Sermon III
Who hath blessed us with all blessings. VEK. 3.
III. I COME to the third general head the text was divided into the matter
for which he blesseth God namely, for his blessing us with all blessings
* Who hath blessed us with all blessings. Who. God, as he alone is blessed, styled therefore the Blessed One, 6 v\oyr)Tos, Mark xiv. 61, so he alone blesseth, and is alone able to do it; and others, when they bless, their blessings are but invocations upon him, that he would bless some other person in what they desire for him. So all
particular benedictions, made by parents or others, run in Scripture, as Gen.
xlviii. 15, 16 ; which that saying, once for all other, shews, We bless you in the name of the Lord, Ps. cxxix. 8. Yea, when man is made an instru ment of conveying good things unto us, yet he cannot make them blessings ; for this they have recourse to God. And in so doing, all have thereby acknowledged him the fountain of all blessings and blessedness; and so even Balaam himself confessed to Balak, Num. xxii. 38, and chap, xxiii.
< I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, Num. xxii. 6. Who. I shewed afore, in general, that the apostle blesseth God under the
8, 20.
consideration of being the God and Father of Christ, because thereby he becomes our God, and our Father also. I shall add now, how that under each of these considerations or relations it is that he blesseth us.
That which in general I shall premise, as common to the explication of
these two particulars last menti6ned, is that notion commonly received among the schoolmen, which I gladly took up from them : * That one requisite
ingredient to move God to love, and to shew mercy unto us intelligent creatures of the sons of men, is an apprehending our misery, ut suam, as his own. And again, Deus non miseretur nisi propter amorem, in quantum amat nos tanquam aliquid sui. That God hath mercy on us, by apprehending our misery as his own, quod jit per unionem affectus, which is done by an union of affection to us ; and God is not executively merciful, but for his
love, and is so far merciful to us, as he looks at us, ut aliquid sui, as we are
something of his own, or something of himself.
This I greedily take hold of, to illustrate and carry on the ground and foundation of the special love he bears to his elect, and as agreeing with what the Scriptures say ; both that love is in God, (which no man can deny to be in the nature of God to love, for he loves himself, his Son, &c.,) and that love is the ground of mercy, and, by the same reason, special electing love the ground of mercy in God to sinners. Thus, Eph. ii. 4, But God, who is rich in mercy, (having in the foregoing verses set forth our sinfulness and misery,)
l for the great love wherewith he loved us, &c. And Aquinas tantum in quantum, is made the measure of the great and infinite differ ence of his love to creatures. There is a common love to men as creatures, eo he loves every man and thing he hath made; but where he shews * Aquinas secunda secundeo qusest. 30, art. 2, in respon. ad art. prim.
42 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SERMON III.
special mercies, as pardon of sin and the like, there is an in quantum, by an
how far he loves, as the foundation of that, a special love. But still the
question will be, What should be the ground of a special love in God to
some, with such an infinite difference of that love from what it is to others
in common? Aquinas resolves that, with this further foundation, to be
aliquid sui; to make those he specially loves some way his own, and then
the consequence of that to be, to look upon their misery as his own ; and
< In all their affliction he was
with that the Scriptures also agree, Isa. Ixiii 9,
afflicted; the like in Exod. iv. 31.
But then another question, (to drive the matter home to its head,) and
that is, What is it in God, or in the creature, makes them to be in so special manner his own, who or what hath put so great a difference ? Nothing but
election, which follows in the next : according as he hath chosen us. There
is Aquinas in quantum, so far as he loved us, so far he hath blessed us,
with special blessings appropriate, suitable thereunto. Now the fundamental
therefore of all, and of the difference is, he makes us first his own by love,
by that special love specially his own. And, which is the head I approach next to, he became our God first, and our Father, and chose us so to be his
as none else is. And then we were aliquid sui, something of himself and
his own indeed, by special propriety. You have this in effect in that 63d
of Isa. ver. 8, 9, So he was their Saviour, and so redeemed them. But in
terminis, in more express words, in the two particular relations specified, he first made himself, and became our God and our Father, and then to be
sure we are his own.
1. God blesseth us, as having first become our God. It is true, indeed,
that God, as God, is fall of blessedness in himself, and that is it which pro vokes him to communicate blessings to his creatures. God is good and doth
good, says the Psalmist, and so God is blessed, (an all-sufficiency of all good,) and so bestoweth blessings ; but yet know, that those he communicates him
self in blessing unto, he first becomes their God. And then having taken
that relation on him, he pours forth ail his blessedness and blessings on them,
so Ps. Ixvii. 6, God, even our own God, shall bless us ; and when he is
once so become, and hath taken upon him to be our God, he cannot but
bless us. There is therefore, besides that emphasis put upon it, a duplicate made of it in the psalm; it is a second time repeated and said, God shall
bless us ; he cannot but do it, having made himself our God, and our own God to that, God, even our own God, shall bless us, ver. 7. Yea, and
they all would not be blessings to us at all, unless God had first become our
God, and blessed us with giving himself to us. And whence came that, that he became our God, our own God ? Why, by choosing us to be his, which was done by election entirely, both at once together; which is the very import of that speech, thine they were, says Christ ; those speeches or clauses, say
interpreters, do mutually speak each other : as to say, Thine they were by
election, and thou gavest them me ; or to say, By election they became thine, thou electedst them. You have the like unto it in the same Isa. Ixiii. 8, For he (God, namely) said (as within himself of old), Surely they are my
people, and therefore also children that will not lie ; arid so he was their
Saviour. And that which answereth and agrees to this, too, is that other
speech of Christ s, Luke xviii. 7, His own elect; and then you have election, by which they are made his own, and all to meet in their being something of his own indeed. This for the first, his becoming our God first, on pur
pose to bless us. If, therefore, we would have any or all blessings from
God, we must first seek of him to be our God ; and then, as the Psalmist,
EPH. I. 3.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 43
God, even our God, will bless us ; he will be sure to do it, upon the same account and for the same end and purpose he became our Father.
2. God blesseth us under the relation of our Father. The first on earth
that ever took upon them to bless others, and brought up that custom (or, as I may say, fashion) of blessing, were those that bore the relation of
fathers. Their hearts were filled with the greatest love and good-will to
their own children, a natural o-ropy^ did bless them, that is, wish well to them ; and their hearts being enlarged to wish them more good than they found themselves able to bestow, they had recourse to God to bless them, and
perform their desires, as that which was not in their own power to do. So
the patriarchs, who blessed their children and posterity, and were the first of men that brought in this way of expressing their good-will which we call
blessing, as Moses termeth God s blessing, a manifestation of good-will borne
to him whom he blesses, Deut. xxxiii. 16, in his blessing from God the
several tribes : And for the good-will, says he, of him that dwelt in the
bush, (which was Christ appearing to Moses, Exod. iii. 2-5 ; Acts vii. 32-3 i,) let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren, (as Joseph was,) and thus
singularly he blesseth Joseph, as separate from and above all the other
tribes, and thus God blesseth us out of infinite good-will, and thus it is a
natural and a kindly act to come from fathers, and thus God blesseth us. It
is the first fruit of goodwill that is, of that natural love and care which
parents bear their children, it doth all. Love in fathers is that principle that doth of itself provoke them to wish the greatest good to their children, which if any good be in their own power to give, they give it from that
principle ; and when they have it not in their own power to bestow, if they are holy men, and have an interest in God the fountain of all good, they use
that interest, and invocate God to bestow it ; which invocating of God for them we use to call blessing a child, which is as much as in them lies to do.
Now, as Christ says of giving good things unto their children, (and parents
blessing is but a giving their children good things, by invocating of God to bestow them, as it is called in Isaac s blessing, Gen. xxvii. 27,) If you then
being evil, says Christ, Matt. vii. 11, that is, are full of self-love, that of itself would tempt you to keep and retain to yourselves, and not willingly to give away any good thing, yet ye know how, says Christ, that is, you have the
hearts and the affections by a natural instinct to spy out the best things for
your children, which you judge to be such, and if ye know how to give good
things to your children, how much more, says Christ, shall your Father which
is in heaven, who to this very end was pleased to become a Father to you, and has all in heaven to bestow, even that God who is styled the Blessed One in Scripture, who is an ocean of all blessedness, which seeks an outlet for
itself to communicate to creatures, whom he hath loved and chosen, and hath been pleased to bear that relation towards us to this great end ; he hath done all this to pour out his blessedness by and through that relation towards
us, upon us his adopted sons ; and who, by what he finds to be natural in himself towards his own natural Son, (whom he blesseth every day for ever, Ps. xlv. 2,) he for his sake and relation to us is further pleased to pour forth
all blessings also upon us, having become in Christ a Father to us ; and so to bear such a good-will to us in Christ, as members of him, and a spouse to him.
Hath blessed with all blessings. You see here both the act of grace on God s part bestowing good on us is expressed by
* blessing, and the things bestowed are called blessings. He gives one and the same denomination or name to either, which argues this expression of blessing to be full and as
44. AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SERMON III.
adequate as could be chosen forth. I shall endeavour to explicate both the
name and thing itself what it is to bless, as on God s part and what is a
blessing, and what it is that truly makes and constitutes good things to be
blessings to us.
I. For the word blessing or to bless. It is evident by that extensive com
prehensiveness of speech which the Apostle here useth, that the whole, the
total, and all particular good things, which he after enumerates, which God
ever means to give, or the gospel promises, even all of them are to the
utmost spoken of under and by this word of blessing. And it is worth our
consideration that it is that original word under which the promise of the cove
nant of grace was at the first given to Abraham, the father of all the faithful ;
as which contained all particular good things, as his loins did that seed to whom that promise was made. And this I mention now at first as a funda
mental consideration, that will have a great and necessary influence into the
explication of the particulars that follow in this verse. The apostle here
framing these words with an eye of allusion to, and comparison between
those promises given them, and these promises which the gospel here
declares; therefore unto that promise given them we shall have recourse
again and again, to make our Apostle s meaning here the more manifest.
That before me at the present is, that the sum and substance of gos
pel-promises began then to be set forth and expressed under this blessed
1 1 will bless thee, said God to Abraham, and in thee all
word of blessing.
the families of the earth shall be blessed; Gen. xii. 2, 3. And again, because it could not be better expressed by any other word, God doth but
double the same, saying, In blessing I will bless thee, Gen. xxii. 17 ; that
is, I will bless thee and bless thee again, which is equivalent to the expression
here, with all blessings hath he blessed us. And what doth or can the great God say more ? It is enough. Now, that in God s intendment the whole total of the gospel was
expressed to Abraham, and wrapt up in that term of blessing, the avowed
explications and interpretations made thereof by the apostles do un
deniably declare. Thus, presently after Christ s ascension, in one of the first made sermons, Acts iii., speaking to the Jews, ver. 25, Ye are the children
of the covenant God made, saying to Abraham, In thy seed shall all the
kindreds of the earth be blessed ; which he expounds unto them thus, that
first God sent his Son Jesus to bless you, namely the Jews. And yet more
expressly, Gal. iii. 8, God preached the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So that as Abraham s style was the
blessed of the Lord, Gen. xiv. 19, and also the children of God are all said to be blessed with faithful Abraham, in the following ver. 9 ; and again, Heb.
vi. 13, 14, Tor when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless
thee, which, ver. 17, is said to contain the whole of his counsel to the heirs of promise, and that to shew the immutability of that his counsel, he con firmed it by an oath.
Hence therefore, although the gospel in most things speaks greater things than the Old Testament, and in higher terms, yet hath it not altered, nor can it better this. Christ himself, that began to preach this gospel in that
his first large sermon that is recorded, it is the first word he therein utters, Blessed are the poor in spirit, &c. Matt. v. 2, 3 ; and because he could not add to this, he does but repeat it over and over, as the general that contained in it the kingdom of heaven, ver. 3 ; comfort here, ver. 4 ; inheriting the earth, ver. 5 j filling with all good, ver. 6 ; obtaining mercy, ver. 7 ;
EPH. I. 3.] TO THE EPHESIAN3. 45
seeing God, ver. 8 ; adoption and being God s children, ver. 9 ; and if there
be any other particular, all are summed up in this word blessed. Each and every particle of our salvation or happiness being blessings, as here, all
the gospel can say is but blessing ; which is therefore called in the lump of
it, the fulness of the blessing of the gospel, Rom. xv. 29, for it cannot speak beyond what this word reacheth. All that Christ could do when he ascended was but to bless ; and after Christ s ascension, the last book of the gospel, the Revelation, doth continually and throughout use the same style, and at the
latter day, when heaven doors are to be set open for the righteous to enter
in, their everlasting happiness is uttered by it, Come, ye blessed.
II. For the thing, or what import this word carries with it. As you heard what it was for us to bless God, so now I am to shew what it is for God to
bless us. God s blessing us, is his bestowing or communicating all good
together with himself, with all hearty good-will, out of love to our persons.
1. It is a bestowing or communicating of good. The Jews defined it in
general accessio boni, grounded upon Psalm cxv., where what in ver. 12, 13 is expressed by blessing, in ver. 14 is adjiciat super vos, God add to
you, namely, good or well-being, unto your being, or what is already given
you. And the Scripture often useth the word blessing for a gift or present bestowed. Gen. xxxiii, that which Jacob calls his present or gift, ver. 10, he calls his blessing bestowed, ver. 11, Take, I pray thee, my blessing which
is brought thee. And, 2 Cor. ix. 5, 6, their bountiful gift to the churches he
calls their blessing in the margin; you have the same, 2 Kings v. 15 ; the
like, Lev. xxv. 21. And to be sure, whatever man s blessings are, all God s
blessings are the giving and accumulation of good to us, or doing us good. And though the word evXoyia signifies but his good word to and concerning
us, yet God s word is his deed. And Dei benedicere est benefacere, for by a bare word of command he blesseth; Ps. cxxxiii. 3, there he com mands the blessing, that blessing of blessings, even life for evermore ; like
as it is said, he commanded, and they were created, Ps. cxlviii. 5. So he commands and we are blessed. Alas ! when we creatures bless God, we
express but our well-wishes or joyful acclamations to that blessedness is in him
self already ; but when God blesseth us, he altogether gives, he communicates.
2. It is the communication of all good, yea of himself. God gives and
blesseth like himself when he blesseth. He blesseth indeed, as the phrase
is, 1 Chron. iv. 10, and will not bless under giving all. He blesseth
1 altogether, as the phrase is, Num. xxiv. 10 ; therefore in the text here, with
all blessings. He cannot bless less, for he is God, and hath all to bestow. Thou art God, says David, and do thou bless me, 1 Chron. xvii. 26, 27. He
urgeth that, for he knew what it was for God to bless, and that he blesseth
as the great God and like himself, both with all that God himself is, and all
that God can effect and do for us; or as he hath created and made all things, he hath all things to bestow ; therefore to make up this total, I have put in both the communication of himself, and all good things with himself.
To this purpose I observe, that in the mention of the evangelical blessings, Abraham s blessing, as I may call it, both God s own all-sufficiency in him
self, and God s power in his works and to effect all things, are still mentioned ; sometimes the one, sometimes the other, because in blessing us he is consi dered as both ; he both gives himself and all things else to us, and so we are
blessed indeed. Thus to Abraham whom God in blessing blessed, I am
El-shaddai, says he, God that am and have all-sufficiency, Gen. xvii. 1. When Isaac would bless Jacob with this blessing of Abraham, he thus speaks,
God all-sufficient bless thee, Gen. xxviii. 3, (the same word in both.) And
48 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SfiKMON III.
though in the translation it is restrained to almightiness, yet it also imports God s all-sufficiency and abundance; and so this blessing intends a communi
cation out of that riches and fulness of blessedness which God himself enjoys. This for the first.
Secondly, In other places his titles, that import power and sovereignty in
making and possessing all in heaven and earth, are prefixed to his blessing. Thus, when Melchisedec pronounces Abraham blessed, Gen. xiv. 1 9, he calls him the blessed of God under this title, the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth, who had therefore all things in heaven and earth to bless him withal. And the Jews used the same, Ps. cxv. 15, You are the blessed
of the Lord, who made heaven and earth, and so is able to do all things for
you, by the same power whereby he made the world. The like Ps. cxxxiv. ; these have been inferred out of Abraham s blessing.
Now, that not only God doth bless with all other good things, but above
all by communicating himself and his own blessedness unto them, the Scrip tures are elsewhere express, when this blessing is spoken of. They shall not
only not want any good, as the Psalmist, Ps. xxxiv. 10, No good thing will he withhold; as Ps. Ixxxiv., but give both grace and glory; but him
self will be a sun unto them; as there, ver. 11, The Lord God is a sun and
shield. The sun doth not only enrich the earth with all good things which by its influence it produceth, (called the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, Deut. xxxiii. 14,) but glads and refreshes all with shedding imme
diately its own wings of light and warmth, which is so pleasant to behold and enjoy. And thus doth God, and Christ the Sun of righteousness, and
accordingly it follows there, Blessed is the man that trusts in him; for in
being our sun, himself becomes our blessedness. Thus his promise of bless
ing Abraham, God himself interprets, Gen. xv. 1, I am thy exceeding great and abundant reward ; I, that am El-shaddai,* that have infinite paps of sweetness for you to suck; breasts of consolation, as the prophet expresseth
it; who am the God of all comforts, as 2 Cor. i. 3, lo, I hold them all forth naked to thee, for thee to draw and fetch comfort from. Thou shalt have all my blessedness to make thee blessed, which the Apostle fitly renders, Eph. iii., being filled with all the fulness of God; and indeed all things else without God or besides God could never make us blessed. The Psalmist, after an enumeration of all sorts of blessings, having pronounced them happy that are in such a case or state, by way of correction adds, as not having uttered wherein the top of blessedness lies; he adds, yea, blessed is the people whose God is the Lord, Ps. cxliv. 15. And hence the people of God, as sensible wherein their interest of happi ness lies, as they are termed the blessed of the Lord, so they are said to bless themselves in the Lord; which is to rejoice and make their boast in him
alone, and how happy they are in him, (as Christ in the 16th Psalm doth,) The Lord is my portion, and my lines are fallen in a good ground ; I have a goodly heritage. And that promise of blessing to Abraham, to which I still have recourse, runs thus indifferently, either that in thy seed, that is, Christ, (Gal. iii. 16,) they shall be blessed, so Gen. xii. 3, xxviii. 14; or xxii. 18, they shall bless themselves, or benedictos se reputent, account themselves
* Some derive his name El-shaddai, God all-sufficient/ from -f^, mamma, quasi yroXv/iaoTos, having many paps or dugs to suck, (Rivet. Gen. exerc. 87, ab initio;) and as God takes the denomination of ^rD, that is, most merciful/ from DHI, *he womb/ and so bowels, so this name of all-sufficient from breasts or paps, (A Lapide on Gen. vii. 1 ;) so at once noting out God s fulness, and also his readiness to communicate to
EPH. I. 3.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 47
blessed in him so Junius upon that place namely in Christ, who is God blessed for ever, Rom. ix., for else they could not bless themselves in him. And thus Isaiah makes it the top of evangelical perfection, which he prophe sied of, chap. Ixv. 1 6 ; yea, and of the state of the people of God in the new heaven and new earth, wherein righteousness dwells, of which ver. 17, 18, that he who should bless himself in the earth, should bless himself in the God of truth ; that is, God and Christ, that is alone the truth and the firm substance of all blessedness and happiness; according to that also of the
Psalmist, Whom have I in heaven but thee, and in earth in comparison of thee V That as a wicked man is said to bless himself in his life, Ps. xlix. 18, that is, to applaud his own soul s happiness, (Soul, take thine ease,) in having goods laid up for many years, for to make him, as he judgeth, happy; so the saints bless themselves in their God, their glory, not in riches or wisdom or
strength, but they glory in this, that they understand and know God, Jer. ix.
23, 24, and by knowing him are made happy in him. For that is eternal
life, John xvii. 3. And so by having God and Christ for their blessedness, they have all things with them, and so are blessed with all blessings. I will be his God, that first; then follows, and he shall inherit all things. Lastly, God blesseth out of hearty good-will and love to our persons. And this is as the soul or form of blessing, whether ye will take it for the act of blessing in God, or the matter of blessing bestowed upon us. It is the good-will of God that causeth each of these to have the denomination and nature of a blessing.
1. It is the spring and fountain of that act of blessing, as that which con stitutes it such. To bless is to wish, or, wishing, to bestow all good out of
good-will; as when we bless God, it is the good-will we express therein which makes it termed blessing him, and so to differ from praise, as was shewn. So in God s blessing us, (his blessing us to be sure at least answereth to our blessing of him, and infinitely exceeds it.) In him it is a fatherly act, and so proceeds from mere natural and pure good-will and affection. The Lord first loves, then blesseth; Jehovah thy God will love thee, and so will bless thee, Deut. vii. 12, 13. And so likewise in Ps. v. 12, God s
blessing us is exegetically expressed and explained to be a compassing a man round about with favour and good-will, clasping and accepting him, as with
everlasting arms, Deut. xxxiii. 27. Thou Jehovah wilt bless the righteous, thou wilt encompass him round with favour, or favourable acceptation, good will or gracious good-liking and acceptance, joined with a delight in then-
persons, and rejoicing to do them good, as the same word (Isa. xl. 1, in whom my soul delights, spoken of Christ,) imports. And it is an encom
passing round, because that man hath nothing else from God but love and favour coming in upon him on every side and surrounding him, and hence it
is that a man is blessed with all blessings. In these terms therefore doth Moses pour forth his prayers of blessing on Joseph s head, who was separated from his brethren, as the choicest of them all. The good-will of him that dwelt in the bush, let it come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brethren, (Deut. xxxiii. 1,16, compared.) He invocates the original, the fountain of all blessings; namely the good-will of that God who in the bush had appeared and said, I am the God of Abraham, &c., Exod. iii. 2, 6. And surely if God communicates himself to whom he blesseth, his blessing of them must proceed from the
deepest good-will; and indeed is the reason why he giveth himself, as in mar
riage they bestow themselves and all, to whom they bear their special good-will.
And, 2. This good-will of God, accompanying each thing bestowed, is that
48 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SERMON III.
which mahth a blessing of it, and so to be more than merely gifts bestowed.
The Hebrews termed their gifts or presents a blessing. Thus 1 Sam. xxv.
27, Abigail to David, This blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my Lord; also 2 Kings v. 15; whereby they would have it understood
by the receiver, that they proceeded from their free and most hearty good
will; and that to be more than the gift. Thou hast given long life to thy
king, says David to God, and so blesseth him for that. But because long
life in itself was as no blessing to him without God s favour, in another
psalm he says, Thy loving-kindness is better than life, and all the privileges of it better than the things bestowed. And therefore after that Jacob had
wished his Joseph all the precious things, as he terms them, all the dainties
heaven or earth afforded, both which he distinctly mentions, Deut. xxxiii.,
(read ver. 13, 14 afore,) then after all he prays, as without which these
would not prove blessings, the good-will of our God, says he, come upon him,
&c., so invocating this fountain of all. Thus take any particular outward
mercy which hath the name of a blessing, and it is the blessing of God, that
is, his favour accompanying it, that maketh it such. It is the blessing of
God, as Solomon says, that maketh rich, Prov. x. 22 ; and so in all other, otherwise their blessings are turned into curses, as Mai. ii. 2. Out of good-will, good-will to our persons themselves, it is that he blesseth
us, as in our blessing of God we heard it imported pure good-will to him
self; so in his blessing us. In that short and fervent prayer of Jabez, Oh
that thou wouldest bless me indeed ! 1 Chron. iv. 10, this passage follows,
1 that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me ! I ob
serve from thence, that our God who undertakes to bless us, loves us so well, that he is so moved (such is his love to our persons) with the pleas of self-
love in us, when concurring with his own glory. For this holy man, in
seeking God s blessing on him to be kept from evil, urgeth this to God, that it may not grieve me. Such free and pure good-will doth God bear
to us, that he loves we should love ourselves, and is affected with what pro ceeds from love to ourselves ; for this request God granted ; so then it is
genuine to the nature of a blessing, and indeed to bless another doth
naturally and evidently of all acts else imply a pure and candid aim in
wishing and desiring another s good, out of a special love unto their persons. Thus much for what this word to bless, as an act of God s, as also what a
blessing as the thing bestowed, holds forth to us.
Us, who in and of ourselves are by nature children of wrath, as in
chap. ii. 3, and cursed children, 2 Pet. ii. 14, to whom all the curses written and unwritten are due, are yet rendered blessed in Christ, and blessed not with one sort or kind, but all blessings, termed therefore by way of distinc
tion from other men that remain under the curse, the blessed of the Lord. So Abraham first, Gen. xiv. 19, Melchisedec gives it him as a most royal title for himself and his children to inherit, that it grew to be ordinarily their
style and attribute by heathens themselves, who observed the blessing of Jehovah to environ them. Thus Abimelech treats Isaac, Gen. xxvi. 29, Thou blessed of the Lord ; yea, this appellation Laban gives Abraham s servant, Gen. xxiv. 31, and so it came to be given to all others of his seed, as Ps.
cxv. 15. And as it is their name and denomination, so the end of their
calling, even that which they are called unto, unto nothing else but bless
ing, 1 Pet. iii. 9, Ye are thereunto called, that you should inherit a bless
ing ; in relation to which it is Christ s own compellation, when they are to
possess it, Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom, Matt. xxv. 34. Yea, they are not blessed men only, but men of blessedness, as in the Hebrew it is ;
. I. 3.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 49
made up of nothing else, ordained to nothing else ; yea, to a surplusage flow
ing over; sucli as to be blessings to others with whom they live, and whom they have relation to; all they come near, says God to Abraham, Gen. xii. 2, and ushers it with a word of command, Be thou, or thou shalt be, a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee ; which is repeated to Jacob by his father
Isaac, and so is true of all the seed, Gen. xxvii. 29, and fulfilled in Joseph,
>Gen. xxxix. 5, for whose sake God blessed Potiphar and all his house.
MEDITATION.
Oh, then, let your hearts be full of nothing but of blessing, both blessing God and blessing others ; and let no cursing or reviling be found in our
mouths, which is the Apostle s inference, 1 Pet. iii. 9.
Us, whose persons he loved with a special love, and out of that love hath chosen from the rest of men, as it follows in the next verse ; thus Ps.
xxxiii. 1 2, 1 3, Blessed are the people whom he hath chosen for his own
inheritance. The Lord looketh from heaven ; he beholdeth all the sons of men ; that is, whereas he hath all the sons of men afore him, he loved and chose these out to bless, and it is said he loved and blessed them above all
people, as Deut. vii. 14. Which discovered itself in the difference put between Jacob and Esau : Jacob have I loved, and out of love blessed him, perempto
rily and unchangeably, for he added, Yea, and he shall be blessed, Gen. xxvii.
33, which old Isaac, the father, spake as in the person of God ; whereas Esau with much difficulty obtains a poor pittance of outward blessings for a season.
Us. But these meditations on this word, though quickening, yet that which is more conjunct with the Apostle s intimate scope, and was the main
provocation in his thoughts, with this vehemency of spirit to pour forth this
offering of blessing to the Lord, was the fresh and recent experience of God s
gracious performance of that great promise made to the patriarchs of bless
ing in Christ both Jew and Gentile of all nations with the fulness of the
blessing of the gospel. And that which induceth me to this is, I consider
that he writing to the Ephesians, Gentile converts, in whose hearts, as in
other nations, the gospel had taken place, he so carrieth his following dis
course, setly and intentionally, as still to involve both Jew and Gentile to
gether in the same spiritual privileges, in making his applications sometimes
to the one, sometimes to the other, all along his discourse, in this and the
following chapters, which hath been the general observation of interpreters, sometimes speaking of the Jew, which himself was : we who first trusted in
Christ, ver. 11, 12 ; sometimes of the other, ye also, ver. 13 ; and so chap,
ii. throughout ; and accordingly in this general introduction of blessing God, he wraps them both in one and the same us ; and we as in a community
partake of all the same benefits, in ver. 49. The access of which Gentiles unto the Church, and to be made partakers of the blessing of Abraham
according to the promise and prophecy, was but then effected in his days. Oh, blessed be God, says he, and the Father of Christ, that hath thus blessed us ; and blessed are the ears and eyes of us that live in these days wherein we have and see these things fulfilled : the mystery opened and discovered, which in former ages was not made known, that the Gentiles should be fellow-
heirs and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, as himself, as re
ferring to the things delivered here and the rest of this chapter, speaks, chap,
iii. 3, compared with ver. 4-6. This was so vast a prospect, as he falls down
at the first and general view and consideration thereof : Blessed be God the Father that hath blessed us, us Jews, and with us, you Gentiles, with the
blessings promised Abraham. And so much for the persons blessed.
VOL. J. D
AN EXPOSITION OP THE EPISTLE [SERMON IV.
SERMON IV,
With all blessings. VER. 3.
IN that old dispensation, when Jacob blessed his twelve sons, and in them
their posterity, the twelve tribes, in the conclusion of his blessing it is said, These are the twelve tribes, and every man, according to his blessing, he
blessed them. That is, Joseph had some one eminent earthly blessing bestowed on his tribe, Reuben another, and Naphtali a third, and so the rest. None there are said to be blessed with all blessings. But when God comes
to open his treasures of blessings in Christ, and to profess to bless indeed and altogether, he blesseth with all blessings. Every child of his he blesseth, even with the fulness of the blessing of the gospel, as, Rom. xv. 29, it is
called. For when God gives us Christ, and blesseth us in him, how
shall he not with him freely give us all things ? Having given you my
Son, nay then take all else, and take all freely ; having given the greater so willingly, sure you shall have all the rest, which are the lesser, more
willingly.
It is observable that when Esau approached his father, to ask the blessing like one that came to glean after another s harvest already reaped, Jacob
having been before him, how hard, how difficult he found his father to be, and upon what low terms is Esau fain to beg something, anything of him.
Hast thou not reserved a blessing forme? that is, hast thou given all
away] And ver. 38, Hast thou but one blessing, my father ? bless me, me also, O my father. And how doth Isaac his father speak 1 As having nothing now left he could think of to bestow ; with these, and these things,
says he, have I blessed him, and what shall I do now unto thee, my son V He casts about with himself to think what should be left ungiven away. This had not been if Jacob had not gone away with all. Now, as our
Apostle says in the Epistle to the Galatians, of Ishmael and Isaac, these
things are an allegory / so expressly the same Apostle affirmeth these also to have been, Heb. xii. 17. The father is God, whom in this dispensation Isaac the father represented ; the elect, the us here, are Jacob or Israel, as frequently they are called ; whom God endues with all blessings in solido, at once makes over all to them alone, as their inheritance ; so as for the rest there is not anything left, but things earthly and carnal, which is the super
fluity and redundancy of that fulness bestowed on his own, and which they may well spare. Hast thou not reserved one blessing ? No, not one. God hath blessed us with all. Oh, infinite goodness and special grace
! With all. Even each saint with all. If with any one blessing, then with
all ; they hang together and go in a cluster. Whom he hath predestinated, them he hath called j whom he hath justified, them he hath glorified, and not one is wanting. If thou hast one grace, thou hast all, and all gracious privileges together therewith ; even all the things that belong to life and
godliness ; all the promises of this life and that to come.
EPH. I. 3.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 1
MEDITATION.
Christian ! see and rejoice in thy lot and portion. God himself hath but all things, and so hast thou.
Sit miser, qid miser esse potest, Let him be miserable that can be, for I cannot, may a believer say to all others in the world. For can that man be ever miserable that is blessed with aU blessings ? whereof, even to be thus blessed for ever must needs be one, or he hath not all; and to whom all things are turned into blessings, even the evils that befall thee. If men curse and revile thee, God will bless ; as David spake, when Shimei cursed him; and if men envy thee for good, this shall turn to thy salvation, as Phil. i. 19. If the devils spite thee, God will bless thee ; there is no witch craft against Israel. He turned Balaam s society and dealing with the devil to curse into a blessing. It is an observation which Nehemiah, chap. xiii. 2, makes upon that passage of Moses story
: Balak hired Balaam against thern^ that he should curse them ; howbeit our God turned the curse into a bless
ing. God, who was able and did make that strange change in our per sons, of cursed children to be men of blessedness, blessed with all blessings, can much more, as he doth, change and turn all things that befall us, though curses in themselves, into blessings unto us. That man cannot be miserable whom all passages whatever do call, yea make blessed, and who himself is called to nothing else but blessing ; and oh, if God thus turneth all things into heavenly blessings unto us, how engaged are we to be heavenly in all things towards him !
Spiritual blessings. This openeth the mystery of what was even now spoken of ; for why should such a limitation and confinement or eminent
designation rather be here specified ? Hath not godliness all other temporal earthly blessings entailed upon it ?
This is spoken in difference from the literal dispensation of the old cove
nant, (which notion doth still and will all along accompany us,) which ran in the letter, most in promises of blessings earthly and outward.
The Apostle Paul, in the third of the Galatians, treating of the blessings of Abraham, (or promised to Abraham, and in him to all nations, ver. 8, and now come upon them, ver. 14,) doth clearly in the 14th verse explain and declare it to be a spiritual blessing, or the promise of the Spirit : That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The latter words,
* that we might receive the promise of the Spirit, is a manifest
exegesis or explanation of those former words, that the blessing ofAbraham might come on the Gentiles, thereby explaining what manner or kind of
blessing that was which was intended to Abraham, and comes upon the Gentiles through Christ. It is the Spirit, which if taken of the Holy Ghost that is given us, the promise of the Spirit imports all spiritual blessings, as in the seed, the root, the fountain of them. To say we have the Spirit given us, or promised to us, is all one as to say that we have all spiritual things conveyed. He is the immediate author and effecter in us of all grace and
glory. And then what Christ in one Evangelist calleth giving of the Spirit to them that ask him, in another he termeth giving good things, that
is, the things which are truly good, which the Spirit brings with him, who
is the author of things spiritual, the best of blessings. But Calvin, and Pareus after him, commenting on those words, Gal. iii. 14, are bold to inter
pret the promise of the Spirit, the promise of spiritual things. He says not, say they, the Spirit of promise, but the promise of the Spirit/
52 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SERMON IV.
which I take, says he, for spiritual more Hebraico; he speaking in opposi
tion, says he, to things outward, and those words, through faith, confirm it.
That is, whereof faith is sensible and apprehensive, takes in, and receives,
as it doeth all spiritual things, and is a principle suited to them. And so
it is one and the same kind of blessing which comes on the Gentiles, who
had not the promise of Canaan, and upon the Jews, which is his scope :
that we Jews might receive, &c., as well as the Gentiles, and both the
same ; and also which Abraham himself received, who had not a foot of land in
Canaan, Acts vii. 5, and yet is said to have obtained, possessed, the pro
mise, Heb. vi. 15, And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained
the promise ; which obtaining the promise, or thing promised, is evidently
there spoken of as an actual enjoyment, or possession of it, after the making
of it; as the word obtained implies, and after patient waiting, and it is
the very promise of blessing, I will bless thee, ver. 15. The things or
blessings then promised to Abraham, consisted in things spiritual; and so
the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, were capable of them, even all of one and
the same blessing.
Thus, also, when Jacob was blessed by Isaac, and with so vast and great a difference put both in God s intention and Isaac s apprehension between him and that of Esau in his blessing of him, which Esau was also sensible
of; and yet if we read that whole legacy of blessings bequeathed to Jacob, we find none but outward and earthly in the letter spoken of, Gen. xxvii.
28, 29, God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee, and nations bow down
to thee ; be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother s sons bow down to
.thee. Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth
thee. Yea, if we compare herewith the blessing afterwards estated upon Esau, ver. 39, 40, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother ; and it shall come to pass, when thou shalt have
the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck ; this is, as
->to the point of earthly blessings, well-nigh as full a portion as that of Jacob
was, so as, if that the spiritual blessings promised in Christ, the blessed seed, had not been typically and mystically intended and signified by and under
those earthly unto Jacob, it could not have been collected by the Apostle from the story of it that Jacob inherited the blessing, and that Esau was
rejected, for all such earthly blessings he inherited as well as Jacob ; nor had
Isaac reason so bitterly to lament that he had, as it were, nothing left of
blessing to bestow upon Esau, What shall I do for thee, my son ? Nor could there be supposed any other ground why, notwithstanding the equality of these blessings for ought was visible, the difference between them should
yet be heldjip at so high a disproportion.
This, therefore, evidently argues that there was another sort of blessings, which were latent and hid, even a substantial, spiritual, invisible kind of
blessings for evermore, whereof these things were but the shadows, as that which put that difference. And so the Apostle expressly interprets it in the
fore-cited Heb. xii. 17, Ye know that afterward, when he would have in herited the blessing, he was rejected, or denied. Mark it, that which Jacob obtained is called the blessing, eminently such, or it was the blessing indeed, 1 Chron. iv. 10, which was in Jabez eye under all those veils ; the blessing, even life for evermore, as the Psalmist speaks by way of exposition, Ps. cxxxiii. 3. And, indeed, when Isaac afterwards with such vehemency doubles
it, I have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed/ Gen, xxvii. 33, this
EPH. I. 3.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 53
imports a blessing indeed to have been contained and involved in that
blessing ; and therein Isaac also shewed that the same blessing that was
promised to Abraham, which was spiritual, as I have shewn, was it that was made over by inheritance to Jacob. The words of Abraham s blessing have
the same emphatical duplication that we find in Jacob s, In blessing, I will
bless thee, Gen. xxii. 17. Further, the last words in that blessing of Jacob s,
ver. 29, which are left out in Esau s, manifestly refer to the blessing made
to Abraham, Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that
blesseth thee ; being part of the words that are used in Abraham s, Gen.
xii. 2, 3, I will make thee a blessing, and I will bless thee, and thou shalt
be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that
curse thee.
And in this like strain of outward blessings Moses afterwards goes on. Thus speaks the old covenant, Blessed art thou in thy store, blessed in
thy basket, in the field/ &c. And so on the contrary, the curses, Deut.
xxviii. throughout. Now, then, our Apostle comes, and, as became the
gospel, which is the new spiritual covenant established upon better promises, ehadowed forth by these, he overlooks all these things ; his eye being, as the
gospel intention is, not upon things that are seen, but at the things which
are not seen ; for the things which are seen are temporal, as all these are, but the things which are not seen are eternal; and therefore, instead of
things temporal and earthly, he writes and sets down spiritual and heavenly. Instead of Blessed art thou in the fields, write down, Blessed art thou in
the assemblies of the saints, under the enjoyment of spiritual ordinances and communion of saints. There the Lord commands, and, commanding, com
municates, the blessing, even life for evermore, Ps. cxxxiii. 3. Instead of
1 Blessed art thou in thy store, set down, Blessed are the rich in good works; and others accursed that are rich, and not towards God, as James and our
Saviour speak. And thus the gospel throughout carries it, and as if those kind of outward blessings had utterly now ceased, passeth them over as not worth the naming or the intention of those that live under the bare and naked discovery of spiritual and heavenly, as the Apostle sets them forth in
their native, real glory ; and thus Christ and his apostles carry it all along in their publications of the gospel, even as in his celebration of praise here. When the Apostle preached the gospel to the Jews, Acts iii, he pitcheth upon opening this very blessing of Abraham. Read the words, ver. 25. Arid how doth he expound it? It follows, ver. 26, Unto you first God,
having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning every one
of you from your iniquities. How low doth this fall in the expectations of a carnal Jew, whose eyes are veiled with the outward letter of promises earthly, to hear that Jesus the Messiah was sent to bless them in turning them from their iniquities
! They look for a kingdom in glory and pomp, to be brought with their Messiah ; and for him to turn them from iniquities is so poor, and low, and mean a
thing with them ; whereas, indeed, to be converted to God and turned from
iniquity is a greater blessing (spiritual) than if God should make every one
of you kings and rulers of worlds, and create variety and multiplicity of them for each of you ; for this is a spiritual and heavenly blessing. Peter,
therefore, mentions but this one for all the rest, to shew what a sort they are all of; as also, because this is the first and foundation of all other, and
all other the concomitants or consequents of this ; even as, in correspondency to this very speech of his, the same Apostle makes mention of regeneration, or being born again, in his first Epistle to the converted Jews, cast out, for
54 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SERMON IV.
their cleaving to the gospel, of their land given them to inherit, entitling it,
therefore, To the strangers, namely, Jews, (for the Gentile ^Christians there
were natives,) scattered throughout Asia; notwithstanding, (to comfort
their hearts,) Blessed be the God and Father of Christ, that hath begotten
you again, or turned them from their iniquities, to an inheritance immortal,
reserved in the heavens for you, better than Canaan ; and tkis is the bless
ing of Abraham.
Now, as Christ in another case, all the rest of gospel blessings are like to
this, spiritual all. If you will have David s description, says Paul, of the
blessedness of his blessed man he so often speaks of, Eom. iv., even as David describeth the blessedness of the man, &c., ver. 6, Blessed is the man whose sin is pardoned, ver. 7, out of Ps. xxxii. ; Blessed is the man
that is poor in spirit, meek, pure in heart, Matt. v. The blessedness, you
see, lies in and is made unto spiritual graces and dispositions of holiness. As also blessed is he that walks holily, he is blessed in his deed, James
i. 25; yea, blessed is he that endures temptation, ver. 12. And after this
account and rule are we now blessed under and by the gospel ; the gospel, not deigning so much as to mention any one earthly, carnal blessing as here,
slips them over, and takes no notice of them, as not worthy to come into
the catalogue of those more choice and divine blessings it makes promise of.
Yea, it professeth to all its followers, that in this life we are of all men most
miserable, the offscouring of the world ; which carnal men observing, will be
ready to say, as in another case our Apostle speaks, Where is the blessedness
1 ? It lies in a higher sort of things you wot not of, and there
you speak of
fore with the same breath pronounceth us most blessed when most miserable.
Blessed are you when men revile you, and persecute you, both say and do
all manner of evil against you, says our Saviour ; rejoice and be exceeding
glad, for as these are multiplied and enlarged, your treasures in those things, which are the real blessings, are increased, as it follows, for great is your reward in heaven : greater, as the proportions of your persecutions are. Which hath brought me to the next word :
I. In heavenly places, or things. The phrase in the original is barely ev eVoupai/iW,
< in the heavenlies, without this addition of either places or
things. And it is a speech proper to this epistle, and nowhere else used, and four or five times used therein ; and according as the context requires, we may add places or things, sometimes the one, sometimes the other ; and
perhaps in this place, which is so general and comprehensive, we may take in both, to fill up the Apostle s meaning
1. In heavenly places. So twice in this and the ensuing chapter. Speak ing of Christ, God hath set him at his right hand in heavenly, ver. 20 ; here places must be added ; the correspondency with the words set him calls for it. So likewise, chap. ii. 6, he speaketh the same of us in a con
formity to Christ our head, hath set us together in heavenly ; here places is to be added, as suited to setting. The like he speaks of the good angels, the inhabitants of the heavenly world, to whom we being thus advanced, we are made like unto ; as Christ says, chap. iii. 10, principalities and powers that are constituted and set in heavenly places. 2. In heavenly things. Thus, chap. vi. 12, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. It is translated high places in your margin. According to the Greek, it is in heavenlies, the same word that is here, and places is added, but not
genuinely, but things rather should there be supplied. For this being spoken
EPH. I. 3.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 55
concerning our contention with the devils, this passage, in heavenly, is not
an additional to note out the places wherein the devils are set, and have their
station, as of the good angels, chap. iii. 10, you hear it spoken. Their place is
designed and set out, chap. ii. 2, to be but the air or lower heavens. But the
word reacheth there higher, far higher than is the air. It is not lv ovpaviois,
simply in heavenly ; but in above -the -heavens, ez/ en-ovpai/tW, where
Christ also sits at the right hand of God, and we with him, as you heard,
iols, in supercelestial thrones, in the highest heavens. And as it must
not be thought that the devils came up to the heaven of heavens at any time since they fell from thence, for no unclean thing enters thereinto j much
less do they possess them for their place or station, which Jude, ver. 6, says
they kept not ; so it is hard to think that the Apostle using this phrase but
in this epistle only, and everywhere else of Christ and us and the good
angels, as advanced to heaven and the highest heavens, that in this one place
at last it should be taken of that air, the habitation and seat of devils, and
come in, too, but as a mere additional barely to express the place where
these are with whom we contend. That phrase therefore there used, eV
tTTovpaviots, refers to set out to us (the more to intend our spirits in this con
flict against them) the infinite moment and weight of the things themselves,
in or about which we are taken up or exercised in this our opposition against them ; even things supercelestial, and that are all purely heavenly, is the
matter of this strife, which they endeavour to spoil us of, and to cause us to
lose in. Of no less value (more precious than diamonds and rubies) are the
things that lie at the stake of this vying between them and us, which they
strive with us about, to keep us or beat us off from them, and through their
envy endeavouring to cause us to lose the things we may or have gained
herein. To which sense the particle eV, translated in, fitly and properly
serves, being often put for about or concerning, and denoting forth the direct
matter about which we are conversant. Blessed, says Christ, is he that is
not offended in me; that is, about or concerning me and my condition, as
noting out the stone of stumbling, occasion, and matter of the offence. This
for the phrase or speech itself ; whether of these or both are to be taken in
here, will appear in opening the thing itself.
II. The thing itself. And here more specially why in heavenly should
be added to spiritual, when these gospel blessings are spoken of ; and so
that all and every one of those blessings should be affirmed to be in heaven-
lies ; not some spiritual, and some heavenly, but all both spiritual and also
in heavenlies. That it is not a synonymous addition, as expressing the quality
of these blessings by two words that signify one and the same, is evident,
because he doth not say spiritual and, or, heavenly, but spiritual in heavenly. His scope must therefore be to carry our thoughts further than barely to
consider the spirituality of those blessings, (so to set a value on them,) but
further that they are heavenly also, and what heavenly import further than
spiritual, that comes also to be the question.
1. In a further and more plain distinction from the tenure of the blessings
promised in that old dispensation which in the letter, as they were in them
selves outward and fleshly, so in giving forth the promises of them it is still
added, in the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee, so before
their coming into Canaan ; or in the land which the Lord thy God hath
given thee, after ; as a land, partly from its own fertiffiy, as also by reason
of its situation and neighbourhood, flowing with all good blessings whatso
ever, more than any other land, which God, that views from heaven all the
plots and corners of earth below, is therefore said to have spied out for them,
5(J AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SERMON IV.
flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, as God by the
prophet speaks, Ezek. xx. 6. Now, the New Testament tells us that by this
in the promise was foresignified, and in the expectation of the patriarchs towhom the promise was made, understood and apprehended, another country.
< a better country, that is, a heavenly; and such a city or country, says Paul there, was the import of God s styling
They desired or expected, Heb. xi. 16,
himself in so vast a difference from other the sons of men, the God of
Abraham, &c. For God being so great a God, so full of blessedness in
himself would never have appropriated or bestowed himself in so near a
relation and style of being their God, their portion, and their inheritance,
upon so low and mean conditions, so far below himself, as to give them only
earthly things, and no other habitation than that one poor corner of the
earth, Canaan, although never so abounding with all good things.
God, says the Apostle, would have been ashamed to have been called their God upon such terms only ; as if that were all the great all-sufficient God,
that is possessor of heaven and earth, as Melchisedec said to Abraham, was
able to give, or had to bestow on them of whom he gloried to be called their
God, and owned them as his eminently beloved ones. God therefore had pre
pared for them another manner of city or country than Jerusalem or Canaan; even an heavenly, where his own throne and glory is ; and hath therefore
appointed to take them up to himself, and to pay forth and give to them all
good blessings in pure heavenlies ; which the Psalmist clearly intimates, when he says, Ps. cxv. 15, 16, Blessed are ye of the Lord who hath made
heaven and earth ; and accordingly hath given in common to all the chil
dren of men the earth, and the things therein, reserving heaven, which is his own peculiar habitation, to bestow upon these his blessedness, as it there fol
lows, The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord s, but the earth hath he given to the children of men ; and therefore the Jews Peter wrote to are, as was ob
served, comforted with this by that holy apostle, that they were begotten to an
inheritance reserved in the heaven for them, as in distinction from that given their fathers in Canaan, where the communication of God himself is so
worthy, so suitable to and like himself, as the Apostle is bold to say of it : Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city, namely this heavenly one, as he had termed it in the words
just afore, and so there is an answerable communication of himself and all
blessings given forth in heavenlies. And unto this notion will fitly suit
that supplied addition, places in heavenly places. In heavenly places, to make this intended opposition between these two
full and complete, that look as Canaan of old was the designed seat, the
place, the country, where all those fleshly outward blessings were enjoyed, and many of them grew, and so the promise thereof is made the additional unto all those promised blessings, (which is so frequently done throughout the Old Testament, as I need not quote any one testimony.) Now in like manner is heaven the eSpdiw/na, the city, where both all these spiritual blessr
ings have their full maturity and perfection, and is the place appointed to
enjoy them in ; where there is room and variety enough for all God s holy ones ; heavenly places, in the plural. Places enough, many mansions, John xiv. 1, &c. And in the meantime, till ye arrive there, those spiritual blessings we here partake in the firstfruits belong to, and come forth out of that country, all of them, where our conversation is said to be, even in this life, so far as we are made spiritual men. And in the type itself, when God did give forth the promise of bless
< God called to Abraham from heaven/ Gen. xxii.
ing to Abraham, it is said,
EPH. I. 3.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 57
15-17, whereas lie conferred with Adam but on earth, signifying that place from whence that blessing was to come, and in which to be enjoyed. Even
as, in the like mystical intendment, heaven is said to have opened, when
that voice came to Christ at his baptism, This is my well-beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, Matt. iii. 17, as from whence that blessed seed, in whom all are blessed, was to come, Christ the Lord from heaven, 1 Cor.
xv. 47, and so he to raise us to the same state and place. 2. In heavenlies, was added to spiritual, in a further distinction yet of the
blessings wherewith in Christ we are blessed, from those wherewith in Adam
in our first creation we and all his posterity were blessed of God ; for blessed we are in him, as you read, Gen. i. 27, 28. Adam being made, as there, ver. 26, according to the image of God, which was the foundation of that
charter of blessing him and his posterity, he was in that respect a spiritual man, for such is the image of God ; his graces were all spiritual, and his life and communion with God was spiritual; and so of him it might be said, that he was blessed with spiritual blessings, as well as in those earthly, and
so in respect thereof we in him, that were to come of him, being all to
receive the same spiritual image from him ; but yet still he, and so we in
him, but blessed with all these as a man that was to live on earth only, and
to enjoy God, though in a spiritual way, yet but as flesh and blood can in an
earthly condition be capable of, which, whilst remaining such, cannot see or
enjoy God, as in heaven he is to be seen or enjoyed, and live.
For Adam when in his best condition was but flesh and blood, and an
earthly man, as he is termed in distinction from Christ, 1 Cor. xv. 47. And such as that earthly man was, such should we that are of him that was
of earthly generation have been, and neither he nor we advanced higher, ver. 48. But our Lord Christ being the Lord from heaven, ver. 47, a
heavenly man, ver. 48, therefore we being blessed in and together with him, we are blessed in heavenly things, or with heavenly blessings, and raised up to heavenly places with him ; for as is the heavenly man Christ, such are
(and is the condition) of those in him ; even heavenly as himself is. Heaven
is his native country, he is the Lord of it ; and we being married to him, and he our Lord in that respect, as was said, the spouse must be where the husband is, and partake of the same good things which he is partaker of, and therefore he takes us, and carries us to his own home, to his Father s
house, which being heaven, we thereby come to be blessed in Christ with all
heavenly blessings, and not spiritual only, which Adam in his primitive condition was.
And this notion will fitly bring in that other supplement which interpre ters have added, in heavenly things, as that other took into itself in
heavenly places. All the graces we have are not only spiritual, to fit us for communion with God as on earth, but they are preparations, and making us more fit for the inheritance in light, to see God face to face. And they all tend to lead us in the way to heaven, and to bring us to heaven at last ; and have all the promises of things heavenly annexed to and entailed upon them.