The Knowledge of God the Father,

And His Son Jesus Christ

by Thomas Goodwin

Table of Contents

BOOK I: Of the Godhead, and the three Persons within itself

CHAPTER I: That God is one in essence.

CHAPTER II: God, one in essence, is three in persons, jointly co-operate in all God's external works

CHAPTER III: That these three persons in the Godhead are persons distinct one from the other.

CHAPTER IV: Persons in the Godhead have an Union and Communion Between Themselves

CHAPTER V: Of giving glory to God

CHAPTER VI: What it is to Give Glory to God in Himself

CHAPTER VII: The Glory of God Described

BOOK II: Of the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity

CHAPTER I: How greatly it imports us to have a true knowledge of the person of Christ

CHAPTER II: Who this person was that existed from eternity

CHAPTER III: That he was the Son of God, who existed throughout all ages, and from eternity.

CHAPTER IV: What kind of Son he is to God, or in what sense he is the Son of God.

CHAPTER V: That the second person of the Trinity assumed human nature into personal union with himself

BOOK III: Of the glories and royalties that belong unto Jesus Christ

CHAPTER I: A preface giving a short scheme or draft of the ensuing discourse.

CHAPTER II: The personal native glories and royalties which belong to the Son of God, as dwelling in our nature.

CHAPTER III: The honour and royalties that appertain unto Christ, God-man

CHAPTER IV: That by this designed union of the Son of God to this individual creature the man Jesus

CHAPTER V: The glory which Christ, as God-man, had assigned him before the world

CHAPTER VI: The exposition of some other passages in John 17

CHAPTER VII: That God constituted from eternity Jesus Christ God-man

CHAPTER VIII: That the title of Lord, though it imports him that is God

CHAPTER IX: That all things do depend upon Christ as one Lord

CHAPTER X: How all things depend on Christ

CHAPTER XI: That Christ as God-man is the Creator of all things, proved by scriptures.

CHAPTER XII: That Christ, as God-man, is the Creator of all things, proved from John 1:1, 2, 3.

CHAPTER XIII: How Christ, God-man, is subservient to God in all the works of his providence

BOOK I

Of the Godhead, and the three Persons within itself.—That there is but one God.—That in the divine nature, or one Godhead, there are three Persons conversing with, speaking to, and glorifying one another.—Which union and communion of the three Persons between themselves is peculiar to the Deity, and incommunicable to any mere creature.

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.—1 COR. 8:6.

CHAPTER I

That God is one in essence.

THAT God is but one, you have this declared concerning him by Moses, Deut. 6:4, 'The Lord our God is one Lord.' Also by God's own immediate testimony you have the same truth pronounced, Deut. 32:39, 'See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me.' To which you may add Isa. 44:8, 'Is there a god besides me? I know not any.' He puts that last clause as the clearest evidence and the most ultimate demonstration of the truth of this, that God himself, the true God, and the God of truth, could give us. It is parallel for certainty and infallibility with God's adding an oath to his word, even such is this speech here, 'I know not any.' It comes in as upon second deliberate thoughts, after the former speech declared. And, to be sure, if there were another god besides him, he must needs know it. For, 1, He that is God knows all that are, if they be existent; and therefore if there were another, he must needs be privy to it. Especially, 2, Another god: for if there were another god, he must be immense in extent of being, and so take up so much room for that his being to dwell in as he could not hide nor conceal himself from this one God, nor scape the omniscience of his eye, who is the true God. And, 3, another god would have been his compeer for our true God his Godhead; the rivalship would have been for no less. Such is the interest of the very God in this matter, that his jealousy (who professeth of himself that he is a jealous God, in point of worshipping him as God, otherwise than he hath appointed), his jealousy, I say, would have risen to the height of it, and have provoked him to have seen to that, and to have searched out that of all things else. To have an equal (Pompeiusve parem*), a corrival for the Godhead, would hare detracted from the glory of him who hath said it, 'I will not give my glory to another,' Isa. 42:8. Sole dominion is the essential point to every one that is a monarch; and God's glory and blessedness lies in that very point of sole dominion: and therefore you find these two conjoined, viz., God's blessedness and sovereignty, 'who is the blessed and only potentate' (says Paul of him, 1 Tim. 6:15). You may therefore well believe him, and take it upon his word when he speaks it in this manner, upon his knowledge, 'I know not any.'

We need not seek out many reasons: one God, and one sufficient reason for it is enough; and that is sufficient which hath been in a manner mentioned already before: that there is no room or space for two immense beings, diverse from each other. When therefore God says, in Isa. 63:3, 'There is none with me,' his meaning must be the same with this in 1 Cor. 8:5, 'There is no other God but one,' i.e., no God diverse from him. The Godhead is but one, yet the persons in this one Godhead are more than one. We may safely say of each person, as of the Father, that he is God, and likewise of the Son, that he is God, and of the Holy Ghost, that he is God. And that there are three, each of whom is God, but still it is but one and the same God for nature, and that oneness, 1 John 5:8, in and by which the three are said to be one, is that they all three are one God alike. The Godhead is but one, and we must be wary of saying there are three Gods; that would sound at least too much as if there were one God diverse from the other; whereas one and the same Godhead is in all and each of the three, you may say it of each thrice over, the Father is God, the Son is God, &c. But that there are three Gods sounds harsh, and is condemned by Scripture language, yea, by the text, 'There are many gods, but to us but one.'

And the reason of it is his infiniteness for perfection, as well as his immensity; for he comprehends all perfections within himself, or else he were not infinite, and his blessedness consists in it, so that there cannot be a God diverse from himself.

CHAPTER II

That this God, one in essence, is three in persons, who jointly co-operate in all God's external works.

To us there is but one God, the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ.—1 COR. 8:6.

Here are two persons mentioned in the text, the Father, and Christ the Lord; and these two persons are made distinct in the Godhead. The Father is a relate, and there must be a Son to answer as a correlate there-unto, and an only-begotten Son, for he is that one Lord over us saints, and all other things, in the text. So great a Father would put no other person into that sovereignty with himself, but such a Son who is of as high a birth, and for substantiality of nature and generation, equal with himself, and who in his very person should greaten and fill up this office of Lord over all the saints, by whom we and all things else are, and do subsist.

There is a third person in the Godhead, the Spirit of God the Father, and of Christ; who in my handling the point will fall in, and appear to be that only true God, as well as these other two named.

And this is a prime principle for me to premit, for it is influential into the most particular parts of this whole discourse. It runs through every vein of it, and we shall meet with it at every turn; yea, whole treatises in it refer to the doctrine of the three persons in the Trinity; and therefore it cannot be omitted here, but deservedly and necessarily claims a place amongst these principles I set first.

And further, there is this occasion of my inserting it. We may and cannot but know, that there hath risen up in this our age a generation, of all others the most presumptuous, that have affirmed all the whole creation to be but emanations of the Godhead, or, in plain words, to be materially God himself, though turquoised and translated by himself into so many lesser parcels of beings, which considered apart we call creatures. And that it is but the folly and ignorance of men to think themselves to be but creatures different essentially from God; and that if men would but believe themselves to be God really, and indeed (which, say they, we all are), they would be freed from that fond dotage of being in subjection to the law of God, and bondage to the fear of hell, and should instantly be enfranchised, and enter into all the privileges the Godhead hath. And because they hear of, and in scriptures find three spoken of, to be in that one God, as persons distinct, whom these men foreseeing to stand in their way to this their aspirement of each and every man to be as so many distinct persons enjoying the Godhead themselves with God; therefore they make no more ado but throw down that blessed society of three in the Godhead, allowing them no other reality in the divine being, but as three manifestations, or else operations of God in us, and to us, doing herein like men that are ambitious, and would rise, they cast down those that are in rank above them; so these would deal with the Trinity, as if they stood in their way to this high preferment. An high preferment indeed, which Satan (having first sinned himself by the like impious ambition) prompted our first father unto, Gen. 3:5, 'You shall be as gods.' And he has left the seeds of this aspirement in our corrupted nature, upon which God said, 'Man is become as one of us.'

But the nature of God, blessed for ever, cannot admit of this, nor be able to raise a creature unto it, for it is utterly inconsistent. For evidence of which the man Jesus, though the Father loved him above all his saints and angels, yet all the power in God could not make him God in essence or in nature; all that could be done for him was to be one in person with him who is God. This he might be, but to turn his human nature into the divine being was incompatible with it.

A lower degree of accursed pride than this fell into the heart of the devil himself, whose sin in his first apostatising from God, take the height of it then, is conceived to be but a stomaching that man should be one day advanced unto the hypostatical union, and be one in person with the Son of God, which his proud angelical nature (then in actual existence the highest of creatures) could not brook. But the devil was modest in comparison to these men's pride, which usurps upon the whole of the three persons at once; and will not endure them compeers with themselves. And truly these could have no better way whereby to step into these thrones in their imaginations, than to depose our blessed three by setting up a religion and opinion whereby millions of persons, instead of those three blessed ones, should communicate of the Godhead, in the same manner as these blessed persons do. This caused me to review the Scriptures afresh, for the disquisition of this great truth.

My method in despatching this great point must be brief and contracted. And therefore, though the Scriptures afford plenty of evidence everywhere, yet I was satisfied with one full passage of Scripture which I met with at first in the very first entrance of my disquisition about the trinity of the persons in the one Godhead; and which is usually cited out of Moses for it, in several passages of his in that one book of Genesis. And I considered with myself that as he was the first penman of any Scripture, so he must needs have laid the foundation (though more darkly and obscurely) of such gospel truths, as this of the persons must be supposed to be, if it proved to be a truth at all; and I finding that Christ in his concertations with the carnal Jew, professeth in preaching the gospel which seemed new to them, to witness and preach none other things than those which Moses particularly and the prophets did say; and the doctrines of the gospel bringing forth this great truth to light more clearly, and so positively and determinately, I judged that this great truth (if a truth at all) must be extant in Moses; and Paul having appealed unto Moses to give evidence, unto Moses I did go.

And in the beginning of his first chapter I was accosted with his narrative of the creation, as it is in the first day's work set out, ver. 1, 2, 3. And after that, more particularly, with that renowned consultation which God had about the making of man, and his speech uttered concerning it. 'Let us make man' (the summary of all things that he had made) 'in our image, according to our likeness,' ver. 24 of that chapter, in which Moses bringeth God in, speaking in the language of an US, 'Let us make man,' Which us imports a plurality of persons to have been with God when he created man.* And we have the same us twice used by Moses, when in like manner he bringeth God in speaking of, and to himself, Gen. 3:22, 'The man is become as one of us.' And then chap. 11 ver. 7, at the confusion of languages, 'Let us go down.' And at the overthrow of Sodom, it is said in Gen. 19:24, 'That the LORD rained fire from the Lord out of heaven.'

And though I find some of our divines somewhat difficult to admit those arguments, drawn from all the proofs out of the first chapter of Genesis, and are exceptions here and there against some of them, yet, finding in a search and study of other scriptures, which be alleged for the confirmation of the whole point itself, and so many of those scriptures usually brought for it out of the prophets, and the New Testament, do flow into this current of Moses, and speak the same things, and well nigh in the same phrases that Moses hath used, and all onto this one purpose and intent, that there are such blessed persons in the Godhead, God with God; I thereupon resolved to content myself with those few allegations out of Moses alone. And finding them so strangely and strongly backed by those other scriptures that came in with their suffrages unto those of Moses, I then set up my rest in these citations out of him, to make them the rendezvous and centre of those other Scripture proofs, which of themselves, though standing severed and single, might each be a sufficient argument alone by themselves, yet marching under Moses's banner, and being further explanations of his speech, they altogether have a joint united force, as so many twisted cords, or as so many smaller, they contribute their waters into the same great stream and channel.

1. For those words used about the whole creation, Gen. 1:1–3, 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.' These words being prefaced to the whole of the creation, many judicious divines insist upon them as denoting the hand that each person had in the whole work of creation; and this is no less backed by other Scriptures which follow. The Father is said to 'create all things by Jesus Christ,' Eph. 3:9. And the Son is said to create, Heb. 1. 'Unto the Son he says, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever,' ver. 8; 'and God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows,' ver. 9; 'And Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands,' ver. 10. And the Holy Ghost is said to create, 'Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth,' Ps. 104:30. And the word Elohim being used of each person singly, though it be a word of the plural number, yet, as when magistrates are styled Elohim, 'I have said, you are gods,' Ps. 82:6, each magistrate may be called Elohim; so, applied to each person singly, it may be said that Elohim the Father created, and Elohim the Son created, &c., creation being an action that is common to the persons jointly. Both the plural in the word אלהים, God, and the singular in the word ברא, created, are fitly joined then, when the great and materially the general work of the creation of the whole world, visible and invisible, made out of nothing immediately, is first spoken of, as this of creating both heaven and earth in the beginning was. And the creation in a singular manner is common to the three, without a special appropriation to any one of the three. And then the argument for this interpretation will run thus, that who created heaven and earth is that Elohim of whom Moses did speak; but out of other scriptures it is plain that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost created heaven and earth, and therefore these words of Elohim are spoken of all three.

I will not utterly leave out that argument from the first words, 'God created,' which many judicious and holy divines insist upon. That the word אלהים, God, is in the plural number, signifying more than one, and yet ברא, created, is in the singular, because that the Persons were in a plurality, or more than one; but the verb created was in the singular, to notify the unity and oneness of the Godhead. But there are so many exceptions against this, which have broken the wards of the lock, that it is difficult to find a key which shall open it. I confess I like not to say of the persons that they are Gods, in the plural; to say of each person singly that he is God, that is safe; but it is not so to say of them, that they are Gods. It founds a diversity of the Godhead, as well as distinction of the persons. The word אלהים, Elohim, therefore, though in the declension of it it be of the plural number, yet in the sense of it it is singular, sometimes used to signify the Godhead, sometimes applied to each of the persons singly, and so no argument can be fetched from it.

But the argument I urge from these three verses is, that in them the three persons are distinctly rehearsed in the work of the creation. First, the Father, in that saying 'God created heaven and earth,' which work of creation is more generally attributed to the Father; as in our creed, 'I believe in God the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth,' &c. Then the Son, who is the Word of the Father, 'by whom he made all things,' Eph. 3:9, is hiddenly covered, and yet truly notified in the 3d verse, 'God said, Let there be light,' &c. And this word is in the chapter repeated five times, in the second, fourth, fifth, and sixth days' work of the creation; and adds a confirmation, that the Son was included, and aimed at ultimately in Moses his 'God said,' for in John 1:3 it is said, 'Without the Word nothing was made that was made.' As in Moses, all was by the same, 'God said, Let there be,' created, as well as the light. And it is no objection to say, that the first day's work, the creation of heaven and earth, was without it, or that heaven and the earth was made the first day, before the light, which was the second day. For the heavens are said to be made by the Word of God. Ps. 136:5, 'To him that by wisdom made the heavens,' not by the attribute wisdom, for in the Proverbs Wisdom is the person; and it is said, 'The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth,' Prov. 3:19. They were therefore all made, both heaven and earth, and all things in them, by one and the same 'God said,' and by his Word.

But finding the word us repeated again and again in Moses's story, denoting persons whom God speaks unto, as at the creation of man; and again in matters of government about man, as at confounding their languages, 'Let us go down,' Gen. 11:7; and in the prophets the same, and so many other scriptures flowing in, compared with these of Moses, to give evidence, I resolved to content myself with the testimony of Moses alone, as it came illustrated unto me by so many concurrent witnesses; so that I will not divert, but will centre in this one proof alone, as the seal for all the other.

Gen. 1:26, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.'

First, It is God speaking himself, 'God said,' and not Moses, as in the name of God. And there is no instance in the Hebrew that we or us is ever used of one single person, when God himself speaks of himself. And,

Secondly, It is God speaking, not by way of declaration of what he could do alone singly, but uttered by way of conference unto and with some other persons. And not only so, but it is an excitation or calling upon them to do it with him, as if he should say, 'Come, let us make,' as those that being 'with God' at that time were to join in that work also with him.

Thirdly, God speaks not to his attributes. No wise man ever thus speaks to his own abilities, Come, let us do such or such a thing; which more especially appears in that other speech, 'Let us go down,' It is a person or persons who are said to descend, as elsewhere the Holy Ghost is said to 'descend in the likeness of a dove,' Mat. 3:16; and the Son of God, often in the gospels, to come from heaven.

Fourthly, These spoken unto were not the angels (as some think), for they are never called our creators; but God alone is said to create expressly, Job 9:8, Isa. 45:18. And he is still said to create by himself, because he used no other instrument. So expressly in Isa. 44:24, 'Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, and spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;' and chap. 45:18 especially. The angels create not the souls of men, which God alone is the Father of, not angels, Heb. 12:9. Nor are we said to be made after their image, but God's, Col. 3:10.

Nor are the angels meant when it is said, 'thy makers are thy husband,' as Isa. 54:5; or, 'Remember thy Creators in the days of thy youth,' which style of Creators is yet in the plural used, when God is spoken of, in multitudes of other places: Ps. 149:2, 'In his Makers;' Isa. 44:2, 'The Lord thy Makers.' Yea, as 'Let us make' is in the excitation to it, so in the next verse, which mentions the performance of this work, it is accordingly said, 'so God created man,' which was the thing done, it is thrice repeated: 1. 'So God created man in his own image;' 2. 'in the image of God created he him;' 3. 'male and female created he them;' God, not angels. Nor did he use them as instruments, as when he gave the law he did, but not in the creation of the least creature.

But let us further consider things impartially, comparing the Old and New Testaments together, as to the explication of this one passage, 'Let us,' &c.

1. Let us inquire whether it be not elsewhere in the New Testament said, when the creation is spoken of, that there were persons, yea, that these persons were 'with God;' yea, and that when man was made, John 1:1, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God;' and again, ver. 2, 'The same was in the beginning with God.' Yea, and is it not as expressly there affirmed that that Word that was with God was at the making of man? 'All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made,' ver. 3. And if all things were, and nothing made without him, then man certainly. And doth it not follow also from ver. 4 that 'he was the life of man?' 'In him was life, and the life was the light of men.'

Again, we find another person, the Spirit of God, to have been with God at the creation, moving and upholding the waters: Gen. 1:2, 'And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.' And Ps. 33:6, 'By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.' The Psalmist interpreting Moses, and referring to the creation, speaks thus. And why should not we think then these to be the us; even the Father, Word, and Spirit. This at the creation.

2. Again, in that other place, we find a consultation about a fact belonging to the government of the world, to be done even as here, 'Let us make;' so, here, 'Come, let us descend.' Now, let us see if more persons than one are not said to have been of counsel with God in these. It is certain he excludes all creatures to be of his counsel; Isa. 40:13, 14, 'Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or, being his counsellor, hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?' but professeth of his Son, that he is his 'counsellor.' Isa. 9:6, 'For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of peace.' And the same of his Spirit, 1 Cor. 2:10, 11, 'But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.' And as here, in Genesis, when God was to create man; so there, when he was to judge and exert a great act of government in the world. And it came to matter of fact, which when it is to be done, he speaks to those of counsel with him, as parsons interested therein, and shews them what he is about to do; even in like manner as he doth at the creating of man, 'Let us make man,' &c. Now then, when we shall read in the New Testament, and find that 'Word,' who was 'with God in the beginning,' John 1:1, expressly called God at first dash, and to have been with God as a person distinct from him, and this person called the Word there, to be the only-begotten Son of God, in ver. 14; and shall further hear, that the Son of man, whom that word is said to be made one person with, is one with God; and that in his person he says, John 5:19, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doth, these also doth the Son likewise.' When we consider this, it will be then plain to us, that God doth nothing without an us; and that his Son was an original co-worker with him in all things, which he accordingly sheweth unto him; for it follows, 'That doth the Son likewise.' God doth nothing, but the Son likewise; he shews and tells his Son first, and by shewing it to him, consulteth with him about it. And mark the coherence, ver. 17. He not only consulteth with him, but they two are said to work together everything that is done, from that first beginning of acting anything outwardly even from the creation; 'My father worketh hitherto, and I work;' and the Jews thereupon, ver. 18, 'seek the more to kill him, not only because he had broken the sabbath, but had said also, that God was his Father, making himself equal with God; having a joint hand with him, and working all and everything as much as the Father, whom all acknowledge to be God. Whereupon such words of theirs it was that Christ pertinently replies, as you heard, ver. 19, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doth, these also doth the Son likewise;' acknowledging they had spoken rightly according to his very true sense and intent. Now judge impartially; you find this man, this person, speaks in the name of one that was with God afore the world was, John 1:1, one 'equal with God,' Verse 18 of this 5th chapter of John, you find himself say, that God doth nothing, but he shews it to him, as one to co-work and join with him. And you find here in Moses, that God, when he was to make man, he consulted some or other person then with him, saying, 'Let us make,' that is, join together in the same work; 'Let us make man;' and shall we not judge that this his Son was here, and one of the us? And there is a Spirit, who is of this cabinet-council, John 16:13, 15, who 'shews' (as Christ's word of him is) and overhears all, and is privy to what the Father still says unto the Son. So then, here are three that make the us.

3. As in creating, these are joined as an us, so in governing and judging the world; 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,' says Christ, John 5:17. In such works also this us is used: in confounding the languages; and in bringing vengeance on Sodom; in bringing them out of Egypt we find the same; Gen. 11:7, 'Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language,' The Holy Ghost descended to give tongues, and he descended to confound them. And, far the judgment on Sodom, I shall insist upon it a little. Gen 18 ver. 1, it is said, 'The Lord appeared.' How? Verse 2, three angels came, one whereof was the Lord, and the other two created angels, companions of him. Two angels went to Sodom, ver. 22, and the third stayed, chap. 19:1, who was the Lord himself that communed with Abraham; of whom it is said, chap. 18:20, 21, 'The Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it,' &c. And he stayed with Abraham. It is also said, ver. 22, 'But Abraham stood yet before the Lord.' This angel was God, or bearing the person of one that was God; for, Exod. 3:2, the angel that appeared in the bush says, ver. 6, 'I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;' the same that as an angel appeared to the fathers: to Abraham, Gen. 18; to Isaac, Gen. 26; and to Jacob, chap. 31 and chap. 32:9, 24. Whom, Gen. 48:15, 16, Jacob, in his blessings, calls both God and an angel; as Hosea also doth, chap. 12:3, 4, 5. This angel, who was betrusted with the government of the world, and said he 'would see,' ver. 21, was not the Father, for he is never missus, sent, as the word angel imports this was, and yet withal was God, though in the appearance and office of an angel. And we read of 'God sent by God,' in Zech. 2:8, 'Thus saith the Lord, he hath sent me to the nation,' &c. It is Christ's speech of his Father's sending him. So also Isa. 48:16, 17, 'The Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me,' &c. He that is the Lord says, he was sent by the Lord; even as, we read, the New Testament also speaks of Christ. And he that is sent, must be distinct, and a person distinct from the sender. Now there are two persons that send him there, 'The Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me.' And he that was sent was God, and no less Jehovah than they; as all the contexts afore and after shew. So then, you find three persons there; and for this cause it is he is styled 'the angel of God's face,' Isa. 63:9.

And there you meet with the three persons too, as joining in that great work of redemption out of Egypt. First, the Father is spoken of in ver. 7, 8, 'I will mention the lovingkindness of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness towards the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie; so he was their Saviour.' The Son in ver. 9, 'In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them and carried them all the days of old.' The Spirit in ver. 10, 'But they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit.' He that is called Holy Spirit in the New, is, according to the Hebraism, called the 'Spirit of holiness' in the Old. But it is Christ that was the angel of his presence, appearing afore God, interceding, and in whose face God shines, 2 Cor. 3. Exod. 33:2, 'My angel,' in ver. 14, is interpreted, God's face, presence. John 14:9, 'He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.' And he it was that saw the affliction of his people, Exod. 3:7, who, ver. 8, is said to 'come down;' even as upon the occasion of Sodom you have heard it in like manner spoken. And it was this angel, in whom (God says) his name was; that is, his very nature, Exod. 23:20, 21, 22. And it was he that governed them in the wilderness.

Now, this angel, or, the 'Lord sent' in that appearance, both to Abraham about Sodom, and to Moses, Exod. 3, and to the people of Israel, was one and the same, as all places shew. And this was the Lord himself; as Mal. 3:1, he is expressly called 'The Lord,' and the angel of the covenant; even Christ, the second person, whom they tempted. So Paul, 'Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents,' 1 Cor. 10:9. So Stephen expressly, Acts 7:32, 37, 38, 'I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;' ver. 37, 'This is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me; him shall ye hear. This is he that was with the church in the wilderness, with the angel, which spake to him in the mount Sinai,' And this person, who came down in the appearance of an angel to Abraham about Sodom, Abraham as expressly enstyles 'The Lord,' and 'Judge of all the world,' Gen. 18:25. All which consider, how it punctually agrees with what in the New Testament out of John 5 hath been observed, as by comparing them will appear. For, as the Son hitherto had wrought in all works with the Father, as you heard out of John 5:20, 21, so, ver. 22 of that chapter, 'God hath committed all judgment unto the Son,' And it is answerably said by Moses, Gen. 19:24, 'The Lord,' or Jehovah, 'rained down fire from Jehovah;' that is, the Son, who was God, he did it by commission from the Father, that was God with him, as to whom he had committed the judgment of the world, and so was, by his office, the proper executioner of this vengeance upon Sodom; he also joining in all works afore and since, together with the Father, who, 'shewing him all he doth, the Son doth it likewise; that all might honour the Son as well as the Father;' as Christ there infers, John 5:23.

4. That which fully added to my conviction that the us in Scripture language, when spoken of, and by God, intends these three in God, whom we call persons; and that to be spoken more regio, after the manner and style of kings, is, that I further expressly find these three, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, each singly and apart, using it in the name of the other two, saying us and we.

(1.) The Father, he whom all grant is he that is to be understood when it is said, 'God said, Let us;' and as speaking to the rest.

(2.) The Holy Ghost, Isa. 6:8, 'Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' If the question be, What person spake this us here, and what other persons he speaks of as involved in it?

[1.] For the person that speaks it, it is the Holy Ghost. Read Acts 28:25, 26. Paul resolves it so; 'Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand,' &c. Who is the same Lord that in Isaiah says, chap. 6, ver. 9, 'Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not,' &c. And he it is that said also, ver. 8, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' And the like speech and character of language, attributed to the Holy Ghost in the New Testament elsewhere, argues that he is the person. For, upon the very same or like occasion, we find him as a person brought in, speaking of himself apart, under the style of me. The errand or business whereof he here speaks, 'Who will go for us?' was the sending forth ministers, and teachers, and prophets; as it is express in that of the Acts, and in Isaiah. Nay, when the same occasion or errand came afore him, we hear him another time expressly speaking, Acts 13:2, 'The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.' It is the same employment of sending out ministers, Paul and Barnabas, and it is the same person, the Holy Ghost, in both, and he a person; for he speaks as a person, I and I, me and me; and one that was God. Add to this that of Isa. 48:17, 'And now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me,' Thus much that he was the person that spake it. And,

[2.] For the persons in whose name he says us, they are the Father and the Son. In ver. 3 you have the angels' cry, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.' All that some would make of these holies is not in respect of the three persons, but to shew God is ter sanctus, ter optimus, most holy, which alone I would not urge. But when I considered that in this chapter there is such a presence and mention of these persons, I cannot but affix even that also, and that the us, ver. 8, refers to it; and that the Holy Ghost in that verse doth give that interpretation or gloss upon it.

The Father to be Lord of hosts all acknowledge; and that the Son Christ is particularly intended, the first verse of Isa. 6 compared with John 12:37, 39, 40, 41, does manifest, 'Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, &c. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.' What him? He of whom he had spoken in ver. 37, 'But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him.'

Again, Those words in Isa. 6, ver. 3, are also spoken of the Lord, who was that angel that was tempted in the wilderness, Num. 14:21, 22, which Lord was Christ, 1 Cor. 10:9, who also sat between the cherubims.

Then the third person is the Holy Ghost, ver. 8, 9, whose work it is to deal with men's hearts by the word, softening or hardening.

So then there is an us of persons distinctly and apart mentioned and spoken of; and then the Holy Ghost at last, comprehending them all in this word us.

(3.) Then, thirdly, for the Son, we find him likewise speaking the same language. Sure I am, that word us, John 17, is his speech to his Father, the first person, ver. 11, 'Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me; that they may be one, as we are.' And, ver. 21, 'That they also may be one in us.'

Thus you have seen I have prosecuted no other argument out of Scripture than what the us Moses, in three places, hath led me into; and alleged but such other scriptures as are complices, and of strict intelligence with those passages, and serve to the illustration of them.

CHAPTER III

That these three persons in the Godhead are persons distinct one from the other.

Who would not judge them to be so, by what hath been already said? But yet for further evidence it is apparent from this,

First, That they are found speaking, not only us, as persons, but also ordinarily one to another, in the language of I and thou, as Heb. 10:5, 'A body hast thou fitted me,' which Christ spoke to his Father as a person existing with him then when he took a human nature. And, 'Lo, I come to do thy will,' Heb. 10:7. Again, the Father speaks to the Son, Ps. 110:1, 'The Lord said unto my Lord.' And again, from heaven, 'This is my Son,' Mat. 3:17; and the Holy Ghost, as distinct from both, descending as a dove.

And, secondly, one speaks of another, as another person distinct from himself; thus, the Son of the Father, John 5:30, 'I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.' Ver. 31, 'If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.' Ver. 32, 'There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.' Likewise the Son of the Father and of the Holy Ghost, John 14:16 and 26, 'And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.' And John 16:13, 'Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will shew you things to come.' He, the masculine, is put with a neuter gender, in the word πνεῦμα, Spirit, which would never have been, but to design a personality in him.

Thirdly, You have each speaking of himself as a person. Thus the Holy Ghost, Acts 13:1, 2, 'Separate me Barnabas and, Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.'

Fourthly, There are works proper to each assigned. To instance but in one scripture, 1 Cor. 12:4, 5, 6, 'Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.' All three are mentioned, and as having, to distinguish them, several works: and the Spirit there is said to have his own things proper to him, as the Son and the Father's; and, ver. 11, he is said to distribute them as he will, which to say, is proper only to a person.

Fifthly, These persons are spoken of as distinct, when also they are called God, Ps. 45:6, 7, 'Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.… Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.' And there also we meet with all three persons too, for the Spirit is the oil he is anointed with.

Lastly, There is this most evident demonstration, that the man Jesus being assumed and taken up into one person with the Son of God, that he, the Son of God, existing in the man as one person with him, should speak of himself as a distinct person from the Father and the Spirit: in John 10:31, 'I and the Father are one.' Here he speaks of himself and the Father as persons distinct, and yet both but one true God; as ver. 33, the Jews understood him, 'That thou, being a man, makest thyself God,' one God and two persons of the three; and yet it was not the man, as man only, that was that person, but it was the Son who was truly God with the Father, and the man being made one person with the Son, speaks this of himself, so thereby evidently declaring, that in the Godhead there was the person of the Son distinct from the Father; and so, in his defence of himself, he declares, ver. 36, 'Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?. And again, ver. 38, 'Know and believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me;' as two still (as I and the Father imports), enjoying one Godhead. And elsewhere, he professeth his manhood not to be alone the person. And it was not God the Father that was incarnate, and in that respect is styled the Son, as some have wickedly affirmed; for if the Father had been one person with this man, this man could not have said, 'I and the Father;' or elsewhere often, I and thou, speaking to his Father.

And, indeed, I have judged one great end and issue of God's ordaining this personal union of the man Jesus and the Son of God, to have been to demonstrate and ascertain us, that there is this distinction of persons in the Godhead, in that the man now assumed talks at that rate of himself as of a person with God, and yet distinct from his Father; and, that he was so, he refers unto all his works to believe and know it by; for that, whilst he so spake of himself, he should do such works, this invincibly argues the truth of what he so spake, as in that John 10, in defence of himself, and those speeches of himself, ver. 37, 38, he argues, 'If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe me not, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.' Had the Scripture declared this distinction of persons over and over, in a doctrinal assertion, it had not been so great an evidence as this; to hear the man who, when become one person with the Son of God, should himself still use to say, I and my Father; and when he speaks to his Father, to say, I and Thou; himself came by this singular way and means to declare it so invincibly, as nothing could have been more satisfyingly done. That I may say, as the apostle to the Hebrews doth of other revelations of divine truth, so I of this, that after God had, at sundry times and divers manners, spoke this mystery of the distinction of persons, he hath now spoke it to us by the Son himself personally, as now incarnate and made man; who, though he appeared to the fathers, yet never personally united to those appearances as now he did. So that put but these things together;

1. That he that was the Son of God existed before the assumption of man's nature, as a person; and that,

2. The man he took up was not a person of himself, but it was the Son that was the person taking up that man into one I, or personality with himself; which that speech of his own, when he came into the world (Heb. 10:5, 'A body hast thou prepared me'), evidently shews. The body, or his human nature, was not the me, or person, but he that assumes it was the me, 'A body hast thou prepared me.' And then,

3. That hence he should then speak unto the Father, as a person distinct from the Father's person, as those their words me and thou do evince. And that he, even after the man so assumed, that he should speak as the person when once so united, in the language of thine and mine, I and thou, and the like, this invincibly argues what I have driven at, viz., that the Father and he are distinct. And then, that he should speak of another, or third, distinct from both, 'another Comforter,' the Holy Spirit; 'And he shall take of mine,' &c., John 16:15; whilst himself says, 'I the Son,' and therefore alius, or another, from both Father and Spirit, and not alius, or another, by having become man, but as Filius Dei, in whose person the man speaks it of himself.

Use 1. Is to exhort you to retain and hold fast this plain and fundamental truth, and by faith to receive it (if you have been diverted from it) as from the Son, and not consult with reason in it, which yet is not contradictory to it. This I am sure of, that if the Scriptures speak any thing, they speak this great truth; and of all other it hath been the most and longest tried of any other. It began to be questioned in the first age of Christianity, and, at times, hath been so ever since. Reason contributes little to it, but remains unsatisfied; and yet God hath still cast the spirits of his people, and won them over to it. Receive it, I say, by faith. Christ puts them upon bare believing it, John 14:10, 11, 'Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.' And when they only required a demonstrative argument, or rational evidence of it, Christ only affirms it, and having affirmed, refers them to his works, after he had said it, as was observed before, out of John 10:38; for if he had not said true, such glorious divine works would not have followed such a doctrine and profession. And thereupon he calls for faith from that evidence, John 10:37, 38, 'If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.' David is said to be in Spirit when he brings in the Lord speaking to the Lord. By which speech was discovered both these persons to be in the Godhead, and distinct as persons, speaking thus one to another, 'The Lord said unto my Lord,' Ps. 110. 'David in Spirit,' says Christ, 'said this,' Matt. 22:43, 44; and I remember not that phrase spoken of David upon any other occasion, but this; although it be said, 'The Spirit of the Lord spake by me;' and this was necessary, for reason would, of all else, never have revealed it, nor entertained it as it is revealed. Heaven opened when there was the first open distinct discovery of the three. The Father spake, 'This is my Son,' and the Holy Ghost descended; for but by opening heaven, and upon occasion of discovering the Son, was this distinctly revealed.

CHAPTER IV

That the three persons in the Godhead have an union and communion between themselves apart, and incommunicable unto us.

The assertion which I undertake to prove is this, That God and Christ, and by consequence the Holy Ghost, have an union and communion of a higher kind than what we are ordained ever to receive; and therefore I call it the supreme sovereign union. In a word, the creatures are not God veiled under the appearance of creatures, and so hidden as under a veil, which is the impious falsification of many of the ranters of our late age, as appears by their writings, and which put me upon writing this discourse.

I. To prove that there is a sovereign, supreme union between the three persons in the Godhead, peculiar and proper to themselves alone, and which cannot be communicated to any mere creature, I have chose those passages in Christ's prayer whereon to found my discourse, John 17:21, 22, 23. 'That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.' Whatever use I have made of this 17th of John, in discoursing of this union to another purpose,* my scope now is to shew, how all the ancients have judged this very thing, (which I have asserted) with clear evidence of reason, from Christ's manner of speech, both negatively and affirmatively, as I shall allege their testimonies by and by.

This alone of itself will evidence it, that an eternity of time did pass when there were no creatures at all; but the three persons wholly enjoyed themselves all that time without interruption. And this also will further be demonstrated in the second head of this discourse, which will be a demonstration of the differences and distances of that communion which is between Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that which we have with those persons.

But to return to the exposition of John 17. That the union of the three persons in the Godhead is of a higher kind, and not communicable to us, is evident from the manner of Christ's speech in that his prayer.

1. Negatively, from what he forbears to say in it. He does not pray, that 'we all may be one with them,' (as if speaking of the Father, and himself, and the saints altogether): no; but that 'we all may be one in them,' and so with a differing union from theirs. Thus Austin, he prays not that they may be one with us, but one in us.

2. Positively. He speaks of an union of him and his Father, as standing apart entire from that of the saints with them; and which, though it admit this addition of that union of the saints, yet still remains inviolate in itself notwithstanding, no way intermingled with, or intercommoning with it. He repeats that union of his and his Father's five or six times, from verse 11 to the end; and every time with a character of such a difference as this. (1.) He speaks of the saints and their union as at a distance from himself and his Father, and of their union also between themselves, 'that they all may be one, as we.' Of the we he speaks, as of those who are of a superior order, and are one by a superior union. But of them as with a distance, that they, that these undersort creatures, this vulgus creaturarum, utterly differing and separated from us of themselves, that they yet may be 'one in us.' (2.) In his repetition of it a second time, ver. 22, 'that they also,' there is an emphasis in the word also as to this purpose. [1.] Also, that is, over and besides that union which we have and keep within among ourselves, even then when they are supposed united to us, 'One in us.' The us still remains in a separate association apart, and retains a consortium, an association as a superior, we. [2.] It is a speech of diminution of their union in comparison of the us, and sounds thus; as if Christ, looking down from an higher orb, sphere, and throne of union, whereon himself and his Father sits, upon these poor things infinitely below, who are void of such a condition in their native proper state; upon them Christ, looking down in love, prays, Let these poor things also partake of union with us, little ones who of themselves are so far below us, no way worthy to attain, aspire to any such thing, and yet by grace are capable of in us. [3.] In his saying, 'that they be one, as I in thee, and thou in me,' verse 21, observe, he says not either, ut sint in te unum, sicut ego in te unum sum, that they may be one in thee, as I am one in thee. No; but that they may be one in us, as I in thee, and thou in me, he therein entertaining and reserving still an union as peculiar to himself. Nor he says not, that 'thou mayest be one in us,' as involving and reckoning himself but as one of them and their rank, and we all one in thee. No; but he says, 'As thou in me, and I in thee' (ita se à creaturis separans*), 'and they one in us;' whereby he manifestly separates himself from them, and betakes himself to a peculiar union and interest with God above them.

The repetition of it a second time, verse 23 (which I most observe), is put there by way of caution, and as with a wariness that that union of himself and his Father be kept inviolate; 'I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;' as if he had said, when they arrive to their highest perfection of union, yet let them know, (1.) their distance, that I am above them in it, 'I in them, and thou in me;' (2.) their dependence and derivation of it from me, 'I in them, and thou in me.' And this still continueth, 'that so they may be perfected in one;' he speaks it not, nor would allow it them upon any other terms. As if he should have said, when they are at their height of union, thou art not, nor ever canst be in them with that immediate union thou art withal in me, and I in thee; I must come in as a middle between them and thee, when they are with us in glory. The descent is, 'The glory thou hast given me, I have given them,' ver. 22; they hold of me even then, 'I in them, thou in me,' and this is their highest perfection. Yea, at the last verse, when he prays his Father's love might be in them filling them, his prayer, you see, is not only that God's love may be to them, but in them, for the height of our union is the fulness of God communicated in love; as Eph. 3:19, 'And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.' There is first love, then all the fulness of God mentioned, for heaven is but a communication of God in love; yet even there Christ will needs step in between, even God's love in the communication of it, 'and I in them.' The love of God is not so in us, so that we become the love of God; nor is God or Christ so in us, as we become God or Christ; nor is Christ left out when God communicates himself in the highest manner. But as Paul saith, 'herein is your calling,' so say I of this, here is the descent of that union on them, God one with Christ, and you with God in Christ. Yea, I observe further his caution in this great point to be such, that if, in praying for our oneness, he mention himself first, he will needs bring in his Father's being in him; so ver. 23, 'I in you,' is not that enough to make them perfect in one? No; but 'thou in me.' Again, if he mention his Father's love first, as verse the last, he comes in himself for a share also, and 'I in them.' He turns it every way. So that whether God be in us, it is because Christ is in us; or Christ be in us, and so we one, it is because God is in Christ. Lastly, which is Ambrose his note, nos unum erimus, sed Pater et Filius unum sunt. He speaks of that union of himself and his Father as already in being and perfection, yea, as that which he then needed not to pray for, and which never needed praying for by him; but he prays that we may be one. He prays not that his Father and he should be one, for they were as fully one already as for ever they could be, to be sure as second person naturally, and as man, it was so bestowed at once for ever, as it needed no praying for anew; for though it was a grace at first, yet to the divine person that the man was now one withal, it was none, yea, it was a condescending in him, the second person, to match so low as his own speech, when he was to assume it, imports, Heb. 10:5, 'a body hast thou fitted me.' He speaks diminutively of it, and yet assumes it. But that the saints shall be one with this high and mighty us, this us, this is, and was with Christ, a matter of, and, subject for, prayer; and this at this time, when yet they were united unto Christ already, as this text implies; for this of ours depends for ever on grace, not so that of Christ's human nature. But once the union being made, transit in jus, it then becomes a right, though at first it was the highest grace to that nature. For why? He is thereby advanced to be the natural Son of God.

And whereas the word καθὼς, that they may be one, as we are one, is urged by some for sameness or oneness of union in kind, it is evident by all that hath been spoken, that it is but unum similitudinis,* of imitation and similitude, or perhaps of causality, because we are one. The instances of which latter are so frequent I need not mention any of them; as, 'be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,' 'forgive us, as we forgive,' as we use the speech in the Lord's prayer.

II. There is not only this superior union of the three persons, so far above that union which we poor creatures have with God; but there is also a supreme and independent communion between those persons in the Godhead, having an entire abstracted converse among themselves, and incommunicable to any mere creature; and this communion, which they had one with another from all eternity, consists,

1. In that divine eternal life of the three persons among themselves.

2. In the mutual interest, or propriety, which they have in the things of each other.

3. In a mutual communication and enjoyment.

4. In a mutual knowledge and acquaintance one with another.

5. In a mutual communication, and imparting of secrets, a discovery of each other's mind.

6. In mutual love and delight.

7. In their possession of one common and equal glory and blessedness.

1. As to the first, the life of the three persons among themselves. That excellent man in his age, Bishop Usher, in a sermon before King James, expressed the dependence which the best of saints, the apostles, held upon the supreme life of Christ, considered as second person in the Trinity; John 1:16, 'And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.' There is (said he) plenitudo fontis, the fulness of the fountain; Ps. 36:9, 'With thee is the fountain of life,' spoken of God much more, and there is plenitudo vasis, the fulness of the vessel, which is but the pittance of the best of saints, and that but received, which is soon dried up if not supplied, and they receive but grace for grace, glory for glory, all from Christ. We have our grace and glory by measure, but Christ had the Spirit without measure.

Life is an excellency added to being. And the divine life of God is a pure activity and quickness, which never ceaseth nor abateth. All three persons therefore have the title of living. Of the Father there is none that questions it; Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, Mat. 16:16, and that imports he is a person of the same substance and nature with God. And as man begets his like, so God begets his like, and he is his only begotten Son. The Spirit is said, to the same purpose, to be the 'Spirit of the living God,' 2 Cor. 3:3. And as Christ is compared to the Son of a living Father, as being begotten of his substance, so the Spirit is compared to the soul that dwells in a man, which is his life. 1 Cor. 2:11 is express for it, 'What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?' And the life of all three is God, and the enjoying of the life of God, and exercising all the acts of life among themselves.

This is for their life abstracted, such as they had in eternity, when no creature was.

Now to the point proposed, the difference and dependence of our union, and the life thereof, upon this of the three persons that has been specified, take that place in the 6th of John, with the rest that are to follow, when at the third verse Christ had declared of all believers, 'He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life,' and then had explained himself, and founded that communication of life, ver. 56, upon our union with himself, wherein he speaks of that sort of union which is between his divine and human nature, and also of our union with himself, as the next words of the verse shew, 'He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him,' which union of ours with himself, the very similitude of eating and drinking doth alone import (for what we eat or drink becomes one with our bodies). Yet his adding 'dwelleth in me, and I in him,' doth explicitly declare it in the letter. This done, as if he could not pass over this declaration of our union (as neither in that 17th of John he doth, as may be observed), without superadding how it was that it was communicated from that his superior union with his Father; and that from thence it is, that life is first communicated to himself, and also from him to us, as it expressly immediately follows, ver. 57, 'As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.'

Yea, and withal, to give a clear and evident instance that this union of his with the Father, and ours with him, are of a differing kind, yea, and infinitely differing, let us but add to this what himself had said of this communication and descent of life from his Father to us, by virtue of his own union, in the former chapter; John 5:26, the words are these, 'As the Father hath life in himself, so he hath given to the Son to have life in himself.' The sense whereof is (as I understand it), that his very subsistence as a Son is from his Father, as he is the only begotten of him. Can this be said of us, or of our having life, though spiritual and heavenly, that it is given us to have life in ourselves, as Christ hath, or as the Father hath in himself independently, and with power to give life to others; so as to be the lords of life, and to be able to bestow it as we please? But thus doth Christ, ver. 21, 'For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.' And this power to give life to others he declares to this end, ver. 23, 'that all men may honour the Son as they honour the Father.' May this be said of us, poor things that we are! Alas! we are so far from having life thus in ourselves, or to be lords of life, that it is well for us (take us as we are fallen), if as condemned persons we have that life derived unto us at all, nay, that we have our lives, it is well if we scape so. This infinite grace, as I have thus set it out, the 24th verse indigitates, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death to life;' thus low and flat do we fall when his life and union with his Father are compared with ours. To gather up this; our tenure of life is but a copyhold of life, in respect of our whole dependence for it, by way of influence, from him, and as it is derived from him, and from his life. Tenants at will I may not call us, in regard he hath endowed us with an eternal donation of it (why else called 'eternal life'?), and estated it on us for ever; yet still in regard both of the original of it at first from him, and his continual influential maintaining it, and 'keeping our souls in life,' which is the very phrase the psalmist expresseth our life by, there appears an infinite difference and distance between us and him, in that eternal life which is his and ours; but upon a differing tenure, for he is the lord paramount of life, to 'have life in himself;' but we are to hold all from him, from first to last, though for ever. And if our dependence on him for life be so vastly different from his in himself, then out union is accordingly answerable thereto, distant in inferiority and subordination; and so in like proportion differing; for life, as the effect, flows from union as the cause. Therefore, good souls, set your hearts at rest, know your own imum, your own bottom, and lowness you stand in, in the best condition as saints you could have been set in. Be not deceived neither, to soar or aspire too high upon conceits of unions which are above you, nor of which indeed you are not capable. You must needs acknowledge that the setting these mutual unions of Christ and the Father in their συζυγίας from that of the saints, and first theirs, and then ours apart by themselves, that they hold forth at least this to you, that though by means of your union with Christ you have a union with the Father, yet that Christ hath a union separate from your union, apart by himself, with the Father, and the Father with him, which you can never attain. Would you be all Christs? Then let us see you redeem your lost brethren of the sons of men, whom Christ died not for effectually, or who of them have not as yet taken hold of his death to save themselves from sin and hell. The psalmist speaks thus, 'None is able to redeem his brother from the grave,' and to quicken whom he will; no, nor is able to raise up himself at the day of judgment, as Christ did. And are you hypostatically united to the person of Christ then?

You might see this truth of the infinite disproportion between these two unions of God and Christ, and us and Christ, in a thousand other like effects, which you might make demonstrations, that argue it, if a man had time to gather them, or indeed to utter them. I come to a second instance like to this.

2. Mutual interest or propriety, which the three persons have in the things of each other.

Mutual interest and propriety in one another follows upon union. Now there is a vast subordination of the mutual interests, the one of Christ in and with the Father, and that other of Christ with us; and such therefore must there also be in the several unions. Will you see your pedigree emblazoned? 'All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' Here is the interest, the propriety and right of a Christian to God, Christ, all things, yet in a chain of subordination set forth thus; therefore it must be so in the union also. Christ is in the Father, and the Father in Christ; and this their mutual inbeing, as the ground of their sharing in the same common stock, causeth answerable interest in the things of each other, even of all things. If you take a view of this, in the first and highest supreme union of all, between Christ considered simply as a second person, they are one in the Godhead, and all things therein, or belonging to it, are thereupon equally common to both. 'All things the Father hath are mine,' John 16:15. And John 17:10, 'All mine are thine, and thine axe mine.' And how is it that they have this equal mutual interest in all things? It is because they are one, as the next verse hath it, ver. 11. And their union and their interest runs parallel. But we cannot speak thus as Christ doth, we must lowly and humbly acknowledge all things are ours, because they are Christ's, and Christ is God's. And again, that the man Jesus hath a personal oneness with the Son, and so with God; hence it is, that all things are committed unto him of the Father; and he also may say, 'All thine are mine,' &c. And now we are Christ's, and Christ is God's; and so all things become ours derivatively, as our union is but a secondary union. As the unions have their subordination, so answerably the interests.

3. As to their communication and enjoyment mutual.

You may view these gradations and descents in the communications and enjoyments mutual that pass between God and Christ, and Christ and us. Union is for mutual delight, and communication, and knowledge each of other. As the Father and Son have an union superior and entire to themselves (with the Spirit) which is immediate, and differing from that of ours with them, so they have an entire communication of themselves one to and with another, distinct and apart from us; and they had it ere ever any communication of themselves did descend unto us; and when they have communicated a suitable share to us like theirs, yet theirs still continues incommunicable to us, apart by themselves.

4. Compare the communications of them in mutual knowledge one of another, and acquaintance.

Where there is a union of persons, there is, or shall follow in the end, a making each other known one to the other. So it is in our union, which is inferior, 'At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you,' John 14:20. And because these of Christ's and the Father, and ours are unions of a differing order, you shall see he speaks of their knowledge still in the same style of transcendency as he doth in parallel language unto what he doth of union in those texts, John 14 and 17 chapters; making one sort of knowledge, and so converse by knowledge, proper, and peculiar, and entire to the Father and the Son, distinct and apart from us, and infinitely above ours; and a lower of ours, passeth between God, and Christ, and us. Thus, John 10:14, 'I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.' Here you see first there is an intercourse between his sheep and him expressed, as his union with them here; but still he having another sort of intercourse, which, as Son of God, he drave with his Father (and Christ had the experience of both), which was the cause and pattern of ours, he adds, 'As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father,' ver. 15. You see he could not pass by the mention of one sort between him and his sheep, but he must withal mention that other sort between his Father and himself.

5. And together with this knowledge, there passeth a communication of, and imparting of secrets, a discovery of each other's mind.

Now, as there is that superior order of union, and a transcendent singular affection that accompanies it, between the Father and the Son, so the manifestation of the Father to the Son is answerable: 'The Father loveth the Son, and shews him all things that himself doth,' John 5:20. He shews them all unto his Son, as one that is a co-worker with him in all the things himself doth; as the words afore and after shew, ver. 19, 'Whatsoever things he doth, these also doth the Son likewise.' Thus high is this original union, that is proper and alone between themselves, even to an equality; for this speech of his comes in to justify himself against the Jews who accused him, in ver. 18, that he called God his own Father, ἴδιον πατέρα, 'making himself equal with God;' which he justifies against them, ver. 19, 'Then answered Jesus, and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doth, these also doth the Son likewise.' But as for us, as our union is far remote, so the manifestation both of Christ and God to us is also very far off from this. They shew us indeed, and reveal many blessed secrets indeed to us that concern our own salvation; but what we have thus discovered to us, is but at second-hand of what they speak about us among themselves. The Spirit tells us again what they say, as John 16:15, 'The Spirit shall take of mine, and give it unto you;' and ver. 13, 'Whatsoever he' (speaking of the Spirit) 'shall hear, that shall he speak,' namely, to you. He speaks of him as a messenger sent, who conveys to us the mind of them that send him; but we have it but as from another's hearsay. And hence also, whilst Christ speaks of his communication to us by his Spirit, by virtue of our interest in him, he doth withal insert the mention of that his own interest in and union with his Father, as the supreme original union, so to shew the descent of ours, ver. 15, 'All things the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shew it unto you;' that is, thus it comes to pass, that you have all manifested to you from me, in that I have all things that my Father hath, and so the Spirit reveals from us both. But still to shew that their union is entire of Father, Son, and Spirit, apart and incommunicable, kept up among themselves, he tells us that their communication, conference, and consultations are thus in private held among themselves, apart from us; that they hold a private, secret council, which we are never immediately admitted into. What the Father hath the Son hath, and the Spirit heareth both; and as none knoweth what is in man but the spirit of man within him, so none knows what is in God but the Spirit, who searcheth the deep things of God, and revealeth them, 1 Cor. 2:11, 12; and the Son, who, as in John 1:14, is in the bosom of the Father. These three drive an intercourse and intelligence in secret, into the bosom of which we never enter; but the Spirit reveals, and Christ declares, as is said in those places. And thus, but at second-hand, we have the mind of God and Christ, 'For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ,' 1 Cor. 2:16. And but how little (as in Job) do we know thereof!

6. Take and compare the communications of mutual love, breathings forth of affection, mutual delights, and mutual pleasures in each other, which follows union.

They are represented to us in the very same gradation as union here Prov. 8:30, 'I was,' says Wisdom, the Son of God, 'daily his delight;' his Son in whom he hath alone considered an entire, complete delight, an immediate delight in him; and I was always also rejoicing afore him, and so in him again, so that there was a communication of mutual love, or interchangeable breathings forth, or casts of love each to other. Mutual love is the consequent of union; and the Father being united to the Son, with a supreme union (transcendent in comparison of that of ours), loves the Son with a transcendent, primary love, who therefore is called 'the Son of his love,' ὑιὸς τῆς ἀγαπῆς, Col. 1:13, as he that engrosseth the whole of it all to himself; likewise, 'This is my well-beloved Son,' Mat. 3:17. As the Son hath life in himself, so the Father loves the Son for himself, with a natural love, as that is wherewith he loveth himself. But his love to us is secondary and collateral, which shews our union is at second-hand, but as we are in Christ, and Christ in us. And from thence the care of the Father is derived to us, because Christ is in us, and we are united to him; this you have John 17:26, 'And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.' An original, primary union hath a love answerable, a derivative union but a love proportionable. Our union is immediate unto, and with, Christ Jesus; so as he and we are the immediate termini, or correlates united. And thereby it is we become united to God, namely, through him. And therefore God's love is said to be to us in him, 'Who shall separate from the love of God in Christ Jesus?' Rom. 8:39. These were their proper, natural, incommunicable delights each in other, as their union is, and was, afore the world was; 'I in my Father, and my Father in me,' John 14:10, as dwelling in one another, so rejoicing in one another always; and these continue proper to themselves, and will do for ever, and cannot be communicated to us otherwise than by way of similitude and likeness. But then they intended to make creatures, and so to have their made artificial accessory delights, as I may so speak. The Father shewed the Son a platform of a world below, in which men should dwell, which Christ calls his Father's 'habitable earth,' and therein the sons of men, his elect, given to him to be one for ever with him. Now, as he was God's delight, and God his immediately and naturally, so these were made for Christ's delight. He therefore subjoins, 'rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men,' Prov. 8:31. Observe the subordination still, as 'he is in the Father, and the Father in him,' so he was in his Father's delights, and he in his; and then, as we say of men, 'we in Christ, and Christ in us.' And the union is more direct and immediate between us and him; so we were primitively his delights, even as afore you heard 'Christ was God's, and we Christ's.' The chain of interest, and of delight also, have the same parallel subordinate links.

7. Come we last to glory, and the communication of blessedness (as we began with that particular of eternal life), there is therein found the like subordination and descent, Rev. 3:21, Christ hath with his Father a throne, in those words, 'As I am on his throne;' to which throne we never ascend (mark that). But there is another, which he calleth his throne, and which considered as man, he admits us to a share in our proportion: 'To him that overcometh, I will grant to sit on my throne.' There is still a differing rank and order, thrones higher and lower, even as of the unions also; and καθὼς, or 'As I with my Father, so they with me,' you see, hath run along through all; for some parallel likeness will be found in all these unions that are thus subordinate, though of so differing a kind, that they have their infinite distance and disproportion proper to them, which must be taken in and considered if we will know the nature and condition of each.

Uses. Christ here, John 14:20, tells his apostles, for their comfort, that there was a day coming in which they should have a clear, and full, and intuitive knowledge of this their union, and its descent to them from the Father; and the parallel of it with his own union with the Father, 'In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.' This being a matter of so great moment for all Christians to know, and to discern in their own selves and hearts, and accordingly reserved as the proper work of the Holy Ghost, when he should come as a comforter, that though this union itself is wrought when we are regenerated by him, yet the sense, the knowledge of it, is reserved to the last, after Christ's resurrection and ascension; yea, and as others would interpret it, until after our resurrection and the day of judgment. The uses of which knowledge are:

1. For our comfort; for this knowledge Christ here intends is, that which the Spirit as a comforter, ver. 16, was to bring; and it conduceth much to our comfort to know and meditate our genealogy and alliance that we have and derive (by reason of our union with Christ) from the Father, and how it holds of him, that although our union be of a lower degree and kind, yet it is the offspring of the highest and noblest union, even of that between God and Christ; a second person first, and then of the man with the second person.

By which also we shall perceive the sureness, the stability of our union with and standing in Christ, when we understand how it is founded; that it is so riveted into, and indented with, that supreme union of the Father and the Son, that as that of theirs is indissoluble, and cannot be broken, so nor shall this of ours.

It is counted a matter of great moment unto noble families, if but for honour's sake, to know their descent from houses more ancient and sovereign (as of the king of Egypt, the prophet speaks that he was 'descended of ancient kings'); that they have sprung from such and such marriages, and conjunctions of sovereign princes; although they be in alliance very far removed from them. So is this here to us; the saints they are 'a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,' as Peter speaks, 1 Pet. 2:9, the royallest family heaven or earth affords; and that in respect of the descent thereof, which is here heralded, 'My Father in me, and I in you;' and Eph. 3:14, 15, 'I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.'

2. As for our comfort, so for our satisfaction to our knowledge in this great mystery. As in lower matters, when we see the rise, the dependence, and derivation of things, running along in the channel of, and from their causes, it uses to be a great contentment to us. Then here much more to see how our union hath the union among the three persons for its foundation, and pattern, and original; and to hear the story how union is let down to the man Christ Jesus first, and in him conveyed to us; to know and behold the union of three persons in one divine nature, Father, Son, Holy Ghost, one God blessed for ever, producing, in imitation of them, an union of the two natures of God and man in the person of Christ Jesus; to whom be all glory for ever; and then, that occasioning a third union, yea, the next that could be, though more removed; an union of persons (though not personal), yea, of multitudes of persons united unto one Christ Jesus; to make up one body, yea, one man, as Eph. 2:15 hath it, 'Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace,' to the end we may be one spouse unto Christ as our head and husband; and then to see the derived influence the first hath upon the man Jesus, and both upon this union of ours; 'As I live by the Father, so you by me,' John 6:57. As also the parallel and correspondency that is held between the one and the other, that same καθὼς ἡμε͂ις, inculcated by Christ, John 17, again and again, 'As we are one, let them also be one.' As also, to close, how the one illustrates the other.

And, 3, this is chiefly necessary for our knowledge in the doctrine of it, until we come to have experience of it; to the end to fix, determine, and state the true bounds and condition of our union with God through Christ; the right proportion of ours in their distance from God and Christ, of which there have been too many mistakes in these times: some soaring too high to identities and sameness with God, at least with Christ (whom they think they may be better bold withal); some falling too low, to unions only by grace and assistance, and presence to assist, or in outward relations to Christ. For when we shall come but to see and acknowledge the prerogatives and privileges of those unions above us, that are between God and Christ (incommunicable to us) descending downwards towards us in a subordination, we may the rightlier judge what is left us to be our lot and share, that we are but mere creatures still, notwithstanding our union with God and Christ

CHAPTER V

Of giving glory to God.

That it is a duty incumbent upon us, proved by numerous instances in Scripture.—That we are to glorify God, not only nor chiefly for the benefit he bestows on us, but for the glory of his name, and the excellence and blessedness of his nature.—Some reason given, that grace in us may be raised to this high strain.

To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. amen.—1 PETER 5:11.

Ere I raise that observation I wholly intend out of these words, I shall first desire you to consult with me the multitude of parallel passages unto this which we find up and down in the epistles, which do arise to a great bulk.

I shall not barely refer you to the chapters and verses, and so pass them over, but to the end to lay the more ample foundation to that doctrine I intend, and withal to make the deeper impressions of it upon your hearts, I will single forth those passages out of the epistles.

I fear the high and glorious elevation that filled the apostles' spirits in these doxologies, as they came from their hearts, have not their due weight upon us Christians, for the imitation of them or aspiring thereunto: their commonness in so many epistles, at the close of them, causeth but a common formal regard of them in us; even such as their salutations of 'Grace and peace' (being made but as to those men they wrote to) use to have with us, as if we were not concerned in them.

But we are to consider that the reason we meet with them frequently in most of the epistles was, that their hearts being full of the glory of God, their pens and mouths were enlarged accordingly; and the virtue and example of them lasting to all ages, they thereby do excite all that shall read their epistles afresh to join with themselves therein to give glory to God, as they did, it being expressly said, Eph. 3:21, 'Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.' And in almost every such a doxology, 'for ever and ever' is added; and in Jude, 'Now and for ever.' This premised, I begin to enumerate the several instances.

1. In the epistle to the Romans, how often, by digression, doth he still veil to God in the midst of his discourses, with an amen set to his blessing of him, as we also should occasionally in our speeches do the like. In Rom. 1, discoursing of the heathens 'changing the glory of the incorruptible God,' ver. 23, and ver. 25, 'changing the truth' (or the true divine nature) 'into the similitude of the creature, and worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator,' he, with an indignation at the relating of that dishonour done to the great God, comes in with this, 'Who is blessed for ever. Amen.' Which is a solemn glory given to God, in transitu, by the way passant, as we say. The form of amen, that is in the close, speaks how his heart did give, and rejoiced to give, all blessedness to him, as rejoicing that he is so blessed a God. You find the like, chap. 9, speaking of Christ asserting of his divine nature, ver. 5, 'Who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.' In like manner, at the end of his discourse about election and reprobation, in chap. 11, which he had finished with the end of that chapter, he breaks forth from ver. 33 to the end, 'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.' And lastly, in the conclusion of the epistle, chap. 16:25, 27, 'Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ (according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith), to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.'

2. That to the Galatians hath it at the beginning, Gal. 1:5, having last spoken of God the Father, he stops to give glory to him ere he goes any further, 'to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.'

3. In that to the Ephesians, his heart was full, and he begins with it as soon as he began to speak, chap. 1:3, 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,' &c. But he takes occasion with more solemnity to intermix it, chap. 3:20, 21, 'Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundant above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.'

4. In that to the Philippians, chap. 4:20, 'Now unto God and our Father, be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

5. In the first epistle unto Timothy, upon occasion of narrating his own conversion, chap. 1 ver. 17, 'Now, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.' Then at the end of chap. 6 ver. 15, 16, 'who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.'

6. In that to the Hebrews, chap. 13:20, 21, 'the God of peace,' &c., 'to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.'

7. Peter, in his first epistle, was so full with it that he begins with it, as Paul had done, chap. 1:3, 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.' And chap. 4:11, 'that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ: to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.' And then, thirdly, at the close again, chap. 5:11, 'the God of all grace,' &c., 'to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.' In the second epistle, chap. 3:18, he doth the same to Christ the Son, 'Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To whom be glory both now and for ever. Amen.'

8. Jude, ver. 25, 'To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, now and ever. Amen.'

9. And John's passing it by in his epistles makes amends for it in his Revelations, which abound therewith. First, himself annexeth it to his own salvation, wishing grace and peace from God the Father, the Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, &c., chap. 1 ver. 5, 6, 'And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first-begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.' Then throughout the whole book his ears are filled with it, with voices from all hands. 1. The saints and redeemed of men in their several congregations (their officers being their leaders and speakers for them, and in their names), chap. 4:8, 'And they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.' Again, 2, in chap. 5 there is the same laudation performed unto Christ: (1.) By the saints of the sons of men: ver. 9, 10, 'And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.' (2.) Then by an innumerable company of angels: ver. 11, 12, 'And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.' (3.) By all creatures, unto both God the Father and the Son: ver. 13, 'And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, honour, glory, and power, be unto him, that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.' (4.) Unto which the saints on earth do give their amen: ver. 14, 'And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.' And what they do here at first, is to shew what they did perform upon all occasions of praise, as they are given throughout this book. For they are here brought in as the settled chorus, such as in interludes used to be.

And accordingly you find them at it again, chap. 7. (1.) An innumerable multitude of saints, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and 'they cried,' ver. 10, 'with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb,' Then, (2.) all the angels, ver. 11, first say 'Amen' unto what the church of men had spoken; for though they have no interest in that salvation of us men, yet for the glory that thence ariseth unto God, and out of their love to us it is they say, 'Amen.' And it speaks but their own very hearts. And then, (3.) themselves add, de novo, a new praise of their own, ver. 12, 'Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.' And again, chap. 11:17, and 16:17, when the kingdoms of the world shall become Christ's. And lastly, chap. 19, after the rain of Rome: ver. 1, 'And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Halleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God.' Then of the beasts and elders: ver. 4, 'And the four and twenty elders, and the four beasts, fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Halleluia.' And then you have the voice of a greater multitude: ver. 6, 'And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of many thunderings, saying, Halleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.'

That only point which I advance from all these, is,

That as it is a duty, so that the grace in us may, in this life, be wound up to a living glory to God, in an abstracted way, from all the glory which is in himself, and which in himself he possesseth, or for what ariseth to him from his works of grace or providence, and revelations of himself, and for the review of praise, which all others in all ages have, or shall give him, even for whatever doth in any way accrue to his praise, as well for what he doth in, and to, and for our own souls, but also in, or towards all or any other of his saints or creatures.

Unto this ample extent do many of these passages extend, as upon a bare review of the passages themselves doth evidently appear. For the materials in most of these doxologies (although occasioned by the remembrance of benefits bestowed, and those also, as in common to others with ourselves) are pure glory, praise, and honour given unto God simply, and not thanks only returned as for benefits, nor chiefly for them; for that is mentioned but in a few of them. But the objects for which the glory is given, rise unto what is in God himself, as 'dominion, majesty, power; the King immortal, invisible; only wise God; King of kings; the blessed and only Potentate; Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can see: to whom be honour and power from everlasting.' These are all abstracted from benefits, and on these I shall in the application particularly insist, as also that in the Revelations, chap 1:4, 'John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;' that is, unto Jehovah, as he is everlasting, and hath fulness of being in himself.

In a word, this comprehends all the 'glory due unto his name;' which expression you find in two psalms: Ps. 29:1, 2, 'Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.' Ps. 96:7, 8, 'Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.' In the Hebrew, it is 'the honour of his name,' that honour which from you his whole name is worthy of. And unto such a frame of spirit, I would provoke you all. 1. To aspire to the obtainment of it. 2. To comfort you if you have attained it. And 3. To exhort you to seek that it may not flag in your spirits, but be fixed in you.

This high and holy frame and temper was certainly in the apostles' hearts when they indited these doxologies, and thereby excited others to the like.

And my grounds (besides what hath bean said, and which carries its own evidence with it) are,

1. 'Hallowed ho thy name' is the top petition in that gospel prayer Christ hath taught us, and the height and top of desires, and of aspirements to hallow it, are therefore in some measure in some of the souls of them that are taught to pray so. And that petition is of an higher key than 'Thy kingdom come,' that follows; and yet in that we pray that his manifestative glory may be set up above all, in all his works, and over all his works, and in his giving his church all benefits, and in his confounding his enemies, &c. But, 'Hallowed be thy name,' is far above all this, and therefore therein the soul in the highest place desires that itself and all others may give glory to God for all that is 'due to his name' any way, and principally for what his name is. His glory and his blessedness is in himself, and they are to glorify God on this behalf. Now, therefore, some strains of this are attainable in this world; for we are taught to pray it, and so are to have some dispositions of hearts suitable that accompany those prayers.

2. Certainly Old Testament grace rose not up higher than now New Testament grace will be found in some Christians to have done, and to do; nor did any of their spirits aspire higher, in any of their givings of glory to God, than the apostles in these of theirs. The prophecy of gospel times, Zech. 12:8, is, 'In that day he that is feeble among you shall be as David,' &c. Therefore David's grace was, at least to the highest, acted in them, as it was in the primitive Christians many of them.

Now if you consult David's Psalms, in which we have his spirit and his heart expressed, the Holy Ghost being witness thereof, in that through him and his grace he penned them, we find he was raised to this elevation in multitudes of passages in his psalms; in which he doth abstractly consider God in his greatness, power, and wisdom, &c. And then his works in all the world, and towards his creatures; then his revelations to his church, his gracious dealings with all his saints, and his glory that ariseth from all these, and upon these accounts gives glory, praise, &c., to him, and provokes all others to do so. That his heart was filled with a suitable frame of spirit, triumphantly, and from his whole soul to do this, appears in the very passages abundantly. There do occur so many records of this, as I know not well where to begin, or which to insist on most. I shall single forth but one for all the rest, which is the 145th Psalm, of which I shall give a brief delineation.

There is this one psalm of his which beareth this title, 'David's praise,' or the 'praise of David,' so in the original, and although there are multitudes of other high strains this way in other psalms, yet the Holy Ghost styled this 'David's praise,' namely, of God. Now you will find the whole of that psalm to be a praising or giving glory unto God, either simply abstractly, for what is in his nature, or what he is in his works to all creatures, especially to his saints; and you shall not find one word in it about any benefit proper to himself in that whole psalm. That in the 1st verse that he styleth this God his God was from hence: the exercise of so high a strain of grace carries so clear an evidence of this with it, that that God whom any one should extol so much (as his heart was enlarged to in that psalm) must certainly be his God that so extolled him. But yet besides, that 'as he is God' is the principal of the two; you have his heart elsewhere expressed for that; as in Ps. 43:4, 'I will praise thee, O God, my God.' O God in the chief place, ant my God in the second. This is more abundantly seen in this psalm, and in many other psalms.

It is observable, that David entitling this psalm, 'The praise of David,' that in the original no psalm else beareth such a title. It is appropriated to it, because this wholly consists of mere praise; he was elevated therein to a frame of spirit merely made up of pure praise of God, without any touch of what was particular to himself. So as it was not thanks, but altogether praise, and wholly praise. To run over this psalm briefly.

Himself, as precentor or leader of the whole choir, begins verses 1, 2, 'I will extol thee, my God, O King; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.'

And then in verse the 3d declares what it was which above all he had in his eye, as provoking him to this praise: even the great and infinite excellency of God in himself. 'Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.' This summarily comprehends all that is in God, which David intuitively viewed at his entrance to the whole. After this of his greatness in himself, he proceeds upon what God is in his works, and in that argument he utters,

1. His own joy first, for this, that they all should with one mouth praise him throughout all times. Thus, ver. 4, 'One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.' And so that God will be sure to be praised to the world's end, and had been praised afore he was born, this joyed his soul exceedingly.

2. As that throughout all times, so that in all times, all and every of his works do praise him. First, men, verses 6, 7, 'And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts; they shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.' And secondly, all of his other works besides, verse 10, 'All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord.' But thirdly, with a greater emphasis and exultation for this, that 'THE SAINTS THEY BLESS HIM,' so in the same verse.

But that which I would desire you in a special manner to observe withal, that whilst he brings in all those (which added unto his joy) thus praising God, he himself thought within himself, whilst he was bringing in this general contribution of their praise, that I will not be left out at so glorious an exercise, but I will bear my part; so as he abruptly puts in with them, and rudely (as it were) interrupts them, intermingling his own in the midst still of theirs. Thus in ver. 4, after he had said, 'one generation to another,' &c., in ver. 5, himself breaks in, 'I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.' Which is as if he had said, I will crowd in mine, and bear my part, and he doth it whilst theirs was but begun. And then in the next verse, ver. 6, whilst he brings them in again chanting out the same in these words: 'And they,' namely, one generation to another, this referring to ver. 4, 'they shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts.' Himself as one that could not hold (no, not till their praise had been half spoken out), puts in again, 'I will declare thy greatness.' Then ver. 7, when he had brought them all in again, 'They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness;' himself again (as if striving to out-sing them), riseth up to the highest and loudest note and matter of praise, ver. 8, 9, 'The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy.' This was proper to him as a saint to utter, and so together with them fall a magnifying that God which was the cause of all, namely, his mercy; and, as a source of that, for which all his works do praise him, 'The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.'

Which having said, he then commits and leaves this matter wholly unto them, even to all his works, especially unto his saints, to speak what they could or would further say. 1. To his saints; for his mercies to them are above what to all his other works, ver. 10, 'All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee;' and so leaves it to them to speak out the rest, for he alone was not sufficient: ver. 11, 12, 'They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.'

The rest, unto the 21st verse, is a setting forth that kingdom (in some branches of it) which they so much celebrate; and you may take it either to be his own, or their celebration of it, or rather, of both jointly. It begins, ver. 13, 'Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he will also hear their cry, and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all wicked will be destroyed.' Which containing the principal parts of his dominion, I divide and consider thus:

First, The everlastingness of it, for which it is so much celebrated: ver. 13, 'Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.'

In which words is especially aimed at that glorious kingdom he shall for ever exercise in heaven, with all his saints magnifying him gloriously, of which, as it is often said, 'there is no end.' And although in this lies the height of his dominion, yet,

Secondly, He takes in the exercise of it, as it is in this world, throughout the many generations thereof, from first to last. And the parts thereof are,

1. His dispensations towards his saints in their miseries, which is shewn especially in raising and recovering them from falls, and exercised for them, and on their behalf, as they are oppressed: ver. 14, 'The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.' A most glorious work. But withal,

2. Also, that which is extended to all creatures that, having a sensitive life, are to be maintained by food, as fishes, fowls, beasts. God takes it upon him to be the father of this great family of the world, and to take care of all the several kinds of them that need, and accordingly provides and gives forth variety of several sorts of food proper to each. As (1.) to give each their several meat and diet; and (2.) fails them not; (3.) in the 'due season,' wherein they need it; and moreover, (4.) his own immediate hand is said to give it them; and they, (5.) as expecting it from him, are said to come about him, as fowls use to do about those that use to feed them. Yea, and (6.) he not only feeds, but 'satisfies their desires.' All these you have distinct, ver. 15, 16, 'The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desires of every living thing.'

3. That special part of his providence and kingdom exercised over and towards the eminent of his creatures, viz., the sons of men in common, wherein he sets forth the manifold administrations and dealings with all of them, both good and bad. First, in common to both: ver. 17, 'The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works;' that is, in all the variety of trials, chastisements, judgments upon both wicked men and good men; and it is not in some or a few of his ways, but in all that fall out to either; and therefore let us adore him in all.

4. But especially to the righteous, his choicest ones. And that peculiar care and love to them he again returns to set forth: ver. 18, 19, 20, 'The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he will also hear their cry, and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them that love him.'

These are mighty sayings, that we should have him to cry unto, and he to be nigh and quick of hearing, and his eyes to run to and fro over us; that God in the issue one way or other should fulfil these sayings unto all his saints, even to every one, especially those latter; to hear and consider all their prayers, fulfil all their desires, and after, and above all that, he will make sure work of it, infallibly to save them at last, and preserve them to the end effectually. Of all things he will be sure to bring them to salvation. What can be more?

All and every of these, through want of not searching them out, even the saints themselves observe not, and therefore God loseth of his praise; yet we should believe them to be exactly true, and at the latter day we shall have an account of the fulfilling of them; but it is with us as Job acknowledgeth, Job 9:10, 11, 'God doth great things past finding out, yea, and wonders without number. Lo, he goeth by, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not.'

You find at the close of this, that part of his kingdom added, 'But all the wicked will be destroyed,' namely, in hell; for of other dispensations to them in this life he had spoken, ver. 17, and this is a matter of as great praise as any other, but only that towards the saints, and which next thereto does bring in the greatest and justest revenues of glory to him. And yet even in doing this he shews himself 'righteous and holy,' as he had said afore, ver. 17.

These things done and gone through, look as he had begun with himself, so he ends, ver. 21, 'My mouth shall speak the praises of the Lord,' namely, for all these things, and yet not a word in all these things that was proper to himself, but of common concern to others. And then having said, he, as a leader of the choir, provokes 'all flesh' to do the same. 'And let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever;' that is, every creature (as sometimes flesh is used) to be sure, of all the sons of men.

Truly he might worthily entitle this psalm, 'David's praise,' namely, of God, whom elsewhere he gives the attribute of the 'praised God' unto; as in Ps. 18:3, 'I will call upon the praised God.' So in the original there. Ainsworth observeth the same word here, ver. 3. The meaning in that place is (to make it the highest encouragement to beget confidence in one that prays), is this, that God never denied prayer, and that is the thing for which he comes to be so famed and renowned a God, and that makes him to be the 'praised God;' that is it the saints do praise him for, as that coherence shews. And it is as if David had said, 'I will call upon him,' and I shall be sure to speed; for he is renowned for this, and bears the title of the 'praised God,' for that still he continually hears them that call upon him. And we may be sure that God will not lose his praise, and therefore will hear every one that calls upon him; according to that in Ps. 22:3–5, 'But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.' And this makes it no wonder that David elsewhere further styles him 'The God of my praise;' thus Ps. 109 ver. 1. Whereupon give me leave, in order to expound it the better, to expostulate a little. What, David, were there no saints but thyself that gave praise to God? Why dost thou then seem to appropriate and engross God unto thyself, as the God of thy praise, as if none praised him else but thee? It is because his soul had devoted all the praise he was able to bestow on any, unto the Lord alone; as whom he had set himself to praise, and praise alone. As of a beloved son we use to say, 'the son of my love.' And further, it is as if he had said, If I had all the ability of the spirits of men and angels wherewith to celebrate him, I would bestow them all on him, he is the God for my praise. And as he was his, so he should be ours.

Yea, further, hence it is that he is entitled, 'The praise of all saints,' Ps. 148:14. It is one of his titles, whereby (as God) he is set out. Give me leave to understand that passage of God himself, which others have diverted from him; for the Psalmist afore had said, 'He also exalteth the horn of his people.' And therefore he it is of whom it follows, 'the praise of all his saints.'

My brethren, you that have grace understand in some measure what metal the grace in your hearts is made of; and unto what that divine metal or nature in you may be sublimated by the more than chemical operation of the Spirit unto.

There are these reasons why your grace may be intended or raised up unto this strain.

Reason 1. The divine nature in us, as in Peter it is styled, is the perfect imitation or image of God's own nature; and all true holiness doth consist in its being such. It is, as they observe of a loadstone, that, cut round, is the perfect imitation of the earth, though in a lesser volume, a terrella (as they call it), so as all the lines, the poles, the variation of the compass, &c., may be exactly drawn upon it, and found out, and discerned by the motions of a needle put upon it, which will shew all these exactly, as I myself have seen. And thus sympathetical, in the make of it, is grace, the divine nature in us, unto what is in God, or his divine nature.

However, this I may truly affirm, that grace is framed, either to be the resemblance of, or applies itself unto, all that is in God.

It is true, divines do rightly make this distinction in the divine attributes.

1. Of some that are communicable in this respect, that the likeness of them may be stamped on us, as goodness, wisdom, holiness, &c. And of them the case is clear, that therein consisteth an image of God's divine nature.

But, 2. Some that are incommunicable, as sovereignty, eternity, absolute dominion, majesty, &c., likewise his glory, which is not to be given to another. Now observe, that those attributes wherein our graces are, not capable to imitate him, that yet we have grace to apply ourselves to them, some way or other, so as to give the glory due unto them. As to his sovereignty, and absolute dominion, and majesty, grace in us can and may be brought down (shall I say), or wound up rather, to submit to it, to fall down to the dust afore it; not simply in a reverence or adoration of it, but in an absolute resignation of itself unto it; as in David we see, 2 Sam. 15:26, 'But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.' Yea, unto a casting all away unto the glory of it. And truly, as such acts of submission are a throwing away (shall I say), or rather a giving up one's self, and all our own concernments, both unto and for what purely is in God, so there is a giving glory to him, by way of exalting him, for what is purely in himself.

Reason 2. The tendency of grace in us is to have but one common interest between God and our souls, to make his interest wholly ours, and ours to be altogether his. We are imperfect in it indeed, but, so far as we have grace, we have but one interest common to God and us. It is that which grace would be at; but corruption keeps us down. Christ expresseth his being one with his Father, as in his nature and essence, so as he and his Father, having both but one will, and so one interest; John 6:38, 10:29, 30, and 5:30: 'For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me.' 'My Father which gave them me is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hands. I and my Father are one.' 'I can of mine own self do nothing; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.'

Now as Christ's interest and God's are but one, so by our union with Christ (and so with God through him), Christ's interest and ours is but one. Therefore, 1 Cor. 6:17, 'He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit,' namely, with Christ, of one and the same disposition, ends, and aims; for in all these respects, and much higher than I can express, it is to be 'one spirit' with Christ. Man and wife, that are but 'one flesh,' yet we all see and know, whore love between them is, that there is one common interest of both; and it is such and so near a conjunction, through God's ordination, as it is, as if they were one, both as unto what concerns the good of each other, as Eph. 5:28, 'He that loveth his wife loveth himself;' and also in what concerns the common good of the family, of the children, &c., and they mutually rejoice in all those alike. Oh, but Christ our husband and we are one spirit. Even the saints among themselves, so far as gracious, are said to be 'of one heart and of one soul,' &c. Acts 4:32, 'And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.' And they were to rejoice and suffer in one another's happiness and misery; 1 Cor. 12:26, 'And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.' For 'as,' ver. 12, 'the body is one, and hath many members; and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.' Thus is Christ in his body among themselves; how much more is it thus between Christ the head and each member? I may well say, 'Even so is Christ' of the one part and the other, much more Christ and they are but one, and have but one interest in common; for Christ is the foundation of that among saints. Now what doth the virtue of such an oneness of interest tend unto, but that we should rejoice in all the good, happiness, and blessedness that is in God, or that Christ enjoys? And that this is the power of true love, and of our being one spirit with Christ, that speech evidently shews, John 14:28, 'Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto my Father: for my Father is greater than I.' And who therefore is so able to make me happy? And therefore that you are so cast down, and that the joy for my happiness and advancement swallows not up your sorrow, is, because you love yourselves inordinately. But still the power of grace lies therein, you may see, and the foundation of all is oneness of interest. Look therefore, as Christ's interest was one with his Father's, to seek his glory, and to delight in it, John 7:18, 'He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him:' so it is of grace in a Christian, when wound up to what the height of it tendeth unto. And therefore, as God delighteth in his own glory for itself, so may a gracious heart be brought to do. It is in his grace whereby to do it: and as God's blessedness lies in his enjoying himself and his own glory, so the height of ours should be to apprehend that he is so glorious in himself, and accordingly to rejoice in it.

Reason 3. You will allow that grace may be wound up in some spirits to as high strains for God and his glory (take the sorts or kinds of the one and the other), as sin and self-love are in some sort of sinners again God and his glory. I do not say in the same degree (because such as I shall instance in are wholly wicked and full of all evil, as the devils are, and no man's grace is full for the measure of it), but for the kind; and there is no kind of wickedness, but is in the genius and disposition of it equalled by the grace in some saints that love God. Now, self-love in them that sin against the Holy Ghost, and in the devil, doth rise up directly and immediately so high, as to oppose and fly in the face of all the glory that is in God, or that in any way he enjoys, grudging at it, hating it, blaspheming it immediately, as it is in itself, as it is in us, and in him; this is the devil's sin, and also of some men put into the devil's state and condition.

Now then, I say, and argue from this, that the same contrary disposition may be, and is driven forth in grace, ever to love the glory of God immediately as it is his, and because it is his, and to rejoice therein, more than in its own blessedness; and to have an amplitude of heart this way, so as to delight in all the glory God hath, or any sort of way accrues to him. Yea, and I add this, that there is reason it should rather fall out on grace's part, that grace in a saint should, rather of the two, be supported, to be elevated unto this high pitch, rather than the wickedness in men or devils unto the contrary; in that grace is a principle capable of loving God for himself, as the chiefest good, but no creature can hate God simply and absolutely for himself, because he is himself the chiefest good, as the schoolmen argue it, but yet they are found to do it only because God is an enemy unto self-love in them, and so in revenge they are provoked to oppose God, and to fly in his very face, they being acted by a spirit to do despite to the Spirit of grace (which is the very spirit of that sin against the Holy Ghost). But the creature having the image of God's own holiness stamped upon it, it may love God for himself, and true love to God is not founded upon self-love merely in the creature; and, if it were, it were not the image of God. And if it be a principle of grace to love God as God, then it must needs be capable to rise up to this, to glorify him as such. I further add, that as that forementioned desperate frame of spirit befalls some men in this life, as well as devils, so this high and holy frame of heart (though more imperfectly for degree) is raised up but in some gracious saints' hearts in this life; and yet as all evil men's wickedness is not wound up to this height of renown in sinning, but only in a few, so nor is the grace of all saints intended or elevated to this other extraordinary pitch. Which stating of it thus may conduce to clear the thing in hand, and to the comfort of such souls as want the energy or working sense thereof.

Reason 4. It is certain that grace elevated works thus in the saints' hearts in heaven; that is to glorify God for himself, and their own happiness they consider not; for it is but a result or consequent of their joying in the amplitude of God's glory which they are wholly swallowed up into; for God becomes 'all in all' in them and to them, 1 Cor. 15:28. Now, as some communications of the joys that are in heaven are vouchsafed unto some saints in this life, some immediate drops (not to say dews only) are let fall into their souls, of the same kind that are in heaven in a fulness; therefore also, by a parallel reason, some lesser participations of the intenseness of that grace that is in those blessed souls made perfect; for some have the earnest of the Spirit, and of that inheritance, and an earnest consists of the same kind with the whole that is yet behind.

CHAPTER VI

A more punctual explication what it is to give glory to God in himself or works, set out by a comparative with all the other ways of glorifying God, which it far exceeds.

Our next inquiry shall be, What this grace and duty I so commend unto you are? I put them together, for the one may be known and discerned by the other; and that where in Scripture we find the duty spoken of, we may thereby understand what the grace, that is, the root thereof in the heart, is and ought to be; as also what is the duty when the grace is spoken of, or the increase of it specified. To find out the true elevation of both, I shall proceed by comparative steps, whereby it will appear how far this exceeds other ways of giving glory to God.

In general, we may consider that to give glory to God is a matter of a large extent, comprehending many ways of doing it. As,

1. We are to glorify God in every thing and action, 1 Pet. 4:11, that 'in every thing God may be glorified.' And this is done by the holy ends we have in communications, either put forth immediately, or though mediately, yet ultimately aiming at God's glory in them, 1 Cor. 10:31, 'Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do it all to the glory of God.' And the apostle Peter adds, over and above such a way of glorifying God, 'to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.'

2. We give glory to God in such good works as directly in themselves do tend to the glory of God. Mat. 5:16, 'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven;' which Peter seconds, 1 Pet. 2:12, 'Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation:' which is as if he had said, Though at present wicked men will not acknowledge any goodness in you saints, but, on the contrary, speak evil of you, yet little do you think how every holy action lays up matter against the day of judgment, in the consciences of the wickedest men, by which God will be glorified at that day in their acknowledgments, when Christ shall have set his gloss upon these actions, and in the mean time, afore that day, these holy works do give an occasion unto holy men to glorify God in your behalf, which these works do by a 'redounding to the glory of God' (as the phrase is, 2 Cor. 4:15). Yet so to praise God, as I exhort you to do, is higher. The angels, although their character is, that they do God's commandments, and that they be the highest instance of it, as in the Lord's prayer, 'Thy will be done, as in heaven,' &c.; yet they are called upon, by David, farther to 'bless God,' as a matter beyond their doing his will otherwise, Ps. 103:20, 'Bless the Lord, ye his angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word,' Nulla angelis præstantior est exercitatio in quâ se occupent; Calvin on the words. There is no higher way of glorifying God than this, for them to be exercised in. It is beyond their doing all other commandments. Likewise in Ps. 50:23. Although ordering our conversation aright is so acceptable to God, as he will shew his salvation to them that do it, yet the height and top of glorifying God is set upon the head of praising God as the crown; 'Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I shew the salvation of God.'

3. In performing duties of worship, public or private, and being conversant in ordinances; this is a further degree of glorifying God, than in holy actions, in ordering our conversations, &c. Ps. 86:9, 'All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name.' Yet this way of giving glory to God excels being conversant in ordinances, although having communion with God therein. 1 Peter 4:10, 11, 'As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God: if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ; to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.' Which is spoken of the ministration of ordinances. As to 'speak in the church,' or to contribute to the saints, is a way of glorifying God in the way of ordinances and worship, yet still this duty of giving glory to God exceeds it, and therefore is over and beyond (superadded and exhorted to, after the other), as distinct from them; 'to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.'

4. It is more than to praise God for benefits vouchsafed and received to ourselves; which yet is an high way of glorifying God. We generally say, that thanksgiving is a nobler and more divinely generous duty than prayer, for self-love puts us upon that, praying for benefits; but thanks is a more free, defecate, and pure act, and yet is out of a sense of God's goodness unto one's self; 'Bless the Lord, O my soul; and forget not all' (that is, not any) 'of his benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, and healeth all thy diseases, Ps. 103:2, 3. And Ps. 86:12, 13, 'I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy towards me; and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.' Yet we see there is a deep touch of self-love in this both praise and glorifying of God; 'for great is thy mercy to me.' Well, but this way of glorifying God is yet more high and generous, being for what is abstractly considered from all benefits; that is, simply considering what glory and excellencies are in God himself, or in his glory unto others of his creatures. It is to give glory to God, for what he is or doth any way to his church, or to all others in the world, and not only for what he is to us, &c. Look back upon the places cited, and you will find the most of them speak this abstractedness. In the Revelation you find both the church and men to give glory and honour, distinct from thanks; Rev. 4:9, 'And when those beasts gave glory, and honour, and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever;' upon this account, ver. 11, 'that thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.' Likewise the angels run upon the same strain, Rev. 7:12, 'Saying, Amen: blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our Lord for ever and ever. Amen.'

5. It is more than to glorify God for his love to us, for the assurance and hope he will glorify us; Rom. 5:1, 'By faith we have peace with God,' and a standing in grace, and the favour of God; so ver. 2, 'And not only so, but we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations;' so strong, real, lively, powerful, are those hopes of glory in us, as to rise to this; thus ver. 3. But then, ver. 11, he riseth yet higher: 'Not only so, but we also joy in God,' and make himself the top of our rejoicing, far beyond our being glorified by him, and our hopes thereof. Why? For in our being glorified by him, we are passives; loved, rather than love; glorified, rather than give glory. But in the exercise of this grace and duty the soul is active, and casts glory upon God's acts, and upon him, reverberates all the glory that shines upon them back again upon him, and that for what is in himself, as a God in himself so glorious, dwelling in light inaccessible, immortal, only wise, &c. Yet this must be added, that withal the soul considers, that this God, that is thus great and excellent, is also his God. He rejoices to put that in all, though still the top of his praise, and his solace therein doth rise and reach far higher. Therefore you find praising God, and my God, so often in the psalm joined, and in the prophet Isaiah, chap. 25:1, 2, although his praise is for his glorious counsels and judgments in the world, which wholly concerned the glory of God, and not himself, yet he puts in, 'I will exalt thee, O my God;' that is, he reflected upon this withal, that God, who was so great a God, was his God, in that high and near relation.

Use. Let us next view the high privileges and divine dispositions of such a soul, when raised up unto this blessed frame. I so state the terms of what is now to follow, in calling them his privileges, as well as the divine out-goings or dispositions of such an heart. But I shall not handle these two apart, or accurately sever them, but, as one and the same, speak promiscuously of them.

It is the high privilege of such a soul to have all it doth, or can comprehend, to be in God himself, to give glory to him for; and in doing so, therewithal themselves to glory and rejoice also therein, as that he is such and so great a God, so blessed, so glorious in himself; and although they cannot see his glory, and live in this life, yet all those descriptions of him, whereby he hath made himself so wonderfully known, they have these afore them, as far as in this life they may or do comprehend them: Eph. 3:18, 19, these is a being made 'able to comprehend, and to be filled will all the fulness of God,' prayed for by the apostle. And it is evidently spoken of what the saints may attain in this life; for it is whilst 'Christ dwells in their hearts by faith.' And that place shews, that beyond the apprehension of the love of God in Christ, and of Christ's love, there if a being 'filled with the fulness of God' himself, in such a proportion and sense as this life is capable of; yet so as such a thing there is to be attained, as shall justly bear the title of this. And because they he writes to (as generally Christians do) find this to be too high (is indeed it is, if they reflect upon their ordinary walking and common experiments it is); therefore he concludes his prayer with this, 'Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,' &c. For indeed the experience of such a frame of spirit, is an height above what we are able to ask or think, and yet is attainable by the power that now worketh in us, as it follows. And because the genuine product, end, and tendency of such an elevation of heart is to wish and to give all glory to God, therefore it is he so solemnly adds, ver. 21, 'Unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world with end. Amen.' For any one's being filled with all the fulness of God, doth constrain the spirit in whom it is, to give and wish this glory to him. As likewise he that is raised up to that frame of spirit, thus to give glory for what is in God himself, that soul hath all the fulness in God afore him, to give glory to him for.

Now to incite us all to the seeking this high disposition of spirit, I shall, for your encouragement, spread before you many instances of saints, who have had hearts to glorify God for all the fulness which is in himself. Moses, you know, desired to 'see the glory of God,' Exod. 33:18, and, says God, ver. 19, 'I will make all my goodness pass before thee; and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee.' And God caused his glory to pass before him, ver. 22. And accordingly, chap. 34:5, 6, 7, God proclaims his name and divine nature, in those attributes of merciful, strong, true, and just. Upon which Moses, being filled with this glory, adored God; ver. 8, Moses 'made haste, and bowed his head towards the earth.' He made a return of worship unto all this glory he had seen and heard; though likewise he put up a prayer with all, ver. 9. But he adores him purely, for that glory which God had manifested to him, to be in himself, and in his nature.

We find many psalms made to glorify God alone by his works. But in some other psalms besides, over and above, and before they come to celebrate God for his works, the psalmist began first to celebrate him for what is in his nature, what is in himself. Ps. 104:1, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty: who coverest thyself with light as with a garment.' And then he sets him out by his works in the rest of the psalm, in so glorious a manner, as in no Scripture more. Likewise Ps. 145:1, 2, 3, 'I will extol thee; I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.' Ver. 5, 'I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty.' And ver. 8, he sets out the graciousness of his nature, 'The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.' The rest of the psalm is taken up with the praising him for his works, and a setting forth the glory of his kingdom. Calvin did observe this also upon Psalm 136:1–3, 'O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks to the God of gods: O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endures for ever.' He sets out first (saith he) the height of his deity and sovereign kingdom; and then the following part of that song sets out his works, 'To him who alone doth great wonders,' ver. 4.* Likewise, Psalm 147, a psalm of praise, so it begins, ver. 1, 'Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises to our God.' At the 5th verse he sets out whit God is in himself, by three things, as the principles of all his works. First, By his greatness and immensity, 'Great is our Lord.' Secondly, His power, 'and of great power.' Thirdly, His wisdom, 'his understanding is infinite,' Elsewhere it is said, 'In wisdom hast thou made them all,' namely, his works, Ps. 104:24. But here his wisdom is that which is in himself, for which he celebrates him, though he had never made any work.

This soul, thus wound up, can sit down in God, and with God, and bless him, and rejoice in all the blessedness that is in him, and for that it is his, that he is so blessed, and that in such an infinite God there is such infinite blessedness, and can say amen to it, when he hath gone over it in all his thoughts of it. As Paul, Rom. 1:25, upon occasion of a dishonour done to God, by worshipping his unworthy creatures more than the Creator, he in indignation of spirit adds, 'who is blessed for ever,' and puts 'amen' to it. He speaks of what he is in his divine nature, in himself, which in ver. 20 he calls 'his eternal power and Godhead;' in ver. 23, 'the glory of the incorruptible God;' and in ver. 25, 'the truth of God,' that is, the true being of God. Now, God considered as such, it is that for which he pronounces him blessed, 'who is blessed for ever;' and I say 'amen' to it (say he), that is, I congratulate it to him; for what is amen but 'so be it,' or, Oh, let it be so? And if one amen be not enough, you shall have it doubly set to our blessing of him, 'Blessed be the Lord God, and blessed be his glorious name for ever; and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen,' Ps. 72:18, 19.

And whom do you think he speaks of? Of Christ, and God in Christ. 'Men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall call him blessed,' ver. 17. Wherein Christ in the whole psalm, under the type of Solomon, is set out. But you find the same amen set to the blessedness that is in Christ in the New Testament, where Paul, speaking of Christ, 'who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen,' Rom. 9:5. He says amen to the fulness of the blessedness of the Godhead that is in him; yea, unto the man Jesus, taken up into the participation of that blessedness, through his personal union with the Son of God; from which it is, that all that glory which he wears in heaven is his by inheritance or natural right, as Heb. 1, tells us.

Now, in Psalm 45 he sets him out in the excellency of his person as such; 'Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.' And because God had thus blessed him, the psalmist goes on to bless him too, and to wish well to him with all this his honour. So far is he from envying of it, though it might have been the lot of any other man, or of a man's self, to have been taken up into that union, and kept from the fall. But he wishes it all to him over and over again, and is glad that God hath such a Son, and himself such a head; and as Christ passes along by him in his glory, he cries out, 'Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory, and thy majesty; and in thy majesty ride prosperously.' These are words of one applauding, and blessing, and wishing all happiness and prosperity to him, with all his honour: 'ride prosperously,' or, as the Hebrew hath it, 'prosper thou, ride thou.' The old translation had it, 'Good luck have thou with thy honour;' yea, and as subjects use to say to the king (though often in flattery), as he passes by, Vivat rex, Vice le roi, Let the king live for ever, as in Daniel. And as they of Augustus, when themselves were dying, they would sacrifice for his life, and say, 'Let Augustus live, though I die;' so (would you think it) that the very like phrase should be in the psalms, and the meaning of those words, Ps. 18:46, 'The Lord lives,' as we translate it, 'and blessed be my Rock,' should be an optative, 'Let the Lord live;' as we use to say to our kings, Vivat rex, so, Let God live, and be blessed, and live for ever.

Take we likewise the matter of those two doxologies of Paul, 1 Tim. 6:15, 'Who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light no man can approach to; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to him be honour and power everlasting. Amen.' The other, 1 Tim. 1:17, 'Now, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.' This latter he did break out into upon occasion of the story of his own conversion. But though that so great a mercy to himself was the occasion, yet his spirit soars far higher, beyond all of what God had done for him, to consider, purely and abstractly, what a glorious God he was in himself. Let us but open the particulars of it.

First, He gives glory to him for that blessedness which was in him, 'Who is the blessed,' says he, 'and only Potentate.' What is blessedness but a confluence and fulness of all good to an infinite, complete within, himself, so us God need not go forth of himself for anything? as Acts 17:25, 'He needs not anything, seeing he gives life to all, and all things.' Like as if a great man should have in his house, and in the compass of his grounds round about it, all kind of things of all sorts, within his own demesnes, that he need not go forth for anything.

Secondly, He is the 'only Potentate,' sovereign over all. He hath not only all happiness within himself, and fulness, but he hath sovereign and absolute power over all things. Now, when these two things shall meet, all inward fulness, and such an absolute power besides, he is blessed indeed that hath it. You shall find up and down in the psalms, the psalmist to bless him above all for a kingdom of his, Psalm 145, and other psalms, where you find it celebrated.

Now, that kingdom is, (1.) seated in himself, and then exercised towards his creatures; you will find the psalmist praise him for both. First, Seated in himself, in Ps. 93, which begins, in the first verse, with a celebration of his kingdom: 'The Lord reigns; he is clothed with majesty,' &c. He ascends higher there, to the exercise of it, in governing the world. At ver. 2, 'Thy throne is established of old; thou art King from everlasting;' and for this they praise him. His kingdom began from everlasting; he reigned within himself, and in his own purposes, and contrivements, and orderings of all things. He disposes of all from 'then,' as the word of old translated is in the Hebrew. And then it was that he did clothe himself with majesty, and did gird himself with strength, as a man uses to do before he begins to do any great matter; thus, ver. 1, for this his saints do praise him.

Then (2.) as it is exercised. First, As it is seated in heaven, Ps. 89:5–7, 'The heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord; thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints; and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.' He speaks this of the glory which he hath, and shews forth in heaven afore all angels and saints whom he hath round about him. He had said, in the 4th verse, of Christ, the spiritual David, 'Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations.' And of that kingdom he treats from ver. 21 of that psalm to ver. 38.

Now, for this kingdom of his, the heavens are said to praise his wonders, which is spoken of the angels, who are often called the heavens, from their place; as in Job it is said, 'The heavens are not clean in his sight.' And these knowing the wonders of that covenant of grace, they, even they, are said to praise; 'The heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord.' In the Hebrew it is, 'thy wonder,' or 'thy miracle,' in the singular number, which, in Eph. 3:10, the angels are said to adore; and in Luke 1, to 'sing glory to the Highest;' for his grace to man is that miracle. Now, the material heavens do not praise the mercy of God, or the grace of God, or the covenant of grace, or the throne of grace that is established in the heavens. They understand nothing of Christ; no, they do not so much as materially give occasion to man to praise God for these; and therefore this is meant of the angels; and most interpreters understand the next words of them: 'Thy faithfulness in the congregation of the saints,' angels, and the holy ones made perfect, for there the great congregation is. For even in the heavens, who can be compared to the Lord, where all his angels thus do praise him? 'Who among the sons of the mighty,' of all the powers of the earth, 'can be likened to the Lord?' for he is the 'King of kings, and he is the Lord of lords;' a God above all gods, even angels themselves, as elsewhere the psalmist hath it. And he says not only, 'There is none like thee;' but, 'Who is like unto thee?' his excellency so exceeds. And in the 7th verse, he is there presented with all his saints and angels round about him, as one that is greatly to be feared, or that is terrible in himself, by reason of his greatness, in this his council and assembly of his saints, and to be had in reverence of all that are about him. For saints and angels, they are of his council in heaven (as might be shewn), and encompass the manifestation of his glory there round about.

This kingdom of his is set out and magnified by those psalms. First, By his throne; 'justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne,' ver. 14. Then 'mercy and truth, they shall go before thy face.' He compares them to harbingers that he sends out before him; Ps. 57:3, 'He shall send from heaven, and save me; God shall send forth his mercy and truth,' that come down with commissions from him, as from the great King, when his saints stand in need thereof; and these make strange work in the world. He need not send down angels, he need send but mercy and truth down, which elsewhere it is said he prepares in the heavens, Ps. 61:7. He prepares commissions for them, and sends them down with them for execution. It is likewise said, that majesty is before him; Ps. 96:6, 'Honour and majesty are before him; sing unto the Lord therefore (ver. 2–4), bless his name; declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. For the Lord is great, greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods,' angels, and kings on earth; 'honour and majesty are before him.' And then his faithfulness is said to be round about him, encompassing his throne, Ps. 89:8. For whatever he doth, he is mindful of his faithfulness and covenant, before and behind, and on each side; he can look no way, but that is in his eye. And though he employ angels, and send them down into the world, and they stand round about him; yet he hath better harbingers than these, mercy, and truth, and faithfulness, that wait round about him. And for this kingdom of his, as thus set out, do the saints bless him; Ps. 145:10, 'All thy works praise thee, O Lord; thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known to the sons of men his mighty nets, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endures throughout all generations.'

Thirdly, The apostle celebrates him, and gives glory to him, that he is 'invisible;' you have it in both places, 1 Tim. 1:17, and 1 Tim. 6:16, and that purely puts it from God's being praised for what he is in benefits to a man's self, or from what he is to any creature; for we praise him for what we do not see, for what we do not nor cannot see, and so cannot enjoy (for so far as we cannot see, we cannot come to enjoy); and therefore purely for this, for what he is in himself and to himself, in the knowledge and enjoyment of himself. He blesseth him that he is so great a God, that the fulness of his glory can never be known by his creatures; so excellent, that still there is an infiniteness we cannot know in him. Had it been out of self-love (this giving glory to him), it would have blessed him for what is seen and enjoyed. We see in this life but his back-parts; yet by what we see of them, we glorify him for what we see not; and 'how little do we know of him!' as you have it in Job 26:14.

Fourthly, That he is 'only wise,' his understanding infinite (as we heard out of the Psalms) and infinitely shewn in all his works. 'In wisdom hast thou made the heavens,' Ps. 136:5. Yea, 'In wisdom hast thou made them all,' Ps. 104:24. But above all for his wisdom, that hidden wisdom manifested in the gospel in the salvation of men; 'To God only wise,' who hath revealed the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, 'To God only wise be glory, through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen,' Rom. 16:27. Of blessing him for his decrees, I shall speak afterwards. In his ordinary works, his thoughts are very deep; Ps. 92:5, 'O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.' But, 'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!' cries the apostle out, when he speaks of his contrivements of mercy in the gospel, Rom. 11:33.

Fifthly, He gives glory to him for that he is eternal; that he had all this blessedness, wisdom, &c., from everlasting. Such a soul can bless him then for that he hath been so blessed a God from everlasting, and enjoyed this happiness; and then, to be sure, we enjoyed nothing from him, for he was alone. You have the same in Ps. 41:13, 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting;' and there is an amen for either of them, 'amen and amen;' an amen for what he hath been from everlasting, and amen for what he shall be to everlasting. And it is here in the apostle's words likewise, that he is eternal, in the 1st chapter, as for time past. And 'only having immortality,' in the 6th chapter. You have the same, Rev. 4:8, 'The four beasts rest not day nor night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come,' They praise him for his holiness and for his power; they praise him for all he hath been, from what he was and hath been for time past, is for the present, and is to come. One would think, what hath a poor creature to do to bless him for what he was from everlasting, all which is past? Yet they herein would shew their good will; I will cast in my shot and congratulation, saith the soul.

Sixthly, For that he only is, and hath alone all those blessednesses and perfections. This is three times in those two doxologies of the apostle, whilst he calls him 'the blessed and only Potentate,' and that hath 'only immortality,' and that is 'only wise;' 'to him be honour.' Ps. 86:9, 10, 'All nations shall come and glorify thy name; for thou art great, and lost wondrous things: thorn art God alone.' Ps. 72:18, 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only does wondrous things.' Oh, says that soul, let him have it, and he alone, and none share with him.

This large and ample field hath this soul afore him, to expatiate in. I might extend the amplitude of this soul. That he hath all in God's works; all in his decrees; all in his word, to give glory to God for. First, all his works, past, present, and to come. We have this oft in the psalms; Ps. 66:2, 'Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.' Praise was too low a word; 'Make his praise glorious. Say unto God, How terrible,' or how reverend, 'art thou in thy works! All the earth shall worship thee, and sing in thy name. Come and see the works of God!' &c. Ps. 92:1, 4, 'It is a good thing to sing praise to thy name, O most High: for thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy works; I will triumph in the works of thy hands.' It rejoiced his heart to see what a glory sinned forth in all he had done; 'O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.' And this he doth with delight; Ps. 77:12, 'I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.'

He hath also all God's decrees and counsels afore him to rejoice in and to praise him for; his counsels that contrived all about his works, both of judgments and mercies: Isa. 25:1, 'O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name: for thou hast done wonderful things; and thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.' As likewise that in Ps. 92:5, 'O Lord, how great are thy works! thy thoughts,' that is, thy counsels, 'they are very deep.'

For his decrees of election especially, yea, and reprobation also. When the apostle had discoursed both these doctrines out, and justified God therein, Rom. 9 and 11 chapters, shewing how God had once chosen the Jews, but then cast them off; then, taken the Gentiles, whom before he had suffered to walk in their own ways, who in time past have not believed; and then at last, how he will have mercy, both upon the one and the other, and the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, as well as of the Jews; but God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. For this counsel of his he cries out, 'Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!' namely, in these his ways of choosing the one and refusing the other. 'How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out; for of him, and through him, and to him are all things; to whom be glory for ever. Amen.' Reprobation itself, and the issues of it, upon the consideration of the hardness and obstinacy that is in man's heart, and the wickedness of men against God, causeth such a soul to take part with God, and to rejoice in the glory that accrues to him hereby; his spirit will be stirred at the thoughts of all the obstinate sinners in the world, that they should remain such against so great a God. In the 104th Psalm, where he sets out God in himself, and in his works, as much as in any other psalm, after all his praises of him throughout, and uttering his own frame of heart thereupon, at ver. 33, 34, 'I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have a being. My meditation of him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord.' With indignation he adds (his spirit being raised up unto the exalting of God, and singing of his glory), 'Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more,' who should thus dare to lift up their heads, and horns, and souls against this God, so great, so good, so gracious: however, I have reason to bless the Lord (says he) whom thou hast chosen, 'Bless thou the Lord, O my soul, and all ye saints, praise ye the Lord.' In Ps. 145, that psalm of praise, where he shews him to be good to all his works, and his mercy to be over all his works, &c., and what a gracious God and full of compassion he is;—what is the conclusion of his spirit from all this? 'The Lord will preserve all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.' This he was glad of; this soul can sit down at the day of judgment, and think of the glory that shall then come in to God from the condemnation of wicked men. As that poor woman, who having a most wicked son, whom she dearly loved, once upon occasion of a high wickedness of his said, Well, I shall one day rejoice that thou shalt be damned, and take part with the glory of God therein. And the conviction of so high a strain of grace to be in her soul, of love to God (while he knew how well she loved him), was the means of breaking that man's heart, and converting him to God.

He hath also all in God's word afore him, to glorify God for every word and passage of it: Ps. 56:4, 'In God will I praise his word,' says he. And again he hath it, ver. 10, 'In God will I praise his word;' for all his promises, for all his threatenings, and execution of threatenings, though upon himself, according to his word. 'Good is the word of the Lord,' when it was against him and his family, and the whole nation, said good Hezekiah, 2 Kings 20:19. Above all, he loves God's salvation that is therein. 'Let all such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified,' Ps. 40:16. One would think that this should be self-love alone makes us love salvation. Ay, but they love it, because it is his, 'that love thy salvation;' as in Psalm 21:1, 'The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice.' It is the character of a holy saint to love salvation itself; not as his own only, but as God's, as God's that saves him.

Again, this soul can rejoice in all that is in God himself, and heartily rejoice; and Oh what an infinite privilege, and how blessed a frame of heart is it, for the poor creature to be wound up so high, as not only to rejoice in hope of glory, 'but we rejoice in God,' Rom. 5:11, to rejoice therein, more than in its own happiness. And therefore you have it so often, when praising God is mentioned, that there is rejoicing also; it does accompany it, Ps. 104:33, 34, 'I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord.' In Ps. 43:4, 'I will go unto God, my exceeding joy; yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.' In the Hebrew it is, 'the top of my joy,' 'the joy of my joy.' You find them also, when they are in this praising frame, to make their boast in God. Ps. 34:1, 2, 'I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall be continually in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast of the Lord.' Likewise in Ps. 68:3, there they are also joined, 'Let the righteous be glad: let them rejoice before God; yea, let him exceedingly rejoice.' Then follows, 'Sing unto God, sing praise to his name: extol him that rides upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.' And, ver. 33, 'To him who rideth upon the heaven of heavens, which were of old.'

This soul, as those will rejoice in God, so exult in giving those praises to God. Ps. 92:1, 'It is a good thing to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High;' and he founds it upon this, 'For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy works.' It is 'a good thing,' that is, it is a sweet and pleasant thing, even praise itself is. Ps. 135:3, 'Praise ye the Lord; for the Lord is good: sing praise to his name; for it is pleasant,' Ps. 147:1, 'Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praise to God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.'

David speaks it as the joy of his soul, that he should yet live to praise him; and he yet shall praise him more and more, Ps. 43:4, 5. He expresseth it as his greatest ambition and delight of soul, that he should live yet to praise him.

He does this with his whole heart. Ps. 9:1, 2, 'I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.' And therefore in praising of him, you find, they say, 'Amen and amen,' as in Ps. 41:13, and Ps. 72:19, which shews all heartiness.

That soul can go over all ages past, and be affected with the praises that have been given to God by the saints and angels in all ages. To read the psalms, wherein David and the psalmists praise him. To read in the Revelation how the angels, the four and twenty elders, and the four beasts, and all creatures praise him. He can begin and sit down with the angels, those bright morning stars, that began so early to praise God for the creation of the world. Job 38:7, 'Then the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.' And he can shout with them that they then did so. He can then sit down in the ark with Noah, and glorify God with him, for that 'the Lord sat at the flood,' Ps. 29:10. So most interpreters render it, and interpret it, that he sat as a judge, taking vengeance on the old world, and ungodly, after so much longsuffering: and sat on the throne of mercy, preserving Noah, that righteous one, and thus the Chaldee paraphrase on it. And that which follows confirms it; 'Yea, the Lord sat king for ever.' He did that great act once, and ever since he hath held being king, and will do so to everlasting. This man can join with Miriam and Moses at the Red Sea, Ex. 15, and sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb, as they do, Rev. 15. He can bear a part with Hannah, and all those psalmodists in their elogiums and high exaltations of God; even as the psalmist, we find, did join with Moses in celebrating his praise for his wonders then done in Egypt, and in the Red Sea. His heart falls in with those angels' song, when they proclaimed the birth of our Redeemer; 'Glory to God on high, peace on earth, good will towards men.' Yea, as one well says, Aures habet ad audiendam cœlorum prædicationem.* He hath ears to hear the heavens declaring the glory of God, and his soul can make music on it; for thus we read, Rev. 5, when 'every creature,' ver. 13, 'that is in the heavens, and in the earth, &c., said, Blessing, honour, power, and glory be unto him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever,' that 'the four beasts said, amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that lives for ever and ever;' they fell in with them. And as a further ground for this latter branch, we find the angels hearing the saints of mankind giving praise to God, and saying, 'Salvation to our God which sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb.' We find that all the angels that stood round about the throne, that they 'fell down before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen.' They join with the song that the saints of men sung unto God, though they were not concerned in it; not in salvation, for they fell not, yet they say, 'Amen;' and then they add of their own, 'Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.' And where there is such a frame of spirit raised in the heart of a man filled with the glory of God, as the angels fall in with our song, we can fall in with theirs, and with that of all the creatures.

CHAPTER VII

The glory of God which appears in his kingdom and universal dominion, whereby he rules over all; as it is described in Ps. 89, from ver. 6 to ver. 15.

Here begins a magnificent description of God as King, and his kingdom; for so expressly in the conclusion of this description he is styled, ver. 18, 'Our King.' And the intent of this I have elsewhere shewn to have this end and purpose, of setting out what a king Christ his Son should be, and what a kingdom and throne his Father would estate him unto, for the grand promise of this psalm, so often solemnly made and repeated, being of a throne, under the type and shadow of David, and of Christ's being his seed, unto Christ his Son. It begins,

Ver. 6. 'For who in heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?'

He first sets out the incomparable glory and excellency of his person to be such as that he is a King above all kings, whether in heaven (for there are thrones, which notes kingly dignity as well as dominions among the angels, Col. 1:16), or whether on earth, and that he is worthily, for his personal excellencies, the 'only Potentate,' 1 Tim. 6:15; and his exaltation of him as such is carried so high above them, as he will not deign so much as a comparison with them; but that he surpasseth all, or the least comparison to be made with him. 1. So far above the angels that who in the heavens can be compared to him? The heathen philosophers and wisest of them admired, worshipped the angels (as some pseudo-Christians, induced by their doctrines, afterward did the like, as Col. 2 shews). Then, 2dly, on earth he brings in the sons of the mighty, by which I understand the great heroes and worthies of the sons of men, the potent mighty ones, as kings, and those that descend from them, whom men cry up as benefactors (Luke 22:25), whilst living, and when dead, the heathens did rank them among the gods, and worship them also.*

And then the Jews themselves had the persons of their heroes, as Moses, David, Solomon, &c., in too high an admiration (whose renown was also spread over the whole earth), and did too much boast of them, as the glory of their nation, and had relied too much upon David's house; that it would be answerable in future ages unto so happy beginnings of David and Solomon, which the prophet here (living in Rehoboam's time) began to see to fall short. Thereupon says the prophet, whether among angels or spirits of holy souls in the heavens, or the sons of the mighty on earth, the best and greatest that ever were, there is not one, no, nor all of them put together, that hath the least shadow of worth, to be so much as named, by way of comparison, when God is spoken of: for so the manage of the words import. He says not, 'there is no god like unto the Lord' (as yet elsewhere we have it), but 'who can be compared and likened?' &c., God is so much and so infinitely beyond them all. I said, there is not the least shadow for them to enter into the lists of this comparison. And the Dutch have translated those words, 'Who can be compared?' thus, 'Who can be shadowed with him?' that is, they are not worthy to be accounted shadows unto such a comparison with him.

The intent of which is to set forth how great a king in his own person he is that is our King, as God (as he is in himself considered) is understood to be; as also to magnify that infinite grace and condescension of a God so great, to be the gracious founder of so wonderful mercies, and of such a covenant of grace to the sons of men; for that is the argument he drives on all along.

This for the first, how great a God and King he is in his own person simply considered.

2. Ver. 7. From his extolment of him in his person so far above all kings, &c., he proceeds to his kingdom. And in the seventh verse he begins that with a delineation of his court; and how he hath erected a palace, and so presents him as surrounded with courtiers, and attendants 'round about him.' 'God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.' This is exactly done in similitude to the mode and manner of kings on earth, and correspondent unto the scheme or description here. You find (if you compare it) that of God's throne set forth in the 5th and 7th chapters of the Revelation, where the Lamb had his commission given him, to be God's King, or God's Viceroy, where you see how his angels and saints 'stand round about him.' The like posture of this assembly you read in the Old Testament, 1 Kings 22:19, and more fully and expressly of whom it consists in the New, Heb. 12:22, 23, 24, 'But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an in numerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.' And that us from thence he administers the grand affairs of his kingdom the Scriptures do abundantly testify.

And by setting out this solemnity of his court in heaven, he declares how great a king he is, and how greatly dreadful he is unto those glorious spirits that are nearest to him. However he is disregarded by men on earth, yet in heaven he is greatly feared and in reverence of them that know him best, that stand round about him, beholding his face, being also ready pressed to execute his will when it is signified by the least nutus, or cast, and discovery of his countenance.

And yet, though he useth these angels as 'ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation,' Heb. 1:14, yet the psalmist further presents him as potent of himself alone, to execute and do all whatever, which for these heirs of his covenant he hath a mind to do, and withal a faithfulness joined therewith to move him thereunto, as ver. 8 hath it, 'But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom;' who yet is pleased to employ that glorious company of angels that are round about him, in the outward administration and affairs belonging to this kingdom, whilst himself by his Spirit works and doth all as to the inward effects in his children's spirits. But this external kingdom (visible to those that are with him in heaven) he manageth as kings, at and from their courts, use to do: which course and way, as for other reasons he chose to do, because his Son whom he would give it unto, being to be a Son of man, and a visible king, he provided for him, to shew his sublimity, the state and grandeur of a visible king: 'Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels, and authorities, and powers being made subject unto him,' 1 Pet. 3:22. 'And hath put all things in subjection under his feet,' Heb. 2.

From hence, therefore, the psalmist descends to set out God's absolute dominion (as the only potentate) which he hath over all things that are in these lower parts of his dominion, which are his footstool; as, namely, over these visible heavens, the suburbs of those higher, and over the earth, ver. 9, 'Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them. The north sad the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.' And in this latter passage he quarters forth the world, the north and the south; and Tabor and Hermon, which two stood east and west, to shew that his power reacheth to every nook and corner of the world. And for a manifest invincible evidence of his power in these lower parts of dominion (this world), he gives instance of one sort of sovereign acts, which sufficiently argue his power over all things else whatsoever here below. And those acts too, such as were done in performance of, and to make good his covenant promised to Abraham (for the mercies of his covenant are the thing he prosecutes); they are his wonders wrought in Egypt, and at the Red Sea, rescuing his people from thence by an outstretched arm: ver. 9, 10, 'Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof rise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain: thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.'

The psalmist still goes on to set forth the glory of this King and kingdom by allusions answerable to what the pomp and state of kings doth lie.* And indeed the highest glories of the Most High (as he is a King) are yet to follow, which lie in this, that his own internal essential attributes, and personal excellencies, are all-sufficient to constitute him a King, and then to support his greatness, and to hold forth and express a majesty and splendour, such as alone doth render him dreadful, and to be revered of all that are about him, so as he needeth not anything outward, no additional glory or ensign of majesty; but himself and his own divine perfections are instead and beyond all such foreign ornaments. That whereas earthly kings (their persons being mortal, &c., as other men) do therefore need accessory circumstances of state and grandeur, robes of purple, crowns of gold, enriched with most precious stones, with which Solomon was clothed in all royalty, sceptres also, and maces of honour, and swords to be carried afore them, also thrones and canopies of state, &c., and all to dazzle the eyes, and beget a reverence and dread in them that are about them, or in others of their subjects. But our great God and King hath no need of any of these things, no outward thing to greaten or assist him. Now the attributes he mentions are four, or of four ranks.

First, in ver. 14, you read that 'justice and judgment' (that is, righteousness and righteous administrations) are the establishment (as in the margin) of his throne.* He needs not, as Solomon, an artificial throne, lions, &c., as Solomon's throne had, and needeth not his subjects' hearts, his own justice is sufficient to found and support his throne.

Secondly, Whereas kings have mace-bearers, and nobles to bear the sword, to go afore them, also messengers of state that stand ready to go forth to execute any design; so, God, as in the same 14th verse, 'Mercy and truth are before thy face,' either to carry the ensigns (which indeed themselves are sufficiently) or as ready to go abroad tanquam apparitores, to effect whatever he would have done in the behalf of his people. Thus elsewhere, when David was to be delivered, as in Ps. 57:3, 'God shall send from heaven,' says he (as from his court and palace). And whom will he send? It follows, 'God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.' Creatures might fail, but if mercy itself and truth be entrusted to despatch his decreed purposes, these will be sure to do it thoroughly and to purpose, as we say, for the good of his chosen, and the making good of his covenant.

Thirdly, These came down armed with all the power that is in God, 'the Lord of Hosts,' to assist them, and so call never fall short of ability for the performance: ver. 13 'Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.'

Fourthly, His faithfulness, that is, a constancy to his own resolutions, intentions, purposes, and promises of mercy, that in ver. 8 is said to be 'round about him.' In allusion still unto a king on his throne, in the foregoing ver. 7, the angels were said to be round about him; as also the Revelations. But here his own very faithfulness is further said to be round about him. A tergo, à fronte, à dextra, à sinistra; afore, behind, and every way, faithfulness environs him round: no decree, no execution can pass from him, but it must pass through his faithfulness. And it is for all sureness to us, and our full security, that he is said to have placed it round about him as his guard, that so his faithfulness might watch and observe whatever passeth as in our behalf, that nothing should be done, or fall out, but in very faithfulness to his promises made to his. His fidelity hath an eye upon him in every thing, and he hath an eye unto it continually; for let him turn his eyes which way he pleaseth, it is before him. Thus in like manner you find 'a rainbow round about his throne,' Rev. 4:3. The rainbow was mercy's remembrancer not to destroy the world, and it was typical therein of the covenant of grace, Isa. 54:8, 9, 'With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee; for this is as the waters of Noah to me,' &c. And this rainbow being thus continually round about him, he can look no way but he is put in mind of mercy in the midst of the most ireful dispensations, as in the same place of Isaiah you have it. And therefore he also said, he will 'ever be mindful of his covenant,' Ps. 111:5, and so of these mercies of his covenant.

Now all this which is said of God's kingdom is all true of Christ; his own perfections innate in him (being God's Son) have an alike sufficiency in him; his own glory and power, that flow from that union, have ability, majesty, &c. sufficient. The apostles say of him, 'We saw his glory, as of the only begotten Son of God,' proper to him, and innate in him, as such. And the angels they cry aloud, Rev. 5:12, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.'

Use 1. We should therefore praise and glorify God, that he is the King, the great King, blessedness in himself. You have them both joined why we should praise him, Ps. 95:3, 'For the Lord is a great God, and a great King, above all gods.' You have them joined in the Lord's prayer, 'Hallowed be thy name,' as he is God; and 'Thy kingdom come,' as he is King. In Jer. 10:6, 7, here, as he is God, 'O Lord, thou art great; and thy name is great in might;' and here as he is King; and though there be forty other reasons given why he should be King of all the world, here is one, 'Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.' Aristotle says, A super-excellency in a man was it that made him a king; as if he had said, Lord, if thou lay down thy place, there is no wise man in the world can order and rule it as thou dost, to thee it appertains. And, ver. 10, he tells you plainly, he is both 'the true God and the living God, and an everlasting King.' You see he blesses him, for that he is blessed in himself. Now, what is blessedness? A confluence of all happiness and glory that he hath, and that wholly in himself, he needs nothing; for this he gives glory to him. So Paul doth, Rom. 1, when he had told them how the Gentiles dishonour God, and abuse him, 'changing the glory of the uncorruptible God into,' &c. Ver. 25, his spirit breaks out, 'Who is blessed for ever;' and what does he add? Amen. What is amen? So be it; O let him be blessed, let him enjoy it. amen is a wish, so it may be. The like you have, Rom. 9:5, speaking of Christ, 'Who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.'

Use 2. As a King, we are to bless and praise him. Truly you will say to me, that his being a King relates to what he is to the creature, not unto what he is in himself. I yield it; it refers unto what relation it hath to the creature: yet let me say, that to be the King of all is proper, it is essential to him. To me that Scripture argues thus much, Ps. 93:1, 'The Lord reigns; he is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself.' Ver. 2, 'Thy throne is established of old; thou art from everlasting.'

'From then' (as the word is) 'thou art from everlasting.' His throne was established from then, from of old; and it is as old as himself. It is not only when he says, 'Thou art from everlasting,' that God is everlasting, but it relates to his throne. The same you have in Prov. 8:22, 'The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.' The Lord was King before the world was. We use to say of a man of a great and high spirit, he hath a kingdom in himself. To be sure God had. Why? He had frames and models of worlds, and could have made millions of worlds; and what not? He disposeth of all that he hath made; Isa. 44:6, 7, 'Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no god. And who is like me, that shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order before me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.' A king is not a king only in proclamations and executions, but in councils, in ordering things in his court. He was thus a King from everlasting. Antiquity of kings doth ennoble; as it is said, Isa. 19:11, 'How say ye' to Pharaoh, 'I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?'

This is a subject of a world of praise; as also in the Revelations, that God is a King of kings, is a matter of great exultation to God. Look Ps. 145, which is a 'Psalm of praise,' the title is so; it begins thus, 'I will extol thee, my God, O King; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.' Ver. 10, 11, 12, 13, 'All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom; and talk of thy power; to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.' And therefore you find in the psalms, the psalmist bids them proclaim it: 'The Lord is King, and reigns in the world,' as the best news they ever heard, or that ever could be told them; as in Ps. 96:10, 'Say among the heathen, The Lord reigneth;' make proclamation of it, that the Lord reigns; 'the world also shall be established, that it shall not be moved.' Ver. 11, 'Let the heavens rejoice,' that the Lord reigns, 'and let the earth be glad: let the field be joyful, and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice. Let the sea roar;' you fishes that have no tongues, you are mute, yet speak and roar out now, that God reigns; as Christ says, that the very stones would speak: 'Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together,' Ps. 98:8. Or, as elsewhere, 'let them skip and dance,' that God is King, that he is the King of kings, that he reigns. But especially let his church do it, Ps. 97. The church especially hath a share in this, 'thy judgments are made manifest;' as Rev. 15, 'Thou art King, and King of saints;' 'let the heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory,' ver. 6; 'worship him, all ye gods,' ver. 7, gods or angels, and this because he is so high and great a King. And you poor souls that are here below, and under oppression, sowing tears, before this kingdom breaks out (says he), there is light sown for you: ver. 11, 'Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; and give thanks to the remembrance of his holiness,' ver. 12. This is because he is King.

I will now explain to you the frame of such a soul, as is wound up to God, to give glory to God for what was in himself; and will describe the many dispositions that soul hath.

First, Such a soul sees so much of the glory of God, as it is at a loss what praise to give him. It knows not how to praise and glorify him enough. As it is said of his benefits, which is a lower praise given to him, Ps. 116:12, 'What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?' Thus also Paul, 1 Thess. 3:9, 'What thanks can we render to God again for you?' But if the glory of God come in, it is above all your blessing and praise. Neh. 9:5, 'Blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.' That a soul is at such a loss you may see it in the psalms.

1. See the variety of expression the psalmist goes about to utter it by; sometimes he calls it praise, and then glorifying; Ps. 86:12, 'I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify thy name for evermore.' And sometimes singing. But he says it over, and over, and over, and over; Ps. 47:6, 7, 8, 'Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing you praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen; God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.' He doubles it, and doubles it, to shew the vehemency of his soul; he could not sing loud enough, Sing, sing, sing, sing, four times in one verse. And sometimes, 'a new song;' Ps. 33:3, 'Sing unto him a new song.' I have praised him formerly, and sung to him, but all my old songs are not good enough.

Sometimes he expresses it by 'shouting for joy;' Ps. 32:11, 'Be glad in the Lord, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.' Ps. 33:3, 'Play skilfully with a loud noise.' And extol him; Ps. 30:1, 'I will extol thee, O Lord.' And magnify him; Ps. 34:3, 'O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.' Sometimes, 'I will greatly praise the Lord;' and because praise is too low a word, says he, 'let us make his praise glorious;' Ps. 66:2, 'Sing forth the honour of his name; make his praise glorious.' Let us give him no other than glorious praise.

As he useth this variety of expression, which shews he knew not what to do or say, so he doth not know what to speak of God whilst he praises him, what words to use; and therefore he carries it off in so great a superlative; Ps. 77:13, 'Who is so great a God as our God?' 'Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, O thou King of nations?' Rev. 15:4. And he hath it out of Jer. 10:6, 'There is none like unto thee, O Lord: thou art great, and thy name is great in might.' Ver. 7, 'Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?' In Ps. 106:2, he puts all the creatures into a stand at it, 'Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can shew forth all his praise?' Alas! ver. 3, 'Blessed be they that keep judgment,' that can be holy. Who can shew forth all his praise? Praise him we cannot.

And sometimes he useth this language, 'Be exalted above the heavens; and let thy glory be above all the earth,' Ps. 57:11. And the God that rides on the heavens: Ps. 68:4, 33, 'Sing unto God, sing praises to his name; extol him that rideth upon the heavens, by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.' 'To him which rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old.' Praise him under that notion. Insomuch as in deed and in truth we find these strains in the psalmist, that he knew not how to set him out with words enough; he leaves it to his own self, for himself to do it, for the creatures cannot do it. Ps. 21:13. Glorify thyself in thy own strength, in thine own excellency, for the creature cannot do it. Such a soul as David was, is enlarged to talk high of God; Ps. 86:12, 'I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify thy name for evermore.' Alas! poor creature, how canst thou praise him for evermore? A soul fired with desires to praise God, it burns after both more perfect things and more lasting than it is able to perform. 'To will is present with it,' &c. See but the Teachings and roamings of such a soul, how it swells in desires to glorify God!

First, That soul in such a frame does extend itself to praise God in all times.

1. In all seasons, that is, when any occasion shall be given; Ps. 34:1, 'I will bless the Lord at all times,' that is (as I take it), at all seasons.

2. His heart goes further: 'His praise shall be continually in my mouth,' he would be doing it continually; Ps. 84:4, 'They will be still praising thee,' at all seasons of the day, morning, evening, and night; Ps. 92:2, 'To shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night;' Ps. 145:1, 2, 'I will extol thee, my God, O King; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever: every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.' In other psalms, 'I will bless thee while I live,' Ps. 63:4. Ps. 104:33, 'I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.' But this is but for this life: but 'I will praise the Lord for ever and ever,' says David, Ps. 104:2. 'I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever,' Ps. 45:17. Such a soul is so enlarged, as, if it were possible for him to do it, he would contract all the praises due to God in all ages into an instant, and give him all at once, such are the enlarged rooms and desires of his spirit. O that I could contract (thinks that soul) all the glory that is due to God, and that I can give to God to eternity, that I could give it him in one moment! Ps. 106:48, 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people,' in the world, 'say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord.' Thus this poor soul doth reach, and the reason is, because he is so great a God for ever, and therefore he would praise him as for ever. Thus in Eph. 3:21, where Paul gives glory to God, 'To him be glory in the church through Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.' So Jude also, 'To him be glory now and ever. Amen,' verse 25.

3. This soul will rejoice that God hath been celebrated by others, in all ages; Ps. 102:12, 'But thou, O Lord, shall endure for ever, and thy remembrance unto all generations.' That he hath lived in their praises, Ps. 22:3, 'O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.' More expressly, Ps. 135:13, 'Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever; and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.' This soul could sit down with angels, and take in all their praises, and rejoice that God hath been so celebrated and praised in all times.

4. This soul would extend itself, not only to all times, but to all persons, and things, and works of God, to praise him. Oft in the psalms he rejoices in God, and calls upon all nations to do it. Ps. 96:1, 'Sing unto the Lord all the earth;' verse 7, 'Give glory to the Lord, O ye kindreds of the earth, give unto the Lord glory and strength;' verses 11, 12, 'Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, let the sea roar,' &c. Alas! I cannot do it, my heart is too narrow! Ps. 72:18, 19, 'Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doth wondrous things, and blessed be his glorious name for ever; and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and Amen.' Nothing will content him else; if he could, he would fire all creatures to do it; 'Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee.' So in Ps. 100, 'Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness; and come before his presence with singing.' Ps. 118:1, 'O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.' He is King everywhere; O that they would praise him all his dominions! Ps. 103:22, 'Bless the Lord all his works, in all places of his dominion,' in every nook and corner of the world; verse 20, 'Bless the Lord, all ye his angels, that excel in strength, and do his commandments.' Begin you to bless God! What had he to do to call upon angels? It is as if he had said, Alas! poor creature, I have not strength; you angels that excel in strength, do you bless the Lord; it is better than to do his will, it is your greatest excellency. And ver. 21, 'Bless the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers that do his pleasure.' And at last, 'Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion: and bless the Lord, O my soul!' and what a poor little thing am I to bless him, so he concludes. And again, Ps. 113:1, 2, 3, 'Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. From the rising of the sun, unto the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised.' He is so full, that himself would (if he knew how) wish himself in the midst of a whole congregation of the upright; Ps. 111:1, 'Praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.' Would I had a voice to reach the multitude of all nations! Ps. 108:3, 'I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.' Nay, before all the kings of the earth, and all angels, all gods; he wisheth such an auditory. Ps. 138:1, 'I will praise thee with my whole heart; before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.' Our Saviour Christ praised him thus in the midst of the church universal. Ps. 86:1, 2, 'Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me; for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul, for I am holy;' the word is, I am thy servant, or saint, or accepted. How does he praise God? O most mightily! ver. 8, 'Among the gods there is none like thee, neither are there any works like to thy works. Here is a poor man in his need talks thus; and thou that art so great a God, help me in a little* case. In Ps. 89 is an eminent instance, ver. 52, 'Blessed be the Lord for evermore. Amen, and Amen.' Says Calvin, there are those that say this verse is foisted in. Why? Because the man was in a great deal of misery in the verses before. 'Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servant; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people; wherewith thine enemies have reproached me, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.' How doth he praise God in this psalm! and it is there made the fruit of his death. 'I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. You that fear the Lord, praise him: all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.' You know who said it. O what glory does Christ bring to God; ver. 25, 'My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation.' The matter of his praise is fetched out of God, he fully knew him. And Paul wishes, Eph. 3:21, 'Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.' In the whole church universal.

5. Again, this soul, let it be in the lowest frame that can be, in the greatest misery, worst condition, if this frame comes upon it, he will still praise God. I have known such as have been in the bottom of hell, and there praised God. In Ps. 86, David praised God when he had been in a very pitiful condition, verses 1, 2, 3. Nowhere such praises, as from the 5th to the 15th verse of this psalm. And, as Calvin well said, might not this man as well bless God at last, as he did at first? 'I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations,' &c. When a soul is at the lowest, if the Spirit of praise come in upon that soul, he will cry out to God aloud in praising him. There is another eminent instance in Ps. 22. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ hung upon the cross; there he hung, and all the pharisees, the bulls came about him; and says he, 'I cried to thee.' What doth he comfort himself with? Verse 3, 'But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.' The praises given to God are so delightful to God the Father, that they are called an habitation to him; and the breadth of them, says Christ, this is that which supports me, 'Thou art holy, and inhabitest the praises of Israel;' verse 6, 'I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people;' but no matter, so thou art praised. When the world was overwhelmed with a deluge of misery, yet says the prophet, 'Wherefore glorify you the Lord in the fires,' Is. 24:15. In the midst of all the fires round about their ears, they glorified God; some read it 'in the valley,' in the lowest condition they could be in. This soul yet rejoices that it shall live to praise him. My brethren, let us pray for such a heart as this, that the saints of the Old Testament may not shame us that are Christians of the New.

BOOK II:

Of the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity

What his person is, considered in himself.—He is the eternal Son of the Father, one God in essence with him.—The Son, the second person took the man Jesus into personal union with himself; and so Christ is God-man joined into one person.

And ONE LORD JESUS CHRIST, by whom are all things, and we by him.—1 COR. 8:6.

CHAPTER I

How greatly it imports us to have a true knowledge of the person of Christ

What his person is.—That he existed from all eternity with God as a person; and was not merely a manifestation of the Deity in time, and then only existent when he first appeared in the world.

THERE are two things imported to us in those words of 1 Cor. 8:6, 'And one Lord Jesus Christ;'

I. His person, 'Jesus Christ.'

II. His office and relation to us, and unto all the creation, 'One Lord, by whom are all things.'

I. I begin first with the setting forth the substance of his person; what it is, and of what made up is he, this Christ, the Lord, of whom all things are. And this is the more necessary (though it be largely handled by others), in relation unto those strange and monstrous opinions, which, as touching the person of Christ, this age hath produced. Satan being let loose, hath preached over his old sermons and notions, read over anew, and refined his old lectures, which he had read to those great heresiarchs in the primitive times; who joining philosophical notions about λόγος, the Word (as philosophers had spoken of him), with what the Jewish Cabala had also said concerning him, made up another Christ than whom the apostles preached. And truly the bottom-cause of men's embracing errors about this, hath been the seducement of that specious and alluring principle unto man's nature, of being one with God himself, in the highest manner that man's vain heart could find ambition within itself to aspire unto. Mistakes of union have caused men to shape out such a Christ, as might serve to their attaining that high and incommunicable union with God, which they have fancied to themselves the creature shall attain; and hence look, as we formerly observed, that to the end they might make way for this, the most hellish blasphemy that ever was uttered, that the creatures were and should become all one with God himself, partakers of the divine nature; they therefore throw down the three persons in the nature of God, as alone possessing that privilege, as those that stood in their way to this preferment. Which done, they think each of their persons may be God, as well as they have been voiced to be. So, out of the same principle, they in like manner serve or Lord Jesus Christ's person; for then must be no preferment in heaven left, which they must not be capable of, and raised up unto. They must be Christ too, and ascend to the height of his throne.

Yet there being three persons in that divine mature, the man Christ Jesus was capable of being one person with one of these; the personality, or to be one in person, might be communicated unto a creature, although to be one with God in nature could not, and that is the highest union with God the creature is capable of. And had there not been three persons in the nature of God, this high union with God had not been neither. And then this union with one of these persons is the foundation of all our unions, and by virtue of it it is that God descends to communicate himself to other creatures (the we in the text), even by uniting himself personally to one creature, the man Christ Jesus, and so setting him up the Lord and Christ, and choosing us in him; and he in that his person undertaking for, and bearing, and representing our persons, thereby we become one with him, and through him with God, in our measure, and in a subordination to him, according to that, John 14:20, 'At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.'

Now in order to clear this distinction of union with God on Christ's part, from that of ours through Christ. As I have shewed, God was an infinite, pure being, distinct from the creature, and standing out from those dregs of the creatures into which the fancies of men would drench him, and mingle him with their mud; so we must now extricate the person of Christ also from the like entanglements, and vindicate the transcendency of his union with God, and distance of his person from ours. And then all unions left below him are left free for us to attain, and shall be obtained by us. And for the discovery hereof, I am first in pursuit of this, What the person of Christ is; what he consists of.

The great weight and moment of the true and right knowledge of the person of Christ, will be evident by a consideration of these two texts of Scripture compared together: Mat. 22:42, 'Jesus said unto them, What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is he?' compared with Mat. 16:13–18, 'When Jesus came into the coasts of Cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.'

It is acknowledged by all that profess Christian religion, that Christ is the foundation; yea, and that 'other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ,' 1 Cor. 3:11. But let all know that it is as much a foundation, and as absolutely necessary 'to know and believe him that is true' (as John's word is, 1 John 5:20), the true Christ, that is, the true person, who and what he is, and not 'another Jesus;' that is, not to mistake his person. Which mistake, or error personæ, is either, 1, When men know not, or do not acknowledge, the individual person, who he is. Or 2, understand not, but mistake what that person is, and what his person consists of; both which are alike necessary to be understood aright by us. The necessity first you may see by Christ's speech to the Pharisees, John 8:24, 'If you believe not that I am he,' that is, this my individual person to be the he, that is, the Messiah, 'ye shall die in your sins.'

And the necessity of the latter those two his questions, one put to the Pharisees, Mat. 22, and the other to his disciples, Mat. 16, do also argue.

1. To the Pharisees; 'What think you of Christ? whose son is he?' Mat. 22. Here he doth not ask them whether they would acknowledge himself to be the Christ, but what manner of person the true Christ should be? And the dint and aim of his question is concerning his person, 'Whose son is he?' which is the true substance of the person of the Messiah; thereby to discover to them, and convince them that they erred as well in this, what the Christ they looked for should be, as in their not taking himself that was afore them to be that person; and fatally in both.

2. He catechiseth his disciples, Mat. 16:13, 'Whom do men say I am? Whom do ye say I am?' ver. 15. Which, ver. 16, Peter, in the name of the rest, gives answer to, and withal resolves that question which he put unto the Pharisees, 'Thou are Christ, the Son of the living God.' In which he speaks home to both particulars.

(1.) That he, individually present with them, was the Christ, 'Thou art,' &c.

And (2.) What that Christ was, for the substance of his person, 'Son of the living God.'

And Christ, in his return to this, definitively pronounceth, that the faith of both these was the rock which he meant to build his church of the New Testament upon. So then, what the person of Christ is, is of the foundation (being the rock), as well as that, that Jesus was the Christ.

And let me add, that this being the rock the whole church of the New Testament hath been built upon, you therefore may safely job issues in your faith with what hath been the faith and doctrine of the whole church in all ages, as touching this particular, what his person for the substance of it is. In this, I say, of all points else, that promise issues which is made to the whole church, answering to this declaration of Christ, Eph. 4:13, that they should 'all come into the unity of the faith, and knowledge of the Son of God.' They should all, that were in all ages saved, agree in the knowledge of this, in whatever other things they might be found to differ. His is the 'Rock of ages.'

And therefore in this point be wary what you entertain anew, or how you vary from the catholic faith of former ages, or in what shall any way make his person differ from that person which all the saints have understood him to be.

I shall not go about setly to confute the errors that are abroad; only positively set forth that person which the glass of the gospel holds forth. And I hope, in the end and conclusion, to give forth that challenge which Paul in the like case doth, in that 2 Cor. 11:4, If he that cometh can shew you a better, or greater, or more spiritual Christ (I do not say, shall set out our Christ better, but shew you a better Christ), then you shall do well to bear with that man, yea, and receive him and his Christ also.

Again, in the setting forth his person, my scope is not herein to set forth the excellency and glory of his person, but the substance of his person. And in doing this I shall proceed by degrees, as our apostle John also did, when he did set himself to describe him. He doth it by piece-meal, John 1:1, 'In the beginning was the Word,' that is his first step; 'and that Word was with God,' that is a second; 'and the Word in the beginning was with God,' that is a third; 'and the Word was God,' that is a fourth. He might have shut them all up in this sentence, 'The Word was God, with God, in the beginning.' Bat he puts it into so many several positive assertions; yea, and begins at the lowest, namely, his having existed, 'The Word was,' and that 'in the beginning.' And then after that tells us what he is, a person distinct from God; he was 'with God,' and yet 'was God.'

I shall proceed in the like method, and set him forth in so many several assertions; whereof each, or most of them, are directed as opposite to some error or other about his person which are now abroad in the world. And I will begin, as John did, at his existence; that is, his having been, when and how long. And John's first affirmation about him is terminated merely upon his existence: 'He was,' says he; adding withal the circumstance of the time of his existence, 'In the beginning.'

1. Of his existence. When? And how long? Then of his person; who, &c. And of his existence first, because the true understanding thereof will conduce to the knowledge of his person, who he is.

(1.) He is a person who did actually exist before he came into the world and was made flesh; and that had continued to exist all along the time of this world, both in the beginning of it, and before the world was, yea, from eternity.

It is strange that the Socinians should so impudently, in the light of this gospel and the Scriptures, say that Christ began but then to exist actually, when he was first conceived by the Holy Ghost in the virgin's womb; and that before he had existed but in promise, as the day of judgment doth now. As also such who hold Christ to be but the manifestation of God in man's flesh. God indeed, say they, was afore; but Christ, as Christ, being but the manifestation of the Godhead in man's nature, existed not until that manifestation of God in man's flesh. For the existence of that which is only and barely a manifestation, lies only in being the manifestation of something that existed afore, but itself not till then. And this is even as if a man should say and affirm that what all other men call the sun is all one with what we term day, and nothing else; which you know begins but in the morning, and ceaseth at night, and is but the shine and manifestation of the sun, when it riseth and appears above our hemisphere, or this part of the world. But look, as the sun is a body of light, that exists afore it is day with us; and the appearances of it is that which maketh day, yea, is day: so Christ the Sun of righteousness is not the bare manifestation of God, but a person that existed with God, yea, and was God, afore that manifestation of God made by him in this world. And he is not only the bringing in or manifestation of life and immortality which was in God; but himself was that eternal Life which was with the Father, as distinct from him, and was manifested to us, 1 John 1:2, so as life and immortality are made manifest by his appearing, as of a person that brings it, and manifests it with the manifestation of himself, 2 Tim. 1:10. And who also is said to 'manifest himself unto us,' as well as the Father, John 14:21.

To confirm this our main assertion, let us trace his existence punctually through all times. The Psalmist says of him, Ps. 102:24, 'Thy years are throughout all generations.' Which psalm the apostle quoteth of him. Heb. 1:10. Let us go from point to point, and see how in particulars the Scriptures accord with it. The first joint of time we will begin that chronology of his existence withal is that instant afore he was to come into the world.

First, We find him to have existed just afore he came into the world, the instance of his conception, Heb. 10:5, in these words, 'Wherefore when he comes into the world, says he, A body hast thou prepared me.' Ver. 7, 'Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.' Here is a person distinct from God the Father, a me, an I, distinct also from that human nature he was to assume, which he terms a 'body prepared.' A person he is that speaks to God, as one knowing and understanding what he was about to do; yea, and how it was written of him that he should do, 'In the volume of thy book it is written of me,' ver. 7. Therefore besides and afore that human nature, there was a divine person that existed, that was not of this world, but that came into it, 'when he cometh into the world, he says,' &c., to become a part of it, and be manifested in it.

Secondly, We find him to have existed afore John the Baptist, though John was conceived and born some months afore him. I note these several joints of time because the Scripture notes them, and hath set a special mark upon them: John 1:15, 'John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me; for he was before me.' This priority of existence is that which John doth specially give witness unto. And it is priority in existence, for he allegeth it as a reason why he was preferred afore him; 'for he was before me.' And therefore these latter words do not note out a priority in dignity, for that were to prove idem per idem. And this reason holds strong; for he is such a person as existed afore he was made man or flesh, afore as man he was born; and so must be more than a man or creature. And then again, he doth not say, 'He is before me;' but speaks in the time past, 'He was before me.' And yet, ver. 30, he expresseth it thus, 'There cometh a man' (the same John speaking of Christ) 'which is preferred before me; for he was before me.' Still he runs upon this priority. And yet as a man he was not afore John; for John was the elder as man. Therefore as some other person, namely, 'the Son of God' (as he had entitled him, ver. 14), or as 'the Word' (as he had styled him, ver. 1 and so on).

Thirdly, We find him existing when all the prophets wrote and spake, 1 Pet. 1:11. The Spirit of Christ is said to have been in all the prophets, even as Paul, who came after Christ, also speaks, 'You seek a proof of Christ speaking in me,' 2 Cor. 13:3. And therefore he himself, whose Spirit it was, or whom he sent, must needs exist as a person sending him. And particularly of the prophet Isaiah it is said, when he saw his glory, Isa. 6:1, which, John 12:41, is applied to Christ, and ver. 5, says Isaiah, 'I am undone, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts,' which was Christ.

Fourthly, We find him existing in Moses's time, both because it was he that was tempted in the wilderness, 'Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents,' 1 Cor. 10:9; and it was Christ that was the person said to be tempted by them, as well as now by us, as the word καὶ, 'as they also,' evidently shews. And it points to that angel that was sent with them, Exod. 23:20, 21, in whom the name of God was, and who as God had the power of pardoning sins: ver. 21, 'Beware of him, provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions; for my name is in him.' And him that Moses calls Jehovah or God, Stephen calls an angel. And there is none to whom are given the name of an angel, and of God, but to Christ. And Stephen says, Acts 7:35, that 'Moses was a ruler and deliverer in the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.' And in Heb. 12:26 there is a comparison made between Moses and Christ; and Christ is there said to be he 'whose voice then shook the earth,' ver. 26; and, ver. 25, he is termed the 'speaker from heaven,' alluding to that place, Exod. 20:22, God said, 'You have seen I have talked with you from heaven.' So then Christ then existed, and also is God. Yea, further, it is he of whom it is there also said, that 'his voice then shook the earth.' Even as he who now under the gospel speaks from heaven, and whose voice shakes both earth and heaven under the gospel. The same Jesus therefore then existed in his power that now.

Fifthly, We find him existing in and afore Abraham's time: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am,' John 8:58. The Jews had undervalued him unto Abraham, 'Art thou greater than our father Abraham?' ver. 53. And whereas he had said thereupon that 'Abraham rejoiced to see his day,' ver. 56, which Abraham had done by faith; they will needs cavil, and put this upon him, that he had meant he had seen Abraham, and had lived in his time: 'Thou art not fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?' ver. 57. Christ doth not answer as he might, that this was a mere cavil as to what his former words did intend or hold forth; but instead thereof, with a deep asseveration, affirms what they thought he had absurdly said of himself, namely, that he had not only lived in Abraham's time, but long afore. And so their cavil and mistake drew forth from Christ this great truth, as errors use to bring forth truth; and he utters it with the greatest solemnity and asseveration, 'Verily, verily,' as being a wonder to utter; yea, and speaks not in ordinary language, as that 'afore Abraham was I was,' but 'I am,' in a correspondency to what God speaks of himself, 'Before the day was, I am,' Isa. 43:13. We translate it 'I am he,' but word for word it is 'I am,' signifying thereby that permanent, uninterrupted being of his, which is proper to God, as Ps. 90:2, 'Before the mountains were brought forth, thou art.' And Christ's answer in this place was opposite to their demand; they speak of real existence, and in the same sense and respect doth Christ answer them.

Sixthly, We find him existing in the days of Noah, that preacher of righteousness, 1 Pet. 3:19. He says of Christ, that he was 'put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit.' He evidently distinguisheth of two natures, his divine and human, even as Rom. 1:3, 4 and elsewhere (as I shall shew); and then declares how by that divine nature, which he terms 'Spirit,' in which he was existent in Noah's times, he went and preached to those of the old world, whose souls are now in prison in hell. Those words, 'in Spirit,' are not put to signify the subject of vivification; for such neither his soul nor Godhead could be said to be, for that is not quickened which was not dead; but for the principal and cause of his vivification, which his soul was not, but his Godhead was. And besides, by his Spirit is not meant his soul, for that then must be supposed to have preached to souls in hell (where these are affirmed to be). Now, there is no preaching where there is no capacity of faith. But his meaning is, that those persons that lived in Noah's time, and were preached unto, their souls or spirits were now, when this was written, spirits in prison, that is, in hell. And therefore he also adds this word 'sometimes:' 'who were sometimes disobedient in Noah's days.' These words give us to understand that this preaching was performed by Noah ministerially, yet by Christ in Noah; who according to his divine person was extant, and went with him, as with Moses, and the church in the wilderness, and preached unto them.

Seventhly, He was extant at the beginning of the world, 'In the beginning was the Word.' In which words, there being no predicate or attribute affirmed of this Word, the sentence or affirmation is terminated or ended merely with his existence; 'he was,' and he was then, 'in the beginning.' He mentions not his parents, or time of his birth, but simply that he was. He mentions not any king's reign, or such note or worldly time, but simply 'in the beginning.' And he says not that he was made in the beginning, but that 'he was in the beginning.' And it is in the beginning absolutely, without any limitation. And therefore Moses's beginning, Gen. 1:1, is meant, as also the words after shew, 'All was made by him that was made;' and, ver. 10, the world he came into was made by him. And as from the beginning is usually taken from the first times or infancy of the world: 'And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning, made them male and female?' Mat. 19:4. So Mark 13:19. Christ expounds it in the beginning of the creation which God created, 'For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation, which God created, unto this time, either shall be.' So then, when God began to create, then was our Christ. And this here is set in opposition (John 1:14) unto the time of his being made flesh, lest that should have been thought his beginning. And unto this accords that of Heb. 1:10, where, speaking of Christ, out of Ps. 102, 'Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth;' so as to be sure he existed then. But further, in Ps. 102:24, it runs thus, 'Thy years are throughout all generations.' We have run, you see, through all generations since the creation, and have found his years throughout them all. And yet lest that should be taken only of the generations of this world, he adds (as Rivet expounds it), 'Before thou laidst the foundation of the earth.'

Eighthly, So then we are come to this, that he hath been before the creation, yea, from everlasting. Which,

First, Is made forth, in that it is said, He was in the beginning (meaning of the creation), and therefore from everlasting. The consequence of which appears,

Both because there was but that one beginning of producing things by God, and so what was then must needs be before; yea, from everlasting, as having had no beginning. The angels were not afore that beginning mentioned by Moses. For it is said, Exod. 20:11, 'God made heaven and earth, and all that in them is,' whereof the angels are part. And, Mark 13:19, it is termed the 'beginning of the creation which God created;' and so of the creation of anything whatever that God made. So then Christ must needs have had no beginning afore, as well as that he existed then.

And, in Scripture phrase, 'in,' or 'from the beginning,' is used to express eternity: 'From the beginning, when the day was, I am,' Isa. 43:13. So they read it; that is, from eternity.

But if that will not carry it, you have it more express, 'The Lord possessed me afore his works of old,' Prov. 8:22; it is spoken of Christ. Now, to be sure, by that phrase of being afore his works, even God's eternity is expressed thereby: 'Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God,' Ps. 90:2.

But, Ninthly, If you would have his eternity yet more express, see Heb. 7:3, where mentioning Melchisedec, Christ's type, he renders him to have been his type in this—'Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but, made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually.' Where his meaning is to declare that, look what Melchisedec was typicè, or umbraliter, in a shadow, that our Christ was really and substantially. It is the manner and custom of all historians, yea, and of Moses in that sacred story of his, if they bring in any person more eminent, and as performing any more excellent exploit, to relate his parents, his descent, whom he came of, and what became of him. And this Moses had been careful and diligent to relate of all the patriarchs, telling us whose sons they were, rehearsing their genealogy, how many years they lived, and how then they died. Which is especially observable in that short catalogue, Gen. 5. In the close it is added of every one, 'and he died,' when he relates little else. But this Melchisedec was a man greater in dignity, in office, than any of the patriarchs (for whom would yourselves pitch on as the greatest of all that Moses wrote of, but Abraham, the father of all the faithful?). 'Now' (says the apostle, ver. 4), 'consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils,' yea (as ver. 5), greater than all the tribes; and so the whole nation of the Jews, and people of God that followed. For whereas all the other tribes paid tithes to Levi (says the apostle here), Levi and all the tribes paid tithes to him in Abraham's loins. Yea, and ver. 6, 'This man blessed him,' namely Abraham, 'who had the promises for himself and all his seed. And without all contradiction, the lesser is blessed of the greater,' ver. 7. Now when Moses had in his story brought upon the stage a man thus heightened and sublimated, which would for ever set all curious thoughts on longing to know who and what this man was, what his original was, what his end, who his parents, &c., he causeth him, as it were, on a sudden to vanish, contrary to his wont concerning other persons, as if he had been a man dropped out of the clouds, telling (as we say) neither whence he came, nor whither he would go. Paul, that observed this, tells us plainly, that it was consultò, or on purpose done.

There was a mystery in it, which was to signify the eternity of Christ's priesthood and person; and whereas neither Melchisedec nor any creature was or could exist from everlasting, and so in the reality could not have wherewith to shadow out Christ's existence from everlasting, therefore it is signified by silence, or omission, there being nothing in the story that hints his original or beginning; and so it was, as if he had had no beginning: and it being setly and on purpose done, it had intentionally this secret mystery in it. There was nothing in Christ, but some type or other was ordained some way or other to shadow it. And when the matter was such as could not in the kind or reality be personated, it was done by that which might most nearly shadow it. As the sacrifice of his body was by the burnt-offerings of beasts, but for the sacrifice of his reasonable soul under the wrath of God, there was not any thing in the sacrificing of a beast, of like kind, which could shadow it out, yet God appointed that which was as near in resemblance as might be; and that was the pouring forth of the blood, in which was the soul of life, signifying the pouring forth of his soul as an offering for sin, as Isaiah speaks, Isa. 53:10, 12. Now so here, there being nothing in respect of any real existence from eternity that any man was capable of, therefore an historical eternity is given him, by way of silence concerning his birth, &c. So as he was (as this text there hath it) 'made like to the Son of God;' that is, rendered, in respect of what useth to be the course and manner of story, like to him in this respect. As in law things that appear not are in value as if they were not,* so here. Now in that it is said, 'He was made like to the Son of God,' it imports him to have herein been the shadow, the picture of Christ, who is the body and substance. God having his Son, and all he was and should be, in his eye, did all along the Old Testament draw his picture in the examples of all eminences in any person that was extraordinary and transcendent; Christ being really the abstract of them all. Some pieces, or limbs, one patriarch affording, others another; and this of eternity was Melchisedec's lot to hold forth, and that in the manner specified. Now that he shadowed out the eternity of Christ's person and priesthood for time to come, all acknowledge, Socinus himself. Therefore also in the eternity of his person for time past, for that is as well put in, 'without beginning of days,' as 'without end of life.' And so these other attributes, 'without father,' as a man, 'without mother,' as God. And 'who can tell his generation?' saith Isaiah, chap. 53:8. All which not only import what he was in respect of his priesthood, but of his person; for the things he takes for him are such as are common to all men's persons, as they are men. As when he says he was without father or mother, insomuch that whereas Adam was without father or mother, yet we read of the beginning of his days, it is recorded, and his end of life, but not so of Melchisedec; and so represented in all things differing from all the men that ever were or shall be. And further, if that had been his only type, it had not been material to shew the eternity of his priesthood, to say he was without father. For if Moses had set down his father's name, and withal had shewn that his father was not a priest, it had been all one as to that point. So as these are spoken chiefly in respect of his person, the subject of this priesthood; yea, and if his priesthood were from everlasting, his person must exist from everlasting; for these two are joined. Heb. 5:6, 'Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee;' and, 'Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec.' If therefore it signifies the everlastingness of the priesthood, à parte antè, or from time past, that that hath been for ever (and it must so signify, if that other opposite, without end of days, signifies the eternity of his priesthood for time to come), then withal it must import the eternity of his person, and himself to have been without beginning of days.

Lastly, Add to this that in Micah 5:2, 'But thou, Bethlehem-Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting;' where he evidently speaks of two births Christ had, under the metaphor of going forth: one as man at Bethlehem in the fulness of time, the other as Son of God from everlasting. Which latter is added on purpose, upon occasion of the prophecy of that other, to prevent that thought, that he had not existed afore he was born or conceived at Bethlehem; and his birth is expressed by that phrase of 'going' or 'coming forth,' in both respects. His birth as man, Mat. 2:6, is so expressed, 'Out of thee shall come forth,' which, ver. 4, is interpreted to be born.

And, 2. As Son of God, his goings forth (that is, his birth) are from everlasting. And it is termed 'goings forth,' in the plural; because it is actus continuus, and hath been every moment continued from everlasting. As the son begets light and beams every moment, so God doth his Son.

So then we have two everlastings attributed to Christ's person; one to come, Heb. 1:10, and another past, here in Micah 5:2. And so as of God himself it is said, Ps. 90:2, 'From everlasting to everlasting thon art God,' so also of Christ.

And to confirm this existence of his yet more; if you ask where he was all that while? John resolves you, together with this his assertion, that he was; and tells you with whom he was. At the creation, or in the beginning, he was 'with God,' when none but God and he were alone, and no creature with them; 'in the bosom of the Father,' John 1:18. And in Prov. 8:30, 'Then I was by him as one brought up with him.' And accordingly, John 17:8, Christ says, 'I came forth from thee,' speaking to his Father; and ver. 18, 'Thou didst send me into the world;' and John 16:28, 'I am come forth from the Father, and am come into the world.'

Now ask the manifestarians, that is, those that say, Christ, as Christ, is only a manifestation of God; How was it when it is said, that he was 'with God' in the beginning of the creation, when there was no creature? when, according to them, his sole being (as Christ) is barely a manifestation. I ask them to whom he was then a manifestation? Not to God, for, according to them, he is the manifestation of God in us; and to him he needed not be the manifestation of himself in their sense, but to us only. Now then we were not, nor any creature to whom he should be manifested.

Use 1. Let believers comfort themselves with this existence of their head and redeemer Christ; 1 John 2:14, he reckons it up a privilege to raise up their hearts withal, 'Ye have known him that is from the beginning,' namely, Christ, of whom, 1 John 1:1, 2, he says, 'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us)'. This was the great privilege John and the apostles boasted of; as it follows, ver. 3, 'That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.' When therefore he saith, 'We have known him that is from the beginning,' it carries a great privilege, and confirmation, and establishment of them in their faith, and also an exhortation with it.

(1.) A confirmation of them in their faith, and to see and rejoice in their privilege; and is as if he had said, there cannot be any Christ proposed to them that is more ancient, and therefore he is the best, the sole or only Christ. As the gospel coming after could not make void the law, so no manifestation can put down or excel that which is made of God himself in Christ, for it is he that was from the beginning.

And (2.) it hath an exhortation in it; that therefore they should always, and to the end, that is, for ever, cleave to him. It is he that was from the beginning. There can be no other Jesus; 'The same to-day, yesterday, and for ever,' as Heb. 13.

Use 2. Embrace him as thy chiefest treasure; for he is being and existence itself. 'The world passeth away, and the glory of it: but the word of God endures for ever.' If the truth of this written word, then much more this substantial Word, the person of Christ, in whom all other truths are 'Yea and amen.' He is, I say, existence itself, 'by whom all things consist,' Col. 1:17, and 'exist,' Heb. 1:13. And in the text, 'through whom are all things, and we by him.' And it is faith in us that gives a subsistence to him in our souls, we thereby close with him; Prov. 8:21, Wisdom, that is, Christ exhorting us to embrace him, holds forth this promise, 'I cause those that love me to inherit substance.' All other things are shadows. And how doth he confirm this to them, that he is able to give them substance? but by this, that he existed before the world was; which is the subject of his discourse for ten whole verses together next following, beginning thus: ver. 22, 'The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old: I was set up from everlasting, ere ever the earth was,' &c. Then only I was; but God himself accounted: me as a treasure to himself. 'The Lord possessed me,' ver. 22. And therefore I may well be yours. If God esteemed me such to himself, you may well do so to yourselves. When the apostle says, 'He that was rich, for your sakes became poor,' 2 Cor. 8:9, it implies him to have been infinitely rich afore he came into the world, where it was he was made poor, and from his birth born to nothing. And to conclude, as he only is existence, so that being you have in him is alone true being. 'Of him ye are in Christ Jesus.'

Use 3. You see how it came to pass, that we who existed not afore the world had yet then the promise given, 1 Tim. 2: 'Grace given us in Christ afore the world,' 1 Tim. 1:9; and 'chosen in him afore the world was,' Eph. 1:4; even because that, Christ was a person who then existed, and took all the deeds of gift ordained us from God for us. Isa. 6:9, he is styled 'The everlasting Father,' which he had not been if he had not existed; for of all else, to be a father, implies existence at the time when he is said to be a father; for it notes antiquity and priority. As Adam is said to be a father in time, so Christ from everlasting; and as Adam must be supposed to exist, when he was a father, so must Christ be supposed also. And therefore if an everlasting Father, then he existed in that everlasting.

CHAPTER II

Who this person was that existed from eternity

The two titles which are given to him, as existing before the world was: 1. That he is 'the Word;' 2. 'The Son of God.'—His first title, 'the Word,' imports two things: his being eternally begotten of the Father, as the image of his essential glory; and that he is given to us by God as his word, whereby he manifests himself.

You have seen that Christ was a person who existed throughout all generations, and from everlasting, before he took flesh. The next inquiry is, who he was that had always so existed; thus as yet I, proceeding by degrees, do limit it; for as concerning what he is upon the assuming human nature, that is to follow afterward.

There are two eminent titles given to Christ, existing before the world, and both of them in the first chapter of John: ὁ λόγος, 'the Word,' John 1:1, 'In the beginning was the Word,' &c. 2. The 'Son of God,' ver. 14. Of whom as such John Baptist thrice affirmeth he was afore him, ver. 15, 18, 30, 34. And parallel to this in the Book of Proverbs he is styled; 1. Wisdom, Prov. 8, from ver. 22 to 33. Then, 2. The Son of God. 'What is his name, and his Son's name, canst thou tell?' Prov. 30:4. I will not hear much dispute as concerning the first, whether that title of λόγος, the Word, be the title of his person simply considered in himself; or whether withal, in respect onto his being ordained the manifestation and revelation of God to us; yet something must be said, There are two opinions about it.

First, Some say it imports the divine substance of his person, simply considered, and so merely notes out that relation he hath to his Father, as begotten of him; in respect of which he should be termed the Word. That look, what the inward thought, conceptus, conceit or apprehension of the mind, is to the mind, being the first-born thereof, and remains within the mind itself, and is the image of the mind to itself, though never uttered to any other: such, say they, and in such a respect, is the person of Christ termed the Word, unto God his Father. Now it is clear, that both in the Jewish and Greek language, that which we in English call Word, and which we apply only unto speech, doth with them betoken the inward thought of the mind. Aristotle distinguisheth between λόγος ἔξω and λόγος ἔνδω, the external of the mouth and the internal of the mind. Thus also, Job 32:18, 'I am full of matter;' so we translate it. And he speaks of his mind or spirit; so it follows, 'My spirit within me is full of matter,' Now in the Hebrew it is, 'full of words.' Thus, Dixit in corde, 'The fool hath said in his heart,' is put to express the inward thoughts of bad men, Ps. 14:1; as also of good men, Ps. 36:1; for words spoken are but thoughts appearing. So that, according to this, the whole object of God's inward thoughts and wisdom is here termed the Word, which comprehensively is Christ. And this notion or ground, why he is termed λόγος, the fathers and schoolmen have more generally and greedily entertained, as that which was most lively and really expressive of the eternal generation of the person of the Son of God. That as the mind, when it would understand itself, begets within itself an idea or likeness of itself, in which it views and understands itself; like as the eye, when it would see and view a thing without itself, takes in an image of the thing; so the mind doth, when it knows itself or any other thing. And that thus God, in the knowing of himself, doth beget within himself the image of himself, as, Heb. 1:2, Christ is also called. And it is observable that his eternal generation, as the Son, should be expressed by the same phrase (and so they should so fitly agree) that the production of the thoughts or image in the mind is expressed by. The phrase used to express the generation of him as God's Son is, that he came forth from the Father, John 8:42; 16:28; 17:8. And the same word is used to express the begetting of the thoughts and purposes by the mind, and in the mind, Mat. 15:18.

But this import of it many of our reformed divines* have been and are shy of, as too curious; and yet, as I have observed, the same authors are in other following passages glad to make use of the similitude thereof again and again, to express the generation of the Son of God thereby, as most apposite and subservient thereunto; and so might have been glad that the Scriptures speak so near thereto.

There have been two things, among many others, that have made them shy to own this, as the Scriptures' intention in this phrase.

1. That the conceptus, or images in the mind, are accidents, and less than the mind itself, as also vanishing and transient, and not of the same substance with it, and equal to it, which is dangerous to hold forth of Christ.

But that is easily answered: (1.) That a full similitude, from things earthly, holding in all things like, could not be found of this mystery. And, (2.) Themselves say of the persons in the divine nature, that they being but various modes or manner of subsistings of that one divine nature, the Godhead; that though those several modes in a creature would be but accidents, yet in the Godhead they are persons: so why not in the case in hand? That image which in the mind of man is but an accident, this in God, and of God himself, is a person equal to God. Especially, seeing otherwise, he should not know himself perfectly as he is in himself.

2. The second is, that to say Christ is the Word of the Father, as the thoughts or reason, or counsel is the word of the mind, vergeth and inclines too much into the notion of Plato, and other heathen philosophers, who, acknowledging God the maker of this world, conceived of this Word of God in God to be no other thing in God than the idea or platform of all that which God meant to make. And so, as an artificer having the model of a ship or frame of building in his head, that model, or frame, or pattern of what he means to make is one thing, and his own being or nature as a man is another; and, indeed, thus did these wise folks, philosophising of God's making the world, distinguish between God and this Word in God thus: that by God they conceived one person only that enjoyed that divine nature to himself, only he having all the creation in him, the pattern of all these, or idea of them, according unto which he made them, they termed this the Word, or λόγος, in God's mind; so making the whole of the being or subsistence of that Word in God to be wholly distinct from the nature of God as God, and to be only that in God which was the original and sampler of his creation, and so to be but the head of the creation, that is, the top and chief and original of it, and a mere respect thereto. This was Plato's λόγος, or Word; and I fear is all that others, bringing but up old philosophy for new divinity, do intend, by that which they so usually cry up and term the 'eternal Word.'

But that the philosophers meant by the notion of λόγος, or the Word, no more but the model of the creation, needed not have deterred Christians from the owning of this phrase 'the Word,' to intend the image of what was, and is, in God, and that as a distinct person that had the true nature of the Godhead, and as that which in was not in God merely, or only the pattern of his creation.

(1.) If indeed the whole of the image of God's mind, or object of God's thoughts and knowledge, had been but the image of the creatures, in which God only foresaw what he would or could create, then indeed John's ὁ λόγος, or the Word, had been, nor could have been no other than this sampler of God's creation; but the chief object of God's knowledge is himself in the first place, and thereby it is he knows all things else he can produce, and that at second hand, by first knowing of himself. And indeed if the idea or sampler of his creation alone were all the image or object of his knowledge he had in himself of himself, then he should only have but an imperfect knowledge of himself, and such as we have at the lowest of him. For to know God but in the creatures, is but that which was in Adam by the law of creation; and we profess to look for a higher, to see God face to face, and in himself, which is our perfection. And therefore sorely God's perfection is to see himself in himself much more. Neither indeed can God know himself perfectly, but by such an image of himself as is as perfect as himself. We creatures indeed know nothing perfectly, because our understandings penetrate not into the things themselves, and so we know them only by such images as fall short of the substance of the things themselves. But God's knowledge is perfect, especially that which he hath of himself must be equal to himself. So then, if the import of this phrase, 'the Word,' relates at all unto God's inward thoughts and apprehensions, and the object of them, it must more especially carry in it Christ, he being the immediate image of God himself.

3. It is certain, that Christ himself (who himself knew best what himself was) doth speak of himself as of a person unto whom his Father doth shew, or make known, the pattern and model of all his works he means to do; and therefore the substance or being of his person consisteth not in his being the idea or model of the creation that is in God's mind, but he is the person to whom God makes known those platforms of all. Thus John 5:19, 20, 'Then answered Jesus, and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doth, these also doth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.'

(1.) These words suppose the idea of what he means to work, to be in common between the Father and the Son, and in the Father first; as in him the being or essence of God is first, and so communicated or shewn unto the Son (as indeed all the platform or form of God's works is common to all three persons, in that they are alike God). And therefore it were absurd to say, that the Son himself is nothing else but that platform itself of what God means to work.

(2.) These words suppose a person whom God loves, and a person of understanding and knowledge, such as to whom the idea of all God means to effect is shewn. Now as it were absurd for a carpenter to say to that form in his mind, I will shew thee all I am about to do, so here there would be the same absurdity.

And (3.) In ver. 17, Christ says he is one that works, and hath a powerful hand to effect all that is done, as well as the Father; and therefore is himself a person distinct from this idea of all things, and not the bare image of them. And lest it should be understood of him as Son of man only, he puts in that word 'hitherto.' 'My Father works hitherto, and I work.' That word takes in all God hath ever done since the creation. For that hitherto must relate to some time afore, either eternity, or a beginning; and we know that that beginning of God's working was the beginning of the creation; and (from that time hitherto, says Christ) I work. And be it what it will that the Father hath done at any time, the Son hath done the same; for verse 19, 'Whatever things the Father doth, these also doth the Son likewise.'

4. These two expressions, (1.) That he is 'one begotten of the Father,' elsewhere used; and (2.) this here, That he is one to whom 'the Father sheweth all he doth;' do imply two differing things; even as for a Father first to beget his Son, his substantial image, and then to teach and instruct him in his trade, and shew him what he is to do.

Yet I may add this, that God the Father, communicating the form of all things to his Son, so vieweth his own thoughts and purposes thereabout, as they shine forth in his Son; as a man doth his own thoughts in his friend's mind or judgment. Hence Christ the Word, may in a more eminent manner be styled the idea of all things, in comparison with the other persons. Yet so as this is, because he is the image of God himself; and so, because he of all persons in the Trinity bears the title or character of being the image of God. Hence he doth in like manner, together with the image of God's being, bear the platform of all things else that are in God; as in whose breast God the Father views over his own thoughts and designs, and in whom they are presented to him.

5. Lastly, Whereas it may be said, that the philosophers having used that phrase afore John, in this or the like sense, that therefore John taking up out of choice the same title, and giving it to Christ, that therefore he should use it in their sense and intention. Answer is,

(1.) That John originally used this word from the Old Testament itself. For the Jews expressed their Messiah, or Christ to come, under this notion, 'the Word,' and 'the Word of God,' as appears by the Chaldee paraphrasts (who are at least as ancient as Christ) often, when God the Son is mentioned and spoken of, they translate it 'the Word.' So Hosea 1:7, 'I will save them by the Lord their God;' they render it, 'I will redeem them by the Word of the Lord their God.' So Ps. 110:1, 'The Lord said to my Lord;' the paraphrasts expound it, 'The Lord said to the Word.' And so Isa. 45:17, 'Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation;' they read it, 'by the Word of the Lord,' namely Christ. And this phrase not the Jews only, but the Scriptures themselves, do use, as 2 Sam. 7:21, 'For thy Word's sake,' says David, that is, for thy Christ's sake. For 1 Chron. 17:19, it is rendered, 'For thy servant's sake;' and is all one with that, Dan. 9, 'For the Lord's sake.' Philo (a Jew never turned Christian, and not long after Christ's time) in his writings calls him ὁ λόγος, as before did Plato and those heathens who stole their knowledge from the Jews, and vended it as their own.

Yet, (2.) That the occasion why John, when he wrote his Gospel, used that title of 'the Word,' which no other evangelist did, was that which was mentioned, namely, that the Gnostics of those times he wrote in, professing Christianity, formed up such a Christ, according to what the heathen philosophers had set him forth by; he therefore gives him the same title (the Old Testament having given it him); but in full and direct opposition to them, and what they said of him, he at first dash affirms, both that his λόγος, or Christ, was God, and also equal with God, and a person distinct from God, in those other words, 'He was with God;' the contrary to which was their doctrine of him.

Thus much for the first opinion, why he is called λόγος, 'the Word.'

The second opinion, why Christ should be termed λόγος, 'the Word,' is that it imports what God had afore all worlds ordained Christ to be, and Christ himself undertook to be, even 'his Word,' whereby to utter or manifest himself to us. And indeed, although the person whom John calls λόγος did actually then exist, yet it cannot be denied but that this title of λόγος, the Word, doth withal connotate or import what Christ undertook to be, and God designed him to be, namely, the revelation of God unto us. Which is made forth, 1. Because the inward thoughts themselves are usually termed the word, but in relation to their being uttered; and therefore in such a respect may also this be supposed given to him, seeing he is the manifester of God unto us, Et interpres voluntatis divinæ, the interpreter of God's mind unto us, Heb. 1:1. And, 2. In that Christ is said to be the 'Wisdom of God,' namely, manifestative, and as he is made wisdom unto us, by whom we know God in the form of Jesus Christ. Thus 1 Cor. 1:24, 'But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God,' compared with verse 30, 'But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.' And in this sense it is that Solomon calls him Wisdom, which is all one with this of John, λόγος, the Word, which the English or Latin reach not. And it were easy to parallel John here, and Solomon there, in Prov. 8, which I have elsewhere done.

So then, Christ as he is the power of God in the creation; God said, and it was created, Gen. 1; and as he is the power and the wisdom of God to us in redemption, in whom and by whom we know God, in this respect it is he is termed the Word: and so, although John and Solomon affirm the person that was thus ordained to be thus to us was then existing, yet the title given him imports what he was to be when the world began, and after the world began, unto the world and to the saints. And thus John himself, in his first epistle, chap. 1 ver. 1, 2, explains himself, 'That which was from the beginning,' says he, 'and which our (the apostles) hands have handled of the Word of life,' namely, Christ. 'This life was manifested, and we shew to you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us.'

So then Christ the Word, in order to manifestation to us, is termed the Word of life. And as he is termed the Word in both these respects mentioned, so also that other title John gives him, of eternal life, is in like manner given in respect unto what he was ordained from the beginning to be to us, 1 John 5:11, 'And this is the record, that God hath given unto us eternal life; and this life is in his Son;' as well as what he is in his person, even the fountain of, or life itself, in himself. So, ver. 20 of that chapter, he speaks of him, 'This is the true God, and eternal life.'

To conclude this. When God exhibited him first unto the world by a voice from heaven, 'This is my beloved Son,' he adds, 'hear him.' And it is as if he had said, As he is my Son, so he is my Word and interpreter unto you, 'the speaker form heaven;' as Heb. 12:25, he is called. And see these two titles of his Son and of the Word met in that one proclamation made of him by his Father.

Which of these two accounts given, why he is termed λόγος, or the Word, is most to be received, I will not dispute; because indeed I take in both. In doing which there is no more inconveniency to be found than in interpreting other styles and attributes of his in a double sense, and taking in both; as in that of being styled 'The image of the invisible God,' Col. 1, which Pareus and other divines (whom he to that purpose cites) in his Opuscula, upon Col. 1:15.

I now come to that other title, more frequent in the Scriptures.

CHAPTER III

That he was the Son of God, who existed throughout all ages, and from eternity.

This proved by all those instances of Scriptures wherein his eternal existence is asserted, and wherein the title of Son of God is also ascribed to him.

This most eminent title of 'Son of God' doth simply express what and who the second person is in himself, and in relation to his Father, and so singly speaks the substance of his person; and, it is certain, was that more general and renowned title the first primitive times knew him by. Under which Christ himself and all the apostles unanimously represented him unto the church, which all believers then professed to believe in, and concerning which that promise is made and uttered onto all the saints in succeeding ages, Eph. 4:13, 'That all should come to the unity of the faith, and knowledge of the Son of God.' The other of λόγος, 'the Word,' was (if used by any other apostle than John, yet but covertly) by John sparingly mentioned after all the apostles were dead, and but thrice by him. And though it was a known title to heathens and Jews, yet received but upon occasion of heresies, which took the advantage of the use of that title among philosophers, to deform the person of our Jesus.

And further, he was acknowledged and declared to be that Son of God by all sorts of witnesses, either in heaven, or earth, or hell.

1. By those witnesses in heaven.

(1.) The Father, Mat. 3:17, 'And lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;' and chap. 17:5.

(2.) The Son himself, in every chapter of John, and Luke 10:22.

(3.) By the Holy Ghost, who (besides that his testimony is included in all the scriptures that speak him the Son of God, because he wrote them all) personally appears in the likeness of a dove, to join with the Father's witness of him. 'This is my beloved Son, Mat. 3:16, 17, 'And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,' And so the Baptist doth interpret that signal place, John 1:32, 33, 34, 'And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.'

(4.) The same was witnessed by the angels.

[1.] The good, Luke 1:35, 'And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.'

[2.] The bad, Mat. 4:3, 6, and chap. 8:29, 'And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?' Mark 3:11, and chap. 5:7; Luke 4:3 and chap. 4:31.

2. On earth. (1.) Wicked men, as the centurion, Mat. 27:54, 'Of a truth, this was the Son of God.'

(2.) The apostles all jointly by Peter, John 6:69, 'And we believe, and are sure, that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.'

(3.) Lastly, the whole church, Eph. 4:13. So that we may boldly assert;

Assertion 2. That our Christ, for the substance of his person, is the Son of God; so styled, not in respect only of God's taking man's nature, but as existing as such afore he took man's nature. And this is one of the great foundations of the gospel, and universally acknowledged by believers in the first times. This general assertion will require many particulars to explain it.

1. That he that thus existed (as hath been proved) through all ages, and from eternity, was this Son of God, and so styled afore ever he assumed man's nature.

2. How and in what manner this title is given to him.

1. For the first;

That he that thus existed through all ages was the Son of God, and so styled afore ever he assumed man's nature.

For the evidence of this I shall run the same race I did in the former assertion; when I proved his existence, I went through all ages, even up to everlasting. And so I shall do in this, step by step, demonstrating that it was the Son of God that as such is said in all ages to have existed.

(1.) He of whom John the Baptist affirmed that he existed afore him (as was shewn), his person by him is styled 'The only-begotten Son of God;' John 1:15, 18, 'John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me,' 'No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him;' compared with ver. 30, 34, 'This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me; for he was before me. And I saw, and bare record, that this is the Son of God.'

(2.) He, as the Son, was over the church, as his own house, in Moses's time. To him, as the Son, was Moses a servant in his house; so then he must exist as the Son. Thus you read expressly, Heb. 3:5, 6, 'Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, but Christ as a Son over his own house,' even then. Even he that then said, in Num. 12:7, 'Moses is faithful in all my house;' he was this Son, says Paul, and therefore existed as such; for it was he spake those words in Num. 12:7.

(3.) Again, it was proved in the first assertion that our Christ was a person that existed at the creation. Now he that then existed, and so afore man's nature was made, and four thousand years afore this man was made, is then called the Son. Of him, as the Son, it is said, Heb. 1:1, 'His Son, by whom he made the worlds.'

(4.) It was shewn that he was a person existing throughout all generations from the creation. And this was the Son: John 5:17, 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work;' that is, hitherto my Father hath wrought from the creation, both on Sabbath days and every other day. It was spoken to justify the healing on the Sabbath. And it was not his own working only virtually or instrumentally; for his word is ὁμοίως, 'in like manner,' ver. 19. And he that then is said to work must be acknowledged in the highest manner to exist. And it is the Son that did this: ver. 19, 'Then answered Jesus, and said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doth, these also doth the Son likewise.' And as in the words, ver. 17, it is manifest, 'My Father works, and I' that am his Son.

(5.) He who was without beginning of days, and end of life, of whom Melchisedec was the type and shadow (as was shewn out of Heb. 7:3), he is expressly termed the 'Son of God' in that place. For thus the words concerning Melchisedec run: 'Having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but was made like unto the Son of God;' who therefore, as Son of God, hath this in a real and substantial manner true of him. And therefore the Son is not only in respect of this man Jesus his being united unto God, but,

(6.) In Rom. 1 verses 2, 3, 4, Paul says, that the gospel was promised by God before by the prophets concerning his Son, whose person he thus describes, 'Who was made of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh,' or human nature, 'and declared to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness,' or a divine nature, (as shall after be shewn). Now that Spirit, or divine nature, in which, as Son of God, he existed, and was now declared, is called the 'eternal Spirit,' Heb. 9:14, 'by whom also he offered up himself,' as there.

(7.) Seeing this place hath mentioned how the prophets speak of him as God's Son, let us see how they spake thus afore of him as the Son; whereby will be decided, whether or no they styled him not such, over and above the consideration of that human nature; in regard to which only, say some, it and its being united to God, and God manifested therein, it is, say they, that he is called the Son of God; and not as a distinct person from the Father, who in himself is the Son of God, and who took the human nature into the same sonship of his person which he had without it.

[1.] Ps. 2:7, 'Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.' God's Hodie, or to-day, is the style of eternity. Verbs and adverbs of the present time do best express eternity. 'Before Abraham was, I am,' John 8:58. 'And I AM hath sent thee,' Exod 3:14. So, 'To-day have I begotten thee.' To-day with God is no to-morrow, nor yesterday. As God was always God, so always a Father; and so he is a Son always unto God. Neither had he been God's Son by generation, by begetting, if only he had been his Son, as man, by union. So he had been the Son of the Holy Ghost, and he his Father, rather than God (whom the Scriptures only term his Father), because this man was by the Holy Ghost conceived, formed, and united unto God. And the Spirit was not the cause of his being a Son, for this very Spirit is termed the Spirit of this Son: Rom. 8:9, 'But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.' Gal. 4:6, 'And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.' And sent by him, John 16:15, 'All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.' And although this Scripture of Ps. 2 is applied to the resurrection of Christ, Acts 13:32, 33, yet it is evident, by Paul's quotation of it, Heb. 1:5, and his denying unto all the angels, that so transcendent a generation intended in that second psalm by the psalmist.

Neither by the resurrection was he first made the Son of God (as man), for he is termed so all along in the evangelists before. But it was then declared, as Paul's phrase is, Rom. 1:3, 'Declared the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead.' For thereby it was shewn that he had life in himself, and was that eternal Life that had been from the beginning, 1 John 1:1; whom therefore it was impossible death should hold, Acts 2:24. And unto this sense it is, that those words of the psalmist are applied by Peter to the resurrection, Acts 13:32, 33. God, by Christ's being raised up, had confirmed the truth of that promise made, to give his Son for us, whom he had from eternity begotten, and did by his resurrection declare him to be such. 'We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee;' thus, or thereby proving him to be the Son of God, whom God had from everlasting begotten, who was promised to be given to us. Yea, his incarnation and conception as man (which was the first foundation of his being man), was but the beginning of the manifestation of the Son of God: John 1:14, 'The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father.' And therefore this was not the constituting him a Son. So likewise it is termed, 1 Tim. 3:16, 'God was manifest in the flesh.' Likewise 1 John 3:8, 'The Son of God was manifested.' Now manifestation is of what was extant afore; but production is the bringing forth of a thing from a not being to a being.

[2.] Agur speaks of a person distinct from God, then existing, whom he calls God's Son; Prov. 30:4, 'What is his name, and what is his Son's name, if thou canst tell?' He demands of the one, as well as of the other, known to the Jews, whose name or being was ineffable.

[3.] Isaiah, in chap. 9:6, 'To us a child is born, a Son is given,' which is applied to Christ, Mat. 4:15, 'a child;' that title only is given to one that is of mankind, and in that respect he is said to be born. But that title of a Son is in a further relation given him. For else that first title of child had been enough. And in that he adds thereto, as a further thing, and distinct from child, that is, 'A Son is given,' this argues his existence as a Son afore, for that is given which first is. And then, the angel coming to Mary, a virgin, points her to the prophecy of Isaiah: 'Behold, thou,' a virgin, 'shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son;' which you have Isa. 7:14, 'Behold, a virgin,' &c. Now Isaiah had prophesied two things:

First, That a virgin should bring forth: Isa. 7:14, 'Therefore the Lord himself shall a you sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel.'

Second, That he that was so brought forth should be the Son of God: Isa. 9:6, 'For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counseller, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace.'

Mary doubts of the first, and the angel resolves her in that, in the first part of his speech, ver. 35, 'Then the angel answered and said, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee.'

And then, from this wonderful conception of hers, the angel doth infer, that he that should be thus conceived and brought forth by a virgin, should undoubtedly be the Son of God, which the same Isaiah had spoken of in his 9th chapter, 'To us a Son is given.' And so it follows in the latter part of the verse, in Luke, 'Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.' This particle, therefore, refers not to his conception, as a cause of this effect, as if that therefore, because conceived by the Holy Ghost, he should be thereby constituted the Son of God. But it is an inference or demonstration, that therefore she might be assured he was that Son of God that Isaiah had spoken of, that should be so born of her. Yea, and that child should be called the Son of God; that is, owned, reckoned, and acknowledged, to be the Son of God, by personal union with him, as he is and hath been by the believing world to this day; and called, that is, really made the Son of God by that union. Or, it was he that was to be declared the Son of God, who was afore Deus absconditus, God that was hidden, as Isa. 45:15. And so Matthew also interprets the prophecy: Mat 1:22, 23, 'Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which, being interpreted, is, God with us.' So then this Son in Isaiah is the Son of God, by the angel's interpretation; God united to man's nature, and so dwelling amongst us. And the angels they had known him, and conversed with him all along afore during the Old Testament, and appeared together with him into Abraham, and others, and so were meet witnesses of him, what and who he was, when he came into the world.

[4.] And to this head may be referred that in the story of the fiery furnace: 'The form of the fourth,' appearing with the three children, says Nebuchadnezzar, 'is like the Son of God,' Dan. 3:25. Thus far we may more than probably conclude, that this appearance was of the person of Christ himself, the Son of God, who had formerly appeared to the fathers in the shape of man; and so with these three children, to comfort them, and strike dread into the tyrant. And so he was then extant as the Son of God; yea, and possibly this prince, though an heathen, might have received some glimmering notion of God's Son. And he now seeing one appearing in so great and so superlatively differing a glory from the rest; and such a glory as struck him, though so great a king, as outshone his, and had overcome him; he concluded that it must represent God's Son, who by inheritance was Lord of all; of God, I say, 'whose kingdom,' as after he confesseth, 'is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion from generation to generation,' chap. 4:3. And the scope of that prophecy is to discover that there was a kingdom to come after the four monarchies ended, which appertained to the Son of God. And God having been pleased to vouchsafe to this king the knowledge of that kingdom itself, as in the former chapter, chap. 2. ver. 34, 44, 45; so here in this, which was the next occurrence, he gives him the knowledge of his Son (in this appearance), to whom this kingdom appertained, expressly calling himself the 'Son of God,' whom Daniel, in his vision, chap. 7, terms the 'So of man:' who, as then existing as Son of God, appeared in a differing glory with these three children, comforting of them, countenancing, owning them, and being then present with them in their afflictions, as, Isa. 63, it is also said, he was with the church in the wilderness.

To conclude this. If he existed afore the world was, when he was not man, and during all the times of these prophets, afore he took man's nature, it must be supposed that such a person so existing must have some eminent known title given him, between God and him, the import of which should be to speak his relation unto him. And if so, then surely it must be this, which is thus afore given him by those prophets, and as uttered by God, 'Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee,' Ps. 2:7. 'And what is his name?' speaking of the Father; 'and what is his Son's name?' So then he was called the Son, Prov. 30:4.

He is not termed a Son, as if only made such when he was conceived or made man; but, on the contrary, being and existing the Son, he is said to be 'sent' and 'made of a woman:' Gal. 4:4, 'But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.'

And unto this purpose it is further observable, that Christ, in his discourses to his disciples, affirms himself not only to be one sent into the world by his Father (which sufficiently imports his existence afore), but further, to notify to us his eternal generation, and proceeding from him as a Son, and as such existent afore. He therefore distinguisheth and severeth these two things (as appears in several speeches of his); 'I came from the Father,' so first; and then, 'And I came into the world;' or thus, 'And he hath sent me.' This is not only oft repeated, but this very order observed as oft as repeated: John 7:29, 'I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.'

CHAPTER IV

What kind of Son he is to God, or in what sense he is the Son of God.

He is the proper Son of God in a special peculiar manner, such as no other person can be said to be.—He is styled the only begotten Son of God, which can be affirmed of no creature.—This imports that his eternal generation is the foundation of his sonship.—He is called the Son of the living God; that he is begotten of him in his own likeness; and is of the same nature and substance with him.—That he is God by an identity; of one and the same essence of the Godhead, and not by union only, or office.

To demonstrate in what sense Christ has this title of Son of God, I shall herein also proceed by degrees.

1. It is given him by way of singularity, in comparison of all others that have the title of sons; this all acknowledge.

As God the first person, by way of singularity, ordinarily is called the Father, 'one God, the Father;' so frequently in the same way of singularity is Christ termed the Son, in relation unto this God as the Father. And it hath been observed by some, that whereas ὕιος Θεοῦ, that is to say, A son of God, is common to others, that is, to us with him; yet ὁ ὕιος τοῦ Θεοῦ, The Son of God, is never given to any but to him.

2. God the Father himself, by way of a special appropriation, sets him forth and exhibits him as his Son, with difference from all others. He said it himself from heaven, 'This is my beloved Son,' Luke 9:35. This person, this is the very He, he of all others individually, and alone he and none other; and then he adds, let all else 'hear him.' Thus when he presents him to the world, 'hear him,' acknowledge and receive him, as he who hath power to make you sons to me; John 1:12, 'But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.'

But this general is far short of what the Scriptures speak concerning what, or wherein his sonship consists. Even the Jews seem to conceive and apprehend that he who should be the Christ, should have the title of the Son of God given him by way of eminency above all others, yet all that while conceiving of him, as to the substance of his person, that it was but only a man that should transcendently have God's presence with him, and that God should appear in him in a more glorious manner than in all men else. And not the Jews only, but the Gentiles, were struck with a sense of some one special person's being the Son of God, as in this sense understood.

Thus far, and in such respect, Pilate had apprehensions that Christ possibly might be the Son of God. For when the Jews had told him that one Jesus made himself (or took upon him to be) the Son of God, John 19:7, 'When Pilate heard that saying,' saith the text, 'he was the more afraid.' It cannot be imagined that Pilate's divinity reached to convince him to be the substantial Son of God, but he thought he might (for all that he knew) be some eminently divine man from God, such as their poets spake of, and attributed to Augustus Cæsar, magnum Jovis incrementum, which struck fear into him.

I am doubtful, I confess, whether to refer to Nebuchadnezzar's speech, in Dan. 3:25, who when he saw one appear in a differing manner with those three children in the fiery furnace, he cries out, 'The form of the fourth is like the Son of God;' and surely it was an appearance in such a glory, as was far beyond what creatures, even angels, appear in, that made him speak thus. But that which makes me doubtful is, that he had not any notion of this Son of God to come, unless, as I afore challenged it, for Christ's existence as God's Son under the Old Testament, he perceiving his glory such, and so superlatively different, acknowledgeth him to be the Son of that God whose kingdom was to be an everlasting kingdom, Dan. 4:3.

But it is yet more observable to prove the present assertion, that whenever Christ spake of the Father afore his disciples, or others, he never said 'Our Father,' which yet he taught us to say, even when we pray in private, to the end that we should come to God as such a Father to us, as he is also to all others of his elect. And so the Jews were taught and instructed to say, 'We have one Father, even God,' John 8:41. But his own usual style was 'my Father,' and therefore so a Father to him as to no other, nor to all or any of the sons of God. And this appropriation was so much his wont that the Jews observed it, and took him at it, and were offended, John 5:17. Whereas he had said, 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,' the Jews 'sought the more to kill him, because he had said God was his Father,' which is but slenderly so translated: for in the original it is, because he had called God his own Father, that is, so and in such a manner his as not others'; and so the Jews themselves understood him, whilst the words were yet fresh in his mouth. Yea, and he speaks not this amongst a wicked company of Jews, who were the children of the devil, ver. 44, as any other ordinary son or child of God alone among a company of wicked ones might by way of separation so use it; but further, Christ doth the very same when he had an occasion to speak to and of his disciples, and of himself (who were the chiefest saints then alive of the sons of men, and representing the rest for ever to come), how God was Father both to him and them, yet he carefully makes this separation, 'My Father and your Father,' John 20:27. You see he mentions their relation apart, yea, as separate and aloof off from his own. He putteth the sonship or relation of all them into one common relation, 'your Father,' and sets against it, and severs from it, as at a distance, his own, 'my Father.' And that, to shew their relation of sons to God, is not of the same rank or descent that his is.

There is moreover, an us all, Rom. 8:32, 'He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?' namely, us, the saints. 'God gave him up for us all,' says he, and these all, we find, had been afore termed the sons of God, in the 16th verse of that chapter, 'The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God;' and so declared 'heirs of all things,' because joint heirs with Christ, ver. 17. And again, ver. 29, ha had called them the brethren of Christ, and him the 'firstborn among many brethren.'

And yet, after all this, by way of difference from these, he entitles Christ, 'God's own Son;' 'If God spared not his own Son,' ver. 32. To have said his Son, by way of singularity, when mention is made of many other brethren, had been enough to have signified his eminency unto them, especially to say the first-born, as ver. 29, he hath done. But he adds hereto over and above all, his own Son; as thereby signifying the different kind or sort of sonship and fatherhood that was betwixt God and him. This is therefore an eminent distinction of two sorts of sons which God had: his own Son, proper, genuine, true Son, and others that were not his own, but either by marriage or adoption. As strangers and aliens, in their original descent, use to be to a father that afterwards takes them for his adopted sons; and it is evident that this is his meaning. For ver. 15, the apostle had given this other part of distinction of sonship of this his us all. 'We have received,' says he, 'the Spirit of adoption, by which we,' that are Jews, 'cry, Abba,' and we, that are Gentiles, 'Father;' 'And if children, then heirs,' ver. 17. Now God in this speaks as plainly to men in their own language as is possible to express it. Come to a man that hath both sons by marriage, and also a son out of his own loins, and you hear him call them all sons. But particularly ask him what son is this? 'My own son,' says he. And are these so? No; they are my daughter's husbands, and so my sons-in-law, or my wife's sons, or whom I have taken to be my sons by will. Well, and what doth a man mean when he says, This is my own son, especially when with a distinction from others that are adopted? All men understand a son that is of his substance, naturally begotten of him, of his flesh and blood. Then in its infinite proportion it ought so to be understood here.

A second expression, to be added to this, is, that of his being styled 'The only begotten Son of God' so often, John 1:14, 18; 3:16; 1 John 4:9, and therefore so begotten as not others. Quasi præter eum nullus; as if besides him no other were begotten. And if any would quarrel, that others are said to be begotten of God, 1 John 5:18, yet to be sure, when God says this of him, 'Thou art my begotten Son,' he means it of such a begetting as hath not been communicated to any creature of the old creation, which that place is express for, 'To which of all the angels hath he said, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee?' Heb. 1:5. So instancing in his highest sons, of the sort of mere creatures, that are nearest to him; in excluding them he excludes all the rest.

In which speech we may observe two things.

1. That a generation, or begetting him, is the foundation of his sonship, as it is of all true and natural sons else among men. For so he joins them, 'Thou art my Son; I have begotten thee,' as the ground of that his sonship. If it were but a metaphorical or similitudinary generation, as when he says of the ice and the snow, Job 38:28, 29, 'Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of the dew? Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?' then his sonship were no other. But doth God speak poetically here (as there he doth), when of the generation of his Son? Then indeed he were but metaphorically a Son, and God a metaphorical Father to him. Whereas he is the 'true Son of God,' as John calls him, 1 John 5:20, and therefore as truly begotten.

2. Then that his generation is such a begetting, and he such a Son in that respect as is denied of the angels, or of men, is evident. Thou, and thou alone, art my Son; I have begotten thee, and thee alone. So that otherwise, let the Scripture speak what it will of men's being born of God, begotten of God, it is with an infinite distance of sense from this. Theirs is but by his operation, not generation, by renascentia, a new birth of God's image on them, which are but divine qualities in the soul, not by a generation that is proper to a substantial person.

Then, thirdly, add to these two expressions of 'one Son,' and of 'only begotten,' that other, Mat. 16:16; as also John 6:69; where, both by Peter's and all the apostles their confession, he is professed to be the 'Son of the living God.' And in both those confessions, the conglomeration, or gathering together so many articles in the Greek set afore every word, are as so many stars that call us to behold this eminency of his sonship and generation. For they putting an emphasis on every word in that small sentence, 'Thou art that Christ; that Son of that God, that living God;' the like indigitation is never used but for some special intent, according to the nature of the matter spoken of. And that which makes it the more observable is, that John (who wrote long after the other evangelists, and avoideth to mention what other evangelists had recorded, and so mentions this confession of theirs as uttered at another time, and upon a differing occasion from that which Matthew relates) should yet, in his rehearsal of this confession, not only punctually keep to the same words, but hath as carefully added the same articles afore every word as Matthew had done.

Yea, further, whereas it is observed by some (as was said), that the article ὁ ὕιος, the Son, is given to none but to this Son; lo, here it is also put to every word besides, when his sonship is solemnly proclaimed. And so the meaning will be this, 'That Son of the only true God, that living God.' Which emphasis, the God, and which attribute, the living God, are purposely annexed to set out the greatness of this so great a Son. And to shew that if we do suppose the great and true God to have a Son, and but one Son, and him begotten by him, as he is the living God (as put this and those former things mentioned of him together, and it appears), then what manner of a Son must this be? and what manner of generation, but such as living fathers have proportionably of their sons? A generation such as is proper to things living when they beget their kind. Generation, properly taken, says Aquinas,* and experience shews it, is of things that are living, out of a living principle, and is improperly applied to production. And further, it is then said to be generation properly in them, when they beget in their own likeness, and that likeness consisting in their own kind, nature, and substance.

And thus living things properly are said to beget; as in nature you all see, a lion begets a lion, a man a man. Proprium est viventium generare simile in substantia. And those two attributes are given to Christ, holding forth his generation, viz., 'the Word,' and 'the Son,' 'The Word' shews he is begotten by God, who is an intellectual being; 'the Son' shews that he is begotten as a living essence or being.

Now then, putting all these three together: 1. God's own Son; 2. Only begotten; 3. That one only begotten Son of the true and living God; these twisted and interwoven mutually, are a threefold cord that cannot be broken. Let us therefore see what arguments and evidences these will afford to convince us what manner of a Son this is.

By a further adding all these succeeding considerations together to them, and setting these by them.

Assertion 3. That this only begotten and natural Son of God is God; and not God only by union, after he was put forth by God out of himself, but by an identity, or oneness of one and the same essence of the Godhead.

This third is naturally connected with the foregoing assertion, viz., that he is the natural Son of the living God. Thus,

1. The Scriptures connect and join these two together; in that often, when and where they mention his sonship to God, they annex withal (because the one necessarily importeth the other), his being God also, as may be observed both out of the Old Testament and the New.

(1.) The Old Testament, Isa. 9:6, 'Unto us a child is born,' which speaks him to be man; 'and unto us a Son is given,' that speaks him to have been God, and as such, extant afore he as man was born; for what is given hath a being when he is given, and afore he is given; who took man's nature to himself as Son; and here, by Son, he means this Son of God, our Christ. Luke 1:31, 35: The angel there hath manifestly an eye upon this prophecy of Isaiah here; ver. 32, 'Thou shalt conceive a Son, and he shall be called the Son of the Most High: and God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end;' thus the angel there. And how speaks Isaiah? 'To us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulders. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, from henceforth, even for ever.' The angel citeth not the place, but evidently reciteth the very words of that prophecy, the very same, thus. So then, Christ being meant by the Son, that which I allege Isaiah for is this, that his being Son and his being God are joined; and so it follows in Isa. 9:6, 'To us a son is given; and his name shall be called the mighty God.'

(2.) In Heb. 1:8, you have the same by Paul's interpretation out of the Psalms: 'To the Son he says, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.' Compare we now the words of Isaiah with that of the angel, and this of Paul out of the Psalms together; they are one and the same, to shew he is God's Son. Thus for the Old Testament and New both.

Again, in the New, Heb. 3:3, 'This man,' says the translation (you may as well say, 'This person;' man is not in the original), 'was counted worthy of more honour than Moses: inasmuch as he that built the house hath more honour than the house.' And ver. 4 it follows, 'Every house is builded by some man, but he that built all these things' (that is, the church in all ages, and things about it, under both Old and New Testament) 'is God.' He that had instructed Moses and the church under the Old Testament, and now that of the New, 'is God,' speaking it of Christ as God. So then Christ is God, who is the builder of this house. Now, read on and you will find his being Son not far off; for in ver. 6, 'Christ as a Son over his own house.' Now, compare Mat. 16:16, 'Thou art the Son of the living God,' says Peter. And what says Christ upon it? Ver. 18, 'Upon this rock I will build my church,' as being the Son of the living God. And he that was able to build it was God, says our apostle in that Heb. 3:4. Therefore he is such a Son as is also God, and both are joined together.

Again, those two parallel places in the epistle to the Romans, the one chap. 1 ver. 3, 4, 'Concerning his Son Jesus Christ, which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power.' Compare this with chap. 9:5, 'Of whom concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.' Son of God in the one, is God blessed for ever in the other.

Further, these two run as terms equivalent in other places of Scripture, where in like manner they be compared; 1 Tim. 3:16, it is said of Christ, 'God was manifest in the flesh;' and in 1 John 3:18, you have it this, 'The Son of God was manifested.'

Likewise, Acts 20:28, it is said, God purchased the church with his own blood. Now, compare Rev. 1:5, speaking of our Christ, 'He hath washed us with his own blood, and made us priests unto God his Father.' So then it was the Son, whose blood was personally his own, who was distinct from his Father, and yet God, that purchased this church.

Again, 1 John 5:20, 'And we know that the Son of God is come; and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life;' the true Son of God: and the true God. The very devil himself doth in effect acknowledge it, Mat. 4:3, 'If thou be that Son of God, command these stones to be made bread,' which was in effect as to have said, If thou be that great Son of God that is to come into the world, then thou art God, and hast sovereign power to create or change the being of the creatures. Let us therefore see it by the effects, 'command these stones to be made bread.'

Last of all, that known place, John 10:30, alleged to prove Christ's Godhead, joins these two together, Son of God and God, and the one is inferred from the other. When at the 30th verse Christ had said, 'I and my Father are one;' that is, I who profess myself to be that one and only Son of God, who is my Father; as in such a special relation, I am such a Son to him as am withal one with him.

So then, 1. Christ intended that his being God's Son was all one, and to be one with God.

Again, 2. So the Jews understood him to intend thereby that he was God. Their quarrel with him is that, ver. 33, 'Thou makest thyself God;' and yet, lo, he had only affirmed, 'I, the Son, and my Father are one.' So then to be his Son in the sense the Jews understood him to take on him that title, was all one as to be God.

And, 3. In that very sense he so defended himself to be the Son of God, that is, such a Son as was God; for having, ver. 34–36, made his defence, alleging this proof, that if the eminent men and magistrates of the Old Testament were termed gods by office, and sons of God by adoption, who were but shadows of him in both those titles, then he, who was promised to be sent into the world as the substance, must be God by nature, and not office; and the Son of God, not by adoption only, but naturally, and therefore equal and one with God. I say, he having defended himself by this argument, his conclusion is, ver. 36, 'Say ye then of him whom the Father hath sealed, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?' Now, what was it that they had said? or, what blasphemy was it which they had laid to his charge? It was this, ver. 33, 'for thy blasphemy; because thou, being a man,' as to our apparent sight and view, 'makest thyself God.' And Christ, you see, in his making his conclusion point-blank to their accusation, instead of saying, 'Why say you I blaspheme in saying I am God?' which yet was the thing which they had said of him, he speaks thus, 'Because I said, I was the Son of God,' 'believe not me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him;' that is, that he and I are one in nature as he had affirmed, ver. 30. For indeed, in his having affirmed he was such a Son to God as was one with his Father, which was his saying, ver. 30, he had affirmed he was such a Son to God as was God, one that did the same works the Father did, ver. 35; which, I do, says he, then believe it, for it is the natural inference from it.

Thus, you see, the Scriptures join his being both Son and God together.

II. The same is in reason, that if he be the natural Son of God, and only begotten of the living God, the true and perfect Son of God, as the Scriptures, when they speak of his being Son, do declare him (as hath been clearly testified), that then necessarily, in point of rational inference, he must be God essentially. If God hath a true Son, that Son can be no other than true God; it holds no proportion else to the phrase it pretends to. It holds true in all things else. It is not to be thought, says Bernard,* that God should have a Son of another kind from himself; but it is necessary to acknowledge him to be of equal height and dignity, since even the sons of princes are themselves princes too, Deus non nisi Deum gignit. If God begets a Son he must be God, the living, true God. God cannot beget less than himself, which is clearly the concession of those last words in John, speaking of Christ, 'God hath given us an understanding to know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life,' 1 John 5:20. The scope of which is this, that he being the true Son of the true God, the living God, himself is, in himself, the true God also, and eternal life, having the fountain of all life in himself.

I shall but open and pursue one vein, or current, or course of Scriptures, which carry on this great point, that our Christ is God; not as appearing only in the form of God, as some of late, or by office only, but God by nature; the right God, the true God, the great God, the only God, the living God. Which attributes of God, when found to be given to him, argue him so to be God by essence, the same God the Father is, as put us past distinguishing upon it.

1. He is God by nature. It is the distinction which Paul useth, and whereby he sets out the true God in distinction from all other that are called gods, truly or falsely. 'When you knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.' Why doth he not in plain terms say, 'When ye worshipped idols?' The apostle supposeth the best of it; for some of those whom they worshipped had been gods by office, that is, kings and rulers, as Jupiter and others were; or of use (as gods), benefactors to mankind, for which they worshipped them. He needed not else have put in that distinction, that they were not gods by nature. From which is gathered to our purpose in hand,

(1.) That none are to be worshipped but he that is God by nature, for he shews their sin to have been that they worshipped such as God that were not gods by nature. So then, if Christ were not God by nature, he were no more to be worshipped by us, though never so great a benefactor to us, which yet is his due. And to strengthen this argument, the command of worshipping so falls out that those who are gods by office of the highest rank, the angels, are commanded to give worship to him. That saying, Heb. 1, 'Let all the angels of God worship him,' in the psalmist's words (whom the apostle quotes) it is, 'Worship him, all ye gods,' Ps. 97:7. So then he is manifestly God by nature, and thereby distinguished from all of them; and worship is exacted from all of them as his due upon that account.

And this is the true and genuine drift and result of that passage of Christ's, John 10:30–39. 'I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe me not, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him. Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hands., That scripture, of all others, hath seemed to have the greatest objection in it, but one (which I shall anon also again more touch), that Christ is called God only by office and union with God, as the great and eminent men in the Old Testament were called. And the objection lies thus, that the Jews having challenged him to have made himself God, he defends his speech by this saying out of the Old Testament, 'I have said, Ye are gods:' as if himself were but such a God as they, only more eminent.

But Christ's scope is manifestly the clean contrary. For,

1. The Jews did plainly understand him to intend that he was God, and truly God, ver. 33. So the Jews, saith Augustine,* understood his speech thus to be meant; but the Arians will not. And the blasphemy which the Jews challenged him of was not that he made himself as one of those gods, but that he made himself God, one with the Father, and so by nature to be God as well as he. And his answer, if it had been intended in that other speech, had noway come home to their objection; for that was not the thing they quarrelled him for, that he said he was a god by office and deputation, as those whom the psalmist did speak of only were.

2. Christ here quoteth that saying, 'I have said, Ye are gods,' as a prophecy (so I term it, for types were prophecies of Christ, and what he should be, as much as any other), of himself: which those words, ver. 35, 'And the Scripture cannot be broken,' manifestly import. Now, how was this prophecy, but in this respect, that God his terming magistrates, and those eminent men in the Old Testament, in Jewry, or elsewhere, gods, was to fore-signify thereby his own Son, who was the substance of those shadows, what his person was, that he had promised to send into the world; for in saying, 'The Scripture cannot be broken,' his intent is to say, the Scripture is, and must be found true, and fulfilled or made good.

Now then, in this lies the force and edge of Christ's argument to prove himself God in that sense they had understood him. The Jews looked at and acknowledged all those great and eminent men whom the Scriptures termed gods, to be but forerunning shadows and types of him that is the Messiah. So that, look what titles and excellencies are given and attributed unto them, must in an eminent, and distinct, and substantial way be found true in his person, or the Scripture will be broken, and not be found consistent. If therefore they were called gods by commission and deputation, as having the word of God come to them, which put that title and office upon them; and it was said of them 'Ye are gods,' as Ps. 82:6; your Messiah must be God of another sort and rank than they were of, and not only merely by commission, or as to whom the word of God came, to make him God; but he must be truly and by nature and essence such. Were he to be God no otherwise than they were, the Scripture had not been fulfilled.

And this argument is so strong, as nothing can be supposed stronger to us Christians, who know that all types of Christ were indeed but shadows, in all their excellencies attributed to them, of Christ as the substance. What is said of ceremonies is true of persons that were types of him, Col. 2:18, 'which are a shadow of things to come; but the body,' or substance signified by that shadow, 'is Christ.' Now, then, if they were termed gods, and sons of the Most High, it must be understood that therein they were but shadows, and he must have in his person that which holds true of the substance, the essence or real being thereof. And so, according to Christ's way of arguing, if they are gods by office and union, he must be God by essence and nature, as that distinction of the apostle, Gal. 4:8, holds forth. And otherwise, he had himself been but a dark shadow, an officiary god, as they; no otherwise Son of the Most High than as they also were, Heb. 10:1. The apostle speaks thus of all types and shadows under the Old Testament. The law had but a shadow of good things to come, and not so much as the image of the things themselves. From all which I gather that as in nature, so here, the shadow is lower than an image, and both alterius generis from the substance or reality, as in the case of Melchisedec is apparent, who in a mere shadow is said to have had no beginning nor end of days; not that really he had not, but because in a shadowy intent it is not mentioned in the book of Scripture, he being as a shadow conformed to the Son of God. Now, in comparison of Christ, all other eminences in any person, though more real, are yet esteemed to be but shadows in as true a manner as he (Melchisedec) was. And so this greatest excellency of all creatures to be styled gods, must, in comparison of him, be content with a shadowy title, whereof he bore the substance. He, in the conclusion of this argument, instead of saying he was God, which yet his argument and their accusation did drive to, concludes he was the Son of God: ver. 36, 'Say ye of him, thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God?' The blasphemy in their sense was, ver. 33, that he 'made himself God,' as an inference out of that saying, 'I and my Father are one.' He defends it, and takes it on him by this, that he had said indeed that he was the Son of God (of whom all those gods and sons of the Most High the psalmist speaks of, were but shadows), and therefore truly God, as they intended it. It is not comparatio similium, ut volunt adversarii, that is, that I am God in the same and like manner that they are; but it is comparatio minoris et majoris, if they that are but shadows are called gods, then, if that Scripture be not broken, I must be God substantially. So then, by Christ's manner of concluding, it was all one for him to say he was God, and the Son of God, both in his sense, in theirs, and in the psalmist's foresignifying of him. He again paraphraseth and explains all these by this phrase, 'The Father is in me, and I in him.' So then, the conclusion, the sum I draw out of all is, that for Christ to be the Son of God, it is all one as for him to be God substantially, and in that respect one with God. And that being thus God, and one with God the Father, is (in its difference from God) best thus expressed, that his Father is in him, and he in his Father. Neither could Christ himself that experimented it, express his being God, and Son of God, more clearly unto us, than to say, I am in my Father, who is God, and he as God is in me, and so both are one: that is, one God substantially, or by nature, in distinction from gods by office, though we are two in person that subsist in this nature. Nor did John know better how to express it in chap. 1 ver. 1, both his oneness with God, and his distinction from God, than in saying, that he 'was God, and was with God.' God, not as those in the psalmist, to whom the word of the Lord came, and were gods merely by God's saying so of them; but he, 'the Word,' ὁ λόγος, itself (as John calls him) of whom they that declared the word were the types and shadows; and the only begotten of the Father, ver. 18, who was not made a god and a son, because sent into the world, and sanctified, but was therefore sent and sanctified to that office of Messiah, because he was by nature and substantially the Son of God, and God equal with the Father both in power and nature, ver. 29, 30; and in works, ver. 37, 38, 'If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not: but if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.'

2. He is styled 'the living God.' Those words, 'Take heed there be not an evil heart in departing from the living God,' Heb. 3:12, are manifestly meant of Christ; for his begun exhortation, ver. 7, was to hear his voice, and he it was that was tempted in the wilderness, 1 Cor. 16:7. And how that whole 95th Psalm was meant of Christ, I have elsewhere shewn; yea, it was he that gave the law, and pronounced those words, 'I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt; thou shalt have no other gods before my face;' for, Heb. 12:26, it is expressly said of him, 'whose voice then shook the earth,' namely, when the law was given, and those words uttered by him.

3. He is styled 'the true God.' So 1 John 5:20, 'And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.' And to testify this, he is styled by that incommunicable name of God, Jehovah, Jer. 23:6, Jehovah justitia nostra, 'the Lord our righteousness.' 'In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name wherewith he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness.' So also Isa. 40 vers. 3, 10, 12, 'Prepare the way for Jehovah.' These all the evangelists apply to John and Christ, Mat. 3:3, Mark 1:4, John 1:23. And if John be the vox clamantis, Christ must be acknowledged the Jehovah, whose way was prepared afore him. And when he comes in the flesh, Isa. 40 ver. 9, he says unto the cities of Judah, 'Behold your God;' and, ver. 10, 'Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him;' which is expressly applied to Christ, Rev. 22:12, speaking of his second coming. Ver. 11, 'He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be.' Which is expressly true of Christ. Read Mat. 16:27. It is God of whom it is said, Isa. 40:13, as the Septuagint hath it, Τὶς ἔγνω νοῦν κυρίου; 'Who hath known the mind of the Lord?' which, 1 Cor. 2:16, the apostle applies to Christ, by adding, 'But we have the mind of Christ.' So then Christ is that Jehovah, Jer. 23:6.

Now, men may vainly dispute it that this name of Jehovah is given unto mere creatures; but God himself hath decided it, and expressly declared, that it is given unto none but the true God: 'That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth' Ps. 83:18. And Isa. 42:8, 'I am the Lord, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.' Now, this honour is given to Christ, and therefore he must be God, and the true God.

4. He is also 'the great God.' Not only, Isa. 9:6, 'the mighty God,' but, Tit. 2:12, 13, τοῦ μεγάλου Θεοῦ καὶ σωτήρς ἡυῶν, 'that great God and Saviour of us,' speaking both of one and the same person, Christ. And it is here the putting the article before great God, and none before Saviour, imports; and so distinguisheth him from God by the like phrase generally, Eph. 1:3, ὁ Θεὸς καὶ πατήρ, God, and the Father of Christ; but more similar yet. This here, Gal. 1:4, τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ἡυῶν, 'according to the will of God and our Father.' So Christ, 'God and our Saviour,' in Peter, is 'Christ the great God and Saviour' in Titus. And this is at once proclaimed as the general faith of all believers and apostles, 'like faith with us,' 2 Pet. 1:1. And what is the object of it? ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, 'on the righteousness.' I have wondered they should translate it 'through the righteousness,' when Christ's righteousness is everywhere made the object of faith, as justifying, on which we believe. Yea, as that which, out of necessity to salvation, faith relies on; and that righteousness, as of a Saviour that is God, which were of no value to us sinners else; let them else take a Saviour and righteousness that will, for he nor it would do no man any good. This was the general expectation, as Paul to Titus, the general fundamental faith of all Christians then, as in Peter; and so the prophet's style and the apostle's style agrees. Isaiah, in his 40th, 43d, and 45th chapters, styles him 'The God and Saviour, and there is none besides him;' and the apostles in like manner, 'The great God and Saviour.'

5. If you yet doubt, lo! to put all out of question, he is styled 'the only true God.' The other, and the greatest objection that ever was or can be made against this Godhead of Christ is, that it is said there is but one God only. Yea, and the Father is so styled and called, 'And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent,' John 17:3. And I find in some men's late writings here at home them distinguishing thus: that take the Godhead simply in its unity, and so considered, it is only the Father, quoting all those places, there is none besides. And the Son they make to be either God, as united to man, and so in that respect becoming the Son, or the manifestation of God in flesh; or, at best, but that in God which contained the mass and spirit of the whole creation as it was in God from everlasting, and so distinct from the nature of God, as purely in himself. But the objection hath been the occasion to me of the greatest satisfaction in this point, that the same style is given as completely unto Jesus Christ as to the Father in those other places. And so the words are not to be understood exclusively to Christ in this sense, to know thee as Father to be the only true God; the Father, that only is the true God; the words are not so, but inclusively rather thus, 'And him whom thou hast sent to be the only true God also.' Only Christ having an office, in respect of which he is called Christ, he is therefore named apart from the Father, yet so as both are that only true God, in distinction from all gods so called, that are not gods by nature. And the ground of my satisfaction is this, that in a multitude of places where God is called the only God, and none besides him, yet those places are expressly meant of and applied to our Christ: 'Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, an his Redeemer the Lord of hosts, I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God,' Isa. 44:6. Here, yon see, is the attribute we seek for, the only God, &c. And this is as evidently spoken of Christ. For,

First, Here are two titles given him, which are proper to Christ.

1. 'King of Israel;' see John 1:49, 'Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel.' And for that of 'his Redeemer,' I need not trouble you with any quotations that it is proper to him. And yet he to whom this title is given is God, and the only God, 'Yea, beside me there is no God.' And if you yet doubt, and ask me, But are you sure that it is spoken of him? Lo, Rev. 1 twice: ver. 8, 'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end?' and again, ver. 17, 'I am the First and the Last.' And then you have them all three, 'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last,' Rev. 22:13. The next in Isaiah is chap. 45:5, 'I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God besides me;' and ver. 21, 22, he bids us look on him. And sure, without any more ado, we that live under the New Testament, should know him upon first sight. For to whom is it to whom all the ends of the earth do look, but he who was proclaimed the desire of all nations, who were not converted to God until Christ came? But he it is of whom Isaiah says, 'There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust,' Rom. 15:12. 'Look, and trust on him, and be saved, who is a Saviour, and there is none besides,' says the Old Testament. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved,' is the general style of the apostles' preaching: a Saviour, and 'besides him there is no other.' And thus they set him forth also, Acts 4:11. There is no God, no Saviour besides him, and justification in him discovers him none other: 'By him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses,' Acts 13:39. 'And in this Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified,' says Isaiah; 'Surely, shall one say, in the Lord I have righteousness and strength,' Isa. 45:24, 25. And if you were all put to speak, in whom would you say you had righteousness and strength? Hear Paul for all the rest, in one epistle: 'To be found in him, not having my own righteousness,' Philip. 3:9. And for the other, hear him again in the same epistle, 'I can do all things through Christ, that strengtheneth me,' Philip. 4:13. Do not all the jury of saints, with one mouth, say the same? And what is he in whom we have this righteousness? Doth not Isaiah's fellow-prophet tell us, Jer. 23:6, 'And his name,' for essence, 'is Jehovah;' for office, 'our righteousness.' Thus, I say, Saviour and God still are joined. The righteousness of this Saviour as God is that by which, through looking on him by faith, all, both Jew and Gentiles, are saved. And bring all this to that of Peter, even now quoted, describing true believers, 'All that have obtained like faith with us,' apostles, 'on the righteousness of God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.' And yet he of whom all this is said, takes this style upon himself to be the only God, and none besides him. And if any have the heart or face to deny these characters loosely scattered up and down, enough to convert a Jew to own him for the Messiah prophesied of, much more a Christian to acknowledge him the only true God, whom Isaiah spoke of, if any, I say, can deny it as meant personally of Christ, let them consult Paul, who expressly applies this very scripture unto our Jesus: 'Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people,' Rom. 15:10, 11. Where is that written but in this place of Isaiah, ver. 23, 'I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.' And again it is quoted, Philip. 2, 'that to him every knee shall bow.'

And let me yet bring the current and stream of other arguments usually alleged, to prove that Christ is God, into the channel of the last-cited scriptures. You have heard it argued that Christ is therefore God, because he creates and is worshipped, and forgives sins; and the Scriptures are express, that God alone creates, is worshipped, and forgives sins.

1. For creation, these places are express: Isa. 44:24, 'Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.' And Jer. 10:10–12, 'But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.' Now it is not only elsewhere said, that Christ created all, John 1:1, 2; Heb. 1, and therefore is God; but further, in these very places where he is called that only God, even in these places quoted, he is said to be that God who alone created; thus Isa. 43:7, 11, 23; 44:6, 24; 45:6, 22–24.

2. Again, so of God alone it is made the prerogative to be worshipped, Rev. 22:9; Mat 4:10; out of Deut 6:5, 6, where also he is called one God. And of Christ it is also elsewhere said, he is to be worshipped. But further, you have both these in these very places also, wherein, as he is styled that God that is one, and none besides him, he is brought in swearing by himself, that every knee shall bow to him, which is applied to him.

3. So to forgive sins is proper to God alone, Mark 2:7. And we find Christ to forgive sins; and therefore he is argued to be God. But further, you have both in these very places quoted; as he is called that only true God, so he is said to be that God that blots out transgressions for and by himself; thus Isa. 43:25, 'I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.' So then the argument is every way strong, and indeed all arguments centre in one; and we find all in this one and the same compass of Scripture.

1. That God is but one God.

2. That God alone creates, is to be worshipped, and forgives sins.

3. That his glory he will not give unto another.

4. That Christ is that one God, who is God alone. And,

5. These places are interpreted of him, and applied to him by the apostles.

So as indeed this one argument, from these places of Isaiah thus framed, hath all in it, which are scatteredly used by others out of several places. To conclude, to hear God speak, and saying, as Deut. 32:39, he doth, 'See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no God with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.' And to hear John from God to say, 'The Word was God, and the Word was with God;' and to hear the prophets say, that Christ is that God who is God alone, and none else besides him; and to hear throughout the Scriptures one that is God, talking to, of, and with another that is God, and yet all but one God; to hear the Father to be called the only true God, the Son likewise, and so the Spirit: let all the wits of men and angels reconcile it otherwise than thus if they can, that God's nature or essence is one, but affords three persons, who are each that one God: three that are one.

CHAPTER V

That the second person of the Trinity assumed human nature into personal union with himself, and so is God-man in one person for ever.

I come to the great mystery of our religion, which so loud a voice proclaims to be such, by the apostle, 1 Tim. 3:16, 'And, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.' God had manifested himself in the Old Testament in his works; as in Rom. 1:19, 'That which may be known of God is manifest in them;' and, ver. 20, 'For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.' But God manifest in the flesh is an higher kind of manifestation, for there he is present. We may say of it, Here God is a visible God in his person. In the Old Testament this was prophesied of, among other famous oracles foregoing, Isa. 7:14, 'A virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and, shall call his name Immanuel; that is, God with us.' And again, chap. 9:6, 'For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,' which notes his being God the Son; who had been begotten long before by God the Father, and now given; 'unto us a child is born,' and born of 'a virgin,' there is his human nature; 'and his name shall be called WONDERFUL,' for his person is a wonderful person, 'the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,' compounded of God and man in one person, which set all the world aghast at the knowledge of it. 'He did wondrously;'* that is, he shewed himself to be God, for he ascended into heaven in a flame, and therein shewed himself more than a man or angel. As his person was wonderful, so his actions: wonderful in his person, as God united to man; and wonderful as man, in his making immediately by the Holy Ghost; such a man as never was. Says David, of his own body, Ps. 139:14, 'Thou tellest all my members; I am fearfully and wonderfully made, … curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.' The phrases do speak some curious piece of workmanship to be undertaken in hand by some special artist; and to hide his workmanship from the vulgar (which argues the nobleness of it) he goes into a dark place, and there he works it unbeheld of any, and then he brings it forth to open view. It was an instance Dr Preston used to give, that in the generation of a child, between father and mother, the father knows not what is doing, nor the mother knows not what is doing; but God stands by, like a secret limner, and actuates the formation of every member according to the idea thereof written in his book. But in the formation of Christ's body and soul, the Holy Ghost discovered his workmanship in the dark place of the virgin's womb, called 'the lower parts of the earth.' And to stop the flowings of sin and corruption, which by the parents is done, himself performed the part of the formative virtue which is in the seed of men; whence it was that the divine nature, when he came into the world, said, 'A body hast thou prepared me;' the word in the original is Katartizein,* that is, articulated, made and set in their due place and order.

I shall only aid one place further, to set forth the wonders of the mystery; Jer. 31:22, 'The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth; a woman shall compass a man.' It is a prophecy of the conception of Christ at Nazareth, one of the cities of Galilee, the place where the angel brought news first to the virgin, and where she conceived him. Of which, if I have time, more afterwards. This was a new thing indeed, a new thing created in the world, the like unto which, as also the crucifying of his Son, he never did afore, nor never will do again. And the blessed virgin hath a touch upon it, 'The Lord hath done great things for me, and holy is his name.' The word in the original is μεγαλεῖα, and is the same word the apostles used in Acts 2:11, 'The wonderful works of God.'

And thus heaven and earth met and kissed one another, namely, God and man. And this union is the middle union (as I call it), as in respect to the two other, the union of the three persons in one Godhead, and our union with God; so in respect to the thing itself. For his person being a middle person between the two persons, the Father and the Holy Ghost: he, the Son, as a middle person, by his union with the essence of God, takes hold of God on the one part; and further, by his union with the nature of man, takes hold of man on the other part, and so takes hold of both at once; all which was suitable to his office, as being mediator, which the apostle says is 'of two that are at enmity,' Gal. 3:20; and this you have, 1 Tim. 2:5, 'For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.'

And as the person was thus wonderful, 'God manifested in the flesh,' so the signs and wonders that accompanied and followed his person, after his being gone to heaven, and the coming of the Holy Ghost, as Paul, an eye-witness, testifies, Heb. 2:4, 'God also bearing witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will.' As also the apostle Peter, 1 Pet. 1:11, 'The Spirit of Christ testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.' The times the apostles lived in were a glorious season. The apostle Paul hath in brief summed up the characters of them, and annexed them to his 'God manifested in the flesh,' as the wonderful effects thereof; as they follow in 1 Tim. 3:16, where it follows, 'justified in the Spirit,' by reason of the frailty and meanness of his flesh wherein he appeared; 'He was set at nought by Herod and his men of war,' Luke 23:11; mocked and scourged by Pilate and the Jews, and for his pretension to be the Son of God, cast out of the world under the public infamy of being the greatest impostor, the most detestable villain and deceiver that ever was in the world, the rulers not sparing him when he hung miserably upon the cross. He was esteemed of God, Isa. 53, when he was crucified, overwhelmed with all these prejudices. But presently, as he comes to heaven, his Father owned him, set him at his right hand, and made his enemies his footstool; and he was justified from that great reproach cast upon him, for making himself God. In respect unto these things it is said, 'He was justified in the Spirit,' that is, in his Godhead, being owned as God. Was not this a wonder, a mighty wonder! 'Seen of angels.' And by their seeing him to be the Son (which none of them were), as soon as he comes to heaven, they all fall down and worship him: 'When he bringeth his first begotten into the world, he saith, Let all the angels of God worship him,' when he came first to heaven. And the bad angels, they believed and trembled, though men did not; and they besought him not to torment them before the time, the day of judgment. It follows, 'preached unto the Gentiles, and believed on in the world.' The Gentiles that had continued idolaters two thousand years, worshipping devils, by whom they were led; and the apostles, but by preaching the gospel (which was but whispered, and yet runs through all the world, it ran like wildfire upon dried trees); they 'turned the world upside down,' Acts 17:6. 'Taken up into glory,' and owned there in the highest manner by God. Whereas, John 16:10, the contrary speech there used insinuates that he died, as cast out by God for the most unrighteous person that ever lived in the world. Christ foretells, that by the Spirit's coming with the word, he should convince the world that he was a righteous man, and had satisfied for sin; 'Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more.' And what is the reason of all this? But because this man being taken up into glory, there is no eye of men or angels that shall see him in this glory, but must fall down and acknowledge, That man there is God, the Son of God; and so John tells us himself. And the other apostles that saw a glimpse of his glory, do confess, 'We saw his glory, as of the only begotten Son of God,' John 1:14. And if the clothes he wore, which were but the outward appendixes of his person, did yet shine so bright as no fuller on earth could white them, how much more his human nature itself, in which the fulness of the gospel* personally dwells, shall transcendently shine much more, as being a part of himself, as he is able to make us to do, Phil. 3:21, 'Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body;' much more shall he change soul and body into the image of himself.

But I shall comprise all that I intend to discourse of this subject, in this one assertion.

That this person, the eternal Son of God, who was and is God, took unto himself, into an unity of person with himself, the man Jesus, or that the person of Christ is God and man, joined into one person.

To demonstrate the assertion; the punctum of which lies in this, that in our Christ, God and man are become one person.

1. What is said of his conception or incarnation, in that forecited place, Luke 1:39, 'That holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God;' which is explained by that in Gal. 4:4, 'God sent forth his Son' (his Son that was sent, and God, existed afore); and it was he, the Son, that so existed, that is, the person, and he now said to be made of a woman, the virgin. Observe, it is spoken of and attributed to this Son, that he was now 'made of a woman,' 'made man,' who was begotten of God afore, and now sent into, yea, made flesh; and that this Son and that man made of a woman are yet but one Son still, not two sons, and therefore also one person; for if they had been two persons, they had been two sons—the Son of God the one, and that holy thing born of the woman another; whereas being now joined unto one person, there is but one Son to God, as he is there denominated.

2d Evidence. Go we from his conception to the constant course and tenor of his speech about himself. That this man (when grown up) should continually take of himself, and attribute such things to himself that were proper, and belonged only to that person, the Word, the only begotten Son of God, as we have proved and described him, existed before the world, that was the Son of God in heaven, and very God; that this man, this sorry man to see to, should talk at that rate as he doth, and still say I, not we, whilst he so speaks of himself, all the wits in the world cannot solve this riddle (if the several speeches be collected, and narrowly observed, in the gospel of John, and elsewhere), but by this which I use to solve all, he was taken into one person with him that was the Son of God.

For instance, besides many others, John 5:17, 'My Father hitherto worketh, and I work;' which the Jews understood that he made himself equal with God, ver. 18. But how a man should be God, this they understood not. And he goes on to justify it, and assume it; extending that speech of his (namely, that 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work') unto all things past, as well as present or to come, even unto all that ever God did; ver. 19, 'What things soever the Father doth, these also doth the Son likewise.' If he created the world, so did I; if he hath governed all the affairs of it, so have I; my hands have wielded the sceptre with him; and God did never anything without my advice and counsel; shewing me whatever he doth, ver. 20. Thus for time past. And so for time to come; 'As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, so the Son quickeneth whom he will,' ver. 21; God's will and intention being that all men shall one day 'honour the Son, as they honour the Father,' ver. 23. And yet he that talked all this was a man, that came into the world (as a man) but thirty years afore, yea, and he professeth of himself, chap. 8 ver. 57, 58, that he was before Abraham; 'Before Abraham was, I am,' that is, my person. And yet they judged him not above fifty. All which I allege not, as formerly, to prove that Christ was God, or Son of God; but now that the man Jesus (who it is that uttered all this), that he was one person with that Son of God, who is God. For when he speaks it, he still maketh but one I of the Son of God and himself, and speaks the same things that are proper and peculiar to that Son of God who had afore existed. The man (I say) speaks them of himself, utters them in his own name, without any limitation or caution for being mistaken. He, this man, doth thereby distinguish himself from all his fellow-creatures. These things were so stupendously strange, that they made the carnal Jew wild, and mad, and in a rage, and to cry out upon him that he blasphemed, and ever and anon to take up stones to stone him withal; and although they had believed that he was the Messiah whom they expected, yet such things as these they never could have imagined should have agreed to the person of Christ, whom they expected. They judged he took upon him infinitely beyond the elevation and proportion of the Messiah himself. And therefore, John 10:24, they having only at first asked him somewhat seriously, 'Tell us plainly if thou be the Christ;' and he as plainly tells them so that he was; yet frames his answer up in such description of himself, as the Christ, that he was one with God, as that thereupon the next word he hears from them is, 'Thou blasphemest,' ver. 33.

Yea, and in the 6th chapter, those that were his disciples, that is, such as were a-coming on to believe on him, were for such strange riddles as these, utterly put off, as John 6:61; and yet there, or unto them, such was his zeal to assert this his personal union between the Son of God, and that man Jesus, whose mouth was the utterer of it, that he speaks yet more strangely, 'Doth this offend you? What if you see the Son of man ascend where he was before?' And there is no other foundation or ground for such a speech as that; no other respect could bear it, but this his personal union, as the reason of it. Why, 'we know his mother and brethren,' say they. And where then could this man be before? Nay, to increase the wonder yet more, he had said to Nicodemus, John 3:13, 'And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven;' that is, who is now in heaven at this present; whenas yet they saw him as a man, circumscribed with local bounds on earth, even as any other man is, within the verge of a poor seamless coat. And these things he so speaks of himself, in distinction from the whole creation of God, as proper and peculiar to him, laying them therein in a rank infinitely below himself; yea, also as one equal to God his Father, and as such, distinct from him; and yet it is a Son of man that utters it, although, consider him as mere man, it could not be he should have so spoken; the things said will not bear such words. And it is among other demonstrations of this truth, and also one of the main ends of God's ordaining this personal union, to declare, to the end that men might 'hear with their ears, and see with their eyes' (as John), the original distinction of the Father and his Son, as distinct persons in the deity; which was that which was, and had been, among the persons from eternity, afore Christ took our nature, in that it was confidently held forth by a man, who being become one person with the Son, could and durst say, and appeal to his works to justify it, which were so stupendously miraculous, that his Father (afore whom and to his face he speaks it all) must be acknowledged to have concurred with him, and so thereby testified that he spake truth in this; whilst yet this man utters it in the name of a person that was not mere man, but also God, Son of God. For this man doth, before and after, upon this doctrine of his, work his miracles, such as no mere man ever did; and God suffered him so to talk, did bear it, and let him go on, and assist him therein, or else he could not have done them. As John 10:37, 38, 'If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not; but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.' And when he had done all these things, to ascend up to heaven, and sit down at God's right hand, this, I say, is at once a confirmation of these two, the greatest truth:

1. The distinction of the persons of the Father, and the Son, though one God. As also,

2. That this sorry man that speaks it was one in person with the Son of God.

And if there had been no other end of this incarnation of personal union than to declare and manifest the first of these, it had been worth it; which by so great an evidence could never have been manifested.

And then, if this man were not one in person with the Son of God, who was God, let us all call him in question, and arraign him at the latter day, instead of his arraigning us, for laying low to himself all the saints, and the whole creation of God, whenas himself as man was but a part of it; yea, for usurping upon the prerogatives of God himself; and let his own words judge him. I say, let us cry out upon him as a deceiver, if this man had not that divine person, God's Son, in him, and therewith a divine nature, besides that of a bare man, which divinity lay hid and concealed in him, as a prince under a disguise; and that person and divinity so united to him as to make one person with him, this man that spake thus.

3. Thirdly, We find these two natures of God and man spoken of in him, as making up one I or one he; when himself speaks of himself, or his apostles of him.

I begin with Mat. 16, where he catechiseth his disciples in this fundamental of religion; for, ver. 17, 18, he professeth to found his church upon the profession of it. (1.) The question asked is evidently what his person was, and of what made up? This, his second question, ver. 15, 'Whom do ye say that I am?' doth directly point to, for their punctual answer: what or who is my person? And, (2.) concerning that you may observe that he bounds it not, he terminates it not, upon his being a man. The main question is not, whether he was a man or no? or the Christ, the Son of man? as if that were all. But my question reacheth farther, 'Whom do ye say that I, who am the son of man, am?' over and beyond my being a son of man, I am something besides. And yet 'Son of man' imported the Messiah; as Cameron upon John 5:27, 'And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.' Out of Dan. 7:13, 'I beheld one like the Son of man;' which is the periphrasis of the Christ.

(3.) Peter, in his answer for them all, affirms not barely that he, the Son of man, was the Christ; which was but a name of office (as if you should say of a man, he is the king, or he is the chancellor; noting out an official person, or to denominate his office only); but he further adds, 'Thou art the Son of the living God.'

(4.) Observe, that he in his answer joins these two together, to make up I, the person of this Christ, 'the Son of man, and the Son of the living God;' and as substantially the Son of the living God as he was substantially the Son of man. Yea, and manifestly shewing that the main of his person (for the subsistence or personality of it), to consist in this, his being the Son of the living God, more than in his being the Son of man. The like you have joined in Christ's question to the Pharisees, 'What think you of Christ?' 'David's son,' say they; 'David's Lord,' says he: and both making up one Messiah, or the Christ. So then, the person of Christ was Son of man, and Son of God, Mat. 16. And Son of David, and Son of one greater than David; for which he calls him Lord, and both in one person, Mat. 22. Let us now bring other scriptures to these. 1. You have the same prophesied of him at his conception, by the angel, Luke 1, 'The Son of David his father,' ver. 32; 'The Son of God,' ver. 35; and both the same he. Let us still pursue this notion through the Scriptures, and from hence go unto Rom. 1:1–4, 'Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God (which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy Scriptures), concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.' In which words you have,

1. As in the former, the person of Christ; that is, who and what he was in his person, made the eminent and primary subject of the gospel: 'The gospel' (says he) 'concerning his Son Jesus Christ.' And that set forth as the prophets in the holy Scriptures, or writings of the Old Testament had set him forth to us; so as we shall have occasion from hence to call in the testimony of some prophets unto the confirmation of this also. I say, the person of Christ is the primary subject of it; for the next following words insist on the description thereof. And so, whereas Paul was to set forth in his ensuing discourse, how that Christ's righteousness is that righteousness which God hath ordained for sinners, ver. 16, 17, 'I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for therein is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith;' it was suitable for him in this so methodical and systematical an epistle, in the first place to set out who and what the person of Christ is. Which,

2. He performs in the next words, and that under the same terms, or equivalent, as in the two former Christ himself had done. (1.) To be the Son of David, made of the seed of David, ver. 3; and, (2.) To be the Son of God, ver. 3, 'his Son' in the same verse; and so, in ver. 4, both making up this one person, 'Jesus Christ our Lord.'

Yea, and 3. He further and more clearly proceeds to shew how there were two distinct natures met in that one person: the nature of a man, according unto which he was the Son of David; the nature of God, or the Godhead, according unto which, or in respect of which, he was the Son of God: 'Who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,' ver. 3, 'and declared to be (also) the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness.' And as the opposition proves this, so it is very observable how exactly the apostle speaks in so great a mystery.* 1. The opposition clears it; for κατὰ σάρκα, 'According to the flesh,' is opposed to κατὰ πνε͂υμα, 'According to the Spirit of holiness.' Now when he says he was 'of the seed of David according to the flesh,' he (as all acknowledge) means that according to, or in respect of his human nature, termed the flesh, or as man, so here, was made of the seed of David; oppositely, according to his Godhead, termed the spirit of holiness; as he was in respect thereof the natural Son of God: so he was manifested with power so to be by the resurrection from the dead. Now that Spirit, as in Christ, is taken for the Godhead or divine nature dwelling in him, is evident by multitude of scriptures: 'The flesh profits nothing, the Spirit quickeneth;' and 'By the eternal Spirit he offered up himself,' Heb. 7. And this Godhead in him is called the 'Spirit of holiness;' by way of the ordinary title given the third person, who is called the 'Holy Spirit:' this here, the Spirit of holiness itself, which sanctified that human nature, as the altar and temple did the sacrifice.

Again, observe the apostle's exactness of speech: as Son of David he is said to have been made, for begotten of man he was not, yet made of a woman, David's daughter, of the same matter that all men are formed of. But as Son of God he says not of him that he was made; but he here supposeth him already, before he was made man, to have been the Son of God, ver. 3; and therefore says only he was declared, namely, to us, or manifestly evidenced to have been the Son of God, according to a divine nature in him, in which he existed before. And for proof of it he holds forth the greatest evidence, the power shewn by him in his resurrection from the dead; in that Christ did aforehand profess and declare that he would raise himself up by his own power, John 10:18.

4. The fourth thing I observe is, that these two natures remain in themselves distinct in him, and yet both make up one person. (1.) Two natures distinct. The apostle doth professedly distinguish, as any schoolman useth to do; 'According to the flesh,' says he, and 'according to the Spirit.' Yea, he denies concerning him that he is Son of God according to the flesh; according to which nature he is considered only as the Son of David: but Son of God only in respect of his divine nature. And, (2.) he speaks of him as one person, that hath both these, and consisted of both; or else this distinction needed not have been used—if he had been either nothing but a man, or if the same person had not been both God and man. As when you distinguish of a man, that quoad animam, according to his soul, he is 'the offspring of God,' Acts 17; for God is the Father of spirits, Heb. 12: but quoad corpus, according to his body, he is begotten by man, who are the fathers of our bodies. To say a man is mortal quoad corpus, but immortal quoad animam: such a distinction were needless, if a man had not both a body and a soul; or if that body and soul made not up one manner of person; or if the soul were one person, as an angel is, and the body another.

Now the person of Christ is still everywhere spoken of but as one: 'one Lord,' 1 Cor. 6. And yet of this the apostle Paul is found to distinguish, that he is Son of God, according to the Spirit; Son of David, according to the flesh. And you have it again used by Peter, Acts 2:30, 'David knowing that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, God would raise up Christ.' That addition, 'according to the flesh,' needed not, if Christ had not consisted of another nature besides. Which being distinct, the oneness, the unity of this Christ, to whom both are alike attributed, must be found in the personality, that he that hath both these is one person.

Now from hence, go unto Rom. 9:5, where you have the same distinction again used, as in manifest opposition to his divine nature; 'Whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came; who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.' According to the flesh, he was of David, and the rest of the fathers; but besides, he had another nature, which made him 'Lord over all, God blessed for ever.' Which clearly interprets Rom. 1:3, Son of God, according to the Spirit of holiness: that as he was God's Son, so he was God. Or as Rom. 1, Son of God, according to his Godhead; even as Son of David according to the flesh; yet both making but one Atho,* or person, one Christ.

Now, 4. Because Paul, in that Rom. 1:2, averred the prophets for this composition of his person, Son of David, according to the flesh; Son of God, according to, or in respect of his Godhead: let us see if we find like and similar places to these in the prophets; not to name all that prove him to be God and man, but such as are punctually correspondent to these. Jer. 23:5, 6. 1. Son of David, ver. 5, 'Behold the days come that I will raise unto David a righteous branch;' that is, out of his loins, a branch out of that stock or root. Who, 2, Shall be God, and Son of God (as Rom. 9:5, Rom. 1:3); ver. 6, 'And this is his name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness.' Jehovah, from the name of his essence, for it is the incommunicable name of God; and our righteousness, as being mediator, and noting forth his office. And yet 'Jehovah our righteousness,' rather than the 'Man our righteousness;' for his being our righteousness, depends more upon his being Jehovah, than his being a branch of David; although upon both, as they are conjoined in one person.

From thence let us go to Micah 5:2, where we shall find that as Christ hath two natures met in him, Son of David, Son of God, so two nativities spoken of, and yet the person but one. 1. 'The ruler shall come forth of Bethlehem.' He was born there as man; and you know it was the city of David, whither Mary, as being of the seed of David, came to be taxed. So then, still Son of David, according to the flesh, and born as such in the four thousandth year of the world; but then, as Son of God, 'His goings forth have been from of old,' the days of eternity.

Unto this head I allege as the concluding proof to them foregone, that strange riddle in Heb. 7:3, applying unto Christ, set forth from his type Melchisedec, 'Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life; but, made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually.' Which being spoken of one and the same person, Christ, can no otherwise be unfolded than by a differing respect had to the two natures God and man, and accordingly of two nativities. That he was God, and in that respect had a Father, the evangelist John doth in a special manner inculcate; that he had a mother, the story of his birth, by the other three, doth inform us; that he was born of a virgin, without a father, those three evangelists do tell us. And yet that Paul here should tell us, he was without a mother, doth necessarily import another kind of generation of his, wherein there was no mother concurred, and so another divine nature met in this one person; in respect of which he was as substantially begotten of him without a mother, as that as man he had been conceived of the substance of his mother, even Son of the living God.

There are other sorts of proofs of this great truth.

As first, the communication and attribution of the same rights, privileges, attributes, actions, passions, infirmities.

1. All the rights of the Son of God by inheritance, given to the man Jesus, as that 'called Son of God;' not as the angels, Heb. 1. Luke 1:32, 'He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David,' to rule the nations; raise whom he will; have possession of all power in heaven and earth; to forgive sins as man, Mat. 9:6.

2. The attributes proper to God are given to this man: as to have been in heaven before the world was; John 3:13, and John 17, 'Glorify me with that glory I had with thee afore the world was.' 'Before Abraham was, I am.' Whereby what is not true of that nature alone in itself considered, is yet attributed to that nature of a man now. The natural properties of man's nature in him were never altered, for finite could never become infinite; therefore it must necessarily be spoken in a personal respect, as being made one person with him that is God; qui, not qua, that is, spoken of him who is man, not of him as man. As when what is proper only to the soul is attributed to the whole man; as if when Paul's soul was rapt up into the third heaven, and his body remaining on earth, that of his body it should have been said, it is now in heaven, because the soul it was united to was there. Like to which is, that Christ should call his body in the grave, God's Holy One; 'his Holy One saw no corruption;' which is spoken of the whole person, though it was his body only was capable of corruption. Or that of John, 'We saw and handled the Word of life,' 1 John 1:1, 'and the Word which was from the beginning;' and yet speaks there of their handling his very body, 'Feel, if a spirit have flesh and bones,' and putting their fingers into it, so to verify his having been come in the flesh. On the other hand, è contra, that all the infirmities of the human nature should be attributed to God, that God should be said to be pierced and crucified; 2 Cor. 12:10, 'Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong;' compared with ver. 8, 'I besought the Lord;' which is applied to Christ, John 19:37, 'And again,' another scripture saith, 'they shall look on him whom they have pierced.' And God to lay down his life, 1 John 3:16, 'Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.' These contradictions all the wits in the world cannot reconcile, but by acknowledging two natures in one person.

3. That the obedience, yea, bloodshed of the man should be called the blood of God, the life of God; 1 John 3:16, there it is called the life of God; and Acts 20:26, the 'blood of God,' yea, God's own blood; and his active obedience the righteousness of God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 1:1. And these things were spoken, not because God was the efficient of these in him; for so the Spirit is of our prayers, Rom. 8; yet, they are never termed the Spirit's prayers, or requests, though made by him in us, and for us, but our prayers. But all that obedience of Christ is called God's; which difference can never be solved, but that the man Jesus was one person with God. Not so we. Yea, if that man had sinned (if you could suppose it, as to bring an argument from it to illustrate this), you may, by the same law, or reason, that his righteousness is now called the obedience of God, or, the life of God, infer that it must have been termed the sin of God. For what the man did in weakness, is attributed to God. But we are not in this personal manner united to the Spirit, that our weaknesses should be attributed to him. We sin, yet it were blasphemy to say that our sins are his; and all because he is not one person with us, though his person is united to our persons.

Neither when that bloodshed is called the blood of God, yea, his own blood; this is not spoken in respect to his being possessor and owner of it, as God is of all the creatures. Ps. 50, 'The beasts on a thousand hills are mine.' John 1, 'He came,' εἰς τὰ ἴδια, 'to his own.' And so the blood of bulls and goats were God's, when sacrificed. But this is not only said to be his blood, but his own blood, and his own life. These are phrases never spoken of possession, or of an owner by dominion or external right. We call indeed other things, as goods, a man's own, but never call it a man's own blood, unless it be naturally or personally his own. We say not of a slave's body, this is the body of his master, his own body, because the phrase, a man's own body, in propriety of speech, is used another way for the body of a man's self, as of a person. Or if he give a slave's life or body for a ransom, we never say, nor can say in propriety of speech, that the master gave his own body, his own blood, as a ransom. The phrase so properly notes out personal propriety, that is, of a person, unto what is a part of one's person, and that the blood is that person's whose own it is called. Yea, though a father give a child to death, who yet is his flesh and blood, yet we hardly say he gave his own blood; and yet if that might be said, because the same blood is naturally the father's, yet of God the Father it could not be said, because Christ's blood, as a man, did not flow out of his Father's blood; for God begets not him as a man, nor hath he flesh and blood to communicate. So that it necessarily notes out that one that was God, a person, taking up that man into one person with himself, that man's blood is therefore called God's own blood, because the man's, who is one person with him.

Neither, 3, it is said to be God's own blood, because shed by God's own will and appointment; for so the blood of every man that is killed by God's will should be so called, and so the blood of bulls was God's own blood in that respect.

Use. We must labour to have our minds and faith well established in the true knowledge of the person of Christ, since it is a truth of so great moment unto us, and the mischiefs of erring about it will be destructive to our souls.

And the weight or importance that our faith be set and kept right in this point appears in that errors and mistakes herein, as they have been frequent, so fatal in all ages, and to all sorts of men that have had the knowledge or hearsay of our Christ.

1. To the Jews 'Christ was a stumblingblock,' 1 Cor. 1:23, both in what his person should be, as appears John 10:33 and other places, as also that his righteousness alone, through faith, should be the righteousness of a sinner, is in like manner said to be a stumblingblock, Rom. 9:33. Their heads were mightily then taken up and busied who that man Jesus should be; and how many various opinions did the devils buzz into their minds to divert them from that which was the truth, and alone was to save them! Some said he was John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. And thus it is now at this day. The Jews, according to the principles and fancies of that age, had those forementioned several opinions of him, and perhaps many more. And in this age, according to other principles which Satan possesseth men's brains withal, several opinions are raised up, what this Christ should be, whilst all are zealous to profess him.

Then, again, Christ himself foretold it, as a forerunning sign of the destruction of Jerusalem, that the Jews having rejected him, the true Christ, they should be given up to many false Christs, φαινομενὰ. Now, those days, and the occurrences thereof, afore Jerusalem's destruction, are made types of the like to fall out (even in this particular point) in the days preceding the end of the world (whereof Jerusalem's destruction was itself a type in Christ's intention in that chapter). And accordingly these days now. Although Jesus at Jerusalem is more generally acknowledged by almost all that profess Christianity, yet in assigning what and wherein his being Christ consists, herein men have and shall run into as many several sorts of Christs as the Jews had done; one saying, Here is Christ, another, There is Christ; one that this is Christ, another this.

And such buddings and sproutings forth of such errors began in those first times, whilst Paul and other apostles were on earth, amongst those that pretended to Christian profession, witness those more than hints in several epistles, which Paul plainly styleth the 'preaching of another Christ' than what himself and the other apostles had preached. What else meaneth that passage, 'For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin unto Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another Spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him,' 2 Cor. 11:2–4. That in these passages he glanceth at some false teachers that had come in among them, as those words, 'if he that cometh to you preach,' &c., ver. 4, evidently imply, that at least such were then abroad in the world, and have been in other churches, and were ready to come to theirs, which Paul was afraid of. But more plain and directly, 'For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works,' ver. 13–15. And these expressions do import that the doctrines which these had vented concerning Christ were framed and raised up to so high an appearance of spiritualness, as were not only apt to take with believers, and deceive them, as ver. 3, which made Paul so jealous over them, ver. 2; but further, they seemed so angelical and seraphic, that in these, if ever in any (his depths, as they are called), Satan had shewed his depths, and had played the counterfeit of an angel of light, and transformed himself thereunto in his inventions of them; and when yet, as Paul plainly tells them, that it was but a counterfeit Christ, 'another Jesus than he had preached,' 'another Spirit,' and 'another gospel.' So as the Christ which these false apostles had dressed up, had so high an appearance of Christ's spirit and gospel, as seemed to vie with that true Jesus, &c., which the apostles taught, for glory and spiritual excellencies. And this also, that new form of an oath which the apostle useth upon that coherence, ver. 10, a new one framed to this occasion, 'As the truth of Christ is in me,' &c., says he, which he speaks to import that in those other teachers there was a false Christ, and not the true.

And to affect the Corinthians the more, and arm them with wariness against, and shew them the danger of entertaining any new doctrines about Christ's person, he presenteth and enforceth the moment hereof, under the similitude of marriage, 'I am jealous over you with godly jealousy' (the subject which jealousy is increased about, is fear of what may rise to the breach of the marriage-knot), lest you should entertain the embraces of another; and so it follows, 'for I have espoused you to one husband, and I would present you a chaste virgin to him,' that is, to Christ, to whom as yet you are but espoused. And it is as if he had said, There is but one spiritual husband, and there can be but one, your only husband, Christ. It is not as in the case of other marriages, if you have not such a man you may have another as good, yea, perhaps a better. But if you mistake here in obtaining this one, only one for your husband, you are undone. There can be no greater errors committed in marriage than error personæ, a mistake of the person you are to marry; and when thinking you marry such a man, you marry another. Yea, and if after marriage to one husband you should be deceived, as many women (as stories and experience shew) have been, when their husbands have been long absent and out of sight, others, that have had some resemblance of the true husband, or some privy mark of him, have put themselves upon their wives, and they entertained their embraces. How fatal a thing is this! 'But I fear,' says he, 'lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ,' ver. 3. The devil hath a special malice at the person of Christ, of all other truths concerning him; and to put this high abuse upon him, specially goes about to deceive his spouse in his person, to misrepresent him and deform him; yea, and if possibly he can effect it, put this trick upon him, and great imposture on her, that she should take another Jesus for him, the devil's Jesus instead of God's. And to effect this, of all other, he will use his utmost subtilty. And having been himself an angel of light, he will transform himself in pretended manifestations, and incomes, and ravishments of spirit, that shall accompany the entertainment and embraces of his Christ. He will use all means ('if by any means,' says Paul) to second, credit, and help forward this new match.

And one great occasion of their aptness to be deceived is the simplicity that is in the person of our Christ, not only in his human nature, a carpenter's son, a crucified man, a Christ in flesh, but that when besides for his divine nature, they think they have heard and known already well enough what God's nature is, by what is said of him in the Old Testament, and so in the Father, and to know but the same over again in Christ; this is no great addition to their knowledge. And that no other thing can be affirmed of him but that he is God, and that to think that he should have but the same simple uncompounded nature that God hath, and not be distinct from God therein. They think they are but as wise as they were in this, and so are apt to listen after such representations of a Christ, as shew him to be some divine Spirit that comes out of God, differing from God, which they fancy will afford matter of some new and manifold wisdom, besides that knowledge they have of God by other means. And thus the simplicity of his person (as they esteem this) is apt to cause them to listen after some other story of him. Whereas the glories and wisdom which ariseth from that union of God and man in one person is such, as transcends all other imaginations, though never so raised, which either angels, men, or devils have or could for ever invent concerning him.

And the deceits and trains that Satan lays herein, he compares to those wherewith the serpent deceived Eve, 'Lest, as the serpent beguiled Eve,' &c. He put it into their heads that there was a higher knowledge they might attain than in that keeping to God's law, they had already, or could attain thereby: and further, that themselves should be gods; so seducing them from God. And thus here there is not only a promise of a higher and more spiritual knowledge than that simple story of Christ God-man affords; but that themselves should be Christs. And they frame such a story of Christ as should serve to persuade this, and their capacity of this advance. For a Christ in flesh, which this man Jesus is, say they, you shall have a Christ in spirit. For a Christ without you, that is, God substantially, you shall have, every one of you, a Christ within you; yea, and if need be, they will not stick to affirm, yourselves shall be God substantially; and not be united only to God and Christ, but so united, as to exist in the form of God, and to be one and the same with God. Such or the like workings of this mystery of iniquity, deforming and perverting of the true Christ into another, you find in Paul's time amongst the Corinthians, or of which from false teachers then gone abroad, they were in danger of.

Something answerable, or like to this, the Church at Colossus also were in danger of. Those philosophical teachers which, chap. 2:8, he gives them warning of, 'Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.' Their doctrines perverted not only the purity of the worship of the gospel, but were intended to the misrepresenting the person of Christ, as appears by many characters; both, 1. In that in the very next words, 'For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.' He gives them a perfect definition or description of the person of Christ, as in himself considered, and in his fulness to us, ver. 10, 'And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.' And this in a direct opposition (as the coherence shews) unto their philosophical Christ, which they for wisdom and excellency would needs compare with the apostle's Christ. And, 2. In opposition to their counterfeit Christ, it is, that he also sets out his Christ in all the personal excellencies and fulness, the like nowhere in all his epistles, chap. 1 ver. 15–18. And then also of his gospel, which is the revelation of him, ver. 23, 26, 27 to the end; and as it is the mystery of God the Father, and of Christ, chap. 2:2, 'In whom are hid all treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' Exhorting, that as they had received Christ, so they would walk in him, ver. 6, as in matter of order, so for faith; for unto both those that exhortation is directed, as appears by the coherence with ver. 5, but especially in their faith about the person of Christ, with which he therefore begins, ver. 7, 'Stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving,' being thankful to God he had revealed such a Christ, his Christ to them; for they could not have a better or another. And then follow those words, 'Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy, after the tradition of men, rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.' Some of the teachers of those times, finding in philosophers (then in credit) in Plato, Orpheus, Hesiod, Pythagoras, and in the Jewish traditions, many divine things about λόγος, the Word, and of emanations, and genealogies, and descents from God, as Irenæus shews, of him from God, and of the creatures from him, they dressed up a Christ and a divinity with those philosophical clothes, and colours, and paint, which, the apostle says, was not 'after Christ,' as you say a false picture of a man is not after the man, being not taken from him, nor resembling his person, but another clean. They were descriptions of him, not taken from the life or truth that was in him. Whom, therefore, Paul sets out in the substance of him, 'In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,' or (you shall give me leave to translate it) 'personally.' And so it was another Christ. And therefore, chap. 3 ver. 19, these are said not to hold the head, that is, him, ver. 10, he had styled 'the head of all principalities and powers;' and, chap. 1:18, 'the head of the body of his church,' they having clean perverted him to another Christ. And as it was then, so it is now. Men have gone about to bring Paul's, the Scripture-Christ, to Plato's; and as such would obtrude him on the saints.

Thus it was in Paul's time; but John lived longer, after all the apostles, and saw these seeds and buddings then sown come to a greater ripeness, and open and more gross discovery, from blade to ear; and writing that first epistle to the Christian Jews in a more special manner, he seeing what Christ had foretold should fall out about the time of Jerusalem's destruction, both afore and after it, to be fulfilled, doth therefore, chap. 2 ver. 18, give this warning: 'My brethren, it is the last hour' (because the last period of time afore that fatal overthrow of that nation), 'for even now there are many antichrists' (as our Lord had foretold), 'whereby we know that it is the last hour,' we seeing it thus fulfilled. And, ver. 22, 'Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is, ὁ Χριστός,' the Christ, the sole and only Christ? And he is an antichrist that denies the Father and the Son, the distinction of these two, and the personalities. 'And whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father.' And, 1 John 4:1, 'Many false prophets are gone out into the world.' And what was the great false point of odds which they endeavoured to sow and diffuse? ver. 3, 'They confessed not that Jesus Christ was come in the flesh,' and that Christ was God; and therefore the catholic faith of all true believers, in opposition to those errors about his person, he gives us; chap 5:20, 'And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.' They had other doctrines about their Christs whom they held forth, which were a full denial of all this. You have the like in his second epistle, ver. 7, 9. And to obviate those errors about the person of Christ was it that he wrote those epistles, and his gospel of John, after all the other evangelists and epistles written, exhorting them to hold fast to that Christ whom they had heard and known from the beginning, as himself and the holy apostles had set him forth, chap. 1 ver. 1–3, 'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.' And ver. 24 of chap. 2, 'Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye shall also continue in the Son, and in the Father.' The like Epistle 2. ver. 9, declaring those that fell into such errors, and continued in them, to be such apostates as never had truth of grace: chap. 2 ver. 19, 'They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us;' and hints how some of them so sinned therein, as that withal they sinned the sin unto death, never to be recovered, chap 5 ver. 16, 17 (though not all; those words ver. 16 do imply), 'If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.' And of all he judgeth them such, as, without repentance, the saints should have no communion with, Epist. 2. ver. 9, 10, 11, 'Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God-speed: for he that biddeth him God-speed is partaker of his evil deeds.' Of this consequence is true faith in this doctrine.

Now, as it was then, so it is now; those times, and the occurrences which then fell out (foretold by Christ) among Jews and Christians afore Jerusalem's destruction, being types of what should now fall out in the last days afore the end of the world; and we have yet but the buddings of what perhaps will grow up to greater ripeness and spreadings, as then they also did.

Multitudes of those that are orthodox in their opinions, or speculative judgments about the person of Christ, yet perish, because they know not, apprehend not, this true Christ, as he is in himself really and spiritually. They know not 'the truth as it is in Jesus,' as Eph. 4:20, 21, the apostle speaks. And this hath and doth fall out amongst all that live in the church. But others begin to err about the very notion of his person, coining other Christs, by diminishing from or adding unto the person of him, as they would represent him to us. And this is as easy as it is dangerous, even as it was an easy thing to make another gospel, and to entertain it, an in the Galatians' example appears, Gal. 1:6, 'I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel.' And in that forementioned 2 Cor. 11:15, the apostle speaks the like of preaching another Christ, considering men's aptness to err herein; it is no great thing (says he), though great in respect of the moment of it, yet easy and soon done. And that is the apostle's scope in that speech. And again, as some churches then embraced another gospel (as the Galatians), so upon other churches the devil endeavoured to obtrude another Christ.

And he is soon (in the doctrine about him) made another Christ, either by taking away from him, or adding to him.

1. By taking away from him, as if you take away his Godhead, this alters the person quite, as taking away the reasonable soul from the body of a man, takes instantly away the man, and leaves a brute beast in his room. It turns him into the carcass of a Christ; let him be set forth in words never so gorgeously or gloriously, the substance of his person is stolen away. Or else,

2. By adding to him; for if the joining works to Christ's righteousness, in matter of justification, made another gospel, as the epistle to the Galatians shews, then surely adding the persons of all the saints to the individual one Lord, one husband, Christ, and that they all should be Christ as well as he, equal with him, their union with God the same that he is, this is to un-Christ him.

BOOK III

Of the glories and royalties that belong unto Jesus Christ, considered as God-man in one person (besides what accrued to him from his performance of the work of our redemption), and which were appointed for him, by his Father, from all eternity.—The apparent manifestation of the divine attributes in the person of Jesus Christ God-man.—The designation of him in God's first decrees, as the end for whom all the creatures were made.—The part that he bore as God-man in the creation, as by him all things were created.—The appointment of him by God to be one Lord over all, under him one God; and to be in a more special respect the head of the elect, on whom they were to hold the tenure of all the blessings bestowed on them above the dues of creation.

One Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.—1 COR. 8:6.

CHAPTER I

A preface giving a short scheme or draft of the ensuing discourse.

An exposition of Col. 1, from verses 15 to 19; all that is spoken there of Christ must be ascribed to him as God-man.

We have had the person of our Lord set out unto us, what and who he is.

This text, in more general words, leads us next unto the consideration of the glory and royalties of this great person, who, as God-man in one person, is sovereign Lord over all; sad also, who hath 1. An universal influence and efficacy into all things: 'Through whom are all things.' 2. Specially into the salvation of the elect: 'And we by him.' Neither doth the text attribute these to him, as he is singly that second person, the Son of God; but as he is constituted Lord by his Father. And therefore necessarily as considered the Son of God, personally united to that man Jesus, as hath been set out. And of him thus considered, I desire, may be understood all that follows, as that which is the proper subject thereof.

It hath been no small diminution of Jesus Christ (as he is God-man), that men's minds having been intent upon him as a redeemer from sin and wrath (they being sinners, the consideration and burden of that hath lain nearest them, and pressed upon their spirits), and that having once given them ease, they have in a manner only given him the glory thereof; whereas there is in other respects as great a revenue of glory from many other contributions due to him, even from whatever God himself can be supposed to challenge glory from.

The subject of these following sections is, the glory of his person, and the relation thereof, simply considered and abstracted from the work of redeeming us men from sins and wrath.

Ere I come to the particulars, I shall in this first chapter, which is an introduction to the rest, do two things.

First, Give the sum and scheme of the particulars, that thus shew forth the glory of his person.

Secondly, Single out one eminent and comprehensive scripture, viz., Col. 1:15, which gives a general bottom unto all the heads of that scheme or draft.

First, The series of the heads themselves.

The first head is,

The native personal glories which attend and are due to that human nature united personally to the Son of God, besides those that arise to him as a Redeemer.

Which are of two sorts.

First, Inherent in him, consisting of such attributes as accompany the union of that human nature to God's Son, and do make up an image of the Godhead in him; besides his being the essential image of God as second person; such as is to be found in no mere creature.

The second are incommunicable royalties, adherent or appertaining to him, and yet no less due to him than the other. As,

1. That he as man, or rather as God-man, should have in the decrees and purposes of the Most High, the just honour to be the eldest or first-born therein, in priority of order, before all other men or angels, that were to be mere creatures.

2. In those decrees to be made the end or final cause of all other things, and this also as his due, that all other things that were to be created should be so disposed of, and contrived in God's eternal counsel, as might tend to his glory, even as well as to the Father's.

Unto these two I add that which is the result of both, especially of the first.

3. That by this designed union of the Son of God to our nature, and in the person of the Son so united, and that simply and abstractly considered; God hath, and doth make the highest manifestation and communication of himself, such as by no created ways or means could ever have been attained (which is the result of his being the image of the invisible God). And this manifestation (we now speak of) is, both that which is made unto the elect in him, and by him, and for his sake; as also that one which is transcendently made in and unto that human nature himself, who is one of us, 'flesh of our flesh,' &c. So as by this personal union with the man Jesus, God hath attained his chiefest, highest, and most substantial ends, which by all or any means else could not have been so attained.

The second head proceeds on such glories as are relative unto the works and counsels of God, touching the things that were to be made and brought forth into being by him, and the dependence they all have upon his being God-man; wherein is shewn how that his Son's being made, and undertaking to be made, man, he withal became, 1. 'The beginning of the creation of God;' the upholder of the whole creation in his Father's purposes; yea, and virtually was the creator and maker thereof, as so considered. 2. The upholder and governor of them, when thus created. And, 3. All other of his works (besides redemption) are committed to him.

A third head (which I shall treat of in another discourse, viz., of Christ the Mediator) is more special, namely, his glorious efficaciousness, to the accomplishment of the blessedness and salvation of God's elect, both men and angels, out of the common lump and mass of the whole creation; which contains in it,

1. His being an head of union to angels and men, but more especially of us, elect man unto God, to raise them up as creatures unto a supernatural union with God, above their law of creation.

2. Unto us men, yet more especially in his being a redeemer, over and above his being an head unto us, to deliver us from sin and the curse, by his (himself) being made both for us.

The coronis, or top-stone set upon this pillar and column of glory, which is thus erected, and is a building unto our Lord Christ, is comprehensively contained in Eph. 1:10, 'That in the dispensation of the fulness of time, he might gather together all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him.' And it is the whole and full birth, the all of God's everlasting purposes and decrees, and so the whole of whatsoever shall be accomplished, touching the person of Christ, the salvation of the elect, both angels and men, and the restitution of all the whole creation by Christ. As,

1. That God's utmost design was to unite a select company of his creatures to him, to be one with himself.

2. That to that end, he in his decrees contrived it so that the person of Christ should consist and be made up of all things, all sorts of things in heaven and earth; and so made a meet medium of such an union.

3. That he hath made up that body or company of his elect that were to be thus united to himself by Christ, in a correspondent anti-posture to that of his person, made up out of all things in heaven and earth; and consisting (take the whole lump of them amongst them) of all sorts of things that are to be found in either, both among angels and men; even a special all things, out of all the general all things.

4. That he hath made his Son an head of union, which is common both to angels and men; and over and above, a redeemer or mediator of redemption of us men; 'so gathering them all into one' a second time in him.

5. That the whole creation (but those in hell, which are exempted out of that catalogue) have by an overflow, a participation (take them in their capacity) of this great union, and are restored to a glorious liberty therewith. Even so be it, O blessed and thrice glorious Lord Jesus; to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

I now at length must quit the conduct of this scripture, which I have hitherto, all along, taken for my guide and bottom, namely, 1 Cor. 8:6. And it having thus happily led me to that general, which hath these particulars in the womb thereof, I shall take my leave of it, and betake myself unto another scripture, as adequate to this, and which is its next design and model, setting forth the heads forementioned almost in the same order and method I have proposed them in. This scripture I shall in this section first suit, in the whole of it, to the particulars of this draft.

Col. 1 ver. 15–19, 'Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature: for by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist: and he is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence: for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.'

The apostle, from the 15th verse to the 23d, sets forth Jesus Christ in all those rich and glorious excellencies revealed in the gospel; and his scope and intention designed therein (as likewise in the whole epistle) is, as appears by the second chapter, to divert and take off the Colossians' minds from going after Jewish rites, which he calls 'rudiments of the world,' &c., Col. 2:8, and which some would have introduced into their worship; and likewise, from vain and fruitless speculations, brought into their faith and doctrine, but grounded on philosophy, carnal reason, traditions of men, &c., ver. 8, which, having 'a show of wisdom' in them, did so carry away their minds, as (to use his own words in the 18th verse) they were well nigh spoiled or robbed (as were our forefathers, by the like subtilties of the schoolmen, and the ostentation of pompous rites and ceremonies) of these rich and never to be exhausted treasures of all wisdom and knowledge, which lay hid in Christ (ver. 3), but unregarded by them, by reason of the other.

The apostle therefore, knowing that the super-eminent excellencies of Christ, if once discovered, would withdraw their thoughts from gazing after such vain (though gaudy) speculations of science, falsely so called, and how in him they were complete (as himself speaks, Col. 2:10), and therefore needed not to go out of him, nor to be beholden to any other knowledge for direction in matters of faith and order, seeing that in him were hid all treasures of knowledge and wisdom; he therefore brings in this King of glory among them, clothed in all his royalties; that look, as when the king comes in state into the presence chamber, though the eyes of the bystanders were before never so intent in beholding the curious pictures and rich hangings about the room; yet when the king comes in, they all turn their eyes on him, diverting them from other objects: so likewise would it be with these Colossians, when they should once see Christ appear in his glory; in which the apostle purposely sets him forth in these verses, the like whereof he nowhere doth in all his epistles.

So then you see already this scripture, in the scope of it, to be pertinent to what we are about to demonstrate. It agrees with my design in this, that it sets forth Christ's, excellencies in all their fulness. Let us next see how it will correspond with the particulars.

The words (adding the 19th and 20th verses to them) do methodically set out those eminent particular heads which I have proposed.

First, The personal excellencies, which, as was said in that draft, are of two sorts.

1. Native and inherent in his person, considered as God-man, in these words, that 'he is the image of the invisible God.' Which, as he mentions first, so it is the chief. The meaning is, that whereas the attributes and excellencies that are in the Godhead are incomprehensible, or (to use the apostle's word) invisible by any creature; that of all those perfections in the Godhead Christ is the complete image, in a transcendent way above what angels and men are; and so, us they are in him, they are incommunicable unto any mere creature; 'he is the image of the invisible God,' to that end to make them visible to us. So, ver. 15, 'Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature.'

2. There are made, extrinsical royalties, incommunicable to any mere creature, and infinitely transcending all their privileges, whereof the text instanceth in two: (1.) That he is the 'first-begotten of every creature,' ver. 13; and, ver. 17, that 'he is before all things.' (2.) The end or final cause, for whom and whose glory they were all made; for this, 'all things were created for him,' ver. 16. That as he is the first-begotten of every creature, that is, the eldest, before all the rest, and by inheritance their Lord and King, and the sole heir of heaven and earth; and so a King over them, with such a pre-eminency of title and prerogative as all other kings do want; for they are neither the makers of their subjects, nor are their subjects made for them. But he is such a King, as is the maker of all these his subjects, yea, their upholder, 'by whom all consist;' and therefore by a just right their final cause and end, 'all things were created by him, and for him.'

2. Head. The universal influence he hath into all God's words. 1. As creator of them. 2. As upholder: ver. 16, 17, 'For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.'

And these glories and excellencies of his, that all were created by him and for him, are amplified and illustrated by the apostle's particular specifying the prime, the chief, the upper rank, of both worlds, heaven and earth. In heaven are thrones and dominions, that is, angels and archangels, the nobles of that higher house; then in earth, principalities and powers, kings and rulers, whom you so much adore. All these were made in him, by him, and for him; and in him they all consist.

The third head. That he is the head of his church, that precious body, of an elect and chosen generation, by God, out of all the rest; 1 Pet. 2:5, 'Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.' Ver. 9, 'But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.' And the first-fruits of the creation, James 1:18. And thus ver. 18 of Col. 1, 'He is the head of the body, the church;' and that in two respects: 1. Of their union to God, which was God's primitive design towards them, intended in those words, 'who is the beginning,' that is, the first foundation of their union with God; and hereon the first corner-stone of their happiness was laid. And, 2, of their restauration from out of sin and death, to bring them into that first designed happiness, which is the great intendment of that union; and this in those words, 'the first-born from the dead,' which is added, because at and upon the resurrection of him, and of his members, of the sons of men, who were dead, and fallen into sin, &c., then begins the demonstration of what as an head he was ordained to be to all his church, in the glory that shall follow. Then appears and reigns for ever that relation of his being a head of union, in its full and originally intended splendour; and that glory, by virtue thereof, which was originally and primarily ordained by God, then takes place, and the full efficacy thereof not till then. When Christ arose, then said God of him, 'This day have I begotten thee.' Acts 13:33, 'God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.' Now, and not till now, thou appearest and lookest like that Son of mine, whom I rejoiced in from everlasting; and now first thou hast recovered that primitive glory thou hadst in degree and repute with me, as God-man, afore the world was, and which, as the first-born of every creature, thou wert arrayed with; a glory only due to him that was the only and substantially begotten Son of God. The like to this holds good of his elect members of mankind, when fully recovered, and restored from death and the grave, by him first as a Redeemer, now risen again, which death is the last part of their humiliation and debasement for sin.

And yet, as if the apostle, having enumerated these (though the chief) of Jesus Christ's prerogatives, yet because not all particulars, but had given these few of all the rest for instance' sake, therefore he sums up all whatever in these two totals or generals.

1. That in all he might have the pre-eminence, or the primacy. The meaning thereof is, that God ordered him to be such a one as might not only have all manner of privileges, that any in this or the other world do or may be supposed to excel in; but also with a pre-eminence, a primacy in all, above what any one hath in anything whereof he may boast.

And, 2, that it pleased the Father 'that in him should all fulness dwell,' ver. 19. Here is again another all, and a fulness added to that all; an all for parts, a fulness for degrees, a transcendency in all, above all.

All these mentioned are over and besides that great and eminent work and service, of reconciling us men as sinners to God. Which is

The fourth head. That over and besides these pre-eminences, he is the reconciler and redeemer, by the blood of his cross: ver. 20, 'And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.' So as that pre-eminence of things which is in the close of the 18th verse, as also that fulness, ver. 19, is distinct from the work of redemption and reconciliation, which appears not only because in all this glorious description of him, from ver. 15 the apostle mentions not the work of redemption or reconciliation, as making up any of this fulness, which in the 19th verse he intends; but further, he makes that a surplusage, or rather another fulness, over and above this of reconciliation, here rehearsed. So the coherence carries it. 'For it pleased the Father, that all fullness should dwell in him, and by him to reconcile,' &c., ver. 20, as being a work besides and superadded unto all his other fulness ordained to be in him.

As a premise to all that follows, I have one thing to clear, which is to found my way for the handling the foresaid particulars, namely,

That all this fulness, and the particulars thereof mentioned in this text, are attributed to Christ as God-man, either as actually united, or to be united, in one person, and not only or simply considered as God or second person.

For the better entertaining of this assertion, and the taking off prejudices, it is meet that the reader should know how that holy and greatest light of the reformed churches, Calvin, in his comment upon this scripture, interpreting the very first passage, which leads on all the rest, namely, that 'he is the image of the invisible God,' speaks thus in his comment thereon. 'He shews hereby,' says he, 'that it is he alone by whom God, that is otherwise invisible, is manifested to us, according to that, No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten, that is in the bosom of the Father, he hath manifested him to us. I know,' says he, 'how the ancients are wont to expound this; who, because they had a controversy with the Arians (who held Christ a mere creature), do urge this place for Christ's being of the same essence or nature with the Father,' namely, simply as second person and God, 'But in the mean time, they omitted what was the chief thing in the words, namely, how the Father hath exhibited, or exposed himself, as in Christ, to be known by us.' And again, says he, 'The name (or title) of image is not spoken of the essence, but hath a relation unto us. So as therefore Christ is the image of God, because he makes, as it were, God visible unto us. And yet withal,' so he adds, 'for this it is also inferred, that Christ is of the same essence with the Father,' namely, as second person. 'For he could not truly (or to the life) represent God to us,' namely, as God-man, 'unless he were the essential Word of God, it being not compatible to any creature to represent God as here is intended.'

A wretched papist, to cast odium upon Calvin, wrote a treatise against him, to prove him, out of his own writings, unsound in that great article of our faith, the Trinity, and about the Godhead of the person of Christ; entitling his book, 'Calvin Judaizing,' or turned Jew, and heaping up about thirty-eight scriptures, which, as he says, Calvin perverted to such a meaning. He allegeth his comment on this, in the last place, against him. Whereof Pareus, in his Opuscula, printed 1595, undertook the defence, and saith, both interpretations, according to Calvin's own expressions, will stand together, which I refer the reader to. Now, observe Calvin's sense, how they may stand together, namely, that Christ (here), as God-man, is chiefly or directly styled the image of the invisible God in the apostle's scope; yet so as withal it argues, and from this inferred, must strongly, yea, it must necessarily be supposed as the foundation of the other, that he* is so the image of God transcendently above all creatures (as here), must necessarily also be the essential image of God. And this I would in this place preadvise the reader once for all (though perhaps I shall be enforced necessarily to inculcate it) to be the genuine drift of all those other interpretations of the like attributed to Christ; which, in the ensuing discourses, in opening of this place, and of John 1:1, 2, &c., I shall pursue. And I desire the candid reader so to understand me.

In the mean time, for the rest of the particulars here said of Christ, that in what sense this of Christ's being the image of God, is interpreted by Calvin, I shall with like freeness assert of them all, that they are spoken of him as God-man. This being but the first of this jury, and the rest enumerated, therefore answers to, and are of the same sort and suit. And if this be so interpreted, then let us see if all the rest will not give up themselves thereto. How this will be made good of all the particulars that follow, I shall shew when I come to insist on each apart. I shall now collect general reasons for the carrying on this analogy and proportion of interpretation through the whole, out of those two totals or summary propositions, wherewith he shuts up all the particulars enumerated (namely); 'that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell.' This general demonstration I give, by laying these two things together, out of them two.

1. That all and every one of these particulars before rehearsed, are those, or some of those glories, which as so many several pieces do make up this his pre-eminence in all things, and which, put together with the rest, are parts of that fulness which is said to dwell in him.

And, 2. That the apostle makes all this fulness (whereof these are the parts) to reside in Christ, by an act of God's good pleasure. And so by a design, decree, or purpose of God, by an act of his will; for he says, 'It pleased the Father that all this fulness,' spoken of, 'should dwell in him,' ἐυδόκησε; it was ex beneplacito, from the good pleasure of God. Thus Eph. 1:9 (where the same word is used), the apostle calls it the mystery of his will, μετὰ τὴν ἐυδοκίαν, after or according to his good pleasure, which he had purposed in himself.

Now therefore, hence I infer of all these parts and pieces, that they must be understood of him as God-man. However, that other sense of theirs, attributed to him as second person, must also come in as that which is necessarily the substratum and foundation thereof, and so originally and primarily true of him as such, at least the most of them. Yet so, as directly and primaria intentione, they are intended of the Son of God made man. For if they had been spoken of him singly, as second person, this would not have been said of them, that they are part of that fulness which it pleased the Father, by an act of his will, and according to the purpose of his good pleasure, should dwell in him, for so they are natural to Christ, and not at all subjected to God's will.

For example, If these two speeches in ver. 15, 'he is the image of the invisible God,' and 'the first born of every creature,' should have been meant, the first of those his essential attributes of his Godhead, whereby Christ is God of God, and so the image of his Father; this is not a fulness that dwells in him according to God's good pleasure, or from God's will, for then Christ should not be God; and that other speech, if it should be taken as meant of that eternal generation of him, as second person, from everlasting; then this general that follows, that it pleased the Father, that all this fulness, and these pre-eminences (whereof these prerogatives here mentioned and this particular is a part) should dwell in him, would not have been so expressed. For Christ's eternal generation was an act of God's nature, not of God's will, or by a decree of his pleasure. He indeed begets us of his own will (as James speaks, 1:18), but not so his Son as second person; for him he begets naturally.

So also that speech, ver. 17, 'He is before all things,' if meant of his subsistence as second person, by that eternal generation of his, it could not then be made an act of God's good will, being it was natural and due unto him. But now, take all these spoken of Christ, as ordained to be God-man, to have all these fulnesses meet in a human nature, ordained to be assumed into union with the second person. So indeed, all this might indeed be the object of God's decree, and an act of his good pleasure, in this respect, that it was in God's good pleasure whether to have decreed him or anything else, or no. And in truth it was the highest act of grace and God's good pleasure that ever was bestowed on any creature, to ordain that man at all unto that union.

Yet still, let all this be so understood, that though these things be meant directly of Christ as God-man, as the Son of God dwelling in a human nature, yet so, as they are by inference as great and strong convictions as any other, that this person that is united to our nature, is in his person originally the essential image; and therefore, so the image of God (as Calvin observes this place holds him forth) as no creature is. That so he is the Creator, end of all things, or else he never had raised up that human nature he assumed, unto those royalties.

Thus much to shew how this scripture is a ground for all those heads and particulars, whereof I gave you the draft.

I next make entrance upon the heads themselves, to enlarge upon them.

CHAPTER II

The personal native glories and royalties which belong to the Son of God, as dwelling in our nature.

How the divine attributes are inherent, and shine forth in that man Jesus, so united to the Son of God.—In what sense he is the image of the invisible God.—How he is the wisdom and the power of God.—His human nature does not posses those perfections in that high degree, as they are attributes in the divine nature, and so infinite; but he hath them in a nearer resemblance than any mere creature is capable of.—In what respects he also has independency and sovereignty.—It is upon the union of the human nature with the Son of God, that it is invested with his high privilege.

The words of the text explained in the former chapter, which sets out the personal native glories, and excellencies, and royalties appertaining to the Son of God, as dwelling in our nature, and which especially shew how the divine attributes shine forth in the man Jesus Christ so united to the Son of God, and which I shall in particular apply to that purpose, are in the 15th, 16th, 17th verses of Col. 1, 'Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature. All things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things.'

The first particular is founded on those words, 'the image of the invisible God;' which the apostle sets first, as the greatest excellency, and the foundation, and the key of interpretation to all the rest that follow.

The resolution of which words is into this assertion, that in that man Jesus Christ, by virtue of his union with the Godhead, there is inherent a fulness of all divine perfections, which make up an image of the attributes of the Godhead, in so transcendent a way of excellency and eminency, as is incompatible and incommunicable to any mere creature remaining such.

I. For the interpretation of the apostle's intent in those words, there is a double image of God in Christ; the one essential, as he is second person; the other manifestative, as the glory of God shines in the face or person of Jesus Christ, as man; thus Grotius on the words, and Pareus in his vindication of Calvin, who reckons up many witnesses, as Ambrose, Martyr, Melancthon, Ursin, &c., for it (of which by and by). And the same distinction, to the same purpose, is acknowledged to be comprehended in his being called ὁ λόγος, the Word (as in the first chapter of John's gospel), connotating both the essential Word of God, or image to God himself, and also the manifestative Word, as representing him to us, as made man.

If the question be, Which of these two is principally and more directly intended in these words? I answer, the latter, and that for two reasons.

1. Because he is not simply termed 'the image of God,' but with this addition, 'of the invisible God;' which does necessarily imply, his being such an image, as relates unto us, that is, that he is such an image as makes the Godhead, which is in itself invisible or incomprehensible, to be manifest and visible. For that is the end of an image, namely, to hold forth a thing, to make it apparent to the view, which otherwise is not seen.

Then, 2. The Godhead and person of Christ, considered simply as second person, is in himself as invisible as the Godhead, or person of the Father. The meaning thereof is this, that in Christ, as man, united to the second person, there is a resultance, an edition of the Godhead, in all the perfections of it; which I may call so many divine attributes of Christ, as God-man, (even as we usually call the other the divine attributes of God) which do make up an image of the Godhead; which in Heb. 1:3, is called, not only the image of God, but (with a difference from all creatures) the 'express image,' or engraven image, that is, such as no creatures are. The image of God's attributes in angels and men, are but such as the light of tapers in respect of the sun, of which that is but a dull and faint resemblance. But Christ is the shine, the 'brightness of his Father's glory.' Even as the beams of the sun are to the body of the sun, as lumen est imago lucis, so is Christ God's image. And this similitude the apostle there useth, and applies it to him as he was man, namely, as he was appointed heir of all. Which phrase, as he is merely second person, might not be used of him, for so he is hæres natus, not constitutus, not 'appointed' heir, but 'begotten.' Now as the rays or beams of the sun are but the emissions and effects of the sun itself, and so far inferior to the substantial glorious body of it, so this image, or shine of the Godhead's glory in the manhood of Christ, is but the reluctance,* the effect, and so inferior to that essential glory, which as second person he partakes of in common with his Father. Thus Beza, Cameron, and others, have understood it.

II. For the thing itself, and to explain what this image of the divine attributes in Christ as God-man is. It is not that bare communication of properties, so as only that which is said of the Godhead is predicated of the manhood; or that the manhood instrumentally useth the attributes of the Godhead, and so is omniscient with the omnisciency of the divine nature, and omnipotent with his omnipotency (as the Lutherans fondly do dream). But it is such a system, or fulness of perfections really inherent and appertaining unto the manhood, by virtue of that its union with the divine nature, as although infinitely coming short of the attributes that are essential to the Godhead, yet is the completest image of them, and such as no mere creature is capable of, and so is as truly incommunicable unto a creature, (whether it be man or angel) as those attributes of the Godhead are to this humanity of Christ itself, though so united. This in general may be made out of that parenthesis in John 1:14 ('And we beheld his glory, the glory as the only begotten Son of God'). By glory, the evangelist means especially those glorious perfections, that dwell in his person, as holiness, wisdom, &c., for it follows, 'full of grace and truth;' though withal including those signs of his power, as sparkles of his divinity, that dwelt in that flesh, and also referring to that glory they saw in him at his transfiguration. The essential glory of his Godhead it could not be, for they 'openly saw it' (as the word signifies), and therefore it is not meant of the glory of the Godhead itself, which is here said to be invisible; and there it is also said of it too, that that is such 'which no man hath seen,' verse 18. Now the glory of these his perfections shining in that human nature was such as was peculiar to him, and transcendently above what could be in any mere creature, and such as carried its own evidence and testimonial with it, that they were such perfections as were proper and peculiar to the only begotten of God; therefore it is added, 'the glory as of the only begotten of God,' that is, such as could be in none but him that was God, and the natural Son of God. That as the shine of the sun carries its own evidence with it, and it is the glory as of the sun when it appears, so transcendently, that the likeness of it cannot be made by all the fire and lights in the world, if put together, such was this glory here spoken of.

To give two or three instances of some of these perfections peculiarly and incommunicably dwelling in the human nature of Christ, as,

1. Wisdom. 2. Power. 3. Independency and Sovereignty.

The reason why I instance in these, is, became I find them all put together by Christ himself.

1. There is a wisdom in Christ's human nature, which is so high an imitation of the attribute of wisdom in God, as no creature, nor all creatures could reach to, or have attained; and therefore they, though they be called wise, yet not wisdom, as Christ, God-man, is called, 1 Cor. 1:24, 'But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.' And the reason why so transcendent a wisdom is in him as man, which is proper to him, and of which all creatures must fall short, is given Col. 2:3, 'For in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge;' not objectively only, as in the knowledge of whom (if we could attain to it) we might find all treasures, but subjectively also, as whose knowledge in himself inherent contains in it all treasures of wisdom. For Christ could not be objectively all wisdom unto us, if he had not first all wisdom subjectively in himself. And therefore it is, verse 9, 'For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.' Mow the reason of all this fulness of wisdom in Christ is there given, that the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily (or personally) in him, which is alone proper to him; and therefore also surely these treasures of wisdom are also meant of inherent knowledge residing in his human nature, as the God-head doth.

Now the treasures of wisdom in Christ's human nature are not of that extent and richness that the wisdom that dwells in God himself is of, for to make Christ omniscient as God is, were to make his human nature God. Nor is it, as the Lutherans express it, that his human nature is omniscient with the omnisciency of the divine nature; but yet, in such a transcendent fulness, as is omniscientia similitudinaria, a similitudinary omnisciency comparatively to what is in the creatures (as Zanchy from the schoolmen calls it), and so is an image (and that in a transcendent way) of God's omnisciency. Not that his human nature knows all that God knows; for God, per simplicem intelligentiam, by the ideas of all he can make, knows all that his power can do; and so his knowledge extends itself, not only to all that is made or to be done, but to all that he can make or do, which is an infinity. But yet there is a similitudinary omnisciency in Christ's human nature, in that it, now glorified, knows all that God hath done, or means to do; and so it is of as large extent, for the objects of it, as that knowledge in God himself is in that respect. Which knowledge in God, the schoolman call scientia visionis; and the Scripture, 'God's foreknowledge.' All that God's will hath decreed to be done (even all his counsels) Christ's human nature knows, and had, by virtue of its union with the divine, a right to know, both things past, present, and to come. And so it is in a sense a kind of omnisciency; and is a 'glory as of the only begotten Son of God,' incommunicable unto any other.

2. The same holds in his power. The power of the human nature is not equal with God's, as that he can do all that God can do; for God can make infinite many things which yet he never made, nor will ever make; yet there is a similitudinary omnipotency in Christ's human nature, both in that he can do whatsoever he will (his will pitching on the same design with God's in every thing), and in that all that God will ever pitch upon to be done, he is an instrument of. All was done, either in the virtue of him before he took our nature, or hath been since his being glorified. His fiat, his I will (as himself speaks, John 17:24), must be set to everything ere it be done. For 'all power is committed to him, both in heaven and earth,' Matt. 28:18. All the business of the world runs through his hands and head. And therefore he is called 'the power of God' (in the forecited place, 1 Cor. 1:24), and 'the arm of the Lord,' Isa. 53:1. And this is a kind of omnipotency, that all that God means to do he should be the instrument of. Both these instances we find together in one scripture delivered, and unto the very same sense and purpose I have driven concerning them, John 5:18. The Jews had quarrelled with Christ (he having said, ver. 17, 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work'), both for calling God his Father, in so peculiar a manner from other men, and also for that in that speech he should join himself so in commission with God in all his works of providence, to say, Ego et Pater meus, 'I and my Father;' so making himself equal with God, whenas he was a man, that is, to have an equal and joint hand in all together with God. Hereupon Christ justifies this speech of his, and shews how, although he were a man, yet such a man as being one in person will the Son of God, this was true of him, without any dishonour at all unto God. First, he acknowledgeth indeed that this pre-eminence his Father hath, that he is the first mover in all: 'The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do;' yet so, as 'whatever the Father doth, the Son doth also. For the Father loves the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doth.' Here we have,

(1.) That whatever God doth, or means to do, the Son hath a hand in it.

(2.) That the Son knows all that is done by his Father. Therefore it is both said, 'What he sees the Father do,' and that 'the Father sheweth him all things that himself doth,' John 5:19, 20. Here is both the omnisciency we speak of, and the omnipotency, in the terms we stated it, as respecting all God's works, ad extra, even all that ever is to be done.

And this (3.) in an incommunicable way to any mere creature; for so the Jews that made the objection understood it; that he (as they thought) being but a mere man, as others, should join himself with God in all his works, and so make himself in a sort equal to God. And this also is inferred from that which fellows; that all this is given the Son of man, 'that he might be honoured, even as the Father is honoured,' John 5:23. And so with such an honour as no mere creature is capable of.

And this (4.), in a similitudinary way, as the ὁμοίως, likewise, or in like manner (ver. 19), also imports.

And (5.) all this Christ speaks of himself as Son of man, though it be true of him too (and that in a more transcendent sense) as he is God, a second person. And it is one of the greatest keys to John's gospel, that multitudes of such speeches are spoken of him, both first and originally, as he is God, and second person, and then as God-man, or as he is Christ, that is, the Son of God dwelling in man; for Christ speaks pertinently to the thing that stumbled them. They thought much, that he being (in view) but a man, should arrogate this to himself, to have a hand in all God's works. Now this he answers and justifies himself in.

And further, that he speaks these things of himself as man, as well as simply as second person, appears in the other instance which he gives to confirm this, that 'the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son,' ver. 22. And if in judgment he hath this joint or equal hand (as they call it), thence he argues it, he might also have it in other works. Now this being spoken in a way of difference from his Father, that his 'Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son;' this must needs be meant of him as God-man, for the meaning hereof is, that the Father judgeth not audibly, visibly, and in view, as judges used to do. He takes not on him the person of a judge, to act that part; but thus, or so hath committed all unto his Son, and therefore as a man. And this also the very committing or resigning the judgment unto him implies, it is a making of it over to him, and a giving him commission to do it, which must not be said of Christ as God. And, ver. 23, it is added, 'He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father that sent him.' Now Christ only as God-man was sent.

But to put all out of doubt, that he speaks of himself in this discourse, as he is Son of man united to God, he himself, in the closure of all, doth expressly so explain it, that so he might be understood to speak fully contradictory to their exception. Thus, ver. 27, 'The Father hath given the Son authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.' First, he sets out this prerogative with an emphasis, as the particle also doth imply, as being the highest dignity and power of all other, to have judgment solely committed to him, to execute it so visibly as God, and in God's steady, and in that respect more than what he had said in that speech they so excepted against, 'I and my Father work hitherto.' I, namely, virtually and hiddenly, do co-operate and work together with him. And then, secondly, to explain how it is committed to him, he adds, 'because he is the Son of man' (so it follows), the particle ὅτι, because, being, as some interpreters carry it, put for καθότι prout, as such, namely, as he is the Son of man; that even as such, all judgment was committed unto him, and all these former things true of him. And so that word ὅτι not only renders the cause of it, but explains how, and under what nature, all judgment was to him committed. But however, if it imports the reason of it, it much more includes that as he was the Son of man, this judgment was committed to him (which to prove is the thing I aim at).

3. I shall now give another instance of a third attribute in Christ, which is also such an image of what is God as is incommunicable unto any mere creature; and that is independency and sovereignty; which I therefore add, because I find it mentioned by Christ with these in this place. This sovereign independency is one of the chiefest flowers in that crown of his glory (as in kings also it is, whereby they differ from subjects), that none have potestatem vitæ et necis, power of life and death over them. The creatures have a life wholly dependent, as subsisting by the power of God; Heb. 1:3, 'Who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.' And that so as at pleasure God might annihilate them, and yet in so doing rob them of nothing which they can lay a just claim unto as their own. So that the tenure of their being is ad voluntatem Domini, at the will of the Lord of heaven and earth. But it is not thus with Christ's human nature, now it is assumed into union with the second person; but, it being together with that union invested with the royal prerogative of the person, with whom it is one, it hate independentiam similitudinariam, an independency like unto God's, such as is communicable to no creature: therefore, says Christ, ver. 26, 'As the Father hath life in himself, so he hath given the Son to have life in himself.' I have learned, from divers interpreters of the Gospel of John, and from much comparing the speeches of Christ together, to interpret that, and multitudes of other the like, as well of him as God-man, is of him also as second person; and this and other could not be true of him as God-man, unless first as he is second person. And that which evidenceth more particularly this speech to be understood of him as God-man, is, that it is said to be given him. For this we are sure of, that the manhood obtained this prerogative by a free act of grace and gift. God had a freedom to ordain, or never to ordain, that nature or any other unto so high a dignity. Therefore, 1 Pet. 1:20, 'Who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.' Christ is said to be fore-ordained, as well as the elect; and the grace shewn in his election was greater than in all ours, by how much the privileges he was ordained unto were greater. But when once this nature is united to the second person, and become the man God's fellow; then he is instantly invested with this indeposable prerogative, to have life in himself, and not to hold it by gift, though so at first obtained. And so he hath an independency, similitudinary to that of his Father's, as these words in John 5:26, 'As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself,' do shew. He can now say that which no creature can say; and that which were blasphemy in their mouths is now not so in his, for he holds not his life ad voluntatem Domini; but as the second person hath a natural right to his subsistence, so now hath this man, being made one person with him; and so by virtue of that union hath the personal prerogatives of the Son of God made his, yet so as still this independency of the human nature riseth not to that absoluteness and infiniteness that is in God himself, as was in the like manner said of the former; for this manhood subsists not by the power of itself, but by the power of the Godhead dwelling therein. But God subsists merely, simply, and absolutely of himself. Yet there is this similitude in it unto that which is in God, that this man can say, This power which I subsist by is my own, by virtue of his relation unto the second person. I being the Son of God, and one in person with him, what is his is mine, not originally or essentially, but by gift. Yet so as there I have now an independent right to be and to subsist in that second person for ever, and can never be deposed. Indeed it was a free act of grace in God at first. But in doing of it God did a wonder in the world, of all the greatest. For he sets up an independent creature, a creature backed with such a right to his being, that now himself cannot pull him down, nor dissolve that union again. And what a glorious image of God's independency is this!

I might shew the like also in holiness; that there is that transcendency of holiness also in him the man, that is not in all the creatures put together; and so in that respect also he is 'the image of the invisible God.' If it could be supposed that any mere creature could have as much habitual holiness as the human nature hath (which were too bold a supposition), yet notwithstanding, there is a holiness over and above that habitual grace in him, there is a relative holiness that casts the shine, the superlative glory on that habitual; and the stamp thereof that is upon this holiness is better than all the coin. It is the holiness of a man united to God, and who is God, and this makes it acceptable. There is a relative holiness that follows from the hypostatical union, that gives all the worth to what he did, and to all the grace that is in himself; and this no creature is capable of. And this was that that made him able to satisfy. And this is the holiness that God takes the great contentment in, and could never have been satisfied out of it; and by reason of this, his righteousness may be imputed to sinners, which the righteousness of a mere creature could not be; it is the holiness of God, as his blood is said to be the blood of God.

I might shew the like in all other attributes; and it is a noble subject to spend pains upon, to set forth and cut out every limb of this vast image of all God's attributes that are in Christ, merely upon his personal union. I have limned out only these two or three parts of it, us ex pede, that by the like proportion we might infer the vastness of all the rest.

CHAPTER III

The honour and royalties that appertain unto Christ, God-man, as ordained such in God's first decrees, to be the final cause or end of the whole creation and works of God.—In what sense he is the first-born of every creature.—The reasons why it is not to be understood in respect of his eternal generation as Son of God.—It is spoken of him in consideration of a dignity or birthright which the man Jesus Christ, united with the second person in the Trinity, has above all other creatures.—He is also the first-born, in that he was first in order intended in the eternal purposes of God.—He is the final cause or end for which all things were created.—And upon the presupposition of his being decreed to be God-man, it belonged to him as his due to be the universal end for whom all things should be made.—This was a high prerogative, of which no mere creature could be capable.

I am now, in the next place, to describe, in a second branch of this head, certain other royalties or prerogatives, incommunicable also to any creature, which belong to Christ, God-man, whereof some are mentioned in the text; as that 'he is the first-born of every creature,' ver. 15, and that he is 'before all things,' ver. 17, and that 'all things are for him,' ver. 16. Which eminently imply two things. 1. That he was the first and prime birth in God's decree; and, 2, also holds the honour of being the end or final cause of all. These I put together, because they more properly belong to this head; and the latter serves to explain and illustrate the former. And still let it be taken along, that they are meant of him, not simply considered as second person, but as God-man.

1. To begin with the first. 'The first-born of every creature.'

For the explanation of the import of it, I will,

(1.) Shew negatively what is not only to be understood.

And (2.) then positively open the full extent of it, and shew that what I have declared is intended thereby.

(1.) It is not spoken of him simply as second person only, as some interpreters have understood; so as that his eternal generation, as Son of God, should be only intended. Concerning which assertion let me first make this apology, that whereas this and the like scriptures are alleged by our divines to prove that Christ is God, as second person, this interpretation that I am about to give doth not overthrow it, but establish it. For these things could not have been said of him, had he not been God. And there are other scriptures that do more plainly and directly establish that, fully enough; but yet so here I take it, that eternal generation is not meant directly or immediately, though by consequence it is argued, and most strongly. And there are these two reasons for this.

[1.] Because, in Scripture phrase, he is not in respect to that his eternal generation, called primogenitus, the 'first-begotten,' but unigenitus, the 'only-begotten.' But this here is another phrase; it is the 'first-begotten.'

[2.] If that had been directly intended, he would not have called him the first-begotten, in comparison unto creatures; but here he saith the 'first-born of every creature,' every creature having had a birth, in the apostle's intention, as well as he. He is said in Job, to be the 'father of the snow, and of the ice,' Job 38:28, 29. But here, first, to make Christ, simply as second person considered, and his eternal generation, as the only-begotten Son, to be meant here; and then to compare and range him, in respect of that generation, with the birth of all creatures else, and that he is the first-begotten of every creature in that sense; this had not been suitable. For as between him, as so considered, and them, there is no comparison can be made, so nor between his generation and theirs. His title and heraldry would have been emblazoned from the order he bears with those of his own rank, the other persons, Father and Holy Ghost; among whom, to have been called the second of those glorious persons, is worthy of him as such. But to say, 'the first-born of every creature,' and mean his eternal generation, of which the prophet says, 'Who hath known it?' Pro:4, the very comparison of this high birth of his, with the metaphorical generation (so I must call it, when attributed to the most of creatures inanimate, &c.) of every ordinary creature, this had dishonoured him too much. I must say of this, what the apostle of Melchisedec's generation, Heb. 7:6, 'His descent' (or pedigree) 'is not counted among them,' nor theirs to be named with his.

That that name, which Agur in the Proverbs, chap. 30:4, so adores, as not to be known by us, and equals it, and compares it with God's only, 'What is his name?' (speaking of God) 'and what his Son's name? if thou canst tell,' should be set in the Alpha, the first name in the alphabet, and catalogue of creatures; no, it is altioris ordinis, of another, and an higher rank and kind than so. This hath caused me to think, that 'the first-begotten of every creature,' it is spoken of him, as he is admitted into the catalogue or society of the creatures, as his fellows (as I may so speak), into their number, or as he is become one of them. Or take him as he is the Son of God, ordained to human nature, and then to have his name stand highest in the tables, amongst all the rest of the creatures, and to be called the first-begotten of them, it is no way a disparagement to him, for he is become as one of them, even a creature among them, a man, and so of the same kind or rank with other creatures. Again, that which yet heightens and further presents the incongruity of it, is, that it is not said here that he was the first-born of many brethren, but of every creature. To have said it in respect of those his many brethren, they being only sons though adopted, and he the natural, had held a better equipage;* but it is far lower, even of every creature. And when he is said to be the first-born of many brethren, as in Rom. 8:29, 'For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren;' it is spoken of him in respect of predestination, not of his eternal generation, as you may see there. And so much for the negative, in what sense it is not directly to be understood.

(2.) Therefore, to shew positively in what respect this primacy and primogeniture, and this in comparison with every creature, is attributed to him.

[1.] It is spoken of him in respect of a dignity and a birthright, that this God-man hath at that instant; he is admitted amongst the creatures (as by being ordained to human nature he was admitted); that though he thereby became of their rank, yet he must be the chief, and have the birthright. In Ps. 89:27, you shall find the birthright (and that as spoken of Christ) is put for dignity and excellency, 'Also I will make him my first-born;' and what is meant by first-born, is explained in the next words. 'higher than the kings of the earth.' It noteth out therefore an excellency and a dignity, a height, and a being Prince of the kings of the earth, as Rev. 1:5. So a prince of all the creatures.

[2.] But still there must needs be more in it, for in the Scripture the dignity, the birthright, was directly founded upon being the first-born. So Christ is not only said to be the first-born, because he was made higher than they all, but because he was born first, and therefore higher and greater than all. 2 Chron. 21:3, 'He gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he was first born,' the first brought forth, the opening of the womb. So that now the dignity that Christ hath, it is because he is the first-born, some way or other, of every creature. Therefore, as it was said, it cannot be meant of his eternal generation, as second person. And if there were no more, I might add this against it, that it were infinitely incongruous (to speak after the manner of men) to say that the creatures lay in the same womb, or came out of the same loins, that the Son of God, as second person, lay in and came out of. Therefore, there must be some other womb in which Christ and the creatures all lay, and in respect thereunto he is the first-begotten; and that womb is the eternal decrees and purposes of God, which is the common womb, both of Jesus Christ, as he is God-man, and of all creatures else. For that he was God-man by predestination is clear: 1 Pet. 1:20, 'Who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world;' and being so, he was in this, as in all other respects, to have a primacy and pre-eminence, and so to be in a true and just sense the first-begotten in that womb. And thus Rom. 8:29, a primogeniture, or a being the first-born, is attributed to him in respect of predestination. For the apostle, in comparing the rank or order wherein we were placed in respect of him, says, that we were 'predestinated to be conformed to his image,' therefore he was in some respect predestinated; 'that,' as it follows, 'he might be the first-born among many brethren;' and so he, as the eldest, came forth first. That as in all births, according to the order of nature, the head comes forth before the body, so did Christ, 'the head of the body, the church,' as, ver. 18, he is called. And therefore, Eph. 1:4, we are said to be elected 'in Christ.' Now then, there is this further addition, which heightens the reason of it, that if he be the first-born of the first-born of the creatures (for so the saints are called, Heb. 12:23, 'To the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect'), then he must necessarily be the first-born of all other creatures, who were all ordained both for them and him.

And this may be one true sense of that which follows, ver. 17, that he is πρὸ πάντων, 'before all things,' namely, in respect of the order of God's intention. God, though viewing and ordaining all his works ad extra, at once, yet therein chiefly aimed at Christ, as, under himself, the end and perfection of all. Which also hath been understood by many to be the true meaning of that uttered by Christ himself (in the Proverbs) under the name of Wisdom, Prov. 8:22, 'The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.' It is a place much and often cited, as also this text, by them that have been of this opinion, which have not been a few in several ages.

And, First, God's ways are his works ad extra, wherein he purposed to go forth and manifest himself towards creatures. Now in the beginning of these ways, and the first thoughts of them, did God possess Christ God-man in his foreknowledge, as the richest treasure of all his glory to be manifested in his creation, without which he would not have proceeded to any other work, or have walked forth in any creature-way, but rested in that blessed society of the Three without them. And it is not said, 'In the beginning of his way,' but it is also further added, that he possessed him 'before his works of old.' Which is the same that is here said, 'He is before all things;' as also in saying, 'the first-begotten of every creature.' And for further illustration's sake it is added, ver. 33, 'I was set up from everlasting, ere ever the earth was.' The phrase, 'I was set up,' will less permit us to understand it of that eternal generation of his, as he is second person, than in those other expressions that have been here insisted on, for that was an act of God's will; but that other, by a natural act of a mysterious generation.

I am now approaching to that second royalty mentioned in this branch, Christ's being also the final cause or end for whom all things were made. And this is such a respect as the creatures were not capable of one towards another. Which point is conjunct with this of his priority in God's decrees, and indeed is the greatest confirmation and proof of it.

All acknowledge a priority, though not of one act of God's decrees before another in a successive order, as in respect of the decrees themselves (such as in our purposes and thoughts there is through our imperfection), yet in respect of the objects of God's decrees compared together among themselves. So one thing decreed by God is ordered by his will to have a reference unto, or dependence upon another thing, though at the same time decreed. And so in that respect there comes to be attributed, even to the acts of God's will, as terminated upon such objects, that he intended one thing first and chiefly, and another subordinately unto it. And accordingly the Scripture speaks of God's decrees, condescending therein to the conceptions of men. And though in men there are successive acts in their purposes and resolutions, because men are not wise enough, in the same instant in which they set up an end, to see and take in all the means that shall conduce to the attaining of it; or if they were, yet they are not able by the same act to judge which is the best and most convenient; yet God, through the perfection of his knowledge, can do this, and so make but one act of all, both one and the other. Yet still, what is in man imperfectly, is to be looked at as an image of God's proceedings herein, in a transcendent way of perfection. And so we may truly attribute the same thing unto God's will in his decrees, as to the substance of them, in that perfect way of his, that we do unto man in his that is imperfect. And hence God is said to work by counsel, Eph. 1:11, 'In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purposes of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.' It is assimilation or likeness unto what is in man; because, as an act of knowledge and deliberation is said to be first in us, ere an act of will or determination what to do; so in God himself, an act of knowledge, or of the full cognizance of what is to be done, is (after the manner of men) supposed to be before an act of his will. And answerably in his will, the intention of the end is said to be before the intention of the means. And this priority of the end afore the means is taken for granted to have been in God's decrees; for if God had not thus proceeded, by ordaining the means onto the end, he could not by us have been conceived to work with that perfection of wisdom which must be in him; for wisdom always considers first an end, then fit means tending to that end.

Yet still this is but what is common to all other things that are ordained to be as ends by God, unto which other things are subordinated; and in this scale there is a kind of priority allowed one creature to have had in God's decrees, in respect of others its fellow-creatures. As the sun was intended for the enlightening of the world, and the generation and conservation of all things therein, by its heat and influence, and yet both it and the world were intended for man, and man and all the world for the elect, as the apostle says, 1 Cor. 3:23, 'All things are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' Now all the creatures fall infinitely short of that royalty which I hence attribute to Christ, God-man, when I affirm him to have been the final cause or end of all things. And look how far his prerogative herein is found to exceed that which may be supposed might have been any of theirs; by so much is thereby confirmed, according to the ground even now laid, a priority as transcendent that he verily holdeth in God's decrees.

Now he holdeth a pre-eminence in this infinitely above all creatures, and therefore even in this his being the end of all also.

And this pre-eminence is held forth in these particulars.

1. In that he was set up as a universal end of the whole creation of God; 'For whom all things,' says the text, 'were created,' ver. 16. And this is not to be predicated either of angels or men. God vouchsafed neither of them that honour, as to be the general and universal end of all things. This priority is a similitudinary prerogative of what God alone is, as one God, so that his Christ should be one Lord, 1 Cor. 8:6, over all things, and but one. And herein is Christ so the image of God, as no creature is; as in respect of dominion over this visible world, man is said to be 'the image of God' (Gen. 1:27, 28), as his type.

2. And further, this universality of endship (as I may call it), he holds with a peculiar transcendency, which no creature is capable of; for it ariseth from his distance and absolute sovereignty (which if he be ordained to subsist in a human nature, that nature must be raised unto) which he hath over all the creatures. This person decreed to subsist in man's nature, was considered by God in his decrees to be of that worth and distance above the creatures, that their very being and existing was to become absolutely and simply his propriety. He was to be absolute Lord of their being, even as God is. But thus were not man, or any of the sons of men, to the being of angels, nor angels of men, though as superior in rank the one may serve the other; but yet thus men and angels are subordinate to Christ as their end. This we have in Heb. 2, where, by this argument, the apostle proveth that that man spoken of by David, Ps. 8, could be none but the man Christ Jesus, nor any mere creature; because he was (as set forth by David) advanced to a higher prerogative than the angels, in that 'God hath put all things in subjection under him,' yea, 'under his feet' (as the phrase there is); so, as 'he hath left nothing that is not put under him,' ver. 8. He therefore is not only the universal end of all things (if such we could suppose any one mere creature might have been constituted by God), but he is the absolute sovereign end: so as they are under his feet, as vassals, whose whole being is from him, and at his dispose; of which prerogative mo mere creature is capable. And even in this prerogative sense he is the universal end of all. For God hath exempted nothing from subjection to him (as the apostle there saith). Elect angels are not thus the end of elect men, nor elect men of elect angels. 'He hath not put into subjection to the angels the world to come,' says the same apostle in the same place, ver. 5. Christ has an absolute and entire lordship. And therefore ho must needs be first in intention, and so before all things; as of no other thing or creature it can be said.

3. Add to this, that suppose him at all decreed to be God-man, and united to a creature, it was withal his due to be ordained by God the end of all things decreed together with him. And this is and was an incommunicable royalty to any mere creature, nor must be said, nor could have been true of any of them, but proper to him alone. And this makes a third priority or precedency in the endship, as also in God's decrees.

As touching this third and last head, I shall do two things further.

1. I must explain and declare the ground of it. And,

2. Shew the glory of this priority, above what any creature hath been capable of.

1. For the explanation of it.

(1.) It is true that the second person, his subsisting in a human nature, or his being God-man, dependeth wholly upon the ordination of God, and that in respect of his being second person singly considered, or in respect of that human nature that was united to him. It cannot be said to have been a natural due to the second person to be made man; and much less was it a due to that nature of man assumed to be made one person with the Son of God.

(2.) It is also as true, that though God would have thus decreed his Son to be God-man, yet it was not necessary that God should make any creatures at all, and so not necessary that he should have ordained to make any other fellow-creatures with him besides himself. And so it was not necessary in this sense that they should have been for him as their end. But God might for ever have rested in the communicating himself unto that man, God's fellow only (and it had been a sufficient motive to him, and a fulness of satisfaction had thereby arisen unto him alone therein, to see, and behold, and enjoy the image of his own perfections in a creature united to his Son). And therein he had shewn his own greatness, and superiority above this his Christ in this; that himself was the supreme end of him, but he actually the end of nothing else that was ordained to be made for him.

But (3.) that which I further affirm is this, that supposing God would decree him to be God-man, and to subsist in a human nature, and likewise withal would ordain multitudes of other things, angels and men together, as de facto God did, that then it becomes the necessary due of this Christ, and that as God-man, so decreed, to be set up by God in those his decrees, as the end of all those things. Yea, and further, that God should so mould and cast the whole frame of his designs, concerning his creation intended, as that all should tend to him as their end, as well as to God's own glory. So that whereas God, in that which is called his simple foreknowledge or counsel (whereby he had the view of Christ, and of all things else he did decree, afore him, before that his will did determine them to be), must needs foresee, that if he predestinated this second person to be a man, and one person with him at all, and other things together with him (and it is hard to think that he should scape his first view, of all things else), that then this did become that man's due, and the necessary consequent of that union with God's Son, that he should be so far respected and preserved by God, in his decrees, as to have the place of a supreme end of all and every thing; and accordingly that God should cast his decrees for Christ's glory as well as for his own; which indeed is his own, even to honour the Son as the Father is honoured, John 5:23. Hence as we read, Heb. 1:2, that Christ is said to be 'appointed the heir of all things.' So at the 4th verse we also read, 'That he was made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.' In the first speech the apostle calls him the 'appointed heir,' because that man should be assumed to that personal union and sonship, upon which this inheritance befell him, this was by a free decree and ordination of God. But yet withal the 4th verse tells us, that yet 'he obtained it by inheritance.' And if he were appointed heir, this was due to the very appointment; and by such a right as no creature, no, not the angels, are capable of; and yet still it is founded, take him as God-man, that he is 'made Lord and Christ,' as Peter in the Acts speaks, Acts 2:36, 'Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.' Yet so as if he be appointed God's Son, as man, at all, this is his due and his natural inheritance. And this other also follows hereupon in God's appointments and ordinations, that all things should be so cast and moulded as to be for him. For the heir is the end of the inheritance, as well as he is the lord of it; and so must Christ be of all the creatures appointed and co-ordained with him; and for him to be thus both the appointed heir and yet the natural heir (as God-man) is no more contradiction than to say of him, as man, that he was both God's natural Son, as being one person with the natural Son of God, and yet to have been predestinated unto that sonship, because he was predestinated to that union upon which this followed. So that he was to be the end of all, this was a free act of God's appointment, because his being united to his Son was by a free act of his will also. And yet for him to be made the end of all things, was a natural necessary consequent of God's decreeing him unto that union. And God foresaw that this would and must be the necessary consequent of it, and yet freely ordained him to it. And therefore this and all such natural and necessary prerogatives that follow upon it, and which could not have been withheld or cut off, are yet all of them said to be by appointment.

And indeed others say the same thing. For when it is affirmed that Christ needed not have merited any glory to himself, they ground it upon this; because, by virtue of the hypostatical union, all glory is his natural due, and a necessary consequent of it. Which surely is a truth, though it may not be made use of to exclude another title unto this his own glory, namely, that of purchase. For it is no dishonour to him to have two claims.

And if it be said, that you must suppose him first to be ordained God-man, by a decree, ere this the consequent of it could become his due, and therefore, in the act of God's decreeing him, and all things with him (which decreeing him and them was done by one single and entire act) this was not looked at by God as a natural due to him.

The answer is, that by that simple foreknowlege, which is antecedent to his decrees, whereby he knows all things that his will determines afore he doth determine them, he must needs know this would and must be the consequent of his decreeing Christ to be God-man, if ever he did it; and so he predestinating upon such a knowledge, he intended him so to be, even in that act of decreeing him and all things, and shaped these his decrees accordingly.

2. Now, for the second thing propounded, namely, the eminency of this his priority, as thus stated, that it is such a prerogative as no mere creature could be capable of. Besides what hath been said and observed out of Heb. 1:4 and chap. 2:8, it is certain it cannot be said to be the natural due of the best angels or men, that God should make them the end of anything else decreed, or to be created together with them. It is true that God makes one creature subordinate to another as its end, intending it for the use of another. Thus 1 Cor. 11:9, 'The man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man;' and so the world for both. Yet so as it was not a due that if both man and woman should be created, the woman should be for the man. For in heaven, though the sexes remain distinct, yet there the woman is no more for the man than the man for the woman. And this co-ordination one with another, God might have made in all things, and none in subordination to another, especially angels and elect men. But that the angels should serve the elect, this is merely from an ordination of his will. And he might have made this world, and man in it, and yet not have subjected this world unto man; and many more worlds he might have made, which should not at all have subserved man, but might some other way have been for his glory, as it will be if this world should stand and continue after the day of judgment, as some have thought. So that for one creature to be decreed the end of another, was a matter of mere arbitrariness and pure liberty unto God. As there is a decree that all these things should exist and have a being, so there must a further distinct decree appointing the one to serve the other, upon which alone this subordination doth wholly depend. So that not the existence of the things only arise from his will, but also the order of them, that this should be for this, and this for that; the one hath no other claim or due but God's mere and arbitrary decree. But in God's decreeing Christ, and all other things for him, the matter standeth in far different terms. For although (as was said) that he should subsist in man's nature, that depended merely upon a decree, and was in no respect his due; but that he should be the heir, the Lord, the end of all things, is so the object of God's will and decree, as withal he may claim it (supposing an intention in God, that he will be God-man at all) as a due, and royalty, and prerogative entailed to his being decreed God's Son, by the supremest law that can come between God and his Son, which cannot be made void, or he be bereaved of that prerogative. Even as if God himself purposes to make any creature, this law naturally falls, upon his decreeing of it, that it be ordained for his own glory; now, say I, for Christ's also. For, by the union, that man becomes the natural Son of God, and so this right is natural unto him. I will give instance to illustrate this difference between Christ and the creatures. Take any mere creature, the angels, and souls of men, and as its having a being depended simply upon an arbitrary decree of God's, so its having an everlasting being does also. God might freely have ordered the contrary, and they could no way have claimed it as a due, or a deprivement of their right; it was no natural due that was the consequent of its being. But if God decree his Son to subsist in a human nature once, then his being ever as a man, and God for ever to dwell in him, is the natural consequent of the former; for the union is indissoluble, he being thereby invested into the prerogatives of God's Son, whereof this is one, 'thy years fail not,' whereas the creatures may change and wax old. So Heb. 1:11, 12, 'They shall perish, but thou remainest; and they shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.'

I do not, nor must not affirm, that this is not at all the object of a decree of God's. For it is certain that all his works, ad extra (whereof this is one), are such. Yea, this is one part and piece of that fulness in the text, of which, as of the rest, it is said in the due* of all, Col. 1:19, 'It pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell in him.' And again, Ps. 2:6, 7, 'I will publish the decree, I have set my King on my holy hill.' His being King was the object of a decree. Yet still I add withal, that it was withal his due and inheritance.

Neither do I intend that it was a decree only, and merely in this respect to this first grace, that this man should be united to God's Son, being the object of a pure and mere arbitrariness in God to have, or not to have, decreed it; that therefore this other dignity (that is, the natural consequent of it) is said also to be so decreed, virtually (or as we say, volitum in causa), because that that which this wholly depended upon was the object of a decree merely free; but I acknowledge it truly the object of a free decree of God's will, as well as the former. For he was willing and well pleased in it, and from such a will appointed him the heir, and made him Lord and Christ. Yet still say I not in that sense arbitrary, that supposing withal (as hath been so often said) him to be united to the Son of God, that by a contrary decree this royalty might for ever have been denied him, and the contrary determined by God.

And there is no incongruity in this, or derogation from God, that this and other the like privileges should be both his natural due, and yet the object of a decree. We say against the papists in a manner of a less alloy, that if God could make man at first with an understanding and a will, it was, by the law of creation, a necessary and natural due to that man to be created holy, and in the image of God, and not in pure naturals, as the papists dream; and yet to give man that holiness at first, was the object of a decree over and above his being made man. But this dueness of Christ's being the end of all (if at all the Christ), is of a higher nature, though I illustrate it by that of a lesser, between the Creator and the creature.

Also we know, that in Christ himself, the personal glory he hath in heaven, he holds by a double tenure, the one as God's natural Son, the other by merit; and yet over and above it is said to be given him by his Father, as an act of his will and decrees. It is true, that for the manner or way of contrivance, how all should tend and serve to his glory, this must be granted to be merely arbitrary, and dependent on the counsels of God's will; even as the ordering how they shall serve to his own glory is. Yet that all should be cast for Christ's glory, as for God's (though in a subordination unto God's), is a necessary natural law between the Father and the Son. And so he holds it, and not simply by arbitrement.

Thus much for the second particular, that his royalty, in being the first of God's decrees, and therein to be the end of all things, is held forth in these words, 'First-begotten,' &c., 'He is before all things.'

But concerning his priority in God's decrees, there will be occasion to speak more hereafter, in other places of this discourse.

CHAPTER IV

That by this designed union of the Son of God to this individual creature the man Jesus, and in the person of this his Son so considered, God hath and doth make the highest manifestation of his glory, and communication of himself, such as by no created ways or means else could have been attained.

And this third branch is the natural result of both, especially the first, which was, that he was 'the image of the invisible God;' which is spoken in respect of the manifestation of the Godhead to us, in him human nature.

Herein then, thirdly, lies the divine glory of Christ, that God's highest ends of making and ordaining any creature, being the manifestation of himself, and the communication of himself to us; if it be manifest that by this personal union he attaineth these ends more fully than any other way, then this design must needs be acknowledged the sovereign and eldest birth, and first-born of God's thoughts, and the glory of Christ as God-man answerable hereunto.

It is true the work of redemption addeth hereunto some pieces, as the manifestation of mercy, justice; and the story thereof giveth us a new and complete edition of God's attributes (which I have shewn at large in that treatise, The Glory of the Gospel); yet if the ends for which this union of God-man in the person of Christ alone serves for be considered, it will be seen that the ground-work, or the substance of that glory on which those other colours of redemption are laid, and do but superadd unto, are found in the person itself, simply considered as God-man. Yea, and the most glorious of those ends God had in the whole compass of this design of Christ's incarnation, are the immediate result of his personal union to our nature, and of us unto him. However, this much is granted on all hands, that the glory God hath by this work, and the issue of it alone, exceeds infinitely what could have arisen from any, or all of his goings forth in making mere creatures; and this, say I, moved him above all else in his purposes to make any creature.

The eminent ends God had to move him to make all, or any creature, were two.

1. The manifestation of himself, and his glorious perfections to creatures reasonable, that they might glorify him.

2. To shew his love, and communicate his goodness unto those creatures reasonable, which he would set himself to love.

The first respecteth himself, who made all things for himself and his glory; and therefore he resolved to manifest the glory of all his attributes unto the full.

The second respecteth the creatures, to some of which it became him, who was goodness itself, to communicate also that goodness to the highest and utmost.

1. Now take this great and most glorious design of assuming some one creature reasonable (which by his decree was man, and that man Jesus in special), into person with one of the three persons; which lot, by his decree, fell on 'that Son of man.' And take this singly and alone, without the superadded project of redemption, and we shall find that both these great ends are thereby more fully accomplished (though this work of redemption added makes them more full) than could possibly have been attained by the creation of millions of worlds of mere creatures (if this should have been supposed wanting) made to manifest God's glory and his goodness in; although they had all been made in never so several variety, which the wisdom of God could have contrived the models of; or never so glorious in their several varieties.

For demonstration whereof;

First, Would God manifest himself as God, and make known those glories locked up in himself, which was the chief end of creating, as Rom. 1:20, 'The invisible things of him' (that is, his attributes which cannot otherwise be seen or known by us, to which the words of this text agree), 'from the creation of the world are clearly seen, even his eternal power and Godhead?' Here is a way, this is a way, namely, to assume man's nature into personal union with his Son, puts down all ways of mere and simple creation that can be supposed. More of God's glory shall instantly shine forth in that small model, the man Christ Jesus, having the Godhead dwelling in him personally, than by God's making millions of worlds never so various, or so richly furnished with glories. For still in them, at best, would have appeared but τὰ Θεοῦ, 'the things of God,' as Rom. 1:20. And the more diversified they had been, the more scatteredly and brokenly would those things of God have appeared in them, even but as footsteps, vestigia deitatis, and at best but as the dark shadow of a man in broken and scattered pieces to be picked up here and there, and set together, some resemblance or shadow of the Godhead would appear. But in the man Christ Jesus, God himself appears personally, 'God manifest in the flesh,' 1 Tim. 3:16, 'seen of angels,' and that with so great and super-eminent a glory, that they cover their faces and fall down at it. For when the type of his personal glory, as he was to come in the manhood, was presented filling his temple, the seraphims are said to cover their faces; Isa. 6:1–3, 'In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. About it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.' And that that prophecy and vision was spoken of him as God manifested in human nature, is evident by Christ's own applying it to himself, as prophetically spoken of him as to come; John 12:41, 'These things said Isaiah' (Christ having in the 40th verse cited the very words of his prophecy in the 10th verse of that 6th chapter), 'when he saw his glory, and spake of him,' and so of those times when he was in the flesh, and that glory that followed. And therefore also in Heb. 1:3, when he had set him out in that glory the human nature now wears in heaven, being 'the brightness,' or shine 'of his Father's glory,' his favour being as the sun, the glory of Christ, God-man, but the ἀπαύγασμα, the shine, the lustre of it; yet such as there follows, ver. 6, 'Let all the angels of God worship him.' Thus was he seen of angels (who worshipped him), the most curious spectators that ever God made; and he was seen too men, John 1:14, 'We saw his glory, as of the only begotten Son of God;' which appeared so transcendent in glory, as whoever saw it must needs acknowledge, 'This man is God, this is he.' Therefore John putteth this peculiar character upon it, that it was 'as the glory of the only begotten Son of God.' By other works you may know there is a God; but there is that peculiar impress of majesty upon his glory, and that brightness accompanies it, that you must say when you see it, this is no other than God himself dwelling in man. It is such a glory as could not have resulted out of millions of worlds of mere creatures, made on purpose to shew forth God's glory. And whereas the Godhead and the glory of it was invisible, as the text hath it, and locked up from the eyes of all creatures, 'dwelling in light inaccessible,' 1 Tim. 6:16, God dwelling personally in this man, puts forths a peculiar image of the Godhead, and makes the glory of the Godhead visible (as to the utmost it could be). God hath on purpose stamped his utmost manifestative glory on the face of Christ, that we might see it in him; 2 Cor. 6:6, 'God gives the light of the knowledge of God in the face' (or as others read it, the person) 'of Jesus Christ.' That as the soul looks out in the face, and you see more of a man's disposition in a look, a cast of his eye, a wink, a blush there, than in all his body, so of the Godhead in Christ Jesus, which is his face. He is 'the brightness of his Father's glory,' shining in and through a veil of flesh (whereof the shining of Moses's face was but a type and shadow) through the lantern of his humanity (if I may so compare it), so to relieve our eyes in beholding the Godhead, which no eye could otherwise have done. There is a sun behind that veil, the glory of which immediately shining, would have put out our eyes.

Now observe, how in this design God exceedingly condescended to our frailty. We are reasonable creatures clothed with senses, desirous to pry and see what we know and hear of, to have something visible, as the disposition of the people of Israel shewed; and also appears in that speech of Moses, Exod. 33:18, 'Let me see thy glory.' Now hereby God hath satisfied this innate curiosity that is in us. Here we may and shall see the God that goes afore us (as they desired, Exod. 32:1). Here we may say, as the apostle did; 1 John 1:1–3, 'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.'

I will instance but in the manifestation of one attribute, and that is that which is mentioned in Rom. 1:20, as that which is more especially instanced in, as seen in the creation, 'his eternal power and Godhead.' The very knitting man's nature into one person with the Son of God, was a greater work of power than God ever did besides. That God is made flesh, is a greater wonder than to have made worlds; therefore in this conception, and work of uniting that nature, it is said, 'The power of God shall over-shadow thee,' Luke 1:35. It argues great power, to join diverse elements in one body, and then unto that body to unite a soul, and breathe a breath of life; as when God made man, his choicest piece and workmanship, 'a living soul.' But he did not only all this in framing Christ's human nature, the same that ours is, immediately himself, by the Holy Ghost, but further united the Son of God; and this nature infinitely more disjoined and disproportioned each to other, than the reasonable soul and our bodies; which he did when he made him 'a quickening Spirit.' All the works in nature are so far short of this, that they afford not a full similitude of it. Yea, all God's works, of nature and grace, are altogether bound up in it (as the schoolmen well shew), and exceeded by it. Of all other works we may say that Deus potuit facere melius et majus, if we take but this work out of the order and chain of things, out of the system of this world. But we may safely say that a greater work than this could not have been done by God himself. Which therefore is the amazement of angels. This one instance is but for a taste of the rest.

2. God's second end respects the creatures; which was to shew his love unto, and communicate himself unto his creatures. Now, by this union alone (if no other design had been in it), he should have done it more than any other way.

Besides that by this happy marriage and union of both natures, God hath given the utmost pledge of his love to his whole creation, a kindness and respect is done unto them all; not only in that he shews he loves his creatures, so that he will assume one of that rank and sort so near him; but further in this, that that creature so assumed was the epitome, the compendium of them all. Man, a little world, called 'every creature,' Mark 16:15. To the making of whom the poets feigned a piece of every creature to have been taken. And so, by the advancement of this nature he preferreth and advanceth at once the whole creation, and every kind or part thereof, for something common to every one is in him. There is an ἀνακεφαλαίωσις (as I have elsewhere shewn*), a 'gathering together of all things' in earth and heaven; and not of creatures reasonable only, angels and men, under his dominion as a head, but even of all creatures also in his person. He is the corner-stone of the whole creation. Yea, and God and all comes in to make one, and is 'gathered together in one,' with all things else in him, so as God hath thereby knit all creatures to himself. And therefore Hugo brings in God, speaking of his making his Son a man, thus, Do not think that in this I aim only at the reconciliation of men; but in him by this means the whole creation is become amiable and lovely unto me; looking upon it in this model or epitome.

But more especially his love is shewn hereby to man, the darling of his creation. Suppose Christ, God-man, had only been given to men as a head and husband (and they had not needed reconciliation by him), this had been infinite love; yea, this gift had excelled, and doth excel all the benefits of redemption, if abstractly considered from this other. What would Adam have given for such a husband? Now, ver. 18 of this Col. 1, he is called, 'the head of this body, his church,' a head more worth than all the body. But of this more by and by.

I come to the second head, the communication of the goodness of the Godhead unto creatures reasonable. And for this the union of the Son of God with the man Christ Jesus serves in the highest way. Good, we know, is communicable of itself. Now God is good, and so doth good (as the psalmist speaks). He only is good, as Christ says, the chiefest good. Now, by this same law, that bonum est sui communicativum, that is, that goodness is communicative: by the same also, summum bonum est summè communicativum sui, that is, the highest good is communicative of himself the highest way. And as to communicate himself to creatures moved him to create, so he was resolved to communicate himself to the utmost, or he would never create at all; he would never have put his hand to this work else. Now he could not have made a communication of himself the highest way but by a personal union of some person with a creature reasonable; for all communication depends upon an union. The creature must be one with god ere it communicate of his goodness in a way of blessedness. Now therefore by this rule still, the newer union the nearer communication. And by the same proportion, the highest communication cannot be without the highest union. Now that highest union alone is personal union of a creature with one who was God. So then, to attain this end, this was necessary, for the highest communication would not have been attained without it.

Now by this union you shall see is effected the highest communication and that,

First, To that creature, or individual man Jesus, that was assumed.

And, Secondly, In that nature, to us that are united to him.

First, To that creature or nature itself: for in him thereby the fulness of the Godhead dwells personally, as some well translate that word 'bodily;' and so it is the highest union that may be or might have been. He was united to God, or one that is God; not as to an object only, or as to a perficient only, as we all shall be in heaven unto God, 'made perfect in one,' John 17:23, but to the Son of God, who is God, as terminus essentiæ, to terminate and give bounds of subsistence and personality to that human nature; so as the human nature and the Son of God are not only 'one flesh,' as man and wife, which is the nearest union with us; nor 'one spirit' only, as we with Christ, but 'one person' (of which I have spoken elsewhere). And hence this human nature is made 'God's fellow,' as Zechariah calls him, Zech. 13:7. The man, God's fellow, is advanced to a fellowship in this society of Trinity; and therefore to him God communicates himself proportionally, 'without measure,' as Christ in the Gospel of John speaks. Which was not due to any mere creature, but it was his due when first assumed; 'No man hath seen God at any time, but the Son,' John 1:18. None should have done it without him; none can see God as he doth, nor is capable of it.

And, Secondly, by means of this union with, and communication unto, this one reasonable creature, there is way made for God in, and for his sake, to communicate himself unto other creatures, who are made his fellows, as he is God's fellow; and this in a higher way than by the mere law of creation any creature could have attained. Others of the sons of men united to Christ, come to be united to God thereby, more nearly than otherwise, or any other way they should have been. For this, let me put in by the way, it was not fit, or meet, some say not possible, to have united and assumed all, or many men, to his union; however, not meet. It was a dignity too great to be made common. It became not the great God, who is one in nature, to communicate this dignity, but unto one. And this being supposed, as for us, the Vulgus of those creatures, whom God meant to communicate himself unto, there was no way for their behoof like unto this, that God should take one of them up to himself, and by their union with him, and for his sake, to give forth himself to the rest. First, to many man's nature in some one individual man in this incommunicable way, and then to marry us of the same nature unto him; and so thereby making him first partaker of the Godhead in a transcendent way, as his natural due; and then when once he was so united, for his sake, and in respect of our relation to him, to admit us to the nearest union, in a supernatural, or super-creation way, which mere creatures are capable of, and which, but for him, he never should have vouchsafed unto us as mere creatures by any law or covenant of our creation. And thus through this humanity, as through a sacred breast, we do, lactare deitatem (as one of the fathers speaks). And although our redemption by Christ, as we are sinners, is an infinite benefit; yet his person thus given us, is more worth than all those his benefits; Est aliquid in Christo formosius salvatore. And then by our interest in his person, we come to inherit God with him, to be heirs and coheirs with Christ, of God, in such a way communicated, as but for this his union with God first, we should never have attained.

I will give but one instance to illustrate this, as I did bring but one for the setting forth the former. Power was the attribute I pitched on, as manifested in this assumption, in the foregoing head; and wisdom shall be the attribute I single out, to illustrate this other of God's communicating himself the highest way. And these two I instance in, because Christ is both the 'power of God,' and the 'wisdom of God.' Would God communicate and make known unto his creatures reasonable, the depths, the 'riches' of his knowledge and wisdom, as the apostle styles them, and communicate the treasures of them to the utmost they are communicable? Now by means of taking up one creature reasonable, a man, into this highest union, shall this be effected the highest way that could be supposed.

First, To that creature so united; for it is his due to know more at the first instant of that his union than all the angels—blow up their understandings, and fill them to the utmost wideness. For by virtue of that union, he is presently 'in his Father's bosom;' as it is peculiarly said of him, John 1:18, 'No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.' He is made there, by his place, God's privy counsellor; 'the mighty counsellor,' Isa. 9:6. It is his place by inheritance, he hath right to know all God's secrets, he is God's eldest Son, his fellow, and therefore it is said, that God 'lays up all the treasures of knowledge in him,' Col. 2:3. Because (as it follows) the Godhead dwells bodily in him, and thereby he comes to have the Spirit above measure, and that Spirit 'searcheth the deep things of God.' If God said of Abraham, 'How shall I hide from Abraham what I mean to do?' Gen. 18:17, much less can he keep it secret from Christ. God can hide nothing from him which he means to do; and indeed, to know it is his due. He draws nearer to God infinitely than Moses did, or angels ever did, or shall. Moses (his type) was taken up into the mount, where God appeared, and angels up into heaven; but Moses was not taken up into this mount, the highest place of honour, of personal union, standing upon which, this man hath a full prospect into all God's counsels and ways. See how Moses is slighted to him even in this. 'The law came by Moses,' says John, chap. 1 ver. 17, who, when he received it, was spoken to by God as never man was. God professeth he revealed himself to 'no prophet, as to Moses, face to face,' Num. 12:8. But what follows in John 1:17? 'Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.' And John gives the reason of the difference, 'No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath revealed him,' ver. 18. Moses saw God as never no man saw him. But Moses' sight was no sight in comparison of Christ's. For notwithstanding he had spoken of Moses, ver. 17, yet in the next verse he dares to say, 'No man hath seen God at any time,' but only this Son, his eldest Son. No servant, no adopted son, ever saw God so, or shall do, or could do, but the eldest, who is in God's bosom.

Secondly, This way of communicating himself to one thus assumed into this union, was the best means to communicate his depths of wisdom to other creatures made one with him (for still remember it was not fit that any more than one should be partaker of this high privilege of personal union); for this man being himself thus in God's bosom, as hath been declared, is able to declare more of God to the rest of his brethren, than they otherwise should have ever known. He was first to see God, and then reveal him to others, us John 1:18, 'He hath revealed him,' says the evangelist. And he is able to speak experimentally, out of sight, the deep things of God; John 3:11, 'We speak,' says he, 'the things we have heard and seen,' not at second hand, but upon personal eye-sight. And whereas others, if they would speak of the heavenly things to us, must do it under earthly similitudes; he is able (if we were capable of it) to speak heavenly things in their own idiom. So ver. 12, to set forth his knowledge of the things he speaks, 'If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not' (and yet Christ had spoken afore of nothing but things heavenly, and they only are the object of faith), 'how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?' it is as if he had said, I have told you but earthly things in comparison of what I could tell you; if you were capable of them, I could speak heavenly in their own dialect. And the reason follows, ver. 13, 'for no man hath ascended into heaven, but he who came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.' Yea further, he hath the power and skill, not by the means of words only that are heavenly (suiting heavenly things to heavenly) but to create such inward real images and rays of heavenly things, as shall manifest the very things themselves to us, in their heavenly splendour, and as the beams of the sun do let in the sight of the sun itself into our eyes.

2. Yea, and further, by means of this personal union of our nature with the Son of God, revealing and communicating the knowledge of God unto us, it comes to pass that the greatest riches of assurance is added unto that knowledge, without which our knowledge of God, and his mind, would not be so fully satisfactory, though we could have come to know never so much any other way. No way could ever have been thought of, so to ascertain our belief, as this. No way conduces to such an infallibility of revelation as this doth. If a mere creature revealed God unto us (as Moses did), it might be, at least, supposed not to be so certain as when God-man shall speak. For though the words of the prophets had a certainty in them, as Peter comparing the certainty of the Scripture with that voice he had heard from heaven, 2 Pet. 1:19, he calls it 'a more sure word of prophecy;' so may I say of what God-man shall speak. It is infinitely a more certain sure word, for It is as 'impossible that he should lie,' as that God himself should. Every man may be supposed a liar, but we are sure he cannot. And the Son of God being one in person with him, if you hear him speak, there is an impossibility of being deceived, for himself is God. Therefore, Heb. 1:1, 'In these last days he spake by his Son,' which is also again indigitated, chap. 2 ver. 2, 3, 'For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward: how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.' And it is there brought in as a more infallible and unparalleled evidence of the truth of the gospel above the law, that that was 'given but by angels,' but this gospel was 'first spoken by the Lord himself,' who first broke up the treasures of it. And hence, one of his titles is, 'the faithful witness,' Rev. 3:14. Yea, the 'Amen.' God's Amen. Or, 'so it is;' as that which seals up all, and puts all out of question.

CHAPTER V

The glory which Christ, as God-man, had assigned him before the world was, in his election by the Father, manifested in an explication of John 17:5. Whether that expression, 'Glorify me now with the glory which I had with thee before the world was,' be spoken of Christ, as second person in the Trinity, as God, or as God-man, appointed in God's eternal decree.—In what proper sense this might be said by the man Jesus, 'Glorify now me,' &c.—How as God-man he can be said to have had this glory with the Father before the world was, when as such he did not then exist.—What glory it is that is here intended, it is a glory due to his person, God-man, distinct from, and superior to what followed, upon his performance of the work of our redemption.

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.—JOHN 17:5.

To clear and prove what is the scope of these words, I shall propose several queries, and the answers made thereunto will lay open the genuine mind and sense of the text.

1st Query is, Under what notion or consideration Christ should be the subject of that speech, 'The glory which I had with thee before the world was'? Whether it be spoken of the second person, simply considered, as God (which is a great truth in itself, and which most do understand meant in this place), or whether it be spoken of Christ, considered as God-man, in God's predestination; and so to involve the man, or human nature. There are, you see, two parts of the whole speech: 1. 'And now glorify me.' And touching that, there need be no stick* to apply it to the human nature; for he was a subject capable of being glorified now, as upon his ascension he was. But then how may we withal apply the other part, 'with the glory I had with thee before the world was,' and take him in as the subject of that glory? Yea, and if we do, it must be some way the same kind of glory, which the subject of the first part of that speech prays to be now glorified withal, with the same glory mentioned in the second part, which was before the world, and not with another. So as take which you will, whether the divine nature as second person, or the human, still the same nature must be the individual subject of the same glory, in either of those speeches. We must not think to apply the one part of the speech to the man, or the human nature only; and then the other to the divine nature only; this will breed a distraction, or a division in the sense.

My answer to this inquiry, and my assertion is, that Christ, considered as God-man, is the subject of both; and that as the man speaks it, so the man is involved as spoken of, and the whole person as God-man, 'Glorify me now, O Father.' Now presently, upon my ascension (says the man) in respect of entering into an open actual possession of that glory, which I the man had with thee, in the idea of this glory, in thy predestination of me, ordained unto me before the world. But of the manner, how he the man had it before the world, of this at large, and apart, in my answers to the other following queries. In the mean time,

That it is the glory that belongeth to the man that he prayeth for in these words, 'And now, Father, glorify me,' and not simply as he is second person. This assertion I prove both negatively and affirmatively.

1. Negatively. It is not the glory of the second person, simply or alone considered, and therefore, it is the glory of him as God-man. For,

(1.) That he might be glorified with that glory due to him, as second person simply, was not a thing to be prayed for, for it is naturally and essentially his due.

(2.) As to that glory, he might as well have formed his prayer thus, Glorify thou me with the glory I now have with thee, and not in this manner. 'And now, O Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with thee from everlasting.' For that divine glory of him, which is essential to him as second person, he had it as much now at the time he prayed, as he had it from everlasting, and all one.

(3.) That word, 'Now glorify me,' necessarily implies a suspension of a glory due before, and that could not be of his glory, simply as second person. Also, that now argues a glory to be given in time, in such a manner as not afore; and what is done in time, concerns the human nature, not the divine.

2. Positively. The subject of the glory prayed for is the man. Austin was so far convinced of this, that though he were engaged against the Arians as much as any in his time, and all the fathers afore him had urged this place to prove the divine nature of Christ as second person, his existence from eternity, yet betook himself to this, that it was spoken of him as man, and so interpreted, 'The glory which I had,' to be meant, which I had by predestination, and in that sense 'with thee.' Now, that it is the man, or rather the person of God-man in union together, is the subject prayed for, is evident. Because,

(1.) It is the petition of the person who had been, and as he had been humbled, who had glorified God on earth, and had finished his work, and waited for this glory until now. As therefore the apostle says, 'the same that ascended, first descended;' so I may say here, the same person who was now presently to die, and was crucified the same day, was the same, who was the subject, the person prayeth to be thus glorified, when he shall have done his work. For,

(2.) It is a glory suspended until this his work were done. And therefore, 'Now, Father' (says he), 'glorify me,' &c., answers unto that which is in Luke 24:26, 'Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?' Of which afterwards.

(3.) He prays for that glory wherein in heaven (when glorified) he should appear visibly in his human nature, and which in the 24th verse he prays his saints might see and behold; and which in the same verse had been given him out of love before the world was; which cannot be meant of that of the divine nature, as second person simply, for that is as invisible as God the Father is; and was not by gift but by generation communicated to him.

All these things cannot be the voice of him simply as second person. Fix upon it therefore, that it is the glory of the man, or rather God-man, prayed for.

2d Query is, In what fair and genuine sense can it be said by the man Jesus, 'Glorify me with the glory I had with thee before the world was'?

My answer and second assertion is, that it was the glory which the second person, being in God's singular predestination of him constituted God-man, had in and by the same predestination given him, as the glory of the only begotten Son of God, as his due in the perfect and exquisite idea thereof, then given him, and pre-ordained unto him.

Unto me this hath appeared as the plainest and fullest interpretation; and that which answers all difficulties, and carries the interpretation through, is, that the word 'I had' relates to the glory which he had in his singular and supereminent predestination, which was the sense Austin gave long since. And there is that which favours this interpretation in the aspect and correspondency which the 22d and 24th verses that follow in this prayer hold, and do mutually cast upon these words of ver. 5, and these words upon them; serving to expound each other of them. 'The glory thou gavest me, I have them;' so in ver. 22, and then put to them ver. 24, 'Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.' Where, God's loving him afore the foundation of the world, is a phrase all one with his having predestinated him out of love (as I shewed afore). And by 'the glory which thou gavest me,' ver. 22, is above all other meant, that personal glory of and flowing from the personal union, which was by predestination given him as God-man; by virtue of which, first given him, it is and was that he gives us a derived or secondary participation of glory out of it; a portion of glory and privilege like to this of his, wholly flowing from it, and conformed to it; yet not the same hypostatical union or personal glory which Christ himself hath, which the 24th verse shews. For our glory (as there) ariseth to us, but through our beholding that his so supereminent glory; by which he manifestly declares how it is that the glory given him, he gave to them: and that their glory was to be differenced from what was personally his own, and proper to himself; his scope being to shew the dependency that their glory hath on his; and withal, how that his was first given him, in predestination, by the Father; and that then he gave a glory unto them as concurring with his Father in that gift. And it is not to shew at all that our glory is, for the rank of it, the same with his. No; for our glory he gives us is to arise from our beholding his personal glory, and so is but a second-hand derived glory; God having first, and with a primary and chief intendment, estated Christ absolutely, singly, independently, in his personal glory, and in his predestination of him, God-man, gave him that original as the grand lease of all creature glory. Therefore he is called 'the Lord of glory,' 1 Cor. 2:8. And Christ being endowed therewith, did as freely give forth to those whom God had given him (as their several portions) under leases. Which glory of ours may yet in this general respect be said to be the same, in that it is supernatural, wholly above what by the law of creation or the covenant of works, which from Adam we had derived; and which, though never so much advanced, we should have attained unto. For this is a glory the second Adam bequeathed us, like unto what himself had, which was wholly supernatural. So then, bring all these together, first the 5th verse, 'The glory I had afore the world,' down to the 22d, 'The glory thou gavest me, I have given them;' 'those whom thou gavest me,' says ver. 24; and 'I will, that they behold that my glory;' and then, the close of all, in that 24th verse, 'For thou lovedst me afore the world was,' as the spring of all; and this connection of all these will amount to this, that, first, in God's predestination of him afore the world, it was that he gave him this glory spoken of, ver. 5; and, secondly, that that glory was first and absolutely given him by the Father, and then ours by himself concurring with the Father, who loved us as he loved Christ, ver. 22, which two are the sum and substance of what I am to prove.

This thus proved, as meant of predestination, my interpretation of ver. 5—'Glorify me with the glory I had with thee afore the world was'—proceeds:

1. With the glory. Thou hadst the idea, the portraiture of me, when I was among all those other models and schemes of worlds, and varieties of creatures thou hadst in thy view, and which thou couldst have ordained to make, whenas yet thou didst not. I in the hue and array of God-man, simply as such considered, came up afore thee, and outshined each and all of those creatable glories of mere creatures thy power was able to make; and I took thy heart above all those curious pictures or images in the power of thy art whatever, and outshined them all, as not worthy to be thought of or looked at with me or my glory; that is, above all and afore all thy will and good pleasure did here set the fiat of thy desire, and of thy first desire; for being satisfied, in the morning, with the image of thyself in me, thou saidst, This I purpose to be my fellow, and my sole delight; which no other of mere creatures, or all, could ever have been.

2. Glorify me now with the glory which in decreeing of me to be God-man, thou hadst in thy heart, in thy designs and purposes to bestow; and didst then, and by this decree, actually endow me with, as the natural inheritance, propriety, and proper due and concernment to that person thou should ordain God-man, and one person with thy Son. This I now beg of thee to be now possessed of.

3. With the very same glory, according to the exact draught of it, that was in thy divine understanding, and will, and purposes about me. And he therefore says, with the glory now, which I then had; that is, in the model, the idea, exactly answering one the other. There are two parts of the petition (as was said), 'Glorify me now,' the first; 'with the glory I had,' that is the second. And these two must prove to be, in a true respect, one and the same glory.

And if any (as many do) will urge, that this latter, 'the glory which I had,' can be understood of no other but of Christ's divine nature, or of the second person simply considered; then, that other part, 'Glorify me now,' will recoil and check them as to that opinion. For it must be truly some way the same glory. And though it be true that the divine nature, or the second person, he might alone say, I had a glory with thee afore the world was, namely, the essential glory of the Godhead; yet he might not say, Glorify me now with that glory; for that essential glory was neither to be prayed for, nor was it ever laid aside or interrupted, as it was enjoyed by him with God. No. And again, on the other hand, for the man to say, Glorify me now with the glory I had with thee, and mean the essential glory of the Godhead, that is as incongruous as the other. So as, take both parts of the petition in conjunction together, and as to belong to but one subject, either the man alone, or the second person alone, and they will never suit, either in a uniform way or sameness of glory. You can no more apply them both to the divine nature than you can to the human. And yet it is plainly insinuated to be one and the same glory. This will never be unriddled (at least not so fairly) any other way than by this of predestination, viz., that look what glory in God's ultimate purposes and transactions with his Son, was foreordained and designed him as God-man (and as such he was the subject of God's decrees as well as we, as many scriptures declare), and so it is exactly one and the same glory; which is the gloss that Austin long since gave of the words, Clarifica me, sicut tunc, ita et nunc: sicut tunc prædestinatione, ita et nunc perfectione: fac in mundo, quod apud te jam fuerat ante mundum; fac in suo tempore quod ante omnia tempora statuisti, &c. Glorify me as then, so now; as then in predestination, so now in the perfect performance of it; do that in this its due time, which thou hadst appointed and decreed afore all times. Now whatever God predestinates, persons, or things concerning persons, he hath the idea thereof, and of all that appertains thereto, in his divine mind. For, 'known unto God are all his works from the beginning;' and therefore had, yea, much more had, of this very glory of God-man, the full and lively portraiture of his understanding and purpose; yea, we may say, that even that glory, this divine person, God-man, hath now in heaven (when it was that this his prayer had its accomplishment), is no other glory, either for kind or degree, than was in the heart and mind of God, laid up with God for him; as in Job the phrase is, 'many such things are with him;' Job 23:14, 'For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me; and many such things are with him.' Yea, of all the saints it may be said, when they are glorified in heaven, it is but with that same glory and no other, for measure and the like, than was in the heart of God decreed towards them from everlasting. And so they differ, as the pattern which was so long afore formed, and the piece that is framed to it. As when king Ahasuerus said, 'Let it be done,' so and so, 'to the man whom the king will honour,' Est. 6:9. Which when Haman had once performed, might be said, that he had been honoured with the same honour in all the circumstances of it, which the king in his heart had contrived to be given him. And so it is here; for predestination is but preparatio beneficiorum, a shaping, a forming of all those benefits of grace and glory that shall be bestowed in time upon every one that is elect; and so it was in Christ.

3d Query. How is the man, or he as God-man, said to have had this glory with the Father before the world was, when as such he existed not?

Ans. By reason that the second person then existed, and all along from everlasting upon his election thereunto, took on him that personage of God-man, and bore the title of it with God his Father; thereby it comes to pass, that it may be said by the man Jesus, 'the glory which I had with thee;' which no saint or angel else can say of the glory given them by predestination.

For that a mere act of God's ordaining him God-man in his own breast and intention, singly and alone considered, should be an adequate full ground for Christ to say, that I as man, or as God-man, had a glory with thee afore the world was, when I, this man, was not extant, as now I am who challenge it, cannot be alone sufficient.* For the elect saints (who were predestinated as well as Christ) might then also say, We had a glory with thee afore the world was; but this they must not, nor can say, for the very sound of it is such, as signifies that the person that had that glory, and that says it, should have been then with God, and to have been glorified by God with that glory he speaks of.

Now the elect of men, neither of themselves existed then with God, nor no part of them, no not their souls. They may say indeed, that by virtue of their predestination, grace and glory was given them afore the world was, as 2 Tim. 1:9, 'Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.' But for them to say, the glory which I had with thee afore the world was; this their predestination, or God's single mere act of predestinating them, will not warrant them to say. Nor doth the Scripture anywhere so speak of the saints their predestination; no such language is anywhere used of them. Besides that, it were to derogate from Christ, who alone is capacitated (for the grounds that shall be added) thus to speak.

Moreover, their election, and the grace given them thereby, hath this difference from Christ's election, that they are said to be chosen in Christ, Eph. 1:4, and that grace given them from everlasting is said to be given in Christ, in 2 Tim. 1:9. But Christ himself was chosen immediately in and for himself, which enabled him to say, 'the glory which I had with thee afore the world,' which none of them could say; yea, and for him to say it, and to have intended no more than what he had of glory in and by God's mere act of purpose and predeterminating him unto it, had been to say no more than the world itself might say, or might be said of it, that it had a being (namely, in God's purpose) afore its creation and actual existence. For whatsoever the world now is, it was in God's naked decree and purpose, afore itself was, as well as Christ himself.

Hence, then, there must be some extraordinary special thing found in Christ's predestination, which must give ground to this speech, and fill up the whole intendment of it.

And therefore I added, to this second assertion, a second part of it, that the second person, the Son, did, at and together, and upon God's act of predestinating him to be God-man (and upon him did God's predestination fall as well as on the man Jesus), take on him the real title and repute of God-man, and sustained and bore the personage of God-man afore his Father. And his Father actually gave him the glory of it, as a super-added glory to that of his being second person, and his Son simply considered. And this having been aforehand done, upon the account of, and respect unto, his being to be that man one day; hence, the man Jesus being now existing and united into one person with that Son of God, was justly and rightly enabled and capacitated to claim and pray, 'Glorify me with the glory I had with thee afore the world was:' the person he was now become, having been glorified in that very account, as God-man, by his Father from everlasting.

This condition of the person God-man, upon whom this election fell, hath not enough been considered. That whilst such a bare act of election lighting upon us, would not have been such an expression, but been deficient, yet in the case of Christ, as hath been now stated, it would: and with these additionals it is abundantly verified, and holds good. But we must consider that there was not only a predestination-act on the Father's part, that passed upon Christ to be God-man in common with God predestinating us; but that there accompanied it, at the instant, on the second person's part, an acceptance of what God had predestinated him unto, a sustaining of that person afore God ever after, and a glory given him all along by his Father in their converses, answering that dignity, which utterly varies the case from that of our predestination by a single act of God's. And because God's predestinating him to be God-man hath singly been considered by many, when that interpretation hath been given of the words, that they are to be understood of what was in God's first predestinating of Christ; and that, as it is a bare act on God's part, falling short, they therefore have wholly rejected that interpretation; whereas, supply to it what was also done at and upon God's predestinating, on Christ's part, and God's glorifying him as such for ever after, and so the solution riseth (in my poor conception) to a satisfaction of the difficulties that are otherwise incumbent on the words.

This new supplement of so grand a moment in this argument I shall draw forth into sundry particulars, which the reader may please to add unto those of predestination already foregone. For that must still stand, though these be also taken in unto it, to make the interpretation more full.

1. The Son of God, second person, was extant and with God, at the instant when he was chosen to this glory of being God-man; there he was, the person, which we were not at our election. This I need not insist upon. And hence,

2. The glory of it was immediately given to himself, at the very instant of that act of predestinating him to it. It needed not be given him in another, or to another for him: he was there to accept it and receive it; whereas the glory we were to have was given us in Christ, when nothing of us existed, and so long afore we existed; and was therefore given us in Christ, because he was present by, and could receive it for us (as he did); and therefore might much more receive any glory or honour which the Father, by such an act of election, should ordain him unto, as, de facto, he did him to this of God-man.

But you will urge, that still the man, that was ordained to this glory, existed not, but in a bare decree.

Consider therefore, 3. That the second person that existed, and was now chosen to be God-man, had the title of being God-man; and so the glory due to it, upon that election of him to it, really conferred upon him; and so as from thence he was no longer to be considered, merely and abstractly, as second person alone, but was thereupon afore God and with God, and in his repute and esteem, accounted of as God-man. Take a man that is elected to an office, whom thereupon you call now elect, besides what he is and hath as a man singly considered, he hath now the honour of his office, though he be not installed. Thus a man chosen and designed a general, hath the honour and title of his designment, long afore he goes into the field. Now this much more really was the second person's case, as to this new additional glory.

4. He not only knew what he was ordained to, but solemnly accepted it afore his Father, and concurred in assent and consent thereto, and undertook to be so as his Father had appointed; Heb. 10:5, 'A body hast thou prepared me.' The second person deferred not, stayed not accepting it upon the first act of God's choosing him, until the time should come that he was to become God-man, by being made flesh; but he accepted it instantly, without any more ado. And so he was absolutely and solemnly espoused by his own consent afore his Father, unto that individual nature of man, whom his Father had by that act of predestination designed and proposed to him to be. And hence the title of it must needs come on him. He took on him the title, the honour, and glory, from that very instant of eternity. He was thenceforward God-man contracted, although the marriage was to be after consummated, when the Word took flesh. He had the title of God-man elect, though not of God-man united, or made flesh. He bore the personage of God-man (mark that word) personam gerebat, the garb, the port of it, although as yet the Son of God had not took up into his person that man he was contracted unto. I say, he bore the title and repute of it, and went under that name with God, the name of God-man, even as he did, of everlasting Father, or a Father of us from everlasting, Isa. 9:6. There is the like reason for either; for he had that title of 'everlasting Father,' but because from everlasting he afore God took upon him that relation to us as his children, and so to be of the same nature with us; as the apostle argues in Heb. 2:10, 11, 14, 'For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.' The second person singly considered hath not the style of Father, for that is the first person's propriety, only considered simply as a person.

Again, if all the promises God hath made in his word were from everlasting made, and then extant afore God, as you read, Titus 1:2, they were; 'In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;' then Christ, considered as God-man, to whom, as such, all the promises were made, and in whom, as such supposed, they have their truth, foundation, and existence, their 'Yea and Amen;' he then (I say) must much more have borne (being then present with God) that title of God-man. And without his being considered as such, and his having accepted to be such, those promises had had no existence or reality, nor would it have been so, that all our grace and glory was given us in Christ afore the world was, as it is said 2 Tim. 1:9, Was not then that title of being Christ and God-man then given them? Without the consideration of which, we had not, nor could be considered as legatees, to whom that grace was bequeathed. Yes, it was a title familiarly used of him amongst the Three, from thenceforward for ever.

This title was in itself truly a glory, though but an additional, given the second person then existing; and though the man, or the human nature was not existent, yet the glory of his being one day man was then existent, and the person was existent that was capable of receiving even that glory at that present.

[1.] It was a glory, for the thing in itself was truly a matter of glory, though but an additament to him; and being given by a person of glory, his Father, the fountain of glory, it must be truly such.

[2.] Though but an additional glory, for his native essential glory, as God, needed it not, as to his own blessedness or glory; as we see God doth not need that glory we creatures give him, and yet it is a real glory to him, and a glorifying of him, that which creatures give him.

[3.] Though the man existed not, yet the glory existed; for the second person existed to receive it from his Father, who existed together with him; and might, and did, aforehand give it to him, upon his own ordination of him to be man, and the second person, his undertaking to become man; and so, was given through that relation contracted for aforehand unto that man. So as whoever considers it, will find himself to be utterly in a mistake, if he should thus conceive of it, that Christ only had the glory of his being God, and second person, afore and with his Father; and that God began first actually to honour his Son as God-man, only from the time he actually took flesh, and became man. For if there be a real glory ariseth to him now he hath assumed man's nature, for which and by reason whereof he is by us deservedly to be glorified and adored as God-man; or if that be a glory to him now he is in heaven, that he is God-man, which he visibly wears there afore his Father, and all the saints; then it must be acknowledged (having been given him by his Father, in his decree, and undertaken by himself), that it was a glory also, as then really extant between himself and his Father. At the time after he had assumed our nature, and was actually become man, then his Father should and did openly declare and congratulate him as his Son, in saying from heaven, Mat. 3:17, 'And lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;' it is added, that he 'gave him glory and honour,' as is expressed in 2 Peter 1:17, 'For he received from God the Father, honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' Then why may it not also be said, that when in God's everlasting decree, God had said the same to him as expressly, Ps. 2:7, 'I will declare the decree, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee;' why should not this be as well a giving glory to him from everlasting, though but upon, and in his decree, which was from everlasting? Upon the making of his decree for that glory, this was said, 'Thou art my Son,' &c. And the psalmist professeth but to publish the matter of that decree, and to produce the record, and set it down by way of prophecy. If then the declaring the same by God himself afterward, when he was made flesh, and become man, were an honour given him by his Father, then surely, at the making of that decree it was the like; and therefore he had that glory with the Father before the world was.

That there might be a glory given the Son from everlasting, is clear from this, that there was the highest and freest mutual converse held between the three persons amongst themselves from everlasting, when no creature was, and in that converse they drove and carried on designs of what was to come, and gave the glory to one another, of what each of them was, or should be, or do, in their several activities, to all eternity. They spake one to the other, and one of another, as Heb. 10, the Son said to the Father, 'A body hast thou prepared me.' And the Father to the Son, 'Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.' And this latter was from everlasting, in the decreeing of it, spoken to him; for the words afore are, 'I will declare the decree,' whereof that speech therefore was the matter. Likewise there were mutual engagements and promises passed between them, Titus 1:2, eternal life was promised afore the world began. And there must be an intercourse of persons promising, and that received and accepted the promise. And in like manner in their converses they glorified one another; John 15:16, 'The Spirit shall glorify me,' says Christ. He says it indeed of his glorifying Christ to us; but if he doth it to us, much more among themselves.

And truly the phrase here, 'which I had with thee' (which now only remains to be expounded in the fulness of the extent of the meaning it will reach unto), is very compliant with this notion; for 'which I had with thee,' imports not only a presence, or being with God in existence.

As, 1, John 1:1, the Word is said to be God, and with God.

Or, 2, the intimacy of an alike glory to that of the Father's, enjoyed by the Son together with the Father.

But, 3, it denotes the repute or esteem which Christ had with him; so that 'the glory I had with thee' is the honour and valuation I then held in thy heart of me.

We use the same phrase in our language, and it is current in all languages; a person who is honoured by another, we use to say of him, he is in esteem, repute, or favour 'with him.' And so it is not necessarily here to be wholly confined to signify his essential glory, which he had together with his Father, and enjoyed, as if that were only meant; but will well comport with this reputative glory cast on him by election of his being God-man.

And the Scripture speaks parallel unto this in point of grace, that is now borne to us by God, or to any elect of God; and it is all one to say, such a one hath grace with God, and to say they have glory and honour with God. Now, of the blessed virgin, the angel accosts her with this, Luke 1:30, 'Thou hast found favour with God,' or art in great grace with God; that is, in God's estimation and repute. Grace in his heart borne to thee, which might have been said of her, even from everlasting; when it was that God did single her forth to be the mother of the Lord, it may be said, she had that grace with God then, which otherwise is commonly expressed by a finding favour in his eyes. Maldonate takes hold of the word, as often importing esteem and renown (though he diverts it to another purpose). I may say of Christ, God-man, that he was of renown with God, and that he was, as God-man, in repute and esteem, such upon his election of him. This may justly be termed a glory, when thus it was in God and with God, for God's repute and esteem is glory; for God is the God of glory, the Father of glory, and glory comes only of God; John 5:44, 'How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?' His esteem is the valuation of glory, 'which is in the sight of God of great price, is really so,' 1 Pet. 3:4. And, thus understood, Christ prays to have that glory which in the person of the second he had then with God in his repute and valuation. And if, you put had unto it, yet still the phrase, 'had with thee,' will not rise up to denote that he had it in real possession then with God. A man is said to have a thing in a right unto it given him, though not yet enjoyed, as Heb. 10:35, we are said to have 'treasure in heaven,' when yet we enjoy it not. 'Glorify me with thine own self' (there is an actual possession prayed for), 'with the glory I had with thee,' in thy esteem, account, and design. A title of glory and excellency given by a person that is the true fountain of glory, what is this but really and truly a glory to the person to whom it is given?

4th Query. Our next query is, What kind of glory is it that is properly intended in this 5th verse?

This is a matter of great moment to be inquired into, as will in the sequel appear. For the discovery whereof,

First, Divines* have observed, though not upon the occasion of these words, that there is a double glory of Christ, and that considered as God-man.

1. Personæ simpliciter, Of his person simply, considered as God-man (abstracting from his being a mediator for us).

2. Officii, Of his office of mediatorship; which latter was superadded, over and above, unto the glory of his person, as God-man, and consists purely in what he is in relation unto God his Father; whereas that glory of mediator ariseth from his relation unto us, and for us, and from what he did or wrought for us as sinners, influenceth us with, in the virtue of that other personal glory, in being an head to us. And indeed Christ hath a threefold glory.

The first essential, the same with God his Father, he the Son being co-equal to him, God of God, and very God.

The second, belonging to his person, as now constituted God-man, to break forth in and upon the man assumed, as being one person with the Son, who is God essentially.

Thirdly, The glory of his mediatorship acquired by himself. The two latter are those afore us.

The first of the latter, the glory of his person, simply considered, is expressed in that speech, John 1:14, 'We beheld his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father,' which was merely the glory which brake forth in his person; for otherwise the glory of his office, as being mediator, as dying and rising again, &c., was the glory of his person. And they saw not, nor considered not then, the glory of him, as dying, &c., for they understood it not till after he was risen; as in Luke 24:45, 46, 'Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.' This double glory you may see, Heb. 1:3, 'Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.' &c.

1. The glory of his person simply, as God-man, is in these words, 'Who being the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person,'

2. The glory of his office as mediator, in these words, 'When he had by himself,' or by the sacrifice of himself, 'purged away our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.'

Which latter clause declareth, how he being originally, in his person as God-man, 'the brightness of his Father's person,' &c., after his work performed on earth, to purge sins away, he went to heaven, and took possession of a glory answerable to that dignity of his person, which was to 'sit down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,' and therein to perform what was to be executed by him in heaven, in intercession, &c. Which, if it be not just the same in substance and order with what is here in these four verses prayed for, I leave to be considered, he here praying, that now he had finished his work on earth, that now God would glorify him in heaven with that glory which was due to his person, who was 'the brightness of his Father's glory,' and 'sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,' so taking his place according to the dignity of his person specified; which glory, as he was predestinated unto in his person before the world, so he was appointed by election, as the heir, Lord, and end of all things. And although his mediatory glory in heaven is involved in his sitting at God's right hand, which he doth as a priest to intercede, yet it is the possession of that personal glory which he was appointed unto, that is, the substantial glory there spoken of, and intended, and which the weight is put upon.

Now, Christ himself, within the compass of these five verses, doth, according to this difference of glories, frame his prayer about himself. For, you may observe how he prays twice for his own being glorified; first, in ver. 1, 2, 'Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he might give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him,' And here a second time, ver. 5, 'And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.' Now, besides that he would not have used such a repetition of the same thing in so punctual and concise a prayer, within the compass of so few verses, and which is all he prays for, as for himself; besides this, the distinction of a twofold glorifying is evident from hence, that that glorifying him in ver. 1 relates to the performance of his office of mediatorship, which he says lay in this, to 'give eternal life to as many as God had given him;' and the meaning of his first 'glorify me, that I may glorify thee,' in ver. 1, is, that in that work of suffering, which now he was entering into, God would gloriously assist him, and enable him to go through with it, according to the commission, authority, and power God had given him (for in that sense 'power,' in ver. 2, must necessarily be understood), 'Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh,' to this end, 'that he might give eternal life,' &c. All this properly relates unto this work and office of mediatorship. And that particle, 'As thou hast given him power,' imports, that in a proportion requisite unto that work and office, which he was empowered and authorised withal, he would give him a measure of glorious strength answerable or worthy of that office, and fully enabling him to perform it and throughly to execute it; and then to glorify him as a reward for that work when he should have finished it, ver. 4, 'I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.' But the measure of this second 'Glorify me,' in ver. 5, is the glory of God himself, and what it became God to glorify such an one with as was his Son; and to be taken up into the glory of God. It was not upon the account of what he had done in this world, as in relation unto us and our eternal life, but what simply arose from the union and communion which he had, and was to have entirely with his Father, singly and alone; 'Glorify thou me with thine own self:' and so, which was to arise from that oneness with his Father, and which he had had with him afore this world; or, the consideration of any such thing, anything done in it, or persons belonging to it; and which he and his Father had alone; and such as would have been if there were no world, nor had been extant; and so it was without relation unto his work done, or persons in this world whom eternal life should be given unto.

If it be objected that the coherence of ver. 4, 5 'I have glorified thee on the earth,' &c., ver. 4; 'And now, O Father, glorify thou me,' ver. 5, would seem to carry it, that he should ask this second glory, for this, as the ground or cause, that he had done such a work of mediation on earth,

I answer, No; that is a mistake. But that coherence with this ver. 5 notes out that now for the time of it, that full time was come he should be glorified. That whereas he now had, according to his own or his Father's compact, performed all, and 'finished' the work which God gave him to do; and which also that word 'finished' respects, namely, the time, the due time, to be now come, that therefore now glorify me, with a glory upon a far higher account due. It was to shew that until this now of finishing this work of redemption, that glory otherwise due was suspended. And it is as if he had said, Now give me my native original due upon thy mere decree, and constituting me God-man, and not at all depending upon my merit or work; but give me my personal due, which had been suspended till now, but which now is due; when I shall have performed that work thou didst command and impose upon me; which finished, now bestow that other upon me. Here was ingenuity to the height, not to ask his native due, nor speak a word of it, till he had performed his imposed service God had set him. And with this doth that of Christ himself, Luke 24:26, most fully accord; 'Ought not Christ to have suffered, and enter into his glory?' His glory, not upon account of sufferings only due to him, but his before ever he suffered, which was absolutely and personally his upon another account, but which he was not (by God's ordination and his own consent) to enter into, but after sufferings first, to enter upon it and possess it.

And the parallel of these two places is observable. 1. That, as there he says, 'He ought (first) to suffer;' so here, 'Now I have finished that work.' 2. 'To enter into glory,' there; 'Glorify me with that glory,' here. 3. 'Into his glory,' there; 'The glory which I had afore,' and without the consideration of this work, here. And that word, 'Enter into his glory,' imports, he than took possession, and not afore, as man; and yet in right it was his, and sufferings were but the way to it; it was not purchased by sufferings. This his glory was an intrinsecal glory, not additional.

Divers interpreters* have perceived that the glory of his person, of God-man, or, as they term it, his intrinsecal glory, is the subject of this 'Glorify me,' in ver. 5. But they have not withal observed it with difference from that other glory prayed for, ver. 2. Only Brugensis had a glimmering of it in his exposition on ver. 1, though he seems to have lost it again afterwards. His words are these. 'He deduces two things (says he) why he should be glorified: one, that he is the Redeemer of mankind and Saviour of men, ver. 2, 3. The other, that he is the eternal Son of God, ver. 5.' Thus distinguisheth he, and but in a light touch.

The differences between these two glories, personal and mediatory, are many and great ones. I take notice of the grand one of all, and it is in the text. There is a phrase which doth in the highest manner describe wherein this personal glory, the very essence of it, doth consist, 'Glorify me with thine own self.' This so momentous a clause is diverted, to note only the place wherein he would be glorified, 'Glorify me with thyself' in heaven, where thou art, as spoken in opposition unto 'I have glorified thee on earth.' Others thus, I seek not worldly glory, but glory with thyself; all which do dilate the spirit and life of this phrase. But our Cartwright§ and Gerard do interpret it of God's glorifying him in, and with, and by the glory God himself had, and with that glory alone, abstracted from all other things whatsoever. Christ praying for that wherein the spirit, the essential substance of his glory and blessedness lieth, even in thine own self; 'O Father, glorify me with thine own self.' Not only signifying his desire to be glorified conjunctly, both together, he as well as the Father; that is, that as God the Father had hitherto been glorified, so that now himself, that had been hitherto debased, might now be glorified also, according as in John 5:23, 'That all men might honour the Son, as they honour the Father.' But these are short of Christ's desires and aims here, who seeks the utmost of glory.

But it further notes, 1. That glory which the human nature hath in God, and from God, and him alone. This both that parallel plant confirms, John 13:32, 'If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.' It is one and the same glory he prayed for there and here; and expressed by the same phrase. Only then, the time when he prayed that, of his being glorified, was further off, though straightway; perhaps within a few months or days. So it was when that sermon was made. But here, because the time was approached, and the straightways run out; he therefore here says, 'Now glorify me;' but it is one and the same glorifying. And in the 13th chapter it is God's glory, 'Glorify him in himself;' but here it is, 'Glorify me with thine own self;' the former phrase explaining this other. In Rom. 15:7, it is said that Christ received us to the glory of God, that is, to the participation of that glory which is to be had in the blessed God alone, whereof himself was personally and originally the proprietor and inheritor, and we co-heirs with Christ, 'heirs of God,' Rom. 8:17, he communicating it unto us by his right, according as he says after in his prayer, John 17:22, 'And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.' Who was it first brought up seeing and enjoying God immediately? Christ the Son of God, he was the founder of that way of blessedness. There are two Psalms made up of Christ, the 16th and the 22d. The first Peter cites, Acts 2, and so applies it unto him, as not meant of David, but of Christ. The other, which is the story of his being crucified, beginning, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' &c. This latter, after the sad rehearsal of his crucifixion, tells us of the fruit and consequence of that his mediation, when performed, as to himself, so to his whole seed, from ver. 22 to the end. And this was the 'glory that followed' (as Peter speaks, 1 Pet. 1:11), the glory of his mediation. But that other 16th Psalm runs in another strain, and comforts himself with another manner of glory, which should accrue to himself, as ver. 5, 'The Lord is my portion and inheritance.' And it is the enjoyment of this God alone, after his ascension, he predicates as his highest happiness, ver. 11, 'Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.' And this high enjoyment of God he brought up. None had or should have seen God at any time, had not he first done it. And this is the single glory of his person, as God-man, which he prays for here in these words.

And look, as in the former verses he had set out wherein our eternal life lies, namely, to know God, and him whom he had sent; so in this verse, he describes wherein his own eternal life lies (I call it so, for of him now in heaven it is said, 'in that he lives, he lives to God'). And it lies in God; 'Glorify me with thine own self.' But his mediatorial glory, arising from his works of mediation, as redemption and intercession, is a glory he hath afore God, and in his view, and which God gives him; but it ariseth from his mediatory action, as the salvation of his saints, as 2 Thess. 1:10. But this of his person is a glory he hath in God, and with God alone, in the enjoyment of all that God is. As if he should have said, Father, let the glory which is thine be mine. Make me glorious with the glory thyself hast; with a glory from thee, and with a glory in thee. Nor is it the manifestation of his glory only unto others (as some would have it) he prays for, and in that sense to be glorified as his Father was. It is a thing beyond it, a glory severed from that of manifestation; for this is but outward, but this is an inward intrinsecal glory of his person, enjoyed in God and with God, and such as God had, and which he should to himself enjoy, and within himself; a glory in and between God and him, consisting in that ultimate entire converse with God, and a free enjoyment of all the sweetnesses, perfections of the Godhead, upon an account of personal right to them, and interest in them as his own, by virtue of his union. And he is therefore said to come in his own glory, and his Father's glory, Luke 9:26. That though it should shine in him and throughout him, yet inwardly much more.

2. You may observe, he specifies it to be that glory he had with his Father when there was no world; that if you could suppose there were no world, no creature extant, saint nor angel, yet let me be glorified (says he) with thine own self personally, and then I shall be glorious indeed. For that glory I had with thee afore the world was, was without any work of mediation done, or creature made. And let me have but that glory, and I have enough. And so this is not that which his mediation brought him in, or that which consisted therein.

It is true (says he), I have a glory from all these saints that are about me, and 'I am glorified in them,' as 2 Thess. 1:10, you have it, 'and they in me;' and it is my blood and intercession hath brought them hither. Yea, and they are glorified by beholding my glory. But what is all this in comparison of this alone, for me to be glorified with thee and in thee alone? This is the height of my desires and prayers; and this glory is my personal due, and hath been suspended to purchase an additional glory by my mediation. Yea, but this is the glory I aspire after, and have in mine eye above all other; and let us retire into each other, and enjoy it alone together; and therefore, 'glorify me with thine own self.' Draw the curtains, as it were, upon all glories else, whether of mine or from all others I am glorified in, that thou and I may singly and separately enjoy each other.

Other lesser different there are between this personal and mediatorial glory, which might be added. As,

1. The glory of his person is his birthright as Son of God; Heb. 1:4, 'Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.' The glory that rises from his mediation and the works thereof, is but acquired, accessory, and additional, won, and won by conquest. He got by his bow, as Jacob speaks, Gen. 48:22.

If you would ask, which of these two glories belonging to God-man are the greatest? Your own thoughts, I believe, have by this time cast and determined, that this of his personal glory doth infinitely exceed that of his mediatory glory, or of his office, whether as head to us or redeemer, although then was none in heaven or in earth that could have sustained these but he. For,

(1.) That is the glory of the very Godhead, dwelling personally in him, breaking forth in, and shining through his human nature; as if the son being encompassed with a case of crystal, how glorious would that crystal be! A glory such as is only worthy to appear in him that is one person with God. This is the greatest and highest glory, as well as mystery, 'God manifested in the flesh, seen of angels, taken up into glory.' For this, 'let all the angels worship him' (as Heb. 1:6, when he brings his first-begotten into the world the second time); merely for the excellency of his person and name, which by inheritance he hath obtained above them; and not for redemption of them, which is not there spoken of as of them.

(2.) It was the excellency and intrinsic glory of his person, from whence those divinely-human acts of his mediation did flow, and receive their value and virtue therefrom; his blood, because it is the blood of God-man, and so of the rest.

(3.) It is the glory of his person as God-man united; that if, that glory which after the work of redemption for us, and the application of it to us finished (as after the day of judgment it will be), when he shall have given up his dispensatory kingdom to his Father; then it is he eminently appears in his own personal single glory (as I may call it) for ever. I term it his single personal glory which he will sit in heaven with. You must know, if you have not known it, that his type, the high priest, went into the holy of holies, striped of all his gaudy robes; you see him pictured merely in single plain priest's garments of linen. And it typifies this out, that Christ's personal glory is that with which in the holy of holies he shall most eminently, and above all others, appear for ever in, and sit down in it. And there he sits, shall the saints say, appearing in the form of God; and so he is the utmost visible image of God to us, and was he that furthermore did that great office and service to God and love to us, to bring us all who are here about him, out of the depth of sin and misery hither to this place with him, and purchased all the glory we shall ever have. And this personal glory is that glory, the beholding of which the blessedness of the saints doth lie in; it is to behold his person. For as he prays for it here for himself, John 17:5, 'Glorify me' in and 'with thine own self;' so he prays for them whom God hath given him, that they may be where he is (personally resident), 'that they might behold my glory;' ver. 24, 'Father, I will, that they also whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me.' And it is the glory of his person is above all there meant; for as elsewhere, it is 'seeing him as he is,' that is the height of our happiness; 1 John 3:1, 2, 'As he is.' Mark it; that is, what his very person is, beyond and besides all that he hath done, or by his person hath acted or procured. This is the glory the apostles so adored, as the highest evidence and efflux of his being the Son of God. All the evangelists record the story of his appearance on the mount. The apostle John, he cries out in a parenthesis of wonderment, John 1:14, 'And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,' though shining in him but in the days of his flesh. And Peter, he magnifies and exalts it above all things else he had to say of him, or could allege in testimony for his being the Christ, and Son of God; we saw his person in glory; 2 Pet. 1:16–18, 'We were eye-witnesses of his majesty.' 'For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.' And this glory his Father then gave him from forth of the super-excelling glory of his own, now breaking forth in him and upon him as an aforehand demonstration and specimen of what he was to wear in heaven; where it is the excelling excellency of his glory there spoken of doth appear. And it is plain it was his personal glory that Peter hath reference unto; and he interprets what is meant by the glory personal, which Christ in his prayer says, John 17:22, that God gave him; 'And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them:' that he might give us the like, namely, by merely beholding him, and that his glory, ver. 24. And to conclude it from the text, it is this glory, by the course of his prayer, he aspires at as the top and highest of his glory. For you may observe that he ascends in those his first requests made for himself. He begins to ask a being glorified in respect of his office; both for to perform his work, and that after, and for the performance of it, to have the reward promised him for it, peculiar and proper to it, which was to be known and acknowledged the mediator, and that had the power to give eternal life to them that believe. And so, that glory was for us, and our salvation, ordained him, as the words shew.

Well, but he soars up unto a glory that is purely his own, and for himself alone. He flies up to the very top-pinnacle, the supreme sublimity of the divinest glory, the utmost he could ask, and that for himself; and enforces it from the highest argument, 'the glory which I had with thee afore the world was.' And so ends his prayer for himself; for he had said the utmost. And therefore this is the crown of all.

CHAPTER VI

The exposition of some other passages in John 17, that God, having first predestinated Christ to be God-man, this moved him to elect us, to complete his glory.—The first motive was that as he was to be an head, there might not be wanting to him a perfect body to participate with him in the enjoyment of his blessedness.—How the marriage of Adam in paradise was a type of the relation between Christ and the elect his spouse, designed before the consideration of the fall.—The second motive was, that a glory additional to Christ's personal glory, might accrue to him as God-man, from their being elected.—The third motive was drawn from the interest and part which Christ, predestinated God-man, had, together with his Father, in electing them; John 17:22, 'And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.'—The meaning of the words explained by answers to some queries.—What that glory is which the Father had given to Christ.—What that glory is which Christ thereupon assigns as his own gift to us.—When was the time of giving this glory to him and to us.—The fourth motive is, what Christ represents to his Father, viz., the glory which the accomplishment of this design will bring to himself and to his Father, when the union and glory of the saints shall thereby be perfected at the last day of the world.

Having thus opened the fifth verse, which sets out the glory of Christ as God-man, given him in his election by the Father; which was and is the proper interest of his person, as he was chosen to be God-man, simply considered; I come next unto those special motives built thereon, made on our behalf, and as those which moved God, or which God had an eye unto in his choice or election of us; with a respect unto Christ as first ordained for himself.

Calvin well observes concerning Christ's praying in this chapter, that he being entered into the very inwards of heaven, had afore his eyes the secret and hidden counsels of God, and prays at the rate thereof, and urgeth his Father therewith; and as I understand it (submitting it), he utters in the passages I have selected, the very order of God's counsels about us, and the motives drawn from his own and his Son's interest, as it stood in God's electing; first, of Christ, then of us.

The passages are in ver. 6, 'I have manifested thy name to the men thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me.'

Verse 10, 'And I am glorified in them.'

Verse 22, 'And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them.'

Verse 24, 'Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me may he where I am that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.'

And my general method in opening etch of these, as to this my purpose, shall be this.

First, To explain the words of each of these verses in their order.

Secondly, To shew wherein the force of the motives drawn from Christ's interest in our election, contained in those several passages, doth lie; whereby he moved his Father, that according to his own eternal purposes made in Christ concerning us, in his choice of us, he would grant that union (which is the end of our election) ordained for us.

Unto the first I premise, and desire this still to be remembered and carried along, that all those passages, and the motives therein contained, do in a more especial manner refer unto, and depend on that personal glory of Christ, spoken of upon that fifth verse (which hath been opened), first laid and supposed as the head and foundation of them all; as the top-link whereon these succeeding passages I have singled out, do, as so many links of a golden chain, hang, and in an orderly way depend; namely, that upon the glory of the personal union of Christ, God-man, first ordained by God (which therefore in the fifth verse, Christ in praying for himself had forelaid); and from which (as first supposed) these principal motives, made on our behalf for our union and glory, receive their strength and enforcement, as ordained us in the ejection of us, with a relation to and for the interest of Christ.

And perhaps, that in the very opening and explanation of the words of each of these passages, there will appear couched, this very point of Christ's having been first ordained as God-man. And I shall for the present content myself with those; or at least it will be seen how fairly they comply with the notion thereof (and herein I profess a modesty). However, the opening the words, each in that plain sense and genuine meaning of them (as it presents itself in that dim light I have about them), will serve unto the discovery, wherein the force of them, as they are motives, should lie.

Verse 6, Thine they were, and thou gavest them me. Here in order, next unto the personal glory ordained to Christ in God's decrees, is his mention of an election of other persons of mankind (Christ instancing in the apostles for the rest) to be followers, companions, consorts of his; that Christ might not be alone, nor partaker of his glory wholly and only to himself; when the Father gave unto the second person, as he was considered God-man, and as he sustained the personage of God-man, and whom he commended unto him to be his, and this from everlasting. When one hath a son that is marriageable, he thinks of a wife, a companion for him; and thus the Father did for his Son, and chose the persons whom, and gave them him.

1. Thine; thine by thy election of them for me out of the rest of the world. With which that in 2 Tim. 2:19 corresponds, 'The foundation of the Lord,' that is laid in election, 'remains sure; the Lord knows who are his.' They were his by his foreknowledge of them; Rom. 11:2, 'his people whom he foreknew.' Thine first, without me when considered as God-man, though as second person he concurred in the choice of them, as also the Holy Spirit. Only the Father, being the first person, proposed them to the other two, as persons with him simply considered; and therefore, the Father here in Christ's address bears the honour of it; 'Thine, and thou gavest them me.'

2. They were, which is spoken in distinction from what is again repeated in ver. 9, 'Them whom thou hast given me; for they are thine.' He urgeth there, that at present they are thine; here, in the time past they were thine. This time past notes out from everlasting; for then first it was that he chose them for his. And in this prayer, ver. 23, 'Thou lovedst them, us thou lovedst me.' And among other as or liknesses, the point of time when God thus loved them, as he did him, is one (though him in order first); which he specifies, ver. 24, 'Thou lovedst me from the foundation of the world;' and so as me, from everlasting, so them.

3. And thou gavest them me. This some would limit unto their having been called; and so, this act to have been that in time, when the Father gives those to Christ to apprehend and own, and whom he draws to Christ by calling. But the great and first giving of them to Christ, is in everlasting act, as well as choosing of them; and indeed, a distinct act from election itself (considered as barely election), though at election, and concurrent with it. Thus in John 6:37, 'All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.' Coming to Christ there is vocation, and that speech shews that there is a foregoing act of giving to Christ by God the Father, which is the cause of their coming; and their coming, posterior to it—'shall come to me,' And if afore calling, I ask, when that act of giving them should first commence? Sure, God that loved both them, to make them his own, and him so from everlasting, would not defer giving of them to him until after so long a space, as from eternity unto their vocation is; but, having his Son then extant and present with him, and privy to all his intentions, and the commending and bestowing them upon him being so great a gift, next to that of his own personal glory, he surely did it from the first, and as soon as the thing was capable to be done, and this was from everlasting, it those transactions between the Father and the Son, there being nothing to hinder it then, no more than afterwards.

And indeed, this their being given to him being twice repeated in this ver. 6, First, 'I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world;' then secondly, again, 'thine they were, and thou gavest them me;' if we allow the first to import vocation in time, we may well put the second unto election afore all time. And this latter to be the account given by Christ, and an ascension unto the original cause, why they were given him at and by vocation; ver. 12, 'Thine they were' (long afore in thy everlasting love and election of them), 'and thou gavest them me;' and from everlasting also, which he after expresseth, ver. 23, 'Thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me;' and 'me thou lovedst afore the foundation of the world,' ver. 24. Where also their being given to Christ is joined with Christ's election. Gavest them me; for what end and purpose? To be his, in his relation to them, as they were the Father's in his: 'They are thine; and mine are thine, and thine are mine.' And his relation to them, and theirs to him, we find in Scripture to be as members to a head, fellow-members, of spouse unto a husband, and brethren to an elder brother, of the same nature with them; of father, and they his children; in and by those relations they are his.

Gavest them me. If this giving them to be his was from everlasting, the question then will come, under what consideration the me comes under, 'Given them me.' Whether when they were given to him, and as second person, simply considered, or as constituted God-man also. I said at first, a father seeks and gives a spouse to his son when marriageable. The second person, simply considered, is not in potentiâ maximâ of marriage with us, but in a remote capacity; unless you suppose him set up God-man, he bears no relation to us. The wife is bone of his bone, who is the husband, which signified Christ and his church.

And if it be said, that we were given unto him, but with this as an after-proposal, that he might become man for us, and then to marry us for our sakes only,—that, I say, is not signified at all by being given to him, but the contrary rather. For, in that sense it would rather have been said, that he was given to them, as both in the Old Testament, and when incarnate, 'To us a Son is born, to us a Son is given,' which we all acknowledge. And in the New, 'God gave his Son for us.' But when a thing is said to be given as a gift to another (as here we to Christ), it imports the favour shown to him to whom it is given, and therefore this giving these persons (which was the first giving that passed), signifies they were given to him for his sake, as a singular gift and favour to him. It remains therefore, that they were given as meet companions, children, spouses unto him, already ordained, and set up as God-man, to be an everlasting father, and by like reason, an everlasting husband to them, (they are both of the same nature in God's decree, and his own undertaking). And being thus qualified and fitted to own them as such, it was therefore that he took them to be his, under these relations, as being now, and by this ordination of God's, become a meet husband, father, head, unto them. And to what end were they then given him, but that they should be owned by him, and received by him, to be his under those relations, as well as they were the Father's in his relation?

And truly, this is no other than what was prefigured and fore-signified, at and by the very first creation of man, when the execution of God's purposes did first begin; and therein his everlasting purposes about Christ and his church were to be veiled under the type and shadow of the first man Adam, both in his formation and marriage, which was, as soon as there was any such subject capable to bear the type of Christ and of his church. His first formation God himself declared to have been according to his own image, which, as I anciently understood it, was according to the original pattern of human nature, first set up in Christ's ordination to be man, as, in the idea of God's eternal decrees, he was the first born of every creature. And then, as for his marriage with Eve his wife, formed out of him, those divines that stand for Christ's having been primarily ordained, use to allege it for one proof thereof,* that that speech of his, 'Bone of my bone,' &c.; and 'for this cause a man shall cleave to his wife,' Gen. 2:23, 24, was intended by God (though Adam understood it not, as Caiaphas did not his prophecy), of our Christ and his church; and so of that intended union of Christ and his church; though in execution brought about after the fall, yet in intention, first decreed without the consideration had of the fall, it being uttered by him in his pure and innocent condition afore he fell. But this now I insist not on largely to explain, having done it elsewhere. That which I here allege it for is, that look as Adam (his type herein) was first, that thus Christ was first, in God's intention, absolutely ordained to be God-man. And that therefore, because he should not be alone, God had given and predestinated his church to be a spouse to him; and from everlasting brought her, and presented her (as who was to be made out of him) as a gift, infinitely more valuable than all the world besides, which God had made for him. And God put her into Christ's heart and bosom, and then Christ took her as given him by his Father to be his, and to cleave to her alone for ever, and to communicate his own glory unto her, in her designed proportion. And that Adam and his marriage was in this very thing thus the type of Christ and his church, in their union and conjunction, the application of the apostle of Adam's speech thereunto manifestly shews, in Eph. 5:30, 31, 'For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.' And how Adam was alone and first made, the story in Genesis tells you; and the apostle elsewhere, 1 Cor. 11:8, 'For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man.'

Verse 10. And I am glorified in them. It is from his own interest in us, as he is God-man, he pleads; and his plea is, that besides his single personal glory ordained him (ver. 5), and his interest in us then, by the Father's having given us to him (ver. 6), there was designed therewith a glory that should accrue out of them to him, besides that which was personally his due; God's end in giving them to him being, that Christ might be glorified in them, and their union with God effected by him, which union is that he centres in, in the conclusion of the 11th verse, 'that they may be one, as we are one;' which in plain words is, that in giving them me, O Father, thou aimedst at, and didst ordain withal, a glory to me in them, and them for my glory. And those words, 'and I am glorified in them,' have in their coherence this import in them, that not thou only, O Father, art glorified in them, but I also, I as well as thou. I have a joint-stock of glory by thy decree running along with thine, in them, and to be had out of them, even as thou hast. He had said just afore, 'All mine are thine, and thine are mine;' all things (as I opened it), as well as all persons. All things are in common, his as well as his Father's; and so the persons of these were his, in that highest proportion of interest and propriety, as well as his Father's; and a glory to accrue therefore from these, according to that proportion, is my due also, as well as the Father's; and is as if he had said, I, Father, have, according to thine own decree, accepted them for mine; now therefore perform that design of thine, which, together with thy gift of them, thou ordainedst them unto, and them to me, which was and is my glory. Yea, and therein lay the greatness and excellency of the gift of them (as to me), that my glory was to be a sovereign end of them, together with thine. And this the parallel of the former type will also warrant. Of the woman it is said, she is 'the glory of the man,' 1 Cor. 11:7. And to be his glory in this respect among others, that he had so noble a creature as the woman on purpose made for him; even as of us it is said, 'We are the glory of Christ,' 2 Cor. 8:23. But more expressly in ver. 9 of chap. 11,* 'Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man;' there is the type. Now that Christ is the man, the husband and head of his church, and she the spouse, Eph. 5:23 informs us, 'For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Saviour of the body.'

It is undeniable, but that Christ's speech, John 5:23—'That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him'—carries this with it, that by God's ordinance, the Son hath a joint-stock with his Father, in the dispensation of all things; and so of the glory that shall arise from thence. And that it was spoken of him considered as God-man, or of the Son of God personally united unto that man Jesus, the coherence of that speech in ver. 22 afore, and ver. 27 after, do manifestly shew. For in ver. 22, he, declaring what sovereign honour it was which he shared in, he says, 'The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son.' And then, in ver. 27, he farther explains himself, how it is to be understood of him; 'The Father hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man,' and therefore as such considered, is that spoken of him, ver. 23. And accordingly the Lamb (which is Christ God-man) hath a joint tribute and revenue of glory given him with the Father, Rev. 5:12, 13, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, honour, glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.'

Yea, I say further, that this glory of his, being a sovereign paramount end (though under his Father), becomes a right and just due to him as God-man, when constituted so to be; and that the saints and all creatures should, in their several ways and proportions, serve unto his glory as well as to the Father's. For, by the same ground that other royalties, which are so divine and godlike, become an undeniable due to him, as that, because his person is the only begotten Son of God, that therefore he should have a divine personal glory, answerable to the fulness of the Godhead, dwelling bodily or personally in him, as John 1:18 shews, so this or a supreme endship, in like manner with the Father; the latter must be no more denied him than the other.

They object, The glory of Christ, as God-man, is but a creature. I reply,

1. The very glory of God which is given him by us creatures, and ariseth out of all creatures (which we term his manifestative, not essential, glory), is but a creature in itself; and yet, because the terminus, or person it belongs or redounds unto, is God, therefore we say of it, that it is the glory of God; in that respect it is so supreme, as it may not be given unto another, that is, not to creatures.

2. Christ's glory, as God-man, is but a creature, yet it redounds to the glory of him, that is, God, who is one person with a creature, and thereupon shining in that creature. And it is a divine glory, and you are to esteem and adore it as the glory of the only begotten Son of God. You may see this in a parallel case to it. Take Christ's obedience and sufferings, and they are but creatures materially considered; yet in relation to the person that is the subject of them, whose they are (though performed but in the human nature), and they are said to be the 'blood of God,' and 'righteousness of God;' so here, the glory that appertains and belongs to this person is a glory belonging onto God, and is not to be levelled with the glory of endship, belonging unto any the most glorious creatures, or all creatures.

You will again say, this glory of Christ as God-man was given him (an in this prayer he acknowledgeth) by an act of voluntary predestination, as well as ours, and what is to us voluntarily given, might in the first rearing of it up and ordination, be disposed of as arbitrarily, and so for other ends; as, namely, for us and our salvation.

I answer, 1st, it was a mere arbitrary act in God to ordain his Son to be God-man, and he might have chosen whether he would predestinate him or not to such a glory. It is true also, it was purely voluntary in God, whether he would have ordained any others with him, or any other thing besides him; and if any other persons with him, whether to have made him their head, only preserving them from sinning, or withal a redeemer from sin upon the fall. But still, if he would so ordain him, it must be an ordination worthy of him that is his Son; and let that be whatsoever God pleaseth, yet still, that whatever must be ordained unto his glory as well as to the Father's, he must be the sovereign end of all, as well as his Father; this falls to him as his right. Heb. 1:2, it is said, he was the 'appointed heir of all things,' which must be meant of him as God-man; and, for him to be God-man, depended upon appointment; yet being appointed, he is said to have it by inheritance, ver. 4, 'being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they;' and so by a natural right, because he is a Son, for so it follows, ver. 5, 'For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?' So as indeed, in the appointing him to be God-man, he necessarily constituted him the heir of all things, which he should otherwise, or besides him, predestinate. For it was the natural right of the person so ordained, and could not be denied him; nor the glory of it in the execution be suspended, but with his own consent, and that suspension but for a time.

And, 2dly, furthermore, God knew what he did, whilst he was predestinating of him, and foresaw that this right must be the natural concomitant of his being God-man. And God, in his single knowledge of vision (as we call it), had the draught and model of all, in his divine understanding and view, ere ever his will did set his fiat, or purpose, to anything that was decreed. And among others of his infinitely vast designs, he had the intuition of Christ as God-man, as one great One, yea, and of all other so eminent, as that, if his will would decree him at all, this high endship (I have spoken of) of all things was to be his right, and a necessary concurrent and consequent of such his being predestinated. And therefore, certainly, the divine counsel of his will did, from the fast, cast and contrive all things else he did or should decree, in such a manner as to be for his Christ and his glory; as well as God did contrive all should be for his own glory, as he is God; and both with one and the same act from the first. So that, let men say what they in their vanity imagine of Christ as God-man, his being decreed afore the decree of the fall or after, they must all yet acknowledge this for a fixed centre and conclusion, that God aforehand, foreseeing him and all their in the ideas of his simple intelligence, did form all for him as their supreme end; then whenever his will decreed him, if indeed we could suppose that the idea of Christ, God-man, had been out of his eye, and the view of his foreknowledge or simple intelligence, we might then have only supposed many things or all things might have been ordained, and Christ not as yet ordained, and Christ himself to have been decreed for them, and not them for him at first. But it could not be so here in Christ's case. For, seeing God foresaw that whenever he was decreed, it is he must be decreed the end of them all, and heir of them all, therefore he was first thought of and decreed; for so the end necessarily is to be. If therefore, when he is to be predestinated, he is to be predestinated this end of all things, then it must be that he is first predestinated.

Yea, we say further, that when our all-wise, great, and sovereign God did set himself to ordain anything at all, he did contrive and frame his ordination about them, such as might tend to Christ's glory and his own; and had the like respect and eye unto the concernments of his Christ, as God-man, in his, as he had to his own concernments, as God.

The third particular motive is drawn from Christ's interest, having been first set up as God-man in God's election. John 17:22, 'And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them: that they may be one, even as we are one.'

First, For the exposition, then, wherein the force of the plea lies.

Here he further pleads that they were not only ordained for the glory of him, as in ver. 10, but that he himself being ordained God-man in predestination, he had as God-man joined with the Father as the free donor and ordainer of them unto that glory and perfect union, as well as his Father. Or, if you will, in our familiar language, our glory was a deed of gift, and his hand was to that deed of gift, which was to make over glory unto us, as well as his Father's. Our glory was his free deed of gift, as it was the Father's. And, therefore, he must needs be deeply interested to claim it for us of his Father, and hath from thence an undeniable plea to move him to grant it; and so the story and series of election designs of Christ and us, begun at the 5th verse, runs fairly into the 22d verse. In this order, 1. God the Father, in predestination, gave him that personal glory of being God-man, which the second person condescending to take on him, he bore it afore his Father as God-man, 'afore the world was,' this ver. 5; then, 2, his Father did withal give him his elect to be his, ver. 6, &c.; and, 3, did also ordain and subordinate them for Christ's glory, as the end of them, as well as his own, ver. 10. And now, 4, in this 22d verse, God having given him that high and sovereign glory, singly for himself alone, and given it absolutely, without terms and conditions, to him (as the nature of a gift, especially of that gift, to such a person, required), he thus set up and constituted in this glory of God-man, he was not only the requisite means, or medium to convey a glory to us, but he was by the privilege and prerogative hereof empowered to convey it by way of gift, and to make a deed of gift of the like glory and union to us. And so, as unless in that manner he did make it over to us, and set his hand to it, and signed it, as a concurrent giver of it with his Father, we had never had it. And I, says he, gave unto those my Father had given me, out of love to my Father, who had loved both them and me, portions forth, to each of them, out of that glory he had given me. And I did give it as freely to them, as my Father had freely given mine unto me, to the end that I and they may be one, and live for ever together, ver. 24, that so their glory and union with me and my Father may be perfected, by their beholding that personal glory so peculiarly proper to me, given me by my Father. Every tittle of this may be evinced from the aspect and correspondency this 22d verse holds with ver. 5, together with the immediate connection of the following 23d and 24th verses. And, indeed, these 22d, 23d, and 24th verses do continue the sum of all the former put together, as the conclusion of his prayer for the whole church, the rest being for the apostles.

This being the sum, I shall open and prove the particulars therein contained, either by answers to certain queries, or several plain and simple assertions, and both founded upon the words.

I. Query. First, What is meant here by that glory which the Father had given to Christ?

Answer. First, negatively.

1. It is not that essential glory abstractly considered as his second person, without the supposed union of the manhood, in that manner as hath been explained. I will not only urge for this, that it is said to be a gift given him; for his essential glory of the second person abstractly considered was by natural generation communicated to him; but a gift is what is merely out of will and goodwill bestowed. But this argument for it would be alone sufficient, that he plainly speaks this speech of himself as a mediator or head of union to us, as ver. 22, 23 shew. 'And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.' Now he, as the second person simply considered, is not the means of union of us with the Father, but it is the divine nature united to the human nature (as the loadstone set in the steel), which has the virtue of drawing us into union with himself and his Father; which he therefore prayeth for upon it for us; having said first, 'the glory which thou hast given me,' as that glory which he gave unto us, upon the glory given to him. And so he is considered here in this speech as medium unionis; 'Thou in me, and I in them, that they may be made perfect in one.'

2. It is not meant here of the glory of his mediation, his mediatory glory, as we call it; that also is proper to himself, and incommunicable to us; and of it cannot be said, that the glory God gave him, he hath given us. We are not constituted by him redeemers of, or mediators for, or heads of union to other saints, as he is to us: then we should be givers of glory one to another. And then all saints (and of all saints he speaks here) should all be heads and mediators; and so there should be no body.

Secondly, affirmatively. It is eminently and singularly meant of the glory we have been speaking of; namely, of his being God-man, in one person, and the glory that flows from thence, as it is and was designed to shine forth in him in heaven, as the immediate consequent of that union. And this was a gift indeed, a gift to purpose, greater than all gifts, as all divines acknowledge the grace and glory in his personal union to have been.

I know that many interpreters extend it unto all whatever, that is any where or in other respects said to be the glory of Christ; as that his working miracles, which is called his glory, John 2:11, 'This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him;' his giving to him his Spirit, which was to him without measure. So in giving grace and holiness, which is called glory, 2 Cor. 3:18, 'But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' And many such like; by which they go about to shew the scope of Christ's petition to be, that he would give them the like glory, in these particulars, which his Father had given him; and so indeed, that all the glory the Father had given him, in all the particulars of it, he doth give sprinklings thereof to us. But this extended interpretation (though in respect of the things themselves it be a truth), yet as applied to this place, produceth from this suggestion, that he should speak of that glory which in this life is possessed by us, and given us in order unto eternal life; of which more anon. And, doting upon this to be Christ's main and sole scope, that to make the saints one among themselves is the intendment of the next words, 'that they may be one in us;' whereas it is the high and ultimate union which is perfected betwixt us, and Christ, and God, as I have shewn. And whereas in the words after it is the ultimate glory in heaven, and the perfection of us by that union, that is intended. And therefore answerably, the glory given Christ here is his prime and ultimate glory, which was his personal union with the Son of God, that is, the gift that is intended. Gerard, after he had enumerated all such particular glories forementioned given to Christ, whereof some he admits, yet at last, when he had considered all, and attentively viewed the scope of the words, pitcheth upon this, that the glory of the Son of God, who is God united to man in one person, and the glory that flows therefrom, is the glory here intended; and that as the fountain of our union, and so of our utmost glory. And so Brugensis* also doth interpret it; and he tells the genealogy of it thus: The Son of God, the second person, being one by essence with the Father, to him he united the man Jesus by personal union; and of him as such I interpret that of the 5th of John, ver. 26, 'For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.' And that person, as now become God-man, when united to us, we thereby become partakers of his divine nature; and so to have the divine nature to dwell in us first: as he by his union hath the divine nature of the Godhead to dwell in him.

And others do in effect run upon the same interpreting, that the glory given him was to be his Son; and the glory given us by him is to be sons unto God with him; and we believing on his name, he gives us 'power' by charter or grant 'to be the sons of God,' John 1:12. Also our sonship is derived by our union or marriage with him, as being the natural Son of God; and his marriage of us is his taking us to be his. And so the glory of sonship which we have is by free gift; for it was free for him to marry, and it was to be done by his consent. And it was by the personal union that God bestowed on the man Jesus the glory of being his Son; 'That holy thing,' saith he, 'shall be called the Son of God,' Luke 1:35. And his being the Son of God is the highest glory of Christ; and more than all, even the foundation of all. Thus, if we consider him as second person simply, he is the Son of God by natural generation: if we consider him as man, he is the Son of God by personal union unto the second person. If we consider ourselves, it is by adoption, by marriage with him who is the natural Son, that we become sons unto God.

And besides what the weight of these things, reipsâ, or in the thing itself, have in them; let us but look about us, what glory it is he speaks of before and after in this his prayer. We find it thrice spoken of: first, in ver. 5; secondly, in this 22d ver.; thirdly, in ver. 24. And let us view the aspect and correspondency which these three verses have and hold one with another; and let us commensurately expound each of them.

1. Let any one attentively read the 5th verse, 'And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.' Then this 22d verse, 'And the glory which them gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.' Surely the glory which he said, 'I had with thee before the world was,' there is the same which, and upon occasion of which, he utters, 'the glory which thou gavest me,' here, and refers to it. New I have shewn, that the glory of his person, as he is God-man, is meant the glory of which the second person then existing took upon him, God having predestinated him thereunto, and wore it afore his Father. He took on him that person, and correspondently the connection of ver. 22 and ver. 5 is filled up thus: Thou having given me that glory of the personal union, and predestinated me to it as proper and peculiar to my person, I being constituted such by thee, do freely concur with thee to give the like union and glory pro suo modulo (as Brugensis's word is), to be imparted to them.

2. Let us than look backward, and compare this 22d verse with ver. 24, that follows. There, saith he, 'that they may behold the glory which thou hast given me.' This certainly is the same glory that is meant here, ver. 22. For he goeth on to prosecute the same argument, speaks ad idem; and there shews the way how that glory should be actually communicated to them, and they have it in possession; which glory hate in the 22d verse, he saith, he had given them by way of right and donation. And the way to possess it, according to the intent of his giving, is set out to be by their beholding his glory, in ver. 24. Now what glory of his is that? It is the glory of his person, that of God dwelling in human nature, the beams whereof break forth there; and that is his substantial or personal glory, as he is God-man. And that is it which his disciples saw, John 1:18, as of the person of him who was the only-begotten Son of God; it was the immediate breaking forth and emanation of the hypostatical union. And so when he wrought miracles, which is called his glory, John 2:11, 'This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory, and his disciples believed on him;' his miracles were the immediate demonstration that he was the Son of God, dwelling in the human nature personally, as himself argues, throughout that Gospel, against the Jews.

3. Again, the same glory in the 5th verse and in the 24th verse is meant. For of that in the 5th verse he saith, it was 'the glory he had before the world was;' and in this 24th verse correspondently, 'the glory which thorn hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.' Which again he adds, as the foundation of the gift of that glory which he means, even his love before the world was. So then, it is the same glory in all three places; which is his personal glory, as he is God-man, and his union unto that one person, and the immediate consequence thereof, and to be manifested in his very person.

II. Query. What that glory is which is given us thereupon?

Ans. It is the participation of our sonship-union with him, in our degree and proportion, which we have from him, and the glory that flows from him by reason of this, as it shall in the perfection of it break forth in heaven in us. This is the glory which Christ hath given us. We know that our sonship and adoption is called glory, Rom. 11:4, and Rom. 8:23. Christ's glory, being the glory of the only-begotten Son of God, gave us power to be sons. John 1:12, 'But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.' Compared with ver. 18, 'No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.' 'And if sons, then heirs, co-heirs of glory with Christ.' And it is the utmost glory which breaks forth in heaven in Christ, from his personal union, and in us, from our sonship and union with Christ, that is there meant; and the reason is, because it is that glory wherein, and whereby our union is said to be made perfect; John 17:23, 'I in them, and thou in me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me;' which explains this ver. 22, 'And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.' And therefore, as Gerard observes the words, 'that they may be perfect in one' is not taken, τελικῶς, as noting the end or the effect of that glory given us, as whereby, as the means, we come to be perfect in one; but it is taken, ἐιδικῶς, as explaining wherein that glory lay, namely, in a perfection of union; but we may take it in both. Now our relative union with Christ is in this life as perfect as ever, and we are sons an much as ever; and the man Jesus was as perfectly united to the Son of God while he was on earth, as he ever shall be, but the perfection of it, he saith, is in the other world. And therefore the glory which he intends is, as it breaks forth in the full enjoyment sail manifestation of it in the other world, founded upon his personal union with the Son of God on his part, and our glory upon our union with him on our part. And therefore it is that our Saviour Christ calls it glory, both on his part and ours, rather than sonship. The same may he urged out of John 17:24, 'Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.' And our Cartwright thus pitcheth the connection and order of ver. 22 with what follows; that whereas he had in the former part of the chapter prayed for sanctification and preservation afore for us, as the means to bring us to glory, now, saith he, he frames his prayer for our glorification,* which Christ founded upon this ground, 'The glory thou hast given me I have given them.' And therefore they pitch short who interpret this glory of grace as the means to glory hereafter, or the beholding of the glory of Christ in this life; 2 Cor. 3:18, for here it is the very glory itself which grace is to bring us to, which God's and Christ's heart in their several degrees were so intent upon in the primary intention thereof, even the glory of that sonship, both of Christ and in that should be in the other world; and was first given, both to him and us as being intentio finis, the intendment of what should be the ultimate end of us and Christ. And with that view of it, it is that Christ prays here. And let any man give a more suitable, harmonious, congruous, genuine interpretation than this. For what is more suitable, or indeed can be, than that our glory, both of sonship and possession, should be founded upon our union with Christ; and that Christ should found both our union and glory on his personal union with the Son of God, and the glory that thence follows, and is due to him? What more genuine, what more consonant, what more suitable can be thought of, to fill up the meaning of these words?

Obj. This interpretation will strengthen the hands of those that hold the saints have the same personal union with the Son of God, the second person, that the man Jesus hath; for he saith, 'The glory thou hast given me I have given them.'

Ans. 1. Our Saviour on purpose hath interwoven a difference between our union and his, our glory and his, whereby to prevent this very objection; for our union and oneness with God and Christ is declared to be but secondary and derivative; and his not of the same order or rank with ours, 'I in them, and thou in me,' as it immediately follows. Ours is a collateral line, far off removed, of an inferior house; but Christ's union with the Father is in a direct line; for his divine nature is the same with the Father's, by which they are one God; and his human nature is one by an immediate personal union, whereas ours is afar off removed. Our union with God is but by our union with Christ; it is a copyhold of this Lord of glory. It is a certain rule, that what is derivative of an original, never riseth to be the original. It is Christ's glory here, so that it is he who gives us our glory. And this is the glory, and top of his glory, that he hath glory so in himself, as he is the Lord of it to bestow it. This is far otherwise in our case; and Christ notes it out in that speech of his, 'the Father hath given the Son to have life in himself.' That is his prerogative, he hath it independently, he hath it in himself; whereas of us (he saith), 'Ye live in me;' and that he is our life; we have it not in ourselves.

2. Of their glory he saith, It is but by a beholding his, and in that manner it is conveyed to them; ver. 24, 'Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.' And how infinitely distant then must it be accounted from what is the glory of his person? Ours is but by beholding his; it is but as the shine of the sun upon the stars, which though it be called a glory by the apostle, 'the stars differ in glory,' 1 Cor. 15:41, yet it is not that glory as it is subjective in the sun, but susceptive in them, that they are such bodies as that the light of the sun can be reflected from them, and thereby leave and cause a glory to appear in them.

3. This agrees with the main scope here, which is not to shew it is identically the same glory, but that it is derived from his, and he is the bestower of it, and he is the Lord of it. I have given it them, saith Brugensis, that is, pro illorum modo et modulo, according to their capacity and measure.

III. Query. Unto what time, or date, the giving of this glory should be referred; either concerning that of Christ's, when it was that the Father gave this glory to him his Son; as also the time which Christ means when he saith, 'I have given it them.' This in general we are sure of, that both are spoken of in the time past.

Ans. 1. For the Father's giving this glory to his Son, it was from everlasting given, as Christ intends it, even that in predestination. For this first corresponds with ver. 5, as I have opened; and, secondly, with ver. 24, 'The glory which thou gavest me, for thou lovedst me from the foundation of the world.'

2. If the question be of the time of Christ's giving us this glory, we must take this along, that giving it here is not his giving it, only as he is the second person simply considered. That act of his, as such, is included in his Father's; but we must interpret it of him, considered as God-man also, as hath been opened. For it is a gift to us that flows from that personal union of his to us, and is founded upon it, and so supposed it first. So the query will proceed anew, whether it is to be understood of him, taken as man, after his actual union with the Son of God, made at his conception, or of him as God-man, the second person considered, as bearing that personage, and undertaking it afore God, as hath been explained.

For the first; If it be meant of him as God-man, after he was united actually, &c. Then,

1. It is certain his consent, as such, was to the glory of every name or person of us whom God means to bring to glory. The man Christ knew his sheep by name, for he calls them by name, John 10:2, 3, 'But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.' And it is the man that speaks it, ver. 16. He means not only the Jews that were godly, and then converted, whereof many he saw, as man, with his bodily eyes, but the sheep that were among the Gentiles, scattered in all places, and in all ages; these in like manner he then calls by name, and saith, that he must gather them, as being not yet called, nor many of them extant in being. And therefore that book, or copy of this deed of gift, which his Father presented him, for him to put their names into it, it is called 'The Lamb's book of life.' And we see, that even here, before he is crucified, he saith, 'I have given it them,' even all whom his Father had given him; for he prays for the whole flock. And yet speaks it now as in time past, I have given it them. It was fit that God should shew him, both whom he was to die for, and whose sins he did bear. And so his deed of gift was concurrent with his Father's, as to the persons and things given.

2. Understand it of him, as now he is actually man, it is said to be a gift of his, and a gift of his such as his Father's gift to him had been, so that he was free in it, as his Father also was in his gift: and why? Because that Jesus Christ was 'the Lord of glory,' as he is sometimes called, James 2:1; and this is spoken of him even when he was crucified, in that 1 Cor. 2:8, 'Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.' And therefore had power to dispose of it as freely as any lord hath of what he owns. And his Father, in setting him up as God-man, as he gave him to have life in himself, John 5:26, so a free power in himself to quicken whom he would as freely as his Father, as it is in ver. 21 of the same chapter: 'For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.' And perhaps, therefore it is he speaks here in the next words in the manner, as nowhere else, and in no point else but of this; 'Father, I will that those which thou hast given me be with me where I am, to behold my glory;' for he, out of the freedom and dominion of his will, did give it them as well as his Father.

There is a question started by the Jesuits,* Whether Christ, as man, was a mere executor of his Father's will? That slur they would put upon our doctrine of God's absolute limited decrees, as in the case of Christ, whether he were not an arbitrary designer of whatever he doth himself also? which they hold to maintain the dominion of free-will, according to their tenet. But though they think they have us in a noose in this point, we easily solve it by saying, that though he as man, and as God-man, doth not any thing, or act, nor to whom, but those whom his Father's will is to have him to do, yet that therein he concurs with his Father as freely as the Father himself; and therefore it is his free gift as well as his Father's. To go no farther to confirm this answer than that of John 5:21, 'For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.' And this he speaks of himself, as he is the Son of man, as it is expressed, ver. 27, 'And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.' And yet he professeth to do nothing of himself without the Father; ver. 19, 'Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for whatsoever things he doth, these also doth the Son likewise.' He indeed did not first name the persons, but his Father named them to him, and gave them to him; yet whom his Father did give to him, he gives this glory to; and it is a free concurrent act with his Father, both to consent to the name and the gift, as free as his Father was, out of a special love. Let us therefore honour Christ so far as to say, that his hand, his vote, his suffrage went onto and was requisite to all these things as well as his Father's. Yea, and therefore, those apostles, of whom, in ver. 6 of this 17th chapter, he saith, 'Thou gavest them me out of the world,' are yet said to be chosen by him as well as by his Father. The apostles were, by the choice and will of God and Christ, Gal. 1:1, 'Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.' And though some may say, that, as apostles indeed, in respect of their office, they were chosen by Christ, as man, as well as by the Father; and so indeed that speech of his in the 16th of John is to be understood: yea, but in John 15:19, Christ is said to have chosen them in respect of salvation, 'If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.' You must know that Judas was gone out when Christ spake these words, and his eleven elect disciples were left alone with him. Christ had given him his doom and sentence, John 15:6, 'If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.' But I have you now only alone with me, whom I speak these things to; who are to be, and shall be eternally saved, ver. 3, 'Now you are clean,' &c. 'You are not of this world;' ver. 19, 'And I have chose you out of the world.' And yet some of these were called savingly before he saw them by face; for some of them were John's disciples, converted first by him. But, however, Jesus Christ had chosen them first; that is, the man Jesus had done it, and then the end and issue of election, you know, is glory; and so giving them glory, is here to be understood, as to the time that I have given is referred to, after the man Jesus was united.

But, secondly, what if we put the query, upon the person of him as God-man, whilst he bore that personage before his Father, in the sense that formerly we have spoken of? What should hinder us to ascend to everlasting, as the time whereof this is intended—'you have I chosen'—here was given by him; as he being second person, did bear and sustain the glory of that gift of being God-man all along from his predestination thereunto? And so, as his Father's gift was from everlasting to him, why not Christ's concurrence from thence also? What should stay his hand from doing it under that consideration? What! should he stay till he was of age and capacity to give, and so arrive at the time when he, as man, was actually united? This we may be certain of, that what the man did, when actually united, concur to, that the second person did afore from everlasting, and did it then in the man's name; yea, and undertook he should concur to it when he was united. The man's actual concurrence was but a confirmation of that act which the second person in his name afore had done. I shewed you, in opening the 6th verse, upon these words, 'those which thou hast given me,' that the gift of his Father to him, as it was first from everlasting, so it was not only to him as second person, singly considered, but as marriageable, and constituted their husband; which can be understood in no other way than that the second person bore the personage of God-man before his Father, as in opening the 5th verse I have shewed,

Obj. But you will say, There is this that hindered, still the man existed not actu; how then can it be said that he, as God-man, did this act?

Ans. Yet he was before God-man really and de jure, God-man contracted; as I have shewn in the instance of a new elect to an office, before he enters actually upon it, he hath the title and honour accordingly. And if he had the glory of it afore his Father, then why might he not as then do such acts in the name of his being God-man, as a general doth before he goeth into the field? I would ask this question, before he came into the flesh, he appeared to the fathers, and was with the people of God in the wilderness, and appeared as captain of the hosts of Israel—were these acts done then merely as second person, and in the name of the second person simply as such? You would say, that these acts were done as bearing the personage of God-man, in the name of the person that was to come. And therefore Christ saith, 'Abraham saw my day,' for he appeared to him, as also to Jacob, and, as some think, in the likeness too that he was to take. These were acts meet for that season, and virtually the acts of him as God-man. And so at the creation, when all things were made by him, as the Word, as John interprets it, chap. 1:1. I would only add this, if he took that personage in his acting and appearances to the fathers, and the church, then why might he not, bearing that personage afore God his Father, act with his Father as such, and concur in all acts with his Father that were proper in that season, if I may call it so, from everlasting, and therefore concur in choosing of us as such, in giving glory to us, when his Father had predestinated him to that of his, and he undertook it? I would say, that all along from everlasting he acted as such in that capacity, together with his Father. I would urge but this, in Isa. 9:6, one of his names is 'the everlasting Father,' that is, a Father from everlasting; and to whom it is of being so to us that it is spoken, and therefore he must be said to have borne that relation of a Father to us from that time. It is not his concurring as second person merely with his Father, for that is included in his Father's act, with whom he did concur as such; and then the second person should be called Father in his personal propriety, as he is the Son, as well as the first person of the Trinity, to whom yet the style of Father among the persons is only proper. No; in the Trinity, take them as mere persons considered, there is but one Father; therefore that title must be given him in God's decrees upon, and come under, some other consideration annexed to him, over and above his being second person. And what other can that be than this, of his being considered as God-man in his undertaking and sustaining it, and as acting accordingly? Father relates to children, and this we find in Heb. 2:13, where Christ is brought in as a proof that he is man of the same nature with us; that as a Father he saith, 'Lo, I and the children that thou hast given me.' God the Father's relation to us, as a Father, is not so founded, nor is the relation in the second person, simply considered, so to be confounded with that of the Father's. Paul tells us, in that second of the Hebrews, that Christ is a father as he is considered man; and he argueth it from that relation. And Isaiah tells us, Isa. 9:6, he was this from everlasting, which could not be by his having actually assumed the same nature; and yet Christ's fatherhood to us is, because he is supposed of the same nature, as Heb. 2:14 hath it, 'Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part in the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.' Why, then, he must be the everlasting Father representatively, and by bearing that personage of God-man, and undertaking, afore his Father, that relation, and so as considered by his Father as God-man from everlasting; and for him to give us glory as such, and act accordingly with his Father, was but to act according to what a personage he was aforehand; and among other things he must act as such, in concurring with his Father to give us glory, as hath been said.

And so the issue of all comes to this, which explains the text, that God having in his decree first settled an estate in him, in the glory of that personal union proper to him alone; then his Father gave us to him as so constituted, and he agreed, and concurred in his decree and suffrage, as such; and so is said to have given us, in and at the same instant, that glory that was ordained by the Father, and by him as God-man.

4. Motive. He represents to his Father the glory (which had been foreordained by him in his decrees) that would accrue to himself and his Father in the accomplishment of this design, when the union and glory of the saints should thereby be perfected, as at the latter day it will, and then appear before all the world; and this to have been the great contrivement of God in our election we all know. And it is not only the glory he will have in the saints themselves at that day, when they shall appear with him in glory, of which the 2 Thess. 1:10 speaks, 'When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed, in that day.' But what a glory this is will appear before the rest of the world of mankind, who shall all be present at that day, and see the issue of God's decrees, unto the amazing astonishment of unbelievers. And this I take to be the meaning of the latter part of ver. 23, 'that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.' The world there I take to be the rest of mankind, who shall have no part in that union. And the time intended wherein they shall know this, is that at the latter day; for it is when the saints' union is made perfect in one, as in the words before.

Then it is that they shall know, by the saints' union with me, and by them thus perfected, which shall be made conspicuous to all the world, 'that thou hast sent me, and hast loved me; and hast loved them indeed, as thou hast loved me,' when they shall see that I appear in thy glory (as at that day I shall), and that therefore I am one with thee, whereas before they who would not believe, nor embrace me for their Christ, and come in for a share of this union with me, but refused me, or unworthily fell short in seeking me, and would never apprehend that I was such a glorious Messiah as then I shall appear to be, but undervalued and despised me; but when they shall see that I also was able to bring about such a union of my church and body together with me and thee, and not lose one of them thou hast given me, and therewith to have filled them with such a glory as they shall appear in, by which it will be as conspicuous and visible, that they are one with us; they will then know, with wonderment, that thou indeed hast sent me, of whom they had, the most of them, by hearsay at least, heard, for the sound thereof went forth to all the world; and that those whom they hated and despised together with me, whom they persecuted, and would have driven out of the world, that those are thus so nearly united to me and thee, as it will appear, 'thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me;' lovedst me as their head of union to them, and for that nearer union which I have with thee, hast loved them as my body, and for my sake. All which, when the world hath once seen and known, then I shall farther fulfil what I pray for in the 24th verse, even take them into thy kingdom, where they shall ever be with me, the Lord, and behold my glory, and adore thy love, both to me and them: 'Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.' And the appearing and apprehension of this, to and by the wicked world, will be a new and great, though a more secondary glory, which will arise unto his Father by that union then perfected, which he prays for to be his own.

CHAPTER VII

That God constituted from eternity Jesus Christ God-man, to be one universal Lord under himself, over all the creatures he intended to make.

And one Lord Jesus Christ.—1 COR. 8:6.

I desire this to be noticed aforehand, as touching this part of the text I am now entering upon; that though all things are said to be of God, both his creation, &c., of them, and our union with him to have been first designed by God, that yet our apostle doth evidently withal here declare, that all things, both the creation and government of the world, as also our union, yea, even all that ever God did, was ordained by him to depend upon Jesus Christ as Lord, as well as upon God the Father as God.

Hence, at this our beginning to treat of what belongs to Christ's part, we must again climb up to the supremest top or pinnacle of eternity, and place our thoughts in the first instant thereof; and as yet suppose that our God being but about to purpose and decree all things, or any thing which his will should pitch upon, that none of these things concerning us and the creatures had their determination without a supposition of our Christ his having been first constituted the Lord, and a dependence of all things upon him as Lord, to have been first ordained also. Or thus,

That God in his decrees and purposes, for the effecting of all these, did presuppose and take in his Christ to be the Lord of us and of all things; of whom all did and should depend, as well as upon himself, though under himself.

So as for an entrance to this discourse about Christ's interest in all these, we will make a stand, or rather go backward again aad make a recognition, and set our thoughts down in this supposition, that we consider all these concernments of us, and of the whole creation, in the first instant of eternity, but as yet lying in the mind of God in a simple or pure idea of them, or in a bare contemplation and chart or model, in God's mare and simple knowledge and intelligence; they lay as a mass of gold or silver in the ore, without their having a decree of his will as yet passed upon them that they should be minted. They had not the conclusive decree or fiat of his will, what they should be, although he stood ready and propitious to set that his seal or imprimatur for their coming forth and publishing into actual existence. But having them and all in view or model ready afore him, he was pleased in one and the same instant or moment of eternity, wherein he brought forth these, or any other purposes of his to a determination conclusive; he was pleased (I say) to set up as the first-born of his purpose chiefly, or afore all, and to lay for a foundation and corner-stone, a midst or middle person between his creatures and himself; but especially between him and those first-fruits or choice of his creatures he would draw up into a high union with himself, to set up his Christ—a person who in the language of the text should be a one Lord, who should be a joint compeer with him, or rather God's commissioner and plenipotentiary in all his works of wonder; and that is, one Christ, not considered barely and singly as he is second person, one God with the Father, blessed for ever, but as God-man, having the office of Lord and Christ put upon him by the Father, as one that should be a one Lord under this one God considered as he is God, and in that relation and respect lower than God himself; and yet constituted in that supreme sovereignty of lordship over them his creatures, that both all his creatures which he should with him decree to make, they all, and their very creation and government after their creation, should depend on that one Lord. As also, that all of us, whom he should decree to be taken up into that special union and communion, should owe all thereof to, and have the same dependence on this one Lord, as upon God the Father himself. Than which nothing could be found more to honour and greaten this one God as God, before the whole creation; thereby being shewed and manifested the infinite distance of God from the whole creation, in having so supreme a Lord over them, as this same Lord of his designing should be, who yet should be under God himself, and so between him and them.

And there is this general corollary from this founded on the text, that if all things and our union with God depended upon this person as he is Lord and Christ, and that these titles import his office, and not simply his being second person as Son of God (though that be the substratum and foundation of all), that then he must have been first set up and constituted God-man, and in God's decrees invested with these offices, and constituted and made both Lord and Christ, as by whom all things should be, and we by him, as well as by the Father. Which is one great notion I drive at, and I carry with me in mine eye all along to make forth: and do therefore upon any just occasion, everywhere draw it out unto notice and observation, as a great gospel truth.

My present task is, to begin with this his title. He is (as hath been said) first decreed unto his title of LORD.

The following explanation of which will make way for the clearing of that great truth last noticed; as also of many other things concerning Christ previous to what are to follow. Now as to that,

1. It is an ancient title of his, and one of his first titles given him in the Old Testament, and continued to him by them in the New, and of a larger extent than that of Saviour. And though distinct from that of one God, yet necessarily denoting and supposing (as the foundation of it) that withal he is God.

In the Old Testament, Ps. 110:1, 'The Lord said unto my Lord;' and though our translation observes no distinction, yet it is in the original, 'Jehovah said to my Lord,' Jehovah unto Adonai; that is, God the Father unto Christ or the Messiah, as Christ himself interprets it, Mat. 22:42, 43. To whom that name Adon or Adonai is made specially peculiar, and had been traditionally let down to the Jews. For Enoch had prophesied of him under that title afore the flood; which as a tradition the apostle Jude quotes, ver. 14, 'The Lord' namely, the Christ, 'cometh with ten thousand of his saints.' To name but one more out of the Old; Dan. 9:17, 'Hear, O God Jehovah, for the Lord's sake;' where Christ, in distinction from God the Father, is called Adonai, 'the Lord.'

Which title of the Messiah, because thereby he was more eminently known by them than by any other, the angels when they bring the news of his birth to the Jews, Luke 2:11, do proclaim him by and under the style of it: 'To you is born a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.' They describe his person under the notion which he had been more vulgarly known by under the Old Testament, than that of Saviour; 'Christ the Lord.' And afterwards the same began to be, by the unanimous vote of all the apostles, given him, Acts 2:14, publishing it in the ears of all Israel, and applying it with an appropriation to our Jesus, as that title which answered to the general expectation of the Jews concerning their long looked-for Messiah; Acts 2:36, 'Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made this same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ.' And is as if he had said, Lo, he is that very person whom you expect, who hath been generally and indeterminately known to you under those names given him by your fathers all along in the Old Testament; whom God hath now made, and set up, and declared so to be, by exalting him in heaven, and putting all into his hands. And know (saith he) assuredly, that that man Jesus is he. It is strange that the Jews should so conspire to forbear, everywhere throughout the world, to read or pronounce the name Jehovah, the name of God's essence; and that instead thereof they should substitute, and still use the word Adonai or Lord, which, as you have heard, is sometimes in the Old Testament appropriated to the Son. Yea, and that their own Cabalists should confess the mystery of it to be, that that name Adonai, or title of Lord (and so the person of him, the Son, that more particularly bears it), is to be the key to Jehovah, which latter is the name of his essence, which is hidden to us (as they speak), to be as a treasury in which God Jehovah hath hid all the riches he means to communicate to us. And further, this Adonai, or Lord, to be the great ruler and governor under God Jehovah, nourishing and sustaining all things. And that without Adonai, or this Lord, there is no way or means for my man to come to this God Jehovah. Thus Masini hath out of their own records observed;* which is a clear, if not a full explication of the office of our Christ, as he is Adonai, or Lord.

The New Testament speaketh the very same in terminis, God not being known to any but to whom Christ reveals him; 'in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom;' he ruling and 'supporting all by the word of his power;' as to whom God hath communicated the execution of all judgment, himself visibly judging none. 'Neither is there any name under heaven' but this, 'whereby men can be saved,' and approach to God; there being one God, and one Lord,' as here, 1 Cor. 8:6.

And this title of Lord, in distinction from Jehovah, or God, as thus understood and used by the Jews, conduceth somewhat towards an answer to that objection of the Socinians, that Christ being usually thus styled the Lord, but the Father God, that therefore Christ is not God. For not only according to the Jews' sense Adonai, or Lord, is all one with Jehovah in this respect, that it is one of the names of him that is God, for they ordinarily, in naming God, put it instead of God, or Jehovah; yea, and it is attributed to none other but him that is God, as they acknowledge. But yet so as withal it is evident also, that in their sense it likewise signifies an office of Lord and mediator for us put upon him, and in that respect distinguished from Jehovah, yet so as still withal Christ himself is also the true Jehovah. And therefore the Old Testament in a very usual way joins both together, 'the Lord God;' and when it speaks in that manner, doth usually mean Christ, who was then the great dispenser of all things under the Old Testament, as well as now under the New. It was he that appeared to the fathers, who is and was to them both 'Lord and God' also, as well as 'Lord and Christ' to us.

And thus the apostle Thomas, John 20, when once convinced of his being the Messiah, cries out, ver. 28, 'My Lord and my God!' He spake it of Christ. For whereas other disciples had called him 'the Lord' (as in that chapter again and again, and frequently elsewhere, as his usual title), and had said to Thomas, ver. 25, 'We have seen the Lord,' that is, him whom we have and do own for the Messiah; and then the Old Testament having still put both titles together of 'Lord and God,' as you heard; hereupon Thomas, his faith being on the sudden struck, and enlightened with a fresh and new conviction, he cries out, 'My Lord and my God,' thereby acknowledging Christ to be both. And he doth it with application to himself, 'My Lord and my God.' And whereas in Eph. 4:5, 6, when it is said, 'There is one Lord, and one God, the Father of all;' and in this text, 1 Cor. 8:6, 'To us there is but one God, the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ;' it is not to be understood, nor doth it follow, that his Father's being said to be one God, in distinction from Christ, should exclude Christ from being that one God, no more than Christ's being termed that one Lord, in the same places, would import that therefore God the Father is not Lord. Yea, of Christ, as well as of the Father, it is said, that he is the only Lord; and that with his being God also is inserted, to second it and put this matter out of all doubt. Thus Jude 4, the last words of the verse, 'Denying the only Lord God,' καὶ τὸν μόνον δεσπότην Θεὸν καὶ κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, 'and Lord of us, Jesus Christ;' affixing but one article at the first unto all these three titles that follow, 'Lord God,' 'the only Lord God,' and 'our Lord;'* as meaning but one and the same person known by all these titles, not two persons, as of God the Father, and of Christ both, but one person only, namely, our Christ who is the subject of all these titles; whom he there names our Lord Jesus Christ, all three spoken of one and the same Christ; which that of Peter added to it also clears (and all know Jude's epistle to be a counterpart of that second of Peter; and he writing as Jude also, against the very same heretics in those times), he there says of them, 'denying the Lord that bought them;' and it is our Christ is the person he speaks of too, as the proper character he signifies him by, 'the Lord that bought them,' and paid the price of buying them as a Lord. And as he names no other person but Christ only, so both Peter and Jude do name the very heresies the heretics of those apostles' times run into, naming the very things themselves wherein their heresy consisted; namely, in their denying him to be God, the only true God, which together with that additional character of 'the Lord that bought them,' was the very point they denied.

Add to this, It is well known that those first heretics of the primitive times (who pretended to Christianity, and against such they only wrote), did not deny 'one God the Father,' or his being 'the only true God,' but that Jesus Christ was the only true God, this they denied; and therefore it is that Jude speaks this of Christ alone.

And last of all, an angel from heaven, in the close of the whole New Testament, speaks the very same, thereby confirming and sealing what all the apostles and scriptures had spoken of Christ; thus in Revelations, the very last chapter, ver. 6, 'And the Lord God of the holy prophets,' who inspired them, 'sent his angel to shew unto his servants,' &c. Now who is it to whom the sending of this angel is attributed? Read ver. 16, 'I Jesus have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches;' even the same person (Christ); the same he it is, that is the 'Lord God of the holy prophets,' ver. 6. And this is for certain our Jesus. For ver. 16, 'I Jesus have sent my angel.' And who in like manner concludes his speech, ver. 20, 'He which testifies these things saith, Surely I come quickly: Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus,' says the church. And this is our Lord and our God, as Jude and Peter said in their epistles.

And by all this, the Socinian objection is sufficiently obviated and gone beyond.

CHAPTER VIII

That the title of Lord, though it imports him that is God, and connotates with it his being God; yet in this Corinthian text (and elsewhere), doth primarily note a relation to an office or a dignity put on him by the Father, as considered to be God-man, and not simply his being second person, God with God only.—The apostle's intent here is, to set him forth in the dependence that all things, &c., have of him as such, and not upon him as second person, simply considered.—It is a title of office which he bears afore God, considered as God-man.—The fitness, fulness, and sufficiency of this person, Christ, God-man, to discharge this office of one Lord.—For what reasons it was necessary that he should be God-man in one person, to qualify him for the employment.

We do, or may know, that there is a twofold Lordship of the second person: one natural, absolute, and underived, belonging to him, as he is considered singly, second person, God with God, and Lord with the Lord, to whom therefore all the royalties of the divine nature do equally and alike in common belong, even as to the Father and Holy Ghost; which Lordship is in them all founded on this, which is common to all three persons, namely, that they had a joint concurrence in the making of all things, and also in governing of them. But then there is another lordship, that is, a derived, economical, dispensatory, which is set up by commission from God, for effecting all his works of wonder for him, and under him; and this is a lordship proper and peculiar unto Christ, considered as God-men, to whom as such the Father hath committed all judgment as the Son of man: John 5:22, 27, 'For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.' 'And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.' And of this lordship it is that Peter speaks, Acts 2:36, 'Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ.' So then, there is a made lordship of his, who yet, by virtue thereof, makes all things. And this is the very same in other equivalent terms, that are elsewhere spoken of him by the other apostles; as by Paul himself, Heb. 1:2, 'Whom he hath appointed heir of all things.' Heir there is equivalent to Lord in that Acts 2:36; and appointed there unto made in Peter's speech, Acts 2:36; and of all things there, unto one Lord, of whom are all things, here in the text.

Hence therefore, his being Lord evidently imports an office or economy committed to him, and undertaken by him, even as his being Christ also doth. And indeed, we find both those titles of Lord and Christ joined often together, and attributed to him as being, in this respect, of like kind or constitution, that is, as being both made titles of office. And to this sense, as we meet them joined, Acts 2:36, so also we find him to have been publicly proclaimed with and under these titles by the angels, as the militia sent from heaven at his birth, Luke 2:11, to proclaim their own new Lord, as well as of men: 'To you is born a saviour, which is Christ the Lord;' where they add a third, Saviour; all which three titles are also here in the text, 'Our Lord Jesus Christ;' all and each of these three do alike import matter of office given to him, and undertaken by him. And in respect to this investment with an official lordship, it is, he is styled Lord in distinction from God, elsewhere as well as here. In those words, Ps. 110:1, 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit,' &c., though our translation took no notice of a distinction in the titles given setly to each; yet in the original it is, 'Jehovah said, L'adonai,* unto the Lord,' that is, God the Father said to the Lord or Christ, as Christ himself interprets it, Mat. 22:42, 43. And that his being Lord then importeth this his office of made lordship, and not that as second person, Peter evidently shews, in the place fore-cited, Acts 2, where he quotes these very words of the psalmist, ver. 34, to prove that God had 'made him Lord and Christ;' for that is his inference from David's words, 'The Lord said unto my Lord.' And Christ himself, in Mat. 22:43, 44, 45, 'He saith unto them, How doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, &c. If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?' In like manner, Dan. 9:17, 'Hear, O God' (Jehovah), 'for the Lord's sake;' where Christ, in distinction from God the Father, is called Adonai and Lord. Yea, and this distinguishing title is made appropriate to him, the Lord, by the angels at his birth, 'who is Christ the Lord.' And before his death, by the evangelists, in their mention of him, Luke 12:42, 'And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?' Chap. 24:34, 'Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.' And John 4:1, 'When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John.' And chap. 6:23, 'Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias, nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks.' By Mary Magdalene, John 20:18, Mary Magdalene 'came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.' By the angels, Mat. 28:6, 'He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.' And in the Acts ordinarily. In the same sense is this my Corinthian text to be understood.

2. This title of Lord, thus distinguished, doth fitly serve as an introductory proof from parallel scriptures, that the Lordship of office is also intended in this title in the text, and not as second person simply considered. For these reasons.

Reason 1. Christ is thereby here distinguished from God; not only as he is the Father, but as he is one God. Now, if Christ were styled the Lord only as second person, then he is not so to be distinguished from the Father, as the Father is one God; but as such he is included therein with the Father, for he is one God with him, and not to be excluded from that title. God forbid! But it is evident that this title, one Lord, is to shew a distinction from the one God; and therefore it must import, as something more in his person, so his office of lordship; by which, as in relation to the dependence of all things upon him, he is termed Lord. And otherwise, if his meaning were to express that he is God, as he is second person, singly considered, he should say but one and the same thing by two several words, viz., that God the Father is God, and that Christ the second person is one God also, whilst he thus saith of him that he is the one Lord. And indeed then there were no difference at all; for God the Father is one Lord, in that sense of being Lord. And it is common to the persons, and so it belongs to the Father as well as to the Son; and the Son is one God as well as the Father. Neither could the Socinian objection be answered, unless we interpret this one Lord to be spoken of Christ respectu officii, in respect of his office, and not of what he is as second person simply. For there is no distinction between one God and one Lord, if his being God were simply meant in both; but there is a manifest distinction between God the Father and Christ, in these two titles intended to them.

Reason 2. He is here set out such an one Lord, though holding an opposition unto, yet withal as beareth some semblance, in an opposite way, with what the heathens did conceive of their 'lords many' in their subserviency unto their many gods; and we most suppose some analogy or semblance here to hold. Only they affirmed that there were many gods, and that there were many lords; 'but to us there is but one God and one Lord.' And yet the parallel between both thus far holds, that as these heathens supposed that these lords they fancied were such as were appointed by their gods to govern the world under their supposed deities, so we must think of Christ, this one Lord, as under the great God, in an instrumentality and subserviency unto this one God. And as a midst betwixt God and us, and in a perfect opposition to their many false gods and lords, he makes this the glory of the Christian religion, that they held but one great and sovereign true God, high above all gods, as the psalmist often expresses it, whereas they made many, falsely so called. And that that Jesus Christ whom we worship is but one Lord, in defiance of their many lords, whom they fancied to be mediators and agents between God and them, and as placed in the middle betwixt God and men; that was their religion. And the apostle outvies them. We profess such an 'one Lord,' who is an universal Lord 'over all,' and a mediator betwixt men and God also.

And for the verifying of this notion, as thus stated, I refer the reader onto what a more learned hand hath writ, alleging this very scripture to the same purpose I now do, for the confirmation of my assertion.

'This distinction (says he) also, of sovereign gods and demons, I suppose our apostle alludes to in 1 Cor. 8:5, where he saith, Though there be many that be called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be θεοὶ πολλοὶ, gods many; that is, dii cœlestes, sovereign deities, καὶ κύριοι πολλοὶ, lords many, that is, δαίμονες ἐπιχθόνιοι, demons, presidents of earthly things; yet to us Christians, there is but one sovereign God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we to him; that is, to whom, as supreme, we direct all our services; and but εἷς κύριος, one Lord Jesus Christ, instead of their many mediators and demons, διʼ οὗ τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἡμεὶς διʼ ἀυτοῦ, by whom are all things which come from the Father to us, and through whom alone we find access to him. The allusion, methinks, is passing elegant, and such as I think cannot be well understood, without this distinction of superior and inferior deities in the theology of the Gentiles, they having a plurality in both sorts, and we Christians but one in each, as our apostle affirmeth. There wants but only the name of demons, instead of which the apostle puts lords, and that for the honour of Christ, of whom he was to infer, ἑ͂ις κύριος, the name of Christ not to be polluted with the appellation of an idol; for his apodosis must have been otherwise εἷς δάιμων. Or maybe, he alludes unto the Hebrew name Baalim, which signifies lords. And those lords, I told you, were nothing else but demons: for thus would Paul speak in the Hebrew tongue; There are בעלים רבים and דבים אלהים, many gods and many lords.'—(Mr Mede's Apostasy of the Latter Times, p. 13, and part of 14.)

They had heard of one God, of whom are all things, from the wisest of their own philosophers, but never of one mediator between that God and them: they had stumbled at this in the Christian religion, that they worshipped a man Jesus raised from the dead, as Acts 17:18, 31, when yet themselves held that the souls of men dead (though not risen) were mediators for them to their gods, and thus imprecated them to interpose for them. The apostle therefore, most wisely and aptly, and most elegantly, sets both these religions together in a parallel comparison, and yet in opposition of the one to the other; and so maketh the false notion of their lords thus far serviceable as to let in to these heathens' minds, by a similitudinary glimpse, that whereby these heathens, at least confusedly, might understand and apprehend (if they would but reflect) what manner a Lord or Christ it was we Christians believed and adored, and for what use or end. Their fancies indeed ran upon many lords, and mediators many, and those dead men's souls: but the apostle presents them, instead of theirs, with one great mediator, according to the Christian profession; and him, though a man raised from the dead, yet such a Lord as, being more than a man, was not a mediator only betwixt that one God and them, 'and we by him'—but was a Lord over, yea, a founder of all things else, together with God, 'one Lord, by whom are all things.' And thus he outshoots them infinitely in the mainest principles of their religion they doated on, and accounted their glory and highest wisdom.

In the next place, I come to manifest the fitness, fulness, and sufficiency of this person, Christ, God-man, or of the Son of God united into one person with a man, to bear and sustain this office of one Lord, both in relation unto all things to be by him, and especially to us the elect.

Let it be remembered that this discourse of Christ's fitness in this place is wholly confined unto that notion in general of his lordship, as in the universal extent thereof over all things; but what is proper to set forth his fitness to be the head of angels, and more particularly as an head and redeemer for men, the discovery of that fitness is to succeed in its proper place,* when redemption comes to be handled, as that fitness of his person is suited to that work of redemption.

If we, the chosen of God, and all things, were able to speak, as they are brought in speaking at last, Rev. 5:11, and were permitted to give their voices to design forth and choose one (and but one person, as the text speaks) to be the universal Lord, they nor we could desire no other, none but this person of God-man, thus constituted and made up as he is, and is now to be set forth.

The all-sufficiency that is in this person for this office, the narrative thereof proceeds on thus.

1. Though in respect of the office itself, he that is to have it, is said to be 'made,' that is, 'appointed,' as coming under God's will appointing; yet in his person, as the foundation of it, it was absolutely necessary he be one that is 'not made,' that is, not a mere creature. One that had been but a mere subject of God's, according to that tenure of the law of creation only, had not had an intrinsecal worth and dignity in his person to fill up and carry forth this his office of lordship with port and comely honour enough, nor suitably to that place. For he must be so over the creature, as that himself might challenge worship and honour from the creature as their Lord, as truly and justly as God the Father, in that he was to be one whom all things should depend upon, as well as upon the Father; in whose person also a demonstration might be given, how great a God God the Father was in his distance from the creature, in that he that was his appointed Lord should yet naturally hold so great a sovereignty over all his creatures. Whoever had been but a made person, and a made lord too, and wholly both, he were too mean stuff to make God's Lord of, that is, such a 'one Lord' as this text sets out, and which became God to set up. His person most be able to bear and to fill up his Lordship and dominion, for else he would but fall into the same rank with those 'many lords' the former verse speaks of; yea, if you would suppose one so sublimated as to be the spirit of the whole creation, and in whom the several species of the whole were, by way of eminency, contained and comprehended, and out of whom, as an elixir, they all might be extracted (as some philosophise concerning our Christ), yet still, in that he were but only made, his distance from mere nothing were but the very same that his inferior fellow-creatures have, he could never have been a midst between God and them, because in his person he held not a proportionable distance between God and them, and thereby he had been as subject, by his original make and constitution, to the same mutability and weakness that any other of the creatures were, and so would have proved but a mere quick-sand to the upholding* and bearing up the weight of all things that were to be founded on him, and depend upon him. Look, then, as in the case of man's redemption, like as men that had infirmity, were laid aside for the office of the eternal priesthood; and God sought out one that was 'perfect for evermore;' so, of all mere creatures, it must be said, as to this his office of Lordship, they all had infirmity.

If it be said yet, if God would, could he not have made one great enough for this? The answer is, even for this very reason, that still all would have been but merely a made greatness; even therefore, suppose what you can or will, it proves too little, and falls short. For, alas! it were all but wholly borrowed; yea, and of which greatness these very stones were as immediately capable without him, by God's sole raising them to such an estate, as himself once was thereof. God could have made as good such Christs, and Lords of them, as the Baptist says, Mat. 3:9, sons of Abraham out of stones. He that is capable of so high an office, must be one that is God, which we have even now proved.

This for the first, that this one Lord, here in the text, is and must be God.

And yet again, 2dly, if he be to be 'made a Lord, and Christ' (as the Scripture speaks also of him), he must, together herewith, be something that is made, as well as God, who cannot be made. He is to be (in respect of this office) under God, lower than God, between God and all things made by God; otherwise, this great end, which was to greaten God as God, by shewing visibly and demonstratively that infinite distance between God and all his creatures, had not been attained. For such a person as was God only, as well as himself, had been equal unto him. But God, to shew his greatness, designed such a one as should be also under him, and yet God; and withal, a sovereign Lord of all his creatures. And we find Christ accordingly speaks of himself, 'my Father is greater than I.' So, then, some one of the creatures must be taken in, to make up this Lord, to be made one person with him that is God, and so this Lord will take his place in the midst, between God and all things.

For, 3dly, this creature (whomever this honour is to fall upon), in God's eternal purposes (for we are still in the same sphere of mere possibility), must be made into one person with a person that is God; for else, still he is not one Lord. God, you see, would have but one Lord, as God himself is but one. The text speaks it both negatively, 'not many lords;' and also affirmatively, 'one Lord.' Two complete persons of them can never make one, and these two must be made one person. A king and queen, though one in marriage (the nearest conjunction), never did, nor never can, make one king, or one prince (as Philip and Mary with us did not). And, again, if we would suppose that many creatures, and not one only, had been taken up into union with some person that was God, yet still there would have been 'lords many.' But God will have such a Lord as is perfectly one, who therein shall be the perfect image of his sovereignty and monarchy over all things, and therefore will have but one, to whom all things else, without exception, are to be subject.

4thly, Which of the three persons in the Godhead, and what sort of the creatures, was fittest to make up, in a way of personal union, this one Lord?

(1.) As to the person of the Trinity, it must not be the Father; it was no way proper for him, that was the fountain of the persons, and of the whole creation, to undertake any office whatever, and so not to become this Lord, which is an office under God, as the text expressly affirmeth. Who then? God the Son is next, who in that he is the Son, is, by a proper natural right, Lord of all things, for he is the heir unto this his Father, in that he is the Son; and it is the common law, even from God to creatures downwards, that 'the heir is lord of all,' Gal. 4:1. It is fittest then that he, the Son, should have this office and title of Lord transferred on him, and none so fit to be the appointed heir of all things, Heb. 1:2, who, in his person, is naturally next God the Father, 'the begotten heir of all things.' who is not made, but begotten, and the only begotten, namely, of this one God the Father. John 1:3, 14, 18, compared, 'All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.' 'And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.' 'No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.' And so truly, a person to whom of special right this honour, as conferred, doth belong. This title of Lord was not to be severed from the natural heir: not so, as that one person should be the natural Lord by inheritance, and another made Lord and Christ by decree and appointment, upon this account also, that still there must be but one Lord. And, therefore, he who had a natural right to be Lord, as heir of all things, and he who was made so by decree and appointment, must meet in one and the same person.

And as for the pretension of the third person, the Holy Ghost; so it was in God's design, that he that was to be this Lord, was to have such a multitude of elect to be united to him, as he must be a person who was able to give and send the Spirit himself to make that union, and to effect all for him, and complete all from him; John 16:15, 'All things the Father hath are mine; therefore I said, that he (the Spirit) shall take of mine, and shew it to you.'

And again, the intendment of erecting this office of lordship being, that God might have an outward representative of himself, or a visible administration of all things, and to whom the whole creation should owe their subsistence and their all; and accordingly he was to be owned and honoured by them, and at the same rate that God is; hence therefore, for this honour, God comelily singled forth and constituted this Son to be that person that was next himself, as fathers use to do their sons. God the Father 'so loveth the Son, that he sheweth and revealeth all of himself to him,' John 5:20, 'and hath committed all judgment to him,' visibly to be administered by him; and that with this professed purpose and intent, 'that all men' (yea, and angels, and the whole creation) 'might honour the Son, as they honour the Father,' John 5:20, 23. So then, the Son is he that is made this Lord, under our one God the Father.

We have seen which of the three persons was fitted for this Lordship. Now,

(2.) As to what sort of the creatures (we are still, as was prefaced, in the supposition of all things as yet to be decreed, and so considered by God in the foresight of his simple intelligence) should be meetest to be taken up in this high privilege of one Lordship.

It so pleased our great and wise God as to single forth the nature of man; not in order only to the work of redemption of us men (that is but one branch of this work and office), but in order to his being 'Lord of all things,' he took that nature of man to choose. Yea, it is said, that so 'it became him' (namely, God), 'for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,' so to do; in Heb. 2:10, 14–18 verses, 'For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.' 'Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.' And although God did thus design and determine in a more eminent respect to man's salvation (which was the occasion of what he there speaks of this, that he took on him, not the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham); yet it is withal said, that that great God, 'of whom, and for whom are all things' (which is the preface to that more eminent part for which Christ was ordained, namely, man's redemption), had together in his eye at once all things, and all ends and designs of his whatever, as that phrase, 'for whom are all things,' imports; whiles he speaks of his ordaining him to be a redeemer for man; and accordingly it became him to extend to, or rather grasp in, a respect unto all things in his great design; which this my text, collated and brought unto that, confirms and discovers in saying, 'one God, of whom are all things; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.' And over and above, that we (those elected and redeemed men) should be by him also.

And how fit it was, that the person of the Redeemer of us men should himself be man; this you all acknowledge. But I further add, if a lord be to set up over all things, that is, the whole creation, what sort or species amongst the whole creation so fit as the nature of man? True indeed, that nature, for its rank, is a little lower than the angels; but that mattered not in this business. For this dignity of Lordship depended not on the dignity of the creature that was to be assumed. But the dignity or the substantial worthiness and grandeur of the person was to arise from the dignity of the Son of God who should assume it. The nature assumed contributed nothing of worth, but had that wholly communicated to it; only it brought a fitness and a meetness with it into this union, for this office, above all other natures whatsoever. And that was it which God had a regard unto herein (besides his good pleasure) to choose that nature above all other, as is plain by that in Heb. 2. And certainly this comely capacity doth every way fall fuller upon the nature of man than upon any other; for who of creatures so fit to be made 'Lord of all things,' by that God 'for whom are all things,' but he that is the sum and contract of all sorts of creatures that ever God should make. Yea, and perhaps of all sorts of creatures possibly to be made, even from the angelical nature upwards, than which (they being merely spirits) nothing could be higher of kind upwards, between God and them; and then downwards to the meanest atom, or dust of the earth; or if you will, to the chaos, out of which all was made,—you cannot thrust in a new species or kind between any two of the whole order and descent of them. No new middle link between any two links of that chain of creatures from top to bottom; and what we see are made, man is the abstract and epitome, and contains all in him. If therefore we could suppose that all the creatures had had a tongue, and so a voice in the election of their one Lord, they certainly would have pitched upon that nature to be their Lord, in which they all had such an interest, and have cast it, that all things epitomized should be this constituted Lord. And God, who is wise in working and excellent in counsel, considered this, and fitted them all with such a Lord as themselves, if to choose, would, for this respect, have chosen.

This was so happy a match, and so well thought of, as being that which perfectly suited this general administration, as it was no sooner thought of, but instantly it was concluded and agreed on by the three in heaven, and particularly consented to by the Son himself; who, as Peter's phrase is, 'was pre-ordained before the foundation of the world was laid;' all things else depending on this, God's first resolve about him. No sooner was it agreed, but instantly God the Father, and the Godhead in the other two, embraced and 'possessed him' (as the expression is, Prov. 8:22, 'The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old'), possessed him as a rich and complete treasury and magazine of all his counsels laid up with him; and also a most able minister and agent for the execution of all his works. Christ, who is both 'the wisdom of God, and the power of God,' executively; his universal instrument, 'by whom,' a complete subject, 'in whom' to manifest all his glory; and ver. 30 of the same chapter, 'I was as one brought up with him,' as it is translated; it is a word so full of significancies to our purpose as nothing could be more comprehensive. The word אמון in the Hebrew signifies,* any one that was nutritius, the nurse or nourisher; as unto whom God had committed all his works, as men do their children unto a nurse, to cherish, bring up, and govern to all his ends he had designed them for; yea, as the word also signifies, to be his artist, architect, or master builder of them in their first creation; who took the fabric of the whole universe upon him, to contrive and frame the rearing of it with the most exquisite skill, to the most beautiful fashion that might be. For these things and many more doth that word signify. So as God presently said with himself, I have found a servant that shall perform all my pleasure, a chosen shaft, a meetful universal engine, adequate to all my purposes and thoughts, a sufficient groundwork and foundation for any manifestation of himself he should desire to make; so as I need not to go out of him or leave him out in anything I have a mind to do. And all this over and above, or besides, his being my delight in his person unto myself, whom alone and simply I delighted in for himself alone, which there follows, 'I was his delight,' &c. Thus was he appointed Lord of all, as fitted and suited, both to God and his whole creation, and the designs thereof, which to be meant of him as God-man, I have (I hope) elsewhere made evident.

And this is no other than that which I afore observed to be generally the sense of the Jewish Cabalists, who speak on this wise of the Messiah, that he is a treasure in which God or Jehovah hath hid all the riches he means to communicate unto us. And further, to be the great steward and governor under God Jehovah, nourishing, cherishing, and dispensing all. With which this scripture in the Proverbs agreeth.

CHAPTER IX

That all things do depend upon Christ as one Lord, as God-man, as well as upon the Father, as one God.—God's eternal purposes concerning the whole creation were made in Christ, as God-man.—By him God made the world.—The more peculiar dependence, which the elect have on Christ, God-man, as their head.—They hold of him the tenure of a spiritual being, above what they had by creation, and of all supernatural blessings and benefits.

By whom are all things, and we by him.—1 COR. 8:6.

We have seen what the import of this high title, 'one Lord,' is, and that in this place it denotes an office put upon him as God-man, and the fitness of that person alone for this universal office or dignity.

I am as yet but upon generals, which lead on to many particulars that are to follow, and at large to be discoursed and beaten out; I intending, God assisting, to dilate upon all, or the most particulars, wherein Christ, considered as God-man, is found subservient unto God his Father, in and for the giving being to, and effecting of, all his works ad extra, or which are out of himself. But the present purpose on this text is to touch rather upon two generals, according as Christ's Lordship is divided.

First, His relation unto all things, whatever they be, that are distinct from the we. All things in nature or providential.

The second is, What concerns the elect, either in their supernatural being and new constitution of them; in a word, What they are, they are by him, the whole of them, and what belongs to them supernaturally.

I come to the first. For we must remember that this mediation-work between God and man is but one part of his Lordship, although the greatest for moment and glory; but it further contains a commission from God, to be a Lord over all things; as Peter speaks, Acts 10:36, as that which is another part of it. And again, a Lord not only over all things to rule, and govern, and order them for God, and under God, when they shall be once made, but with a commission from God, for the making of them, by virtue of that his office which was given him long afore the creation itself; that although the second person did only personally then subsist, yet he bore or sustained the personage of God-man in the very creation itself. All these you have full in the text, in that title 'one Lord.' And then his Lordship is parted into two administrations and commissions, one towards 'all things,' the other towards 'us.' And that towards all things, extending to their very beings, 'by whom are all things;' even by whom all things are what they are, or any way shall ever be, from the first foundation-stone of being, unto the full perfection of them.

And these being wrapt up here but in generals, I shall therefore do no more, but for the confirmation of this first head, give one general proof comprehensive of all things, and which ascends far higher than to prove Christ's being only instrumental to the execution of all; but further, that God's eternal purposes concerning all things were made in Christ as the forge, or machine, in which they were all formed. And this, if proved, we must needs acknowledge the dependence of all things upon this one Lord, to be great indeed, when God's very purposes of them shall be found to be in him. And therefore still, that himself was purposed first; and this dependence is superior, and metaphysical (as I may so speak), unto his being the executor or administrator of them all. For his purposes are the supreme cause and original of all things. And therefore in that sole instance, I shall over and above make good, that all things are 'through him' indeed.

I shall now, in this general part of my discourse, allege but one scripture for this head; and add, for the proof of the creation of all things to have been through him, a neighbouring text thereunto, bordering upon it, which will be sufficient in this metaphysical part to have performed, as touching this head.

I. God's eternal purposes concerning all things were made in Christ, as God-man.

God's eternal purposes concerning the creatures, or his works that are out of or without himself, are immanent acts of God's, remaining in himself. And yet God so honoured this our one Lord, as not to purpose any thing which was to be out of himself, ad extra, without the contemplation of his being God-man, on whom (as such) all things should depend. In Eph. 1:9, it is expressly said, 'Which he purposed in himself;' involving therein his very purposes of working all things whatsoever, as well as his purposes of grace to his elect; as appeareth by comparing ver. 11, 'In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.' And in like manner, chap. 3:11 of the same epistle, it is said, 'According to the eternal purpose which he had made' (so in the original) 'in Jesus Christ our Lord.' Which purposes there, as to the object matter of them, do in like manner involve, and take in all the various goings forth of God, of what kind soever, even the whole system of God's works, wherein and whereby 'the manifold wisdom of God' had, beforehand, contrived to manifest God by; for that is the matter immediately afore treated of in the verse foregoing, ver. 10, 'To the intent that now, unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.' And unto this it is that those words cited out of ver. 11 do relate: that is, the whole economy and dispensation of God in the works of creation, providence, government of this world, and of his church hitherto under the Old Testament, being now set together, with the work of redemption performed by Jesus Christ, and under the times of the gospel begun to be discovered, and thereby being all viewed in one prospect by the angels, who before had but by piecemeal been the curious observers of all, and each all along observing, and laying still each in their hearts, as they had passed and been acted; but then it came to pass, by the discovery of the gospel, that the infinite, various, or manifold wisdom of God in the whole, broke forth in the person of Christ, to their admiration and astonishment; that all had been purposed in him, even all these purposes whatever, of one as well as of the other. It is there said, that they were made in Jesus Christ, as he is our Lord, verses 10, 11, 'To the intent that now, unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.' So as this was it which became the matter of the wonderment to them, to see and behold how both their and our Lord Christ was made the centre of them all; and that the works, yea, the purposes of them in God's heart, about creation, providence, and all sorts of works, wherein the manifold wisdom of God had so appeared, all dispensations to the Jews (the church of old), and now the calling of the new church, the Gentiles, were founded all in this one God-man Jesus Christ.

For the concluding of this there are three things particularly and eminently observable to my purpose out of those words, and their coherence.

The first; That all those several sorts of purposes are termed but one single purpose; for so in the original it is in the singular number, all being but one act in God, and all made in one and the same Jesus Christ, and as one single purpose, though comprehending a whole system and lump of purposes.

The second; The phrase made is used concerning this one big purpose, made (which is the phrase) 'in Jesus Christ.'

Observe, I say, concerning it, that whereas in the former chapter, ver. 9, you read, that 'God purposed all in himself;' yet here, that he made the same purpose in Christ, even as when it should and did come to the execution, it is said, that 'all things are through and by this one Lord, as well as of one God. As they are coupled jointly in execution, so in purposes. Only as the apostle, in another case, says of him, the purpose of making and ordaining Christ himself, in whom all else are, must necessarily be excepted. And this notes out that they were made in him, as he was made Lord and Christ; as Peter, Acts 2:36, 'Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.' They were verified all in Christ, as the French phrase is, of the sanction to their laws. So all God's purposes, taken up in God's own heart and bosom, are said to be made in Christ; they had their ratification in Christ, God brought them to a firm subsistence and ultimate resolvedness in and through his Christ as a Lord. For, seeing all things purposed were to be brought into existence by him, therefore the honour God gave him in his very decrees was, that the very purposes of them are said to be made in him, without whom they would, as to the effect and issue of them, have been made in vain, he being present and by, and undertaking to effect them all; therefore they are from the very first purposed in him. So as all God's eternal purposes depended on this Lord,

The third thing I observe is, that to shew this universal dependence of all God's purposes on his one Christ, he answerably mentions all his titles.

1. Of Saviour, in that his name of Jesus. 2. Of Christ. 3. Of Lord.

Which three do comprehend a respect and foundation unto all his purposes of what sort soever. The words afore mention all three, 'In Jesus Christ our Lord,' which issues fully to the point in hand, and falls in with the words here to the Corinthians, my text.

Thus of God's purposes, which were the matrix, the womb of all things.

II. Christ is the medium of God's creation, &c.

But more particularly, let me here add one instance, which may yet serve for all other, and I add it here, because it neighboureth so near this form, as I could not well leave it out here. And it concerns the execution of all things begun by the same Christ, as the former did the purposes of all things in Jesus Christ. And so we have proof and instance in both kinds, both in God's purposes and in the execution of them, out of the same chapter.

When God should after, as he did, come to effect or put in execution all or any of these the purposes of his heart, still this Lord presents himself as fit and able to subserve him in the execution thereof, as an universal agent or instrument, in the virtue of whom he effected them all, and brought them forth to act.

For instance:

The first purpose of God that was put into execution, and which was indeed the groundwork, the materia substrata, or subject matter of all other works that were to follow in execution, was that of creation; the putting of all things into being (as the ultimate or bottom-subject, the matter which his decrees were to have to work upon); of this it is expressly said, in Eph. 3:9, and indeed is added by the apostle as the eminent instance of all the rest, 'Who created all things by Jesus Christ,' not one thing excepted, but was created by him.

And again; If when God, setting his hand to create, would make more worlds than one (as he hath made two, viz., heaven and earth), in the virtual influence of this Lord, God-man, it was, that these worlds were made, Heb. 1:2, 'Whom he hath appointed heir of all things; by whom also he made the worlds.' And herein, likewise again, this Lord is the maker of all and every thing in each and both these worlds; so Col. 1:16, 'visible or invisible, whether things in earth or in heaven.' All which is to be understood of him as God-man. But of these things afterwards, upon that Col. 1:16, &c., more particularly.

III. The church of the elect have a more special dependence upon the one Lord Christ, as God-man, 1 Cor. 8:6, 'And we by him.'

I shall lay down only some generals, that shew the tenure that the church of the elect hold on the one Lord Christ, as God-man.

Two things are imported in these words, 'And we by him.'

1. A super-creation being and existence given us in him.

2. Super-creation blessings, and benefits by him, which appertain to that being in him. Which blessings are of two sorts.

(1.) Of redemption, as sinners, through this one Lord; as he is Jesus, that we hold of his merits.

(2.) Of blessings abstractly considered from those of redemption; that we hold of him as he is Christ the Lord, through our relation to, and union with his person.

We have had a general view presented to us, how all things, that is, the whole creation, do and did depend upon our Lord Christ, even in God's very purposing of them.

It is therefore meet I should next speak the like generally to this other part, the tenure that the saints, the elect of God, have, and do hold of Christ: to the end, that this part of the structure may correspond with that which is foregone, which had but in general treated the dependence that all things have upon him.

And it is this latter is infinitely the more eminent of the two, and yet both necessary to shew the completeness of Christ, as God-man; as in his person, so in his subserviency to God, in all his works whatsoever.

And we by him. 1. The we here are God's church of mankind, selected out of all things which he created, and here separated from them, as a company standing out apart by themselves, and who were separated and appointed by his Father to be a body unto him as a head. Now, if we consider them in their first creation state, so they are to be counted among the all things, and as such efficiently depending on him as one Lord, the creator, &c., of them. But when here he adds, and 'we by him,' this imports their being a chosen generation, a peculiar people to God, the chosen of God out of all things else; and his being a peculiar, special founder unto them of a super-creation state, and a dependency upon him for the whole of it, as he is Jesus Christ the Lord, which they have from him de novo, and by a newer kind of title than that of creation—a state, and all things belonging to it, wholly supernatural unto that which was by creation.

And here again, like as was said in way of premise to that former first head, of the dependency of all things upon Christ, our thoughts and contemplations must mount up again to that supreme age, or highest point of eternity, the top of that vast sphere and circle that comprehended us and all things, considered as yet decreeable by God, and but in decreeing; and considered,* that there lay afore our great God, in his divine understanding, a platform of far higher and momentous designs than those, and beyond those of the first creation and providence towards all things, together with man, after his kind, in common with them, namely, of calling in, and bringing a certain first-fruits (as the apostle James's word is, James 1:18, 'Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures') of that his intended first creation, to consecrate them to himself, through a super-creation union and communion with himself—a state which was to be utterly superlative in all the things belonging to it, comparatively unto that state of and by their first creation, and all and everything whatsoever that appertains thereto—a state, in the ultimate end and perfection of it, such as in heaven, after the work of redemption is finished, the saints and angels shall enjoy to all eternity; and in bringing us to which he carries us through variety of means preparatory, or conducing thereunto, and all and each of them supernatural also. He, in his infinite grace and wisdom, found his only begotten Son, Christ, God-man, to be the person. Yea, and in his person as such, every way accomplished, adapted, and furnished to accomplish this design so fully and completely, as that whatever be designed by such a gracious decree, proceeding out of sovereignty, and such a love that should so far transcend that love which by creation he bore to us (a pure super-creation grace, I style it), whatever (I say) should enter into the thoughts of such an exceeding 'riches of grace,' to bestow on them he would so love, this great Lord, his Christ, was adequately fitted and enabled to be the founder of. This God-man was a person after God's own heart, to the very utmost extent of his gracious purposes and counsels; and in his person empowered to accomplish, at the first instant of his undertaking it, whatever God could think of for them, or had a mind to give them.

Now all and the whole of this super-creation state we have by him, are reducible unto two principal heads.

First, What we are, or rather that we are, or are endowed with a new super-creation being.

Secondly, The endowments which that being is invested withal, or the super-creation benefits that appertain and belong to it.

And both these, and all of these, we are by him; he is the foundation of all we are or have.

1. He is the founder of a new super-creation being, which is the subject of all benefits bestowed; as God's giving Adam a natural being after his image, that was the subject and recipient of all the blessings he enjoyed, and a thing distinctly to be considered of.

We commonly say, when a subject hath been raised up unto a great estate, honours, offices, whereunto he hath a legal right given him by his prince, in whose power it alone was to invest him therewith, we use in like manner of speech unto this here to express it, that what he is he is by him, and therefore call him his creature; which is but translatitious, when yet he had not his existence, which is the subject, or the person, unto whom all these privileges do belong. But this our Christ is not only the founder of our right to all those supernatural, super-creation benefits, but God hath also founded for us in him a super-creation being and existence (and not only that actual existence we have from him), when we are made new creatures: a workmanship created in Christ Jesus more truly than the child may be said to be formed and fashioned in the mother, and the foundation of his being lay in her womb. And it is this new creature, superinduced over the natural person, which is the subjectum of the first creation, which in Scripture is termed 'the man;' Col. 3:10, 'Put on the new man, after the image of him that created him,' namely, Christ, the creator of it. That is the man and the him in the apostle's account. And observe the language the apostle useth, when he speaks of himself, 2 Cor. 12, 'I knew a man in Christ,' &c., ver. 2; 'Of such a man I will glory, but of myself I will not glory,' ver. 5. And yet it was himself he spake of. But he reckoned not himself by the creation-roll, but what he was in the King's book; no, nor of the new creature neither would he glory, but as it was in Christ, and so it had a being. But further, we had a super-creation existence given us in Christ afore the world was, which was the foundation of the new creature, and which makes us thus capable of all those benefits which were then also and therewith given. And super-creation benefits must have a super-creation being, or state of being, given them, superior to our first creation being, and the benefits thereof, which in God's decrees we were appointed unto, as well as naturally to exist, by virtue of which we come to have a title unto those blessings.

For if our first creation members were all written in God's book of his purposes, so all the members, which are the various graces, the new man or creature consists of, they were all written in God's everlasting purposes. Yea, and all the blessings that belong to this new creature, are altogether therewith given us in Christ, as is express in 2 Tim. 1:9, 'Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.' The work in God's calling us, is the forming the new creature in our hearts; styled therefore there 'an holy calling,' as working holiness. And this foundation-blessing is said to have been given us in Christ, according to his purpose of grace in Christ, that was afore the world began; and they could not be said to have been given us in Christ, unless we were considered some way or other in Christ then. God did not take up naked purposes of grace and good-will to us, with a firm intent and resolution to bestow those blessings on us, though his purposes are as mountains of brass, as the prophet speaks, Zech. 6:1. But he was pleased to fix and ratify them in his Christ; and in like manner us and our persons he founded then in Christ, and considered in Christ. God had as then his Christ present with him, and by him; and reckoned of us as members of him, and elected us as such. And God thought not his bare purpose of election of our persons enough to satisfy Christ, who at that present undertook for us; nor to comfort us when we should come actually to exist in this world, and to lay hold of his grace; nor was he contented, if I may so speak, with Christ's bare concurrence, as second person, in choosing us, as well as the Father himself did, but further to strengthen his own heart in those his purposes towards us; as in the 8th of Proverbs it is said, our Christ was with him, strengthening and supporting his intended creation to him. He thereby engaged himself unto Christ then present for us, yea, and constituted and set up Christ as a representative of us, and common person for us. And Christ accepted us, took us into himself, and owned us as his, and pieces of himself. And in these respects the elect had a being afore God; such as was far more than what was simply given them in God's decrees, or purposes of grace, or good-will, or bare choice on God's part. But his choice did find a foundation of their existing. For this his Christ was there present with him, actually existent, and at his request to bear the person of God-man; and therein to estate us all, at the instant of his choice, as far as he should name them to him, to be his body, spouse, members; and he from that instant also to bear and represent their persons afore his Father, and so to give them a representative being in himself, which other creatures then had not, but were left singly to their own fortunes, stations. And in these respects it is that Christ, as God-man, is styled the everlasting Father, Isa. 9:6. Father of us, namely, from everlasting; bearing us then in his heart, as a mother doth her children in her womb. So as by means hereof it came to pass, that the elect were not as branches hanging in the sunbeams of God's single purpose of grace only, to produce and bring them forth into actual existence by its single influence, but such as have withal a soil, a root they were planted in, the person of Christ; he and we being σύμφυτοι, as twin-plants, planted together in God's heart from the first. Hence that high foundation of election, which is called 'the election of grace,' is said to be in Christ. He hath chosen us in Christ afore the world began. And though God chose the persons, yet completed he his choice of them in Christ, and gave us a being in him, as in a head, and then gave them this being in Christ; but chose them in Christ, from the first cast of his thoughts to choose them. God never considered us as single persons out of Christ (though in this respect that he determinately and distinctly foreknew, and pitched upon each of our persons), but chose us one in and with his Son, as a head, or common person, taking our persons and undertaking for them. He never abstractedly considered or viewed us apart from, or without Christ, but as one in him, and with him, constituted and made one head and body at once. And this aforehand gave them a subsistence of another kind than what by creation they were to receive. Insomuch as their state in him is termed a being, a new being and existence; as the subject upon which being first constituted, the benefits do fall. 'Of him ye are in Jesus Christ,' says the apostle, 1 Cor. 1:30. Lay that as our foundation of Christ his being made wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to us; which are the benefits that belong to that being. In him ye are or have a being, says the apostle. And before God Christ had it, from that time wherein we were given to God by him. And we began so far to be, as we were considered in him, and that was at our everlasting election; and he to be sure had an actual being, and bore an actual representation of us. And this laid a corner-stone of a higher being supernatural, even from eternity, than what our first creation came unto.

This super-creation being having been thus settled, I come to the second head proposed, viz.,

II. A general consideration of the benefits wholly supercreational.

These super-creation blessings we hold of Christ, are of two sorts, and distinct,

1. Such as are supernatural, even in respect of our first creation estate, unto which for that cause I give the style of super-creation benefits, which do far exceed in value the first stock of creation blessings: such as that of adoption of sons, heirs of glory, an unchangeable love of God to us, and of an immutability of our love, and of perfect holiness in us unto God again.

2. The second sort of benefits are those that are supernatural in respect unto our sinful, corrupt, miserable estate we are fallen into, and delivered out of. Such as are pardon of sin, justification, and a restauration of that original holiness we lost, and had once in Adam; together with that high superinduction of the image of Christ in his dying and rising; which involves in it the original holiness we had once in Adam, conformable to the holy law. These I call purely redemption-blessings, and may wholly be called supernatural, as aforesaid.

And these two sorts of benefits, as they are apparently distinct in themselves, so answerably they have a distinct foundation of Christ. For

The first sort have their foundation in his very person, through a given relation of us to him, and him to us; and these are abstractly considered from redemption, or the benefits belonging thereunto, and purchased thereby. So as God giving us unto him, and he accepting us for his body, and to be one with us for ever; even by virtue of this relation there is a wonderful sphere and round of blessings, which have a foundation thereby, and might have had, if God had so pleased, if men should never have fallen. And although man falling, God decreed that other sort of redemption mercies; yet so as these first sort were originally decreed, as being more glorious, without the consideration of the fall. And though (as I acknowledge) they were upon man's fall purchased all anew, upon the account of redemption; yet the interest of his person, and our very relation to his person (as aforesaid) was in the original decree of God about us, and continues to be the main foundation, with a distinct consideration from those of redemption, of our right unto those blessings, although also purchased by redemption, so as for us to have a double title to them.

The second sort of benefits are wholly by virtue of redemption, and flow from the merits and influence of the acts thereof, and wholly so arise from an acquired interest of his obedience, death, resurrection, &c. And again, although the merit that purchased these benefits do wholly arise from the worth and dignity of his person; as namely his death and blood, that it was the blood of God; and the obedience of him that was offered up by the eternal Spirit, the Godhead in him, and is therefore called 'the righteousness of God;' yet these benefits are not founded and conveyed merely from our relation to his person, abstractedly considered from his redemption; as if that relation to and union with his person could have produced or procured these redemption blessings, as I style them, without a super-additional merit acquired, over and above, and beside that of the interest of his person.

CHAPTER X

How all things depend on Christ, God-man; and what influence he hath into them; further proved and illustrated by that text in Col. 1:16.—Some cautions premised for the understanding it aright.—What is meant by those expressions, 'in him' and 'by him' are all things.

For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him.—COL. 1:16.

Now is to succeed that other title of glories due to our Lord Christ, considered as God-man, namely, in his relation unto the works and counsels of God, and the influence he hath in them, the dependence they all have, either actually or virtually, upon that personal union of the Son of God with our nature; and this is the second thing in order in the text, or a second crown of glory, which our apostle here setteth upon our Lord's head, who is yet, moreover, above and besides all this, an head unto his church, &c., as ver. 18.

That these things here are spoken of him as God-man, and not as second person only, I shewed in the first chapter of this book, in the latter part of it, wherein I opened and sorted the particulars of this text into their due method.

The only difficulty that here occurs (ere we proceed any further) is, that seeing the Son of God did not assume that man Jesus into one person with himself until four thousand years after the creation; how can the work of the creation be attributed to him, considered as God-man, that 'by him all things were created'? And so, why should it not still rest upon this account, that by him, simply considered as God's Son, and second person, all things were made.

Towards the clearing of this I cast in these ensuing particulars.

I. That there is a double influence which causes have into effects; one virtual, the other actual. Not to instance in other causes (if any such like to this might be found), it will be enough to give a parallel instance in Christ himself, whose actions performed by him, when come in the flesh, had yet a virtual influence into many things that were done long before, either the actual existence of him in the flesh, or the performance of those actions; yea, the virtue whereof reached to the beginning of the world. Thus by virtue of his death, Adam, and Eve, and Abraham, and all the fathers, were saved. Not to prove this by induction, but by the lump; Peter having spoken of all the fathers under the Old Testament, Acts 15, in the last words of ver. 10 immediately subjoins and pronounceth this as common to the Jews and themselves now in the times of the New Testament; 'We believe that, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they,' ver. 11, that is, they and we both alike are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yea, and further, this their salvation is attributed to his death; which though once, as a sacrifice offered up in the end of the world, Heb. 9:26, yet was offered up 'for sins past;' Rom. 3:25, 'Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.' And that under the Old Testament, saith Heb. 9:15, 'And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.'

And as there is this double influence, so answerably, a double existence may be conceived of him.

A virtual existence, which is affirmed of him in that speech, when he is said to have been the same Christ, yesterday as well as to-day, to all believers; Heb. 13:8, 'Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.' Yea, and his death, in respect of the virtue of it, hath existed from the beginning of the world, as that speech, Rev. 15:8, evidently imports, 'the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world.'

Let us first see what the text will speak in favour of this interpretation, yea, let us but compare phrase with phrase, as things are spoken of him; in this text, he is said to be 'the first-born from the dead;' and, 1 Cor. 15:20, 'the first-fruits of them that slept,' in so much as, ver. 23 of that chapter, the priority of order in rising again is given to Christ, 'but every man in his own order; Christ the first-fruits; afterwards they that are Christ's.' But is it so, that Christ, in respect of an actual priority, was the first of all the elect that rise again; so as none of them afore him, though you know Lazarus, and divers others at his death, rose out of their graves? And yet, still he is the first-born, the eldest Son, whom that womb of the earth gave up, the first fruits that soil brought forth, which therefore must necessarily be understood of a virtual existence and priority; and so, as because by virtue of him, all others do and have risen again. Then you may, by these and the like parallels, easily conceive how this assertion is to be understood, that 'all things were created by him,' as God-man, and as that one Lord or Christ; as also, that there is not a necessity to ascribe all such things spoken of him, or to put the account of his being second person alone, as abstracted from the consideration of his being Lord, and Christ, because said to be done by him afore the human nature existed.

And so the plain sense of this assertion is this, that the Son of God, personally and actually existing as the Son of God with God, afore the world or any creature was made, he undertaking and covenanting with God to become a man (yea, that man which he hath now taken up into one person with himself), as well for this end as for other ends more glorious, God did in the virtue and fore-knowledge thereof, and in the assurance of that covenant of his, proceed unto the creating all things which he hath made; and without the intuition, or having this in his eye, he would not have made any thing which he hath made.

II. The second particular is, the adding some cautions touching the understanding of this assertion.

1. It is not to be understood, as if I meant, that God had not sufficient power, or absolute sovereignty, to have created, unless the Son of God had become man. God was God, blessed for ever, and all-sufficient in himself, without this design about Christ; so as it adds no new power to him, which he had not in himself afore. Thus take that power which is in God to sanctify us now, when fallen into sin, and which is in the Holy Ghost to effect it in us, is one and the same essential power, which is in God as God, out of which he made man at first, and created him in holiness, and no other. And Christ's redemption, or dying for us, adds no new degree of essential power to God, or the Holy Ghost, whereby to enable him to sanctify us, as if else he wanted power to do it. No; and yet we say, as to the exerting or putting forth that power, that it depends morally on Christ's having died, as without which it would not have been put forth; as also, for that his death purchased the power, and also the mercy that was in God, to have it demonstrated, in raising up men dead in sins and trespasses; and so we say it is to be attributed to his death and resurrection virtually, which also the Scripture affirms, Philip. 3:10, 'That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death."

2. As to the point in hand, I assert not neither so high and so great a dependence of this creating power upon the personal union, as is of sanctifying us upon Christ's redemption, for by his death he purchased that power. But so it is not here, as if that his undertaking to assume man's nature had purchased this putting forth God's power to create; but the dependence thereon refers to God's will, and so is ex hypothesi, that he would otherwise never have gone about to create, he would never have been pleased with any creature, or all creatures, he could have made, without this; and so in him, and from him, as so considered, it was, that God condescended thereunto, as the reasons of this point, annexed to the proof of it, will give the account of.

3. When this is attributed to Christ as God-man, it is not exclusively to be understood as if, as second person, he did not concur to create as well as the Father and the Holy Ghost, because he virtually concurred as God-man. No; for look as in redemption, the Son, as second person, concurs as well as the Father and the Spirit, as it is one act in common of the three persons, yet so as over and above, Christ, as God-man in one person, doth in especial effect it; so here in creation, he hath, over and above his common concurrence as second person, in this, and all works else, a special honour attributed to him, as God-man, from his virtual hand in it.

III. It will much conduce to the right stating of this point, as I assert it, to take notice of the aberrations from, and yet dark gropings after this truth.

1. Arius, he would have Christ to have been a great creature in the form of God, and as a God by office, and like unto him in all things, existing afore the world was, as the medium or means by whom God made all things; and that without the intervention of such an immense and divine creature, he would not immediately himself have created any thing.* But then, Arius withal denied that this Christ was also God essentially, and of the substance of his Father, and so asserted him to be but a mere creature.

2. Others of late have in like manner thus endeavoured to set out the person of Christ to us; that he was put forth by God out of himself, a mere creature, and under the covenant of works; yet so as in his person he was the Spirit, the seminal or prolific virtue of all the creatures that could or should be made, being the whole mass of what God had in him to afford to make creatures out of, distinct from himself; as man hath to afford what if let out of himself is the foundation or matter of a son, or children from him; and that this great Son of his thus put forth, finding himself distinct from God now put forth, and so as a mere creature mutable, as under the covenant of works, as all are by the law of creation, and that so he would die and perish if he remained alone and thus out of God, he therefore, by the supernatural guidance and impulse of God, willingly died to that creatureship and the state and condition thereof, and giving that up to a oneness with God in spirit, he rose and ascended up to a being in the form of God, and one with God in Spirit, and in this respect was termed 'the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world,' and then did create, as God, and as being in the form of God, and put forth angels and this world, and all things out of himself, and thereby is become the head of the first creation; and by his appearing in flesh in that man at Jerusalem, did, by the like example acted by him, teach us men to die unto our being creatures, which hath been commonly termed by them, destroying of flesh, &c., and then to rise up in spirit unto that being in the form of God, and one in spirit with God, even as Christ himself afore the world had done, and thereby preserved himself from ruin. And this is the covenant of grace, say they; thus Christ became the head of the new creation, as he was author of the first.

3. That great and excellently learned man, Sir Francis Bacon, in a confession of faith, which I had in manuscript, under his hand, about forty-six years ago, and since printed, 1641, but without his name, his words are these:

'I believe that God is so holy, pure, and jealous, as it is impossible for him to be pleased in any creature, though the work of his own hands; so that neither angel nor man could stand, or can stand one moment in his eyes without the beholding of the same in the face of a mediator; and therefore before him with whom all things are present, the Lamb of God was slain afore all the world, without which eternal purpose of his it was impossible for him to have descended to any work of creation, but he should have enjoyed the blessed and individual society of three persons in the Godhead only for ever. But that out of his eternal and infinite goodness and love, purposing to become a creature, and communicate with his creatures, he ordained in his eternal counsel, that one person of the Godhead should be united to one nature, and to one particular of his creatures, that so in the person of the mediator the true ladder might be fixed whereby God might descend to his creatures, and his creatures ascend unto him.'

And in his fifth paragraph it follows:—

'That by virtue of this his eternal counsel, touching a mediator, he descended at his own good pleasure, and according to the times and seasons, to himself known, to become a creature; who by his eternal Word created all things, and by his eternal Spirit doth comfort and preserve them.'

There are two things in his stating this which I do not readily assent unto.

1. That Christ was considered by God as the Lamb slain; and from the foresight of his death, and the second person undertaking to become the Lamb slain, it was that God designed to create, even as through and for his death, as afore considered, he ordained to redeem man, considered then as fallen. But this needed not as to creation, there being no supposition of guilt in that which was nothing, which all things afore their creation were; and besides, though his taking our nature was designed and proved to our redemption from sin, yet sufficient alone to move him simply to make and create mere creatures was that other reason which he gives, that one person of the Godhead should be united to one of his own creatures; in whose person, so united, God's holiness and purity would fully be pleased to descend to create other fellow-creatures for him and his glory. Let Christ's blood then stand to reconcile sinners, or those that were in danger to sin; and let his bare undertaking to be united to a creature be a sufficient relief against the meanness of mere creatures, and by their defects to set forth his glory. The creature alone considered had not been worth the making without this design; Christ's person alone was an abundantly well-pleasing medium or mediator of union to the elect, and of stability unto the frailty and unworthiness in creatures.

2. The second thing (which may stumble some) in this assertion is, that he says, it was impossible for God without this counsel or decree (namely, of Christ's incarnation) to have descended to any work of creation, &c. Which expression, unless understood of an impossibility ex hypothesi, by way of supposition (that God would not have been pleased with any or all works his power could make, unless this personal union of some creature with God had been added and undertaken), would have a danger in it, and a great absurdity. Only as of a wise man it is said, he cannot do that which his wisdom and will, guided by counsel, thinks no meet for him to do; so the same may be affirmed of God, which also seems, by the tenure of his speech, to have been his scope.

But the state I would put this assertion into, in distinction from this, and in perfect opposition to those forementioned errors of others, is,

That indeed, according to the Scriptures, and the very foundations of our religion, God needed not any mere creature to help him to create, but it is his own immediate power that doth it, as the book of Job and Genesis tells us; therefore (to obviate that objection) our Christ is truly and by nature very God, of the same substance with his Father, begotten by him, and equal to him, and that afore the world was; as also at the creation, he existed as God with God his Father, afore any creature was, or any way assumed by him.

His subserviency to God in the creation is set forth in this Col. 1:16, in three particles.

I. Ἐν ἀυτῳ,* In him.

II. Διʼ ἀυτοῦ, By him.

III. Ἐις ἀυτὸν, For him.

I. In him, as the exemplary cause, so some schoolmen of old interpreted it; for it is not in him all the creatures can be said to be as in a head, for that is the peculiar and proper privilege of elect men and angels, that are homogeneal to him. He is a Lord to every creature, but not a head, therefore the exemplary cause is intended. And this was one reason, among many others, why God, in his decree about what creature the second person should assume, pitched upon man's nature rather than that of angels, because man's nature is the compendium of all, and so fitted to be (as in Christ it was) exalted the exemplar, the πρωτότυπον, the pattern of the whole creation. The poets feigned a piece out of every creature to have been taken to make up man, the perfection of them all. In his reasonable soul, which is a spirit that can subsist of itself, he agrees with angels; in his body, and the lives thereof, sensitive and vegetative, with beasts and plants, &c. Now therefore God set up Christ as the pattern of all perfection (for so that human nature, united and quickened by the Godhead, must needs be even above the angels themselves, though having a body, and more excellent than they), and drew in scattered pieces the several perfections met in that human nature in the rest of the creation from this pattern. And in man's creation (whose nature it was he was to assume) this seems to have been considered by God, in that speech then uttered, 'Let us make man accord-to our image,' which in Christ as decreed to be God-man, and in which, as such, he is styled, 'the image of the invisible God,' as hath been shewn (which some, both ancient and modern divines, have interpreted of Christ, as to be made man, notwithstanding Austin's objection). Even as that speech used when man was created,—'Man was made a living soul'—is interpreted by the apostle, 1 Cor. 15:45, &c., to have an eye to Christ, as the type or shadow hath to the body, so likewise that speech uttered before concerning his creation, 'Let us make man after our image,' that man refers to whom God was to be united to, and is as if God had said, whom we in our decrees have set up as the pattern and expressest image of the invisible Godhead, common to all three persons, to the utmost liveliness ordained to be set out, in him who was set out. Therefore the first in intention, and decree, and therein before this man Adam, and all things, and of whom this man Adam is but a shadow.

II. The second phrase is, δἰ ἀυτοῦ, 'By him all things were created;' so Eph. 3:9, where speaking of the mystery of the gospel itself (whereof Christ was the great founder, and apparent author in all men's eyes), he adds, how the same Christ had also created all things, he having been some way the instrument, as he is Christ, God-man, anointed of the creation, as well as actually of redemption. And the coming of it in there, so by a mere occasional addition, imports as if this Christ indeed had been concealed, and came not into the world, but then when the gospel was to be revealed and manifested (of which he there speaks as a mystery hid), yet unto him, as thus to come into the world, was the world beholden for their creation. And this glory of Christ, God concealed until the full revelation of him in the great work of redemption, that so all his revenues of glory might come in together. Yea, if he were at all to be made a creature, it was his due personal privilege to have been first himself made, and himself to have been God's instrument in it, and to have uttered those words still which were spoken by God (yet as on purpose relating to him, as Cameron well observes), 'Let there be light, 'Let there be sun, moon,' &c. Even as it was his due, when he assumed our nature, to have been filled with all that personal glory which he hath now in heaven; but that for accomplishment of other ends also it was suspended, namely, that he might first become sin and a curse for us; so, I say, it was his due to have existed in his human nature first (supposing such a decree that he should assume); and then he, as God's Word and instrument, to have created all things, as he wrought miracles when he was on earth. But God having a further and more glorious end, suspended that (as he did his personal glory due to him, when he came), and contrived his coming after the fall, in order to redemption. He yet gives him that glory of creation virtually, and that he created all things by him, and by virtue of his incarnation; and in creating (to shew he should have done it as his λόγος, a Word to be made flesh) he accordingly acts his part, as in Gen. 1, 'God said, Let there be light,' and the like, which but for this very mystery needed not have been. Yea, such seems to have been his subserviency to God herein, that John contents not himself only to have said, that 'all things were made by him,' but further adds, 'and without him nothing was made that was made,' Unto the interpretation of which place, hereto annexed,* I refer the reader for a farther explication and confirmation o this truth.

And the reason of this is, partly to honour his Son, to make that his act of undertaking to assume our nature (whereby the Son should be made less than his Father, even in the greatest height of glory that could be put upon him; and yet he did this to manifest the Godhead to the utmost), the foundation of the creation, as he did his incarnation in frail flesh, together with his sufferings the foundation of our salvation (for upon the decrees of God's will we will suppose the connection of these to depend); but yet partly withal, because it was not meet, nor did it become the great God to make any mere creatures, though never so glorious, but upon Christ's undertaking first himself to be a creature, and that for two reasons.

First, For if God glorify himself by creation at all, he will glorify himself as God the utmost way that may be, or else he doth not like himself. God is curious in the works which his hands mean to make, and will manifest his Godhead unto the utmost. Now all that could have been held forth and manifested of the Godhead, in and to mere creatures, had fallen short, had not been to the utmost; therefore if God satisfy himself, it must be by that which is the utmost, or he would have torn all projects of models of worlds in pieces, and never have put them in execution; for still he says with himself, I shall do my best and utmost, if there be not an union of some creature into one person with us. Nothing else would have satisfied his vast desires of being glorified.

And, secondly, the holiness of mere creatures would not have come up to a contentment of his, as the manifestation of the Godhead in the creation of mere creatures would not have given full contentment to his power and wisdom, so no mere created holiness to his holiness. He finds folly in the angels, possibility of mutability, an imperfection; but there is none in God incarnate. Now, therefore, if his Son will undertake to be a creature, he is so pleased herewith, as he can be content to condescend (as the psalmist's word is) to look down upon the making works of a lower nature. Which all serve also to illustrate this highest work of all, by their several subordination thereunto in their several ranks and orders.

It is strange that in the text there should be three phrases used concerning the creation in relation unto Christ. The creatures are said to be created in him, and created by him, and created for him.

In him, as a head, they are not. The creatures cannot be said to be created, as the elect are said to be chosen, in him: that is proper to those creatures that are homogeneal to him. In him, therefore, may well be understood virtually, as in Eph. 2:10, we are said to be 'his workmanship, created in him to good works:' so the old creation is also in him in a virtual respect. That place in Prov. 8:30, 'I was brought up with him' (speaking of Wisdom), I remember Junius translates it actively, Educat; I was he that did foster the creatures, he did foster the purposes of God in the creation of the world; he was Educans, nursing up and fostering of the old creation in his purpose. In Eph. 3:9, the apostle saith, that it was given to him to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who (saith he) created all things by Jesus Christ. He speaks of the mystery of the gospel. Now that Jesus Christ was the founder of the gospel, that was apparently known, it was in all men's eyes; but he addeth, by the same Jesus Christ he created all things, that is, by Jesus Christ as anointed God-man. And to me the words came in thus (for it is an addition by the way), that though the gospel only began to reveal this Christ, and he did not assume man's nature till the times of the gospel, and for evangelical ends and purposes, for the redemption of man took frail flesh; yet, saith he, know this, the world was beholden to him for its creation; and this is one glory of his that is not to be laid aside, and the revelation of it, saith he, is by the gospel. He brings it in here with the other, that Christ might have all his revenues of glory (which in the 8th verse have been styled his riches) come in together.

CHAPTER XI

That Christ as God-man is the Creator of all things, proved by scriptures.

The first proof out of the former text reassumed: 1 Cor. 8:6, 'By whom are all things.' Some further explanation how this is attributed to him as God-man, in answers to some queries respecting it.

I allege, in the first place, that preliminary text I took, of 1 Cor. 8:6. Shewing thereout, that the one God had set up Christ as the one Lord under himself, a Lord unto all his creatures. I then proved that title of Lordship there given him was not meant of his natural Lordship, as he is God, or singly as second person, but as God-man. For evidence of which I must refer the reader thither.

That particular improvement which I now make of that passage in that scripture, 'By him are all things,' is to set it in the front to the rest of scriptures that follow, to lead on to the proof of the point in hand founded upon this.

That if this title of one Lord be given him as God-man, and in respect of an office he sustains afore God, as was there proved, the inference is strong, that then he was as such first and chiefly forelaid in God's designs and everlasting purposes as a midst or foundation unto ALL, as upon whom all things in common for creation, and we in special for our supernatural estate, had a dependence, and not merely as second person. And it is of all things, as well as of the state of the elect. For,

1. If all things be by him, as the Lord, then he, under God, is a founder of them, as the Lord of them. For that which is by another,* must needs be acknowledged, as such, to be before that other. Nor is it said only that all are for him, as if in that respect only he were their Lord (which yet is true) as Adam, his type, was lord of all the visible world, and yet the world was not by him. But here he is such a Lord, as by whom or through whom all things are. And not only of them when they once are, but through whom they are and have their being. And so he is their founder as well as their end. Nor is he said simply to be Lord of all, as Acts 10:36, and Lord over all, Rom. 10:12; but here it is further, 'one Lord, by whom all.'

2. It is indifferently spoken of him, that all things are by him as one Lord, as that we (the church) are by him. Now all will and do acknowledge, that we, and all that belongs unto our salvation, do and doth depend on him as God-man, and as our Lord; and that that is the intent of that speech in that same 1 Cor. 8:6, 'and we by him.' In that respect, therefore, in their kind and proportion, all things else; for both are there set together and yoked in one and like parallel expression.

3. And indeed, 3dly, The dependence of all things on him, merely as God and second person, is afore included in that preceding speech; 'There is one God, the Father, of whom are all things.' And Christ, considered as second person, is one God with the Father, as our divines upon this place do affirm against the Socinian objection. And the Father is set for the other two persons, both the Son and Spirit; as in John 17:3, 'And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.' And here the Son is evidently implied in saying, 'One God, the Father,' spoken in relation to Christ as the Son; and because they are both thus included, therefore it is that the Spirit is not mentioned at all; when yet upon him is the same dependence that is upon the Father; yea, and of the Son and Spirit it is that all things are, as well as of the Father.

To conclude: what is that great truth the apostle sets the primitive churches a-work to pray about, and that the generality of the then heathen world might come to the knowledge of, but this very thing thus stated? 'God would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,' 1 Tim. 2:4, 5. And doth not this Corinthian text speak just in the same parallel language, 'one God, and one Lord?' So then it is not Christ, simply considered as second person, the apostle here intends as the one Lord here; that sense would be too narrow in comparison of this other, that comprehends the whole of our Christ, both as God, the substratum of his person, and also man, and the whole of his office in the relation he stands thereby unto God, to us, and all the whole creation.

There is a query or two may be made.

Query 1. Is not Christ's Lordship rather thus to be understood, That as God indeed he hath a natural right over all things, because as God he made them? And the title of God's dominion over all is founded on this, that he is the maker of them; and so, that Christ's official or commissionated Lordship over all as man is but only for him to be the end or ruler of them, which Ps. 8:4, compared with Heb. 2:6, gives him; 'But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?' What is man? Thou madest him to have dominion over the work of thy hands, &c., that is, when they are once made by him, considered as he is God; and therefore in that respect of his being man, is not to be extended to their creation, or to his being author of their very beings themselves.

I answer; That if Lord here in the text be meant of that commissionated Lordship he hath as God-man, as hath been proved; that then, as truly as that all things are said to be of one God, as God, in respect of their creation, so truly are all things said to be by this one Lord, though in a distinction from God. All things is a reaching word, and comprehends the very beings of things; and we see that in as full an extent of latitude it is spoken of Christ, that all are by him, as the former is of God, that all are of him; only with this note of difference, of him, so of God; but by him, so of that one Lord, shewing that God hath that dominion originally, but Christ derivatively, as a commissionated Lord, as he by whom God doth all things, that yet are of God himself. Now, when it is here said of God, 'all things are of him,' all readily understand it, that all things have their beings of him, and their very creation from him. Therefore also, when it is said of Christ, 'all things are by him,' it is in like manner imported that they all depend on this commissionated Lord for their beings and creation also. And the Scriptures fall in with this phrase and manner of expression, whilst they frequently say of Christ, 'all things were made by him,' and that 'God by him did make the worlds;' whilst they particularly express Christ's share of efficiency in their making and creation. This is the common language with what is here.

Ans. 2. The assertion is not that as man, singly considered, this is attributed unto him, but as God-man. Singly and alone as man he hath no such Lordship at all, either over all the creatures to rule them, much less to create; for a mere man was not capable of it (as was said). Nor, on the contrary, is it true that as he is God, singly considered, he only can create; but that as God-man he can create also (especially having been therewith commissioned thereto as such by God), even as well as forgive sins; which he takes on him as God-man to do. The Jews in a like manner objected, Mark 2:7, 'This man speaks blasphemies: who can forgive sins but God?' It is true, none could but he that is God. But it was not true that it was not so a property of God, considered singly as God only, that a man that was one person with God, or God-man, could not be partaker of it, as his personal privilege, by virtue of that union, or have a virtual influence thereunto, as well as God. And to put an end to that controversy, Christ gives this real demonstration of it, ver. 9 and 11, 'Whether is it easier to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, take up thy bed and walk? But that ye may know the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins.' Yea, Christ as God-man, doth greater works every day than create worlds. He creates 'new creatures,' and thereby causeth 'all old things to pass away, and all things to become new.' And he will 'create new heavens and a new earth;' and 'change our vile bodies, that they may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working of his mighty power, whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself,' Philip. 3:21. Which are all spoken of Christ as God-man, even him whom visibly we 'look for from heaven,' as it is there in the verse afore.

Ans. 3. Nor are these things attributed to him merely by way of communication of properties; whereby what is proper only to the divine nature singly as God is attributed to the manhood; but these all by way of influence and virtual efficacy are attributed to him as God-man, as truly as the works of redemption, mediation, and forgiveness of sins, all which are secundum utramque naturam attributed to Christ, in respect of both his human and divine natures, as we affirm against the papists.

Ans. 4. To affirm this is (as not any of those other afore-mentioned) no way derogatory unto God. It is proper indeed to God to create by his own sole power originally; all the essential power is solely his, and the man Jesus can add nothing of power thereunto. Yet derivatively the person of the Son, as God-man, may be and was empowered thereto, over and above what simply, as God and second person, his power was for. As by way of difference, it is said, 'all things are by him,' as Lord; but of God, that 'all is of him.'

Ans. 5. Nor is it true that the sole foundation or rise of God's being Lord over all is, that he is maker of all things; and that therefore this is peculiar to God as God; for he was 'Lord over all' before they were made, in that he could make them, &c. His Lordship as God is founded on a sovereignty in himself. And accordingly doth learned Cameron speak upon this occasion of Christ himself; Dominium illud essentiale, &c., 'This essential dominion (namely as God) belongs not only to Christ for the cause or ground that he is the Creator of all things, but upon that height and sovereignty of the divine nature; which is such, and so high and lofty in kind above that of all the creatures, that although the world had not been made by him (which yet we cannot so much as feign the supposition of), he had yet been the Lord of all things, namely, as God.'

Query 2. That seeing he existed not as man at the creation, nor until four thousand years thence after; as also by Peter the first date of his being made Lord, as God-man, is made upon his ascension into heaven, Acts 2, ver. 34, 36; how then can his having created all be ascribed unto him as God-man, the Lord?

Ans. 1. This hinders not his virtual influence (as God-man) into the work of creation, no more than his not having existed as man did hinder his virtual influence (and that as God-man) into the work of redemption all along under the Old Testament, in which Christ is so often styled 'the Redeemer.' And further, by the same reason (if this allegation should avail) he should not have been made the Christ no more than the Lord neither, until he had ascended; for both are there equally joined, 'Him hath God made both Lord and Christ.' But as Christ, and Jesus also, he is 'the same yesterday,' in the Old Testament; 'and to-day,' in the New; as well afore his ascension as after, 'and for ever,' Heb. 13:8, and therefore as Lord also.

Ans. 2. The actual execution by the man Jesus (he now actually existing as such), was indeed first more openly and publicly entered upon, and manifestly declared before angels and men upon his ascension; but was afore secretly executed and performed, in all the works and parts belonging to it, by the Son of God, who was the person then existing; and yet not as then by him, as singly considered, as merely second person, but as having been appointed and commissionated thereto by the three persons in God's decrees, and himself having also undertaken to be man, and therewith he sustaining that personage, he performed and issued forth all acts afore his Father, sub eo nomine. Observe how the second of the Acts speaks, 'Let all the house of Israel know assuredly' (by this open and visible demonstration given) 'that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.'

Ans. 3. Nor doth he say that when he ascended (the visible effects of which 'ye now see and hear,' says he, ver. 23, were the evidence for this, that God had made him Christ, and Lord; which effects the apostle refers them there unto), that then first God made him the Lord and Christ, or that then first he had entered upon that office; but he produceth it as an undeniable testimony, that God hath made him so, &c., and that he was the person whom God had made; but when first made, is not there said.

Ans. 4. These words hath made do as well, and as effectually speak, and involve his having been appointed to it, as now to note out the actual execution of it, by the man as actually ascended. Appointed is put to express being made, and è contra; so Heb. 3:2 treats of Christ, 'He was faithful to him that appointed him;' the Greek is, 'that made him.' And his being appointed Lord, will allow us, and send us to an higher date, even to afore the creation, yea, even to eternity: Heb. 1:2, 'God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.'

The subject of these elogies is not singly the second person, but the whole of Christ as now made man, and by whom he had now in the last days spoken to us as such. And yet, because he had said, that in the last days this was done, and not till then; to pre-occupate the very same objection we have been answering, he goes on, 'Whom he hath appointed heir of all things,' &c. As if he had said, Although our Christ, as man, actually existed not until four thousand years after the creation (at which period it was the last days began, or perhaps rather at his ascension), yet he was long afore that appointed the heir, that is, Lord of all things that were so long actually extant afore him as man; yea, he was so appointed long before the very creation of them; and therefore he sets this his being appointed first, and afore that of their creation, 'by whom also he made the worlds.' Yea, and because as God-man he was appointed the Lord of them, therefore it was also that God commissionated him to make them, as being considered God-man, to make his title of Lordship, even as Son of man, proper and direct, and adequately full to him. So then God appointed him to all this, and the Son of God then existing, and consenting to and taking this office of Lord on him, and person of God-man, and Christ acting accordingly in all that was done, as the Lord and heir of all, there needeth no more to verify this we are upon, namely, that as God-man he made the worlds, and virtually as man, as well as efficiently both as God and man, in the sense it hath been explained in.

CHAPTER XII

That Christ, as God-man, is the Creator of all things, proved from John 1:1, 2, 3.

Whether ὁ λόγος, the WORD, import not as the second person existing, as God with God in the beginning, so withal connotating that person, as sustaining before God the personage of God-man, by whom as such all things were created.—An interpretation of Prov. 8 from ver. 22 to 32, with a parallel between that scripture and this of John 1:1, 2, 3.—A brief exposition of the first chapter of John, continued unto the 14th verse.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.—JOHN 1:1, 2, 3.

In the prosecution of this assertion of Christ (as God-man) his being instrumental to all God's purposes, and decrees, and works, as namely, the creation, providence, &c., I shall further add what the forepart of this chapter, which speaks of the creation by him, under the title of the Word, may contribute hereunto. Wherein it will be meet to inquire whether that title, the Word, be to be understood of him merely as second person, or also as bearing the personage of God-man?

In discoursing of the person of our Lord Christ, I fell upon that title of his, whereby John here styles him the Word; and then discoursed how it importeth both his being,

1. The image of God the Father, which he is as second person.

2. The image, the manifestation of God unto us in a human nature.

Which two are suitably consistent; the Word in both those tongues the scripture was written in, signifying the inward image, or conceptus of the mind framed within itself, and also that which is uttered in speech, which is the truest interpretation or index of the mind, and the most immediate lively image and manifest of what the mind conceives within itself to others.

Many of our modern protestant divines have (as I then observed) altogether declined the first sense, and betaken themselves to the latter, namely, that Christ is called the Word, as in relation to his being manifested in a human nature, and therein to manifest the whole of God unto us; for as manifested in our nature, it was only that he was to manifest God to us. In the Old Testament, besides those other titles of Shiloh, Messiah, Son of God, the Seed of the woman, Adonai, The Lord, &c., this of his being the Word was known and used among the Jews. Nor otherwise had the Greek Septuagint so often used it, when Christ was spoken of, naming him ὁ λόγος, the Word, as it is found they have done. That it is not appropriated to him only as Son of God, and second person, is manifest, as in the discourse of the person of Christ I have shewn, that in the New Testament he is styled so, as Son of God united to that human nature; and as such is evident from Rev. 19:13, 'And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.' For it is spoken when he came to do execution as God's deputy.

Now John gives him that title here, long afore he had assumed it, even in the beginning, and at the creation, which was the first appearance or manifestation that can be supposed of him, seeing creation was the first of works God himself ever did act of himself. What I have commented from those other former scriptures, hath put me on a further inquiry, viz., whether the title be not given him then, in respect of God's having set him up, and himself undertaken, and as then acting the person of God-man (in the sense hitherto driven) one day actually to take flesh, but in the mean time, under the name of the Word, performing this part. I proceed to it by degrees.

1. It seems fair to me, that if he be thus termed the Word, after the assumption of our nature, and as acting in it, why should not his being termed the Word, before his incarnation, by John, have relation to his undertaking that office or person afore? Now it is evident that he is termed the Word of God in this sense, as subsisting in a human nature, and therein executing the decrees and counsels of God, as king of his church and nations; thus expressly, Rev. 19:11–16, 'And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew but he himself: and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called THE WORD OF GOD. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God. And he hath on his vesture, and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.' And we know also, that he acted virtually as man, afore he came into the world as mediator, and so as God-man, and appeared as a man; for in such an appearance, he, the angel of the covenant, conversed with the fathers. For the angels that came into Sodom, the inhabitants took for men. Among the Jews also that style of 'the Word,' as that of 'Wisdom,' Prov. 8 (which is all one), was the usual title taken up among them to express the mediator by. It was the name he was called and known by as such. One eminent evidence of this is that of the Chaldee paraphrast, who hath enstyled him the Word, as mediator, and thereof as God-man, in the paraphrase and translation of that promise made to Abraham, Gen. 22:15, 16, 'By myself have I sworn, in blessing I will bless thee, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' The Chaldee turns it, 'By my Word have I sworn.' Now compare with it Heb. 6:17: the apostle's paraphrase on that oath is this: his words in the original import, that God did intermediate by oath; the margin itself varies it, interposed. So then, put both together, the effect is this, that God, in making the promise to Abraham, swore by that Word of his, his Son, that was to be the mediator and interposer, &c., to make that oath good through his interposition; who being one in essence with God, God is therefore also said to swear by himself. Or perhaps, rather thus, that the Son of God being that person that appeared to the fathers, did swear by himself, as to become the Word, and by oath undertook to mediate, and to that end to become, as Heb. 2:16, the seed of Abraham, and to bless that nation. But still, out of either sense is collected this, that Christ as mediator is the Word.

2. Secondly, At other times he is spoken of as mediator (and so God-man), under that title. So in that great promise to Abraham, God interposed by his Word. So to David, 'for his Word's sake' (as Daniel, chap. 9:17, 'for the Lord's sake'). And these were the two great persons in the Old Testament to whom, and in whose name, the promises were made. And,

3. Thirdly, I found, that here this title is given him in respect of his being ὁ λόγος, and so that to be esteemed the first title of all other, in relation unto God's works ad extra; and that by him as second person, all was created: and comparing it with those other Scriptures, I considered whether it might not be given him, in relation to his having undertaken to be man, as well as merely the Son of God.

4. Fourthly, I found that title of 'Wisdom' (which is near akin, if not all one with this of 'the Word'), to be understood of him as God-man, as set up in God's decree, with his own undertaking that personage; so in Prov. 8. And that under that title, he is there spoken of as set up with God long before the creation. I compared that Scripture with this, and found them parallel in many respects.

5. I then, fifthly, found Christ applying that title unto himself as Son of man, as sending out prophets, which Wisdom is said to do; and in the Proverbs, Wisdom's calling upon her disciples under the name of children, Prov. 8:32, 'Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.' And Christ referring to it, says, 'Wisdom is justified of her children,' Mat. 11:19; and that speech doth verily suppose him God-man. Also he is found delighting in the sons of men on earth, which Ps. 16:3, is spoken of Christ as man, 'My righteousness extends to the saints on earth, with whom is all my delight;' which are almost the very words in Prov. 8:31, 'Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men.'

6. Sixthly, When I came to the creation, as in Gen. 1, from whence this title is given him, as by comparing John and Moses appears, I considered, whether God, by a word within himself, did speak it as in corde. Now so he had said, 'Let there be light,' and that from everlasting; and therefore why may we not suppose it to have been uttered at the beginning of every day's work? And that voice being a creature, whether that clothing with words at creation, shewed not that Christ was to be clothed on with a creature, to speak God's mind unto us creatures, and that he had so undertaken, as being that Wisdom who had sustained it in God's purpose, and now appeared to execute it.

The interpretation of the words, John 1 ver. 1, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'

These words do willingly, and without constraint, offer up this one import of them, that he that was known as the expected Messiah, by the usual name of the Word of God, both as the image of God to himself, and as who was ordained to be the Wisdom of God, the manifestation of God to us, the great interposer and mediator in a human nature, to come one day into the world; his person was existing in the beginning, and was God, and with God. Thus for his personal existence, which having affirmed, as to this existence of his person,

Then, ver. 2, he adds, 'The same was in the beginning with God.'

This being in view but a repetition of the former, and indeed meant of the existence of his person, is no other in the sense of it. I inquire therefore, whether this expression, 'The same was in the beginning with God,' be not distinct from the former in this, that qua λόγος, or as the Word, as sustaining that personage (as I have often distinguished it), that eo nomine, et persona, he was then with God? He was this same Word in the beginning with God; and not only that he that was the Word, was from the beginning with God. He had said afore, ver. 1, that he was in the beginning, and that he was with God. To what end repeats he this? Say I, to this eminent meaning, which as yet John before had not spoke out, namely, that as the Word he had existed in the beginning, and was with God as such, and so read it thus: this same Word spoken of was with God in the beginning; or, he was this same Word from the beginning. The existence of his person, and his being God, and with God, the first verse holds forth; but his existence also with God tanquam, as the Word or mediator, this the second holds forth; and that as a preface unto that which follows concerning the creation.

Ver. 2, 'The same was in the beginning with God.' 1. It imports that the second person, besides his personal existence, spoken of, ver. 1, and relation of a Son which he stood in towards God, did then between him and his Father, sustain, and took on him another relation, or person of the mediator; and not only undertaking it, but further, even then entering upon the office of it, and acting the part of it, sustaining the place and reputation of it.

2. He was so in God's repute or esteem, as we use to say, one is so or so with another one, or, he is all in all with him. Such speeches import not only a real existence, but also a being such or such in real repute and esteem with another. Thus, that second person (who also personally then existed, and was with God, and in God, and one with him) was in God's real repute and esteem the Word, and sustained that name, and relation, 'The Word was with God,' that is, he was with God, the Word. God had that account or honour for him; and in their actual converses, God owned him as such, and himself took it on him to be such, afore God, and with God. In which sense the man Jesus, praying for the possession of that glory he hath now in heaven, urgeth that he had it with God afore the world was, when yet the man actually existed not, John 17:5. It is the same phrase there and here. And there it is necessarily to be understood of the glory of God-man, which he had in God's decree and designment; and the second person then existing and taking the name and thing upon him, God conversed with him under that title, &c. For it was that glory which, during the term of his humiliation, after the man had been actually united to the person of the Son, was suspended until now the time of his praying. And therefore he prays to have it as then bestowed, in the real possession of it, according to the model which was in God's heart and design about it before the world was, that so he might be existently and really possessed of it in and with God, as he had been ordained to it and bore the repute of it with God. This to be the meaning of that his petition, and of that phrase 'with God,' I have at large elsewhere handled upon that text. And when I say in repute with God, I understand it thus: it was among the three persons, and their converses afore the world was made, as if three men, who purpose to erect a company, or to found a college, should in their contrivements, long before they set upon the work, take several relations on them, and offices aforehand, which they mean executively to bear, when that corporation is erected, or the adventure begun; one of them being reckoned treasurer or purser, to lay out all; another, master or governor, &c., and according they beforehand esteem and call each other such, in their speech of and to each other; and in the very first founding that college, the treasurer lays out the money out of his purse as treasurer, and so manageth it afterwards.

3. The words are to be understood that he did then virtually exist as such, as being considered the foundation of those works that follow creation, and the like. Thus in the like phrase of speech he is said to be, 'the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world,' Rev. 13:8, that is, from the fall, for so the phrase 'from the beginning' there is taken, the meaning of which is, that Christ's death was considered from that time as virtually existing as if it had been past, in that upon the consideration of that his death, God saved Eve, yea in that respect Christ did exist as mediator, during all the days of the Old Testament, 'Jesus Christ the same to-day, yesterday, and for ever.' In like manner may Christ be said then in the beginning to be the Word, as virtually under that consideration, being the foundation of the world, and all God's works therein. So then, it was not only an existence in God's decree, as in like manner that glory he is said to have had with the Father afore the world was (John 17) is not spoken simply in decree, for the like speech is nowhere said of any elect man or angel, nor is compatible to them, as if they had a glory with God afore the world was. No, it was peculiar to Christ; and the reason of the difference is evident, because the person then existing actually (as men and angels did not) might well undertake and bear this person apart, as in the Old Testament, de facto, he did before he was incarnate. So besides the essential glory as second person (which he there speaks not of), he had the honour, repute, renown, and glory with God, as the mediator and saviour of his church, which now in his prayer the human nature challengeth to be bestowed upon him as his ancient investment and endowment; the second person having before the world was, by an agreement and complot with his Father, undertaken to assume human nature, and all that while, bearing and sustaining and acting that person, his Father did as between themselves repute and converse with him as such, and gave him reputatively a glory, a name between themselves correspondent to that glory, which now (when God-man glorified in heaven) he actually hath bestowed upon him, which is thus expressed by him—'the glory which I had with thee'—which yet had been his due actually to have received from the first moment of his assuming human nature, but he had laid it down both before God and men, taking 'the form of a servant,' and becoming 'of no reputation' (as it is Phil. 2:7), neither with God, so far as God's outward dispensation held forth, nor with men during the time of his humiliation; during which he had given up even that glory, in the respect he had had with God before the world was. Hence, therefore, he having finished that work of humiliation for man's sin, (which was but part of the work, which as God-man he was to do by the way, whilst in the world) he now desires God to give him actually and visibly before saints and angels that glory, and cause it to break forth in that human nature he had assumed, which reputatively between themselves he had given him before the world was, when he had undertaken it, and bare that person of God-man, which glory was but his due inheritance, whenever he should take our nature. And this I truly take to be the genuine sense, and fairest meaning that can be given of these words of Christ, John 17:5, 'Now, O Father, do thou glorify me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was;' namely, that which then he had in real repute in relation upon his bearing that person, before God, which now he had assumed, and now seeks to have actually and visibly bestowed upon that nature which he had, avoiding to his ancient undertaking, assumed.

It is well known unto those who have met with that question, Whether Christ, as a Redeemer, was the first intended in God's decrees, or whether considered as man simply, in order to other glorious ends, were not the primitive great decree; which hath been agitated both by papist and protestant writers; it is well known, I say, that those which are for the latter, do insist and urge much that of Proverbs 8; where Wisdom, that is, Christ, for so Christ expressly takes it on himself, in those words spoken of himself by himself, 'Wisdom is justified by her children:' Prov. 8:22–31, 'The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled; before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: when he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.'

These things (say they) cannot be understood of Christ simply as second person, or as a Redeemer.

1. Not as Redeemer, which supposed this world first to be decreed to be made, and man to be created, yea, and fallen; but as God-man, and considered as such, as subservient to other ends of God, as well as redemption, in the utmost latitude of God's vast purposes, which he made in Christ, besides those of man's redemption, and the beginning of all his ways, ad extra.

2. Not as second person singly considered, for he is there made the object of God's decrees; which as God's Son simply considered he did no way come under. But only as God-man, 1 Pet. 1:19–21, 'But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.' And yet Wisdom, or Christ as here spoken, is made the object of a decree of God's, 'I was set up from everlasting,' and 'the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way;' that is, he so designed and decreed me afore all his other ways, and as the foundation of them; or as the Revelation hath it, 'The beginning of the creation of God:' Rev. 3:14, 'And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.'

Now compare but this Prov. 8 with this of John 1, from the second verse. Besides that the titles are in effect and significancy the same in the original languages, 'the Word,' and 'Wisdom,' you will find that Solomon speaks but the same things of him there that John doth here. He calls him by the same name (that is, the same in sense and meaning) for 'Wisdom' and ὁ λόγος, 'the Word,' are all one, and both respect us; that which is there in John said of the Word, that 'he was in the beginning,' is, ver. 22 of the 8th of Proverbs said, 'The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way.' And so it may explain what is meant by 'in the beginning' here, namely, of the creation alluded to there. For the ways of God are his goings forth towards the creatures, which are called opera ad extra; and therefore is not meant of his eternal generation; for so Christ is not the beginning of God's ways. That speech is all one with Col. 1:15, where he is called 'The first-born of every creature,' being in God's decree of creation the first, the corner stone, and beginning of the rest. So as it must be meant of Christ as God-man, and not simply as second person. Again, that which is here said, 'was with God,' is there said, 'the Lord possessed me.' They dwelt together; he was with God as possessed of him. And ver. 30, 'Then was I by him;' and from ver. 23 to ver. 30, he rehearseth the particular works of creation by parcels; as here they are in this one sum, 'all things were made by him.' And ver. 30, that which is translated 'I was brought up with him,' as a nourishing,* or one nourished, passively taken, is rendered by Junius actively, educans, as one nourishing; that is, by my power supporting the creatures, and God's decrees about them, and his purpose to create. And that which is here said, that he was 'the life of man,' is there said, ver. 31. lætificans, that is, 'blessing,' or 'with blessing, making joyful the sons of men;' so Junius out of the Hebrew reads it; and Cartwright also, with others. So as the one place may interpret the other.

Nor doth this interpretation weaken or derogate anything from alleging these texts as strong proofs for the actual existing of the second person, as Son of God, begotten by him from everlasting. For look, as the greatness of a personage doth argue the greatness of the person in his birth (when such or such an office or dignity goes by birth), so here, all this said hitherto doth necessarily suppose and argue our Christ to have been God (as John affirms), and natural Son of God; and that he did then also actually exist, as bearing and sustaining this dignity and office afore God, of being his Word and Wisdom. Insomuch as if this natural greatness of his person were not as the substratum, first supposed and laid down, all these assertions we have insisted on would fall at once to the ground, as having no basis or foundation to stand upon; if there were not a person of original worth for such a place and employments. And accordingly, the apostle, Heb. 1, argues and infers from the one to the other; and also this 1st of John, that he is God.

To come then to that which is eminently and summarily intended in his being called the Word, in respect of his then sustaining and assuming the person of God-man, in relation to all God's works, ways, and counsels, whereof John gives instance in the creation, and the like; John 1:3, 4, 'All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men;'—

We find, 1 Cor. 1:24, that Christ is said to be 'the power of God, and the wisdom of God,' both which are spoken of him not as they are essential attributes, in God's nature, for the person of Christ is as a person distinct from the attributes which are common to all three; and so he is not styled the attribute of wisdom, but they are thus spoken of Christ manifestatively, and instrumentally, and executively, and as he is from God, and made use of by God towards us, and in things that concern us to be the whole scene and manifestation of God's wisdom, and substratum of his counsels concerning us, and so also the executive power by whom God effects all he doth. And that this is the meaning is evidently interpreted by that which follows, ver. 30, 'God hath made him to us wisdom,' &c. And although it be a maxim applied to that particular of preaching the gospel unto us men, which is the wisdom and power of God to our salvation, yet it is a general maxim brought in to confirm that particular. Such generals the apostle often useth to allege upon particular occasions, as in Rom. 8:29, our predestination to be conformed to Christ's image is brought upon occasion of afflictions; so then Christ, in relation to what he is as a medium between God and us who are creatures, is both the wisdom of God and the power of God. Neither is it said of him simply as second person, but as Christ, God-man; for so only he is made these to us.

Now these two which as there spoken of Christ, in what he is to us as saints (which is the strict scope of the apostle there), serves yet summarily and particularly to express what he is as he is termed ὁ λόγος, or the Word, by John (as that title relates to the manifestation of God by him, and instrumentality of him to us), both that he is the wisdom of God and the power of God.

1. That it expresseth him to be the wisdom of God, and is congenial with the proper import of the word ὁ λόγος, ratio, conceptus, the mind or counsel of God about the creatures, or to be manifested to the creatures, those that are versed in the languages the Old and New Testament were written in, will universally acknowledge; and the correspondency of that title of Wisdom, Prov. 8, with this of John, is an abundant confirmation of it.

2. And that the executive power of God as erected and put forth in the creatures is therein fitly comprehended also, and thereby intended, that observation evidently demonstrates, which Cameron and many others have made, by comparing Moses, Gen. 1, and this 1st of John together, which many things parallel lead to; that whereas Moses in the creation mentions God the Father, and the Spirit, two of the persons, that he veils the Son under that so often repeated speech used of the creation, that 'God said, Let there be light;' 'God said, Let there be a firmament,' which could not be without mystery; and what other than Christ was that Word by whom God created all things? Whom therefore when John speaks, referring to Moses's 'In the beginning,' and of the creation of all things, he terms, ὁ λόγος, the Word. God's power was erected and put forth by his Word; Ps. 18:4, 5, 'He commanded, and they were created;' as, 'where the word of a king is, there is power,' Eccles. 8:4; so God's word and his executive power are all one. When therefore Christ is termed the Word of God, the meaning is, he is the power of God in being his instrument and agent in all he doth or means to do.

I shall therefore distinctly insist on these two:

I. How Christ as thus God-man, the Word, is the wisdom of God.

II. How he is the power of God.

And then proceed to add an interpretation of the forepart of this chapter, unto ver. 14, which is all of Christ.

I. He is the Wisdom of God, and that in a double respect.

1. In respect to the manifestation of God unto us; for Christ considered as God-man, and through his assuming human nature, was to be the sum of that wisdom or revelation by which the Godhead would make itself known, that whereas the persons and nature of the Godhead were invisible, they should be uttered or revealed in him as the λόγος, or the Word of God; and so he, by taking on him this person of God-man, became God's Wisdom or best image to express his mind by, λόγος, est mentis imago, the image of God's mind and thoughts. Now as that Christ should be God-man was the first great and most comprehensive thought of God to express himself by; so he assuming or taking upon himself so to be, did accordingly become λόγος, or the 'image of God' who was invisible, but in him made visible, as hath been explained, Col. 1:15. This I take to be John's meaning, as appears by ver. 18 of this first chapter, 'No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.'

2. And, secondly, his being thus constituted the wisdom of God, as God-man then with God, imports how all God's counsels, thoughts, and purposes which God took up, and from all eternity was contriving of towards his elect, they all depended and hung upon this as their foundation, that he would become λόγος, the Word, or God-man, to manifest God. Thus, in Eph. 3, as to that part of his counsel, the gospel, the whole model of it, from first to last, ver. 10, is called 'the manifold wisdom of God;' ver. 11 is said to be 'purposed from eternity in Jesus Christ,' because he from eternity took on him that person of being the Christ; and so in him, considered as such, did God proceed to frame all his other counsels, the whole frame of them depending upon that one engine. Thus God elected us and bestowed all things upon us before the world was, even in Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:4), as then bearing this person of God-man. And thus all the promises which the written word of God contains, were made for us unto Christ, as really bearing that person; and 2 Tim. 1:9, 'They were given us in Christ before the world began.' So that Christ then, as sustaining the person of God-man (with promise one day to become man) between him and his Father, was the original Word or Wisdom to be revealed to us, and so more truly called λόγος than the word written, by how much the original in God's breast deserves the name better than the extract or copy. Notable to this purpose is that place, Tit. 1:2, 3, where the apostle first says that 'God promised eternal life before the world began.' A promise is a word given forth, and is more than a purpose with one's self, for it is to another. There was a promise made to Christ, as then with him. Now, as merely second person, he is capable of no promises, but only as he is God-man. It is the Son of God, as he is Jesus Christ, in whom all promises are 'yea and amen.' 2 Cor. 1:19, 20, 'For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us.' Secondly, the apostle, in that place to Titus adds, that 'God hath in his due time manifested his Word through preaching.' By Word is meant that original Word then given before the world began, which was founded on Christ, and his undertakings for us; and further, as he did then sustain a person, to whom the promises for us were made, as a public person bearing our persons, so was he likewise the thing promised, and in both these respects called λόγος, the Word; and so is termed by John, 1 Epist. chap. 1 ver. 1, 'the Word of life.' In Titus it is termed 'the promise of eternal life' (for all promises and counsels of God were rooted in him, Eph. 1:4); and so most properly called ὁ λόγος, then but still as God-man considered. Thus he was the Word in respect of the elect, even as he was the wisdom of God.

II. But, secondly, he was the Word also as he was the power of God, in a general relation to all the creation. This follows here, John 1:3, 'All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.' And therefore, 1 Cor. 1:24, as he is called 'the wisdom of God' to be revealed to us, so 'the power;' which, though there specially brought in to the preaching of him in the gospel, and the efficacy thereof, yet is a general maxim applied and specified to that particular. The power of God; that is, as undertaking to execute, and actually executing, all that God ever meant to do, and in this respect as undertaking to be God-man; and, as bearing that part, he is termed 'God's arm,' Isa. 53:1 and Isa. 27:5. Without him God could, or at least would, do nothing, no, not first begin to create; and he was then the Word, as taken for the power of God in a double respect.

1. As his bearing this person was in God's mind that which did uphold God's purpose to create, and this before the world was, so Prov. 8:30, 31, 'I was by him,' then before the world was, educans, fostering, and lætificans terram suam (as Tremelius reads it), gladding his earth. His bearing the person of God-man, one day to be by him assumed, was it that made the creatures exist in God's purpose. God else would never have thought of them but for his sake, as God-man; therefore he is said to be 'the first-born of every creature,' for whom and by whom all things were made.

2. Yea, secondly, when God came to make the creatures, he did it by him as sustaining this person. The Scripture says, 'God created all things by Jesus Christ,' Eph. 3:9.

John having thus enstyled him the Word, ver. 1, 2, then goes on to shew how from him, as such, it is that all things are: 'All things were created by him.' Yea, it is added, 'nothing was made without him that was made,' merely to shew the instrumental general dependence God had of him in this work. He was his all in all; as we say of one that is a right hand to another, He does nothing without him. Such was Christ to God, not that God had not power essential to have created without him. For it is by that power that Christ did it, but that this power God's will would never have put forth, but for his assuming to be God-man; even as although God hath essential power to sanctify a sinner, and Christ adds no such power to God, or his Spirit, which they had not before, but because God without Christ would never have put forth that power; therefore he is said to be the power of God therein. Now, therefore, he is said to create as God-man, not only because he undertook or promised to become a man, and so in virtue of that God put his power forth; but further, God created by him, as sustaining that relation, and bearing that title with God (as in the similitude afore-mentioned), one of a society chosen treasurer lays the corner-stone of a college out of his own purse. And many interpreters and others do observe that the evangelist calls him ὁ λόγος in reference to that of Moses, Gen. 1. That whereas Moses in the creation had made mention not only of God creating, but as by a word—'God said, Let there be light'—God the Father he had been mentioned as the Creator in those first words, 'In the beginning God created;' and the Spirit as 'moving upon the waters.' But the second person, the Word, is couched, personated, and signified in dixit, that 'GOD SAID.'

The greatest objection against this is from ver. 14. For if his being considered ὁ λόγος, the Word, had imported his being God-man, how comes it after to be said that he was 'made flesh,' for that argues he had been spoken of as second person only afore, the manhood not included?

Ans. 1. That word 'made' imports evidently his having now actually assumed man's nature; and so in distinction from his having hitherto but sustained that person afore God, in contract with God, which now in the fulness of time he, according to his contract, did perform; and until this performance de facto, he had borne the title of the Word, which he sustained at the creation, and from thence on still until this assumption. But now, though he bears it still, yet ever after John speaks of him as Jesus and Christ, &c. For now he was actually made man in frail flesh.

The second answer lies in that other word, 'made flesh,' that is, a frail man, taking a tabernacle of flesh, not a glorious body as was his due, as he was λόγος, the Word; and so it carries this with it, that whereas his due, according to that first designed glory and repute which he had had with God before the world was, was to have had a glorified nature, such as now he hath in heaven; instead of this the evangelist expresseth it, that he took frail flesh, he took that nature in frailties at the first, and 'dwelt with us in a tabernacle' (as the word is), which was to be taken down. And though he had had a glory with God answerable to his place of God-man as his due, yet he never shewed it (says the evangelist) to us but once, and that was when he was transfigured, at which time 'we saw his glory' (saith the apostle), in that nature, such as could be in none, but 'the only begotten Son of God.' Which Peter also brings as an evidence of his being the Son of God; as John likewise here doth, who was also an eye-witness of it. The glory of Elias and Moses was not such, for they saw theirs at the same time; but this was so transcendent as they could easily discern with difference, this to be the glory of God's only begotten, and so to differ from that of theirs, as the glorious lustre of the sun, in comparison of lesser stars. And though Christ always manifested not such a glory (and indeed but once), yet he always shewed himself 'full of grace and truth,' says he, in all his converse with us. Full of truth, namely, in those glorious revelations of his Father made by him, ver. 18, and full of grace, that is, holiness, even a holiness transcending Adam's, or any creature's. Neither was this fulness a plenitudo vasis, sed fontis, and a fulness to be communicated to men: for, lo! 'we all have received of his fulness, and grace for grace.' He presents all the apostles as coming from a dole, with their laps filled with grace, so to encourage others to go to Christ. Afterwards, in the 17th verse, comparing him with Moses, he opposeth grace and truth to the law of Moses. And then by truth there, he means that Christ was not a figure, as the law was, but the substance of all types. So Heb. 10:1, where verum non opponitur falso, sed figuræ. And he is there called truth, because he made good the covenant and promises, which the law did not. Thus, Rom. 15:8, he was a 'minister of the truth of God, to confirm the promises.' And then he is full of grace too, which the law was not, that had neither justifying nor sanctifying grace annexed; but Christ had both.

And, 3, when the days of his flesh are over (as now in heaven they are), then the same John, seeing him in the vision of a glorious conqueror, and coming and appearing at last to destroy all the enemies of the church, and bringing in the thousand years, then he appears as ὁ λόγος. Again, Rev. 19, and according to the glory he had from everlasting in God's designment and repute. Rev. 19:11–13, 'And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns: and he had a name written, that no man knew but he himself: and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.'

I shall now proceed, in a brief exposition of the following verses of this first chapter of John, unto ver. 14, as they relate unto the WORD; what follows in ver. 4, is to be understood in the same coherence and dependence with the other, of Christ as God-man.

Ver. 4, In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The evangelist descends from the creation in general, unto the giving of life, both of reason and holiness, unto men, at their first creation, whiles they were in innocency.

First, 'In him was life.' He speaks not of that essential life in himself; for that which follows in the next words, where he calls him 'the Life,' is so to be understood. But when here he says, 'in him was life,' the meaning is, he was a fountain of life to us, being first Life in himself. It is one attribute of Christ's, as he is God-man, yea, as he is man taken up into that union, to have life independently in himself, even as God the Father hath; John 5:26, 'For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself,' and therefore he is called the Life, namely, to himself first, and so in him is life for us.

Secondly, 'The life was the light of men.'

1. The light; that is, of holiness, or God's image, which is called light, in opposition to darkness, which is sin (as ver. 5). The life of grace is so called; and in Scripture, light is often put for life, and darkness for death.

2. Of men; that is, of men in their primitive estate of innocency. For, (1.) He joins it with the creation of all things. (2.) He useth the word was, as noting a state past. Now Adam's holiness was from him; for he was made after God's image. When Adam was created, all the persons of the Trinity acted their several parts; and the Son acted the part of God-man: and so the Father eyeing him as such, and as him who was in that respect the image of the Godhead, he thereupon says, 'Let us make man after our image;' Christ's human nature being the πρωτότυπον and exemplar. And so he breathed in that breath of life and holiness which he had at his first creation.

Ver. 5, And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. When that light of holiness in man was extinct, and man by the fall became darkness, that is, full of sin, then all that light moral, or the light of conscience in heathens (which is that truth spoken of, Rom. 1:18), and the light of the law (which the Jews had), to convince them of their darkness, all this light that shined in this darkness was from Christ. It ariseth not from any sparks of the old light which was before the fall, and now left in man's nature, but all light being extinct, this is put in by Christ as the Word and mediator. And therefore, because he speaks of man's present condition, he saith in the present, 'shineth,' and in that respect Christ is said, ver. 9, to be 'that light which enlighteneth every man coming into the world.' That phrase, 'coming into the world,' argues that he speaks of what is infused by Christ from their birth. For the Jews call man as born into this world, veniens in mundum. And he says, 'every one,' to shew that he excepts no man. So Christ, John 18:37, useth the phrase, 'for this cause was I born, and came into the world.' So that it is all one as to be born; and therefore he speaks of a natural light from our birth, which is all from Christ. He pitied man's nature so corrupted, and put into it all the light and comfort which men now have. So as, not only all the light of holiness, which Adam in innocency at first had, was from him considered as God-man; but all the light since the fall, which the wise heathens or Jews had, was from him, considered as the Lamb slain. They all did light their torches at this sun and fountain of light. Yea, not only all natural light in men fallen, but all the light of grace and holiness that hath shone in the hearts, lives, and gifts of the best of men sanctified, it was all borrowed from hence. To this purpose he instanceth in John the Baptist, for all the rest.

Ver. 6, 7, There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was the most known and universally acknowledged holy man in those days and times, whom all the Jews esteemed as a 'burning and shining light,' John 5:35. Yet it is said of him, that 'he was not that Light, but was sent only to bear witness of that Light,' ver. 8. John was but a particular light shining in Judea, and in that age only, as a lantern hung out in some street; he was but as the morning-star to this sun. But Christ was and is an universal light (as he is the sun) in all ages, and in all places, and to all saints. Yea, as John was 'not that Light,' so if all that grace and light that ever was in all saints were gathered into one, yet all would not make that Light who enlightened John and all man-kind universally, as the sun doth the stars above, and terrestrial bodies below.

Ver. 9. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And so he is called 'the true Light,' that is, which is naturally, and of himself such (ἀυτὸ φὼς, as Plato called him), not shining with a borrowed light, as John and all else do, and who in that respect are not true lights; for truth is opposed to what is obtained aliunde, and which is not natural. As you call that false hair which is not, and that true hair which is, one's own; so Christ is called the true Son, 1 John 5:20, that is, the natural, we being but adopted. And all this is what Christ did; and it was before his incarnation.

Now, having proceeded thus far in this chapter, as proper to the subject I have in hand, I will briefly go over the rest of the verses, from ver. 10 to ver. 15, wherein he shews his coming into the world himself, as before he had shewn how he had done all in the world before he came into it. And therein,

First, He describes the manner of his coming; as,

1. How he was in the world as one unknown. Ver. 10, 'He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.' Like Ulysses, who came as a beggar disguised to his own house, so obscure was Christ's coming into the world.

2. He was; implying that he is now gone out of the world again; as having (as it ware) secretly passed through it.

Secondly, He sets out the entertainment of him in this world. And herein,

1. He tells what bad entertainment the most afforded him, with the aggravation of this their sin.

2. The good entertainment that some gave him. To illustrate all which he covertly compares the world unto a house, wherein men are the indwellers, but Christ the owner of it, and all things in it (as ver. 11), and that by a double title.

(1.) Of creation, ver. 10, 'The world was made by him.'

(2.) Of purchase, insinuated ver. 11, 'He came unto his own, and his own received him not.'

1. Now when he came into this his house, and was in it, or conversed in it (as ver. 10), his entertainment was,

(1.) That some did not so much as know him, ver. 10.

(2.) Others, though they knew him, yet 'received him not,' as ver. 11. They shut him out of doors, not receiving him into their hearts, which the evangelist sets down as an aggravation of the sin of unbelief; his scope being to persuade to, and work faith; or receiving of Christ into men's hearts, by shewing from what a one Christ is and was to us, what an inhuman sin unbelief is, both against the law of creation and bonds of nature, and also of grace. It is to refuse him whose own we are, as having made the world and us at first, and when we were fallen, bought us and upheld us. So as the very benefit of creation, and the propriety that Christ hath in us, as a Lord of us, and of all we have, doth oblige us to believe in him, and to own him at least—(even the or knows his owner)—otherwise it becomes an aggravation of our sin, as shutting Christ out of his own; for the word receiving, ver. 11 (being put for believing), is all one with owning him as a Lord and Saviour; as a king is said to be received in his own dominions, when he is submitted to, and acknowledged, and owned for their king. I know some interpret 'the world' to be all mankind; and 'his own' (mentioned ver. 11), to be the Jews; and his being in the world, to be in respect of the light he gave of himself to the Gentiles. But for this latter, sure by his making the world the Gentiles could not know him, though the Godhead they might; and that natural light which he gave was only of the Godhead, not of his person as God-man, nor yet of the mystery of the Trinity, there being no footsteps of it in the creation. And I take it, his own is meant also and as well of the world, as made and purchased by him, as of the Jews, his own countrymen. Therefore he says, τὰ ἴδια, as speaking of proper goods, not kinsmen; his own, that is, his household-goods and servants.

2. Secondly, Then follows the entertainment of him by the good, and the privilege which he gave them. Even as great persons, entertained well, use to bestow rewards, and as a king usually dubs those knights, or creates them earls or barons, who have given him royal entertainments, so did Christ to those who received him. By which the evangelist does further set out Christ, shewing what he is to his elect, as before he shewed what Christ is and was to all the world. The benefit given is adoption to be 'sons of God,' ver. 12. 'But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name;' which he endeareth as the highest favour that could be. So 1 John 3:1, 'Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God.' Christ he was born the Son, ver. 14, but to us it is given; 'to them he gave,' &c. And in being sons, we become heirs and co-heirs with himself, of the world which he made, and of all that is called his. So Rom. 8:17, 'And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.' 'He gave them,' ἐξουσίαν, that is, both the 'dignity' and the 'power to become the sons of God.' So it is taken for power, Col. 1:16, 'principalities and powers:' and it is also put for dignity. Thus Rom. 13:1, because a magistrate's place of power hath honour likewise annexed to it, therefore the word is put for honour. And so, because this honour of being sons of God hath power annexed to it, even over all creatures (as they are heirs and co-heirs with Christ, and so kings of the world); therefore he rightly calls it ἐξουσία, to import both power and dignity, and both contained in that privilege of sonship. Only he shews by what means Christ doth convey this to them, which is by their 'being born, not of blood;' ver. 13, 'Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' 'Say not you have Abraham to your father;' this dignity goes not by greatness of birth, 'nor of the will of the flesh,' not of a man's own will. 'It is not in him that willeth,' 'nor of the will of man,' that is, of other men. Holy men cannot beget their children good, or make them such. The meaning is, that no friend, no means, could confer this privilege, but only Christ.

CHAPTER XIII

How Christ, God-man, is subservient to God in all the works of his providence

He upholds and supports all things.—He governs the world, and rules all affairs in it.—After his government is expired, at the end of the world, he will judge all creatures, both angels and men.

He is before all things, and by him all things consist.—COL. 1:17.

Thus we have seen the subserviency of Christ, as God-man, to the work of creation, and the highest ends thereof, the manifestation and the communication of the Godhead the highest way. The next thing to be considered by us is his serving God in the works of his providence, the upholding, governing this world whilst it stands, and his judging it at the last; unto all these ends also doth Christ, God-man, subserve.

First, For the upholding all things; that is evident in this text of Col. 1:17, 'By him do all things consist.' He is the corner-stone that keeps the building and all the parts of it together; Heb. 1:2, 3, it is said, 'He upholds all things by the word of his power,' and it is spoken of him not simply considered as second person, but as God-man, for so he is heir appointed, not as second person, but so heir naturally without a decree, and that as such he should uphold all things by the word of his power, is proper to him; and therefore it refers to it, for to the heir it belongs to have a care of, and to see to his inheritance, that it fall not into ruin and decay. God, as it were, leaves it to him, seeing he hath given it him for his inheritance, to keep it up in repair at his own proper costs and charges. And thus he upheld it virtually in the state of innocency, for John 1:4, he is called that light that then was the life of man, even afore man fell into sin and darkness, as well as after; as ver. 5 (as God made and created the world then upon the virtual supposition of his coming into the world, though to a further end also), for the world was then upheld by virtue thereof, it was the hoop held all together; God should not have cared else for any creature, for to me those imperfect pieces of his workmanship are alone not worthy enough of his power and wisdom, if this had not been to come, which he had purposed and decreed, as well as the making of the world. And since man fell, it is granted by all, that it is by virtue of his redemption to come, that the world stood and was kept from falling about Adam's ears. Christ took the shattered condition of the world, as David did, and upheld the pillars of it, and as a Lord, promised to buy it, and did so, 2 Peter 2:1, because he had elect to be brought forth in their successions out of it; and therefore vouchsafed all those mercies which wicked men enjoy, and paid God a price for his patience towards them. He had this into the bargain of his redemption of his church, God else in justice would have destroyed all.

Secondly, Whilst the world stands he governs it, easeth God of that burden, and is his prorex for him. All judgment is committed to the Son: John 5:22, 'For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.' And the government is upon his shoulders: Isa. 9:6, 'For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.' He entered upon the kingdom when man fell, for by virtue of the covenant of works given by the Father at the creation, it must have been destroyed; but he undertook it, to order things so, that a greater revenue of glory should in the end arise to God, out of the confusions and sins of men in the world, and in executions of punishments, and by providences meeting with men according to their own ways, than should have arisen to God out of the state of innocency in a direct way. And what infinite wisdom, power, providence, justice, patience, &c., even all sorts of glorious perfections doth he shew forth in this administration, and ordering things, and the affairs of this sinful world! This Lord reigneth though the earth be never so unquiet, as the psalmist speaks, Ps. 99:1. Rev. 5:2, there is a proclamation made, who would take that book out of the hand of him that sat upon the throne; and that book is a commission to execute the things decreed and written therein, and the taking of it was an undertaking so to do; and Christ the Lamb having seven horns of power, and seven eyes of providence sent out into all the earth, by which he both views and governs all, he undertook it, and is God's King, and the executioner of all God's decrees.

And then, thirdly, When he hath thus governed the world with a greater advantage unto God, then this man Christ Jesus will judge it also at the last, and give all men their accounts; Acts 17:31, 'He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world, by that man whom he hath ordained.' The decree or ordaining Christ, God-man, serves for this also. The Father, John 5:22, is said to judge no man, that is, visibly, sub persona judicis, but hath committed all to this man Christ Jesus, who at present is 'ready,' says the apostle Peter, 'to judge the quick and the dead,' having all the accounts of the world afore him, 1 Peter 4:5. God would not employ a mere creature in this work, it was too great an honour. And yet it was meet it should be done visibly and audibly, and to the satisfaction of all men's consciences, both concerning themselves and others. God would have a person in the Trinity, manifest in a creature like unto us, to do it, armed with power and authority, because he is God, that every knee shall bow afore him, both of things in heaven and earth, and under the earth (which to a mere creature had been too much), and yet a man that should deal with creatures in judging them in their own way, in a rational and audible way convince them, and visibly sentence them, so as they should be able to see and hear their judge as man, and yet fear and dread him as being God. And this is an high and great service, which Christ as man shall do for God, for a man in a vocal manner to be able to clear the accounts of the world (which, how entangled are they!), and punctually to give every man his due in righteousness. A man that shall be able to convince all God's enemies of all their hard speeches they had spoken against him, as Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied, able to give a full and satisfactory account of all God's ways and proceedings, which men cavil at, to justify God's decrees, which men quarrel with, and think much at, and his children, whom men despise and bear down: one able to bring to light the secrets of all hearts, so as all men shall judge of every man, 1 Cor. 4:5, 'Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.' One able to search the deep things of God, and bring forth his counsels (for the books are then opened, Rev. 20:12), and lay open the depths of his wisdom, in suffering this and that to fall out; this man to be punished, and another, a greater sinner than he, to escape; this kingdom to be ruined, and another, as sinful, to flourish; and to make that glorious comment upon the obscure text of this world's providence, which we understand not; and to do this out of the original draft and counsel held in heaven, why this or that was done or not done so or so, or not so, and to do this openly and vocally as a man; and when he hath sent all men convinced, non-plussed, 'speechless' (as the word is in the parable), confounded, to hell, to give up his kingdom, and himself visibly be subject to God his Father: it is a mighty service this.

But yet, lastly, after all this, he is the founder of that other world into which he brings his children given him by God, which is his inheritance for himself and them; and their happiness is expressed by this, 'to be ever with the Lord.' And, John 17:24, Christ in his last prayer says, 'Father, I will they be where I am, and see my glory;' and till then that personal fulness (of which I spake at first) that is in God-man, Christ Jesus, is reserved by God, as a subject of that depth and glory to take up, together with his own perfections, the thoughts of men and angels for ever. Our happiness will lie in seeing God and Christ as he is; for unto both doth that speech refer, 1 John 3:2, 'Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.' And if the sight of Christ, God-man, be not the highest means of the happiness of the saints (because the Scripture mentions also God his being 'all in all'), yet I am sure it is a main part of it: Rev. 21:23, 'And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.' The glory of God and the Lamb are the light of it. And so Stephen saw the glory of God, and Christ at God's right hand, Acts 7:56. So that when these two great volumes, this of his word and that of his world, which now in this life are put into our hands, to read the characters of his glory in by faith, when both these shall be folded up and clean laid aside, then will the person of Christ, God-man, as the glory of the Godhead, shining in and communicating itself to us, through that human nature the Godhead dwells in, be set forth to us, to entertain us for ever with the sight of the glory of God in the face of Christ; and all our present thoughts and knowledge we have by faith will become vain, and be made unprofitable, and vanish: 1 Cor. 13:8, 9, 'Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.' And that face will make a heaven to us when redemption shall be forgotten, through the present glory viewed and possessed, and sins remembered no more; but the glory of God, and the personal glory of the Lamb, shall be our light and happiness for ever.

Use 1. Let us admire Christ that thus serves to all, not our ends only, to save us, but which is more, to all God's ends and purposes, and to accomplish all the desires of his own heart. What an infinite perfection must this needs be! Nature and art (says the philosopher) make but one instrument to serve in a proper and direct way, but for one purpose; but this is a person whom God hath set forth for all ends and purposes whatsoever. If you should see an instrument in music serve at once to supply the use and afford the music of all instruments; or a mathematical instrument so made as all conclusions in all arts and sciences might be demonstrated on it, and it serve for all uses, in arithmetic to cast exact accounts, in geometry to measure all quantities, in geography, astronomy, to give you the exact proportion of all the earth and stars in heaven, how would you wonder and admire at it! Oh! wonder then at the person of Jesus Christ! 'Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh,' 1 Tim. 3:16.

Use 2. If Christ, that is our mediator, is so useful unto God in all his other businesses, and serves all his other ends as well as this, this may then help our faith, by persuading us that God cannot but be infinitely well pleased with the saving of sinners by him, and that believe on him (he being as good, if not better, at that than all those purposes forementioned); for the person, in whom we are graciously accepted, being pleasing to God so many ways besides this, must needs move him the rather to accept his work in this, and us for it. As for instance, if a king, willing and inclined to pardon a traitor, if besides a work of mercy done, it could be demonstrated that the means whereby that is to be done would bring in a mighty profit to the king, ten thousand talents of silver, as in another case Haman said to Ahasuerus, Esther 3:8, or, as if when David's heart was of itself set to pardon Absalom, only he would do it with honour; if Joab (the projector of his reconciliation) could have propounded a project, not only to have fetched Absalom in again, and reconciled him to David upon the king's own terms, but so as withal he should have all his other state ends compassed whatever he could desire, as to shew forth his majesty, power, greatness, gratify all his subjects, overcome his enemies, hereby have his kingdom governed in peace and righteousness, and have his enemies subdued, overcome, and all his revenues increased; would not all the world say, that surely the propounding this would mightily help forward the obtaining Absalom's pardon and reconciliation? And surely so it is here, the work of reconciliation in Christ's hands (who serves God in all these and many ways more) must needs prosper (as Isaiah says) and speed. And therefore, in the first of John, and in the first of the Hebrews, and in this chapter, Col. 1, all his usefulness to other ends, all his fulness to other purposes, is prefaced and mentioned first, and then purging our sins away by his blood, and making peace by the blood of his cross, are spoken of; all those other conducing unto this. And therefore, some schoolmen, upon the consideration of these things, give this censure of it, Tanto aliquis modus aptior est ad consequendum aliquem finem, quanto per ipsum plura comparantur.

Use 3. It may invite us to come to him; as besides the work of reconciliation, God had the accomplishment of many other ends in him, so may we. Besides pardon of sin and peace with God, we may have all other overplus ends acquired and accomplished. The angels who are in favour with God already, and stand not in any need that way, what would they give to have that near relation to him which we have? You may come to him for pardon first, but when you are come, his person will further take you. Fulness much invites, it is the aim of all our desires to have a fulness of riches, of honours, of pleasures, a πλεονεξία, as the apostle calls it, Eph. 4:19, that is, a having one's fill; so the word which is translated 'greediness' signifies. Now in Christ, and in Christ only, it is to be had, in whom is fulness, and all fulness—fulness for parts of all sorts, and all fulness for degrees, which is never spent, for it dwells in him, fulness for evermore, as the Psalmist speaks; 'Open thy mouth wide,' stretch thy desires to the utmost compass, as Ps. 81:10, may Christ say, 'and I will fill it.' The mind of man is nothing but emptiness of itself, it is as the stomach is, a vacuity and want, sharpened with desire and hunger,—'empty man,' as Job calls him, Job. 11:12,—unto which God hath fitted all things, as suitable to its desires one way or other; there is no creature but it may take some pleasure in. But, alas! the creatures are empty too, 'vanity,' that is, emptiness, as Solomon calls them: 'husks' (as in the parable) 'without a kernel,' and Adam made them more vain and empty, Rom. 8:20, 'subjected them to vanity;' and at best they serve but for some one particular want and end, and not all ends and purposes. Riches serve against poverty, honour against shame, but Christ he serves to all ends and purposes. God would have nothing full but Christ, that our souls might rest in nothing else, and have him our centre. It pleased him that 'all fulness' should dwell in him, and he hath fitted him to our wants; all we want he hath, and all he hath we want. And his fulness is not ordained simply to dwell in him, but to be communicated as the sun's fulness of light, which though it resides in the body of the sun, and it carries it with it whither it goes, and leaves nothing but darkness behind it, yet, where it comes it is communicative, it diffuseth all its light, and heat, and influence; and so doth Christ. Therefore, as here all fulness is said to dwell in his person, so elsewhere it is said, 'he filleth all in all,' as Eph. 1:23. As Adam emptied all, so he fills all, and is never diminished; his fulness it is not plenitudo vasis but fontis, which is always full; not as the fulness of the sea, which might be emptied, but as the fulness of the sun, or of fire, which multiplies itself, and loseth nothing itself neither.

Use 4. If Christ be thus full, then let those that love him fully delight in him, and to that end contemplate all his fulness. How will one that is in love with another think over and over again all the perfections in them they love to confirm their choice? So should we. And not only so, but take our full delight and contentment in him. And that Christ serves to all ends else, besides those of our own, of being saved by him, will, if meditated upon, exceedingly increase our joys and delights in him. A wife that had a husband eminent in all perfections, which perfections yet she had no great skill in, yet the thought of them would make her love him when once he is hers; when he is not only a good husband unto her, but also a good commonwealth's man, of eminent place in his country, an excellent soldier, horseman, &c., skilled in all learning, &c., these, because they commend and endear her husband unto others (though she hath not the benefit of them directly) do yet endear him unto her the more that all these are in her husband. So this should do Christ to us.

Use 5. See the love of Christ to us, that having all fulness in him was willing to empty himself for us. We were not only empty but bankrupt to God, and to redeem us and fill us again he was fain to empty himself. It is the apostle's phrase, Phil. 2:7; the word we translate, 'of no reputation,' is in the original, 'he emptied himself,' that is, left nothing of all his fulness. So Dan. 9:26, 'Messiah shall be cut off, and shall have nothing,' so it is in the Hebrew, as well as that which is translated, 'not for himself,' and so varied in the margin of your Bibles. He that had all that fulness, and fills all in all, had nothing left, no comfort in God or any creature. If you should see the sea ebb into some other world, and see not a drop of water left, how would you stand astonished at it! How much more at Christ! He might say, as Naomi said, Ruth 1:20, 21, 'The Lord hath dealt bitterly with me.' I came from heaven full, but he brought me to earth empty, emptied of all. For us to leave and abate anything of our fulness, how loth are we! To leave a full land, a full diet, a full table, a full house fully furnished, a full condition, and lower our sail, though for Christ! Oh, but Christ did; he left heaven and all the fulness of it, and removed to earth, where is nothing but vanity; and he who was Lord of heaven and earth, for our sakes became poor, and left himself not a foot of land, not a house to hide his head in. By what a small abatement is to our spirits, let us think what so infinite a debasement, an emptying, was to him.

Use 6. See his love yet further, that though he be in himself thus full, yet that his love is such as he thinks himself not full or perfect without us, but reckons himself defective till he have us knit to him and about him. As Christ said to him that had kept all from his youth, 'One thing is wanting,' so I may say of Christ, that still one thing is wanting. Why, what can he want, that hath all fulness? Even any one of his members; and he would not think himself completely happy without them; for, Eph. 1:23, though he be he that filleth all in all, yet the church is his fulness, 'which is his body, the fulness of him which filleth all in all.' His glory would not content him in heaven if he should want any of our company there; John 17:24, he prays therefore, that they may be with him where he is, to behold his glory: 'Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.' As Haman said, when he reckoned up all his riches, and honours, and glory, his places and favour at court, what good will all these do me, says he, so long as Mordecai contemns me? So Christ in his heart says, If I have not all my enemies down, my children about me, his whole tale and number, if but a Benjamin or a Joseph were wanting, heaven would be less to him. The first Adam, when he had all creatures about him, needed a companion of all his delight; and so kings that have full pleasures, yet love to have consortes imperii. So doth Christ, and till then reckons himself imperfect; and therefore, Heb. 10:13, he is said to expect: 'From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.' Expectation argues defect. Now he had been alone in heaven if he had not died; John 12:24, the corn abides alone if it die not: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.'

Use 7. Let us applaud our own happiness in such an husband, and keep to him alone, and not doat upon any vanity. Why? Because, as the apostle argues against vain learning, philosophy, &c. Col. 2:8–10, 'Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.' That all fulness being in him, 'in him ye are complete,' you need no other learning, no other wisdom; for, ver. 3, 'in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,' in comparison of which all the wisdom of the world comes to nought. Like a kingdom that hath all commodities, as China, or a great man that hath all about him of his own, so have you in Christ, you need go out to nothing for any thing. You go to seek for light with a candle, when you have the sun in your hand; whilst having Christ you seek to be happy in anything else. You need borrow nothing, nor be beholden to any creature; your husband hath all fulness. We needed not the law to direct us, if we knew his story, and could spell out all the passages of his life, by whom the law was transcendently fulfilled in instances of a higher kind. If the lives of all the saints, of Paul, Abraham, &c., and all the law and Bible were burnt, all might be renewed in his story, if that were enough known. They only serve to us to help us to understand him; we needed no other motives than what may be drawn from him and his love, if our hearts were holy enough and conformed to him. In a word, if Christ serve fully to all God's ends (who hath vaster plots than we) and is adequate to them, then much more to all ours, who have but low contrivements. Let us therefore love him, and serve him, and make him our end, and think ourselves complete in him.

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MONERGISM BOOKS

The Knowledge of God the Father,And His Son Jesus Christ by Thomas Goodwin, Copyright © 2020

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Table of Contents

BOOK I: Of the Godhead, and the three Persons within itself

CHAPTER I: That God is one in essence.

CHAPTER II: God, one in essence, is three in persons, jointly co-operate in all God's external work

CHAPTER III: That these three persons in the Godhead are persons distinct one from the other.

CHAPTER IV: Persons in the Godhead have an Union and Communion Between Themselves

CHAPTER V: Of giving glory to God

CHAPTER VI: What it is to Give Glory to God in Himself

CHAPTER VII: The Glory of God Described

BOOK II: Of the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity

CHAPTER I: How greatly it imports us to have a true knowledge of the person of Christ

CHAPTER II: Who this person was that existed from eternity

CHAPTER III: That he was the Son of God, who existed throughout all ages, and from eternity.

CHAPTER IV: What kind of Son he is to God, or in what sense he is the Son of God.

CHAPTER V: That the second person of the Trinity assumed human nature into personal union with himse

BOOK III: Of the glories and royalties that belong unto Jesus Christ

CHAPTER I: A preface giving a short scheme or draft of the ensuing discourse.

CHAPTER II: The personal native glories and royalties which belong to the Son of God, as dwelling i

CHAPTER III: The honour and royalties that appertain unto Christ, God-man

CHAPTER IV: That by this designed union of the Son of God to this individual creature the man Jesus

CHAPTER V: The glory which Christ, as God-man, had assigned him before the world

CHAPTER VI: The exposition of some other passages in John 17

CHAPTER VII: That God constituted from eternity Jesus Christ God-man

CHAPTER VIII: That the title of Lord, though it imports him that is God

CHAPTER IX: That all things do depend upon Christ as one Lord

CHAPTER X: How all things depend on Christ

CHAPTER XI: That Christ as God-man is the Creator of all things, proved by scriptures.

CHAPTER XII: That Christ, as God-man, is the Creator of all things, proved from John 1:1, 2, 3.

CHAPTER XIII: How Christ, God-man, is subservient to God in all the works of his providence