authority to be of him and to rise and spring out of that nature which is of God that so God may be all in all s 1 Cor. 12. 6 Ephes 1. 23 and man silenced from boasting or ascribing any power or authority or any of that great worke unto himself for ever t 1 Cor. 1. 29 30 31. 2 Cor. 10. 17 18 Ier. 9. 23. 24. as he is man nor can he ever desire it no more then he can admit of any the least cessation authority operation and power as he is God u 1 Tim. 1. 17. Isa 52. 7. Rev. 19. 6. Therfore the Apostle presently addes else what should they doe * 1 Cor. 15. 29. or else what should he doe as the word will also bear for such as the root is such are the branches that is such as one is so are many w Therefore the reading may be either singular or plurall that is baptized for or with death x Rom. 11. 16. If that death be not the resurrection how can he at all be baptized for or drenched with or plunged in death y 1 Cor 15. 29 If that death should not be the resurrection from the dead then should the life of the Sonne of God be extinct for some time for now is Christ dead and risen againe a Rom. 8. 33 34. Revel 2. 8. and if these two should not be in one act and point of time there should be some time of ceslation of the life of the Sonne of God which the thought of man may not permit for a moment z Luke 12. 50 Mark 10. 38 39. that he should cease in whom all things are and do consist b Col. 16. 17. So that as the Sonne of God becomes death in Man the Sonne of Man becomes life in God in the very same act and the one and the other is the compleating of Christ c Col. 2. 10. Col. 4. 12. who cannot be the annointed but as he sustaines both natures therefore the death is the resurrection of such scope is that place of the Apostle and of such force the argument there used however the words differ in the translation for more ease in reading therefore he addes and wherefore are we in jeopardy every houre or every moment as the word signifies d 1 Cor. 15. 30. that is why do you think for I appeale to your Conscience wee should give up our selves to all dangers perills losses yea and to death every moment and not evade and wave those things as the men of the world doe if we found not safety strength and stability in them yea if this death were not life it self unto us For by how much the more our jeopardies are doubled and redoubled even so is our life augmented or multiplyed in the severall motions operations and out-goings thereof and this the Apostle confirmes by that great affirmation or asseveration protest by your rejoycing which I have in Christ Iesus our Lord I dye daily e 1 Cor. 15. 31 which affirmation hath the forme of an oath in declaring that as death hath the resurrection in it or is the resurrection it self even so also the resurrection the dominion or Lordship of Christ hath death in it or is death it self and is in substance this oath of interposition proclaimed in the name of the Lord shewing the same necessity and infallibillity of the unity and one-nesse of the Saints of God in Christ in respect of every particular Saint or sonne in whom the seed of life and immortallity is expressed * 1 Ioh. 5. 18. 1 Iohn 3 9. 1 Iohn 2. 29. Iames 1. 18. as it doth of the unity of that common nature or condition of man with the word of God whereof by nature they are all alike partakers for the Word of God cannot unite it selfe to a part of mans nature or condition whereinto man is plunged no more then our nature in Christ can bee united unto a part of the word or a part of the condition and state of the Sonne of God and not to the whole which indeed were to divide Christ For the humiliation of the Sonne of God is of an infinite extent therefore may not nor can be abridged in point of descension of any misery or wretchednes the nature of man in the utmost extent was ever subjected unto Therefore it is sayd He was heard in that which he feared f Heb. 5. 7. The word in our translation rendred feare signifies such a fear as is to utter despaire which indeed is the very state of the damned therefore his descension was to the lowest and uttermost parts of anguish and misery or else could not his ascension be to the sitting on the right hand of the power g Marke 14. 62. Mat. 26. 64. Heb. 1 3. or to the highest perfection of the glory and majesty of Godh But as in being made sin he for ever destroyed sin i 2 Cor. 5. 21 and brought in an everlasting righteousnesse into our nature k Dan. 9. 24. so in becoming that which was the very condition of the damned l Heb. 5. 7. Psal 16. 10. Psal 116. 3. hee for ever destroyed and brought to nought death and condemnation and established victory prowish and courage in all his Saints everlastingly m 1 Cor. 15. 54. to 58. So then this oath brings in the unity of every particular and distinct Saint or sonne of God n Psal 89. 35 36. Psal 132. 11 12. Iohn 17. 20. 21 22 23. or first borne in the Kingdome of heaven every one in that house or family being a first born in Christ For he is the first born among or in many brethren or as the word will beare in all brethren o Rom. 8. 29. or in every particular brother which in the house of Israel after the flesh can no wayes be admitted but makes a confusion in the whole house and in the mind of every naturall man p Acts 7. 35. Luke 9. 46. 47 48. Mark 11. 27. 28. Mat. 21. 23. Iohn 9. 28. 29 Gen. 19 9. yet in this house of God they are all first bornes heires yea co-heires with Christ q Rom. 8. 17. yet every one distinct and compleat in himselfe though not one divided from another For Paul is not Apollo nor Apollo Cephas nor is any of them Christ no more then in the three witnesses in heaven it cannot be said the Father is the Word or the Word is the holy Ghost yet these three are one nor can it be sayd of the three witnesses on earth r 1 Iohn 5. 7. 8. that the Water is the Blood or the Blood the Spirit yet these three are one for so the word will beare and is in some of our translations as well as agree in one and so it is truly to be understood else we wander from the scope and sense of that place and it is not known unto us But let us
with their fore-warned or forestalled opinion t Mat. 3. 7. Luke 3. 7. that such a dipping or washing should save them from wrath to come as hee performed it being that all that he did was but to shew what a turbulent Jordan and Deluge of wrath the Son of God descended into which was already in their hearts and for no other end but that we might in him ascend into that fountaine and overflowing streame of Gods grace compassion and tender mercy for ever in the vertuous and glorious actions of the Son of God for Johns Ministry and dipping sheweth what Christ hath in our nature and the Ministry of Christ in his coming up or ascending out of the waters with the Spirit of God lighting residing or abiding upon him declares what we are in that divine nature of the Word or Son of God Now these Jewes would be playing the part and presuming to performe the Office of the Son of God who descends downe into the depth of the wrath of his Father hoping thereby to escape wrath even as our first Parents entred into the way of death in hope to escape it and to attaine life thereby and in the meane time neglect contemne and despise that glory of the Son which he in that dipping or descention of his doth so freely tender and offer unto them for it is onely his part to descend and be dipped in the waters of our weaknesse that have by nature no life nor Spirit of God in us at all or into that troubled Jordan of Gods wrath which naturally burneth in every mans soule and it is onely our priviledge to ascend and come out of that wrath and weaknesse in that descending and residing of that life and Dove-like Spirit of God upon us for ever u Mat. 3. 16 the first of these is naturall and incident unto all men to dip to dive to sprinckle and wash with materiall water or to plunge themselves into some infirmity or weaknesse of the flesh as fasting mourning afflicting of themselves or the like hoping thereby to please God for the appeasing of his wrath and so do undertake the Office of the Son of God to undergoe the Crosse in themselves which is the very spirit of Antichrist and in the meane time neglect and contemne the other namely that glorious resurrection of our nature through that residency of the Spirit upon it whereby we are made able to give Satan the foyle in all his temptations even as our Lord did by the power of his might x Mat. 4. 1. 11. Col. 1. 11. Phil. 4. 13. Rev. 2. 26 27. Therefore in all Baptisms and Washings practised in the holy Scripture we must know that there is not any two performed alike all circumstances considered therefore that Church which takes up the way of any particular of them alone and of it selfe cannot practise nor performe the true Baptisme when the whole Administration thereof which the Holy Ghost hath beene pleased to declare the right of it in so many differing waies is not brought in therefore if wee will professe and practise the perfect Baptisme unto which our Apostle leads us when he saith let us goe on unto perfection y Heb. 6. 1. then we must unite and contract them all into one and so shall we finde the Ordinance of Baptisme to bee found faulty in all Churches under heaven unlesse they have learned to center them all in one and if they doe so it will not be found in any but onely in the Son of God whose dipping or washing comprehends them all and so hath in it all spirituall and holy dippings and washings whatsoever therefore if we set up another besides that which is perfected in him we make an Idoll of it and so subject our selves unto wrath z 1 Cor. 10. 1 to 7. for it is in this point of Baptisme as it is in the death of Christ if we professe another death that is spirituall besides that which Christ hath undergone we make an Idoll of it and subject our selves thereby to the undergoing of that eternall death to come by usurping and arrogating unto our selves the death of Christ which he at once for ever perfected a Heb. 7. 27 Heb. 10. 10. for the water of that Baptisme that now is saveth us even as Noah was saved in the Arke by waters b 1 Pet. 3. 20 21. that he perished not with the rest of the world even so doth the Baptisme of Christ which is his Crosse save us and lift us up from perishing in those waters or in that wrath that naturally ingenders breeds and breakes forth in every mans heart both from things below and also from things above as those waters of Noah did c Gal. 4. 24 25. Gen. 7. 11 12. for he appearing in the similitude of sinfull flesh by sin or by becoming sin in us condemned sin in the flesh d Rom. 8. 3. passed sentence upon it that it should never live in us nor have dominion over us any more e Rom. 6. 14 for he made a plaister of our sins to heal us of and save us from our sins for ever and so by death overcame him that had the power of death f Heb. 2. 14. even as the Arke by the waters overcame the waters and yet the same waters stifled and choaked the world so by being made sin Christ overcomes sin and yet the same sin destroyes and condemns the world g Psal 34. 21. For as the waters of Noah lifted up the Arke to heaven out of all danger that otherwise might have befallen it and the very same waters also drowned and destroyed the rest of the world so doth the Baptisme of Christ which is his Crosse save us and lift us up unto God and yet the very same thing which is his Crosse or Death doth also destroy and overthrow the wicked for the Son of God taking our nature into unity with himselfe is that which is properly his Crosse or Death he thereby sustaining our infirmities h Isa 53. 4. and so in one act for ever perfecteth our salvation i Heb. 10. 14 and all those things that Jesus Christ suffered upon the earth in so many acts places and by so many persons and waies is his Crosse Doctrinally and all those things doe set forth and declare what that one intire act of the Son of God is in taking our nature into unity with the Word which act indeed is the proper Baptisme Crosse or Death of Christ that saves us k 1 Pet. 3. 21. and all other Baptismes performed in the holy Scriptures at all times amongst the Saints are onely the teaching and setting forth of that one unto which they all look with an equall and indifferent eye so that if we take up one of them more or lesse then another we wrong both it and all the rest and doe nothing else but make an Idoll of it for if we goe about to
Pilate and the Apostle unto the Hebrewes l Heb. 7. Comments both upon the History in Genesis and upon the Prophecy in this Psalme applying all to live and to be extant in his own daies times and Ministrie describing and setting out the true Ministry of Christ from the condition or manner of his Person or being which he saith is without father without mother and without descent having neither beginning of daies nor end of life but made like unto the Son of God abideth a Priest for ever or continually so that according to the times ages and generations that the Son of God abides or remaines whether past present or to come of such duration hath this Priesthood been and ever shall for never was nor shal be any other acceptable unto the Father whatever men according to their owne naturall reason and wisdome of the flesh seem to thinke and embolden themselves in to speake of the changes and alterations of it which God himselfe by our Apostle affirmes as well as by this Prophet to be perpetuall or without any intermission at all as the word signifies so that such as the person or being of Christ is such also is his Office and Ministery but the Person or being of Christ our Melchizedek is without father and mother so also is his office and Ministery now the person or subsistance of Christ is without father on this wise for the holy and pure God never begot or produced any thing of the flesh which the Word was made m Ioh. 1. 14 and tooke it into unity with it solfe without which Christ is not that is the father never produced or propagated any weaknesse infirmity or frailty which is properly that flesh that the word tooke into unity for he bare our sins and carried our sorrowes n Isa 53. 4. and was made subject to our frailties and infirmities which are not without but in these materiall souls and bodies of ours o Mat. 26 38 Luke 24. 39 40. Psal 22. 16 which heart-sores sicknesses and sorrowes p Mat. 8. 17 God could never produce who is the fountaine of life q Psal 36. 9 Jer. 2. 13. no more then a pure fountaine can send out uncleane and corrupt waters r Iam. 11. 12. therefore as he sustained our infirmities and weaknesses he was without father for he was never produced propagated or generated after the flesh nor received the least spirit or livelihood according to the flesh but altogether according to the spirit For he was borne not of blood nor of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God s Iohn 3 6. Iohn 1. 13. Iohn 1. 14. and therfore in regard of the flesh which indeed he became he was without father for he never lived after it nor was begotten nor brought forth according to the lusts and desires thereof Now such as he is such also is his Office and Ministerie for any thing that may receive forme and being preservation and continuation amongst men by study art humane learning tradition or the like it can be nothing of this Office and Ministerie it is a higher seed or generative vertue that must produce and bring it forth x Iam. 1. 18 or els no Office nor Ministery of our high Priest at all y Luk. 1. 35 He is also without mother for he was made flesh and yet that which he truly was never did nor eve can conceive cherish or bring forth the Son of the living God For the flesh or the naturall man conceives not the things that are of God for they are spiritually to bee conceived discerneall and brought forth * 1 Cor. 2. 14 which the flesh is not neither can it doe it so that the word of God ministreth nothing in the being or subsistance of Christ to add any thing unto the flesh or unto that weaknesse which hee tooke upon him for then weaknesse should naturally flow out of strength as out of its proper fountain which it cannot do nor doth the flesh minister any thing unto the Word of God in this bringing forth of Christ in the conception or cherishing thereof for then should it be a fountaine and cause of that which is the fountaine and cause of all things God then in the begetting of his Sonne adds nothing at all in ministring unto the flesh nor the Spouse in conceiving of Christ addeth nothing in ministring unto the spirit nor in the diminution or annihilating of the flesh so that the great skill of the work is to bring forth the one and the other in direct opposition in all points and that is the true forme of that infinite and eternall Sonne of God which can never be done but by the light of the Spirit for nature cannot conceive the Creator to bee at an infinite distance and disproportion with his owne work nor can this be seen but the unity of them both is concluded for the condition of the one having lost the image of God is of infinite emptinesse and vastnesse because the losse is of an infinite nature and value and that royall perfection of the other that ever abides the same and knows how to bring gain and profit out of all things a 1 Tim. 6. 6 is of infinite fulnesse and validity so that these two become the very proper centers receptacles dwelling and abiding places of one another for ever b Iohn 17. 21 23. which is the swallowing up of mortality by life c 2 Cor. 5. 4 and that victory of faith that overcomes the world d 1 Ioh. 5. 4 and that wherein death is swallowed up for ever e 1 Cor. 15 54. 55 56 57. and of such nature is the office and ministery of Christ in the house of God otherwise it is not of the nature of this Priesthood that is after the order of Melchizedek for Christ and his Priesthood Christ and his Ministery Christ and his worship and Christ and his Gospell are of such neare affinity and alliance that if we take away the one the other ceaseth and therefore it is said that he is without descent also so f Heb. 7. 3. or without pedegree kindred stock or race because one can describe a Priest Office or Ministery of the Gospell but it is properly a description of Christ himselfe nor can any describe or delineate Christ Jesus but in so doing he describes the Priesthood Office and Ministry of the Gospell they being inseparably involved each in another therefore the Apostle describing the grace or Ministery of the Gospell saith It is Christ in you the hope of glory g Col. 1. 27. so that we cannot describe another of the same kin stock or pedegree but we describe the same grace in case we speak according to the faith of Gods Elect h Titus 1. 1. therefore he is without stock or kindred in regard it is not any other but one and the same that is ever even in all ages
the depth also of that love of God in us through Jesus Christ u Rom. 5. 5. Rom. 8. 39. 1 Iohn 2. 5. Mans misery therefore by Christ our King is wounded or caused to wither both in root and branch and that in many or in all Countreyes or Continents that is even in all things wherein the misery of man is contained or can any way appeare for he being that wherein the creature hath its subsistance who is infinite in himselfe in all excellencies and glory must needs gather it up and fetch it out of all its infirmities and frailties for being infinite he cannot but extend himselfe unto them and accordingly exercise his Power Kingdome headship and domination in the deliverance and release of that which is become himselfe from them all mans nature having no other being or subsistance but what it hath in him alone x Acts 17. 28. neither hath the Son of God any motin or operation either in respect of ascention or descention but what he hath in mans nature alone and hence is the manner of his repast brought in by our Prophet in his pursuit of and exercise of authority over his enemies laid downe in these words He shall drinke of the brooke in the way as also the issue and event the sum and result of all in these words therefore shall he lift up his head or therefore shall he lift up heads for the word is plurall and answers to those heads that are spoken of before which are wounded or killed or withered But this or these are revived or lifted up these words therefore by atrim or elegant allusion unto Gideon and his Souldiers going out against that great Army of the Midianites y Iudges 7. the whole chapt doe set Forth and declare the way of the humiliation and exaltation of Jesus Christ the Son of God that Judge of Israel z Psal 72. 1 2 3 4. yea that high Priest and Captaine of our salvation a Heb. 2. 10. in his vanquishing and destruction of all the enemies thereof in Gideon and his souldiers set out plurally as in many even in three hundred and here set out as in that one only begotten of the Father the Son of God who treads the wine-presse alone and none but he to help b Iohn 3. 16 Iohn 1. 14. Isa 63. 3. Gideons souldiers drinke of the water to declare the weaknesse of that whereby they are tried or of that wherein their triall lies as they descend downe into the valley where the Army of the Midianites lay even as grashoppers c Iudges 6. 5 Iudges 7. 12 not onely in a low descent as in a valley but fortified with the hills and mountaines of this present world against Israel as the word valley signifies not onely a low place but fortification also even as a valley is fortified with hills Now we know that water is weake in it selfe d Ezek. 7. 17 Lam. 2. 19. and therefore our Apostle adviseth Timothy to drinke no longer water but a little wine because of his stomacks often infirmities e 1 Tim. 5. 23. shewing thereby by an allusion unto water and a weake stomack what he ought to doe in the course of his Ministery that is that weaknesse and infirmity is not to be applyed unto weaknesse and infirmity but strength signified by wine is to be applied unto infirmity and so comes the cure of it that is the weake things of man are not to be applied unto man but unto the Son of God whereby they receive strength and cure So saith the Baptist I indeed baptize with water that is my Baptisme hath no life nor spirit in it at all teaching what our nature is that the Word of God comes downe into but the life spirit and power is in the Baptisme of him that comes after me that is greater then I whose shooe latchet I am not worthy to loose f Iohn 1. 26 27. teaching thereby the authority power and strength that our nature is taken into and ascendeth up unto in that Word and Spirit descending upon it and uttering it selfe unto it g Mat. 3. 16 17. so also the Prophet Ezekiel telling of the weaknesse of all flesh saith that all knees shall be feeble or faile as water h Ezek. 7. 17 So that Gideons Souldiers are to drinke of weaknesse for their triall in that their descent to destroy the Adversary so is our Lord Christ also said to drinke of the brooke in his descent in wounding the heads of all Continents yea all Adversaries in whatever they may be made manifest By brook here signifying the same thing that those waters doe which Gideons souldiers drinke of onely the word used here for brook signifies a streame that runs swift and abundantly occasioned by some great fall of snow or raine from an high even so as the brook of our infirmities arising from our fall from that happy condition man was made in at the first In this point three sorts of Gideons souldiers are to be noted First such as out of feare turned backe and of them were two and twenty thousand these were such as conceived their owne weaknesses would be their fall and ruine i Iudges 7. 3 for the adversaries had nothing but the arme of flesh to come against them with so that in their owne feares they exalted and set up the arme of flesh which power their adversaries onely had and no more which to feare is a like sinne as to trust in it and so equally shares in the curse k Ier. 17. 5. Rev. 21. 8. The second sort were such as would go on but they conceived and concluded that weaknesse in themselves intimated in those waters was a defect and hindrance unto them in that worke of the pursuit and overcoming of the adversary and so they make use of it bowing and kneeling downe to it to make use of it as in its naturall place as it runs in the river and must of necessity breake that method and order in march which our Gideon had and hath set his souldiers in and by that were discarded seven thousand The third sort were such as lapt up the water with their hands as they passed along as no breach of ranks nor any hindrance in their march at all that is they took or doe take up this water or weaknesse out of its naturall place lapping it up with their hands even as a dog doth water with his tongue that is they take it up into unity according to that art skill device or Ministery signified by the hand l Psal 77. 20. Psal 137. 5. Isa 53. 10. wherein or whereby the Son of God hath taken our infirmities into unity with himselfe even so as by taking it hee devoures and destroyes it as these souldiers devouring the water by their hand taking it out of its naturall place so as it becomes no hindrance but a refreshment and an incouragement in their pursuit