of the PERSON E CHRIST. I87 it may be, underftand not the groundsof the patience of God, do enter into thisftate, they (hall unto their full fatisfa &ion behold that glory which abundantly compenfates the prefent dilhonour done to God here below. [2.] This frate of things is continued for the glory of Chrift himfelf. The office ofmediator was committed by God the Father unto his only begotten Son, no other being able to bear or difcharge it. See Ifa. vi. 9. Rev. V. I, 2, 3, 4, 5,6. But in the difcharge of this office it was necel- fary he fhould condefcend unto a mean and low condition, and to undergo things difficult, hard and terrible, Phil. ii. 6, 7, 8. Such were the things Which our Lord Jefus Chrift underwent,in this world; his undergoing of .them being neceifary unto the difcharge ofhis office ; yea it confiffed there- in. Herein was he expofed unto reproach, contempt and fhame, with all the evilsthat fatan or the world could bring upon him. And beftdes, he was for us, and in our ftead to undergo the curfe of the law, with the greateft ofterrors and forrows in his foul, until hegave up the ghoft. Thefe things were neceffary unto the difcharge of his office, nor could the falva- tion of the church be wrought out without them. But do we think that Godwould commit fo glorious an office unto his only Son to be difcharged in this manner only? Let it be granted thatafter he had fo accomplifhed the will of God in this world, he had himfelf entred into glory; yet if he fhould fo ceafe the adminiftration of his office, that muff be looked on as the moli afllicîive and dolorous that ever was undergone. But it was the defign of God to glorify the office it felf, as an effect of his wifdom, and himfelf therein ; yea fo as that the very office it felf, should be an everlafting honour tohis Son as incarnate. Unto this end the adminiftra. tionof it is continued in glory in his hand, and he is exalted in the dif- chargeof it. For this is that glory which he prays that all his difciples may be brought unto him to behold. The time between his afcenfon, and the end of all things is allotted unto the glory ofChrift in the adminiffra- tionof his office in the heavenly fan&uary. And front hence Both the apoftle prove him as an high prieft, to be far more glorious than thofewho werecalled unto that office under the law, Hep. viii. t, 2, 3. Herein it is manifeft unto angels and then, how glorious a thing it is to be the only King, Prieft and Prophet of the church. Wherefore as it behoved Chrift in the difcharge of his office to fuller ; fo after his fufferings in the difcharge of the faine office he was toenter into his glory, Rev, i. 18. [3.] God bath refpeçf herein unto thofe who depart in the - faith, in theirrefpedive generations, efpecially thofe who dyed betimes,as the apoftles and primitive chriftians. And fundry things may be herein confidered. There are two things which believers put a great price and value on in this world and which fweeten every condition unto them, without them the worldwould be a noifome dungeon unto them, not could they be fa- tisfied with a continuance therein. (t.) The one is the fervice of Chrift. Without an opportunity of being exercifed herein, they could not abide here with any .fatisfaclion; they who know it not fo to be are under the power of worldly- mi.ndednefs. The meaneft fervice of Chrift bath refreshment in it. And as to thofe who have opportunities and abilities for great infiances of fer- vice, they do not know on juft grounds nor are able to determine them- felves, whether it be belt forthem to continue in their fervice here below, or to enter into the immediate fervice of Chrift above; fo glorious, fo excellent is it to be ufefully ferviceable unto the Lord Jefus. So was it with the apoffle, Phil. i. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, ed. fo may it be with othersif they ferve him inthe faine fpirit, with the faine fincerity, though A a a their
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