us We shall no longer have an Image a Representation of him such as is the delineation of his Glory in the Gospel We shall see him saith the Apostle face to face 1 Cor. 13. 12. which he opposeth unto our seeing him darkly as in a glass which is the utmost that faith can attain to We shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3. 2 not as now in an imperfect description of him As a man sees his neighbour when they stand and converse together face to face So shall we see the Lord Christ in his glory and not as Moses who had only a transient sight of some parts of the Glory of God when he caused it to pass by him THERE will be use herein of our bodily eyes as shall be declared For as Joh says in our Flesh shall we see our Redeemer and our eyes shall behold him Chap. 19. 25 26 27. That corporeal sence shall not be restored unto us and that glorified above what we can conceive but for this great use of the eternal beholding of Christ and his Glory Unto whom it is not a matter of rejoycing that with the same eyes wherewith they see the tokens and signs of him in the Sacrament of the Supper they shall behold himself immediately in his own person But principally as we shall see immediately this vision is intellectual It is not therefore the meer Human Nature of Christ that is the object of it but his Divine Person as that nature subsisteth therein What is that perfection which we shall have for that which is perfect must come and do away that which is in part in the comprehension of the bypostatical Union I understand not but this I know that in the immediate beholding of the Person of Christ we shall see a glory in it a thousand times above what here we can conceive The excellencies of Infinite Wisdom Love and Power therein will be continually before us And all the glories of the Person of Christ which we have before weakly and faintly enquired into will be in our sight for evermore HENCE the ground and cause of our Blessedness is that we shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thes. 4. 17. As himself prays that we may be with him where he is to behold his glory Here we have some dark views of it we cannot perfectly behold it until we are with him where he is Thereon our sight of him will be direct intuitive and constant THERE is a glory there will be so subjectively in us in the beholding of this glory of Christ which is at present incomprehensible For it doth not yet appear what we ourselves shall be 1 John 3. 2. Who can declare what a glory it will be in us to behold this Glory of Christ And how excellent then is that glory of Christ it self THIS immediate sight of Christ is that which all the Saints of God in this life do breath and pant after Hence are they willing to be dissolved or desire to depart that they may be with Christ which is best for them Phil. 1. 23. They chuse to be absent from the body and present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 8. Or that they may enjoy the inexpressibly longed for sight of Christ in his glory Those who do not so long for it whose souls and minds are not frequently visited with earnest desires after it unto whom the thoughts of it are not their relief in Trouble and their chiefest joy are carnal blind and cannot see afar off He that is truly spiritual entertains and refresheth himself with thoughts hereof continually 2. IT will be so from that Visive Power or faculty of beholding the Glory of Christ which we shall then receive Without this we cannot see him as he is When he was transfigured in the Mount and had on his Human Nature some reflections of his Divine Glory his Disciples that were with him were rather amazed than refreshed by it Mat. 17. 4. They saw his glory but spake thereon they knew not what Luk. 9. 30 33. And the reason hereof was because no man in this life can have a Visive Power either spiritual or corporeal directly and immediately to behold the real Glory of Christ. SHOULD the Lord Jesus appear now to any of us in his Majesty and Glory it would not be unto our edification nor consolation For we are not meet nor able by the Power of any Light or Grace that we have received or can receive to bear the immediate appearance and representation of them His beloved Apostle John had leaned on his bosom probably many a time in this life in the intimate familiarities of love But when he afterwards appeared unto him in his Glory he fell at his feet as dead Rev. 1. 17. And when he appeared unto Paul all the account he could give thereof was that he saw a light from Heaven above the brightness of the Sun whereon he and all that were with him fell to the ground Act. 26. 13 14. AND this was one Reason why in the days of his Ministry here on earth his Glory was vailed with the infirmities of the flesh and all sorts of sufferings as we have before related The Church in this life is no way meet by the Grace which it can be made partaker of to converse with him in the immediate manifestations of his Glory AND therefore those who dream of his Personal Reign on the earth before the day of Judgment unless they suppose that all the Saints shall be perfectly glorified also which is only to bring down Heaven to the Earth for a while to no purpose provide not at all for the edification or consolation of the Church For no present grace advanced unto the highest degree whereof in this World it is capable can make us meet for an immediate converse with Christ in his unvailed Glory How much more abominable is the folly of men who would represent the Lord Christ in his present Glory by Pictures and Images of him When they have done their utmost with their burnished Glass and Guildings an eye of flesh cannot only behold it but if it be guided by reason see it contemptible and foolish But the true Glory of Christ neither inward nor outward sight can bear the rays of in this life THE dispensation which we are meet for is only that of his presence with us by his Spirit We know him now no more after the flesh 2 Cor. 5. 16. We are advanced above that way and means of the knowledge of him by the fleshly carnal Ordinances of the Old Testament And we know him not according unto that bodily presence of his which his Disciples enjoyed in the days of his flesh We have attained somewhat above that also For such was the nature of his Ministry here on earth that there could not be the promised dispensation of the spirit until that was finished Therefore he tells his Disciples that it was expedient for them that he should go away and
secured We were created in a Covenant Relation unto God Our Nature was related unto him in a way of Friendship of Likeness and Complacency But the Bond of this Relation and Union was quickly broken by our Apostasy from him Hereon our whole Nature became to be at the utmost Moral distance from God and Enmity against him which is the depth of Misery But God in Infinite Wisdom and Grace did design once more to recover it and take it again near unto himself And he would do it in such a way as should render it utterly impossible that there should ever be a Separation between him and it any more Heaven and Earth may pass away but there shall never be a Dissolution of the Union between God and our Nature any more He did it therefore by assuming it into a substantial Union with himself in the Person of the Son Hereby the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in it Bodily or Substantially and Eternally Hereby is its Relation unto God eternally secured And among all the Mysterious Excellencies which relate hereunto there are two which continually present themselves unto our consideration 1. THAT this Nature of ours is capable of this glorious Exaltation and Subsistence in God No Creature could conceive how Omnipotent Wisdom Power and Goodness could actuate themselves unto the Production of this Effect The Mystery hereof is the Object of the Admiration of Angels and will be so of the whole Church unto all Eternity What is revealed concerning the Glory way and manner of it in the Scripture I have declared in my Treatise concerning the Mystery of Godliness or the Person of Christ. What mind can Conceive what Tongue can Express who can sufficiently Admire the Wisdom Goodness and Condescention of God herein And whereas he hath proposed unto us this glorious Object of our Faith and Meditation how vile and foolish are we if we spend our thoughts about other things in a neglect of it 2. THIS is also an ineffable Pledge of the Love of God into our Nature For although he will not take it in any other Instance save that of the Man Christ Jesus into this Relation with himself by vertue of personal Union Yet therein he hath given a glorious Pledge of his Love unto and Valuation of that Nature For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham And this kindness intends unto our Persons as Participant of that Nature For he designed this Glory unto the Man Christ Jesus that he might be the first-born of the New Creation that we might be made conformable unto him according to our measure and as the Members of that Body whereof he is the Head we are Participant in this Glory 3. IT is he in whom our Nature hath been carried successfully and victoriously through all the Oppositions that it is liable unto and even Death it self But the Glory hereof I shall speak unto distinctly in its proper place which follows and therefore shall here pass it by 4. HE it is who in himself hath given us a Pledge of the capacity of our Nature to inhabit those blessed Regions of Light which are far above these aspectable Heavens Here we dwell in Tabernacles of Clay that are crushed before the Moth such as cannot be raised so as to abide one foot breadth above the Earth we tread upon The heavenly Luminaries which we can behold appear too great and glorious for our Cohabitation We are as Grashoppers in our own eyes in comparison of those Gigantick Beings and they seem to dwell in places which would immediately swallow up and extinguish our Natures How then shall we entertain an Apprehension of being carried and exalted above them all to have an everlasting subsistence in places incomprehensibly more glorious than the Orbs wherein they reside What capacity is there in our Nature of such an Habitation But hereof the Lord Christ hath given us a Pledge in himself Our Nature in him is passed through these Aspectable Heavens and is exalted far above them It s eternal Habitation is in the blessed Regions of Light and Glory and he hath promised that where he is there we shall be and that for ever OTHER Encouragements there are innumerable to stir us up unto diligence in the discharge of the Duty here proposed namely a continual Contemplation of the Glory of Christ in his Person Office and Grace Some of them the Principal of them which I have any Acquaintance with are represented in the ensuing Discourse I shall therefore here add the peculiar Advantage which we may obtain in the diligent discharge of this Duty Which is that it will carry us chearfully comfortably and victoriously through Life and Death and all that we have to conflict withal in either of them AND let it be remembred that I do here suppose what is written on this Subject in the ensuing Discourse as being designed to prepare the minds of the Readers for the due Improvement of it AS unto this present Life it is well known what it is unto the most of them who concern themselves in these things Temptations Afflictions Changes Sorrows Dangers Fears Sickness and Pains do fill up no small part of it And in the other hand all our Earthly Relishes Refreshments and Comforts are uncertain transitory and unsatisfactory all things of each sort being embittered by the Remainders of sin Hence every thing wherein we are concerned hath the Root of Trouble and Sorrow in it Some labour under Wants Poverty and Straits all their days and some have very few hours free from Pains and Sickness And all these things with others of an alike Nature are heightened at present by the Calamitous Season wherein our lot is fallen All things almost in all Nations are filled with Confusiens Disorders Dangers Distresses and Troubles Wars and Rumors of Wars do abound With Tokens of farther approaching Judgments Distress of Nations with perplexities mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth There is in many places no Peace unto him that goeth out nor to him that cometh in but great Vexations are on the Inhabitants of the World Nation is destroyed of Nation and City of City for God doth vex them with all Adversity And in the mean time Vexation with the ungodly deeds of wicked men doth greatly further the Troubles of Life the sufferings of many also for the Testimony of their Consciences are deplorable with the Divisions and Animosities that abound amongst all sorts of Christians BUT the Shortness the Vanity the Miseries of humane Life have been the subject of the complaints of all sorts of considering Persons Heathens as well as Christians nor is it my present business to insist upon them My enquiry is only after the Relief which we may obtain against all these evils that we faint not under them that we may have the victory over them THIS in general is declared
bodily and that for ever Col. 2. 9. Of him who was made flesh and dwelt among us Joh. 1. 14. The Eternal Fire of the Divine Nature dwells in the Bush of our frail Nature yet is not consumed thereby God thus dwells in this Bush with all his Good will towards Sinners MOSES looked on this sight as a marvellous and wondrous thing And if it were so in the Type what is it in the Truth Substance and Reality of it AND by Direction given unto him to put off his shooes we are taught to cast away all fleshly Imaginations and carnal Affections that by pure Acts of Faith we may behold this Glory the Glory of the only begotten of the Father I DESIGN not here to insist on the Explication or Confirmation of this glorious Truth concerning the constitution of the Person of Christ in and by his Incarnation What I can comprehend what I do believe concerning it I have fully declared in a large peculiar Treatise Here I take the Truth it self as known or as it may be thence learned My present Business is only to stir up the Minds of Believers unto a due Contemplation of the Glory of Christ in the sacred Mysterious Constitution of his Person as God and Man in one So much as we abide herein so much do we live by the Faith of the Son of God and God can by a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation open the Eyes of our Understandings that we may behold this Glory unto our ineffable Consolation and Joy And unto the diligent Discharge of our Duty herein I shall offer the ensuing Directions 1. LET us get it fixed on our Souls and in our Minds that this Glory of Christ in the Divine Constitution of his Person is the best the most noble useful beneficial Object that we can be conversant about in our Thoughts or or cleave unto in our Affections What are all other things in comparison of the Knowledge of Christ In the Judgment of the great Apostle they are but Loss and Dung Phil. 3. 8 9 10. So they were to him and if they are not so to us we are carnal WHAT is the World and what are the things thereof which most men spend their Thoughts about and fix their Affections on The Psalmist gives his Judgment about them in comparison of a View of this Glory of Christ Psal. 4. 6. Many say who will shew us any good Who will give and help us to attain so much in and of this World as will give Rest and Satisfaction unto our Minds That is the good-enquired after But saith he Lord lift up the Light of thy Countenance upon us The Light of the Glory of God in the Face of Christ Jesus is that satisfactory Good alone which I desire and seek after THE Scripture reproacheth the Vanity and Folly of the Minds of Men in that they spend their Money for that which is not Bread and their Labour for that which profiteth not They ingage the Vigor of their Spirits about perishing things when they have durable Substance and Riches proposed unto them HOW do Men for the most part exercise their Minds What are they conversant about in their Thoughts SOME by them make provision for the flesh to fulfil it in the Lusts thereof as Rom. 13. 14. They search about continually in their Thoughts for Objects suited unto their Lusts and carnal Affections coyning framing and stamping of them in their Imaginations They fix their Eyes with delight on Toads and Serpents with all noisome filthy Objects refusing in the mean time to behold the Beauty and Glory of the Light of the Sun So is it with all that spend their Thoughts about the Objects of their sinful Pleasures refusing to look up after one view of this Glory of Christ. SOME keep their Thoughts in continual Exercise about the Things of this World as unto the Advantages and Emoluments which they expect from them Hereby are they transformed into the Image of the World becoming earthly carnal and vain Is it because there is no God in Israel that these Applications are made unto the Idol of Ekron That there is no Glory no desirableness in Christ for Men to enquire after and fix their Minds upon Oh the blindness the darkness the folly of poor sinners Whom do they despise and for what SOME of more refined parts and notional Minds do arise unto a sedulous Meditation on the Works of Creation and Providence Hence many excellent Discourses on that Subject adorned with Eloquence are published among us And a Work this is worthy of our Nature and suited unto our rational Capacities yea the first end of our natural Endowment with them But in all these things there is no Glory in comparison of what is proposed unto us in the mysterious Constitution of the Person of Christ. The Sun hath no Glory the Moon and Stars no Beauty the Order and Influence of the Heavenly Bodies have no Excellency in comparison of it This is that which the Psalmist designs to declare Psal. 8. O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the earth Who hast set thy Glory above the heavens When I consider thy heavens the work of thy Fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained what is Man that thou are mindful of him and the Son of man that thou visitest him For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honor thou hast made him to have Dominion over the work of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet HE is engaged in a Contemplation of the Glory of God in his Works and he concludes that the Fabrick of Heaven with the Moon and Stars therein for it was his Meditation by Night when he beheld them was exceeding glorious and greatly to be admired This casts his Thoughts on the poor weak infirm Nature of Man which seems as nothing in comparison of those Glories above But immediately hereon falls into an Admiration of the Wisdom Goodness and Love of God exalting that Nature incomparably above all the Works of Creation in the Person of Jesus Christ as the Apostle expounds this place Heb. 2. 5 6. THIS therefore is the highest the best the most useful Object of our Thoughts and Affections He who hath had a real View of this Glory though he know himself to be a poor sinful dying Worm of the Earth yet would he not be an Angel in Heaven if thereby he should loose the sight of it for this is the Center wherein all the Lines of the Manifestation of the Divine Glory do meet and rest LOOK unto the things of this World Wives Children Possessions Estates Power Friends and Honor how amiable are they How desirable unto the Thoughts of the most of Men But he who hath obtained a View of the Glory of Christ will in the midst of them all say Whom have I in Heaven but thee There is none on Earth that I
Means and principally by the Effects they produce in the real change of our Natures But in themselves we see but little of them The wind bloweth where it listeth and we hear the Sound thereof but we know not whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit Joh. 3. 8. All Gods real Operations in Heaven and Earth are incomprehensible as being Acts of infinite Power and we cannot search them out unto Perfection 3. ALL Communications from the Divine Being and infinite Fulness in Heaven unto glorified Saints are in and through Christ Jesus who shall for ever be the Medium of Communication between God and the Church even in glory All things being gathered into one head in him even things in Heaven and things in Earth that Head being in immediate dependence on God this Order shall never be dissolved Ephese 1. 10 11. 1 Cor. 3. 23. And on these Communications from God through Christ depends entirely our Continuance in a State of Blessedness and Glory We shall no more be self-subsistent in glory than we are in Nature or Grace 4. THE way on our part whereby we shall receive these Communications from God by Christ which are the eternal Springs of Life Peace Joy and Blessedness is this Vision the Sight whereof we speak For as it is expresly assigned thereunto in the Scripture so whereas it contains the perfect Operation of our Minds and Souls in a perfect State on the most perfect Object it is the only means of our Blessedness And this is the true Cause whence there neither is nor can be any Satiety or weariness in Heaven in the eternal Contemplation of the same glory For not only the Object of our sight is absolutely infinite which can never be searched into the bottom yea is perpetually new unto a finite understanding so our subjective Blessedness consisting in continual fresh Communications from the infinite Fulness of the Divine Nature derived unto us through Vision is always new and always will be so to Eternity Herein shall all the Saints of God drink of the Rivers of Pleasure that are at his Right Hand be satisfied with his Likeness and refresh themselves in the eternal Springs of Life Light and Joy for evermore THIS effect that View which we have by Faith of the glory of Christ in this World doth not produce It is Sanctifying not Glorifying The best of Saints are far from a perfect or glorified State in this Life And that not only on the account of the outward Evils which in their Persons they are exposed unto but also of the Weakness and Imperfection of their inward State in Grace Yet we may observe some things unto the Honour of Faith in them who have received it As 1. IN its due Exercise on Christ it will give unto the Souls of Believers some previous Participation of future glory working in them Dispositions unto and Preparation for the Enjoyment of it 2. THERE is no Glory no Peace no Joy no Satisfaction in this World to be compared with what we receive by that weak and imperfect View which we have of the Glory of Christ by Faith Yea all the Joys of the World are a thing of nought in Comparison of what we so receive 3. IT is sufficient to give us such a Perception such a Foretaste of future Blessedness in the Enjoyment of Christ as may continually stir us up to breath and pant after it But it is not Beatifical OTHER Differences of an alike Nature between our Beholding of the Glory of Christ in this Life by Faith and that Vision of it which is reserved for Heaven might be insisted on but I shall proceed no further There is nothing farther for us to do herein but that now and always we shut up all our Meditations concerning it with the deepest Self-abasement out of a Sense of our Unworthiness and Insufficiency to comprehend those things Admiration of that excellent Glory which we cannot comprehend and vehement Longings for that Season when he shall see him as he is be ever with him and know him even as we are known FINIS See Joh. 1. 18. Chap. 14. 7 8 9 10. 2 Cor. 4. 6. Col. 1. 16. Ephes. 3. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. Heb. 1. 2.
unto their essence that can dye Beasts have nothing in them that can live when their Bodies dye The Soul of a Beast cannot be preserved in a separate Condition no not by an act of Almighty Power for it is not and that which is not cannot live It is nothing but the Body it self in an act of its material Powers ONLY the Nature of Man in all the Works of God is capable of this Convulsion The essential parts of it are separable by Death the one continuing to exist and act its especial Powers in a separate state or condition The Powers of the whole entire nature acting in Soul and Body in conjunction are all scattered and lost by Death But the Powers of one Essential part of the same Nature that is of the Soul are preserved after Death in a more perfect acting and exercise than before This is peculiar unto human nature as a mean partaking of Heaven and Earth of the perfection of Angels above and of the imperfection of the Beasts below Only there is this difference in these things Our participation of the heavenly spiritual perfections of the Angelical Nature is for eternity our participation of the imperfections of the animate creatures here below is but for a season For God hath designed our Bodies unto such a glorious refinement at the Resurrection as that they shall have no more Alliance unto that brutish nature which perisheth for ever For we shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like unto Angels or Equal to them Our bodies shall no more be capable of those Acts and Operations which are now common to us with other living creatures here below THIS is the preeminence of the nature of Man as the wise Man declares For unto that Objection of Atheistical Epicureans As the one dieth so dieth the other they have all one breath so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast and all go into one place all are of the dust and all turn to the dust again He granteth that as unto their Bodies it is for a season in them we have a present participation of their nature But saith he here lieth the Difference Who knoweth the spirit of a Man that goeth upward and the spirit of a beast that goeth downward unto the earth Unless we know this unless we consider the different state of the spirit of Men and Beasts we cannot be delivered from this Atheism but the thoughts hereof will set us at liberty from it They dye in like munner and their bodies go equally to the dust for a season but the Beast hath no spirit no soul but what dies with the body and goes to the dust If they had their bodies also must be raised again unto a conjunction with them Otherwise Death would produce a new race of creatures unto Eternity But man hath an immortal Soul saith he an heavenly Spirit which when the Body goes into the dust for a season ascends to Heaven where the guilt of sin and the curse of the Law interpose not from whence it is there to exist and to act all its Native powers in a state of blessedness BUT as I said by reason of this peculiar intimate Union and Relation between the Soul and Body there is in the whole Nature a fixed Aversation from a Dissolution The Soul and Body are naturally and necessarily unwilling to fall into a state of Separation wherein the one shall cease to be what it was and the other knows not clearly how it shall subsist The Body claspeth about the Soul and the Soul receiveth strange Impressions from its embraces the entire nature existing in the Union of them both being unalterably averse unto a Dissolution WHEREFORE unless we can overcome this inclination we can never dye comfortably or chearfully We would indeed rather chuse to be cloathed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life that the cloathing of Glory might come on our whole Nature Soul and Body without Dissolution But if this may not be yet then do believers so conquer this Inclination by Faith and Views of the Glory of Christ as to attain a desire of this Dissolution So the Apostle testifies of himself I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better than to abide here Phil. 1. 23. saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not an ordinary desire not that which worketh in me now and then but a constant habitual Inclination working in â—â—â—â—ment Acts and Desires And what doth he so desire It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to depart say we out of this Body from this Tabernacle to leave it for a season But it is such a departure as consists in the Dissolution of the present state of his Being that it should not be what it is But how is it possible that a man should attain such an Inclination unto such a Readiness for such a vehement desire of a Dissolution It is from a View by Faith of Christ and his Glory whence the Soul is satisfied that to be with him is incomparably better than in its present state and condition HE therefore that would dye comfortably must be able to say within himself and to himself Dye then thou frail and sinful flesh Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return I yield thee up unto the righteous doom of the holy One. Yet therein also I give thee into the hand of the great Refiner who will hide thee in thy Grave and by thy consumption purifie thee from all thy Corruption and Disposition to evil And otherwise this will not be After a long sincere Endeavour for the Mortification of all sin I find it will never be absolutely perfect but by this Reduction into the dust Thou shalt no more be a residence for the least remainder of sin unto Eternity nor any clog unto my Soul in its actings on God Rest therefore in hope For God in his appointed season when he shall have a desire unto the work of his hands will call unto thee and thou shalt answer him out of the dust Then shall he by an act of his Almighty Power not only restore thee unto thy pristine Glory as at the first Creation when thou wast the pure Workmanship of his hands but enrich and adorn thee with inconceivable Priviledges and Advantages Be not then afraid away with all Reluctancy go into the Dust rest in Hope for thou shalt stand in thy lot at the end of the days THAT which will enable us hereunto in an eminent manner is that View and Consideration of the Glory of Christ which is the subject of the ensuing Meditations For be who is now possessed of all that Glory underwent this Dissolution of Nature as truly and really as ever we shall do THIRDLY There is required hereunto a Readiness to comply with the Times and Seasons wherein God would have us depart and leave this World Many think they shall be willing to dye when their time is come but they have many
as those described we are the Posterity and Off-spring Our Fore-fathers in this Nation were given up unto as brutish a service of the Devil as any Nation under the Sun It is therefore an effect of infinite mercy that the day hath dawned on us poor Gentiles and that the day-spring from on high hath visited us See the glory of this Grace expressed Ephes. 3. 5 6 7 8 9 10. God might have left us to perish in the blindness and ignorance of our Fore-fathers but of his own accord and by his own powerful Grace alone he hath translated us out of darkness into his marvellous light But alas the horrible ingratitude of men for the glorious light of the Gospel and the abuse of it will issue in a sore revenge GOD was known under the Old Testament by the Revelation of his Word and the Institution of his Worship This was the glory and priviledge of Israel as the Psalmist declares Psal. 147. 19 20. He sheweth his word unto Jacob his statutes and his judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation The Church then knew him yet so as that they had an apprehension that he dwelt in thick darkness where they could not have any clear views of him Exod. 20. 21. Deut. 5. 22. 1 King 〈…〉 2. 2 Chron. 6. 1. And the Reason why God so represented himself in darkness unto them was to instruct them in their imperfect state wherein they could not comprehend that glory which should afterwards be revealed For as he is now made known in Christ we see that he is light and in him there is no darkness at all 4. HITHERTO darkness in general covered the Earth and gross darkness the people as unto the knowledge of God only there was a twilight in the Church The day did not yet dawn the shadows did not flee away nor the day-star shine in the hearts of men But when the Son of Righteousness did arise in his strength and beauty when the Son of God appeared in the flesh and in the discharge of his Office God himself as unto his Being and manner of Existence in three distinct persons with all the glorious properties of the Divine Nature were illustriously manifested unto them that did believe and the light of the knowledge of them dispelled all the shadows that were in the Church and shone into the darkness which was in the world so as that none continued ignorant of God but those who would not see See Job 1. 5 15 17 18. 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. HEREIN is the Lord Christ glorious And this is that which I shall now speak unto namely How we may behold the glory of Christ in the Representation and Revelation that is made of God and his glory in his Person and Office unto all that do believe For it is not so much the declaration of the nature of the things themselves wherein the glory of Christ doth consist as our way and duty in the beholding of them which at present is designed HE calls unto us saying Behold me look unto me and be saved Isa. 45. 2. What is it that we see in Christ What do we behold in him He asketh that Question concerning his Church What will ye see in the Shulamite Whereto he answers as it were the company of two armies Cant. 6. 13. or the Two Churches of the Old and New Testament in order and beauty We may enquire What shall we what do we see in him Do we see him as the Image of the invisible God representing him his Nature Properties and Will unto us Do we see him as the Character the express Image of the Person of the Father so as that we have no need of Philip's Request Lord shew us the Father because having seen him we have seen the Father also John 14. 9. THIS is our first saving view of Christ the first instance of our beholding his glory by faith So to see him as to see God in him is to behold his glory for herein is he eternally glorious And this is that Glory whose view we ought to long for and labour after And if we see it not we are yet in darkness yea tho' we say we see we are blind like others So David longed and prayed for it when yet he could behold it only in Types and Shadows Psal. 63. 1 2. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee to see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen them in the sanctuary For there was in the Sanctuary an obscure representation of the Glory of God in Christ. How much more should we prize that view of it which we may have with open face tho' yet as in a glass 2 Cor. 3. 18. MOSES when he had seen the Works of God which were great and marvellous yet found not himself satisfied therewith Wherefore after all he prays that God would shew him his Glory Exod. 33. 18. He knew that the Ultimate Rest Blessedness and Satisfaction of the Soul is not in seeing the works of God but the Glory of God himself Therefore did he desire some immediate dawnings of it upon him in this World I beseech thee shew me thy Glory And if we have right apprehensions of the Future State of Blessedness we cannot but have the same desire of seeing more of his Glory in this life But the Question is How me may attain it If we are left unto our selves in this Enquiry if we have no other way for it but the immediate fixing of our thoughts on the Immensity of the Divine Nature we must come every one to the Conclusion that Agur makes on the like consideration Surely I am more brutish than any Man and have not the Understanding of a Man I neither learned Wisdom nor have the Knowledge of the Holy Who hath ascended up into Heaven or descended Who hath gathered the wind in his fist Who hath bound the waters in a garment Who hath established all the ends of the earth What is his name and what is his sons name if thou canst tell Prov. 30. 2 3 4. IT is in Christ alone that we may have a clear distinct view of the Glory of God and his Excellencies For him and him alone hath he appointed the representative of himself unto us And we shall take an Account hereof in one or two especial Instances 1. INFINITE Wisdom is one of the most glorious Properties of the Divine Nature It is that which is directive of all the external Works of God wherein the Glory of all the other Excellencies of God is manifested wherefore the manifestation of the whole Glory of God proceeds originally from Infinite Wisdom But as Job speaks Where shall this Wisdom be found and what is the place of understanding Chap. 28. 12. Can we by searching find out God Can we find out the Almighty to perfection Chap. 11. 7. As it is in it self an Essential Eternal
Experience of any such thing who never had any refreshing communion with him cannot be sensible of his Absence they never were so of his Presence But those whom he hath visited to whom he hath given of his Loves with whom he hath made his Abode whom he hath refreshed relieved and comforted in whom he hath lived in the Power of his Grace they know what it is to be forsaken by him though but for a moment And their Trouble is increased when they seek him with diligence in the wonted ways of obtaining his presence and cannot find him Our Duty in this case is to presevere in our Enquiries after him in Prayer Meditation Mourning Reading and Hearing of the Word in all Ordinances of Divine Worship private and publick in diligent Obedience until we find him or he return unto us as in former Days IT were well if all Churches and Possessors now would manifest the same Diligence herein as did the Church of old in this Example Many of them if they are not hardened by the Deceitfulness of Sin cannot but be sensible that the Lord Christ is variously withdrawn from them if ever they had experience of the Power of his Presence Yet are the generality of them far from the frame of heart here described in the Spouse for they are slothful careless negligent and stir not up themselves to enquire after him or his return unto their Souls So was it with Laodicea of old so was it with Sardis and so it is to be feared that it is with many at present But to return GENERALLY Christ is nigh unto Believers and of a ready Access and the principal Actings of the Life of Faith consists in the frequency of our Thoughts concerning him for hereby Christ liveth in us as he is said to do Gal. 2. 20. This we cannot do unless we have frequent thoughts of him and converse with him It is often said among Men that one lives in another this cannot be but where the Affections of one are so ingaged unto another that night and day he thinks of him and is thereby as it were present with him So ought it to be between Christ and Believers He dwells in them by Faith but the Actings of this Life in them as where-ever Life is it will be in act and exercise are proportionable unto their Thoughts of him and Delight in him IF therefore we would behold the Glory of Christ the present direction is That on all occasions and frequently when there are no occasions for it by the performance of other Duties we would abound in thoughts of Him and his Glory I intend not at present fixed and stated Meditations which were spoken unto before but such Thoughts as are more transient according as our opportunities are And a great Rebuke it ought to be unto us when Christ hath at any time in a day been long out of our Minds The Spouse affirms That ere she was aware her soul made her as the Chariots of Amminadeb Cant. 7. 12. It so fell out that when she had no thoughts no design or purpose for attendance or communion with Christ that she was surprised into a readiness and willingness unto it So will it be with them that love him in sincerity Their own Souls without previous designs or outward occasions will frequently engage them in holy thoughts of him which is the most eminent character of a truly spiritual Christian. 4. THE next Direction is That all our Thoughts concerning Christ and his Glory should be accompanied with Admiration Adoration and Thanksgiving For this is such an Object of our Thoughts and Affections as in this Life we can never fully comprehend an Ocean whose Depths we cannot look into If we are spiritually renewed all the Faculties of our Souls are enabled by Grace to exert their respective powers towards this glorious Object This must be done in various Duties by the Exercise of various Graces as they are to be acted by the distinct powers of the Faculties of our Minds This is that which is intended where we are commanded to love the Lord with all our souls with all our minds with all our strength All the distinct powers of our Souls are to be acted by distinct Graces and Duties in cleaving unto God by Love In Heaven when we are come to our Center that State of Rest and Blessedness which our Nature is ultimately capable of nothing but one infinite invariable Object of our Minds and Affections received by Vision can render that State uninterrupted and unchangeable But whilst we are here we know or see but in part and we must also act our Faith and Love on parts of that Glory which is not at once entirely proposed unto us and which as yet we cannot comprehend Wherefore we must act various Graces in great Variety about it some at one time some at another according unto the powers of all our renewed Faculties Of this sort are those mentioned of Adoration Admiration and Thanksgiving which are those Acts of our Minds wherein all others do issue when the Object is incomprehensible For unto them we are enabled by Grace ONE end of his illustrious coming unto the Judgment of the last Day is that he may be admired in all them that believe 2 Thes. 1. 11. Even Believers themselves shall be filled with an overwhelming Admiration upon his glorious Appearance Or if the meaning be not that he shall be admired by them but admired in them because of the mighty Works of his Grace and Power in their Redemption Sanctification Resurrection and Glory it is to the same purpose he comes to be admired And according to the prospect which we have of that Glory ought our Admiration to be AND this Admiration will issue in Adoration and Thanksgiving whereof we have an eminent Instance and Example in the whole Church of the Redeemed Rev. 5. 9 10 11 12 13 14. They sang a new Song saying Worthy art thou to receive the Book and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast bought us unto God by thy Blood out of every Tribe and Tongue and People and Nation and hast made us Kings and Priests unto God and we shall reign upon the Earth And I saw and heard the Voice of many Angels round about the Throne and of the living Creatures and of the Elders and the Number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud Voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing and every Creature that is in Heaven and in the Earth and under the Earth and that are in the Sea and all things in them heard I saying Blessing and Honour and Power and Glory be unto him that sits on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever THE Design of this Discourse is no more but that when by Faith we have attained a View of the
Glory of Christ in our Contemplations on his Person we should not pass it over as a Notion of Truth which we assent unto namely that he is thus glorious in himself but endeavor to affect our Hearts with it as that wherein our own principal Interest doth lie wherein it will be effectual unto the Transformation of our Souls into his Image BUT some it may be will say at least I fear some may truly say That these things do not belong unto them they do not find that ever they had any Benefit by them They hope to be saved as well as others by the Mediation of Christ but as unto this beholding of his Glory by constant Meditation and Actings of Faith therein they know nothing of it nor are concerned in it The Doctrine which they are taught out of the Scripture concerning the Person of Christ they give their Assent unto but his Glory they hope they shall see in another World here they never yet enquired after it SO it will be It is well if these things be not only neglected because the Minds of Men are carnal and cannot discern spiritual things but also despised because they have an Enmity unto them It is not for all to walk in these retired Paths Not for them who are negligent and slothful whose Minds are earthly and carnal Nor can they herein sit at the Feet of Christ with Mary when she chose the better part who like Martha are cumbred about many things here in this World Those whose principal Design is to add unto their present Enjoyments in the midst of the prosecution whereof they are commonly taken from them so as that their Thoughts do perish because not accomplished will never understand these things Much less will they do so whose Work it is to make provision for the Flesh to fulfil it in the Lusts thereof THEY must make it their Design to be heavenly minded who will find a Relish in these things Those who are Strangers unto holy Meditation in general will be Strangers unto this Mystery in a peculiar manner SOME Men can think of the World of their Relations and the manifold Occasions of Life but as unto the things that are above and within the Vail they are not concerned in them WITH some it is otherwise They profess their Desire to behold the Glory of Christ by Faith but they find it as they complain too high and difficult for them They are at a Loss in their Minds and even overwhelmed when they begin to view his Glory They are like the Disciples who saw him in his Transfiguration they were filled with Amazement and knew not what to say or said they knew not what And I do acknowledge that the Weakness of our Minds in the comprehension of this Eternal Glory of Christ and their Instability in Meditations thereon whence we cannot stedfastly look on it or behold it gives us an afflicting abasing Consideration of our present State and Condition And I shall say no more unto this Case but this alone When Faith can no longer hold open the Eyes of our Understandings unto the beholding of the Son of Righteousness shining in his Beauty nor exercise orderly Thoughts about this incomprehensible Object it will betake it self unto that holy Admiration which we have spoken unto and therein it will put it self forth in pure Acts of Love and Complacency CHAP. IV. The Glory of Christ in his Susception of the Office of a Mediator First in his Condescention THE Things whereof we have thus far discoursed relating immediately unto the Person of Christ in it self may seem to have somewhat of Difficulty in them unto such whose Minds are not duly exercised in the Contemplation of Heavenly Things Unto others they are evident in their own Experience and instructive unto them that are willing to learn That which remains will be yet more plain unto the Understanding and Capacity of the meanest Believer And this is the Glory of Christ in his Office of Mediator and the Discharge thereof IN our beholding of the Glory of Christ herein doth the Exercise of Faith in this Life principally consist so the Apostle declares it Phil. 3. 8 9 10 11 12. Yea doubtless and I count all things loss for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. To know him and the Power of his Resurrection and the Fellowship of his Sufferings and to be made conformable unto his Death This therefore we must treat of somewhat more at large THERE is one God saith the Apostle and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. In that great difference between God and Man occasioned by our Sin and Apostacy from him which of it self could issue in nothing but the utter Ruine of the whole Race of Mankind there was none in Heaven or Earth in their Original Nature and Operations who was meet or able to make up a Righteous Peace between them Yet must this be done by a Mediator or cease for ever THIS Mediator could not be God himself absolutely considered for a Mediator is not of one but God is one Gal. 3. 20. Whatever God might do herein in a way of Sovereign Grace yet he could not do it in the way of Mediation which yet was necessary unto his own Glory as we have at large discoursed elsewhere AND as for Creatures there was none in Heaven or Earth that was meet to undertake this Office For if one Man sin against another the Judge shall judge herein but if a Man sin against the Lord who shall entreat for him 1 Sam. 2. 25. There is not any days man betwixt us to lay his hand upon us both Job 9. 33. IN this State of Things the Lord Christ as the Son of God said Lo I come to do thy Will O God sacrifice and burnt offerings thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me and Lo I come to do thy Will Heb. 10. 5 6 7 8 9. By the Assumption of our Nature into Union with himself in his one Divine Person he became every way meet for the Discharge of this Office and undertakes it accordingly THAT which we enquire after at present is the Glory of Christ herein and how we may behold that Glory And there are three things wherein we may take a prospect of it 1. IN his Susception of this Office 2. In his Discharge of it 3. In the Event and Consequence thereof or what ensued thereon IN the Susception of this Office we may behold the Glory of Christ. 1. In his Condescention 2. In his Love 1. WE may behold his Glory in his Infinite Condescention to take this Office on him and our Nature to be his own unto that end It did not befall him by Lot or Chance it was not imposed on him against his Will it belonged not unto him by any Necessity of Nature or Condition he stood not in need of it it was no addition unto him but of his own
Mind and Accord he graciously condescended unto the Susception and Discharge of it So the Apostle expresseth it Phil. 2. 5 6 7 8. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took on himself the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of Men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. IT was the Mind that was in Jesus Christ which is proposed unto our Consideration and Imitation What he was enclined and disposed unto from himself and his own mind alone And that in general which is ascribed unto him is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exinanition or Self-emptiness he emptied himself This the Ancient Church called his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we do his Condescention an Act of which kind in God is called the humbling of himself Psal. 113. 6. WHEREFORE the Susception of our Nature for the Discharge of the Office of Mediation therein was an Infinite Condescention in the Son of God wherein he is exceedingly Glorious in the Eyes of Believers AND I shall do these three Things 1. Shew in general the Greatness of this Condescention 2. Declare the Especial Nature of it And 3. Take what view we are able of the Glory of Christ therein 1. SUCH is the transcendent Excellency of the Divine Nature that it is said of God that he dwelleth on high and humbleth himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and in the Earth Psal. 113. 5 6. He condescends from the Prerogative of his Excellency to behold to look upon to take notice of the most glorious Things in Heaven above and the greatest Things in the Earth below All his Respect unto the Creatures the most glorious of them is an Act of Infinite Condescention And it is so on Two Accounts 1. BECAUSE of the Infinite Distance that is between his Essence Nature or Being and that of the Creatures Hence all Nations before him are as the Drop of a Bucket and are counted as the small Dust of the Ballance yea that they are as nothing that they are accounted unto him less than nothing and vanity All Being is essentially in him and in comparison thereunto all other things are as nothing And there are no Measures there is no Proportion between infinite being and nothing Nothing that should induce a Regard from the one unto the other Wherefore the Infinite Essential Greatness of the Nature of God with its Infinite Distance from the Nature of all Creatures thereby causeth all his Dealings with them to be in the way of Condescention or humbling himself So it is expressed Isa. 57. 15. Thus saith the high and lofty one who inhabiteth Eternity I dwell in the high and holy Place with him also who is of a concrite and humble Spirit to revive the Spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones He is so the high and lofty one and so inhabiteth Eternity or existeth in his own Eternal Being that it is an Act of mere Grace in him to take notice of things below and therefore he doth i◠in an especial manner of those whom the World doth most despise 2. IT ariseth from his Infinite Self-Sufficiency unto all the Acts and Ends of his own Eternal Blessedness What we have a Regard unto what we respect and desire it is that it may add unto our Satisfaction So it is so it must be with every Creature no Creature is self-sufficient unto its own Blessedness The humane Nature of Christ himself in Heaven is not so it lives in God and God in it in a full dependance on God and in receiving blessed and glorious Communications from him No rational Creature Angel or Man can do think act any thing but it is all to add to their Perfection and Satisfaction they are not Self-sufficient God alone wants nothing stands in need of nothing nothing can be added unto him seeing he giveth unto all Life and Breath and althings Act. 17. 25. The whole Creation in all its Excellency cannot contribute one Mite unto the Satisfaction or Blessedness of God He hath it all in Infinite Perfection from himself and his own Nature our Goodness extends not unto him A Man cannot profit God as he may profit his Neighbour If thou sinnest what dost thou against him and if thy Transgressions are multiplied what dost thou unto him God loseth nothing of his own Self-sufficiency and Blessedness therein by all this and if thou be righteous what givest thou unto him or what receiveth he at thy hand Job 35. 6 7 8. And from hence also it follows that all Gods concernment in the Creation is by an Act of Condescention HOW glorious then is the Condescention of the Son of God in his Susception of the Office of Mediation For if such be the Perfection of the Divine Nature and its distance so absolutely Infinite from the whole Creation and if such be his Self-sufficiency unto his own Eternal Blessedness as that nothing can be taken from him nothing added unto him so that every Regard in him unto any of the Creatures is an Act of Self-Humiliation and Condescention from the Prerogative of his Being and State what Heart can conceive what Tongue can express the Glory of that Condescention in the Son of God whereby he took our Nature upon him took it to be his own in order unto a discharge of the Office of Mediation on our Behalf BUT that we may the better behold the Glory of Christ herein we may briefly consider the Especial Nature of this Condescention and wherein it doth consist BUT whereas not only the Denial but Misapprehensions hereof have pestered the Church of God in all Ages we must in the first place reject them and then declare the Truth 1. THIS Condescention of the Son of God did not consist in a laying aside or parting with or separation from the Divine Nature so as that he should cease to be God by being Man The Foundation of it lay in this that he was in the form of God and counted it not robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2. v. 6. That is being really and essentially God in his Divine Nature he professed himself therein to be equal with God or the Person of the Father He was in the Form of God that is he was God participant of the Divine Nature for God hath no Form but that of his Essence and Being and hence he was equal with God in Authority Dignity and Power Because he was in the Form of God he must be equal with God for there is Order in the Divine Persons but no Inequality in the Divine Being So the Jews understood him that when he said God was his Father he made himself equal with God For in his so saying he ascribed unto himself equal Power with
the Father as unto all Divine Operations My Father saith he worketh hitherto and I work Joh. 5. 17 18. And they by whom his Divine Nature is denied do cast this Condescention of Christ quite out of our Religion as that which hath no Reality or Substance in it But we shall speak of them afterwards BEING in this state it is said that he took on him the form of a servant and was found in fashion as a Man ver 7. This is his Condescention It is not said that he ceased to be in the Form of God but continuing so to be he took on him the form of a Servant in our Nature He became what he was not but he ceased not to be what he was so he restifieth of himself Joh. 3. 13. No man hath ascended up into heaven but he that came down from heaven the Son of man which is in heaven Although he was then on Earth as the Son of Man yet he ceased not to be God thereby in his Divine Nature he was then also in Heaven HE who is God can no more be not God than he who is not God can be God And our difference with the Socinians herein is we believe that Christ being God was made Man for our Sakes they say that being only a Man he was made a God for his own sake THIS then is the foundation of the Glory of Christ in this Condescention the Life and Soul of all heavenly Truth and Mysteries namely that the Son of God becoming in time to be what he was not the Son of Man ceased not thereby to be what he was even the Eternal Son of God Wherefore 2. MUCH less did this Condescention consist in the Conversion of the Divine Nature into the Humane which was the Imagination of some of the Arians of old and we have yet to my own knowledg some that follow them in the same Dotage They say that the Word which was in the Beginning by which all things were made being in it self an Effect of the Divine Will and Power was in the fulness of time turned into Flesh that is the Substance of it was so as the Water in the Miracle wrought by our Saviour was turned into Wine for by an Act of the Divine Power of Christ it ceased to be Water substantially and was Wine only not Water mixed with Wine So these Men suppose a Substantial Change of the one Nature into the other of the divine Nature into the humane like what the Papists imagine in their Trasubstantiation So they say God was made Man his Essence being turned into that of a Man BUT this no way belongs unto the Condescention of Christ. We may call it Ichabod it hath no Glory in it It destroys both his Natures and leaves him a Person in whom we are not concerned For according unto this Imagination that Divine Nature wherein he was in the Form of God did in its own Form cease to be yea was utterly destroyed as being substantially changed into the Nature of Man as the Water did cease to be when it was turned into Wine and that humane Nature which was made thereof hath no Alliance or Kindred unto us or our Nature seeing it was not made of a Woman but of the Substance of the Word 3. THERE was not in this Condescention the least Change or Alteration in the Divine Nature Eutiches and those that followed him of old conceived that the two Natures of Christ the Divine and Humane were mixed and compounded as it were into one And this could not be without an Alteration in the divine Nature for it would be made to be essentially what it was not for one Nature hath but one and the same Essence BUT as we said before altho the Lord Christ himself in his Person was made to be what he was not before in that our Nature hereby was made to be his yet his Divine Nature was not so There is in it neither variableness nor shadow of turning It abode the same in him in all its Essential Properties Actings and Blessedness as it was from Eternity It neither did acted nor suffered any thing but what is proper unto the Divine Being The Lord Christ did and suffered many things in Life and Death in his own Person by his Human Nature wherein the Divine neither did nor suffered any thing at all although in the doing of them his Person be denominated from that Nature so God purchased his Church with his own Blood Act. 20. 28. 4. IT may then be said what did the Lord Christ in this Condescention with respect unto his Divine Nature The Apostle tells us that he humbled himself and made himself of no reputation Phil. 2. 7 8. He vailed the Glory of his Divine Nature in ours and what he did therein so as that there was no outward Appearance or Manifestation of it The World hereon was so far from looking on him as the true God that it believed him not to be a good Man Hence they could never bear the least intimation of his Divine Nature supposing themselves secured from any such thing because they looked on him with their Eyes to be a Man as he was indeed no less truly and really than any one of themselves Wherefore on that Testimony given of himself Before Abraham was I am which asserts a Pre-existence from Eternity in another Nature than what they saw they were filled with Rage and took up stones to cast at him John 8. 58. And they give a Reason of their Madness Joh. 10. 33. Namely that he being a Man should make himself to be God This was such a thing they thought as could never enter into the Heart of a wise and sober Man namely that being so owning himself to be such he should yet say of himself that he was God This is that which no Reason can comprehend which nothing in Nature can parallel or illustrate that one and the same Person should be both God and Man and this is the Principal Plea of the Socinians at this Day who through the Mahumetans succeed unto the Jews in an Opposition unto the Divine Nature of Christ. BUT all this difficulty is solved by the Glory of Christ in this Condescention for although in himself or his own Divine Person he was over all God blessed for ever yet he humbled himself for the Salvation of the Church unto the Eternal Glory of God to take our Nature upon him and to be made Man and those who cannot see a Divine Glory in his so doing do neither know him nor love him nor believe in him nor do any way belong unto him SO is it with the Men of these Abominations Because they cannot behold the Glory hereof they deny the Foundation of our Religion namely the Divine Person of Christ. Seeing he would be made Man he shall be esteemed by them no more than a Man So do they reject that Glory of God his Infinite Wisdom Goodness and Grace wherein
he is more concerned than in the whole Creation And they dig up the Root of all Evangelical Truths which are nothing but Branches from it IT is true and must be confessed that herein it is that our Lord Jesus Christ is a stumbling Stone and a Rock of Offence unto the World If we should confess him only as a Prophet a Man sent by God there would not be much Contest about him not Opposition unto him The Mahumetans do all acknowledge it and the Jews would not long deny it for their Hatred against him was and is solely because he professed himself to be God and as such was believed on in the World And at this day partly through the Insinuation of the Socinians and partly from the Efficacy of their own Blindness and Unbelief Multitudes are willing to grant him to be a Prophet sent of God who do not who will not who cannot believe the Mystery of this Condescention in the Susception of our Nature nor see the Glory of it But take this away and all our Religion is taken away with it Farewel Christianity as unto the Mystery the Glory the Truth the Efficacy of it let a refined Heathenism be established in its Room But this is the Rock on which the Church is built against which the Gates of Hell shall not prevail 4. THIS Condescention of Christ was not by a Phantasm or an Appearance only One of the first Heresies that pestered the Church immediately after the Days of the Apostles was this that all that was done or suffered by Christ as a Man were not the Acts Doings or Sufferings of one that was truly and really a Man but an outward Representation of things like the Appearance of Angels in the Shape of Men eating and drinking under the Old Testament and suitably hereunto some in our Days have spoken namely that there was only an Appearance of Christ in the Man Jesus at Jerusalem in whom he suffered no more than in other Believers But the ancient Christians told those Men the Truth namely that as they had feigned unto themselves an imaginary Christ so they should have an imaginary Salvation only BUT the true Nature of this Divine Condescention doth consist in these three Things 1. THAT the Eternal Person of the Son of God or the Divine Nature in the Person of the Son of God did by an ineffable Act of his Divine Power and Love assume our Nature into an individual Subsistence in or with himself that is to be his own even as the Divine Nature is his This is the infallible Foundation of Faith even to them who can comprehend very little of these Divine Mysteries They can and do believe that the Son of God did take our Nature to be his own so as that whatever was done therein was done by him as it is with every other Man Every Man hath human Nature appropriated unto himself by an Individual Subsistence whereby he becomes to be that man which he is and not another or that Nature which is common unto all becomes in him to be peculiarly his own as if there were none Partaker of it but himself Adam in his first Creation when all human Nature was in him alone was no more that individual Man which he was than every Man is now the Man that he is by his Individual Subsistence So the Lord Christ taking that Nature which is common unto all into a peculiar Subsistence in his own Person it becometh his and He the man Christ Jesus This was the Mind that was in him 2. BY reason of this Assumption of our Nature with his doing and suffering therein whereby he was found in fashion as a Man the Glory of his Divine Person was vailed and he made himself of no reputation This also belongs unto his Condescention as the first general Effect and Fruit of it But we have spoken of it before 3. IT is also to be observed That in the Assumption of our Nature to be his own He did not change it into a thing Divine and Spiritual but preserved it entire in all its Essential Properties and Actings Hence it really did and suffered was tried tempted and forsaken as the same Nature in any other Man might do and be That Nature as it was peculiarly his and therefore he or his Person therein was exposed unto all the temporary Evils which the same Nature is subject unto in any other Person THIS is a short general View of this incomprehensible Condescention of the Son of God as it is described by the Apostle Pil. 2. 5 6 7 8. And this is that wherein in an especial manner we are to behold the Glory of Christ by Faith whilst we are in this World BUT had we the Tongue of Men and Angels we were not able in just measure to express the Glory of this Condescention For it is the most ineffable Effect of the Divine Wisdom of the Father and of the Love of the Son the highest Evidence of the Care of God towards Mankind What can be equal unto it What can be like it It is the Glory of Christian Religion and the animating Soul of all Evangelical Truth This carryeth the Mystery of the Wisdom of God above the Reason or Understanding of Men and Angels to be the Object of Faith and Admiration only A Mystery it is that becomes the Greatness of God with his Infinite Distance from the whole Creation which renders it unbecoming him that all his Ways and Works should be comprehensible by any of his Creatures Job 11. 4 5 9. Rom. 11. 34 35 36. HE who was eternally in the Form of God that is was essentially so God by Nature equally participant of the same Divine Nature with God the Father God over all blessed for ever who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and Earth he takes on him the Nature of Man takes it to be his own whereby he was no less truly a Man in time than he was truly God from Eternity And to encrease the Wonder of his Mystery because it was necessary unto the end he designed he so humbled himself in this Assumption of our Nature as to make himself of no Reputation in this World yea unto that Degree that he said of himself that he was a Worm and no Man in comparison of them who were of any Esteem WE speak of these things in a poor low broken manner We teach them as they are revealed in the Scripture We labour by Faith to adhere unto them as revealed But when we come into a steady direct View and Consideration of the thing it self our Minds fail our Hearts tremble and we can find no rest but in an Holy Admiration of what we cannot comprehend Here we are at a loss and know that we shall be so whilst we are in this World But all the ineffable Fruits and Benefits of this Truth are communicated unto them that do believe IT is with reference hereunto that that great
This could not be done by us But through the Obedience of Christ by vertue of this his Mystical Conjunction with the Church the Law was so fulfilled in us by being fulfilled for us as that the Glory of God in the giving of it and annexing eternal Rewards unto it is exceedingly exalted see Rom. 8. 3 4. THIS is that Glory of Christ whereof one view by faith will scatter all the fears answer all the objections and give relief against all the Despondencies of poor tempted doubting souls and an Anchor it will be unto all believers which they may cast within the Vail to hold them firm and stedfast in all Tryals Storms and Temptations in Life and Death CHAP. X. The Glory of Christ in the Communication of himself unto Believers ANOTHER instance of the Glory of Christ which we are to behold here by Faith and hope that we shall do so by sight hereafter consists in the Mysterious Communication of himself and all the Benefits of his Mediation unto the souls of them that do believe to their present happiness and future eternal Blessedness HEREBY he becomes theirs as they are his which is the Life the Glory and Consolation of the Church Cant. 6. 3. Chap. 3. 16. Chap. 3. 10. He and all that he is being appropriated unto them by vertue of their Mystical Union There is there must be some Ground formal Reason and Cause of this Relation between Christ and the Church whereby he is theirs and they are his he is in them and they in him so as it is not between him and other Men in the World THE Apostle speaking of this Communication of Christ unto the Church and the Union between them which doth ensue thereon affirms that is a Great Mystery for I speak saith he concerning Christ and the Church Ephes. 5. 32. I SHALL very briefly enquire into the Causes Ways and Means of this Mysterious Communication whereby he is made to be ours to be in us to dwell with us and all the benefits of his Mediation to belong unto us For as was said it is evident that he doth not thus communicate himself unto all by a natural Necessity as the Sun gives light equally unto the whole World nor is he present withall by an Ubiquity of his humane Nature nor as some dream by a Diffusion of his rational Soul into all nor doth he become ours by a carnal eating of him in the Sacrament but this Mystery proceeds from and depends on other Reasons and Causes as we shall briefly declare BUT yet before I proceed to declare the way and manner whereby Christ communicateth himself unto the Church I must premise something of Divine Communications in General and their Glory And I shall do this by touching a little on the harmony and Correspondency that is between the Old Creation and the New 1. ALL Being Power Goodness and Wisdom were originally essentially infinitely in God And in them with the other Perfections of his Nature consisted his Essential Glory 2. THE Old Creation was a Communication of Being and Goodness by Almighty Power directed by Infinite Wisdom unto all things that were created for the manifestation of that Glory This was the first Communication of God unto any thing without himself and it was exceeding glorious see Psal. 19. 1. Rom. 1. 21. And it was a curious Machine framed in the subordination and dependency of one thing on another without which they could not subsist nor have a continuance of their Beings All Creatures below live on the Earth and the products of it the Earth for its whole production depends on the Sun and other Heavenly Bodies as God declares Hos. 2. 21 22. I will hear saith the Lord I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth and the Earth shall hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oil and they shall hear Jezreel God hath given a subordination of things in a Concatenation of Causes whereon their Subsistence doth depend Yet 4. IN this mutual Dependency on and Supplies unto one another they all depend on and are influenced from God himself the Eternal Fountain of Being Power and Goodness He hears the Heavens and in the Continuation of this Order by constant Divine Communication of Being Goodness and Power unto all Things God is no less glorified than in the first Creation of them Act. 14. 15 16 17. Chap. 17. 24 25 26 27 28 29. 5. THIS Glory of God is visible in the Matter of it and is obvious unto the Reason of Mankind for from his Works of Creation and Providence they may learn his Eternal Power and Godhead wherein he is essentially glorious 6. BUT by this divine Communication God did not intend only to glorifie himself in the essential Properties of his Nature but his Existence also in Three Persons of Father Son and Spirit For although the whole Creation in its first framing and in its Perfection was and is by an Emanation of Power and Goodness from the Divine Nature in the Person of the Father as he is the Fountain of the Trinity whence he is said peculiarly to be the Creator of all things yet the immediate Operation in the Creation was from the Son the Power and Wisdom of the Father Joh. 1. 1 2 3. Col. 1. 16. Heb. 1. 3. And as upon the first Production of the Mass of the Creation it was under the especial care of the Spirit of God to preserve and cherish it unto the production of all distinct sorts of Creatures Gen. 1. 2. So in the Continuance of the whole there is an especial Operation of the same Spirit in all things Nothing can subsist one Moment by vertue of the Dependance which all things have on one another without a continual Emanation of Power from him see Psal. 104. 29 30. BY these divine Communications in the production and preservation of the Creature doth God manifest his Glory and by them alone in the way of Nature he doth so and without them although he would have been for ever essentially glorious yet was it impossible that his Glory should be known unto any but himself Wherefore on these divine Communications doth depend the whole Maninifestation of the Glory of God But this is far more eminent though not in the outward Effects of it so visible in the new Creation as we shall see 1. ALL Goodness Grace Life Light Mercy and Power which are the Springs and Causes of the New Creation are all originally in God in the divine Nature and that infinitely and essentially In them is God eternally or essentially glorious and the whole Design of the New Creation was to manifest his Glory in them by external Communications of them and from them 2. THE first Communication of and from these things is made unto Christ as the Head of the Church For in the first place it pleased God that in him should all the fulness of these things dwell so as that the whole New Creation might consist
of the Creation unto God bearing forth the Renovation of his Image in the World Herein the Lord Christ is and will be glorious unto all Eternity I only mention these things which deserve to be far more largely insisted on 3. HE doth the same by that actual Insitition or Implantation into himself which he gives us by Faith which is of his own Operation For hereon two Things do ensue one by the Grace or Power the other by the Law or Constitution of the Gospel which have a great Influence into this Mystical Communication of Christ unto the Church AND the first of these is that thereby there is communicated unto us and we do derive Supplies of spiritual Life Sustentation Motion Strength in Grace and Perseverance from him continually This is that which himself so divinely teacheth in the Parable of the Vine and its Branches Joh. 15. 1 2 3 4 5. Hereby is there a continual Communication from his All fulness of Grace unto the whole Church and all the Members of it unto all the Ends and Duties of spiritual Life They live nevertheless not they but Christ liveth in them and the Life which they lead in the Flesh is by the Faith of the Son of God And the other by vertue of the Law and Constitution of the Gospel is that hereon his Righteousness and all the Fruits of his Mediation are imputed unto us the Glory of which Mystery the Apostle unfolds Rom. 3. 4 5. I MIGHT add hereunto the mutual Inbeing that is between him and Believers by Love for the way of the Communication of his Love unto them being by the shedding of it abroad in their Hearts by the Holy Ghost and their returns of Love unto them being wrought in them by an Almighty Efficiency of the same Spirit there is that which is deeply mysterious and glorious in it I might mention also the Continuation of his Discharge of all his Offices towards us whereon all our Receptions from him or all the Benefits of his Mediation whereof we are made Partakers do depend But the few Instances that have been given of the Glory of Christ in this Mysterious Communication of himself unto his Church may suffice to give us such a View of it as to fill our Hearts with holy Admiration and Thanksgiving CHAP. XI The Glory of Christ in the Recapitulation of all things in him IN the last Place the Lord Christ is peculiarly and eminently glorious in the Re-capitulation of all things in him after they had been scattered and disordered by sin This the Apostle proposeth as the most signal Effect of Divine Wisdom and the soveraign Pleasure of God HE hath abounded towards us in all Wisdom and Prudence having made known unto us the Mystery of his Will according unto his good Pleasure which he hath purposed in himself That in the Dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in the Heavens and which are on Earth even in him Ephes. 1. 8 9 10. FOR the Discovery of the Mind of the Holy Ghost in these Words so far as I am at present concerned namely as unto the Representation of the Glory of Christ in them sundry brief Observations must be premised and in them it will be necessary that we briefly declare the Original of all these things in Heaven and Earth their Primitive Order the Confusion that ensued thereon with their Restitution in Christ and his Glory thereby GOD alone hath all being in him Hence he gives himself that Name I AM Exod. 3. 14. He was eternally All when all things else that ever were or now are or shall be were nothing And when they are they are no otherwise but as they are of him and from him and to him Rom. 11. 36. Moreover his Being and Goodness are the same The Goodness of Good is the Meetness of the Divine Being to be communicative of it self in its Effects Hence this is the first Notion of the Divine Nature Infinite Being and Goodness in a Nature intelligent and self-subsistent So the Apostle declares it He that cometh unto God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder Heb. 11. 6. 2. IN this State of Infinite Eternal Being and Goodness antecedent unto any Act of Wisdom or Power without himself to give Existence unto other Things God was and is eternally in himself all that he will be all that he can be unto Eternity For where there is Infinite Being and Infinite Goodness there is Infinite Blessedness and Happiness whereunto nothing can be added God is always the same That is his Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 102. 27. Thou art he always the same All things that are make no addition unto God no change in his State His Blessedness Happiness Self-satisfaction as well as all other his Infinite Perfections were absolutely the same before the Creation of any thing whilst there was nothing but himself as they are since he hath made all things For the Blessedness of God consists in the Ineffable mutual Inbeing of the Three holy Persons in the same Nature with the immanent reciprocal Actings of the Father and the Son in the eternal Love and Complacency of the Spirit Hereunto nothing can be added herein no Change can be made by any external Work or Effect of Power Herein doth God act in the perfect Knowledge and perfect Love of his own Perfections unto an infinite Acquiescency therein which is the Divine Blessedness This gives us the true Notion of the Divine Nature antecedent unto the Manifestation of it made by any outward Effects Infinite Being and Goodness eternally blessed in the Knowledge and Enjoyment of it self by inconceivable ineffable internal Actings answering the manner of its Subsistence which is in three distinct Persons 3. THIS Being and Goodness of God by his own Will and Pleasure acting themselves in Infinite Wisdom and Power produced the Creation of all things Herein he communicated a finite limited dependent Being and Goodness unto other things without himself For all Being and Goodness being as was said in him alone it was necessary that the first outward Work and Effect of the Divine Nature must be the Communication of Being and Goodness into other things Wherefore as when he had given unto every thing its Being out of nothing by the Word of his Power saying Let them be and they were so it is said that he looked on all that he had made and behold they were exceeding good Gen. 1. last Being and Goodness must be the first outward Effects of the Divine Nature which being wrought by Infinite Power and Wisdom do represent unto us the Glory of God in the Creation of all things Infinite Being in Self-subsistence which is necessary in the first Cause and Spring of all things Infinite Goodness to communicate the Effect of this Being unto that which was not and Infinite Wisdom and Power in that Communication are gloriously manifested therein 4.
IN this State all things that were made depended immediately on God himself without the Interposition of any other Head of Influence or Rule They had the Continuance of their Being and its Preservation from the immediate Actings of these Properties of the Divine Nature whereby they were made and their Dependance on God was by Vertue of that Law which was implanted on the Principles and Powers of their several Natures by God himself 5. THUS in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth He provided himself of two distinct Rational Families that should depend on him according to a Law of Moral Obedience and thereby give Glory to him with two distinct Habitations for them cognate unto their Nature and Use Heaven above and the Earth beneath The Earth he appointed for the Habitation of Man which was every way suited unto the Constitution of his Nature the Preservation of his Being and the End of his Creation in giving Glory to God Heaven he prepared for the Habitation of the Angels which was suited unto the Constitution of their Nature the Preservation of their Being and the End of their Creation in giving Glory to God Wherefore as Man had Power and Dominion over all things here below and was to use them all unto the Glory of God by which means God received Glory from them also though in themselves bruit and inanimate so the Angels had the like Dominion over the Coelestial and AEtherial Bodies wherewith God had fitted the Place of their Habitation that through the Contemplation and Use of them God might have a Revenue of Glory and Praise from them also To suppose any other Race of Intellectual Creatures besides Angels in Heaven and Men on Earth is not only without all Countenance from any Divine Testimony but it disturbs and disorders the whole Representation of the Glory of God made unto us in the Scripture and the whole Design of his Wisdom and Grace as declared therein Intellectual Creatures not comprehended in that Government of God and Mystery of his Wisdom in Christ which the Scripture Reveals are a Chimera framed in the Imaginations of some Men scarce duly sensible of what it is to be wise unto Sobriety 6. THIS Order of things was beautiful and comely Hence were they all said to be exceeding good For each of these Families had their own immediate distinct Dependance on God He was the immediate Head of them There was no other common Head interposed between God and them They were not an Head unto one another There were no Communications unto them but what were immediate from God himself And their Union among themselves was in this alone that all their Obedience did meet and center in God So God made the Heavens and the Earth and two distinct Families in them for himself 7. THIS beautiful Order in it self this Union between the two Families of God was disturbed broken dissolved by the Entrance of Sin For hereby part of the Family above and the whole Family below fell off from their Dependance on God and ceasing to center in him as their Head they fell into Variance and Enmity among themselves For the Center of this Union and Order being removed and lost nothing but Enmity and Confusion remained among them Hereon to shew that its Goodness was lost God cursed the Earth and all that was in it for it was put in Subjection unto Man who was now fallen from him Howbeit he cursed not the Heavens which were in Subjection unto the Angels because some of them only left their Habitation and the Habitation of the Residue was not to be cursed for their Sakes But Mankind was wholly gone off from God 8. THE Angels that sinned God utterly rejected for ever as an Example of his Severity the whole Race of Mankind he would not utterly cast off but determined to recover and save a Remnant according to the Election of Grace which how he did it in a way of Condecency unto all his Divine Perfections I have elsewhere declared 9. HOWBEIT he would not restore them into their former State so as to have again two distinct Families each in an immediate Dependance on himself though he left them in different and distinct Habitations Eph. 3. 15. But he would gather them both into one and that under a new Head in whom the one Part should be preserved from sinning and the other delivered from sin committed 10. THIS then is that which the Apostle declares in these Words To gather together in one all things which are in Heaven and which are in Earth even in him And so he again expresseth it Col. 1. 20. To reconcile all things unto himself in him whether they are things in Heaven or things in Earth all things were fallen into disorder and confusion by sin they were fallen off from God into variance among themselves God would not restore them into their first Order in an immediate Dependance on his Divine Perfections He would no longer keep them in two distinct Families but he would in his infinite Wisdom and Goodness gather them up into one common Head on whom they should have their immediate Dependance and be reconciled again among themselves 11. THIS New Head wherein God hath gathered up all things in Heaven and Earth into one one Body one Family on whom is all their dependance in whom they all now consist is Jesus Christ the Son of God incarnate see 1 Cor. 11. 3. Eph. 1. 21 22 23. This Glory was reserved for him none other could be meet for it or worthy of it see Col. 1. 17 18 19 20. 12. TO answer all the Ends of this New Head of Gods recollected Family all Power in Heaven and Earth all Fulness of Grace and Glory is committed unto him There is no Communication from God no Act of Rule towards this Family no Supply of Vertue Power Grace or Goodness unto Angels or Men but what is immediately from this New Head whereinto they are gathered In him they all consist on him do they depend unto him are they subject in their Relation unto him doth their Peace Union and Agreement among themselves consist This is the Recapitulation of all things intended by the Apostle 13. IT is true that he acts distinctly and variously towards the two parts of the Recollected Family of Angels and Men according as their different States and Conditions do require For 1. We had need of a Reparation by Redemption and Grace which the Angels had not 2. Angels were capable of immediate Confirmation in Glory which we are not until we come to Heaven Therefore 1. He assumed our Nature that it might be repaired which he did not the Nature of the Angels 2. He gives us Union unto himself by his Spirit which exalts us into a Dignity and Honour meet for Fellowship with them in the same Family THIS is a brief Account of the mysterious Work of Divine Wisdom in the Recapitulation of all things in Jesus Christ and
herein is he transcendently glorious or his Glory herein is far above our Comprehension Yet some few things may be observed to direct us in the View and Contemplation of it As 1. HE alone was a meet and capable Subject of it He only could bear the weight of this Glory No meer Creature in Heaven or Earth was meet to be thus made the Head of the whole new Creation of God In none of them could all things consist None of them was meet to be thus in the Place of God to have all things depend upon him and be put in subjection unto him so as that there should be no Communication between God and the Creation but by and through him alone Wherefore when the holy Ghost assigns this Glory unto him he so describes him as that we may discern his singular meetness for it as that he is the Brightness of the Fathers Glory and the express Image of his Person upholding all things by the Word of his Power Heb. 1. 3. That he is the Image of the invisible God the first born of every Creature by whom all things were created that are in Heaven and that are in the Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist Col. 1. 15 16 17 18 19. Such an one alone and no other was meet to bear and uphold this Glory And the Glory of his Person is such as that it is the Blessedness of all Creatures to center in this Glory of his Office 2. THIS is that Glory which God designed unto his only Son incarnate and it gives us a little View into the Glory of that Mystery the wonderful eternal Design of God to glorifie himself in the Incarnation of Christ. God would have his eternal his only begotten Son to be incarnate to take our Nature on him to be made Man What is his Design in this incomprehensible Work of his Wisdom Love and Power Indeed in the first place it was for the Redemption of the Church by the Sacrifice of himself and other Acts of his Mediation But there is that which is more general and comprehensive and wherein all the conoerns of the Glory of God do center And this was that he might gather all things into one in him that the whole Creation especially that which was to be eternally blessed should have a new Head given unto it for its Sustentation Preservation Order Honor and Safety All Springs are in him and all Streams are unto him and in and by him unto God Who can express the Divine Beauty Order and Harmony of all things that are in this their Recapitulation in Christ The Union and Communion between Angels and Men the Order of the whole Family in Heaven and Earth the Communication of Life Grace Power Mercy and Consolation to the Church the Rule and Disposal of all things unto the Glory of God do all depend hereon This Glory God designed unto his Son incarnate and it was the greatest the highest that could be communicated unto him For as the Apostle observes All things are put in subjection unto him he only excepted who doth so make them subject that is God the Father 1 Cor. 15. THERE is no Contemplation of the Glory of Christ that ought more to affect the Hearts of them that do believe with Delight and Joy than this of the Recapitulation of all things in him One View by Faith of him in the place of God as the supream Head of the whole Creation moving acting guiding and disposing of it will bring in spiritual Refreshment unto a believing Soul AND it will do so the more in that it gives a glorious Representation of his Divine Nature also For that any meer Creature should thus be an Head of Life Motion and Power as also of soveraign Rule and disposal of the whole new Creation with all things reduced into order thereby is not only an impious but a foolish Imagination DID we live more in the Contemplation of this Glory of Christ and of the Wisdom of God in this Recapitulation of all things in him there is not any thing of our Duty which it would not mind us of nor any thing of Priviledge which it would not give us a Sence of as might easily be demonstrated 3. IN particular the Lord Christ is glorious herein in that the whole Breach made on the Glory of God in the Creation by the Entrance of Sin is hereby repaired and made up The Beauty and Order of the whole Creation consisted in its dependance on God by the Obedience of the rational Part of it Angels and Men. Thereby were the being the goodness the wisdom and power of God made manifest But the Beauty of this Order was defaced and the Manifestation of the Divine Perfections unto the glory of God eclipsed by the Entrance of Sin But all is restored repaired and made up in this Recapitulation of all things in one new Head Christ Jesus yea the whole curious Frame of the Divine Creation is rendred more beautiful than it was before Hence the whole of it groaneth for the Interest of each Part in this Restauration of all things Whatever there is of Order of Beauty of Glory in Heaven above or in Earth beneath it all ariseth from this new Relation of the Creation unto the Son of God Whatever is not gathered into one even in him in its place and according to its measure is under Darkness Disorder and the Curse Hence the Jews have a saying that in the days of the Messiah all things shall be healed but the Serpent that is the Devil and wicked Men which are as his Seed 4. HE is glorious herein in that he is appointed as the only means of exerting and expressing all the Treasures of the Infinite Wisdom of God towards his Creatures The Wisdom of God is absolutely always and in all things Infinite God doth not God cannot act with more Wisdom in one thing than in another as in the Creation of man than in that of any inanimate Creatures In the first Creation Infinite Wisdom was the inseparable companion of Infinite Power How marvellous are thy works O Lord in Wisdom hast thou made them all But when the effects of this Divine Wisdom in their principal beauty and glory were defaced greater Treasures of Wisdom were required unto their Reparation And in this Recollection of all things in Christ did God lay them forth unto the utmost of whatever he will do in dealing with his Creatures so the Apostle expresseth it Ephes. 3. 10. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God By the Recapitulation of all things into this one head the manifold various unsearchable Wisdom of God was made known unto the Angels themselves They knew not before of the Design and