and M Son !feft-es Chrift. And ifit be (aid, That you mufl: fuppofe him firlr, to be ordained God-Man~ by a Decree, ere thistheC_onfe~uentofit could become his Due: ~nd therefore: C_hap. 3in the Atl: ofGod's decreemg htm, and all Thmgs with htm: _(whtch decreeing~ him, and them, was done by one fingle and enure Act) TillS was not look'd at by God as a natural Due to htm. __ _ The Anfwer is, That by that fimple fore-Knowledg, whtch IS antecedent to his Decrees, whereby be knows all Things that his Will determines, afore he cloth determine them; he mufl: needs know tbts would, and m11fl: be the Confe– quent of his decreeing Chrifl: to be God-Man, if ever he did it ; and fo he pre– de!linating upon fuch a Knowledg, he intended him fo to be, even in that Atl: of decreeing him and all Thmgs, and ihaped thefe h11 Decrees accordmgly. Now for the fecond Thing propounded ; namely, the Eminency of this his Priority, as thm flared, that it is fuch a Prerogative, as no meer Creature could be capable of; Befides what bath been faid and obferved out of Heb. r. 4and Chap. 2 _ 8_ it is certain, it cannot be faid to be the natural Due of the bell An– gels or Men, that God ihould make them the End ofany Thing elfe decreed, or to be created together with them. It is true that God makes one Creature fubor– dinate to another, as its End, intending it for the ufe of another. Thus I Cor. t L 9- The Man wa< 110t created for the Woman, but the Woman for the Man; and fo theWorldforboth: Yetfo, asitwasnotaDue, that if both Man and Wo– man fhould be created, the Woman ihould be for the Man: For in Heaven, though the Sexes remain diflinet, yet there the Woman is no more for the Mao, than the Man for the Woman. And this Co-ordination one with another, God might have made in all Things, and none in Subordination to another, efpecial– ly Angels, and Elect-Men: But that the Angels ihould ferve the Elect, this is meerly from an Ordination of his WilL And he might have made this World and Man in it, and yet not have fubjected this World unto Man; and many more Worlds he might have made, which ihould not at all have fubferved Man; -but might fome other way have been for his Glory: As it will be, if this World ihould fl:and and continue after the Day of Judgment, as fome have thought. So, that for one Creature to he decreed the End of another, was a matter of meer Arbitrarinefs, and pure Liberty unto God. As there is a Decree that all thefe Things fl10uld Exif1: and have a Being ; fo there muf1: be a furrher diflinct Decree appointing the one to ferve the other: upon which alone thi• Subordination cloth wholly depend. So that not the Exifl:ence ofthe Things only arife from his Will, but alfo the Order of them, that this ihould be for this, and this for that; the one hath no other Claim or Due, but God's meer and arbitrary Decree. But in God's decreeing Chrifl:,and all other things for him,the Matter fl:andeth in far dif– ferent Terms. For although (as was faid) that he ihould fubfifl: in Man's Na– ture, that depended meerly upon a Decree, and was in no refpetl: his D11e; but that he ihould be the Heir, the Lord, the End ofall T hings, isfo the Object of God's Will and Decree, as withal he may claim it (fuppofing an Intention in God, that he ihall be God-Man at all) as a Due, and Royalty, and Prerogative entailed to his being decreed God's Son, by the Supreamefl: Law that can come between God and his Son, which cannot be made void, or he be bereaved of that Prerogative. Even as ifGod himfelfpurpofes to make any Creature, this Law naturally falls, upon his decreeing ofit, that it be ordained for his own Glory; Now fay I, for Chrifl's alfo : For, by the Union, that Mall becomes the natural Son ofGod? and fo this Right is natural unto him. I will give Infl:imce to illu– firate this difference between Chrifl: and the Creatures: Take any meer Creature, the An~els, and SoulsofMen, and as its having a Being depended limply upon an Arbitrary Decree ofGod's ; fo its having an everlafiing Being does alfo. Go_d might freely have ordered the contrary, and they could no way have claim– ed !I as a Due, or a Deprivement of their Right; it was no natural Due that was the Confequent ofits Being. But if God decree his Son to fubfifl: in an Human Nature once, then his being ever as a Man, and God for ever to.dwell in him, is the natural Confequent of the former ; for the Union is indifloluble, he being thereby invefl:eu into the Prerogatives ofGod's Son; _whereof this is one, Thy li:ar~fai/"ot ; where:is the Cteattites iliay change and wax old, So Heb.I. II,t2. Q,2 They
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