of all creation; for in him were all things created," that is, APPENDIX B. virtually.* "By him." As it was his due, when he assumed our nature, to have been filled with all the personal glory which he hath now in heaven, (or rather shall have hereafter upon earth,) but which, for the accomplishment of other ends, was suspended; viz. that he might first become sin, and a curse for us, so it was his due, as God's Word, to have created all things; God gives him that glory of creation virtually, in that he created all things by him, and by virtue of his incarnation, and thus his undertaking to our nature, is made the basis of creation, as his incarnation and suffering in frail flesh is made the basis of our salvation. assume "For him." The next royalty mentioned, is Christ's being the final cause, or end, for whom all things were made. Though the acts of God's decrees be not in successive order, as in respect of the decrees themselves, yet, in respect of the objects of God's decrees, compared together amongst themselves, there is a priority; so that one thing decreed by God, is ordered by his will to have a reference unto, or dependence upon, another thing; and thus is attributed to God's will, that he intended one thing chiefly, and another thing subordinately; so Christ is not only universal end, but absolute sovereign end; for all are decreed to be under his feet, as vassals at his disposal. If it be manifest, that, by the union of the Son of God to the individual creature, the Man Jesus, and in the per * Though Bishop Davenant rejects the scholastic interpretation, yet he says, "Nor indeed do we ourselves deny, that the Maker of the world had in himself, from all eternity, the plans of things ready described; so that all things were present to the Word, though not present in themselves." The form of those things must have existed in the mind of the Workman, (p. 188,) before they could have been exhibited in the workmanship. . . . . “Now, if in this manner we explain the words of the Apostle, we obtain the strongest proof of Christ being prior, and more excellent than all creatures, inasmuch as the ideal cause is always prior to that which is made according to it." That which makes, is before the thing made, not only in cause, but in time also. APPENDIX B. son of his Son so considered, God hath made, and doth make, the highest manifestation of his Glory, and com-munication of himself, such as by no created ways or means else could have been obtained, it follows, that this design must be first in the purpose of God; that is, assuming that God's highest ends, in ordaining and making any creature, are to manifest and communicate himself. Now, by creation are displayed the things of God, Rom. i. 20, but in the man Christ Jesus, the Godhead appears personally, "God manifest in the flesh :" whereas, the Godhead and the Glory of it were invisible, dwelling in light inaccessible, 1 Tim. vi. 16. God dwelling personally in this man, puts forth a peculiar image of the Godhead; God hath stamped his utmost manifestative glory in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. iv. 6. Secondly. By this hypostatical union, God has given the utmost pledge of his love to all creation, and communicated of his goodness unto reasonable creatures, in the highest way; goodness is communicative, so the highest good is communicative of himself in the highest way, which is by a personal union with a reasonable creature, for all communication depends on union; the creature must be one with God, ere it participate in him in a way of blessedness; then, the nearer union, the higher communication; and the highest communication cannot be without the highest union; now, that highest union is alone the personal union of a creature with one, who is God, the highest communication is, therefore, first to the individual Man Jesus, so united to the Son of God, as to terminate and give bounds of subsistence, and personality, to that human nature; and, secondly, by means of this union and communication to this one reasonable creature, there is way made for God, in and for his sake, to communicate himself unto other creatures, who are made his fellows, as he is God's fellow; thus we come to inherit God with him. 1 Cor. viii. 6. . . . ." One Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him," confirms this proposition, that, All that God ever did was ordained by him to depend on Jesus Christ as "Lord;" viz. as God-man, having the office of Lord and Christ put upon him by the Father, as one that should be " one Lord," under this " one God," and, in that respect and relation, lower than God himself, and yet constituted in supreme sovereignty and Lordship over all his creatures. That Christ's Lordship of office is intended, appears from his being distinguished from God, not only as he is the Father, but as he is "one God;" yet, if he were but only made, his distance from mere nothing were but the very same that his inferior fellow creatures have, then he could never have been a midst between God and them. Had he not in his person held a proportionable distance be tween God and them, he had been as subject, by his original make and constitution, to the same mutability and weakness, as any other of his creatures were, and so would have proved a mere quicksand to the upholding and bearing the weight of all things, Heb. i. 2. It denotes, then, his office put upon him as God-man, and implies the fitness of that person, alone, for this universal dignity. Then, if all things depend on this person, as he is Lord and Christ, (which titles denote his office,) it follows, that he must have been first set up and constituted as Godman, and in God's decree invested with those offices, in which office relations, it is said of him, "by whom are all things." Thus was Christ, as "The one Lord, by whom are all things," first and chiefly forelaid in God's designs and everlasting purposes, as upon whom all things in common for creation, and we in special for our supernatural estate, had a dependence, for, 1. If all things be" by" him, as the "Lord," then he, under God, is the founder of them, as the Lord of them, their founder as well as their end. 2. The dependence of the "All things," viz. the world at large, and the "We," viz. the Church is similarly and indifferently said to be on the same person, in the same character; now, doubtless, the Church depends on Christ, as the God-man, then so also does the world. "by" "of 3. The" All Things" are "the Lord," in as full extent as they are "of God;" now, " of God" implies, that they have their being "of God," and so "by the Lord" implies, that they have their being " by Christ," for, APPENDIX B. APPENDIX B. The Text divides Christ's Lordship into two generals: 1. His relation to "All things," whatsoever they be, that are distinct from the " We," "All things" in nature and providence. 2. What concerns the Elect, in their supernatural being and new constitution. The Church has a more special dependence upon the "one Lord, Jesus Christ," as Godman, which imports a super-creation, being of the "We" selected out of the "All things," " And we by him." Ch. i. 5. Proof of the Ps. ii. St. Hierom in Excellency of Christ's name. V. 5. "For to which of the Angels ever said He, 'My Son thou art, To-day have I begotten thee?' "and again, I will be to him for a Father, and he "shall be to me for a Son?" The Apostle commences by establishing his last proposition. The more excellent name inherited, is that of Son.' The first proof (from Ps. ii.) notes the period, when Messiah entered into his decreed Sonship, viz. at the resurrection from the dead. David, our Divine poet, sounds our Christ upon his harp, and with his psaltery of ten strings, awakes him rising from the dead;" indeed, it appears evident, that the citations in proof of Messiah's Sonship must refer to him during this dispensation; for it is, "In these last days God has spoken to us in a Son, &c." "This name (Son of God) when attributed to Christ, is more excellent' than any that is given to Angels, though they also are Sons of God.' By the exMore excellent,' the Apostle in Job i. 6; xxxviii. denominated Sons of God.' 7. pression, dicates a difference, not merely in degree, but also in kind; .... for a difference in degrees is not sufficient to constitute a difference in name." The excellency of this Sonship appears to be in that he is begotten; Angels are sons of God by creation. The Second Psalm. CHAP. I. 5. Witsius on the Creed, Dis. xii. ii. Bp. Louth. This Psalm is mentioned by Bp. Louth, P. as an undoubted instance of both the literal and mystic senses being alike conspicuous, and running" parallel together through the whole poem." The establishment of David upon his throne, notwithstanding the opposition of his enemies, is, as it were, the historic scaffolding, with which this prophetic Psalm is reared. Psalm in three Bp. Horsley observes, that the song con- Bp. Horsley, sists of three parts; but the division will be different, according to the reading, that may be adopted, of the 6th verse. The Hebrew text, as it now stands, is, "Yet will I anoint my king upon Zion, the Hill of my Holiness," as if spoken by the Father; the Sept., Vulgate, and Arabic make them the words of Christ, Yet am I anointed," &c. The argument of the Psalm seems to me I v.9 the Sept. to favour the Sept. is also followed in preference to the Hebrew, Rev. ii. 27. (1.) Because the wrath, which the kings are See Hammond. to dread, v. 5, appears to be the same wrath, against which the Psalmist warns in v. 12. (2.) The Sitting One' in the Heavens is E |