He afcended into Heaven, and fitteth on the Right Hand of GOD the Father Almighty.

I

Affent unto this, as a moft infallible and necessary Truth, that Jefus Chrift, afcending into the highest Heavens, after all the Troubles and Sufferings endured here for our Redemption, did rest in everlasting Happiness: He which upon Earth had not a Place to lay his Head, did take up a perpetual Habitation there, and fit down upon the Throne of GOD (a), as a Judge, and as a King, according to his Office of Mediator, unto the end of the World (b), according to that which He merited by his Mediatorship, to all Eternity (c): Which Hand of GOD the Father Almighty fignifieth an Omnipotent Power (d), able to do all things without any Limitation, fo they involve not a Contradiction, either in themselves (e), or in relation to his Perfections (f).

(a) That the promised Meffias fhould fit at the Right Hand of GOD, was both prefigured and foretold. Prefigured in the Exaltation of Jofeph: Thou shalt be over my Houfe, (faid Pharaoh,) and according to thy Word shall all my People be ruled; only in the Throne will I be greater Gen. xli. 40. than thou, &c. And they cried before him,_bow_the_knee* &c. Thus our Lord, by fitting on the Right Hand of

43.

GOD,

GOD, obtain'd Power to rule and govern all things in Heaven and Earth, (efpecially as the Ruler of his Houfe, that is, the Church,) with exprefs Command, that all things in Heaven, and Earth, and under the Earth, fhould bow down before Him: But all this in the Name of the Father, to whom the Throne is ftill referv'd, in whom the Original Authority ftill remains. Foretold, not only in the Senfe, but in the Phrafe by the Prophet David: The Lord faid unto my Lord, fit thou at my right hand until I make thine Enemies thy Footstool*. Pfal. cx. 1. The Jews in our Saviour's time, and the most accurate and skilful of them, the Pharifees, did certainly underftand this of the Meffias; for elfe they might have easily evaded his Argument from it. Some remarkable Rab bins fince our Lord's Death have acknowledg'd the fame Interpretation. And tho' others foon endeavour'd to pervert it, yet it is certain, as well that David was the Author of the Pfalm, fince it bears the fame Title by which we know any to be his; as that the Person to whom GOD fpeaks in it cannot be Hezekiah, Abraham, Zorobabel, or the whole People of Ifrael, (according to their various Conjectures,) who were neither the Lords of David, nor the Priests of GOD.

That our Lord was honoured with this Seffion we have the fame affurance as of his Afcenfion, of which it is reprefented as the Confequence and End; whether, as the Evangelift expreffeth it, He was received up into Heaven, and fat on the right hand of GOD; or, as the + Mark xvi. 19. Apostle, GÓD raised Chrift from the Dead, and fet Him

at his own right hand in the heavenly places. Of this Ho-Eph. i. 20. nour, to which the moft glorious Angels never afpir'd, (for, to which of the Angels faid He at any time, fit thou on

my right hand? &c. t) our Lord exprefs'd his Confi- † Heb. i. 18. dence and certain Expectation, before that Council which voted Him guilty of Death: Hereafter (faith He,) shall

the Son of Man fit on the right hand of the Power of GOD *. ↑ Luke xxii. 69f And this is the first meaning of the Phrafe of GOD's Right Hand, the Power of GOD. It may, Secondly, denote the Majefty of GOD; as being the most ho nourable Place amongft Men. And in this refpe&t it is faid of our Lord, that, When He had by Himself purged our Sins, He fat down on the right hand of the Majefty on high: And again, We have an High-Prieft who is fet on the right hand of the Throne of the Majefty in the Heavens. Thirdly, the Gifts of Men being given and received by the Hand, and every good and perfect Gift coming down from.

the

the Father of Lights, the Phrafe may ftill import the Place of Coeleftial Joy and Felicity; according to that of the Pfalmift, In thy prefence is fulness of Foy, and at thy right hand Pleasures for evermore. And thus applied to our Lord, it denotes the Joy unspeakable, and everJafting Blits, which He entred into after his Sufferings. As to the other Phrase of fitting, in the fame figurative manner, it fignifies, First, Habitation, Continuance, and Poffeffion, by the Cuftom of moft Languages. And thus it declares, that our Lord who once dwelt amongst us on Earth, has feated Himself, or taken up his Manlion and Refidence in the highest Heavens. Again, the Notion of fitting implies Reft, and Quietnefs, and Peace. So our Lord hath refted from all Pain and Sorrow, is feated free from all Disturbance and Oppofition. A Third, and more eminent acceptation of this Phrafe, is, for Dominion, Sovereignty, and Majefty. Thus our Lord is fet down at the right hand of the Throne of GOD: And St. Paul well interpreted thofe Words of David, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine Enemies thy Footftool; faying, He must reign, till He hath put all Enemies 1 Cor. xv. 25. under his Feet t. Laftly, it doth ftill more properly and peculiarly import the Right of Judicature, or of fitting in Judgment. Agreeably to which, Christ, by his fitting at the Right Hand of GOD, is declared to be the Great Judge of the Quick and the Dead. So that the Subftance of the Doctrine is this, That, our Lord's fitting on the Right Hand of GOD was his folemn Entrance at his Regal Office, as to the proper Execution of it. He is fet down at the right hand of GOD, from henceforth expecting till his Enemies be made his Footstool. GOD hath raised Him from the Dead, and let Him at his own right hand in Heavenly Places, far above all Principalities and Powers, and Might, and Dominion, and every Name that is named, not only in this World, but alfo in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his Feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to +Phil. . 8,9,10, the Church †.

Heb. X. 13.

Gal iii. 20,

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(b) When all the Enemies of Chrift shall be subdu'd, when those which refused Him to rule over them fhall be flain, and all the Chofen of GOD actually brought into his Kingdom, then the whole Office of a Mediator ceafeth, All being made One, For a Mediator is not a Mediator of one. Then cometh the End, when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to GOD, even the Father, when

He

He shall have put down all Rule, and all Authority and Power : For when all things Jhall be Jubdued unto Him, then fhall the Son allo Himself be subject unto Him that hath put all things under Him, that GOD may be All in All *. Then, as there fhall no longer continue any A&t of the Prophetical Part, to inftruct us, nor of the Prieftly Part, to intercede for us; fo fhall there be no farther Act of the Regal Power, to preferve and defend us. The Bea tifical Vision fhall fuperfede our Information and Inftruction; prefent Fruition will prevent Oblation and Interceffion; and perfect Security will need no actual Defence and Protection.

(c) The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Chrift, and He shall reign for ever and evert; not only to the modificated Eternity of his + Rev. xi. 15. Mediatorship, so long as there fhall be need of Regal Power to fubdue his Enemies, but alfo to the complete and proper Eternity of the Duration of his Humanity, for the future, Co-eternal with his Divinity. On which account the antient Fathers added thofe Words to the Nicene Creed, whofe Kingdom shall have no end; against the Herefy of Marcellus, who yet made ufe of the fame Words in an Equivocal Senfe, conceiving the Son, or the Word, at the end of the World to be refolved into the Father, and fo to reign eternally in the Father's Perfon, not in his own.

(d) This Notion of Omnipotency, as it fignifies Power in Operation, remains now to be explain'd; the other, as it imports Authority and Dominion, having been difpatch'd under the firft Article. Three Foundations there are of this Attribute, Omnipotence in Operation; First, in regard that all Power whatfoever in any Creature, all Influence and Activity in Second Causes, is derived from the First Agent: And well may He be ftyled Almighty, who is the Fountain of all Might. Secondly, in regard that no Resistance can be made to his Power, no Rescue from his Hands, no Oppofition to his Will. The Lord of Hofts hath purpofed, and who jhall difannul it? His Hand is ftretched out, and who shall turn it back? He doth according to his Will, in the Army of • tai, xiv. 27. Heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth; and none can flay his Hand, or Jay unto Him, what doft thou †? † Dan. iv. 35. All Actions are perform'd, or hinder'd, according to the Degrees of Power in the Agent and the Refiftent.

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Since

Since therefore there is not the least degree of Refistence in any thing with respect to GOD, the Action of his Power must be totally vigorous, and have an equal Facility with reference to all things. In thine hand, O GOD, is there not Power and Might, so that none is able to with2 Chron. xx. 6. ftand thee? Thirdly, and moft properly, in regard that his active Power extendeth it self to all things. When GOD had feveral ways declared his Power to Job, Fob answered the Lord, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing t. With GOD nothing shall be impoffible*, was the Teftimony of an Angel; confirm'd by that of our Lord Himself, with Men it is impoffible, but not with GOD; for with GOD all things are poffiblet. Now that must needs be an infinite Activity, which anfwers to all kinds of Poffibility: Infinite both extensively as it takes in all things, for its Object; and intenfively as it can produce in any Object all degrees of Perfection, which it can poffibly admit.

+ lob xlii. 1, 2. Luke i. 24.

Mark x. 27.

The Father is here called Almighty, not by way of exclufion; (for as the Father is Almighty, fo is the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty;) but to fhew, that Chrift having afcended into Heaven, and being fet down at the Right Hand of GOD, is invefted with fuch a Power as acknowledgeth no Bounds or Limits; but all Power is given unto Him, in the ultimate Extent of its Infinity. And thus He is fet down at the right hand of the Luke xxii. 69. Power of GOD *.

(e) Either immediately and directly, when in plain terms the thing deftroys its felf; as to be, and not to be, to have been, and not to have been: Or, covertly and confequentially; when there is no repugnancy in the Terms, yet the Confequence leads to what is utter ly repugnant; as for one and the fame Body, at the fame time to be in two different places; to effect which, it must be but one, and yet more than one. Neither of these are a derogation to GOD's Omnipotence: For He certainly may have all Power, who hath not that which belongs to no Power.

(f) Since every Action flows from the Effence of the Agent, whatsoever is totally repugnant to that Effence muft involve a Contradiction as to the Agent. Thus it is impoffible for GOD to lie*; to whom we fay nothing is impoffible: And He that can do all things cannot de † 2 Tim. ii. 13. xy Himself t. Whatsoever GOD cannot do, whatfo

Heb. vi. 18.

ever