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XXII.

abstractively consider him, either as the Son of God, SERM. or as the Son of man, or as Oeáveрwnos, (jointly God and man, united in one person,) as Jesus our Saviour, as the Christ of God, he is our Lord.

If we examine all imaginable foundations of just dominion, eminence in nature and power, the collation of being or preservation thereof, donation, conquest, purchase, merit, voluntary compact; upon all these he hath a right of lordship over us duly grounded.

I. He is, I say, first, our Lord according to every notion and acception of the word Lord.

He is our Prince and Governor, we are his subjects and vassals; for to him it was said, Thy throne, O Heb. i. 8. God, is for ever and ever; the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Of him it was prophesied, that the government should be upon his shoulder, Is. ix. 6, 7. and that of the increase of his government and peace there should be no end; he is the King of Israel, or of the church, who, as the angel told the blessed Virgin, shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever and ever. God hath given him head over all things to the church. So is he a Prince most Luke i. 33. absolute, endued with sovereign right and power, 1 Cor. xv. crowned with glorious majesty, enjoying all pre-27. eminences, and exercising all acts suitable to regal dignity, in respect to all things, and particularly in regard to us.

Eph. i. 22.

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He also is our Master, and we are his servants; 1 Tim. iii. the church is a house and family, whereof he is the oikodeσtóτns, or householder; If, saith he, they have Matt. xxiv. called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much 45. X. 25. more those of his household? (Toùs oikiakoùs autoũ, famulos ejus, his domestics, or menial servants.)

SERM. All the family in heaven and earth are named of XXII. him, saith St. Paul; that is, the whole church (both Eph. iii. 15. triumphant above in heaven, and militant here on

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Col. iv. 1.

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earth) is his family, or called the family of him, as of Heb. iii. 6. its Lord. Christ, saith the Apostle to the Hebrews, is as a son over his house, whose house are we: 1 Cor. vii. He that is called free is a servant of Christ: and, Col. iii. 24. We serve the Lord Christ: and, We have a MasEph. vi. 9. ter in heaven, saith St. Paul: Blessed, saith our Matt. xxiv. Lord himself, is that servant, whom his Lord coming shall find so doing; that is, whom Christ, our Lord, coming to judgment, shall find discharging his duty faithfully. He indeed as a good Master governeth, ordereth, and maintaineth his family well; furnisheth and feedeth it with all necessary provisions; protecteth it from all want and all mis1 Cor. iii. 8. chief; appointeth to every one therein, his due work Rev. xxii. and service, and payeth to each his due wages and

Luke vi. 35.

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He is also our Owner, or the Possessor and Pro2 Pet. ii. 1. prietary of us; The Lord that bought us, as St. Peter calls him; and consequently, who possesseth 1 Cor. vi. and enjoyeth us. We are not our own, saith St. 19, 20. vii. Paul; for we were bought with a price: whence we are become entirely subject to his disposal.

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He likewise is our Preceptor, or Teacher; that is, the Lord of our understanding, which is subject to the belief of his dictates; and the Lord of our practice, which is to be directed by his precepts. John xiii. Ye, saith he, call me Master, and Lord, (didáσkaλov, Kai KúρLOV, Doctor and Lord,) and ye say well, for Matt. xxiii.so I am: and, Be ye not called masters, (kalnyntai, guides in doctrine,) for one is your Master, even 2 Cor. x. 5. Christ: and, Every thought of ours, saith St. Paul,

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is to be captivated to the obedience of Christ. SERM. Such, as infallibly wise, and perfectly veracious, he necessarily is unto us; such he is, as sent on pur- John i. pose by God to enlighten our minds with the knowledge of heavenly truth, and to guide our feet into Luke i. 79. the ways of peace; whence we cannot but be obliged to embrace his doctrine, and to observe the rules which he prescribeth us.

Heb. xii. 2.

Acts iii. 15.

v. 31.

1Pet. ii. 25.

v. 4.

He is therefore also our Captain and Leader; whose orders we must observe, whose conduct we should follow, whose pattern we are to regard and imitate in all things: he is styled άpxnyos míoτews, 1 Pet. ii. 21. the Captain of our faith; apxny's Cwns, the Cap-ii. 10. tain of our life; ȧpxnyos σwτnpías, the Captain of our salvation; άpxíμny, our chief Shepherd, the Apostle, and High Priest of our profession; Heb. iii. 1. the Bishop of our souls. In fine, he, according to what St. Paul says, e nãσ прwтevel, hath in all things the primacy and preeminence; so that according to all notions and senses of lordship he is our Lord; but chiefly he is meant such in the principal sense, as having an absolute right and power to command and govern us.

II. Christ is also our Lord according to every capacity or respect of nature or office, that we can consider appertaining to him.

1. He is our Lord as by nature the Son of God, partaking of the divine essence and perfections: he as such being endued with eminence superlative and with power irresistible; as such having created all things, and upholding all things; whence all things necessarily and justly are subject to his order and disposal; all things according to all right and reason are to be governed, possessed, and used according to

Col. i. 18.

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SERM. his pleasure. Hence is that most august and most peculiar name, JEHOVAH, (denoting either independency and indefectibility of subsistence, or uncontrollable and infallible efficacy in operation, or both of them together; which therefore is by the Greek interpreters fitly rendered Kúpios, and after them Lord by our translators; for the word Kúpe doth signify to subsist, and kúpos is used to denote efficacy, ratification, steadfast power or authority) asJer. xxiii.6. signed to him; This is his name whereby he shall be called, JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSHos. i. 7. NESS, saith Jeremiah of him: and, I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by Jehovah their God, saith God in Hosea concerning the salvation accomplished by him and in the prophet Zechariah he thus speaks of himself; Zech. x.12. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for, lo, I Jehova. come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and Gen. xix. thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent apud Iren. me unto thee: where it is said that Jehovah, being

Jehovah à

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iii. 6.

sent by Jehovah, should come and dwell in the church, enlarged by accession of the Gentiles: who can that be, but our Lord Christ, who dwelt among us, and was by God his Father sent unto us? And what in the Old Testament is spoken of Jehovah is by infallible expositors in the New attributed to our Isa. viii. 13, Lord; Sanctify Jehovah Sabaoth, and he shall be for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence;

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so did Isaiah speak; and his words are by St. Peter 1 Pet. ii. 7. and by St. Paul applied to Christ. Whosoever shall Rom.ix. 33. call upon the name of Jehovah shall be delivered; Joel ii. 32. so did the prophet Joel foretell concerning the latter days; and St. Paul accommodates it to the salvation

Rom. x. 9,

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obtained by confessing the name of Christ. In Ma

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Matt. iii. 3.

John i. 23.

lachi, Jehovah saith, that he would send his mes- SERM. senger to prepare his way before him; this, according to the Evangelists' interpretation, was veri- Mal. iii. 1. fied in St. John the Baptist's preparing the way Mark i. 2,3. before our Saviour. Likewise, what Isaiah said, Luke vii. The voice of him that cried in the wilderness, Pre-27. iii. 4. pare the way of Jehovah, is by all the Evangelists applied to the Baptist, as the voice crying, and to our Saviour, as the Lord coming: Christ therefore is the Lord Jehovah, independent and immutable in essence and in power.

Matt. xxii.

The word Adon also, which more immediately and properly doth signify dominion, (and which put absolutely doth belong to God,) is plainly attributed to our Saviour. The Lord (Jehovah) said to my Ps. cx. 1. Lord (le Adonai;) that is, God the Father to Christ 43. the Son, yet Lord of David, as our Saviour himself expounds it. And, The Lord (ha Adon) shall Mal. iii. 1. come to his temple; so in Malachi it is prophesied concerning the coming of Christ. According to this notion was it, that St. Thomas, being by our Saviour's resurrection convinced of his divinity, cried out, My God, and my Lord: in this sense it was, that John xx. 28. St. Peter called our Saviour Lord, when he ascribed omniscience to him, saying, Lord, thou knowest all John xxi. things, thou knowest that I love thee. Upon this account, St. John the Baptist said, He that cometh John iii. 31. from above is above all things, which St. Paul expresseth thus; The second man is the Lord from 1 Cor. xv. heaven. So is Christ, as he is God, our Lord.

2. He is also our Lord as man, by the voluntary appointment and free donation of God his Father; in regard to the excellency of his Person, and to the merit of his performances. God did by gift and de

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