to act. For now God and man being made completely one, the office of a mediator ceases of its own accord; for a mediator is not a mediator of one, Gal. iii. 20. and therefore the two parties being perfectly united, there is no farther use of a mediator between them. Wherefore as our beatific vision will supersede the necessity of his prophetic office to teach and instruct us, as our perfection and entire fruition will supersede the necessity of his priestly office to offer and intercede for us, so the security of our possession of both will supersede the necessity of his kingly office to protect and defend us; and therefore, when our affairs are once reduced to this happy issue, his kingly office, as well as all other parts of his mediatorship, will for ever cease. But since this great mystery is nowhere expressly delivered in scripture, but only in that fore-cited 1 Cor. xv. I shall endeavour to give a brief account of the whole passage, which lies in ver. 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 all power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. that shall be destroyed is death. 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 which did put all things under him, that God may be all in all. The whole sense and meaning of which passage I shall cast into these propositions:

The last enemy For he hath put

First, That the kingdom or dominion here spoken of was committed to him by God the Father.

Secondly, That he is to possess this kingdom and dominion so long and no longer, as till all things are actually subdued to him.

Thirdly, That during his possession of it he is subject to the Father.

Fourthly, That after his delivering it up to the Father, he will be otherwise subject to him than he is now.

Fifthly, That he being thus subjected to the Father, all power and dominion shall from thenceforth be immediately exercised by the Deity.

I. That the kingdom or dominion here spoken of was committed to him by God the Father; and this is expressly affirmed, ver. 27. For he (i. e. the Father) hath put all things under his feet; which words are a quotation of Psalm viii. 6. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: which words are to be understood literally of the first Adam, but mystically of the second; as is evident not only because it is here applied to Christ by St. Paul, but also by the author to the Hebrews, Heb. ii. 7, 8. where he expressly tells us, that it was God the Father that crowned Christ with glory and honour, and that did set him over the works of his hands, and put all things in subjection under his feet; and accordingly our Saviour himself declares, that all power in heaven and earth was given him, i. e. by the Father, and that it was the Father that committed all judgment to him; and the apostle expressly tells us, that it was God that exalted him with his own right hand to be a Prince

and a Saviour, Acts v. 31. From all which it is evident, that the dominion which the apostle here treats of is not the essential dominion of Christ, which, as he is God essential, is coeternal without him; but that mediatorial dominion which was committed to him by the voluntary disposal of his Father, and which once he had not, and will hereafter cease to have.

II. That he is to possess this kingdom or dominion so long as, and no longer than till all things are actually subdued unto him. So, ver. 24. you see the time of his delivering up this kingdom is then, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power; i. e. till he shall have converted and destroyed all those powers of the earth that oppose themselves against him; for so ver. 25, 26. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Which plainly implies, that when he hath conquered all enemies, and destroyed death, which is the last enemy, by giving a glorious resurrection to his faithful subjects, then, and not till then, his mediatorial reign is to conclude: for so, Psalm cx. 1. to which the apostle here refers, the Psalmist brings in Jehovah the Father, thus bespeaking Jehovah the Son, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Now to sit at the right hand of God, whenever it is applied to our Saviour, doth in scripture always denote his possessing and exercising this his mediatorial kingdom; so that the meaning of the Psalmist is this; The Father hath commissioned his Son to continue the exercise of his mediatorial dominion, till such time as either

by the dint of his almighty vengeance he hath trampled all his enemies under foot, or by the power of his grace reduced them voluntarily to prostrate themselves before him. And indeed the end for which this kingdom of our Saviour was erected, was to subdue the rebellious world to God, and either to captivate men into a free submission to his heavenly will, which is its first intention, or, if they will not yield, to make them the triumph of his everlasting vengeance; which end at the day of judgment will be fully accomplished: for then the fate of all the rational world will be fixed and determined; then the faithful subjects will be crowned, and the incorrigible rebels condemned and executed; and so, one way or the other, all things will be subdued unto him. So that from henceforth the end and reason of this his mediatorial dominion will cease; and when the end of it ceaseth, he, who never doth any thing in vain, will immediately deliver it up into those hands from whence he received it. For when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power, i. e. conquered and subdued all that resisted and opposed him, then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, 1 Cor. xv. 24.

III. That during his possession of this kingdom he is subject to the Father. So ver. 27. But when he saith, All things are put under him, it is manifest that he (i. e. the Father) is excepted, which did put all things under him. As if he should say, Do not mistake me; for when I say all things are put under him, my meaning is, all things except God the Father, for it was he that did put all things under him; and it is manifest that he who gave

him this superiority over all things must himself be superior to him; and indeed, considering Christ as mediatorial king, he is no more than his Father's viceroy, and doth only act by deputation from him,. and rule and govern for him; and hence the Father styles him his king, Psalm ii. 6. Yet have I seť my king upon my holy hill of Zion. So that now he is subject to the Father in the capacity of a viceking to a supreme sovereign, and whatsoever he doth in this capacity he doth in his Father's name and by his authority; for he mediates, as for men with God, in doing which he is our advocate; so for God with men, in doing which he is our king. God's part is to govern us, and our part is to sue to him for favour and protection; and both these parts our Saviour acts as mediator between God and us: he acts our part for us in being advocate, and God's part for him in being king. So that in that rule and government which he now exercises over us, he is only the supreme minister of his Father's power and dominion; and as the Father reigns by his ministry, so he reigns by the Father's authority. But though now, while his mediatorial kingdom doth continue, he is subject to the Father in the administration of it, yet, from this passage of St. Paul, it is evident,

IV. That when he hath delivered it up to the Father, he will be otherwise subject to him than he is now; for so, ver. 28. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, that is, actually, and as they will be at the day of judgment, when the good are crowned, and the wicked consigned to that fearful execution, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that did put all things under him;