20 ~Union is and was afore the World was; I in my Father, and my father in ~i;, BooK I. John 14~10. as dwelling in one another,fo rejoicing in one another always; and ~ rhefe continue proper to themfelves, and wtll do for ever, and cannot be communicated to us, orherwife than by way of Stm:hrude and Ltkenels. But then they intended to make Creatures, and fo to have their made artificial acceflory delights, (as I may (o (peak). The Father fhewed the Son. a Platf~rm of a World below, in which Men fhould dwell, whtch Chnfl calls hts Fathers habtta– ble 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, fo thefe were made for Chrifl's Delight.' He therefore fubjoins, re– joicing in the habitable part of hi< Earth, and .my De!tghts were wtth the Sons of Mw, Prov. 8. F· Obferve the Subordination Uill, as he i< in the Father, and the Father in him; (o he was in his Father's delights, and he in is: And then, as we fay of Men, we in Chriji, and Chriji in "'· And the Union is more direct and immediate between us and htm; (owe were pnmtttvely hts Dehghts; even as afore you heard Ch,·iji was God's, and we Chriji's: !he Chain of Interefl,and of Delight allo, have the fame parallel Subordmate Lmks. VII. Come we la{\ to Glory, and the Communication of BlelfednefS, (as we began with that particular of Eternal Life) there is ther~in found the like Sub– ordination and Delcenr, Rev. 3· 2 I. Chnfl bath wtth hts Father a Throne m thole words, .ds I am on bs 1hrone; to which Throne we never afcend (mark rhat) ; But there is another which he calleth his Throne, and which confidered as Man, he admits us to a fhare in our proportion : To him that overcometb, I will gt·tmt tofit on my Tbrone. There is flill a differing Rank and Order; Thrones higher and lower, even as of the Unions allo: And ""'.:72. 1, or [ ils J I with my F"tber, fo they with me, you lee, bath run along through all: for Come paral– lellikenels will be found in all thefe Unions that are thus lubordinate; though· of fo differing a kind, that they have their infinite diflance and difproportion proper to them ; which mu(( be taken in and confidered, if we will know the 1 Nature and Condition of each. Vfes. Chrifl here, ]ohn 14. 20. tells his Apomes, for their comfort, That there was a Day coming, in which they fhould have a clear, and full, and in· tuitive Knowledg of this their Union, and its delcent to them from the Father; and the parallel ofit, with his own Union with the Father; In that Day ye fbail k,now that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you. This being a Matter of fo great moment for all Chriflians to know, and to difcern in their own Selves and Hearrs: and accordingly referved as the proper Work of the Holy Ghofl, when he fhould come as a Comforter: That though this Union it Celf is wrought when we are regenerate by him, yet the Senfe, the Knowledg of it, is relerved to the lafl, after ChriU's Refurrellion and AlcenGon ; yea, and as others would interpret it, until after our Relurrefrion, and the Day of Judgment. The Ules of which knowledg are; r. For ou~ Comfort ; for this l(nowledg, Chrifl here intends, is, That ' whtch the Spmt as a Comforter, verf 16. was to bring; and it conduceth much to .our Comfort, to know and meditate our Genealogy and Alliance that we have, and denve (by realon of our Union with Chrifl) from the Father, and how tt holds ?f. htm : that although our Union be of a lower degree and kmd, yet 1t IS the off-fpnng of the highefl and noble{\ Union; even of that between God and Chrifl ; a fecond Perfon fir!t, and then of the Man with the lecond Perlon. By which allo we fha!I perceive the furenels, the flability of our Union With, and flandmg m Chnfl, when we underfland how it is founded : that it is lo rivited into, and indented with that lupream Union of the Father and the Son; that as that of theirs is indilfoluble, and cannot be broken fo nor fhall this of ours. ' It is counted a matter of great moment Unto Noble Families if but for Honour-lake, to know their defcent fro·m Houles n;JOrc Ancient,'and Sove– reign;
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