and htJ Son j'efus Chr'ifl. IOJ "-.A..r\ But to put all outof doubt, that he fpeaks of himfelf in th,is Difc6u~fe, ds ~ he is Son of Man umted to God, he htmfelf, m the clofure of all, cloth expreOy (o explain it, that fo he might b~ und.erftood to fpeok fitll~ contradictory to their Exceptton. Thus, verf 27. The Father hath gzvw the !;on A11thorrty to exec 11 te ]11dgment alfo [ bewife he if the So11 of Man ]. F~r(l, He fets out this Prerogative with an Emphajis, as the Particle (a/fo) cloth imply, as being the higheft Dignity and Pow_er of all o~her, to have J~dgment folely committed to him, to execute tt fo vtfibly, a< God, and mGods ftead, and m that refpeCl: more than what he had laid, in that Speech they fo excepted againft; I and my Father work._ hitherto. I (namely) virtually and hiddenly, do co-operate and work together with him. And then, fecondly, to explain how it is committed to him, he adds, becat'.fe he if the Son of Man, .C fo it follows) the Panicle [ ~n J bewife being, (os Come Interpreters carry tt) put for [ r.JX:J&n J pro11t 1 ., [uch (namely, as he is Son of Man) that even as jitch, all Judgment was committed unto him, aod all thefe former Things true of him. And fo, that word [ ~71 J not only renders the Caufe of it, but explains how, and under what nature, all Judgment was to him committed. But how-ever, if it imports the Reafon 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 airri at). I fhall now give another Inftance of a third Attribute in Chtift, Which is al– fo fuch an Image of what is God, as is incommunicable unto any mere Crea– ture ; and that is Independency and Sovereignty; which I therefore a,dd, becaufe I find it mentioned by Chrift with thefe in this place. This Sovereign Inde– pendency, is one of the chiefeft Flowers in that Crown of his Glory, (as io Kings alfo it is, whereby they differ from Subjects) that none have, Poteflatem Vit.e & Necif, Power of Life and Death over them. The Creatures have a Life wholly dependent, _as fubfifting by the Power of God ; Heb. r. 3· Wf.o being the bright>ttf of his Glory, and the exprefi Image of hi1 Perfan, and uphold– ing aU Things by the Word of his Power, when he had by . himftlf purged o11r Sint, fat down on theright Hand of the M•jefly on High. And that fo as at pleafure; God might annihilate them; and yet in fo doing, rob thtm of nothing, which they can lay a juft claim unto as their own : So that the tenure of their being is; Ad Voluntatem Domini, At the Will of the Lord of Heave!J and Earth. But it is not thus with Chrifl's Humane Nature ; now it is a!Tumed into Uni<;>n with the Second Perfon : but, it being together with that Union invelled with the Royal Prerogatives of the Perfon, with whom it is one; it bath, lndependen" tiam Similitudinariam, an Independency like unto God's; fuch as is communi– cable to no Creature: therefore, fays Chrift, verf 26. As the Father hath Lift in hinifelf, fa he hath given the Son to have Lifo in himfelf. I have learn'd, from divers Interpreters of .the Gofpel of ]oh11, and from much comparing the Speeches of Chrill together, to interpret that, and multitudes of other 1he like, as well of him as God-Man, as of him alfo as Second Pe,rfon; :!.nd this, and other, could hot be true of him as God-Man, unlefs firft as he is Second Perfon. And that which evidenceth more particularly this Speech to be underftood of htm as God-Man, is, that it is laid to be given him. For this we are Cure of, That the Man-hood 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 fo htgh a Dignity. Therefore, I Pet. r. 20. Wbo verily wa1 fi-re-ordained before the Foundation of the World, b11t was manifoft in theft laftTinm for you. Chnft ts fatd to be fore-ordained, as well as the Elect; and the Grace fhewn in his Election was greater, than in all ours ; by how much the Priviledges he was ordained unto, were greater. But when once this Nature is united to the Se– cond Perfon, and become the Man God's fellow; then he is inftantly invelled with this indepoC1ble Prerogative, to have Lift in himfeif, and not to hold it by Gift, though fo at firfr obtained: And fo he bath an Independency, fimiiitudt– nary to that of his Father's, as thefe words in John 5.26. ([As J the Father hath p 2 Lift
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