2. Sometimes that is spoken of the person which belongs not dis- tinctly and originally unto either nature, but doth belong unto him on the account of their union in him, — which are the most direct enun-
THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST. 235
ciations concerning the person of Christ. So is he said to be the Head, the King, Priest, and Prophet of the church ; all whicli offices he bears, and performs the acts of them, not on the singular account of this or that nature, but of the hypostatical union of them both.
S. Sometimes his person being denominated from one nature, the properties and acts of the other are assigned unto it. So they " crucified the Lord of glory." He is the Lord of glory on the account of his divine nature only ; thence is his person denominated when he is said to be crucified, which was in the human nature only. So God purchased his church " with his own blood," Acts xx. 28. The deno- mination of the person is from the divine nature only — he is God; but the act ascribed unto it, or what he did by his o^vn blood, was of the human nature only. But the purchase that Avas made thereby was the v/ork of the person as both God and man. So, on the other side, " The Son of man who is in heaven," John iii. 13. The deno- mination of the person is from the human nature only, — " The Son of man." That ascribed unto it was vnth respect unto the divine nature only, — " who is in heaven."
4. Sometimes the person being denominated from one nature, that is ascribed unto it which is common unto both; or else being denominated from both, that which is proper unto one only is ascribed unto him. See Eom. ix. 5 ; Matt. xxii. 42.
These kinds of enunciations the ancients expressed by haWayri, "alteration;" aWoiuiotg, "permutation;" Mmrrig, "communion;" rpo- 'Tog dvridoffsug, "the manner of mutual position;" xoivmla idioj/xdruv, " the communication of properties," and other the like expressions.
These things I have only mentioned, because they are commonly handled by others in their didactical and polemical discourses con- cerning the person of Christ, and could not well be here utteily omitted.
CHAPTER XIX.
The Exaltation of Christ, with his Present State and Condition in Glory during the Continuance of his Mediatory Office.
The apostle, describing the great mystery of godliness — '' God manifest in the flesh" — ^by several degrees of ascent, he cameth it within the veil, and leaves it there in glory — dvsXyi^dr] h d6t,fi, 1 Tim. iii. 16; God was manifest in the flesh, and " received up into glory." This assumption of our Lord Jesus Christ into glory, or his glorious reception in heaven, with his state and condition therein, is a princi- pal article of the faith of the church, — the great foundation of its hope and consolation in this world. This, also, we must therefore
236 THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
consider in our meditations on the person of Christ, and the use of it in our rehgion.
That which I especially intend herein is his present state in heaven, in the discharge of his mediatory office, before the consummation of all things. Hereon doth the glory of God, and the especial concern- ment of the church, at present depend. For, at the end of this dis- pensation, he shall give up the kingdom unto God, even the Father, or cease from the administration of his mediatory office and power, as the apostle declares, 1 Cor. xv. 24-28, " Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith. All things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all."
All things fell by sin into an enmity unto the glory of God and the salvation of the church. The removal of this enmity, and the destruc- tion of all enemies, is the work that God committed unto his Son in his incarnation and mediation, Eph. i. 10. This he was variously to accomplish in the administration of all his offices. The enmity be- tween God and us immediately, he removed by the blood of his cross, whereby he made peace, Eph. ii. 14-16; which peace he contmues and preserves by his intercession, Heb. vii. 25; 1 John ii. 1. The enemies themselves of the church's eternal welfare — namely, sin, death, the world, Satan, and hell — he subdues by his power. In the gradual accomplishment of this work — according as the church of the elect is brought forth in successive generations (in every one whereof the same work is to be perfoiTaed) — he is to continue unto the end and consummation of all things. Until then the whole church will not be saved, and therefore his work not be finished. He mil not cease his work whilst there is one of his elect to be saved, or one enemy to be subdued. He shall not faint nor give over until he hath sent forth judgment unto victory.