36o Of EleClirm ~ebuking him , defeating him by us weak Creatures, !hews his Power·: BooK 11. And God to !hew hiS Grace towards us, affcds not bartly to fove us, and rhat ~effectually ; ro!be-:v himfelfa God of Grace to us; Bur in thedoing of ir tojltU, and fori the !:nemres, and Avr11gers: He put thiS very thmg imo that firlt Gofpel which hcpreacb't; He jb"ll br11ije thy Heel ; Bur thou fl1alt 6reak hts Head. A fecond reafon the Text holds a correfpondency wirh, is, That we "" called into Eter11al Glory: So Great a Glory, as that God thought i<meet we fhould know evil jirfl, e're we arrived at that height of Happinefs. I have often confidered eonccrnmg the Mon Jefus, That whereas <he Prophet 'Davic' prophecying of his Exalra_rion, had only exprefi what was matter of Glory : 'P(al. 68. 18. Thou hrJjl afcmdedon h1gb, (!)c. wqat rt fhould be from whict 1 the Apo!Hc fhould infer; as Ephef. 4· 9- Now iu that he afcendtd, what;, it /;ut that he al(o dtfctndedfirfl itJto the /owtr parts of tht E.mp ; And my befi refolvc of it was chiefly from this, That Gods ordination was, thor c' 1 e be would have the Man Jefus, ( whofe right yet it was upon his Perfonal uni– on, to have been in Heaven, the firfi moment of his being Man, ) ro sfc~nd to that height of Glory, not only in the Heavms, 6ut far above ,a HeavmJ· as theAp.o!\le there; That e're he did it, he would have himdejcmd firfl i!!l~ the lowrflpart r of the Earth; the lowefi condition : And this w~s fo flrange and wonderful a dealing of God with him, that in the next verje he procla~m~ edit as a fpedacle for God, Angels, and Men, t~ view, and behold: T h.o t He, one and the fame Perfon, fo abafed and lower'd firfi , fhould be after, fo exafted : Thus Vtrf, I o. He that dt{cmded;, tht famt alfo that afcmded: And he feems to point to him ; that [He J the fame individual Mao ihould be <he fubjed of both: And as if he had foid, was tver the like [em? The Apoflk doth the like, r Tim. ~· t~lt. Firfi, God manifejl in the Flrjh, in an humble , frail condirion; fo he begins : Then rectived "Pinto Glory; fo he ends: And frtll of .A11gels , placed in the middle; as Spedators, and Admirers of this fo vallly differing a contrariety of condition. As for us Men, It is the Law of Sons, Ht6, 1 " · 6. 1-.Sam. 7• '4· 'Tis the Law for an Heir to the Crown of Life; the Common Law for obtainment of Glory ; Jamts r. 12, Blt!Jed utht Man that tndurrtb Temptatiom; for whm ht iJ tried, ht }hall rtcrivt tht Crown of 1,-.i/t; which tht Lord h,,th prutJJi– Jtd to them that love him: And this notwithfiwding, Gods love to them, which is the Fundamental Law ofthat Law; yea, •nd this bccaufe of Gods Love to them; foit followws, Which the Lord bath promi{td to them th,;t love hitn. And the further reafon of this is, That Heaven is not limply joy and Happi– nefs , but aGlory; a Glory won byconqutjl; to him that overcomtth: As in every one of the feven Epiflles of the Revtlation : It is a Crown won by Maflery; 2 Ttm. 2. i· And fo by jlrivi11g, according to certain Laws {et <o be obferved by thofe that win: as it follows, And zj a Mmt alfo flrive for maflerirs, ytt;, ht not Crowntd, rxc,pt he flrivt lawftJI!y: Whereof tlcis is the mofi eminent, and chief, Verf. 1 r, r 2. It is a faithful· f•1J'i'IJ; for zj wthtdtadwith him, wt fbaO live with him: If Wt (ulfn· with him,wt jha!J a/fo raign with him: This is a true, and as faithful a faying, a. the GPfpcl of Salvation it felfis: Even the fame he h•d fpoken in his firfi Epiflle, 1. Chap, 1. 'i· And look what Glory it is thot by conquefi and mafieries is won., i< more valuable, as _7aco6 faid, Tht portion I won with my {word, and my Bow; This he gave to .7o(rph, above his Brethren; Gtnef 48. ttlt. which he there– fore efieemed above any other: And thus faith Chrifi of us, and rhat Glory he hath purchafed for us: And fo fhall we of that Glory to be revealed; wt aie mortthmJco11qutrors, through him that loved M, Rom, 8. You have feen the ntctf!itr of the Apoflles purring in rhis Claufe, Afterywt havtjitf}trtd, which our Flelh would perhaps have had left out; but h.e q,uld not pafs over and omit it, becaufe God had not: Let us now,_ notwirhflanrl– ing, fee what Comforts and Encouragemmts thrs very addruoo wrll otfMd us.
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