The Christian Life Part 2 Volume 2, Section 12
SECT. XII. Of the Reason and Wisdom of this Method of Gods Governing sinful Men by his own Eternal Son in our Natures.
THough we are not able either by our natural Reason or Revelation to fathom the depth of the Divine Wisdom, or to trace out all the reasons of its Methods and Conduct, yet upon diligent inquiry we can plainly discern the Tracts of an admirable Wisdom in all the stated Methods of Providence; and though we cannot say that this or that is the main or only reason why God doth so or so, (for infinite wisdom may have infinitely greater and infinitely more reasons of its actions than our short-sighted Reason can at present discover) yet by comparing one action of his with another, and diligently observing the drift and tendency of them all, how they concur to one common end, and subserve each other to promote and accomplish it, we cannot avoid discovering reason enough in them to convince and satisfie us that they all proceed from a most wise and intelligent Agent, and this more especially in the admirable Oeconomy of the Mediation, viz. the eternal Son of God's assuming our Nature, and therein becoming our Prophet, Priest, and King: for what …easons there are why he should assume our nature therein to be our Prophet and our Priest hath been shewn before. And now we shall proceed so far as our short Inquiries will reach to shew what admirable reason there is why he should be our King also, to rule and govern us in the same assumed nature wherein he is our Prophet and our Priest; of which according to the best …ight that Revelation affords us there are these five Reasons assignable.
First, That he might govern us in a way more accommodated to this degenerate state of our Natures.
Secondly, That he might the more effectually cure and prevent the spreading contagion of Idolatry.
Thirdly, That he might the more powerfully incourage our obedience.
Fourthly, That he might oblige us to himself with a stronger tie of Gratitude and Ingenuity.
Fifthly, That he might give us the more ample assurance of our future Reward.
I. God governs us by his own eternal Son in our natures the better to accommodate his Government to this our degenerate state, which renders us extremely unfit to be governed immediately by God. It is true, whilst man continued in his Primitive Innocence and Perfection, he was in a condition fit to converse with God face to face, and to live under his immediate Dominion, for then his Sense being under the conduct of his Reason, and all his brutal affections intirely subjected to the government and directions of his superior faculties, he was as much ruled and influenced by the objects of his Reason, as he is now by those of his Sense, and was as powerfully moved and affected by what he only knew and believed, as he is now by what he sees and feels; so that then God, that great invisible Spirit, who is removed from all the perceptions of bodily sense, and is only perceivable by our Reason and Faith, did as powerfully impress mans hopes and fears, and all the other principles of action in him as he could have done had he appeared as amiable and dreadful to the mans sight and feeling as he then did to his faith and reason. In this state and condition therefore man was duly qualified to be governed immediately by God, to receive his impressions, and to be moved and acted by the over-ruling influence of his immense perfections. But when once he had degenerated from this pure and blessed State of his nature, and had thrown off the Government of his reason, and subjected himself to the tyrannick sway of his brutal appetites, he thereby unqualified himself to live under Gods immediate Dominion. For now he being governed by his sensual appetites, and they by the sensual Objects that surround him, scarce any thing else can strike upon his hopes and fears, but what is carnal and sensual, or if any thing else doth, to be sure some carnal object immediately interposes and breaks the stroke, and renders it faint and ineffectual; so that now God who is solely the object of our faith and reason, can scarce be admitted to speak with our hopes and fears, by which we are made to be governed, or if he be, his soft still voice is immediately drowned in the perpetual clamour which these sensitive goods and evils raise about us. Wherefore having thus unqualified our selves by our Apostacy from the primitive state of our nature to live under the immediate Wing and Government of God, and he being resolved in tender commiseration to us, not to abandon us for ever, did in his infinite wisdom project a new Method of governing us more accommodated to this our degenerate state, viz. by uniting himself to sensible matter, and therein addressing to our bodily senses in audible voices, visible appearances, and finally in our own form and nature, which of all other sensible things we are most apt to be affected with, to love, and honour, and reverence, and obey. For so immediately after his Fall God appeared to Adam, probably in a glorious human form, and spake to him in an audible voice, and afterwards he did the same to the Patriarchs, and to the whole Nation of the Jews from Mount Sinai, among whom he also dwelt in a visible glory; by which means he acquired to himself the same advantage of governing those sensual men that sensible objects had, which by striking on their bodily sense did more powerfully insinuate themselves into their Wills and Affections. But all these sensible appearances of God were only as so many preludia to his assuming our nature into personal union with his Godhead, and therein exhibiting himself familiarly to the bodily senses of mankind, which tho he now ceases to do, as being exalted far above our sight on the right hand of God the Father, there to reign till the consummation of all things, yet seeing we believe he is there visible in himself, cloathed in a most glorious human form, we can by imagination supply the want of our sight of him, and reach him by our inward sense, tho we cannot come at him by our outward; and whereas were he a mere Spirit, we could have no imagination of him, because imaginations are nothing but the Images of sensible things, we can now by the strength of our Imagination fetch him down from the Heavens when we please, and set him before our minds in all that venerable Majesty wherein he sits at the right hand of his Father. So that tho he be never present to our outward sense, yet, which is almost equivalent, when ever we have occasion to converse with him, we can make him present to our inward, viz. our fancy and imagination; into this spacious Gallery of the Pictures of sensible things our mind can walk when it pleases, and there behold him in Effigie, tho it cannot see him face to face; and considering how much we are governed in this degenerate state of our nature by fancy and imagination, as well as by sight and feeling, it is doubtless a most advantageous circumstance of Gods Government of the World, that he governs duplicate page duplicate page us by one whom we can fancy and imagine, when we cannot see or feel him. There are a great many men that never saw the King, who yet are overawed by the imagination they have of his Majesty and greatness, whereas were not the King a man, but a pure invisible Spirit, they could form no imagination of him, the want of which would very much abate, if not utterly extinguish, their aw and reverence of his Person.
Considering therefore how much we are governed by our sense in this state of our Apostacy, it was doubtless a wonderful wise contrivance of God, who is a pure Spirit, to assume to himself some sensible matter, that therein by presenting himself to our outward or inward sense, he might strike the deeper aw on us, and thereby the more effectually rule and govern us. But of all sensible matter none could be so proper to this purpose as a human form, in which we are inured and accustomed to be governed, and of which, as was hinted before, we have of all sensible things the greatest love and veneration, during this our Degeneracy; therefore by which we are so unqualified to be governed by God immediately, God the Father hath most wisely contrived to govern us by God-man, i. e. by his own eternal Son Hypostatically united to our natures. But when once mankind is recovered out of this lapsed condition, when our sense is perfectly subdued to our reason, and all our faculties are reduced into their Primitive Order,, then we shall return under Gods immediate Dominion, for then God-man shall deliver up the Kingdom, and God shall be all in all.
II. God now governs us by his own eternal Son in our natures, to cure and prevent the spreading contagion of Idolatry. There is no one Vice to which our corrupt nature is more propense, and of which it hath been more universally tardy, than that of Idolatry; for as for other Vices they have their peculiar Provinces, and such a Vice is more predominant in such a Clime and Temperament of Air: In one Nation Pride reigns, in another Intemperance, in another Treachery, and in a fourth Malice and Revenge; as for Idolatry it's an universal Monarch, to whose Empire all the World hath been enslaved and subjected, and notwithstanding all the care which God hath taken to prevent it, it hath spread like the Plague, till it became the Epidemical Disease of human Nature. Now to be sure such an universal effect must necessarily be owing to some universal cause; and what other can that be than the universal degeneracy of human Nature from its primitive life of Reason into a life of Sense? For while Man was under the Government of his Reason, he was as much influenced by dry arguments as he is now by his Sense, and the full reason he had to believe that there is an invisible divine Being presiding over all things, did as vigorously excite him to adore and worship him as the sight of him could have done, had he appeared to his bodily eyes in a Glory proportionable to the immense perfections of his Nature. But when once his sense had usurped the Throne of his reason, and enslaved him to its Empire, the case was quite altered, now Reason and Argument have very little influence on him unless it be back'd with some impressions on his sense, and his predominant affections are those that are raised by the strokes of sensible objects upon the sensories of his Sight, and Taste, and Feeling, which the divine substance and perfections can never touch, they being purely spiritual; by which means that communication and intercourse which was between God and man, whilst man was governed by reason, is mightily disturbed and interrupted, tho it be not altogether stopt and intercepted; for still our reason (which was not extinguished by the degeneracy of our natures) suggests to us that there is a God, and inspires us with an awful sense of his divine perfections, which still maintains in us Religious Inclinations and Affections, whereby we are importuned and solicited to adore and worship; but we being under the Government of Sense, are thereby naturally inclined either to look upon God who is in himself a pure invisible Spirit under the notion of a sensible Being, and as such to worship him, (for so anciently some adored the Sun for God, others the universal material Nature, others such particular parts of it) and in this consists that gross Idolatry of worshiping false Gods, or at least to blend our conceptions of him with corporeal Phantasms; and then to express those Phantasms in outward visible Images, by them to excite and direct our Worship to him (for so in most Nations the supreme Numen was heretofore adored in Statues and Images of several shapes and figures copied from the several Images by which they represented him to themselves in their own vain and roving imaginations) and herein consists that more refined Idolatry of worshiping the true God in a false manner. Thus the general cause of all Idolatry is nothing but the general Apostacy of human nature from the life of reason to the life of sense, by which we are naturally inclined either to transform God into a gross and sensible nature, or at least to assist our selves in conceiving of, and adoring and worshiping him by sensible and visible Objects. To prevent which God hath been graciously pleased to assume some material substance, and therein from time to time to exhibit to mens eyes a visible presence of himself, which in Scripture is frequently called the Glory of the Lord, and by the ancient Jews the Shechinah or habitation of God, and consisted of a shining luminous matter, which exhibited a glorious lustre of flame or light set off with thick and solemn clouds; whence it is probable he is said to cover himself with light as with a garment, Psal. 104.2. and in this glorious appearance he conducted Israel through the Red Sea and Wilderness, came down upon Mount Sinai, and was seen by Moses and the Elders of Israel, and from thence removed into the Tabernacle, where he fixed his abode between the Cherubins, and from whence he frequently displayed himself before the whole Congregation in the beams of that visible Glory which he there assumed, as the Symbol of his special presence; and by thus doing he took a most wise and effectual course not only to raise and excite their devotion, but also to restrain and confine it within its proper bounds and limits; for while men are under the government of sense, there is nothing hath that prevalence with them to excite their affections, and fix their thoughts as material Phantasms; so that God by exhibiting to them a visible presence of himself, and thereby impressing their imaginations with a material Phantasm of his presence and Glory, did at once both spur their affections, and bridle their fancies from roving into wild similitudes of him, and thereby take an effectual course to prevent the worshiping him by those outward Images which they exemplified from the similitudes which they framed of him in their own fancies, and having this visible glory to entertain their fancies, they had the less temptation from their sense to hunt after sensible similitudes and representations of him, that outward Shechinah which they sometimes saw, being a sufficient help to raise up their groveling minds and carnal affections to the contemplation and worship of his invisible glory; and that that outward visible glory in which he appeared to them was intended for this purpose seems plainly implied in Deut. 4.12. where Moses tells them, that when God spake to them out of the midst of the fire they heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; and so again, ver. 15. from whence he infers, Take ye therefore good heed unto your selves left ye corrupt your selves, and make ye a graven Image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of Male or Female, &c. ver. 16.17. where by their seeing no similitude is not meant that they saw nothing; for God himself had promised Moses that the third day he would come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai, Exod. 19.11. and therefore in all probability they saw the fire or visible glory in which he descended, for it is expresly said they saw it afterwards, Exod. 24.17. but this fire shining without any determinate form or shape, they might very well be said to see no similitude, for by similitude it is evident he means a determinate shape, ver. 16. where he bids them beware of making the similitude of any figure, so that the People saw God only in an unfigured flame, or visible glory that was cast into no determinate shape, (though within that it is probable, as was shewn before, God appeared to Moses and the seventy Elders in a glorious humane shape.) And this it seems God deemed a sufficient help to inable them to fix their thoughts on, and determine their worship to himself; and therefore he strictly charges them to content themselves with this, and not let their fancies rove, as they were too prone to do, after formed similitudes and Images of him, lest those Images should create in their minds false and opprobrious notions of him, and cause them to imagine the immense Godhead as the Heathen did, to be like unto Gold or Silver, or Stone graven by Art and mans device, Acts 17.29. Thus men being degenerated into a life of sense, and thereby rendered extremely propence to Idolatry, to worship God by Images, and thereupon to form blasphemous notions of him, as if he were such a one in himself as those Images represented him, God was pleased to exhibit to them a sensible presence of himself, that thereby he might the more effectually excite their awe and reverence, and at the same time restrain their imaginations from debauching their minds with unbecoming similitudes of his infinite Being and Perfections.
And for the same reason that God under the Old Law appeared to the Iews in a visible glory, he afterwards appeared to this lower World, and doth still continue to appear to the upper, personally united to a humane body and soul; for so S. Iohn represents Christs assuming of humane nature (who before he assumed it, was that God who appeared to the Iews from their Tabernacle in that Shechinah of visible Glory) to be only a removing out of one Tabernacle into another, out of the Tabernacle of the Law into the Tabernacle of humane nature, John 1.14. 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, where instead of he dwelt among us, in the Greek it is foreign, i. e. he Tabernacled, or dwelt as in the Tabernacle among us, he removed his abode out of the old Tabernacle, and took a new Habitation in humane nature: for that this is the Apostles meaning is evident from what follows, and we beheld his Glory, which plainly refers to that Glorious Light or flaming substance, called the Glory of the Lord, in which of old he was wont to display himself before the Congregation of Israel from between the Cherubins; and in this very Glory S. Iohn says he beheld him, viz. at his Baptism and Transfiguration, at both which times he was seen by them shining in the very same Glory, wherein of old he was wont to shine out of the Old Tabernacle; and therefore it is added, that this Glory wherein S. Iohn beheld him was the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father, i. e. it was the very same Glory with that wherein the only begotten was heretofore wont to display himself from the Tabernacle of Moses; so that the meaning of the words seems at least to be this, He dwelt among us in our nature just as heretofore he did in the Mosaick Tabernacle, and in this Tabernacle of our Nature we Twice beheld him shining forth with the same Glory wherein he was wont to shine out of that Old Tabernacle from between the Cherubins. Since therefore Christ dwelt in our nature in the same manner, and therein appeared in the same visible Glory, that he formerly did in the Old Tabernacle, there is no doubt but he did it for the same ends and purposes; and therefore since one of the ends of his dwelling in that Tabernacle was to restrain men from running into Idolatry, there is no doubt but among others he intended this end also in assuming our natures, than which there can be no visible appearance in nature more proper to excite our sluggish and to determine our roving devotions upon him; for since in this life of sense which we now lead, we need a sensible presence of God to raise up our minds and affections to him, in what presence could he have appeared to us more proper for this end than that of our own nature? a presence which is not confused like that of the Old Tabernacle, which was only a mixture of shapeless lights and shadows; but distinct and determinate and of our own form and shape, which of all others is most familiar to and most beloved and reverenced by us, and consequently of all others is most familiar to and most beloved and reverenced by us, and consequently of all others is most apt to encourage our prayers, and inflame our zeal, and raise our admiration. For in what sensible appearance could God have more powerfully affected our sense, than in that which we are most inclined to love, most prone to trust to, and most accustomed to reverence and obey; and than that in which alone we discern the Image of God, and the reflections of those divine Attributes of Wisdom and Goodness, and Truth and Justice, for which we reverence and adore him? There being therefore no visible substance in which God could more advantageously exhibit himself to us in order to the exciting our worship to him, and determining it upon him than that of a humane form, he thought meet to assume our natures into a personal union with his Divinity, and therein to rule and govern us. So that now the Humanity of our Saviour is the Tabernacle and Shechinah of God, wherein the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily, and these two natures united in Person and Glory are the immediate object of our worship; wherefore as the ancient Iews fell upon their faces and worshipped when they beheld the Shechinah or glory of the Lord, their imagination being thereby assisted and their affections excited, Levit. 9.24. So when we by our internal sense or imagination look up to the Glorified Humanity of our Saviour in Heaven, it is our duty to raise up our affections to Heaven by that sensible Shechinah of God, and thereupon to fall down and worship. But as the Iews when they fell down before their Shechinah, did not worship the visible light or glory separately from God, but as it was united to and assumed into conjunction with him, so neither ought we to worship our Shechinah, viz. the humanity of our Saviour separately from his Divinity, but in Union and Conjunction with it; and in short, as it was utterly unlawful for the Iews to worship God in any other Shechinah or sensible appearance either unshapen or shaped than in that Glorious one which he himself vouchsafed to them, that being sufficient to affect their sense, and thereby to raise up their minds and affections to him; so is it utterly unlawful for us Christians to worship God in any other Shechinah, Image, similitude or visible appearance, than that of the glorified humanity of our Saviour, that being sufficient to assist our imaginations and elevate our hearts and devotions to him. For though we cannot behold his glorified Humanity with our bodily Eyes now he is removed into Heaven, yet so neither did the Iews the Glory of the Lord (at least but very rarely) after the Ark whereupon it sat, was removed into the Holy of Holies, which was a figure of Heaven, yet as they being assured it was there, could easily view it in their imaginations, and thereby assist their devotion; so we being assured from Scripture that Christs humanity is in Heaven, can look up thither in our imagination, and by beholding its glory there, lift up our heavy minds and affections to the eternal Divinity that inhabits it; so that if we Christians make any other Shechinah or Image to worship God in, besides his own humanity, which he himself made, and wherein he now dwells above in the Heavens, we are of all false worshippers the most inexcusable, because by assuming our humanity God hath vouchsafed to us such an Image and Shechinah of himself as is of all others the most proper and effectual to excite and determine our Devotions.
III. God hath chosen to Govern us by his own eternal Son in our natures, that he might thereby the more powerfully incourage us to obedience, for now we have all the assurance in the World that the great design of his Government is to do us good, and to advance our happiness, and that under his blessed Empire we shall be sure to enjoy all the graces and favours that can be wisely indulged on his part, or modestly expected on ours. Had he Governed us immediately by himself, we could not have been so secure of our interest in him, as we have reason to be of our interest in his Son hypostatically united to our nature, because the divine Nature considered purely as such, is infinitly distant from ours and has no other relation to it than as it is the common cause of all things; and being so distant in nature from us, it would have been hard for us to imagine how he could be touched with the same tender and compassionate regard for us as he would be, if he were nearer allied to us, especially when we reflected upon our own demerit, and considered that by our sins we had set our selves at a wider distance from him than we were by our natures; this together with that anxiety which naturally arises in guilty minds, could not but have rendered us very suspicious of Gods intentions towards us, had he governed us immediately by himself; but now that he governs us by his own Son cloathed in our own nature, at his hands we may with full confidence expect a most gracious and merciful treatment. For now we are assured we have a close and most intimate interest in him by reason of his kindred and Alliance to us in the same common nature, which makes him every mans another self under different accidents and circumstances; and his nature being perfectly happy and perfectly pure from all irregular passions and appetites, cannot but be affected with a most tender regard to all the individuals of its own kind, because being compleatly happy himself he can have nothing farther to desire for himself, but that his kindred by nature, who are all his own substance dilated and multiplied, may be happy too; and being intirely good, he can have nothing of that sordid selfishness in him which doth too often contract and narrow our benevolence, and cause us like Serpents to infold our selves within our selves, and to turn out our stings to all the World besides: Upon both these accounts therefore as he is a perfectly happy and perfectly good man, he cannot but bear a hearty and universal good will to mankind, and that he doth so, he hath given us too many dear experiments to make the least doubt of it; for while he was among us, he all along prefer'd our interest before his own, he made himself poor to inrich us, exposed himself to contempt to raise us to glory, took upon him our guilt to release us from punishment, and willingly underwent a most miserable death that we might live happily for ever. In all which he gave us the most Glorious demonstrations how infinitely dear the humane nature, of which he participated, was to him in all those numberless individuals into which it hath been multiplied. The consideration of which is exceedingly pregnant with encouragement to obedience: For seeing God governs us by one who is as well our Brother by nature, as our King by Office, seeing he carries our kind in his own person, and is flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, we may certainly depend upon it, that he will be as kind and as gracious to us as his Government and our happiness, which is involved in it, will permit him; that so long as we are sincere to him he will compassionate our weakness, and that when we have gone astray from him he will graciously receive us upon our humble submissions, that he will not load us beyond our strength, nor punish us beyond our demerit, but that he will readily assist us in all our needs and tenderly pity us in all our pitiable cases, and kindly accept of our honest endeavours and reward them beyond all our hopes and expectations; in short, that nothing shall be able to separate us from his favour, but only our own obstinacy and wilful Rebellion, and that though in this case he will be angry with us, yet he will wait to be gracious again in expectation of our Repentance, and not hastily abandon us to everlasting ruin till we have sinned our selves past all hope of recovery. For as to all these things the humane nature in him is our constant Advocate, which being our nature as well as his, makes our case its own, and is as much concerned for us as it could reasonably be for it self,, if it were in our circumstances; than which what higher encouragement to Loyalty and obedience can there be given to ingenuous minds, to consider that he who reigns above in the Heavens and hath the disposal of my fate is my kinsman by nature, who by assuming my substance hath assumed my interest, so that whatsoever he doth for me he doth it for himself, that is, for his own humane nature that is in me, and that therefore 'tis impossible but he must continue kind to me whilst I continue dutiful to him, seeing that without great provocation he can never be unkind sure to his own nature. For this reason therefore God governs us by his Son in our own nature, that so by this his near kindred to us he might the better assure our diffident mind of a most gracious and merciful treatment at his hands, and thereby excite us to a free and Chearful obedience to him.
IV. God Governs us by his own eternal Son in our natures, that so he might the more powerfully excite our gratitude and ingenuity, and thereby oblige us to render him a more free and generous obedience, which is the obedience he delights in, and that alone which answers the end of his Government, for that which he aims at in governing us, is to subdue the Rebellion of our natures against the eternal Laws of right reason, that thereby he may render us more and more Rational, and consequently more and more prepared to participate of the happiness of a rational nature, which is never to be effected by a forced and constrain'd obedience; for so long as our obedience is forced, our Wills and Affections are unsubdued, and all our outward submissions are only the disguise of a treacherous and rebellious nature; we would still fly out into acts of Rebellion, but we dare not; our inclinations are as stiff and obstinate as ever, and the Restraint which our fear lays upon them is so far from conquering them, that it only heightens and inrages them. Till therefore our obedience becomes generous and free, and doth proceed from a willing mind, from a mind that is influenced by ingenuous motives, it will signifie little or nothing to the amendment of our nature, which notwithstanding its beautiful rine and outside, will still remain corrupt and rotten at the core. Now to render us freely and willingly obedient, what more effectual method could God have taken than this of governing us by his own Son in our nature? For in this our nature he was our Priest; and as I shewed before, it was infinitely reasonable he should be so; and by what more endearing motive can we be obliged to obey him than this that now he is in Heaven, he rules and governs us in that very nature which he sacrificed for us, when he was upon earth; and that it is in that Individual humanity which as our Priest he offer'd up for us on the Cross, that he now reigns over us at the Right hand of God; so that he who is now our King was once our Sacrifice, and that not by constraint, but by his own free offer and consent? For to redeem the lives of our souls which by a thousand guilts were forfeited to the vengeance of God, he freely chose to assume our nature and therein to undergo our punishment, that so we might escape and be happy for ever; and being governed, as we are, by a King that died for us, that willingly died a woful shameful death to ransom our lives from death eternal, what Monsters of ingratitude must we be, if we still persist in our Rebellions against him! When I consider that he, who exacts my obedience, hath spent his own heart-blood for me, that he who requires me to sacrifice my lusts to him, did chearfully sacrifice his own life for me, how can I grudg to comply with his demands without blushing and confusion! O ungrateful! had he been as backward to die for thee, as thou art to submit to him, thou hadst been a wretch, a miserable desperate wretch for ever. With what face then canst thou pretend to any thing that is modest or ingenuous, tender or apprehensive in humane nature, that thinkest it much to render him those duties which he demands of thee, and which he demands for no other reason, but because they are necessary to thy happiness, when thou knowest he never thought it much to pour out his Soul for thee in the bitterest Agonies and Torments that ever humane nature endured? If therefore it be possible to work up our degenerate natures into a free and chearful obedience to God, one would think this consideration should do it, that he whom God hath constituted our King to demand our obedience, demands it in our own nature, which he assumed that he might die for us, and thereby release us from that dreadful obligation we were under to have died for ever. So that now while his Authority bespeaks our Awe and Reverence, his blood bespeaks our gratitude and ingenuity, and that in such Language, and with such powerful Rhetorick and perswasion as is impossible for us to resist, unless we are resolved to outvy the Devils themselves in ingratitude, who though they have been audacious enough to outface the Authority of their Maker, were never so much Devils yet as to turn a deaf Ear to the vocal blood and wounds of a Redeemer.
V. And lastly, God governs us by his own eternal Son in our own natures, that thereby he may give us the more ample assurance of our future Reward. Had he continued to govern us by himself immediately, we had wanted one of the most encouraging instances of his immense bounty in rewarding obedience that ever was given to the World, and that is his advancement of our Saviour to that Mediatorial Royalty which he now exercises at the right hand of the Majesty on high; for had our Saviour been God only, he had been incapable of Reward, his happiness as such, being so immense as that it can admit of no addition; but being Man as well as God, he is thereby capacitated for all that vast reward which the possession of his Mediatorial Kingdom, together with an everlasting Heaven includes; and all this reward is the product of that perfect and profound obedience which he render'd to his Father whilst he was in this World. So that now in him by whom God hath promised to reward our obedience, we have an illustrious instance of Gods liberality in rewarding Obedience; by his happy fate we may be fully assured that we shall not serve God for nought, but that the reward of our obedience shall ten thousand-fold exceed the labour and difficulty of it, for he is a man as well as we, though he be hypostatically united to God, and this man for some few years faithful service upon Earth, for revealing Gods Will to men, and exhibiting a perfect example of obedience to it, for exposing himself to some temporal Calamities; and finally for offering up himself a spotless Victim for the sins of the World, is now advanced to the utmost height of bliss and glory that it is possible for a Creature to arrive to; he is set far above all principality and power; he is served and Adored, as the only Potentate under God the Father throughout all the Heavenly World; he is worship'd and Celebrated by Cherubin and Seraphin, by Archangels and Angels, he is extol'd in the Songs of the Patriarchs and Prophets, the Apostles and Evangelists, the Confessors and Martyrs; and his Name is resounded with everlasting praises and thanksgivings throughout all the vast Choire of the spirits of just men made perfect; and in a word, he hath all Power given him both in Heaven and Earth, and to his all-commanding Will the whole Creation is subjected. In this ever blessed King therefore by whom God now rules us, we have for the assurance of our hope of a future reward, the most stupendous instance of it that ever was given to the World. And indeed, since the great end of Christs Mediation was to reduce men to their duty by giving them a sure and certain hope of the remission of their sins at present, and of a glorious reward hereafter, it was highly condecent that it self should be an Example of its own design, and that the glorious part of it should be made the reward of the more painful and difficult, that so having in the Mediation it self a signal instance of Gods immence liberality in rewarding obedience, we might thereupon the more confidently expect that glorious recompence of Reward which God hath promised to those that obey him, and be thereby the more vigorously excited to our duty. And hence our Saviour proposes himself to us as an instance of the reward of obedience, To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me on my Throne, even as I have overcome and am sat down with my Father on his Throne: As much as if he should have said, that upon your overcoming the difficulties of your duty, you shall receive a most glorious reward, you need not at all doubt, having so illustrious an Example of it in my self, who having conquer'd the difficult parts of my Mediation, which was to teach you as a Prophet, and to expiate for you as a Priest, am now crowned with the reward of transacting the glorious part of it, i. e. sitting with my Father on his Throne, and there reigning with him in unspeakable Glory and Beatitude, and accordingly the Apostle bids us Look unto Iesus the Author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him indured the Cross, despised the shame, and is sate down on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty on high, Heb. 12.2.