was but a child he was found in the Temple disputing with the Doctors and putting them to silence and we often read that when the Scribes and Pharises and Doctors of the Law came to entrap him by the wisdom of his answers he delivered himself and sent them away ashamed And so further he was a man wonderful in power What manner of man is this say the people that the Winde and Seas obey him Beloved while you look upon him speaking to the devils and they tremble at his voyce speaking to the dead and they rise to the graves and they open doth not this declare him a man wonderful in power He was also wonderful in his holiness a man without the least tincture of sin and amidst all the tentations and defilements of this world round about him yet kept himself unspotted and pure never departing from his Fathers Will never seeking himself in any one act never so much as beholding any object through a false and deceitful notion And all divine and heavenly perfection and vertues did shine forth in a wonderful manner in him wonderful patience strange humility unconceiveable mercy astonishing kindness and goodness We might add also how he was wonderful at his death when as the rocks rent the graves opened the dead arose and darkness was upon the face of the earth which made a learned man in those times cry out * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diony Areopagita Vid. Tertul. Apologet. Either God suffers or doth sympathize with him that suffers But thirdly Considering him as God-man so we shall again find wonderful things in him Here in General you may see the Eternal God coming down into the lowest depth of debasement and humility and frail man raised up into the highest pitch of dignity and glory so that as Divinity could not well stoop lower so neither could Humanity be raised higher 1. First Here we see a poor low Creature made one person with the highest God two natures infinitely distant yet so wonderfully united as to make one person To see the Elements of differing and contrary qualities to meet together in one compound body to see the soul that is of a spiritual substance to be in so near affinity and conjunction with an earthly body is strange but to see God and man met together in one Person is such a mystery that neither men nor Angels can comprehend So that by vertue of this union the properties of the Godhead are ascribed to the Manhood as to be Infinite Omnipotent c. And the properties of the Manhood are attributed to the Godhead as to shed blood dye and suffer and the like Yea for the Creator to become a Creature for the Eternal Spirit to be made Flesh for the Holy God to be made Sin the Ever-blessed God to be made a Curse the strong God to become weak the Lord of Life to dye for riches and poverty glory and shame strength and weakness righteousness and sin fulness and emptiness to meet thus together in this union is such a Mystery as swalloweth up all finite Understandings 2. And Secondly In this union again we see Heaven and Earth embracing and that two ways First by way of Reconciliation Christ in the nature of man doth reconcile man and this whole Creation to the Father as the Apostle speaks Col. 1. 20. By him to reconcile all things to himself whether they be things in earth or things in heaven Secondly by way of union man being made one with God who is in himself a little world this whole Creation is come also into a union with God Christ clothing himself with our nature was in a manner invested with the whole Creation and all his works did do him Homage and Service and bring in praise and glory to him in the Man Christ Jesus The Apostle speaks forth this Mystery Eph. 1. 10. That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things which are in heaven and which are on earth even in Incarnatio est elevatio totius universi in divinam personam him And learned Cajetan speaks thus saith he The incarnation of Christ is the lifting up of the whole Vniverse into the Divine person 3. Thirdly In this union we see Man in the soveraignty and power of God Man exercising power and dominion over all the works of God for the Humanity doth co-operate with the Divinity in swaying the Scepter both of heaven and earth Math. 28. 18. All power is given unto me both in Heaven and in Earth And is not this wonderful to see our Nature sitting upon the Throne of God and raigning in the same authority and soveraignty with the Eternal God 4. Fourthly In this union we yet see further wonders we see the wonderful perfections of Almighty God shining forth in the highest and clearest discoveries of themselves to the world Though God is wonderful in all his works this fabrick of Heaven and Earth is a wonderful piece and much of Gods glory appears in it yet nowhere is he so fully and gloriously declared as in the Man Christ Jesus so that the Angels themselves as it were passing by the rest of Gods works do especially gaze upon those discoveries that God hath made of himself in Jesus Christ we read 1 Pet. 1. 12. Ephes 3. 10. whether ye speak of Mercy or of Truth or of Patience or of Justice or of Power or of Wisdom all these in an eminent and astonishing way shine forth in the Man Christ Jesus Thus we have shewed him first wonderful in his person 2. In the second place we shal present him wonderful in his Offices as King Priest and Prophet And it is sometheir wonderful to see these three formally to meet in their highest perfection in one and the same person Melehizedeck was a King and a Priest Solomon a King and a Prophet Samuel a Priest and a Prophet but we read of none in whom all these Offices did formally meet together but in Christ alone 1. But to consider them distinctly First He is a wonderful King wonderful in respect of outward meanness a great King and yet in the meanest garb in the lowest state born a King and yet laid in a Manger a King and yet had not where to lay his head a King and yet riding upon a poor silly Ass In nothing was he like the Kings of this world The Thiefe upon the Cross desires him to remember him when he came into his Kingdom to whom I remember Augustine makes these witty Interrogatories O thief what royalty dost thou see Dost thou see any other Crown on his head but Thorns any other Scepter in his hand but nailes any Throne but a Cross any Purple but Blood any Guard but Executioners Again A strange King if you look upon his anointing The Spirit was that oyl wherewith he was annointed of God and the Scepter he sways is a strange Scepter other Scepters are of gold and silver
being all but dark beams of that divine glory whereof he is the Sun from which they proceed and upon which they do depend and are infinitely as in the first cause comprehended in himself As Xeuxis when he drew the Picture of Helena had all the beautiful Virgins of Greece before him and whatever stamp of beauty or comliness he saw in any put all into that one Picture so all the several stamps and lineaments of beauty which are scattered up and down through the whole Creation are all gathered up in a transcendent manner in the person of Jesus Christ And to look lower down upon his Humanity and there wonder at those rare perfections and eminent graces that dwell in it look upon it as the Representative of all the Saints the Epitome of the whole Creation behold it in that intimate and immediate conjunction it hath with the Godhead and here wonder to see how heaven and earth embrace the Humanity raised infinitely high the Divinity stooping infinitley low God coming down in this humanity unto us and through it raising us up unto himself and his own life blessedness and fulness as we spake before And then pass on to his Works and admire him there First the works of Creation for this name of his in the Text is visibly written there here are as well mysteries for admiration as causes for reason even such as have non-plust the deepest Philosophers and the ablest Humanists so that the creatures are not as the Papists say of their Images Idiotarum libri books for Idiots only but Cabinets of wonders for the highest Schollers and Christians to admire David speaking of these works of God in the 104. Psal His heart was so full that he is faint in the midst of his discourse to stand still and wonder saying as in the 24. vers O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all And Elihu calls upon Job Chap. 37. 14. Hearken O Job stand still and consider the wonderful works of God And God presenting these before him drove him into a speechless silence as we read Job 40. 4. I will lay my hand upon my mouth And Agur Prov. 30. 4. looking upon the Creation wonders at the Creator Who hath ascended up into heaven or descended who hath gathered the wind with his fists who hath bound the waters in a garment who hath established all the ends of the earth What is his name or his Sons name if thou canst tell And give me leave by way of imitation of this holy man to propound some questions to you What is it that props up the heavens that they fall not and what hidden vertue or quality wherles them about in such a rapid and regular motion Whence is it That the Sun Moon and Stars send their light heat and influence downward when it is more natural for light and heat to ascend upward What is it that gives the Rain-bow its various colours and bends it through the sky like a bowe What is that which thunders in the clouds and ratleth like a Chariot in the heavens Whence hath the wind its force and out of what treasury is it brought forth And to come yet lower Whereupon are the foundations of the earth fastened and what Axel tree bears up the burthen of it Whence is the ebbing and flowing of the sea and why do not the proud waves thereof overflow the bancks when as they rise many degrees above them Whose power and wisdom hath done all these things what is his name or his sons name if thou canst tell Make this heavenly advantage of your Country houses as to admire the wonders of God that shine forth there round about you Every Flower in the Garden Tree in the Orchard those several beauties wherewith thou seest the Earth bedecked may represent this wonderful one Jesus Christ in a delightfull appearance to thee who is the sweetness of all things sweet the beauty of all things beautiful the glory of all things glorious Yea who is the form of every form the life of all lives that One Eternal root and seed out of which all other seeds and roots do originally spring And all that multiplicity diversity contrariety which is seen in things here below do meet in the greatest simplicity and unity in him for it is unity that brought forth plurality and all plurality is eminently comprehended in unity And therefore seeing Jesus Christ hath as it were multiplyed himself into such various beauties forms and images let us by these rise up above these unto himself who is all and infinitely more then all these And endeavour in the most simple and abstracted acts of the mind to close with him who is the most simple and abstracted being ascending from the finite to the infinite from the visible to the invisible from the corruptible to that which is eternal And then pass on to the works of Providence and wonder again here Providence it is Ordinatio rerum ad finem as Aquinas speaks And it is wonderful to see how providence doth sweetly dispose of all things to their proper ends As we see in a Watch the wheels are many their motions various and contrary that an unskilful man sees no reason or method in them but the wise Artificer sees method and reason in all So divine providence in a secret and invisible way guides the several cross and interfering motions of the creature with much Order and harmony to their due and proper end And here I might lead you back into the Story of former times and shew you the wonders of providence in the several Ages of the world and in what a strange method it hath carryed on the affairs of the Nations especially those that have more immediatly referred to his Church how wonderfully it hath been preserved as a Lamb in the midst of Wolves as a little spark of fire in the midst of those impetuous waves of persecution that have every moment threatned to overwhelm her Yea and how in all Ages God hath made the malice and policy of her enemies to conduce to her further spreading and rising in the world But we need go no further then our own Nation and these latter years wherein God hath carryed on the affairs of his people by a continued series of wonders To extirpate that Prelatical power that had so deeply riveted it self into the bowels of the Nation and yet the Nation stand is wonderful To raise up the heads of a few contemptible men the People of God in this Nation called Puritans in the dialect of late times and since put under other disguizes to represent the 〈◊〉 to â—â—ise up these and make them to become a terrour to their enemies though far more and mightier in outward strength then they is again wonderful And further to consider what eminent acts of Justice have been done upon men of the highest rank of the greatest power and interest What changes have been made in Government
upon the world Before we look upon him directly in this name of his and the reasons of it we shall present him under some of those types and shadows whereby he was represented before his actual coming into the world We find him typed forth by wonderful persons and wonderful things under the Law and yet himself more wonderful then all For Persons 1. Adam a wonderful person formed by the immediate hand of God without the concurrence of those natural causes by which men are ordinarily brought forth so was Jesus Christ Adam had all knowledge both of God and the creature by immediate illumination and infusion so had Jesus Christ Adam had mankind in his loyns a world within him so had Jesus Christ Adam had an universal Lordship and superintendency over the whole Creation so had Jesus Christ So also Noah a wonderful person a man that lived in two worlds was the term or period of the Old world as it is called 2 Pet. 2. 5. and was the beginning and foundation of the New world after the Flood which was repaired and built up again by him as you read Gen. 9. Even so Jesus Christ lived first in the old natural state of man being under the Law as the old man or Adam is and was the end or period of that and then raised up and founded the new spiritual world making the old state of things to pass away upon his Cross and bringing all things into a new state at his Resurrection The next wonderful man we shall speak of is Melchisedek whom the Apostle gives a strange description of Heb. 7. Without father without mother without beginning or end of days and abiding a Priest continually Some conceived him to be Sem the son of Noah as the Samaritans Vid. Cunaeum lib. 2. cap. 3. expressè and Hebrews Others an Angel as Origen Others the Holy Ghost or a certain divine power of God greater then Christ as the Melchisedecians Others Christ himself appearing in humane form as Cunaeus and others And some conceive him one of the Kings of Canaan as A Lapide whom you may read upon the place who ever he was he was a wonderful person Said to be without father or mother meant either because his Genealogy is not spoken of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in reference to his Priesthood not descending upon him by Father Mother or any natural succession as it did upon the Levitical Priests which is the more probable Said also to be without beginning or end of days viz. as a Priest his Priesthood not being after the Order of Aaron which was to expire but vested in him upon such an account as was eminently to be held up established and perpetuated in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ And to this man Abraham and the Levitical Priesthood in his loyns that was to receive Tithes pays Tithes of all A wonderful person indeed and yet in all this but a shadow of him that is far more wonderful Jesus Christ who is indeed without Father and mother without beginning and end of days and abideth a Priest for ever to whom we all spiritually are to pay tithes by acknowledging that we hold all of him and by resigning all back again unto him Another wonderful man was Isaac issuing out of the dry and as it were dead bodies of Abraham and Sarah when the vigor and vertue of nature was even expired that Sarah laughed at the Promise saying How can this be So Jesus Christ springs as a root out of a dry ground as the Prophet speaks Isai 53. 2. When his Glory and Kingdom riseth in the world it is usually out of causes that seem barren and improbable and when he riseth and grows up within us it is out of a dry and barren spirit making the Wilderness to bud and blossom as the Rose Isai 35. 1. And Isaac one in whom all Nations were to be blessed which is only true of Jesus Christ in whom we are blessed with all blessings in heavenly things And so Joseph another person to be wondered at filled with heavenly wisdom to interpret secrets and declare the hidden things of darkness and therefore was called Zaphnath Paaneah Gen. 41. 45. But Christ in this respect more wonderful declaring the deep Counsels of God and opening the Treasuries of the highest wisdom to the world Again a wonderful person saving all Egypt alive in the midst of famine and his father and brethren from death by that provision which he stored up and dispensed to them so Jesus Christ hath all heavenly provisions stored up in himself whereby he doth feed and nourish the souls of men in the midst of that spiritual famine that sin hath brought upon them And yet again wonderful to whom his Brethrens sheafes and the Sun Moon and eleven Stars did obeisance Gen. 37. 7 9. in a Dream or Vision So all power in Heaven and Earth is in the hand of Christ and to him every knee shall bow To mention but one person more of many Sampson a Judg. 14 16. wonderful man who slew a Lion with his hand and tare him in pieces like a Kid So doth Jesus Christ slay and conquer Satan break his power and kingdom in pieces Again Sampson with the jawbone of an Ass a simple creature slew above a thousand men So Christ by the Word of his mouth which the world accounts foolishness slays the wicked with a destructive and his people with a wholsom and saving slaughter Again Sampson took the gates of the City Gaza and carries them away with the bars and posts thereof So our Lord Jesus carries away the gates and bars of death and sin And so the wit hs and green cords wherewith he was bound he brake them in pieces like Tow Even so Jesus Christ breaks asunder those bands of the Law and sin that were upon him delivered himself from them and his people by his presence in them We might instance in Moses Ioshua David and many others of whom such wonderful things are reported but time would fail Thus much for the wonderful persons We shall next set before you some Wonderful things that have been from the beginning of the world which were all as shadows to represent and harbingers to usher in this person in the Text whose name is Wonderful into the world To speak briefly First the Tree of life in Paradise a strange thing that the man that eat thereof should live for ever This tree of life is Jesus Christ And so Jacobs Ladder though seen but in a vision yet was wonderful to Iacob whose bottom was upon the Earth and the top reached Heaven Jesus Christ is this Ladder uniting God and Man Heaven and Earth together Also the burning bush that Moses saw a strange thing Exod. 3. 3. a great sight as Moses called it for a little bush and a devouring flame to meet together and yet the bush not consumed of it So in Jesus Christ for the brightness and glory
Jesus Christ are the highest mysteries and the greatest rarities that Heaven and Earth can afford Was not this that which drew the Queen of Sheba from the uttermost parts of the Earth the report which she heard of the wonderful wisdom of King Solomon And do not stories tell us that men came from all parts of the earth to behold the rare beauty of Penelope But yet lo A greater then Solomon is here one in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and a beauty which that of Penelope was scarce a shadow of Oh that men would come to feed and to feast their souls in the contemplation of those rare excellencies delights and perfections which are treasured up in Jesus Christ Yea here are all perfections not only to gaze upon but to be improved for your salvation and happiness Here is wonderful mercy shal be improved to pardon thee wonderful grace to accept and entertain thee wondrous goodness to relieve and supply thee wonderful power to redeem and support thee wonderful wisdom to instruct and guide thee and wonderful holiness to adorn and sanctifie thee and wonderful fulness to fill and satisfie thee And as for you who already know him seeing he is wonderful be you still searching and enquiring into him his Person his Offices his Works for in all he is wonderful Things that are wonderful have a heighth depth and bredth in them not easily discovered and the further we search into this great mysterie the Lord Jesus the more will his wonderfulness shine forth upon us And though we may see an end of all created perfection yet in him there is still a perfection beyond our reach to entertain our admiration Solomon doth advise us to seek after wisdom as silver and to search after her as hidden treasure This wisdom is our Lord Jesus in whom all the treasures of heaven are hidden and laid up and are discovered unto those spirits that are in the power and light of God searching into them The Apostle in the third to the Ephes having spoken in the beginning of the Chapter of the great mysterie of Christ which was hid in God comes to pray in ver 18. that the Ephesians might be able with all Saints to comprehend what is the heighth depth length and breadth In natural things there are but three dimensions length breadth and depth but here are four for Saints to be daily exercised in the comprehending of Oh that therefore you would bend your thoughts hither and fix your contemplation upon the wonders of Jesus Christ Especially considering that Christ hath this name Wonderful given him in order to your salvation and as he is the Saviour of his people So that you do but discover the treasures of your own comfort happiness and glory while you are enquiring and searching into him As you finde him a rich Mine and unsearchable riches treasured up in him so are they all laid out upon your salvation As the eye of your soul goes before and makes discovery so Faith the hand of your soul may follow after and take hold of what is discovered He that is heir apparent to the Crown looks upon the Majesty Royalty and Riches of the King with another eye then a meer stranger the one may gaze upon them and wonder but the other doth behold them as in a propriety and so doth secretly possess them rejoyce and glory in them Vse 2. If the Lord Jesus be thus wonderful then let us not circumscribe and limit him not confine and measure him by our narrow understanding seeing he is in every respect wonderful And 1. Take heed of limiting his Person by framing mean and low conceptions of those immense perfections that are in himself we are apt to conceive of him by what we see in the creature and to measure the Infinite by the finite his infinite beauty mercy sweetness and wisdom by what we see of these among the creatures below Indeed Jesus Christ hath all these perfections of the creature in himself but in such an eminent and transcendent manner as no created understanding can reach To whom will you liken the Lord saith the Prophet or what likeness will you compare unto him Isa 40. 18. And there is nothing that can be compared to him in Heaven or Earth And therefore when thou fallest down before him to worship him take heed of representing him to thy self under any created form lest thou worship an Idol set up in thy brain instead of God Si quis viso Deo cognovit id quod vidit non illum vidit saith a Learned man Thou that sayest thou seest God if thou dost Comprehend what thou seest thou seest not God for he is infinitely above all comprehension 2. Take heed of limiting him in respect of his working for he is herein also wonderful Which speaks out three things 1. Prescribe him not his way dictate not to him his method for if we do we limit him He will accomplish his own designs and end but haply in such a way as thou didst never imagine for he is wonderful Who Isa 40. 13. hath directed the Spirit of the Lord or being his Counsellor hath taught him saith the Prophet In nothing is God more wonderful then in the path and method wherein he walks And this is that which many forward Professors in our dayes have been offended at having prescribed to God his way wherein they intended to follow him he choosing out another-way to himself they have then deserted him and departed from him 2. Again do not distrust him for then we limit him As the Israelites thus limited God Can God say they prepare a Table in the wilderness Can he give us water in this dry and thirsty Land We forget this name of his in the Text when ever we distrust him we say indeed that he is Almighty and Al-sufficient but when we come into such extremities that Almightiness must help us or nothing how do our hearts faint and die within us He is wonderful in Counsel to guide thee in Power to support thee in Mercy to pardon thee in Goodness to supply thee and therefore distrust him not Thou haply seest the work of thy salvation encountred with great difficulties and strong opposition and great mountains laid in the way of Sions glory yet let the remembrance of this name of his support thy faith against them all 3. Do not censure him when he hath put thy reason to a stand and is quite gone out of thy sight and is doing his work under the dark clouds that thou canst not see him and where thou wouldst least look for him censure him not for he is wonderful He will answer the prayers of his people and work out the salvation of Sion but in a way that few shall be able to bear We have cryed and prayed for Justice for Reformation for the Kingdom of Christ the throwing down the Man of Sin but few of us knew what indeed