Manton - BX8915 M26 1684 v1

Ver. 5. the i7th Chapter of St. JOHN. 61 out in his Works and Speeches. Certainly, he abftained from the full ufe and manife- nation of it : He did not eeafe to be what he was, but laid afide the manifefiation of irs and hid it in the form ofa Servant, as if he had none at all. The.World could not dif- cern him ; to his own familiar Friends he was now and then difcovered, as occafion did require it. Otherwife in his whole Courfe, his Incarnation, Nativity, Obedience to the Law of Nature, to the Law of ,Adam, Law of Sin, of Abraham, were a wail upon him. He fuffered Hunger, Thirfl, Wearinefs, bitter Agonies, Ihame of the Crofs, pain of Death, ignominy ofthe Grave; Yea, he was not only in the form of a Servant to God, this Commandment have I of my Father, John 6.38. But he was fubjen to worldly Powers, a Servant of Rulers, Ifa. 49. 7. wholly at their difpofe. His Human Nature was fubje& to natural Infirmities, Hunger, Thirft, Fear, Sc crow, Anguilla ; he had not attained Incorruption, Impalfibility, Immortality, nor that glorious Purity, Strength,_ Agility, Clarity of Body, which he expeaed, Nib 3. 21. together with the fulnefs of inward Joys and Comforts in his Soul. He loft, for a while, all Seofe and antral Fru. ition of his Father's Love, Mat. 26.46. My God, my God, why haft thou forfaken me :? So that tho he had the Spirit without meafure in Holinefs, and B.ighteoufnefs, yet be was (till humbled with unpleafing and afinive Evils. 2. For his Office. It was managed as fuited with' his"Humiliation; and all his Anions of Prophet, Prieft and King, could not be performed glorioufly,but in an humble man - her, as fuited with his prefent State. He was an ordinary Prophet, teaching in the World ; as a Prielt, hanging on the Crofs ; as a King, but he had but few Subjeas 5 therefore it is laid, As q. 3 t. Him hash God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, as if he had not exercifed any of his Kingly Office before, but he was but as a King anointed ; he did not fo evidently (hew forth the Kingly Office as afterward: Now he loth not overcome his Enemies by Force or by Power. t Sam. id. 13, Da- vid was a King as loon as anointed, but for a long time he fuffered Exile, and wandred in the Wildernefs, before he was taken into the Throne : So it was with Chrift. II. His Exaltation. What Chrift prayed for, might be known by the Event. His Exaltation begun at his Refurrenion, and received its accomplifhment by his fitting at God's right hand. His Exaltation anfwered his Humiliation ; his Death was anfwered by his Refurrenion ; his going into the Grave, by his attending into Heaven ; his lying in the Grave, his fitting at God's right hand.; which is a Privilege proper to Chrift glorified. In the other we (hare with him, we rife, we alcend, but we do not fit at God's right hand. By his Grave, tho his Body was freed from Corruption, his . Human Nature was difcovered, but his Body had not thofè glorious Qualities at after- wards at his Afcenfion. Therefore leaving his Refurrenion, let us (peak of his Afcenfion, and fitting on the right Hand of God. Firfi His Afcenfion. Three Things happened to Chrift at his Afcenfion. t. The Exaltation of his Body, and Human Nature; it was locally taken from the Earth, and carried into Heaven ; Alls t. 9. While they beheld, he was taken up, and d Cloud received him out of their fight, into the fame Heaven, into which we (hall be tran- flated. They err, who fay, that Chrift's Afcenfion ftandeth in this, that Chrift is in- vifibly prefent every where; which deftroyeth the Properties of a Body : there was not only a change of State, but a change of Place; it was a created Nature, finite. 2. The Glorification of his Perfon, which is the thing fpoken of in this Text; then all the thick Milts and Clouds which eclipfed his Deity, were removed : Not that there was any Depofition, or laying afide of his Human Nature, that is an effential part of his Perfon, and (hall continue fo to all Eternity ; but only of all Human Infirmities. he laid afide his Mortality at his Refurrenion, and necelftty of Meat and Drink, but was not reftored to his Glory till his Afcenfion; his Body was fo bright, that it 4ía11 pats through the Air like Lightning, clearer than the Sun. Upon the Earth he Was ignorant offomething, of the Day of Judgment; now he bath all Wifdom, not only in Habit, but in An. Before he grew in Wifdom, which he manifefted bydegrees; now the Glory of his Deity fhineth forth powerfully. 3. A new Qualification of hisOffice. Chrift hash exercifed the Mediatory Office from the beginning of the World till now, before his coming in the Fle(b, when ou Earth, and after his Afcenfion. Serondlyß

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=