Of the Creatures, and the Condition ~ king out of the way (as the.Aponies Phrafe is, Colof!. 2, 14.) that w hiCh lrt– BooK If. ttd, and was caf\ in as an imped iment of this their fir(\ intcnd~d Glory; which ~ fo breaks out from under t!us great Ecl1pfe \\·lth the more bughtnefs and Ju . · fire. That I may more difiinClly explain this lafi Confideration, you may cbferve that in this part of the Ch,tpter, wherein the Apofile fets himfclf to prove what manner of Bodies are ordained for us after the R efurreClion , he maker!; the rife of that their fiate to be, not fo much ,the Death , or R.efurreCliQn of Chrifi,of which he mal<es no mention at all in this part of his D ifcourfe, whcrr– i.n he comes to fpeak thereof ; but he olledgeth , ~· the highefl: ond primary foundation hereof, this Ground, even the l'crfonal excellency and glory due unto Chrif\'s Human Nature, above that which was due to thefirfl A dam be– fore his Fall; which he brings as the foie Ground of this our. intended Glory , as being fir(\ due unto Chnfi, meerly upon ~he Confiderano~ of hrs Union with the Godhead, of wluch Glory of Chnfi m Heaven, he bnngs mAdam's Efiate of Jnnoceney in Paradife as the fittefi Type ; which is exprelfed unto us under that Phrafel as it bath been opened) [He w.u~ade (or appointed tobe) ,, qt~icklllng Spsr1t] that ts, the Godhead was appornted to become the Life and Qt!ickner of an Human Na!Urc, (even as Adamwas made a living Sotlt: that is, to confifi of a Soul giving Life to an Earthly Body) by virtue·ot which, he infiantly did become the Lord from Heovm, (Verfe 47,) that is, the Lord of Htavm; to whom by Inheritance, as to a Lord, Heaven and all the Glo– ry of it was due, and fo, he beeame m 1 heavml~ Man, as the Exprcfl'ion alfo is. 1\nd then he being withal, in and together with the ordaining him to this Union with the Godhead, ordained to be a Head unto us; hence it is that our Bodies are to be mode Spiritual and Huwen(y, like unto his. And this is the mofi ancient, primitive Title in God'_, Decree, that we have unto Glory ; and therefore is in this plaee only and alone alledged. And although it be true , that the very Refurrection of our Bodies, conlidered limply, as it is the Ju6dteing that lafl Et;emy, 'Death (as the Apo!lle fpeaks, verfo ~6. ) is the fruit of Chrifi's RefurreClion, as the Caufe of it; (and therefore, in that former part of the Chapter, the Apofile argtteth it from thence) yet frill, that at the Re!urreClion, our Souls and Bodies fuould be railed up to fo glorious and fpiri– tual a Life, and that we fbould rife with fuch a kind of Body as we had not be– fore, inAdam (which is made a difiind: Q!ery by the Apofile, from the Hth verfo) this (Ifay) is founded by the Apofile here, only upon that Hea– venly Condition which Chrifi was ordained unto, and which was his due meer– ly upon his very alfuming an Human Nature; of which, we his Members were, together with him, ordained ro bear the Image. And thus to lhew , that he, and we in him , were ordained unto this Efiate before , or rather without the coo!ideration of the Fall: Therefore it is Adam's fl:ate of Inno· cency in his firfi Formation, is made the Type of Chrifi's Pcrfonal Union, and fo, of that Glory to which, both he a• a publick Perfon, and we ,as his Mem, bers, are ordained. V[e t. So then, that which is the Corolary from afl,is this, that the Plot,or Order of Gods Decrees concerning Chrifl and us, was thus laid in Gods brefi ; That though unto Chrifi, and us in him, this Glory was !imply intended ( for God looks unto the end of his works at fir{\, and fo, tirfl: to what he meant, ultimately to raife Chrifi and us up unto, even that Glory which we lhall have in Heaven )yet God withal decreeing, in tht WIIJ to this Glory, the Fall of all Mankind, and fo, of the Elect to Fall in Adam, as well as others; there· fore Chrifi in the w ay to the execution or accomplilhmentl of this Original Decree , was ordained, for their fakes , and in a rrfpeCl to them, not to take on him firfi that glorious Condition, upon his lirfi Union with our Nature ( which yet was his due) but is faid to condefcend to eo"" dow11 from Hravtll, even as Son of Man, (John 6, ~8. and 62, compared) and to take on him frt~il Ftrfb and the form of a Strvant, in fl:cad hereof; and that, to this end, that he might firfi Redeem Us, his Members, from under that mifery which the Fall had brought upon us ; and all this to this end, that by tins means this gloriousCondition , both of his and ours, might be made the more illuflrious.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=