have the same Faith and Hope the same Priviledges and Enjoyments and wherein the Life of the Union lies they are all united under one common Head and are but one Body belonging to it and so the sense seems to be this which contains in it the force of the Apostles comparison ye are not after an Earthly manner come with your Bodies to any such assembly as that at mount Sinai nor as that of the Males at the earthly Jerusalem but ye are come which is infinitely better in your Souls and Spirits unto the Society and Fellowship of all the Sanctified and saved throughout the World who now every-where Worship the Father in Spirit and Truth and are all present together in one Spirit though corporally divided having but one common interest rejoycing in the welfare and prosperity of each other and closely united in their mutual prayers and concerns each for other This is of all others the most truly Honourable and Noble Society that we can converse with in this World here the Blessing is commanded life for evermore here 's the Crown of all Mans glory and Happiness to be obtained he that is no Member of this Association is under a black Character and comes no farther then the Assembly of the fallen Angels and their Associates the Scripture informs us that the Wrath of God abides upon every such Man and the Judge stands at the Door shortly to execute it the foundation of this Glorious Happy and Blessed Assembly stands sure and this is the seal of it the Lord knows them that are his they are those God has eternally designed for Happiness and Glory their Record is on high their Names are in the Roll of God's eternal Determinations And this ought to seem strange to none for no Man can with any tollerable sense conceive that infinite Wisdom should make any thing and not at the same time design it to its utmost end 't is contradicted by our own finite and imperfect discretion who still have our eyes upon the ultimate end of all that we enterprize and to me it seems that the whole system of those objections that are made against the Doctrine of God's Decrees touching Mens eternal condition is fully discarded with this one consideration that God infinitely foreseeing and perfectly knowing from all eternity whatever any creature he made would do and how he would behave himself when he should be brought into being and existence 't was all one for him in point of Justice to determin his condition before he was made as to determine it at the day of Judgment after all the actions of his Life were over the prescience of God cannot with any tollerable satisfaction to our own reason be denyed for whatever potentiality God created he must needs know and foresee the utmost extent of it or else he could not design any certain end to himself by it but might remain ignorant of the success and event of a Creature which he had from himself given being to which is absurd to suppose for infinite knowledge must needs comprehend and look beyond all finite actions and therefore when God made Man with freedom of choice he must needs foreknow that made that faculty which way his will would incline and the utmost journy it could possibly lead him or else he must remain wholly ignorant what would be the suceess of his own Work and incapable of making any certain determination with himself about him We find in Scripture prescience and election always go together and prescience has the precedence so in St. Peters first Epistle he calls those to whom he wrote elect according to the foreknowledge of God and St. Paul in his deep and solemn discourse about this matter tells us whom he did foreknow them also he did predestinate 5thly They are said to come to God the Judge of all they are come to the Lord paramount of the Church the great author and end of all transactions therein coming to him and drawing near to him in Scripture Phrase is coming to partake of his Fovour and Grace or else coming to the Judge of all were of all conditions the most dreadful the wicked he keeps at a distance and is said to know afar off this is of all attainments the most Superlative all that the Heart of Man can wish is included herein to come to his Maker with acceptation and to find favour in his sight whose favour is better then Life it self and to have the Supream Judge of all on his side As this mighty Judge was accompanied with all possible terror and dread at Mount Sinai and all the People kept upon pain of Death at a great distance from him to tell us how far removed from God every Man is by the Law and in his sinful estate so by the Gospel we are come as near to him as humane nature will admit and he appears to us in all the glory of his reconciling Grace and receives us into intimate fellowship and converse with him for this is the declared state of the Gospel We have fellowship with the Father and with the Son and the blood