Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_000_p.lzh/5_056.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-26 | 7KB | 128 lines

generation, they being jointly concerned therein, but
not in the Trinity: it is easy to make it appear Christ
is not the Father, but is distinct from him, since
he is said to be with the Father from eternity, to
be the Son of the Father in truth and love, his own
Son, his only begotten and beloved Son; Christ fre-
quently calls the first Person his Father, prayed to
him as such, and is our advocate with him, as well as
the way unto him; he is said to be sent by the Father,
to come from him, and to go to him; and many
things are said of Christ that can't be said of the Fa-
ther, as his being made flesh, suffering and dying in
the room of his people; and the Father is said to do
many things unto him, as to anoint him, to seal him,
to shew him all he did, to commit all judgment to
him, and give him to have life in himself as he had:
but Christ is a Father with respect to chosen men, who
were given him as his children and offspring in cove-
nant; who are adopted into that family that is named
of him, and who are regenerated by his spirit and
grace: and to these he is an %everlasting Father%; he was
so from everlasting; for regeneration and faith don't
make men children, but make them appear to be so;
God's elect are children previous to the Spirit's work
upon them, and even to the incarnation and death of
Christ; adoption is an act of the will of God in cove-
nant from eternity: and Christ is a Father to these
unto everlasting; he will never die, and they shall
never be left fatherless; he and they will ever con-
tinue in this relation; he as such supplies them with
everlasting provisions, he clothes them with everlast-
ing raiment, he gives them an everlasting portion, pro-
motes them to everlasting honour, saves them with an
everlasting salvation, bearing an everlasting love to
them. Some render the words, %the Father of eternity% {s};
the author of eternal life, who has procured it for his
people, and gives it to them; or to whom eternity be-
longs, who inhabits it, and is possessed of it, is the ever-
lasting I AM, was before all persons and things, was
set up in an office capacity from everlasting, and had
a glory with the Father before the world was, in whom
eternal election, and with whom the everlasting cove-
nant, were made. The Septuagint version is, %the Fa-
ther of the world to come% {t}; of the Gospel dispensation;
so called, \\#Heb 2:5\\ the legal dispensation, when in
being, was the then present world, at the end of which
Christ came; this is now at an end, and a new state
of things has taken place, which with respect to the
Old Testament saints was the world to come, and of
this Christ is the Father or author; as the law came by
Moses, and he was the father of the legal dispensa-
tion, grace and truth are come by Christ, the Father and
author of the Gospel dispensation; the doctrines of it
are from him, and the ordinances of it by him; and he
is the father of that state or world to come after
the resurrection, the New Jerusalem church state, and
also of the ultimate glory. \*\\The Prince of peace\\; Christ
is a Prince, often so called, \\#Eze 34:24 37:25 Da 9:25\\
he is so by birth, being the
King's Son, the Son of God, and by office, power, and
authority; he is so a Prince as that he is a King; he
is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour; and he is a
Prince superior to kings, being the Prince of the kings
of the earth, \\#Ac 5:31 Re 1:3\\ and he is called the
%Prince of peace%, because he is the author of peace; just
as he is said to be the %Prince of life%, \\#Ac 3:15\\ for
the same reason: he is the author of peace between
Jew and Gentile, by abrogating the ceremonial law,
the enmity between them, and by sending the Gospel
to both, and making it the power of God to salvation
to some of each of them, and by bringing them into
the same Gospel church state, and making them par-
takers of the same privileges and blessings, internal and
external, \\#Eph 2:14-20\\ and he is the author of
peace between God and sinners; he has made it by the
blood of the cross, having the chastisement of their
peace laid upon him, in consequence of a covenant of
peace he made with his Father, who was in him recon-
ciling the world to himself, and he is so called like-
wise, because he is the giver of peace; of all outward
peace and prosperity to his churches, as rest from
their enemies, concord among themselves, and addi-
tions to them of such as shall be saved; of internal
peace through the discoveries of his love, and the
application of his righteousness, blood, and sacrifice in
a way of believing in him, and in a course of obedience
to him; and likewise of eternal peace and rest in the
world to come. Moreover, all that concern him as a
King or Prince shew him to be the Prince of peace:
his kingdom lies, among other things, in peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost; the sceptre of his kingdom is
the golden sceptre of grace and mercy; his royal pro-
clamation is the Gospel of peace; the fruit of his spirit
is peace; and his subjects are peaceable ones, both in
church and state. With this compare \\#Heb 7:2 2Th 3:16\\.
It is observable that at his birth there
was a general peace, not only in the Roman empire,
\\#Lu 2:1\\ but in all the world; and it is remarkable,
that whereas at this time the Chinese empire enjoyed
a profound peace, the emperor of it changed his name,
and would not be called by his name Ngayus, but
Pingus, which signifies peaceable {u}.
\*Ver. 7. \\Of the increase of [his] government\\, &c.] That
is, of the Prince of peace, on whose shoulders it is;
which, from small beginnings, will rise to a very great
pitch and height of glory; this is signified by the
stone cut out of the mountain without hands; that
smote the image, became a great mountain, and filled
the whole earth, \\#Dan 2:34,35,44,45\\ and by the
parable of the mustard seed, the least of all seeds, and
yet, when grown up, becomes a great tree, in which
the birds of the air build their nests, \\#Mt 13:31,32\\.
Christ's kingdom and interest, his dominion and go-
vernment, may be said to be increased, when his Gos-
pel is spread far and near, which is called the Gospel
of the kingdom, and the doctrines of it, the mysteries
of the kingdom; by means of which men become
subjects of it, and so his kingdom is enlarged. At
first it was only preached in Judea; and then it
was carried into the Gentile world, where it met
with great success, and was spread to the overthrow
of Paganism in the Roman empire; a stop was put

{s} \^de yba\^ %Pater aeternitatis%, Montanus, Cocceius, &c.
{t} \~pathr tou aiwnov mellontov\~, so some copies; with which
    agrees the Vulgate Latin version, %Pater seculi futuri%.
{u} Martin, Hist. Sinic. p. 361.