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
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 Grace 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 old 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 Wisdom Grace Goodness and Love in the Father all the Effects whereof unto his end were treasured up in the Person and Mediation of the Son the holy Spirit unto whom the actual Application of them is committed communicates Life Light Power Grace and Mercy unto all that are designed parts of the New Creation Hereon doth God glorifie both the essential Properties of his Nature his infinite Wisdom Power Goodness and Grace as the only eternal Spring of all these things and also his ineffable glorious Existence in three Persons by the Order of the Communication of these things unto the Church which are originally from his Nature And herein is the glorious Truth of the Blessed Trinity which by some is opposed by some neglected by most looked on as that which is so much above them as that it doth not belong unto them made precious unto them that believe and becomes the Foundation of their Faith and Hope In a View of the glorious Order of those divine Communications we are in a steady Contemplation of the ineffable Glory of the Existence of the Nature of God in the Three distinct Persons of Father Son and Holy Ghost 7. ACCORDING unto this Divine Order the Elect in all Ages are by the holy Spirit moving and acting on that Mass of the New Creation formed and animated with spiritual Life Light Grace and Power unto the Glory of God They are not called accidentally according unto the external Occasions and Causes of their Conversion unto God but in every Age at his own Time and Season the holy Spirit communicates these things unto them in the Order declared unto the Glory of God 8. AND in the same manner is the whole New Creation preserved every Day every moment there is vital Power and Strength Mercy and Grace communicated in this Divine Order to all Believers in the World There is a continual Influence from the Fountain from the Head into all the Members whereby they all consist in him are acted by him who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure and the Apostle declares that the whole Constitution of Church-order is suited as an external Instrument to promote these Divine Communications unto all the Members of the Church it self Eph. 4. 13 14 15 16. THIS in general is the Order of Divine Communications which is for the Substance of it continued in Heaven and shall be so unto Eternity For God is and ever will be all and in all But at present it is invisible unto Eyes of Flesh yea the Reason of Men. Hence it is by the most despised they see no Glory in it But let us consider the Prayer of the Apostle that it may be otherwise with us Ephes. 1. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23. For the Revelation made of the Glory of God in the old Creation is exceeding inferior to that which he makes of himself in the New HAVING premised these things in general concerning the Glory of Divine Communications I shall proceed to declare in particular the Grounds and Way whereby the Lord Christ communicates himself and therewithal
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.
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
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
and Power are in like manner in sundry places represented unto us And as one Star differeth from another in Glory so it was one way whereby God represented the Glory of Christ in Types and Shadows under the Old Testament and another wherein it is declared in the New Illustrious Testimonies upon all these things are planted up and down in the Scripture which we may collect as choice flowers in the Paradise of God for the Object of our Faith and Sight thereby SO the Spouse in the Canticles considered every part of the Person and Grace of Christ distinctly by it self and from them all concludes that he is altogether lovely Chap. 5. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16. So ought we to do in our study of the Scripture to find out the Revelation of the Glory of Christ which is made therein as did the Prophets of old as unto what they themselves received by immediate Inspiration They searched diligently what the spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified-before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glory which should ensue 1 Pet. 1. 11 12. But this seeing of Christ by parts in the Revelation of him is one cause why we see him here but in part SOME suppose that by Chopping and Painting and Gilding they can make an Image of Christ that shall perfectly represent him to their Sences and carnal Affections from head to foot But they feed on ashes and have a lie in their right hand Jesus Christ is evidently crucified before our eyes in the Scripture Gal. 3. 1. So also is he evidently exalted and glorified therein And it is the Wisdom of Faith to gather into one those parcelled Descriptions that are given of him that they may be the Object of its View and Contemplation IN the Vision which we shall have above the whole Glory of Christ will be at once and always represented unto us and we shall be enabled in one act of the Light of Glory to comprehend it Here indeed we are at a loss our minds and understandings fail us in their Contemplations It will not yet enter into our hearts to conceive what is the beauty what is the Glory of this compleat Representation of Christ unto us To have at once all the Glory of what he is what he was in his outward State and Condition what he did and suffered what he is Exalted unto his Love and Condescention his Mystical Union with the Church and the Communication of himself unto it with the Recapitulation of all things in Him and the Glory of God even the Father in his Wisdom Righteousness Grace Love Goodness Power shining forth eternally in him in what he is hath done and doth all presented unto us in one view all comprehended by us at once is that which at present we cannot conceive We can long for it pant after it and have some foretasts of it namely of that State and Season wherein our whole Souls in all their powers and faculties shall constantly inseparably eternally cleave by Love unto whole Christ in the sight of the Glory of his Person and Grace until they are watered dissolved and inebriated in the Waters of Life and the Rivers of Pleasure that are above for evermore So must we speak of the things which we admire which we adore which we love which we long for which we have some foretasts of in sweetness ineffable which yet we cannot comprehend THESE are some few of those things whence ariseth the difference between that view which we have here of the Glory of Christ and that which is reserved for Heaven namely such as are taken from the difference between the means or instruments of the one and the other Faith and Sight IN the last place the great difference between them consists in and is manifested by their effects Hereof I shall give some few instances and close this discourse 1. THE Vision which we shall have of the Glory of Christ in Heaven and of the Glory of the immense God in him is perfectly and absolutely transforming It doth change us wholly into the Image of Christ. When we shall see him we shall be as he is we shall be like him because we shall see him 1 Joh. 3. 2. But although the closing perfecting act of this Transformation be an act of sight or the sight of Glory yet there are many things towards it or degrees in it which we may here take notice of in our way 1. THE Soul upon its Departure from the Body is immediately freed fom all the Weakness Disability Darkness Uncertainties and Fears which were impressed on it from the Flesh wherewith it was in the strictest Union The Image of the first Adam as fallen is then abolished Yea it is not only freed from all irregular sinful Distempers cleaving to our Nature as corrupted but from all those sinless Grievances and Infirmities which belong unto the Original Constitution of it This necessarily ensues on the Dissolution of the Person in order unto a blessed State The first entrance by Mortality into Immortallity is a step towards Glory The ease which a blessed Soul finds in a deliverance from this Encumbrance is a Door of entrance into eternal Rest. Such a change is made in that which in it self is the Center of all Evil namely Death that it is made a means of freeing us from all the Remainders of what is evil FOR this doth not follow absolutely on the Nature of the thing it self A meer Dissolution of our Natures can bring no Advantage with it especially as it is a part of the Curse But it is from the Sanctification of it by the Death of Christ. Hereby that which was Gods Ordinance for the Infliction of Judgment becomes an effectual Means for the Communication of Mercy 1 Cor. 5. 22. Chap. 15. 54. It is by vertue of the Death of Christ alone that the Souls of Believers are freed by Death from all impressions of Sin Infirmity and Evils which they have had from the Flesh which were their Burden under which they groaned all their Days No Man knows in any measure the Excellency of this Priviledge and the Dawnings of Glory which are in it who hath not been wearied and even worn out through long conflicting with the Body of Death The Soul hereon being freed from all Annoyances all Impressions from the Flesh is expedite and enlarged unto the Exercise of all its gracious Faculties as we shall see immediately WITH wicked Men it is not so Death unto them is a Curse and the Curse is the Means of the Conveyance of all Evil and not Deliverance from any Wherein they have been warmed and refreshed by the Influences of the Flesh they shall be deprived of it But their Souls in their separate State are perpetually harrased with the disquieting Passions which have been impressed on their Minds by their corrupt fleshly Lusts. In vain do such Persons look for Relief by Death If there be any thing