A51845:517
A practical exposition of the Lord's-Prayer
A practical exposition of the Lord's-Prayer by ... Thomas Manton.
London: printed by J.D., 1684
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
1. His Asseveration, [Surely.] It is a certain Truth, tho we do not so easily receive it. All notable Truths, about which there is the greatest Suspicion in the Heart of the Creature, you will find them thus averred in Scripture; as, Isa. 53. 4. Surely he hath born our Griefs, and carried our Sorrows. The dying of the Son of God is so mysterious, that the Holy-Ghost propounds it with a Note of Averment, Surely; that is, how unlikely soever it seems, yet this is a certain Truth. So here, the Coming of Christ is a thing so future, so little regarded by Epicures and Atheists, that it is propounded with a like Note of Averment, Surely I come quickly. Herein secretly is ⟨p. 222⟩our Unbelief taxed, and also our Confidence engaged.
2. You have his Assertion, I come quickly. Let me explain what is meant by the Coming of Christ. There is a twofold Coming of Christ, a personal, and a virtual. Some think that the virtual Coming is here meant, his Coming in the Efficacy of his Spirit, or in the Power of his Providence, to accomplish those Predictions. Here are many things prophesied of, and behold, I come quickly, you shall find these things presently produced upon the Stage of the World. So some carry it. I think rather it is to be meant of his personal Coming. There are two mystical Scriptures, which do express all the Intercourse which passeth between God and the Church in the World, and they are both closed up with a Desire of Christ's coming. The Canticles is one, which declareth the Communion and Intercourse which is between Christ and his Church; and you will find it thus closed up, Cant. 8. 14. Make haste, my Beloved, and be thou like to a Roe, or to a young Hart upon the Mountains of Spices. And so here, in this Book of the Revelations, where are the like Intercourses recorded, it is closed up with this, Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly. The personal Coming, I suppose, is here meant. Now Christ's personal Coming, it is but twofold, the first, and the second; the Scripture knows of no other Coming.