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.
able to receive them to keep and preserve them as also to dispose of them into a state of Rest and Blessedness are required of us THE Soul is now parting with all things here below and that for ever None of all the things which it hath seen heard or enjoyed by its outward senses can be prevailed with to stay with it one hour or to take one step with it in the Voyage wherein it is ingaged It must alone by it self lanch into eternity It is entring an Invisible World which it knows no more of than it hath received by Faith None hath come from the dead to inform us of the State of the other World Yea God seems on purpose so to conceal it from us that we should have no evidence of it at least as unto the manner of things in it but what is given unto Faith by Divine Revelation Hence those who died and were raised again from the dead unto any continuance among men as Lazarus probably knew nothing of the Invisible State Their Souls were preserved by the Power of God in their Being but bound up as unto present Operations This made a great Emperor cry out on the approach of Death O animula tremula vagula blandula quae nunc abibis in loca horrida squalida c. O poor trembling wandring Soul into what places of darkness and defilement art thou going HOW is it like to be after the few moments which under the pangs of Death we have to continue in this World Is it an Annihilation that lies at the door is Death the Destruction of our whole Being so as that after it we shall be no more So some would have the state of things to be Is it a state of subsistence in a wandring condition up and down the World under the Influence of other more powerful Spirits that rule in the Air visiting Tombs and Solitary places and sometimes making appearances of themselves by the Impressions of those more powerful Spirits as some imagine from the story concerning Samuel and the Witch of Endor and as it is commonly received in the Papacy out of a compliance with their Imagination of Purgatory Or is it a state of universal misery and wo a state incapable of comfort or joy Let them pretend what they please who can understand no comfort or joy in this Life but what they receive by their Sences they can look for nothing else And whatever be the state of this Invisible World the Soul can undertake nothing of its own conduct after its departure from the Body It knows that it must be absolutely at the disposal of another WHEREFORE no man can comfortably venture on and into this condition but in the exercise of that Faith which enables him to resign and give up his departing Soul into the Hand of of God who alone is able to receive it and to dispose it into a Condition of Rest and Blessedness So speaks the Apostle I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day HEREIN as in all other Graces is our Lord Jesus Christ our great example He resigned his departing Spirit into the hands of his Father to be owned and preserved by him in its state of Separation Father into thy hands I commit my spirit Luk. 23. 46 as did the Psalmist his Type in an alike condition Psal. 31. 5. But the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ herein the object and exercise of it what he believed and trusted unto in this Resignation of his Spirit into the Hand of God is at large expressed in the sixteenth Psalm I have saith he set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore He left his Soul in the hand of God in full assurance that it should suffer no evil in its state of Separation but should be brought again with his Body into a blessed Resurrection and eternal Glory So Stephen resigned his Soul departing under violence into the hands of Christ himself When he died he said Lord Jesus receive my Spirit THIS is the last Victorious act of Faith wherein its conquest over its last enemy Death it self doth consist Herein the Soul says in and unto it self Thou art now taking leave of Time unto eternity all things about thee are departing as shades and will immediately disappear The things which thou art entring into are yet invisible Such as eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor will they enter into the heart of man fully to conceive Now therefore with quietness and confidence give up thy self unto the Sovereign Power Grace Truth and Faithfulness of God and thou shalt find assured rest and peace BUT Jesus Christ it is who doth immediately receive the Souls of them who believe in him So we see in the instance of Stephen And what can be a greater encouragement to resign them into his hands than a daily Contemplation of his Glory in his Person his Power his Exaltation his Office and Grace Who that believes in him that belongs unto him can fear to commit his departing Spirit unto his Love Power and Care Even we also shall hereby in our dying moments see by Faith Heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God ready to receive us This added unto the Love which all Believers have unto the Lord Jesus which is enflamed by Contemplation of his Glory and their desires to be with him where he is it will strengthen and confirm our minds in the Resignation of our departing Souls into his hand SECONDLY It is required in us unto the same end that we be ready and wiling to part with the flesh wherewith we are cloathed with all things that are useful and desirable thereunto The Alliance the Relation the Friendship the Union that are between the Soul and the Body are the greatest the nearest the firmest that are or can be among meer created Beings There is nothing like it nothing equal unto it The Union of Three persons in the one single Divine Nature and the Union of two Natures in one person of Christ are infinite ineffable and exempted from all comparison But among created Beings the Union of these two essential parts of the same Nature in one Person is most excellent Nor is any thing equal to it or like it found in any other Creatures Those who among them have most of life have either no Bodies as Angels or no Souls but what perish with them as all Brute creatures below ANGELS being pure immaterial Spirits have nothing in them nothing belonging
Matter of Enquiry and Instruction for the most high and holy Spirits in Heaven The manifold Wisdom of God in them is made known unto Principalities and Powers in heavenly Places by the Church Ephes. 3. 10. And shall we neglect that which is the Object of Angelical Diligence to enquire into especially considering that we are more than they concerned in it IS Christ then thus glorious in our Eyes Do we see the Father in him or by seeing of him Do we sedulously daily contemplate on the Wisdom Love Grace Goodness Holiness and Righteousness of God as revealing and manifesting themselves in him Do we sufficiently consider that the immediate Vision of this Glory in Heaven will be our everlasting Blessedness Doth the imperfect View which we have of it here encrease our Desires after the perfect Soght of it above With respect unto these Enquiries I shall briefly speak unto sundry sorts of Men. SOME will say they understand not these things nor any Concernment of their own in them If they are true yet are they Notions which they may safely be without the Knowledge of for so far as they can discern they have no Influence on Christian Practice or Duties of Morality And the preaching of them doth but take off the Minds of Men from more necessary Duties But if the Gospel be hid it is hid unto them that perish And unto the Objection I say 1. NOTHING is more fully and clearly revealed in the Gospel than that unto us Jesus Christ is the Image of the invisible God that he is the Character of the Person of the Father so as that in seeing him we see the Father also that we have the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in his Face alone as hath been proved This is the Principal Fundamental Mystery and Truth of the Gospel and which if it be not received believed owned all other Truths are useless unto our Souls To refer all the Testimonies that are given hereunto to the Doctrine which he taught in Contradistinction unto his Person as acting in the Discharge of his Office is Antievangilical Antichristian turning the whole Gospel into a Fable 2. IT is so that the Light of Faith is given unto us principally to enable us to behold the Glory of God in Christ to contemplate on it as unto all the Ends of its Manifestation So is it expresly affirmed 2 Cor. 4. 6. If we have not this Light as it is communicated by the Power of God unto them that do believe Ephes. 1. 17 18 19. we must be Strangers unto the whole Mystery of the Gospel 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. 3. THAT in the beholding of the Glory of God in Christ we behold his Glory also For herein is he infinitely glorious above the whole Creation in that in and by him alone the Glory of the Invisible God is represented unto us Herein do our Souls live This is that whereby the Image of God is renewed in us and we are made like unto the First born 4. THIS is so far from being unnecessary unto Christian Practice and the sanctified Duties of Morality that he knows not Christ he knows not the Gospel he knows not the Faith of the Catholick Church who imagins that they can be performed acceptably without it Yea this is the Root whence all other Christian Duties do spring and whereon they grow whereby they are distinguished from the Works of Heathens He is no Christian who believes not that Faith in the Person of Christ is the Spring of all Evangelical Obedience or who knows not that this Faith respects the Revelation of the Glory of God in him IF these things are so as they are the most important Truths of the Gospel and whose Denial overthrows the Foundation of Faith and is ruinous to Christian Religion Certainly it is our Duty to live in the constant Exercise of Faith with respect unto this Glory of Christ. And we have sufficient Experience of what kind of Morality the Ignorance of it hath produced OTHERS there are who may be some way Strangers but are no way Enemies unto this Mystery and to the practical Exercise of Faith therein Unto such I shall tender the ensuing Directions 1. RECKON in your Minds that this beholding of the Glory of Christ by beholding the Glory of God and all his Holy Properties in him is the greatest Priviledge whereof in this Life we can be made Partakers The Dawning of Heaven is in it and the First Fruits of Glory for this is Life Eternal to know the Father and whom he hath sent Christ Jesus John 17. 3. Unless you value it unless you esteem it as such a Priviledge you will not enjoy it and that which is not valued according unto its Worth is despised It is not enough to think it a Priviledge an Advantage but it is to be valued above other things according unto its Greatness and Excellency Destruction and Death say we have heard the Fame of it with our Ears Job 28. 22. And if we do no more we shall die Strangers unto it We are to cry after this Knowledge and lift up our Voice for this Understanding if we design to attain it 2. AS it is a great Priviledge which requires a due Valuation so it is a great Mystery which requires much Spiritual Wisdom to the right understanding of it and to direct in its Practise 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. Flesh and Blood will not reveal it unto us but we must be taught of God to apprehend it John 1. 12 13. Mat. 16. 16 17. Mere unsanctified Reason will never enable us unto nor guide us in the Discovery of this Duty Men are not so vain as to hope for Skill and Understanding in the Mystery of a secular Art or Trade without the diligent Use of those Means whereby it may be attained and shall we suppose that we may be furnished with spiritual Skill and Wisdom in this sacred Mystery without Diligence in the Use of the Means appointed of God for the attaining of it The Principal of them is Fervent Prayer Pray then with Moses that God would shew you this his Glory pray with the Apostle that the Eyes of your Understandings may be enlightened to behold it Pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of him Fill your Minds with spiritual Thoughts and Contrivances about them Slothful and lazy Souls never obtain one View of this Glory the Lion in the way deters them from attempting it Being carnal they abhor all Diligence in the Use of spiritual Means such as Prayer and Meditation on things unto them uneasie unpleasing and difficult Unto others the Way partakes of the Nature of the End the Means of obtaining a View of the Glory of Christ are of the same Kind of the same Pleasantness with that View it self in their Proportion 3. LEARN the Use hereof from the Actings of contrary
desire besides thee Psal. 73. 25. For who in the Heavens can be compared unto the Lord Who among the Sons of the mighty can be compared unto the Lord Psal. 89. 6. HE himself out of his infinite Love and ineffable Condescention upon the Sight and View of his Church and his own Graces in her wherewith she is adorned doth say Thou hast ravished my Heart my Sister my Spouse thou hast ravished my Heart with one of thine Eves with one Chain of thy Neck Cant. 4. 8. How much more ought a believing Soul upon a View of the Glory of Christ in whom it pleased the Father that all Fulness should dwell to say Thou hast ravished my Heart taken it away from me O thou whom my Soul loveth One Glance of thy glorious Beauty upon me hath quite overcome me hath left no heart in me unto things here below If it be not thus with us frequently if we value not this Object of our Minds and Affections if we are not diligent in looking up unto him to behold his Glory it is because we are carnal and not in any good measure partakers of the promise that our Eyes shall see the King in his Beauty 2. OUR second Direction unto the same End is That we diligently study the Scripture and the Revelations that are made of this Glory of Christ therein To behold it is not a Work of Fancy or Imagination It is not conversing with an Image framed by the Art of Men without or that of our own Fancy within but of Faith exercised on Divine Revelations This Direction he gives us himself Joh 5. 39. Search the Scriptures for they are they that testifie of me The way whereby this is done is fully set before us in the Example of the holy Prophets under the old Testament 1 Pet. 1. 11 12 13. THIS Principle is always to be retained in our Minds in reading of the Scripture namely that the Revelation and Doctrine of the Person of Christ and his Office is the Foundation whereon all other Instructions of the Prophets and Apostles for the edification of the Church are built and wherein to they are resolved as is declared Ephes. 2. 20 21 22. So our Lord Jesus Christ himself at large makes it manifest Luk. 24. 26 27 45 46. Lay aside the Consideration hereof and the Scriptures are no such thing as they pretend unto namely a Revelation of the Glory of God in the Salvation of the Church nor are those of the Old Testament so at this Day unto the Jews who own not this Principle 2 Cor. 3. 13 14 15 16. There are therefore such Revelations of the Person and Glory of Christ treasured up in the Scripture from the beginning unto the end of it as may exercise the Faith and Contemplation of Believers in this World and shall never during this Life be fully discovered or understood and in Divine Meditations of these Revelations doth much of the Life of Faith consist THERE are three ways whereby the Glory of Christ is represented unto us in the Scripture First by direct Descriptions of his glorious Person and Incarnation See among other places Gen. 3. 15. Psal. 2. 7 8 9. Psal. 45. 2 3 4 5 6. Psal. 68. 17 18. Psal. 110. Isa. 6. 1 2 3 4. Chap. 9. 6. Zech. 2. 8. Joh. 1. 1 2 3. Phil. 2. 6 7 8. Heb. 1. 1 2 3. Chap. 2. 14 15 16. Rev. 1. 17 18. Secondly by Prophecies Promises and express Instructions concerning him all leading unto the Contemplation of his Glory which are innumerable Thirdly By the sacred Institutions of Divine Worship under the Old Testament For the end of them all was to represent unto the Church the Glory of Christ in the Discharge of his Office as we shall see afterwards WE may take notice of an Instance in one kind under the Old Testament and of one and another under the New HIS Personal Appearances under the Old Testament carried in them a Demonstration of his Glory Such was that in the Vision which Isaiah had when he saw his Glory and spake of him Chap. 6. 1 2. I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up and his Train filled the Temple About it stood the Seraphims c. It was a Representation of the Glory of the Divine Presence of Christ filling his Humane Nature the Temple of his Body with a Train of all glorious Graces And if this Typical Representation of it was so glorious as that the Seraphims were not able stedfastly to behold it but covered their Faces upon its Appearance v. 2. how exceeding glorious is it in it self as it is openly revealed in the Gospel OF the same Nature are the immediate Testimonies given unto him from Heaven in the New Testament So the Apostle tells us he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a Voice unto him from the excellent Glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased 2 Pet. 1. 17. The Apostle intends the Time of his Transfiguration in the Mount for so he adds Ver. 18. And this Voice which came from Heaven we heard who were with him in the holy Mount Howbeit at sundry other times he had the same Testimony or to the same purpose from God even the Father in Heaven Herein God gave him Honor and Glory which all those that believe in him should behold and admire not only those who heard this Testimony with their bodily Ears but all unto whom it is testified in the Scripture are obliged to look after and contemplate on the Glory of Christ as thus revealed and proposed From the Throne of his Excellency by audible Voices by visible Signs by the opening of the Heavens above by the descent of the holy Spirit upon him God testified unto him as his eternal Son and gave him therein Honor and Glory The Thoughts of this Divine Testimony and the Glory of Christ therein hath often filled the Hearts of some with Joy and Delight THIS therefore in reading and studying the holy Scripture we ought with all diligence to search and attend unto as did the Prophets of old 1. Pet. 11. 12. if we intend by them to be made wise unto Salvation WE should herein be as the Merchant-man that seeks for Pearls he seeks for all sorts of them but when he hath found one of Great Price he parts with all to make it his own Mat. 13. 45 46. The Scripture is the Field the Place the Mine where we search and dig for Pearls see Prov. 2. 1 2 3 4 5. Every sacred Truth that is made effectual unto the good of our Souls is a Pearl whereby we are enriched but when we meet with when we fall upon this Pearl of price the Glory of Christ this is that which the Soul of a Believer cleaves unto with joy THEN do we find Food for our Souls in the Word of Truth then do we taste how gracious the Lord is therein then is the
all the Benefits of his Mediation unto them that do believe as it was before proposed WE on our part are said herein to receive him and that by Faith John 1. 11 12. Now where he is received by us he must be tendred given granted or communicated unto us And this he is by some divine Acts of the Father and some of his own THE Foundation of the whole is laid in a Soveraign Act of the Will the Pleasure the Grace of the Father And this is the Order and Method of all divine Operations in the Way and Work of Grace They originally proceed all from him and having effected their Ends do return rest and center in him again see Ephes. 1. 4 5 6. Wherefore that Christ is made ours that he is communicated unto us is originally from the free Act Grant and Donation of the Father 1 Cor. 1. 30. Rom. 5. 15 16 17. And hereunto sundry things do concur As 1. His Eternal Purpose which he purposed in himself to glorifie his Grace in all his Elect by this Communication of Christ and the Benefits of his Mediation unto them which the Apostle declares at large Ephes. 1. 2. His granting all the Elect unto Christ to be his own so to do and suffer for them what was antecedaneously necessary unto the actual Communication of himself unto them Thine they were and thou gavest them to me Joh. 17. 3. The giving of the Promise or the Constitution of the Rule and Law of the Gospel whereby a participation of Christ an Interest in him and all that he is is made over and assured unto Believers Joh. 1. 12. 1 Joh. 1. 1 2 3 4. 4. An Act of Almighty Power working and creating Faith in the Souls of the Elect enabling them to receive Christ so exhibited and communicated unto them by the Gospel Ephes. 1. 19 20. Chap. 2. 5 6 7 8. THESE things which I have but named have an Influence into the Glory of Christ herein For this Communication of him unto the Church is an effect of the eternal Counsel Wisdom Grace and Power of the Father BUT they are the Acts of Christ himself herein which principally we enquire into as those which manifest the Glory of his Wisdom Love and Condescention AND 1. He gives and communicates unto them his holy Spirit the holy Spirit as peculiarly his as granted unto him of the Father as inhabiting in him in all fulness This Spirit abiding originally as to his Person and immeasurably as unto his Effects and Operations in himself he gives unto all Believers to inhabit and abide in them also Joh. 14. 14. 20. 1 Cor. 6. 16 17. Rom. 8. 8. Hence follows an ineffable Union between him and them For as in his Incarnation he took our Nature into personal Union with his own so herein he takes our Persons into a Mystical Union with himself Hereby he becomes ours and we are his AND herein is he unspeakably glorious For this Mystery of the Inhabitation of the same Spirit in him as the Head and the Church as his Body animating the whole is a transcendent Effect of Divine Wisdom There is nothing of this Nature in the whole Creation besides no such Union no such mutual Communication The strictest Unions and Relations in Nature are but Shadows of it Ephes. 5. 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32. Herein also is the Lord Christ precious unto them that do believe but a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence unto the Disobedient This glorious ineffable Effect of his Wisdom and Grace this rare peculiar singular Way of the Communication of himself unto the Church is by many despised They know it may be some of them what it is to be joyned unto an Harlot so as to become one Flesh but what it is to be joyned unto the Lord so as to become one Spirit they know not But this Principle and Spring of the spiritual Life of the Church and of all vital spiritual Motions towards God and Things heavenly wherein and whereby our Life is hid with Christ in God is the Glory the Exaltation the Honor the Security of the Church unto the Praise of the Grace of God The Understanding of it in its Causes Effects Operations and Priviledges wherewith it is accompanied is to be preferred above all the Wisdom in and of the World 2. HE thus communicates himself unto us by the Formation of a new Nature his own Nature in us so as that the very same spiritual Nature is in him and in the Church Only it is so with this difference that in him it is in the absolute perfection of all those glorious Graces wherein it doth consist in the Church it is in various Measures and Degrees according as he is pleased to communicate it But the same Divine Nature it is that is in him and us for through the precious Promises of the Gospel we are made Partakers of his Divine Nature It is not enough for us that he hath taken our Nature to be his unless he gives us also his Nature to be ours that is implants in our Souls all those gracious Qualifications as unto the Essence and Substance of them wherewith he himself in his human Nature is endued This is that new Man that new Creature that Divine Nature that Spirit which is born of the Spirit that Transformation into the Image of Christ that putting of him on that Workmanship of God whereunto in him we are created that the Scripture so fully testifieth unto Joh. 3. 6. Rom. 6. 3 4 5 6 7 8. 2 Cor. 3. 18. Chap. 5. 17. Ephes. 4. 20. 24. 2 Pet. 1. 4. AND that new Heavenly Nature which is thus formed in Believers as the first vital Act of that Union which is between Christ and them by the Inhabitation of the same Spirit is peculiarly his Nature For both is it so as it is in him the Idaea and the Exemplar of it in us inasmuch as we are predestinated to be conformed unto his Image and as it is wrought or produced in our Souls by an Emanation of Power Vertue and Efficiency from him THIS is a most heavenly Way of the Communication of himself unto us wherein of God he is made unto us Wisdom and Sanctification Hereon he says of his Church This now is Bone of my Bone and Flesh of my Flesh I see my self my own Nature in them whence they are comely and desirable Hereby he makes way to present it to himself a glorious Church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but holy and without Blemish On this Communication of Christ unto us by the forming of his own Nature in us depends all the Purity the Beauty the Holiness the inward Clory of the Church Hereby is it really substantially internally separated from the World and distinguished from all others who in the outward forms of things in the Profession and Duties of Religion seem to be the same with them Hereby it becomes the First Fruits