-. , :r • 88 Power communicated unto tl;e O£f.tce of Chrift for could have been fo h~d he been no more than a man, had he had no Nature but ours. This I fhall particularly demon– fl:rate, confidering them in their ufual difiribution, unto the ~lo~y of his Diyme Perfon, and our own Edification in Believmg. · . · 1. He'could not have been the great andjingular •Prophet cf the Church, had he been a man only, though never [o exce.llent and glorious, and that for thefe three Reaf0ns. F1rfi, He was to be the Prophet of the whole Catholick Church, that is of all the EleCt of God, of all that fhalJ be fa· ved in all Ages and Plac~s, from the Beginning of the World unto the End thereo£ He had a Perjonal Miniflry for the '·InfiruCt:ion of the Churchwhilil: he was on the Earth, but his Prophetica!Oj/ice was not confined thereunto. For that was limited unto one Nation, Matth. 15. 24. Rom. I;: 8. and-was for a fhortfeafononly~ But the Church was never without a Prophet; that is one on whom it was incumbent to reveal unto it, and inil:niCl: it in the Will ofGod, nor can be fo unto the Confummation ofall things. .This iii Chrift alone. For, · I. I take it for granted, that from the Beginning from the giving of the firfi Promife, the Son of Goddi:d in an efpeci– al manner undertake the care ofthe Church as unto all the Ends ~ of the Wifdom, Will and .Grace of God. And I take it for granted here;becaufe I have proved it at large elfewhere. It e– vidently followeth on the Eternal compaCt between the Father and him unto this End. In the work which belonged here– unto, that which concerned its Infirutl:ion in the Will of God, its fa:viog Illumination and fpiritual Wifdom, is of fuch Im– portance as that without it, none can be partaker of any o– ther Bleffings whatever. In this In~ruCt:ion and~ Illui?ination confifis the difcharge ofthe Prophet1cal Office ot Chnft. 2. Upon the account of his fufception ofhis Office evt:~ · before
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