and hir Son !fefus [hrifi. And this Preheminence is held forth in tbefe Particulars. ~\..&""'! r. In that he was ld up as an Univerlal End of the whole Creation ?f God, ~ FJJr whom a!JTbingf (lays the Text) were created, verC t6. And tb:s IS not to be predicated, either of Angels or Men. God vouchfafed neither of them that Honour, as to be the general and univerlal End of all Tbmgs. This Priority,is a fimilitudinary Prerogative of what God alone ts, as oue God, fo that his Chrirt fhould be one Lord, I Cor. 8. 6. over all Things, and but one. And herein is ChriO: (o the Image of God, as 110 Creature is; as in refpc/1 of Dominion over this vifible World, Man is C1id to be the Image of God, (Gm. I. 27, 28.) as his Type. 2. And further this Vniverfolity of Endjbip, (as 1may call it) he holds with a peculiar Tranfcendcncy, which no Creature is capable of: for it arifeth from his Dirtance, and abfoluteSoveraigmy (which if he be ordained to ft1bfirt in an Hu– man Nature, that Nature muPc be railed unto) which he bath over all the Crta– tures. His Perfon decreed to fubfiO: in Man·s Nature, was confidered by God, in his Decrees, to be ofthat worth and diPcance above the Creatures, that their very Being and Exilling, was to become abfolutely and !imply his Propriety. He was to be abfolute Lord oftheir Being, even as God is. But thus were not Man, or any ofthe Sons ofMen, to the Being ofAngels, nor Angels of Men ; though as Superior in R.ank the one may fcrve the other: But yet thus Men, and Angels are fubordinated to Chri£1: as their End. This we have in Heb. 2. Where, by this Argument, the ApoO:Ie proveth that that Ma11, fpoken of by David, Pj./1.8. could be none but the Ma11, Chrijl Jefll<, nor any meer Creature; becaute he was (as fet forth by David) advanced to an higher Prerogative than the Angds, in that God hath p11t all thingf in fobje/Jion under hint, yea, rmder hu Feet, (as the Phrafe there is): So, as he bath left ttothi11g that if not p11t mrder him, verC8. Be therefore is not only the Univerlal End ofall Things(iffuch,we could fuppofeany one meer Creature might have been conPcitutcd by God,) but he is the abfolute Sovereign End; fo as they are under his Feet, as Vafials, whofe whole Being is for him, and at his difpofe: Of which Prerogative no meer Creature is capable. And even in this Prerogative Senfe, he is the Univerfal End ofall: For God bath exempted nothing from Subjection to him, (as the ApoPcle there faith); Ele{l: Angels are not thus the End ofEle/1 Men; nor Ele/1: Men ofEle/1: Angels. He ~ath 1101 p11t i11tojitbjetlion to the .Angels the World to come, (lays the fame ApoO:Ie m the lame Place, verf 5·) Chrirt has an abfolute and entire Lordfhip. And therefore he muO: needs be fir£1: in Intention, and fo before all Things : as of no other Thing or Creature it can be faid. 3· Add to this, That fuppofe him at all decreed to be God·Man, and united to a Creature,it was with all his due,to be ordained by God the End ofall Things decreed together with him. And this is and was an incommunicable R.oyalty to any meer Creature, nor mull: be faid, nor could have been true of any of them, but proper to him alone. And this makes a third Priority or Precedency in Endfbip, as alfo in God's Decrees. As touching this third and laO: Head, 1!hall do two things further. I. JmuO: explain and declare the Ground of it. And, 2. Shew the Glory ofthis Priority, above what any Creature bath been capa- ~~ . For the Explanation of it. r. It is true, That the Second Perfon his fubfiO:ing in an Human Nature, or his being God-Man, dependeth wholly upon the Ordination ofGod, and that in refpe/1 ofhis being Second Perfon fingly mnfidered, or in refpe/1: of that Human Nature that was united to him. r. It cannot be Caid to have been a natural due to the Second Perfon to be made Man: And, 2. Much lefs was it a due to that Nature ofMan affumed, to be made one Perfon with the Son ofGod. 2. It is alfo as true, That though God would have thus decreed his Son to be God-Man; yet it was not neceffary that God !hould make any Creatures at all, and fo not neceffary that he fhould have ordained to make any other Fellow– Creatures with him befides himfel£ And [o it was not neceffary in thisSenfe,that they fi10uld have been for him as their End : But God might for ever have refled Q. in
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