1)4 An Expojition of the Epiftle ------ ~ i: willgiveyoubothScipturefor it, and Reafon. Job. 1.18. No miltt bath feen Serm.XI. God at m!J time. (It is tranllated 110 man, but it is, Nmu, ;,;,,;,, bath fem God, ~youmay rake it of all Creatures at any time) The o•t!J' brgottm Son, whichui11 the bojom of thf Father, be bath declared him. If Angels had feen God a• Chrift feeth him,they might have declared him: it had not been Chrift's peculi' ar Prerogative to help~~s to that fight, if that the Angels had had the fulnefs of that Beatiful Vilion, whtch the Lord JefUJ Chrifl bath, and bnngeth all unto at !aft. And, my Brethren, l will give you this Reafon for it. (Another Scripture there is, it is P{at. 16. it is a Pfalmof Chrift, and he it is that faith, At thy right ba11d thfre uFuhuftof Joy, and PteaJi<res forfvermore; he wasable'lirftto fpeak that fpeech.) There is, I fay, the greateft Realon for it that can be : The Angels did not, by the Law of their Creation,receive that full fight, which now they have in Heaven, not by the Law of their Creation, though they that fiood might have it at firfi; but it is probable otherWife.There is this evident Reafon,fot otherwife thofeAngels that fell,h1ld never fallen:had they been filled withthe fight God which the faints ofHeaven lhall be for ever filled with: It had kept them from fi~ni'ng: Why? Becaufe there had not been a poflibility of thinking th<'re was any othtr•Good,not a poflibility ofit.IftheCreature knew God to the uttermofi;knew God as we lhall know him one day,as we are known of him,and fee his face with -tlut clearnefs, as Chrifi, the Saints and Angels in Heaven, now do; they could not have fuppofed, they could not have turned their thoughts upon·any thing elfe. Therefore you mufi fuppofe there was but fuch a fight and knowledge of God, as they might entertam a.thought of fo!De better good thing 1 for the Will of any Creature, whether finmng or othetwtfe, mufi 1\ill be pitched upon fame. good. Therefore the Schoolmeri do nghtly fay, that the utmoft beatiful Vi– fion o! God doth captivate, cloth fwallow up the mind. When we fee God to the full, we fhall be fo in love with him, that the heart !hall never turn off from him. That fuhitfl of pltafttre, thofe rivers of jo)', carry the Soul away with a Torrent for ever, it can never go back again, the fiream Amor 'Dei . it confiraineth. Now you fee the Angels did fa.ll,. and therefore certainly that fulnefs of the fight of God they had not : and tf tt had been by virtue of their Creation they would have had it. To think that it fhould be by their own works, we know tto fuch Covenant, it is that, as you fee, that is proper to the Lord]efUJ Chrif/ fo to fee God,he only lying in his bofom: by virtue of him men fee God, and fhall fee God ; by virtue of him Angels fee God. · And fo much now Jor that, why there was a neceflity of their being gathered unto Chrifl. as unto a head, a fecond time. Both that they might have confirma– tion in Grace, that God might put trufi in them; andfecondly, that they might have fulnefs '?f Glory, and that be~tifical Vifion, that might make them impec– cable and w11hout danger of finnmg for ever. Th'ere is yet fome_what more in that fecond of the Colo/]itms, (I confefs I need nrt medd!e witli it, for it is out of my Text,but yet it comcth fitly in.) Tt is faid, He ruo11ciled a!J thi?'gs,_ bcth i1l Heaven m:d in Earth. Interpreters are very lhy here of mterpretmgtt of Angels, becaufe they needed, fay they, no recon– ciliation, for reconctllanon cloth fuppofe enmity. Therefore to fpeak to this a little. This reconciliation you fee, is more than a fecond gathering, what need had they of this ? Bifhop 'D1 venant faith of it, that there was Reco11ciliatio tma– logica, fame thing that had the lhadow of it, fomething like it. 1fhall give you my fenfe of it thus. When God had experience that the Angels fell from him, and fell from him fo at a clap; why,might he think,they will all ferve me thus, if they be left to the Law of their Creation; they may droP. away thus, and turn Rebels one after another, and as I have loft man, fo i may lofe all the An– gels too,it is in their nature to do it,rhe Creature is apfto do it;T fee experience in lomeof their natures already, made of the fame Metal with them, Now, ( my Brethren,) this mull needs be fuppofed, that God is not contented with his Crea. ture, ( taken meerly in it himfelf,) it breedeth a kind of Stmtdtas, a kind ( T can~ot call it of grudge, becaufe the~e is no fin; but a kind ) of unfati•fiednefs _.nd dtfplacency. Therefore the Scnpture cloth not only fpeak of the Evil Angels
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=