i:8o An ExfX!fitiun of the Epifile $-}(iV' unto that Emphafi1 the ApofHe gives there concerning Chrill: 'the Head, He ~hli: ~ defcended, -is the fame alfo that ajcwded, that is, the very fame Perfon, the Sub– jell: of both ·; by to it thelike Emphafis the Apo8:1e puts here, Even rohe~rwe wei't dead, heq11ic4!'ed "'; and you have the full of the Apoll:le's Sc 0 pe, and the p,... rallel made compleat. To add that ll:range Thankfgiving, that of the Apo'ffle, Rom. G. r7. Qodl~ thanl;rd, that ;e were the Sen-ants of S;,; had the Apo8:le ended there, it W feemed half Blafphemy. The only Coro1lary or Inference I !hall make from all tl1is, ;s: Bow much do, they injure, yea, and frufhate rhis great Defign of God t'() ?'agmfy h1s Love and Grace, that do climb up prefently fo high, and immcdiatly tnto God hmifelf, limply m himtelf confidered, that they will not condefcondlm look down (as yet God dotb) upon thefe things here below, mamely, to wh3t they are, or were in refpeil: o~ Sin; but have forgotten their old Sins, J<:a, can<l theirneed of Chrill:, as an Advo.catc to God for them. Surely God having loved us With a Love of fo long contmuance, as from everlall:mg ; and there having not been a moment of all that vaf1 fpace of time, wherein he hath not loved m \vith fo gteat a Love, had it not been that he had a mighty defign upon them r 11 permitting this, which in the end, by the difcovery of it, fhould take up .and fi'Jl their Hearts ( whil8: in the Flefh at !call:) with the contemplation of his Love, fet off by the deep and continued fence of thtir own Sinfulnets, fo Joog be~ continued : Surely he that loved them fo, would never have fuffered fuch Mum· tudes of thole he loves, to continue fo rnat1y years in this f1ateofDeath, and Re– bellion againll: him, and therein to wrong him fo all the while; and that himfelf. (who delights to manife(1: his Love infinitely more than we do where we love,) ·lhould 'fuffer himfelf to be bound up from difcovering in the leoll:. His Lov~ would never have endured him to ·conceal it felf fo long, had it been that the Glory of all this Love ( fo deligned this way to be fet out) muf1 inf1an'tly befor– gotten by them that are the Subjeil:s of that Love, much lets would he have or– dered our Salvation to be accomplifh'd by putting his own natural Son to deatli; and to offer up his Soul a Sacrifice for Sin; if this his great Love, and this fOre travail ofhis Soul, fhould be fo loon forgotten, and !wallowed up through the Joy of our enjoying God immediatly without him; and thi• even whi!f1 the K.e– mainders of that Sin cleaves to them, to mind them of him that red.eemed them from all Iniquity, by his fo precious Blood. God might (according to this Re– ligion ) have fpared his Son of that fore Pain and Grief himfelf put him unto, and himfelf the many Provocations from us he loved fo, befides the trouble ofhis own concealingandkecpingin hisLove folong aforeourConver6on,as afterwards; and have at firf1 immediat!y brought them at a cheap rate, (even as Creatures that never finned-) into that immediate Communion with himfelf, without any need of his Son's Mediation at all; yea, 'Paul might have fpared this Epif1le m thefe Ephejians, as Patterns of Grace herein to all f1,1cceeding Ages, v. 7· in the Privileges of which he fo glories, Chap. 3· 4And furely -God would have taken that courfe and way much rather, had it not been, that to commend his Love hereby was the great delight of his Soul ; the Glory of his Grace being his chiefef1 Glory. - • I come now, in the third place, to fpeak a little to the Condition of them here, ~sit bath relation to quickning. - When we were dead, he 'l";;~,ped 111. There is a peculiar relation ; tho he intend to take in our natural Condition, yet there is a peculiar reference, ~hy he fingles out being dead, when he Cpeaks of quick_nihg. I will not ftand to mfill: largely, to lhew how we are dead m~~os and Trefpalfes; I did it when I handled the firf1 Verfe, only I refervcd one thmg ~ill now. • When
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