Of the Creatures, and the Condition f'...../'-../l 1 • His Scope is to reckon up in this Chaptrr the Ble!lings heavenly, which EooK II. we are blefl with in Chrifl the fecond A dam, peculiar to the Eled: SoEpbr(; ~ 1 , 3 . they are all Ble!lings heavenly which we are blefl with in Chrifl the fecond Adam. The Bleilmgs we were blefi with in the fir(\ A dam were but earthy, and fcrved but for a Life on Earth; as the Oppofition, 1 Cor. '5· 47, 48. evidently lhews : The firjl mcm u of the earth, rtJrth;•: The jec01td man;, the Lord from Heavnr. As is the earthy, jttch are they that r1re earthy, and M is thr heavmly, fuch are they alfo that are hwvenly. Now after Eleflto 11 Adoptioll, Redemption, he mentions the Wifdom and thr Prtldmcc which i; in Cnrifl the fecond Adm», as one of thofe heavenly and fpmmal Blellina 1 peculiu ;o the Eled, God bath abotmded tom in, when he made kuow11 t'he Gojpel, the MJfi"yof his Wz!J, that is, the fecrets. of his Will, whtcb be purpofod in hzm(elf, Ephef. I, 8, g. And then here 10 his Prayer, he lhews the Heavenly fupernatural rife and caufe of it, even all the three Perfons. The Vouchfafer of it is God the Fathrr, I. Not as the Author of Nature, bat as the God of our Lord Jefus Chrifl: For it is a Ble!ling in Chrift peculiar to his, and therefore call'd, Thr FtJith of God's Elrfl, Tttm I. None ever had it but the Eled, and therefore Adam had it not ; feeing men not elected had all he had once in him. And therefore, though he was Elect, yet he had not what he had then as Elect, but as the common root of all, both Elect and others. ' And 2ly, He makes the Father the Fountain of it, as he is the Fi1ther of Glor_y. He praying for this peculiar Wifdom, mentions fuch Attributes (as the manner of the Apoflles in their Prayers is) as have a more proper relation of Efficiency to the things prayed for. Elfewhere, whrn JtJmts bids them jeek Wi{dom, he directs them to God., the Fathrr of Lighls; and here,as the Father of Glory. For this Wifdom is fo far from bting the fame in our pri– mitive Nature, that 'tis glory, a glorious Gift, and therefore Supernatural, not to corrupt, but pure Nature, and is of that rank comparatively to Nature, ns Glory in Heaven is of, it being the beginning of Glory: And therefore is call'd Elernr:t Life, to know God even as a Believer doth, Joh11 I7. 3· A11d this i.r lzfe eter~1al, that they might know thee the onl1 trur God, mtd Je{tu Chrifi whom thou hafi fmt. It raifeth the mind up to take in a tafte or hint, a glimpfe, a prelibation of Glory, as it follows in the next Verfe I8. of Eph. 1. The e~es ofyottr V>~derjlmzdittg being mtighttud, thatye may k11ow what is thr hope of his Calling, and what the riches of the Glory of his l11heritanct in the S11mts: ami fo to defire and breathe after it. Now Adam's was n'ot fuch, 3· It is from ti)e Holy Ghofi, the Spirit of Chrifi, given to us,ahd fowork· ing a\:>Ove the power of Nature: And in that refpect he is call'd here, The Spi– rit of Wi[dom a11d Revelatio<~; as alfo elfewhere, The Spirit of Faith, 2 Cor. 4· l 3• The way of Natural Faith r conceive to have been, Tbat the object be· ing>provided with Evidence fuitable to convince and perfwade the Light of Nature of the Truth of it felf, through an ordinary Concurrence of the Holy Ghofl to a natural free Agent: It was left to the fpirit of man to give its af– fent; fo as then it wasot, and for that fpirit in mau rather: But now it is at· tributed more to the Spirir of Chrifl in us, who both works Wifdom, the Prin· ciple capable of it, and revealeth and draws out an Acknowledgment by an over-powring Lighf, For, I tal<e it, that the Faith of God\ Elect is not. re– folved into Principles inbred and begotten, as I fa id Adam was, but into a prevailing work of the Spirit working Wifdom, and a Tefiimony of the Spirit giving light, and fealing up what he.would have us believe. A prevailing Te· !limon) of the Spirit is the ground of all our Faith , of what kind foev' r it be: Not oply when a p_erfwafion is begotten of a man's Intere!l inChrift, which JS becaufe the Sp.rrt witneffith wttb his Spirit, which yet alone carries the name of the te{limo>J1 of the Spirit; but when a man's Spifit prev2ilingly af· fents to any fpiritud Truth, it is from the lt!ce over·powring Tcilimony of the Spirir, feal ing up t!;at Truth with a light beyond the light pure Nature had, which was left to it fclf to give confenr out of its own light, which. was fuit· ed to the Object: But here a Divine light is fuperadded, that calls the Bal· lance,
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