his sufferings, whereon he was afterward highly exalted of God—they learn nothing from him in a due manner.

But this respect unto the person of Christ is that which will ingenerate in us all those holy qualifications that are necessary to enable us to know the mind and will of God. For hence do reverence, humility, faith, delight, and assurance, arise and flow; without whose continual exercise, in vain shall men hope to learn the will of God by the utmost of their endeavours. And the want of these things is the cause of much of that lifeless, unsanctified knowledge of the doctrine of the Gospel which is amongst many. They learn not the truth from Christ, so as to expect all teachings from his divine power? Hence they never come to know it, either in its native beauty drawing the soul into the love and delight of what they know, or in its transforming efficacy changing the mind into its own image and likeness.

(2.) The same also is the state of things with respect unto his kingly office and power. But this I have at large treated on elsewhere, and that much unto the same purpose; namely, in the exposition of the 3d verse of the 1st chapter of the Epistle unto the Hebrews. Wherefore I shall not here enlarge upon it.

Some seem to imagine, that the kingly power of Christ towards the church consists only in external rule by the Gospel and the laws thereof, requiring obedience unto the officers and rulers that he hath appointed therein. It is true, that this also belongs unto his kingly power and rule; but to suppose that it consisteth solely therein, is an ebullition from the poisonous fountain of the denial of his divine person. For if he be not God over all, whatever in words may be pretended or ascribed unto him, he is capable of no other rule or power. But indeed no one act of his kingly office can be aright conceived or acknowledged, without a respect had unto his divine person. I shall instance only unto this purpose in two things in general.

[1] The extent of his power and rule gives evidence hereunto. It is over the whole creation of God. "All power is given him in heaven and earth," Matt. xxviii. 18. "All things are put under his feet, he only excepted who put all things under him," 1 Cor. xv. 27; and he is made "head over all things unto the church,” Eph. i. 22. Not only those who are above the rule of external law, as the holy angels; and those who have cast off all such rule, as the devils themselves; but all things that in their own nature are not capable of obedience to an external law or rule, as the whole inamimate creation, heaven, and earth, and the sea, with all things in them and under them, (Phil. ii. 10,) with the dead bodies of men, which he shall raise at the last day.

For this power over the whole creation is not only a moral right to rule and govern it; but it is also accompanied with virtue, force, or almighty power, to act, order, and dispose of it at his pleasure. So is it described by the apostle from the Psalmist, Heb. i. 10-12, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: they shall perish, but thou remainest; and they all 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." That power is required unto his kingly office whereby he created all things in the beginning, and shall change them all, as a man folds up a vesture, in the end. Omnipotency, accompanied with eternity and immutability, are required hereunto.

It is a vain imagination, to suppose that this power can reside in à mere creature, however glorified and exalted. All essential divine properties are concurrent with it, and inseparable from it. And where are the properties of God, there is the nature of God; for his being and his properties are one and the same.

If the Lord Christ, as king of the church, be only a mere man, and be as such only to be considered, however he may be exalted and glorified--however he may be endowed with honour, dignity, and authority-yet he cannot put forth or act any real physical power immediately and directly, but where he is present. But this is in heaven only; for the heaven must receive him "until the times of the restitution of all things," Acts iii. 21. And hereon his rule and power would be the greatest disadvantage unto the church that could befall it. For suppose it immediately under the rule of God, even the Father; his omnipotency and omnipresence, his omniscience and infinite wisdom-whereby he could be always present with every one of them, know all their wants, and give immediate relief according to the counsel of his will-were a stable foundation for faith to rest upon, and an everlasting spring of consolation. But now, whereas all power, all judgment, all rule, is committed unto the Son, and the Father doth nothing towards the church but in and by him, if he have not the same divine power and properties with him, the foundation of the church's faith is cast down, and the spring of its consolation utterly stopped up.

I cannot believe in him as my heavenly king, who is not able by himself, and by the virtue of his presence with me, to make what changes and alterations he pleaseth in the minds of men, and in the whole creation of God, to relieve, preserve, and deliver me, and to raise my body at the last day.

To suppose that the Lord Christ, as the king and head of the church, hath not an infinite, divine power, whereby he is able always

VOL. I.

7

to relieve, succour, save, and deliver it—if it were to be done by the alteration of the whole or any part of God's creation, so as that the fire should not burn, nor the water overwhelm them, nor men be able to retain their thoughts or ability one moment to afflict them; and that their distresses are not always effects of his wisdom, and never from the defect of his power-is utterly to overthrow all faith, hope, and the whole of religion itself.

Ascribe therefore unto the Lord Christ, in the exercise of his kingly office, only a moral power, operative by rules and laws, with the help of external instruments-deprive him of omnipresence and omniscience, with infinite, divine power and virtue, to be acted at his pleasure in and over the whole creation--and you rase the foundation of all Christian faith and hope to the ground.

There are no true believers who will part with their faith herein for the whole world; namely, that the Lord Jesus Christ is able, by his divine power and presence, immediately to aid, assist, relieve, and deliver them in every moment of their surprisals, fears, and dangers, in every trial or duty they may be called unto, in every difficulty they have to conflict withal. And to expect these things any otherwise but by virtue of his divine nature, is wofully to deceive our own souls. For this is the work of God.

[2] The rule of Christ, as king of the church, is internal andl spiritual, over the minds, souls, and consciences of all that do be lieve. There is no one gracious acting of soul in any one believer, at any time in the whole world, either in opposition unto sin or the performance of duty, but it is influenced and under the guidance of the kingly power of Christ. I suppose we have herein not only the common faith, but also the common spiritual sense and experience, of them all. They know that in their spiritual life it is he tha liveth in them as the efficient cause of all its acts, and that without him they can do nothing. Unto him they have respect in every the most secret and retired actings of grace, not only performed as under his eye, but by his assistance; on every occasion do they immediately, in the internal actings of their minds, look unto him, as one more present with their souls than they are with themselves; and have no thoughts of the least distance of his knowledge or power. And two things are required hereto.

1st, That he be zaporoyvworns-that he have an actual inspection into all the frames, dispositions, thoughts, and internal actings, of all believers in the whole world, at all times, and every moment. Without this, he cannot bear that rule in their souls and consciences which we have described, nor can they act faith in him, as their occasions do require. No man can live by faith on Christ, no mar can depend on his sovereign power, who is not persuaded that all

the frames of his heart, all the secret groans and sighs of his spirit, all the inward labourings of his soul against sin, and after conformity to himself, are continually under his eye and cognizance. Wherefore it is said, that all things are naked and opened unto his eyes, Heb. iv. 13. And he says of himself, that he "searcheth " (that is, knoweth) "the hearts and reins of men," Rev. ii. 23. And if these things are not the peculiar properties of the divine nature, I know nothing that may be so esteemed.

2dly, There is required hereunto an influence of power into all the actings of the souls of believers;-an intimate, efficacious operation with them in every duty, and under every temptation. These all of them do look for, expect, and receive from him, as the king and head of the church. This also is an effect of divine and infinite power. And to deny these things unto the Lord Christ, is to rase the foundation of Christian religion. Neither faith in, nor love unto him, nor dependence on him, nor obedience unto his authority, can be preserved one moment, without a persuasion of his immediate intuition and inspection into the hearts, minds, and thoughts of all men, with a real influence into all the actings of the life of God in all them that believe. And the want of the faith hereof is that which hath disjoined the minds of many from adherence unto him, and hath produced a lifeless carcase of the Christian religion, instead of the saving power thereof.

(3.) The same may be said concerning his sacerdotal office, and all the acts of it. It was in and by the human nature that he offered himself a sacrifice for us. He had somewhat of his own to offer, Heb. viii. 3; and to this end a body was prepared for him, chap. x. 5. But it was not the work of a man, by one offering, and that of himself, to expiate the sins of the whole church, and for ever to perfect them that are sanctified, which he did, Heb. x. 14. God was to purchase his church "with his own blood," Acts xx. 28. But this also I have spoken to at large elsewhere.

This is the sum of what we plead for: We can have no due consideration of the offices of Christ, can receive no benefit by them, nor perform any act of duty with respect unto them, or any of them, unless faith in his divine person be actually exercised as the foundation of the whole. For that is it whence all their glory, power, and efficacy are derived. Whatever, therefore, we do with respect unto his rule, whatever we receive by the communication of his Spirit and grace, whatever we learn from his Word by the teachings of his Spirit, whatever benefit we believe, expect, and receive, by his sacrifice and intercession on our behalf; our faith in them all, and con cerning them all, is terminated on his divine person. The church is saved by his offices, because they are his. This is the substance of

the testimony given concerning him, by God, even the Father, 1 John v. 10, 11. "This is the record that God hath testified concerning his Son, "that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." Eternal life is given unto us, as it was wrought out and procured by the mediation of Christ on our behalf. But yet in him it was originally, and from him do we receive it in the discharge of his office; for this life is in the Son of God.

Hence it is that all those by whom the divine person of Christ is denied, are forced to give such a description of his offices, as that it is utterly impossible that the church should be saved by the discharge of them.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Faith of the Church under the Old Testament in and concerning the Person of Christ.

A brief view of the faith of the church under the Old Testament concerning the divine person of Christ, shall close these discourses, and make way for those that ensue, wherein our own duty with respect thereunto shall be declared.

That the faith of all believers, from the foundation of the world, had a respect unto him, I shall afterwards demonstrate; and to deny it, is to renounce both the Old Testament and the New. But that this faith of theirs did principally respect his person, is what shall here be declared. Therein they knew was laid the foundation of the counsels of God for their deliverance, sanctification, and salvation. Otherwise it was but little they clearly understood of his office, or the way whereby he would redeem the church.

The apostle Peter, in the confession he made of him, (Matt. xvi. 16,) exceeded the faith of the Old Testament in this, that he applied the promise concerning the Messiah unto that individual person": “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God"-he that was to be the Redeemer and Saviour of the church. Howbeit Peter then knew little of the way and manner whereby he was principally so to be. And therefore, when he began to declare them unto his disciples—namely, that they should be by his death and sufferings-he in particular was not able to comply with it, but, saith he, "Master, that be far from thee," verse 22. As "flesh and blood"-that is, his own reason and understanding-did not reveal or declare Him unto Peter to be the Christ, the Son of the living God, but the Father which is in heaven; so he stood in need of fresh assistance