--~----~~~~~~~------------. to the E P H E S I A N S. time to redeem or collect Things or Perfons that were icattered afunder, as the ~ deadBones in Ezekid, which being disjoynted came together miraculouily a- Serm.x, gain and made up ol-:e body under one head. ~ A~d this ferves litly to the two !all Heads propofed,fo as not ooe ofthem can be fpared. You have the Heads of my Subject cut out,and the words opened as holding them forth. Now to give you the llory of all thefe. For the lirfl Bead, Head L That the great God pttrpoftd and deJlgned an 11nion with himfe!f of thofe; whom i11 aJpecial mamur he hadftt himft!f to love; and that tlm V moll u the duprfl andfarthrf/ tfejig~t of his h~art, of .m'Y h_t; IJath towards them, or the whole Crtatton. The full demonllrauon of his inamfold Wifdom and power, mo– ved him to make a variety of Perfons;Things, yea,ofWorlds; but .then his good– nefs and his love moved him to reduce out of that vanety, an All out ot every fort (as a pledge of his refpect to all) unto an unity again, and that with himfelf · and'this Union is the top perfection of all his works, as that 17 JohiJ 2J. I i11 them, and they in mr, that they mtl)' be matft per[ea in 011r. It is the perfection of the Creature (whereof the unity of the three Perfons is the pattern,) and the perfection of God's defign. Head ii The next thing to be confidered, is, what medium, means, or Corner-llone and foundation it was, which God laid and defigned,i11 and~whommoll efficacioully and harmoniouily to accompliJh this deGgn'dUnion between himfelfand all things io both Worlds. For the whole Creation was at that dillance from God, as God would have them know and retain the fenfe and remembrance of it, even when this Union Jhould be in its height and perfection; and to that end neither admits the generality, the All here, to an immediate union with himfclf, and thofe he cloth admit but in and through another,_and Him the Text names and holds up with the greatell emmence,mHtm,m Htm I fay; t.hereby Jhewtng that '.twas this great He, and he'alone,that was or could have been the foundation oftlus work. Him,whom Gnd hath made both Lordand Chri[f,and to that end fingled forth and made up, and conllitutcd him fuch aperfon as Jhould be the Center, the com– pound of all things, which he '?cant i11 and~ him to unite. And herem let us adore the mfimte Wifdom of God, to find out and contrive fuch a kind of perfon to be his Inllrument therein ;·remembring all along,that we are not at prefent fpeaking of Redemption, but only of Union. \Now, to fet forth this in general, let us confider, that if there were a general counfel of all forts of intelligent Natures, called by God, and commiffionated to choofe out an Head to this All of themfelves, they would certainly pitch upon fuch an one (If fuch an one could be found out by them,) m whom all the interefr and concernments of them all do meet. Now this hath God done for us without us, in this choice of his Chrill, and our Lord. For what can, or could b~fuppofed more harmonious, than that,when God meant to unite the variety of all forts in one Head, he fhnuld ordain that o11t Heat/ in his Perfim tobe the {t<m of all their natures and conditions, and yet a perfon of himfelf, and dillinct from them, and independent of them: and fo Chr1{1 myflical, the Church, and Chrtji Perfonal, (who were to be efj,oufed together) might fuit and match,•nd alike confill of all things , to the end they might be like in all things, as near as poJJible might be? And this collection of All in the very Perfon of Chrifl, takes up two of thofe fore-mentioned fignifications; of this word ,;,,..,.~"'"'""""'"'· Firfl, The calling np of divers numbers in one total fum. Secondly, The epitomizing or fumming up a vanety of dilated D1fcourfes into one Sentence. Let us run through the divided numbers which all thit~,gs,ilt Heavm or Em·th, are parted into. The firll great and more general divifion of all things, is God mzdthe Creaturt, and to call up or bring in thcfc two into one fum or total, was the hardell piece s ~
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