Chapter III
The honour and royalties that appertain unto Christ, God-man, as ordained such in God s first decrees, to be the final cause or end of the whole creation and works of God. In what sense he is thefirst-born of every creature. The reasons why it is not to be understood in respect of his eternal generation as Son of God. It is spoken of him in consideration of a dignity, or birth
right which the man Jesus Christ, united with the second person in the
Trinity, has above all other creatures. He is also the first-born, in that he was first in order intended in the eternal purposes of God. He is the final cause or end for which all things were created. And upon iJie presupposi tion of his being decreed to be God-man, it belonged to him as his due to be
the universal end for whom all things should be made. This was a high
prerogative, of which no mere creature could be capable.
I am now, in the next place, to describe, in a second branch of this head, certain other ro}
Talties or prerogatives, incommunicable also to any creature, which belong to Christ, God-man, whereof some are mentioned in the text ; as that he is the first-born of every creature, ver. 15, and that he is
before all things, ver. 17, and that all things are for him, ver. 16. Which eminently imply two things. 1. That he was the first and prime birth in God s decree ; and, 2, also holds the honour of being the end or
final cause of all. These I put together, because they more properly belong to this head ; and the latter serves to explain and illustrate the former. And still let it be taken along, that they are meant of him, not simply con sidered as second person, but as God-man.
1. To begin with the first. The first-born of every creature. For the explanation of the import of it, I will,
(1.) Shew negatively what is not only to be understood. And (2.) then positively open the full extent of it, and shew that what
I have declared is intended thereby.
(1.) It is not spoken of him simply as second person only, as some inter
preters have understood ; so as that his eternal generation, as Son of God, should be only intended. Concerning which assertion let me first make
this apology, that whereas this and the like scriptures are alleged by our
divines to prove that Christ is God, as second person, this interpretation that I am about to give doth not overthrow it, but establish it. For these
things could not have been said of him, had he not been God. And there
are other scriptures that do more plainly and directly establish that, fully enough ; but yet so here I take it, that eternal generation is not meant
directly or immediately, though by consequence it is argued, and most
strongly. And there are these two reasons for this.
[l.J Because, in Scripture phrase, he is not in respect to that his eternal
CHAP. HE.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 469
generation, called primogenitus, the first-begotten, buittnigenitu&jUhe only-
begotten. But this here is another phrase ; it is the first-begotten.
[2.] If that had been directly intended, he would not have called him
the first-begotten, in comparison unto creatures ; but here he saith the
* first-born of every creature, every creature having had a birth, in the
apostle s intention, as well as he. He is said in Job, to be the father of
the snow, and of the ice, Job xxxviii. 28, 29. But here, first, to make
Christ, simply as second person considered, and his eternal generation, as
the only-begotten Son, to be meant here ; and then to compare and range him, in respect of that generation, with the birth of all creatures else, and
that he is the first-begotten of every creature in that sense ; this had not been suitable. For as between him, as so considered, and them, there is no comparison can be made, so nor between his generation and theirs. His title and heraldry would have been emblazoned from the order he
bears with those of his own rank, the other persons, Father and Holy Ghost ; among whom, to have been called the second of those glorious per sons, is worthy of him as such. But to say, the first-born of every crea
ture, and mean his eternal generation, of which the prophet says, Who hath known it ? Prov. xxx. 4, the very comparison of this high birth of
his, with the metaphorical generation (so I must call it, when attributed to
the most of creatures inanimate, &c.) of every ordinary creature, this had dishonoured him too much. I must say of this, what the apostle of Mel-
chisedec s generation, Heb. vii. 6, His descent (or pedigree) is not counted among them, nor theirs to be named with his. That that name, which Agur in the Proverbs, chap. xxx. 4, so adores, as not to be known by us, and equals it, and compares it with God s only, What is his name? (speaking of God) and what his Son s name ? if thou canst tell, should be set in the Alplia, the first name in the alphabet, and catalogue of creatures ; no, it is altioris ordinis, of another, and an
higher rank and kind than so. This hath caused me to think, that the
first-begotten of every creature, it is spoken of him, as he is admitted into the catalogue or society of the creatures, as his fellows (as I may so speak), into their number, or as he is become one of them. Or take him as he is
the Son of God, ordained to human nature, and then to have his name stand
highest in the tables, amongst all the rest of the creatures, and to be called the first-begotten of them, it is no way a disparagement to him, for he is become as one of them, even a creature among them, a man, and so of the
same kind or rank with other creatures. Again, that which yet heightens and further presents the incongruity of it, is, that it is not said here that he was the first-born of many brethren, but of every creature. To have said
it in respect of those his many brethren, they being only sons though adopted, and he the natural, had held a better equipage ; * but it is far
lower, even of every creature. And when he is said to be the first-born of many brethren, as in Rom. viii. 29, For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren ; it is spoken of him in respect of
predestination, not of his eternal generation, as you may see there. And so much for the negative, in what sense it is not directly to be understood.
(2.) Therefore, to shew positively in what respect this primacy and pri mogeniture, and this in comparison with every creature, is attributed to him.
[1.] It is spoken of hrn in respect of a dignity and a birthright, that * That is, equipoise. ED.
470 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK III.
this God-man hath at that instant ; he is admitted amongst the creatures
(as by being ordained to human nature he was admitted) ; that though he
thereby became of their rank, yet he must be the chief, and have the birth
right. In Ps. Ixxxix. 27, you shall find the birthright (and that as spoken of Christ) is put for dignity and excellency,
* Also I will make him my first born ; and what is meant by first-born, is explained in the next words.
higher than the kings of the earth. It noteth out therefore an excellency and a dignity, a height, and a being Prince of the kings of the earth, as
Rev. i. 5. So a prince of all the creatures.
[2.] But still there must needs be more in it, for in the Scripture the
dignity, the birthright, was directly founded upon being the first-born. So
Christ is not only said to be the first-born, because he was made higher than they all, but because he was born first, and therefore higher and greater than all. 2 Chron. xxi, 3, He gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he was first born, the first brought forth, the opening of the womb. So that now the dignity that Christ hath, it is because he is the first-born, some
way or other, of every creature. Therefore, as it was said, it cannot be meant of his eternal generation, as second person. And if there were no
more, I might add this against it, that it were infinitely incongruous (to speak after the manner of men) to say that the creatures lay in the same womb, or came out of the same loins, that the Son of God, as second per
son, lay in and came out of. Therefore, there must be some other womb
in which Christ and the creatures all lay, and in respect thereunto he is the
first-begotten ; and that womb is the eternal decrees and purposes of God, which is the common womb, both of Jesus Christ, as he is God-man, and
of all creatures else. For that he was God-man by predestination is clear :
* Who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the
1 Pet. i. 20,
world ; and being so, he was in this, as in all other respects, to have a pri macy and pre-eminence, and so to be in a true and just sense the first-be-
gotteri la that womb. And thus Rom. viii. 29, a primogeniture, or a being the first-born, is attributed to him in respect of predestination. For the
apostl 3, in comparing the rank or order wherein we were placed in respect of him, says, that we were
* predestinated to be conformed to his image, therefore he was in some respect predestinated ; that, as it follows, he
might be the first-born among many brethren ; and so he, as the eldest, came lorth first. That as in all births, according to the order of nature, the head comes forth before the body, so did Christ, the head of the body, the church, as, ver. 18, he is called. And therefore, Eph. i. 4, we are said
to be elected in Christ. Now then, there is this further addition, which
heightens the reason of it, that if he be the first-born of the first-born of the
* To the general assem
creatures (for so the saints are called, Heb. xii. 23,
bly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God
the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect ), then he must
necessarily be the first-born of all other creatures, who were all ordained both for them and him.
And this may be one true sense of that which follows, ver. 17, that he is
< before all things, namely, in respect of the order of God s
ir$ rtdvruv,
intention. God, though viewing and ordaining all his works ad extra, at
once, yet therein chiefly aimed at Christ, as, under himself, the end and per
fection of all. Which also hath been understood by many to be the true
meaning of that uttered by Christ himself (in the Proverbs) under the name
< The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his
of Wisdom, Prov. viii. 22,
v ay, before his works of old. It is a place much and often cited, as also
CHAP. III.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 471
this text, by them that have been of this opinion, which have not been a few
in several ages.
And, First, God s ways are his works ad extra, wherein he purposed to
go forth and manifest himself towards creatures. Now in the beginning of
these ways, and the first thoughts of them, did God possess Christ Godman in his foreknowledge, as the richest treasure of all his glory to be manifested in his creation, without which he would not have proceeded to
any other work, or have walked forth in any creature-way, but rested in
that blessed society of the Three without them. And it is not said, In the
beginning of his way, but it is also further added, that he possessed him
* He is
* before his works of old. Which is the same that is here said,
before all things; as also in saying, the first-begotten of every creature. And for further illustration s sake it is added, ver. 33, I was set up from
everlasting, ere ever the earth was. The phrase, I was set up, will less
permit us to understand it of that eternal generation of his, as he is second
person, than in those other expressions that have been here insisted on, for that was an act of God s will ; but that other, by a natural act of a mys terious generation.
I am now approaching to that second royalty mentioned in this branch, Christ s being also the final cause or end for whom all things were made. And this is such a respect as the creatures were not capable of one towards
another. Which point is conjunct with this of his priority in God s decrees, and indeed is the greatest confirmation and proof of it.
All acknowledge a priority, though not of one act of God s decrees before another in a successive order, as in respect of the decrees themselves (such as in our purposes and thoughts there is through our imperfection), yet in
respect of the objects of God s decrees compared together arnoDg them
selves. So one thing decreed by God is ordered by his will to have a
reference unto, or dependence upon another thing, though at the same time
decreed. And so in that respect there comes to be attributed, even to the
acts of God s will, as terminated upon such objects, that he intended one
thing first and chiefly, and another subordinately unto it. And accordingly the Scripture speaks of God s decrees, condescending therein to the con
ceptions of men. And though in men there are successive acts in their
purposes and resolutions, because men are not wise enough, in the same
instant in which they set up an end, to see and take in all the means that
shall conduce to the attaining of it ; or if they were, yet they are not able
by the same act to judge which is the best and most convenient ; yet God,
through the perfection of his knowledge, can do this, and so make but one
act of all, both one and the other. Yet still, what is in man imperfectly, is to be looked at as an image of God s proceedings herein, in a transcend ent way of perfection. And so we may truly attribute the same thing unto God s will ia his decrees, as to the substance of them, in that perfect way of his, that we do unto man in his that is imperfect. And hence God is
said to work by counsel, Eph. i. 11, In whom also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purposes of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. It is in assimilation or likeness unto what is in man ; because, as an act of knowledge and deli
beration is said to be first in us, ere an act of will or determination what
to do ; so in God himself, an act of knowledge, or of the full cognizance of what is to be done, is (after the manner of men) supposed to be before an
act of his will. And answerably in his will, the intention of the end is said
to be before the intention of the means. And this priority of the end afore
472 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK III.
the means is taken for granted to have been in God s decrees ; for if God had not thus proceeded, by ordaining the means unto the end, he could not
by us have been conceived to work with that perfection of wisdom which must be in him ; for wisdom always considers first an end, then fit means
tending to that end.
Yet still this is but what is common to all other things that are ordained
to be as ends by God, unto which other things are subordinated ; and in
this scale there is a kind of priority allowed one creature to have had in God s decrees, in respect of others its fellow -creatures. As the sun was intended for the enlightening of the world, and the generation and conser vation of all things therein, by its heat and influence, and yet both it and the world were intended for man, and man and all the world for the elect, as the apostle says, 1 Cor. iii. 23, All things are yours, and you are Christ s, and Christ is God s. Now all the creatures fall infinitely short of that royalty which I hence attribute to Christ, God-man, when I affirm him to have been the final cause or end of all things. And look how far
his prerogative herein is found to exceed that which may be supposed might have been any of theirs ; by so much is thereby confirmed, according to the
ground even now laid, a priority as transcendent that he verily holdeth in God s decrees.
Now he holdeth a pre-eminence in this infinitely above all creatures, and
therefore even in this his being the end of all also.
And this pre-eminence is held forth in these particulars. 1. In that he was set up as a universal end of the whole creation of God;
* For whom all things, says the text, were created, ver. 16. And
this is not to be predicated either of angels or men. God vouchsafed neither of them that honour, as to be the general and universal end of all
things. This priority is a similitudinary prerogative of what God alone is, as one God, so that his Christ should be one Lord, 1 Cor. viii. 6, over all
things, and but one. And herein is Christ so the image of God, as no creature is ; as in respect of dominion over this visible world, man is said
to be the image of God (Gen. i. 27, 28), as his type. 2. And further, this universality of endship (as I may call it), he holds with a peculiar transcendency, which no creature is capable of; for it
ariseth from his distance and absolute sovereignty (which if he be ordained
to subsist in a human nature, that nature must be raised unto) which he hath over all the creatures. This person decreed to subsist in man s nature, was considered by God in his decrees to be of that worth and distance above the creatures, that their very being and existing was to become absolutely and simply his propriety. He was to be absolute Lord of their being, even as God is. But thus were not man, or
rnor angels of men, though as
any of the sons of men, to the being of angels,
superior in rank the one may serve the other ; but yet thus men and angels are fsubordinate to Christ as their end. This we have in Heb. ii., where, by this argument, the apostle proveth that that man spoken of by David, Ps. viii., could be none but the man Christ Jesus, nor any mere creature ; because he was (as set forth by David) advanced to a higher prerogative than the angels, in that God hath put all things in subjection under him,
yea, under his feet (as the phrase there is) ; so, as he hath left nothing that is not put under him, ver. 8. He therefore is not only the universal end of all things (if such we could suppose any one mere creature might have been constituted by God), but he is the absolute sovereign end : so
as they are under his feet, as vassals, whose whole being is from him, and
CHAP. III.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHKIST. 473
at his dispose ; of which prerogative no mere creature is capable. And even in this prerogative sense he is the universal end of all. For God hath
exempted nothing from subjection to him (as the apostle there saith). Elect
angels are not thus the end of elect men, nor elect men of elect angels. He hath not put into subjection to the angels^he world to come, says the same apostle in the same place, ver. 5. Christ has an absolute and entire
lordship. And therefore he must needs be first in intention, and so before
all things ; as of no other thing or creature it can be said.
3. Add to this, that suppose him at all decreed to be God-man, and
united to a creature, it was withal his due to be ordained by God the end
of all things decreed together with him. And this is and was an incom municable royalty to any mere creature, nor must be said, nor could have been true of any of them, but proper to him alone. And this makes a
third priority or precedency in the endship, as also in God s decrees.
As touching this third and last head, I shall do two things further.
1. I must explain and declare the ground of it. And,
2. Shew the glory of this priority, above what any creature hath been
capable of.
1. For the explanation of it.
(1.) It is true that the second person, his subsisting in a human nature, or his being God-man, dependeth wholly upon the ordination of God, and
that in respect of his being second person singly considered, or in respect of that human nature that was united to him. It cannot be said to have been a natural due to the second person to be made man ; and much less was it a due to that nature of man assumed to be made one person with the Son of God.
(2.) It is also as true, that though God would have thus decreed his Son
to be God-man, yet it was not necessary that God should make any creatures at all, and so not necessary that he should have ordained to make
any other fellowcreatures with him besides himself. And so it was not
necessary in this sense that they should have been for him as their end. But God might for ever have rested in the communicating himself unto
that man, God s fellow only (and it had been a sufficient motive to him, and a fulness of satisfaction had thereby arisen unto him alone therein, to
see, and behold, and enjoy the image of his own perfections in a creature
united to his Son). And therein he had shewn his own greatness, and
superiority above this his Christ in this ; that himself was the supreme end
of him, but he actually the end of nothing else that was ordained to be made
for him.
But (3.) that which I further affirm is this, that supposing God would
decree him to be God-man, and to subsist in a human nature, and likewise
withal would ordain multitudes of other things, angels and men together, as de facto God did, that then it becomes the necessary due of this Christ, and that as God-man, so decreed, to be set up by God in those his decrees, as the end of all those things. Yea, and further, that God should so mould and cast the whole frame of his designs, concerning his creation intended, as that all should tend to him as their end, as well as to God s own glory. So that whereas God, in that which is called his simple foreknowledge or
counsel (whereby he had the view of Christ, and of all things else he did
decree, afore him, before that his will did determine them to be), must needs
foresee, that if he predestinated this second person to be a man, and one
person with him at all, and other things together with him (and it is hard
to think that he should scape his first view, of all things else), that then
474 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK III.
this did become that man s due, and the necessary consequent of that union with God s Son, that he should be so far respected and preserved by
God, in his decrees, as to have the place of a supreme end of all and every
thing ; and accordingly that God should cast his decrees for Christ s glory as well as for his own ; which indeed is his own, even to honour the Son
as the Father is honoured, John v. 23. Hence as we read, Heb. i. 2, that
Christ is said to be appointed the heir of all things. So at the 4th verse we also read, That he was made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. In the
first speech the apostle calls him the appointed heir, because that man
should be assumed to that personal union and sonship, upon which this
inheritance befell him, this was by a free decree and ordination of God. But yet withal the 4th verse tells us, that yet he obtained it by inherit
ance. And if he were appointed heir, this was due to the very appoint ment ; and by such a right as no creature, no, not the angels, are capable
of; and yet still it is founded, take him as God-man, that he is made Lord and Christ, as Peter in the Acts speaks, Acts ii. 36, Therefore let
all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same
Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Yet so as if he
be appointed God s Son, as man, at all, this is his due and his natural in
heritance. And this other also follows hereupon in God s appointments and ordinations, that all things should be so cast and moulded as to be for
him. For the heir is the end of the inheritance, as well as he is the lord
of it ; and so must Christ be of all the creatures appointed and co-
ordained with him ; and for him to be thus both the appointed heir and
yet the natural heir (as God-man) is no more contradiction than to say of
him, as man, that he was both God s natural Son, as being one person with the natural Son of God, and yet to have been predestinated unto that
sonship, because he was predestinated to that union upon which this fol
lowed. So that he was to be the end of all, this was a free act of God s
appointment, because his being united to his Son was by a free act of his
will also. And yet for him to be made the end of all things, was a natural
necessary consequent of God s decreeing him unto that union. And God
foresaw that this would and must be the necessary consequent of it, and
yet freely ordained him to it. And therefore this and all such natural and
necessary prerogatives that follow upon it, and which could not have been
withheld or cut off, are yet all of them said to be by appointment.
And indeed others say the same thing. For when it is affirmed that
Christ needed not have merited any glory to himself, they ground it upon
this ; because, by virtue of the hypostatical union, all glory is his natural
due, and a necessary consequent of it. Which surely is a truth, though it
may not be made use of to exclude another title unto this his own glory,
namely, that of purchase. For it is no dishonour to him to have two claims. And if it be said, that you must suppose him first to be ordained God-
man, by a decree, ere this the consequent of it could become his due, and
therefore, in the act of God s decreeing him, and all things with him (which
decreeing him and them was done by one single and entire act) this was
not looked at by God as a natural due to him.
The answer is, that by that simple foreknowlege, which is antecedent to
his decrees, whereby he knows all things that his will determines afore he
doth determine them, he must needs know this would and must be the
consequent of his decreeing Christ to be God-man, if ever he did it ; and so he predestinating upon such a knowledge, he intended him so to be,
CHAP. HI.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 475
even in that act of decreeing him and all things, and shaped these his de
crees accordingly.
2. Now, for the second thing propounded, namely, the eminency of this
his priority, as thus stated, that it is such a prerogative as no mere crea
ture could he capable of. Besides what hath been said and observed out of Heb. i. 4 and chap. ii. 8, it is certain it cannot be said to be the natural due of the best angels or men, that God should make them the end of any thing else decreed, or to be created together with them. It is true that God makes one creature subordinate to another as its end, intending it for the use of another. Thus 1 Cor. xi. 9, The man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man ; and so the world for both. Yet so
as it was not a due that if both man and woman should be created, the woman should be for the man. For in heaven, though the sexes remain
distinct, yet there the woman is no more for the man than the man for the woman. And this co-ordination one with another, God might have made
in all things, and none in subordination to another, especially angels and
elect men. But that the angels should serve the elect, this is merely from an ordination of his will. And he might have made this world, and man
in it, and yet not have subjected this world unto man ; and many more worlds he might have made, which should not at all have subserved man, but might some other way have been for his glory, as it will be if this world should stand and continue after the day of judgment, as some have
thought. So that for one creature to be decreed the end of another, was a matter of mere arbitrariness and pure liberty unto God. As there is a decree that all these things should exist and have a being, so there must be a further distinct decree appointing the one to serve the other, upon which alone this subordination doth wholly depend. So that not the
existence of the things only arise from his will, but also the order of them, that this should be for this, and this for that ; the one hath no other claim or due but God s mere and arbitrary decree. But in God s decreeing
Christ, and all other things for him, the matter standeth in far different terms. For although (as was said) that he should subsist in man s nature, that depended merely upon a decree, and was in no respect his due ; but
that he should be the heir, the Lord, the end of all things, is so the object of God s will and decree, as withal he may claim it (supposing an intention
in God, that he will be God-man at all) as a due, and royalty, and prero
gative entailed to his being decreed God s Son, by the supremest law that can come between God and his Son, which cannot be made void, or he be bereaved of that prerogative. Even as if God himself purposes to make
any creature, this law naturally falls, upon his decreeing of it, that it be ordained for his own glory ; now, say I, for Christ s also. For, by the union, that man becomes the natural Son of God, and so this right is natural unto him. I will give instance to illustrate this difference between
Christ and the creatures. Take any mere creature, the angels, and souls
of men, and as its having a being depended simply upon an arbitrary decree of God s, so its having an everlasting being does also. God might
freely have ordered the contrary, and they could no way have claimed it as a due, or a deprivement of their right ; it was no natural due that was the
consequent of its being. But if God decree his Son to subsist in a human nature once, then his being ever as a man, and God for ever to dwell in
him, is the natural consequent of the former ; for the union is indissoluble, he being thereby investH into the prerogatives of God s Son, whereof this
* thy years fail not, whereas the creatures may change and
is one,
476 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK III.
wax old. So Heb. i. 11, 12, They shall perish, but thou remainest; and they shall wax old as doth a garment ; and as a vesture shalt thou
fold them up, and they shall be changed
: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
I do not, nor must not affirm, that this is not at all the object of a decree
of God s. For it is certain that all his works, ad extra (whereof this is
one), are such. Yea, this is one part and piece of that fulness in the text, of which, as of the rest, it is said in the due* of all, Col. i. 19, It pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell in him. And again, Ps. ii. 6, 7, I will publish the decree, I have set my King on my holy hill. His being King was the object of a decree. Yet still I add withal, that it was withal
his due and inheritance.
Neither do I intend that it was a decree only, and merely in this respect to this first grace, that this man should be united to God s Son, being the
object of a pure and mere arbitrariness in God to have, or not to have, decreed it ; that therefore this other dignity (that is, the natural con
sequent of it) is said also to be so decreed, virtually (or as we say, volitum
in causa), because that that which this wholly depended upon was the
object of a decree merely free ; but I acknowledge it truly the object of a free
decree of God s will, as well as the former. For he was willing and well
pleased in it, and from such a will appointed him the heir, and made him Lord and Christ. Yet still say I not in that sense arbitrary, that suppos
ing withal (as hath been so often said) him to be united to the Son of God, that by a contrary decree this royalty might for ever have been denied him, and the contrary determined by God.
And there is no incongruity in this, or derogation from God, that this and other the like privileges should be both his natural due, and yet the
object of a decree. We say against the papists in a manner of a less alloy, that if God could make man at first with an understanding and a will, it
was, by the law of creation, a necessary and natural due to that man to be
created holy, and in the image of God, and not in pure naturals, as the
papists dream ; and yet to give man that holiness at first, was the object of a decree over and above his being made man. But this dueness of Christ s
being the end of all (if at all the Christ), is of a higher nature, though I
illustrate it by that of a lesser, between the Creator and the creature. Also we know, that in Christ himself, the personal glory he hath in heaven, he holds by a double tenure, the one as God s natural Son, the other by merit ; and yet over and above it is said to be given him by his Father, as an act of his will and decrees. It is true, that for the manner or way of
contrivance, how all should tend and serve to his glory, this must be granted to be merely arbitrary, and dependent on the counsels of God s will ; even
as the ordering how they shall serve to his own glory is. Yet that all should be cast for Christ s glory, as for God s (though in a subordination unto God s), is a necessary natural law between the Father and the Son. And so he holds it, and not simply by arbitrement. Thus much for the second particular, that his royalty, in being the first
of God s decrees, and therein to be the end of all things, is held forth in
these words, First-begotten, &c., He is before all things. But concerning his priority in God s decrees, there will be occasion to
speak more hereafter, in other places of this discourse.
* Qu. view? ED.
CHAP. IV.J AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 477