to the E P H ES I A N S. beg<m ; and fo you have it in Ephef I. 5· God bleffid '" iP!th all fi;irit11al BlejfiNgr f"'){v( in Chrifl ]ej111, before the World begmt. But Jefus Chnft JS gone to Heaven, as ~ one legally authorized to take poffeflion of Heaven in our ftead, fo as that pof.. fcflion of it which he takes, !hall be in Law reckoned as if we our [elves had taken it. The Notion of a publick R.eprcfentative, to do Acts that in Law are counted theirs whom he reprerems, is common amongft all Nations. You know that Rachel is C.id to have wor!hipped ]ofeph, tho fhe was dead long before, bccaure lbe was reprefented in ]acob her Hufband. So Levi, befo're he was born, is raid to pay Tithesto Melchifedec in Abraha1n; and fo we are C1id to fit in heavenly places in Chrift ; for all there publick Perrons, and all thefc Types, they were but Reprerentations of what Jerus Chnfl: Is to his Church, and of that Union which Jerus Chrift and his Church hath. Chrift therefore, he is called; the Firft·frllitJ of the"' that jleep; and he is called, the Firft-begotten from the. Dead. Now the Firft-fi·uits, they were bleffed ; and when they were bleffed, all the Crop that ftood in the Field was bleffed airo, tho it was no't reaped. . And that Blefling of the Crop in the Firfl:-fruits, it was not only j11re, o'r potejlate, in reij>eil: that it had a right to Blefling, but it was aflu; only with this difference, not in their own proper Individuals, but in the Firft-fruits that reprefented them, yet it was an actual befl:owing of it, and may rightly be raid ro. Therefore becaure that when Jerus Chrift rore, he repreremed us in his Perron, and now he fits in Heaven he reprefcnts us in his Perron, therefore we are faid to be railed in him, and to fit in heavenly Places in him. And we have it not only by Faith, or by Hope, not olny poteflate & jure, but aflu; but how ? Not in our own Perfons, but aCtually poffefs'd thereo( by fuch a legal A a:, as by Law it is attributed unto' us, becaure our Head bath done it in our ftead. And fo much now for that fecond Difficulty. There is yet n third appearance of a greater Difficuity than either of there, which I muft alfo remove. You fee he puts here [he bath raifed J after [he bath quickzted. J Now if this [ hath raifed] and [bath made 111 jit in heavenly P!acCJ in Chrifl,] !hould be meant of a reprelentative fitting in Chrifl:; and that he by way of reprercntation in our fl:ead, bearing our Perro·ns, our Perfons are rec– koned to fit there in him, when he began to fit there, and fo our being raired when he firfl: rofe. And then if fo, here lies the Objection : There Ephejia111 might be laid to have been made to fit in heavenly places in Chrifl: Jefus, long be– fore they were converted, even from the firft time that Chrifl: did fit down· there, and might alro be raid to have been railed again long before they were converted, even when Jefus Chrift was raifed ; for in thefe Ail:s he, as a common Perron, l'epreremed them according td this Interpretation. But if you eye the words; they will feem to fpeakoffuch Mercies under therri, as we come to have in Chrift, after or together with our quickning: God (faith he) who i1 rich in Mercy, bath q~tickped 111, and bath raifed 1#, and hath made 111 jit together ;, heavenly P!aceJ iii Chrijl, namely, upon our quickning. Whereas I fay, if it !hould be meant of a reprelentative fitting of Jefus Chrifl: in Heaven, and fo they in him, that was done long before they were quickned; for from the firft time that he C1t down· there, he did it in the Name of all Believers. Now to former. oil this Difficulty, which bath troubled me more than all the Firft; I would fay this, That thefe Ephejiam wete Giid to be railed up, and to fit in heavenly places, even long before they were con,•erted, in Chrifl: as a re; prercntative Perron ; but why then cloth he mention there, after quickning, that Work of Converfion ? He mentions them, becaufe that thefe are Mercies to be wrought in us after quickning. All were wrought in Chrifl:, and done at once; but ifyou come to the execution of them, to the degrees of accomplilbment, quickning is firfl:, being raifed is next, and fitting in heavenly places is lafl:: and becaufe they are ]aft in execution, hence it comes to pals that he names there af– ter the ?ther. So th~t the rearon why that thefe come in after quickning in the Apofl:le s R.ehearra!, tt IS not that they were not true of them before, but it is that they are in order of execution performed afterwards; But
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