Elect of God are sinners They were so in Adam they have been and are so in themselves What doth become the Justice of God to do thereon Shall it dismiss them all unpunished Where then is that Justice which spared not the Angels who sinned nor Adam at the first Would this procedure have any consonancy thereunto be reconcilable unto it Wherefore the Establishment of the Righteousness of God on the one hand and the forgiveness of sin on the other seem so contradictory as that many stumble and fall at it eternally see Ram. 10. 3 4. BUT in this interposition of Christ in this Translation of punishment from the Church unto him by vertue of his Conjunction therewith there is a blessed harmony between the Righteousness of the God and the forgiveness of sins the exemplification whereof is his Eternal Glory O Blessed Change O Sweet permutation as Justine Martyr speaks BY Vertue of his Union with the Church which of his own accord he entred into and his undertaking therein to answer for it in the sight of God it was a righteous thing with God to lay the punishment of all our sins upon him so as that he might freely and graciously pardon them all to the Honour and Exaltation of his Justice as well as of his Grace and Mercy Rom. 3. 24 25 26. HEREIN is he Glorious in the sight of God Angels and Men. In him there is at the same time in the same Divine Actings a Glorious Resplendency of Justice and Mercy of the one in punishing of the other in pardoning The appearing inconsistency between the Righteousness of God and the Salvation of sinners wherewith the Consciences of convinced Persons are exercised and terrified and which is the Rock at which most of them split themselves into Eternal Ruin is herein removed and taken away In his Cross were Divine Holiness and Vindictive Justice exercised and manifested and through his Triumph Grace and Mercy are exerted to the utmost This is that Glory which ravisheth the Hearts and satiates the Souls of them that believe For what can they desire more what is farther needful unto the Rest and Composure of their Souls than at one view to behold God eternally well pleased in the declaration of his Righteousness and the exercise of his Mercy in order unto their Salvation In due apprehensions hereof let my Soul live in the faith hereof let me dye and let present Admiration of this Glory make way for the eternal enjoyment of it in its beauty and fulness HE is Glorious in that the Law of God in its Preceptive part or as unto the Obedience which it required was perfectly fulfilled and accomplished That it should be so was absolutely necessary from the Wisdom Holiness and Righteousness of him by whom it was given For what could be more remote from those Divine Perfections than to give a Law which never was to be fulfilled in them unto whom it was given and who were to have the advantages of it 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. 2. 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 Vbiquity 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 bear Jezreel God hath given a subordination of things in a Concatenation of Causes whereon their Subsistence doth depend Yet 4. IN
it is partial 1. AS unto the manner of its Operation it is gradual and doth not at once transform us into the Image of Christ. Yea the degrees of its Progress therein are unto us for the most part imperceptible It requires much spiritual Wisdom and Observation to obtain an Experience of them in our own Souls The inward man is renewed day by day whilst we behold these invisible things 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. but how even as the outward Man decays by Age which is by insensible Degrees and Alterations Such is the Transformation which we have by Faith in its present View of the glory of Christ. And according to our Experience of its Efficacy herein is our Evidence of its Truth and Realty in the beholding of him No Man can have the least ground of assurance that he hath seen Christ and his glory by Faith without some Effects of it in changing him into his Likeness For as on the Touch of his Garment by the Woman in the Gospel Vertue went out from him to heal her Infirmity So upon this View of Faith an influence of transforming Power will proceed from Christ unto the Soul 2. AS unto the Event it is but partial It doth not bring this Work unto perfection The change wrought by it is indeed great and glorious or as the Apostle speaks it is from Glory to Glory in a Progress of glorious Grace But absolute perfection is reserved for Vision As unto Divine Worship Perfection was not by the Law It did many things preparatory unto the Revelation of the Will of God concerning it but it made nothing perfect So absolute Perfection in Holiness and the Restoration of the Image of God is not by the Gospel is not by Faith however it gives us many preparatory degrees unto it as the Apostle fully declares Phil. 3. 10 11 12 13 14. SECONDLY Vision is Beatifical as it is commonly called and that not amiss It gives perfect Rest and Blessedness unto them in whom it is This may be a little opened in the ensuing Observations 1. THERE are continual Operations of God in Christ in the Souls of them that are glorified and Communications from him unto them For all Creatures must eternally live even in Heaven in dependance on him who is the eternal Fountain of Being Life Goodness and Blessedness unto all As we cannot subsist one moment in our Beings Lives Souls Bodies the inward or outward Man without the continual Actings of divine Power in us and towards us so in the glorified State our All shall depend eternally on Divine Power and Goodness communicating themselves unto us for all the ends of our blessed Subsistance in Heaven 2. WHAT is the way and manner of these Communications we cannot comprehend We cannot indeed fully understand the Nature and way of his Spiritual Communications unto us in this Life We know these things by their Signs their outward 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 〈…〉 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 Ephes. 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
Entrance into Dust and Darkness is no way to be compared with what is to ensue Eternal Distress lies at the Door But yet look up once more and behold me that thou mayest have some Glymps of what is in the Designs of Infinite Wisdom Love and Grace Come forth from thy vain Shelter thy hiding Place I will put my self into thy Condition I will undergo and bear that Burthen of Guilt and Punishment which would sink thee eternally into the bottom of Hell I will pay that which I never took and be made temporally a Curse for thee that thou mayest attain unto Eternal Blessedness To the same purpose he speaks unto convinced Sinners in the Invitation he gives them to come unto him THUS is the Lord Christ set forth in the Gospel evidently crucified before our Eyes Gal. 3. 1. Namely in the Representation that is made of his Glory in the Suffering he underwent for the Discharge of the Office he had undertaken Let us then behold him as poor despised persecuted reproached reviled hanged on a Tree in all labouring under a Sense of the Wrath of God due unto our Sins Unto this End are they recorded in the Gospel read preached and represented unto us But what can we see herein What Glory is in these things Are not these the things which all thâ— World of Jews and Gentiles stumbled and took Offence at Those wherein he was appointed to be a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence Was it not esteemed a foolish thing to look for Help and Deliverance by the Miseries of another To look for Life by his Death The Apostle declares at large that such it was esteemed 1 Cor. 1. So was it in the Wisdom of the World But even on the Account of these things is he Honorable Glorious and Precious in the sight of them that do believe 1 Pet. 2. 6 7. For even herein he was the Wisdom of God and the Power of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. And the Apostle declares at large the Grounds and Reasons of the different Thoughts and Apprehensions of Men concerning the Cross and Sufferings of Christ 2 Cor. 4. 3 4 5 6. CHAP. VII The Glory of Christ in his Exaltation after the Accomplishment of the Work of Mediation in this World WE may in the next Place behold the Glory of Christ with respect unto his Office in the Actings of God towards him which ensued on his Discharge of it in this World in his own Exaltation THESE are the two Heads whereunto all the Prophesies and Predictions concerning Jesus Christ under the Old Testament are referred namely his Sufferings and the Glory that ensued thereon 1 Pet. 1. 11. All the Prophets testified beforehand of the Sufferings of Christ and the Glory that should follow So when he himself opened the Scriptures unto his Disciples he gave them this as the Sum of the Doctrine contained in them Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter unto his Glory Luk. 24. 26. The same is frequently expressed elsewhere Rom. 14. 9. Phil. 2. 5 6 7 8. SO much as we know of Christ his Sufferings and his Glory so much do we understand of the Scripture and no more THESE are the Two Heads of the Mediation of Christ and his Kingdom and this is their Order which they communicate unto the Church first Sufferings and then Glory If we suffer we shall also reign with him 2 Tim. 2. 12. They do but deceive themselves who design any other Method of these things Some would reign here in this World and we may say with the Apostle would you did reign that we might reign with you But the Members of the mystical Body must be conformed unto the Head In him Sufferings went before Glory and so they must in them The Order in the Kingdom of Satan and the Word is contrary hereunto First the Good Things of this Life and then Eternal Misery is the Method of that Kingdom Luk. 16. 25. THESE are the two Springs of the Salvation of the Church the two anointed ones that stand before the Lord of the whole Earth from which all the golden Oyl whereby the Church is dedicated unto God and sanctified doth flow This Glory of Christ in his Exaltation which followed on his Sufferings is that which we now enquire into And we shall state our Apprehensions of it in the ensuing Observations 1. THIS is peculiarly that Glory which the Lord Christ prays that his Disciples may be where he is to behold it It is not solely so as it is considered absolutely but it is that wherein all the other Parts of his Glory are made manifest It is the Evidence the Pledge the Means of the Manifestation of them all As unto all the Instances of his Glory before insisted on there was a Vail drawn over them whilst he was in this World Hence the most saw nothing of it and the best saw it but obscurely But in this Glory that Vail is taken off whereby the whole Glory of his Person in it self and in the Work of Mediation is most illustriously manifested When we shall immediately behold this Glory we shall see him as he is This is that Glory whereof the Father made grant unto him before the Foundation of the World and wherewith he was actually invested upon his Ascention 2. BY this Glory of Christ I do not understand the Essential Glory of his Divine Nature or his being absolutely in his own Person over all God blessed for ever But the manifestation of this Glory in particular after it had been vailed in this World under the Form of a Servant belongs hereunto The Divine Glory of Christ in his Person belongs not unto his Exaltation but the Manifestation of it doth so It was not given him by free Donation but the Declaration of it unto the Church of Angels and Men after his Humiliation was so He left it not whilst he was in this World but the direct Evidence and Declaration of it he laid aside until he was declared to be the Son of God with Power by the Resurrection from the Dead WHEN the Sun is under a total Eclipse he loseth nothing of his Native Beauty Light and Glory He is still the same that he was from the beginning a great Light to rule the Day To us he appears as a dark useless Meteor but when he comes by his course to free himself from the Lunar Interposition unto his proper Aspect towards us he manifests again his Native Light and Glory So was it with the Divine Nature of Christ as we have before declared He vailed the Glory of it by the Interposition of the Flesh or the Assumption of our Nature to be his own with this Addition that therein he took on him the Form of a Servant of a Person of mean and low Degree But this temporary Eclipse being past and over it now shines forth in its Infinite Lustre and Beauty which belongs unto the present Exaltation of his
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 in him Col. 1. 17 18 19. And this was the first Egress of divine Wisdom for the Manifestation of the Glory of God in these holy Properties of his Nature For 3. THIS Communication was made unto him as a Repository and Treasury of all that Goodness Grace Life Light Power and Mercy which were necessary for the Constitution and Preservation of the New Creation They were to be laid up in him to be hid in him to dwell in him and from him to be communicated unto the whole Mystical Body designed unto him that is the Church And this is the first Emanation of divine Power and Wisdom for the Manifestation of his Glory in the New Creation This Constitution of Christ as the Head of it and the Treasuring up in him all that was necessary for its Production and Preservation wherein the Church is chosen and preordained in him unto Grace and Glory is the Spring and Fountain of divine Glory in the Communications that ensue thereon 4. THIS Communication unto Christ is 1. Unto his Person and then 2. With respect unto this Office It is in the Person of Christ that all Fulness doth originally dwell On the Assumption of human Nature into personal Union with the Son of God all Fulness dwells in him bodily Col. 2. 9. And thereon receiving the Spirit in all Fulness and not by Measure all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge were hid in him Col. 2. 3. and he was filled with the unsearchable Riches of Divine Grace Ephes. 3. 8 9 10 11. And the Office of Christ is nothing but the way appointed in the Wisdom of God for the Communication of the Treasures of Grece which were communicated unto his Person This is the end of the whole Office of Christ in all the parts of it as he is a Priest a Prophet and a King They are I say nothing but the Ways appointed by infinite Wisdom for the Communication of the Grace laid up in his Person unto the Church The transcendent Glory hereof we have in some weak measure enquired into 5. THE Decree of Election prepared if I may so say the Mass of the New Creation In the oldâ— Creation God first prepared and created the Mass or Matter of the whole which afterwards by the Power of the holy Spirit was formed into all the distinct Beings whereof the whole Creation was to consist and animated according to their distinct Kinds AND in order unto the Production and Perfecting of the Work of the new Creation God did from Eternity in the holy purpose of his Will prepare and in design set apart unto himself that Portion of Mankind whereof it was to consist Hereby they were only the peculiar Matter that was to be wrought upon by the Holy Ghost and the glorious Fabrick of the Church erected out of it What was said it may be of the Natural Body by the Psalmist is true of the Mystical Body of Christ which is principally intended Psal. 139. 15 16. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect and in thy Book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them The substance of the Church whereof it was to be formed was under the Eye of God as proposed in the Decree of Election yet was it as such imperfect It was not formed or shaped into Members of the Mystical Body But they were all written in the Book of Life And in pursuance of the Purpose of God there they are by the holy Spirit in the whole course and continuance of time in their several Generations fashioned into the Shape designed for them 6. THIS therefore is herein the glorious Order of divine Communications From the infinite eternal Spring of Widsom Grace Goodness and Love in the Father all the Effects whereof unto his end were treasured up in the Person and