652 APPENDIX. what he seetlz the Father do ; and whatever the Father doth, the Son doth likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth hint all things that himself doth. Here we have, I. That whatever God (loth, or means to do, the Son bath a hand in it. 2. That the Son knows all that is done by the Father. Here is both the omnisciency we speak of, and the omnipotency,- in the terms we stated it, as respecting all God's works, " ad extra," even all that ever was done. And this, 3. in an incommunicable way to any mere creature, for this is given him that he " might be honoured even as the Father is honoured ; "verse 23. And this, 4. in a similitudinary way, ot<0,,n, likewise, or in like man- lier : And S. all this Christ speaks of himselfas the Son of man ; and it is one of the greatest keys to John'sgospel that multitudes of such speeches are spoken of him, both as God, and a God- man. But to put it out of all doubt, he speaks of himself in this discourse as he is the Son of man united to God, he himself in the close of all expressly explains it so. Verse 27. The Fa- ther has given the Son authority to execute judgment, because lee is the Son of man. 3. Another attribute in Christ, which is sneh an image of what is in God, as is incommunicable to any mere creatures, is independency and sovereignty. This is one of the chiefest How- ers in that crown of his glory. God might annihilate creatures at pleasure, and yet in so doing rob them of nothing, which they can lay a just claim to as their own : but it is not thus with Christ's human nature ; now it is assumed into union with the second person, for it is invested with the royal prerogatives of the persons withwhom it is one ; it hath an independency like unto God's ; such as is communicable to no creature: therefore, says, Christ, verse 26. As the Father bath lie in himself, so he hath given to the Son to have life in himse It is said to be given him, but by this union he is invested with this indisposable prerogative tohave life in himself, and not to hold it by gift, though at first it were obtained so. Indeed it was a free act of grace in Godat first, but in doing of it God did a wonder in the world, of all the greatest : For he sets up an independent crea- ture, a creature backed with such á right to his being, that now himself cannot pull him down, nor dissolve that union again. And what a glorious image of God's independency is this ? I might shew the like also in holiness and all other attributes ; and it is a noble subject to spend pains upon, to set forth and Cut out every limb of this vast image of all God's attributes that are in Christ merely upon his personal union. I have limbed out only these two or three parts of it; that by the like proportion we might infer the vastness of all the rest. Chapter III. pago 109: Christ is the first-born of every creature: This is not spoken of him simply as second person only, so as that his eternal generation as Son of God should be only intended; yet it does establish his godhead, for thesethings
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=