creator of all. The Socinians add that the words are used in the abstract, "principalities and powers," and therefore their dignities, not their persons, are here intended. But, (1.) "All things created, in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible," are the substances and essences of things themselves, and not their qualities and places only. (2.) The distribution into "thrones and dominions, principalities and powers," respects only the last branch of things affirmed to be created by him, namely, "things in heaven,-invisible;" so that if it should be granted that he made or created them only as to their dignity, order, and power, yet they obtain not their purpose, since the creation of all other things, as to their being and subsistence, is ascribed unto him. But, (3.) The use of the abstract for the concrete is not unusual in Scripture. See Eph. vi. 12, πvevμarıná for πνεύματα. Thus ἡγεμόνας καὶ βασιλεῖς, “ rulers and kings,” Matt. x. 18, are termed ȧpxai xai i§ovoías, "principalities and powers," Luke xii. 11. And in this particular, those who are here " principalities and powers" are "angels great in power," 2 Pet. ii. 11. And Eph. i. 20, 21, he is exalted ὑπεράνω πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας καὶ δυνάμews xai xupióτntos,—that is, above all vested with principality and power," as the next words evince, "and every name that is named." So Jude tells us of some of whom he says, Κυριότητος καταφρονοῦντες, δίξας οὐ τρέμουσι βλασφημοῦντες· κυριότητα ἀθετοῦσι, δόξας βλασφημοῦσι "They despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities;" that is, those vested with them. And Paul, Rom. viii. 38, 39, "I am persuaded that neither angels,” οὔτε ἀρχαι, οὔτε δυνάμεις, " nor principalities, nor powers;" ours ris xríos irépa, "nor any other creature." οὔτε κτίσις So that these principalities and powers are xrious, certain "creatures," created things and subsistences, that is the angels, variously differenced amongst themselves; in respect of us, great in power and dignity.

This is the first foundation of the equity of this grant of all power over the angels unto the Lord Christ: in his divine nature he made them; and in that respect they were before his own; as on the same account, when he came into the world, he is said to come siç rà ïdia, John i. 11, "to his own," or the things that he had made.

2. It is founded in that establishment in the condition of their creation, which by his interposition to recover what was lost by sin, and to preserve the untainted part of the creation from ruin, they did receive. In their own right, the rule of their obedience, and the example of those of their number and society who apostatized from God, they found themselves in a state not absolutely impregnable. Their confirmation,-which also was attended with that exaltation which they received by their new relation unto God in and through him, they received by his means, God gathering up all things to a consistency and permanency in him, Eph. i. 10. And hence also it became equal that the rule and power over them should be com

mitted unto him, by whom, although they were not, like us, recovered from ruin, yet they were preserved from all danger of it. So that in their subjection unto him consists their principal honour and all their safety.

And as this act of God, in appointing Christ Lord of angels, hath these equitable foundations, so it hath also sundry glorious ends:

1. It was as an addition unto that glory that was set before him in his undertaking to redeem sinners. A kingdom was of old promised unto him; and to render it exceedingly glorious, the rule and sceptre of it is extended, not only to his redeemed ones, but to the holy angels also, and the sovereignty over them is granted him as a part of his reward, Phil. ii. 8-11; Eph. i. 20, 21.

2. God hereby gathers up his whole family,—at first distinguished by the law of their creation into two especial kinds, and then differenced and set at variance by sin,-into one body under one head, reducing them that originally were twain into one entire family: Eph. i. 10, "In the fulness of times he gathered together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him," as was before declared. Before this the angels had no immediate created head; for themselves are called D, "gods," Ps. xcvii. 7; 1 Cor. viii. 5. Whoever is the head must be [Deut. x. 17], the "God of gods," or " Lord of lords,❞—which Christ alone is; and in him, or under him as a head, is the whole family of God united.

3. The church of mankind militant on the earth, whose conduct unto eternal glory is committed unto Christ, stands in need of the ministry of angels. And therefore hath God granted rule and power over them unto him, that nothing might be wanting to enable him "to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." So God hath given him to be "head over all things to the church," Eph. i. 22; that he should, with an absolute sovereignty, use and dispose of all things to the benefit and advantage of the church.

This is the first branch of the lordship and dominion of Christ, according to the distribution of the severals of it before laid down. He is Lord of angels, and they are all of them his servants, the fellow-servants of them that have the testimony of Jesus. And as some men do wilfully cast themselves, by their religious adoration of angels, under the curse of Canaan, to be servants unto servants, Gen. ix. 25; so it is the great honour and privilege of true believers, that in their worship of Christ they are admitted into the society of "an innumerable company of angels," Heb. xii. 22, Rev. v. 11-13: for they are not ashamed to esteem them their fellow-servants whom their Lord and King is not ashamed to call his brethren. And herein consists our communion with them, that we have one common Head and Lord; and any intercourse with them, but only on this account, or any worship performed towards them, breaks the bond of that

communion, and causeth us not to "hold the Head," Col. ii. 19. The privilege, the safety, and advantage of the church, from this subjection of angels to its Head and Saviour, are by many spoken unto.

Secondly, There is another sort of angels, who by sin left their primitive station, and fell off from God; of whom, their sin, fall, malice, wrath, business, craft in evil, and final judgment, the Scripture treateth at large. These belong not, indeed, to the possession of Christ as he is the heir, but they belong unto his dominion as he is Lord. Though he be not a king and head unto them, yet he is a judge and ruler over them. All things being given into his hand, they also are subjected unto his power. Now, as under the former head, I shall consider,-1. The right or equity, and, 2. The end of this authority of Christ over this second sort of the first race of intellectual creatures, the angels that have sinned.

1. As before, this right is founded in his divine nature, by virtue whereof he is ixavós, fit for this dominion. He made these angels also, and therefore, as God, hath an absolute dominion over them. The creatures cannot cast off the dominion of the Creator by rebellion. Though they may lose their moral relation unto God, as obedient creatures, yet their natural, as creatures, cannot be dissolved. God will be God still, be his creatures never so wicked; and if they obey not his will, they shall bear his justice. And this dominion of Christ over fallen angels as God, makes the grant of rule over them to him as mediator just and equal.

2. The immediate and peculiar foundation of his right unto rule over fallen angels, rendering the special grant of it equal and righteous, is lawful conquest. This gives a special right, Gen. xlviii. 22. Now, that Christ should conquer fallen angels was promised from the foundation of the world, Gen. iii. 15. "The seed of the woman," the Messiah, was to "break the serpent's head,"-despoil him of his power, and bring him into subjection; which he performed accordingly: Col. ii. 15, " He spoiled principalities and powers,"-divested fallen angels of all that title they had got to the world, by the sin of man; "triumphing over them," as captives to be disposed of at his pleasure. He "stilled," or made to cease as to his power, this "enemy,' Dpn, and "self-avenger," Ps. viii. 2; "leading captivity captive," Ps. lxviii. 18; "breaking in pieces the head over the large earth," Ps. cx. 6; "binding the strong man armed, and spoiling his goods." And the Scripture of the New Testament is full of instances as to his executing his power and authority over evil angels; they take up a good part of the historical books of it.

Man having sinned by the instigation of Satan, he was, by the just judgment of God, delivered up unto his power, Heb. ii. 14. The Lord Christ undertaking to recover lost man from under his power by destroying his works, 1 John iii. 8, and to bring them again into

favour with God, Satan with all his might sets himself to oppose him in his work; and failing in his enterprise, being utterly conquered, he became absolutely subjected unto him, trodden under his feet, and the prey he had taken was delivered from him.

This is the next foundation of the authority of Christ over the evil angels. He had a great contest and war with them, and that about the glory of God, his own kingdom, and the eternal salvation of the elect. Prevailing absolutely against them, he made a conquest over them, and they are put into subjection unto him for ever. They are subjected unto him as to their present actings and future condition. He now rules them, and will hereafter finally judge them. Wherein he suffers them, in his holiness and wisdom, to act in temptations, seductions, persecutions, he bounds and limits their rage, malice, actings; orders and disposes the events of them to his own holy and righteous ends; and keeps them under chains for the judgment of the last day, when, for the full manifestation of his dominion over them, he will cause the meanest of his servants to set their feet on the necks of these conquered kings, and to join with himself in sentencing them unto eternal ruin, 1 Cor. vi. 3; which they shall be cast into by him, Rev. xix. 20:

3. The ends of this lordship of Christ are various; as,-(1.) His own glory, Ps. cx. 1. (2.) The church's safety, Matt. xvi. 18; Rev. xii. 7-9. And, (3.) Exercise for their good,-[1.] By temptation, 1 Pet. v. 8-10; and, [2] Persecution, Rev. ii. 10, xii. 10; both which he directs, regulates, and bounds, unto their eternal advantage. (4.) The exercising of his wrath and vengeance upon his stubborn enemies, whom these slaves and vassals to his righteous power seduce, blind, harden, provoke, ruin and destroy, Rev. xii. 15, xvi. 13, 14; Ps. cvi. And how much of the peace, safety, and consolation of believers, lies wrapped up in this part of the dominion of Christ were easy to demonstrate; as also, that faith's improvement of it, in every condition, is the greatest part of our wisdom in our pilgrimage.

II. All mankind (the second sort of intellectual creatures or rational subsistences) belong to the lordship and dominion of Christ. All mankind was in the power of God as one púpaμa, one mass," or "lump," out of which all individuals are made and framed, Rom. ix. 21, some to honour, some to dishonour; the rò avrò púpaμa not denoting the same substance, but one common condition. And the making of the individuals is not by temporal creation, but eternal designation. So that all mankind, made out of nothing and out of the same condition, destined to several ends, for the glory of God, are branched into two sorts;-elect, or vessels from the common mass unto honour; and reprobates, or vessels from the common mass unto dishonour As such they were typed by Jacob and Esau, Rom. ix. 11-13; and are expressed under that distribution, 1 Thess. v. 9.

Some ar aps, "from the beginning," being "chosen to salvation," 2 Thess. ii. 13; pò xaraboλns xóoμou, Eph. i. 4, "before the foundation of the world;" Rom. viii. 29, xi. 5; Matt. xx. 16; 2 Tim. ii. 10; Rev. xxi. 27;-others are appointed to the day of evil, Prov. xvi. 4; παλαὶ προγεγραμμένοι, “of old ordained to condemnation,” Jude 4; εἰς ärworv xai plopáv, "for to be destroyed," 2 Pet. ii. 12. See Rom. ix. 22, xi. 7; Rev. xx. 15.

Both these sorts, or all mankind, is the lordship of Christ extended to, and to each of them respectively:

He is Lord over all flesh, John xvii. 2; both living and dead, Rom. xiv. 9; Phil. ii. 9, 10.

First, Particularly, he is Lord over all the elect. And besides the general foundation of the equity of his authority and power in his divine nature and creation of all things, the grant of the Father unto him, as mediator, to be their Lord is founded in other especial acts both of Father and Son; for,

1. They were given unto him from eternity, in design and by compact, that they should be his peculiar portion, and he their Saviour, John xvii. 2. Of the άons opnós, "all flesh," over which he hath authority, there is a ¬ãv ö didwns, a universality of them whom the Father gave him, in an especial manner; of whom he says, "Thine they were, and thou gavest them me," verse 6; Acts xviii. 10. They are a portion given him to save, John vi. 39; of which he takes the care, as Jacob did of the sheep of Laban, when he served him for a wife, Gen. xxxi. 36-40. See Prov. viii. 31. This was an act of the will of the Father in the eternal covenant of the mediator; whereof elsewhere.

2. His grant is strengthened by redemption, purchase, and acquisition. This was the condition of the former grant, Isa. liii. 10-12, which was made good by him; so that his lordship is frequently asserted on this very account, 1 Cor. vi. 20; 1 Pet. i. 18, 19; 1 Tim. ii. 6; John x. 15; Eph. v. 25-27; Rev. v. 9; John xi. 51, 52. And this purchase of Christ is peculiar to them so given him of the Father in the covenant of the mediator; as,-(1.) Proceeding from his especial and greatest love, John xv. 13; Rom. v. 8; 1 John iii. 16, iv. 9, 10; Acts xx. 28; Rom. viii. 32: and,-(2.) Being accompanied with a purchase for them which they shall certainly enjoy, and that of grace and glory, Acts xx. 28; Eph. i. 14; Phil. i. 28; Heb. ix. 12, 15. And, indeed, the controversy about the death of Christ is not primarily about its extent, but its efficacy and fruits in respect of them for whom he died.

3. Those thus given him of the Father and redeemed by him are of two sorts:-(1.) Such as are actually called to faith in him. and union with him. These are further become his upon many other especial accounts. They are his in all relations of subjection,