there arofe a new Relation between the Redeemer and the redeemed, and the Duty and Worship and Honour, which flow from that Relation, are immediately owing to Christ Jefus.

Thus Chrift, having perfected the Redemption of the World, was by the Father made Lord of all Things: All Things were put in Subjection under him, and the Head of every Man is Chrift: We are no longer our own, but Chrift's, being bought with a Price, even with the precious Blood of the Son of God. This is the Scripture Account of the Matter, almost in Scripture Words: And you fee here is no Room to fpeculate about Nature or Effence, or to fuppose that Chrift, before his Exaltation, was lefs honourable, as to his Nature and Effence; any more than there is Room to fuppofe that God was lefs honourable, as to his Nature, before the Creation, because at the Creation the Sons of God fung together for Joy, and paid new Honours and Adorations to the great Creator.

Having, I hope, removed this Difficulty, I fhall proceed to confider the Doctrine of the Text, in the following Method:

First, That the Power and Authority exercifed by Chrift Jefus, in and over the

Church

Church of God, are derived from this Exaltation: And consequently,

Secondly, That the Honour and Worship paid to Christ, in and by the Church of God, are founded in this Exaltation.

Thirdly, That the Power and Authority exercised by Chrift, and the Honour and Worship paid to Chrift, are, and ought to be, ultimately referred to the Glory of God the Father.

These Propofitions are fo tained in the Words of the

evidently con

Text, as to be

fubject to no Doubt in the Explication: But it may be of Service to fhew that the Doctrine is agreeable to, and is confirmed by the whole Tenor of Scripture.

First, I am to fhew you, That all Power and Authority, exercised by Christ Jesus, in and over the Church of God, are derived from this Exaltation.

And the first Authority which I fhall produce, in confirmation of this Propofition, is a very great one, even that of our blessed Lord himself; who, after his Resurrection, and not long before his Afcenfion, appeared to his Disciples, and gave them a folemn Commiffion to teach and baptize in his Name: But, before he gave them Com

miffions,

miffions, he did, as it were, open his own; which was the Foundation of theirs: Al Power, fays he, is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth: Go ye, therefore, and teach all Nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghoft, teaching them to obferve all Things whatsoever I command you; and lo, I am with you alway even unto the End of the World. Matt. xxviii. 18, 19, 20. In this Place you hear our Saviour declaring all Power and Authority to be given him at his Refurrection; in con fequence of which Power he commiffions his Disciples to convert, baptize, and instruct the World. There is no Doubt but this Power is Part of the Exaltation which St. Paul fpeaks of in the Text, to which God raised Chrift for his Sufferings: You fee likewife, that the Powers delegated to the Minifters of the Church derive themselves from this Power fo received; and, confequently, all Acts done by them in the Name of Chrift, are founded in the Power which he received at his Refurrection.

St. Paul, in his Epiftle to the Romans, c. i. v. 4. exprefly tells us, that Christ was declared to be the Son of God with Power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the Refurrection from

the

the Dead. God had before, at his Baptifm, and at his Transfiguration on the Mount, declared him to be his well-beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased; but at his Resurrection he was declared not only to be his Son, but to be his Son with Power. If you look forward to the fourteenth Chapter of this Epiftle, you will find the Apostle's Senfe of this Matter very fully and clearly expreffed; For to this End Chrift both died, and rofe, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living: So that the Power over all Things, the Dominion both of the Dead and the Living, commenced at the Refurrection, which was indeed the very first Step to Glory and Honour, which our bleffed Saviour took after his State of Humiliation and Sufferings: For though according to our Conceptions his Pains and Sufferings ended on the Crofs, yet in the Grave there is neither Honour nor Glory: In his Refurrection he first and truly appeared to be himself, to be the Lord of Life and Glory.

In his Epiftle to the Coloffians, towards the middle of the first Chapter, St. Paul fpeaks largely of the Ferfon of Jefus Chrift: He represents to them his great Dignity and

Glory,

Glory, by fetting before them the Part which he bore in the Creation of all Things, and likewise the Authority and Power to which his Father raised him, and which he now exercises as Head of the Body, the Church. And this Place is the better worth your Attention, because the Apostle does not only distinguish between the Power by which Chrift created all Things, and the Power by which he governs all Things as Head of the Body, the Church; but he has likewise distinguished and marked out to us the different Sources and Originals, from whence these two Powers flow. In the 15th Verse he thus fpeaks of Jesus Christ: Who is the Image of the invifible God, the First-born of every Creature: All Things were created by him, and for him; and he is before all Things, and by him all Things confift. With respect to this great Work of the Creation, you fee, St. Paul confiders him as being before all Things, as being the Image of the invifible God, the First-born of every Creature: Immediately the Apostle adds, And he is Head of the Body, the Church; who is the Beginning, the Firft-born from the Dead. This furely is a very different Beginning from that which he mentioned before; and yet