"In the person of Christ we consider both the constitution of it in the union of his natures, and the respect of it unto his work of mediation, which was the end of that constitution. And- - (1.) Therein, as so considered, is there a blessed representation made unto us of all the holy properties of the nature of God of his wisdom, his power, his goodness, grace, and love, his righteousness, truth, and holiness, his mercy and patience. As this is affirmed con cerning them all in general, or the glory of God in them, which is seen and known only in the face of Christ, so it were easy to mani fest the same concerning every one of them in particular, by express testimonies of Scripture. But I shall at present confine myself unto the proofs of the whole assertion which do ensue. (2.) There is, therein, the most incomprehensible approach of the divine nature made unto ours, such as all the imaginations of men did ever infinitely fall short of as hath been before declared. In the assumption of our nature into personal union with himself, and our cognation unto God thereby, with the union which believers ob tain with him thereon being one in the Father and the Son, as the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, (John xvii. 20, 21,) there is the nearest approach of the Divine Being unto us that the nature of things is capable of. Both these ends were de signed in those representations of God which were of human inven tion ; but in both of them they utterly failed. For, instead of repre senting any of the glorious properties of the nature of God, they debased it, dishonoured it, and filled the minds of men with vile conceptions of it; and instead of bringing God nearer unto them, they put themselves at an infinite moral distance from him. But my design is the confirmation of our assertions from the Scripture. " He is the image of the invisible God:" Col. i 15. This title or property of " invisible/ the apostle here gives unto God, to show what need there was of an image or representation of him unto us, as well as of one in whom he would declare the counsels of his will. For he intends not only the absolute invisibility of his essence, but his being unknown unto us in himself. Wherefore, (as was before observed,) mankind was generally prone to make visible representa tions of this invisible God, that, in them, they might contemplate on him and have him present with them, as they foolishly imagined. Unto the craft of Satan abusing this inclination of mankind, idolatry- owes its original and progress in the world : howbeit, necessary it was that this invisible God should be so represented unto us by some image of him, as that we might know him, and that therein he might be worshipped according unto his own mind and will. But this must be of his own contrivance an effect of his own infinite wisdom. Hence, as he absolutely rejecteth all images and representations of him of men s devisings, (for the reasons before mentioned,) and declares that the honour that any should think would thereby redound unto him was not given unto him, but unto the devil; so that which he hath provided himself, unto his own holy ends and purposes, is every way approved of him. For he will have " all men honour the Son, even as they honour the Father;" and so as that " he who honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father:" John v. 23. This image, therefore, is the person of Christ ; " he is the image of the invisible God." This, in the first place, respects the divine person absolutely, as he is the essential image of the Father: which must briefly be declared. 1. The Son is sometimes said to be Harpl, " in the Father," and the Father in the Son : " Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" John xiv. 10. This is from the unity or sameness of their nature for he and the Father are one: John x. 30. Thence all things that the Father hath are his, (chap. xvL 15,) because their nature is one and the same. With respect unto the divine essence absolutely considered, wherein the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, the one cannot be said to be the image of the other. For he and the Father are one; and one and the same thing cannot be the image of itself, in that wherein it is one. 2. The Son is said not only to be ! Harp!, " in the Father," in the unity of the same essence; but also <rpi>s rbv Harepa. or eiv, "with the Father," or " with God," in the distinction of his person : " The Word was with God, and the Word was God:" John i. 1. "The Word was God," in the unity of the divine essence and " the Word was with God," in its distinct personal subsistence. " The Word" that is, the person of the Son, as distinct from the Father " was with God," or the Father. And in this respect he is the essential image of the Father, as he is called in this place, and Heb. L 3 ; and that because he partakes of all the same divine properties with the Father. But although the Father, on the other side, be partaker of all the essential divine properties of the Son, yet is not he said to be the image of the Son. For this property of an image respects not the things themselves, but the manner of the participation of them. Now the Son receives all from the Father, and the Father nothing from the Son. Whatever belongs unto the person of the Son, as the person of the Son, he receives it all from the Father by eternal generation : " For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given unto the Son to have life in himself:" John v. 26. He is therefore the essential image of the Father, because all the properties of the 72 THE PERSON OF CHRIST divine nature are communicated unto him together with personality from the Father 3. In his incarnation, the Son was made the representative image of God unto us as he was, in his person, the essential image of the Father, by eternal generation. The invisible God whose nature and divine excellencies our understandings can make no approach unto doth in him represent, exhibit, or make present unto our faith and spiritual sense, both himself and all the glorious excellencies of his nature. Wherefore our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, may be con sidered three ways. 1. Merely with respect unto his divine nature. This is one and the same with that of the Father. In this respect the one is not the image of the other, for both are the same. 2. With respect unto his divine person as the Son of the Father, the only-begotten, the eternal Son of God. Thus he receives, as his personality, so all divine excellencies, from the Father; so he is the essential image of the Father s person. 3. As he took our nature upon him, or in the assumption of our nature into personal union with himself, in order unto the work of his mediation. So is he the only representative image of God unto us in whom alone we see, know, and learn all the divine excellen cies so as to live unto God, and be directed unto the enjoyment of him. All this himself instructs us in. He reflects it on the Pharisees, as an effect of their blindness and ignorance, that they had neither heard the voice of God at any time, nor seen his shape: John v. 37. And in opposition here unto he tells his disciples, that they had known the Father, and seen him : chap. xiv. 7. And the reason he gives thereof is, because they that knew him, knew the Father also. And when one of his disciples, not yet sufficiently instructed in this mystery, replied, " Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us," (verse 8,) his answer is, " Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me ? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father : " verse 9. Three things are required unto the justification of this assertion. 1. That the Father and he be of the same nature, have the same essence and being. For otherwise it would not follow that he who had seen him had seen the Father also. This ground of it he declares in the next verse : " The Father is in me, and I am in the Father" namely, because they were one in nature and essence For the divine nature being simply the same in them all, the divine persons are in each other, by virtue of the oneness of that nature. 2. That he be distinct from him. For otherwise there cannot be a seeing of the Father by the seeing of him. He is seen in the Son THE FATHER S GLORY SEEN IN THE SON. 73 as represented by him as his image the Word the Son of the Father, as he was with God. The unity of nature and the distinc tion of persons is the ground of that assertion of our Saviour : " He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father also/ 3. But, moreover, the Lord Christ hath a respect herein unto him self, in his entire person as he was incarnate, and therein unto the discharge of his mediatory work. " Have I been so long time with you, and hast thou not known me?" Whilst he was with them, dwelt among them, conversed with them, he was the great repre sentative of the glory of God unto them. And, notwithstanding this particular mistake, they did then see his glory, " the glory of the only-begotten of the Father :" John i. 14. And in him was mani fested the glory of the Father. He " is the image of the invisible God." In him God was, in him he dwelt, in him is he known, in him is he worshipped according unto his own will, in him is there a nearer approach made unto us by the divine nature than ever could enter into the heart of man to conceive. In the constitution of his person of two natures, so infinitely distinct and separate hi them selves and in the work it was designed unto, the wisdom, power, goodness, love, grace, mercy, holiness, and faithfulness of God, are manifested unto us. This is the one blessed " image of the invisible God," wherein we may learn, wherein we may contemplate and adore, all his divine perfections. The same truth is testified unto, Heb. i. 3. God spake unto us in the Son, who is " the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person." His divine nature is here included, as that without which he could not have made a perfect representation of God unto us. For the apostle speaks of him, as of him " by whom the worlds were made," and who " upholdeth all things by the word of his power." Yet doth he not speak of him absolutely as he was God, but also as he who " in himself purged our sins, and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high ;" that is, in his whole person. Herein he is dcrau/atf/ia rijg &6%r)g, the effulgency, the resplen dency of divine glory, that wherein the divine glory shines forth in an evident manifestation of itself unto us. And as a farther expli cation of the same mystery, it is added, that he is the character or " express image " of the person of the Father. Such an impression of all the glorious properties of God is on him, as that thereby they become legible unto all them that believe. So the same apostle affirms again that he is the " image of God," 2 Cor. iv. 4 ; in what sense, and unto what end, he declares, verse 6 : " We have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Still it is supposed that the glory of God, as essen tially in him, is invisible unto us, and incomprehensible by us. Yet 74 THE PERSON OF CHRIST. is there a knowledge of it necessary unto us, that we may live unto him, and come unto the enjoyment of him. This we obtain only in the face or person of Christ iv irpoau-ffw D Xpiarov ; for in him that glory is represented unto us. This was the testimony which the apostles gave concerning him, when he dwelt among them in the days of his flesh. They saw " his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth :" John i. 14. The divine glory was manifest in him, and in him they saw the glory of the Father. So the same apostle wit- nesseth again, who recorded this testimony : " For the life was mani fested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us : " 1 John i. 2. In the Son incarnate, that eternal life which was originally in and with the Father was manifest unto us. It may be said, that the Scripture itself is sufficient for this end of the declaration of God unto us, so that there is no need of any other representation of him ; and [that] these things serve only to turn the minds of men from learning the mind and will of God therein, to seek for all in the person of Christ. But the true end of proposing these things is, to draw men unto the diligent study of the Scripture, wherein alone they are revealed and declared. And in its proper use, and unto its proper end, it is perfect and most sufficient. It is Xo yos rov EOU " the word of God ;" howbeit it is not Xo yo? ouovwdj, the internal, essential Word of God but Xoyoj vpopopixbs, the external word spoken by him. It is not, therefore, nor can be, the image of God, either essential or representative ; but is the revelation and declaration of it unto us, without which we can know nothing of it. Christ is the image of the invisible God, the express image of the person of the Father ; and the principal end of the whole Scripture, especially of the Gospel, is to declare him so to be, and how he is so. What God promised by his prophets in the holy Scriptures concern ing his Son, Jesus Christ, that is fully declared in the Gospel : Rom. i. 1-4. The Gospel is the declaration of Christ as "the power of God, and the wisdom of God," 1 Cor. i. 23, 24 ; or an evident representation of God in his person and mediation unto us : Gal. iii 1. Wherefore three things are herein to be considered. 1. " Objectum reale et formale fidei " the real, formal object of our faith in this matter. This is the person of Christ, the Son of God incarnate, the representative image of the glory of God unto us; as in the testimonies insisted on. 2. " Medium revelans," or "lumen deferens" the means of its revelation, or the objective light whereby the perception and know ledge of it is conveyed unto our minds. This is the Gospel ; com pared unto a glass because of the prospect which we have of the TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE IMAGE OF GOD. 75 image of God therein : 2 Cor. iii. 18. But without it by any other means, and not by it we can behold nothing of this image of God. 3. Lumen praeparans, elevans, disponens subjectum " the inter nal light of the mind in the saving illumination of the Holy Spirit, enabling us by that means, and in the use of it spiritually to behold and discern the glory of God in the face of Christ: 2 Cor. iv. 6. Through both these, in their several ways of operation, there pro- ceedeth from the real object of our faith, Christ, as the image of God a transforming power, whereby the soul is changed into the same image, or is made conformable unto Christ ; which is that whereunto we are predestinated. But we may yet a little farther contemplate on these things, in some instances wherein the glory of God and our own duty are concerned. 1. The glory of God s wisdom is exalted, and the pride of the ima ginations of men is proportionably debased. And in these two con sists the real foundation of all religion in our souls. This God designed in the dispensation of himself and his will, 1 Cor. i. 29, 31; this he calls us unto, Isa. ii. 22; Zech. ii. 13. As this frame of heart is prevalent in us, so do all other graces shine and flourish. And it is that which influences all our duties, so far as they are ac ceptable unto God. And there is no truth more instructive unto it than that before us. It is taken for granted and the event hath demonstrated it to be so that some express representation should be made of God unto us, wherein we might contemplate the glorious excellencies of his nature, and he might draw nigh unto us, and be present with us. This, therefore, men attempted to effect and accom plish; and this God alone hath performed, and could so do. And their several ways for this end are herein manifest As the way whereby God hath done it is the principal exaltation of his infinite wisdom and goodness, (as shall be immediately more fully declared,) so the way whereby men attempted it was the highest instance of wickedness and folly. It is, as we have declared, in Christ alone that God hath done it. And that therein he hath exalted and mani fested the riches, the treasures of his infinite wisdom and goodness, is that which the Gospel, the Spirit, and the church, do give testimony unto. A more glorious effect of divine wisdom and goodness, a more illustrious manifestation of them, there never was, nor ever shall be, than in the finding out and constitution of this way of the represen tation of God unto us. The ways of men, for the same end, were so far from giving a right representation of the perfections of the divine nature, that they were all of them below, beneath, and unworthy of our own. For in nothing did the blindness, darkness, and folly of our nature, m its depraved condition, ever so exert and evidence themselves, as hi contriving ways for the representation of God untQ 76 THE PERSON OF CHRIST. us that is, in idolatry, the worst and vilest of evils: so Ps. cxv. 48; Isa. xliv. ; Rev. ix. 19, 20, &c. This pride and folly of men was that which lost all knowledge of God in the world, and all obedience unto him. The ten commandments are but a transcript of the light and law of nature. The first of these required that God the only true God the Creator and Governor of all should be acknowledged, worshipped, believed in, and obeyed. And the second was, that we should not make unto ourselves any image or representation of him. Whatever he would do himself, yet he strictly forbade that we should make any such unto ourselves. And here began the apostasy of the world from God. They did not absolutely reject him, and so cast off the first fundamental precept of the law of nature but they sub~ mitted not unto his wisdom and authority in the next, which was evidently educed from it. They would make images and representa tions of him unto themselves; and by this invention of their own, they first dishonoured him, and then forsook him, giving themselves up unto the rule and service of the devil. Wherefore, as the way that God in infinite wisdom found out for the representation of him self unto us, was the only means of recovery from the first apostasy the way found out by men, unto the same end, was the great means of casting the generality of mankind unto the farthest degree of a new apostasy from God whereof our nature is capable. And of the same kind will all our contrivances be found to be in what belongs unto his worship and glory though, unto us, they may appear both spe cious and necessary. This, therefore, should lead us into a continual admiration of the wisdom and grace of God, with a due sense of our own vileness and baseness by nature. For we are in nothing better or wiser than they who fell into the utmost folly and wickedness, in their designs for the highest end, or the representation of God unto us. The more we dwell on such considerations, the more fear and reverence of God, with faith, trust, and delight in him, will be increased as also humility in ourselves, with a sense of divine grace and love. 2. There is a peculiar ground of the spiritual efficacy of this repre sentation of God. The revelations that he hath made of himself, and of the glorious properties of his nature, in the works of creation and providence, are, in themselves, clear, plain, and manifest: Ps. xix. 1, 2; Rom. L 19, 20. Those which are made in Christ are sublime and mysterious. Howbeit, the knowledge we have of him as he is represented unto us in Christ is far more clear, certain, steady, effec tual, and operative, than any we can attain in and by all other ways of revelation. The reason hereof is, not only because there is a more full and extensive revelation made of God, his counsels and his will, in Christ and the Gospel, than in all the works of creation and pro vidence; but because this revelation and representation of God is re- .SPIRITUAL EFFICACY OF THE DIVINE IMAGE. 77 ceived by faith alone, the other by reason only: and it is faith that is the principle of spiritual light and life in us. What is received thereby is operative and effectual, unto all the ends of the life of God. For we live by faith here, as we shall by sight hereafter. Reason alone especially as it is corrupted and depraved can discern no glory in the representation of God by Christ; yea, all that is spoken thereof, or declared in the Gospel, is foolishness unto it. Hence many live in a profession of the faith of the letter of the Gospel, yet hav ing no light, guide, nor conduct, but that of reason they do not, they cannot, really behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ; nor hath the revelation of it any efficacy upon their souls. The manifestation of him in the light of nature, by the works of crea tion and providence, is suited unto their reason, and doth affect it : for that [manifestation] which is made in Christ, they say of it, as the Israelites did of manna, that came down from heaven, "What is it?" we know not the meaning of it. For it is made unto faith alone, and all men have not faith. And where God shines into the heart, by that faith which is of divine operation there, with " open face, we behold the glory of God, as in a glass;" or have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. There is not the mean est believer, but in the real exercise of faith in Christ hath more glorious apprehensions of God, his wisdom, goodness, and grace, of all his glorious excellencies, than the most learned and wise in the world can attain unto, in the exercise of reason on the proper objects of it. So are these things opposed by the apostle, 1 Cor. i. Where fore, faith in Christ is the only means of the true knowledge of God ; and the discoveries which are made of him and his excellencies thereby are those alone which are effectual to conform us unto his image and likeness. And this is the reason why some men are so little affected with the Gospel notwithstanding the continual preach ing of it unto them, and their outward profession of it It doth not inwardly affect them, it produceth no blessed effects in them. Some sense they have of the power of God in the works of creation and providence, in his rule and government, and in the workings of na tural conscience. Beyond these, they have no real sense of him. The reason is, because they have not faith whereby alone the represen tation that is made of God in Christ, and declared in the Gospel, is made effectual unto the souls of men. Wherefore 3. It is the highest degeneracy from the mystery of the Christian religion, for men to satisfy themselves in natural discoveries of the Divine Being and excellencies, without an acquaintance with that perfect declaration and representation of them which is made in the person of Christ, as he is revealed and declared in the Gospel. It is confessed that there may be good use made of the evidence which 78 THE PERSON OF CHRIST. reason gives or takes from its own innate principles with the consi deration of the external works of divine wisdom and power con cerning the being and rule of God. But to rest herein to esteem it the best and most perfective knowledge of God that we can attain not to rise up unto the more full, perfect, and evident manifestation of himself that he hath made in Christ is a de claration of our unbelief, and a virtual renunciation of the Gos pel. This is the spring of that declension unto a mere natural reli gion which discovers itself in many, and usually ends in the express denial of the divine person of Christ. For when the proper use of it is despised, on what grounds can the notion of it be long retained ? But a supposition of his divine person is the foundation of this discourse. course. Were he not the essential image of the Father in his own divine person, he could not be the representative image of God unto us as he is incarnate. For if he were a man only however mira culously produced and gloriously exalted, yet the angels above, the glorious heavens, the seat and throne of God, with other effects of creating power and wisdom, would no less represent his glory than it could be done in him. Yet are they nowhere, jointly nor separately, styled " the image of the invisible God" " the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person;" nor doth God shine into our hearts to give us the knowledge of his glory in the face of them. And it argues the woful enmity of the carnal mind against God and all the effects of his wisdom, that, whereas he hath granted us such a glorious image and representation of himself, we like it not, we de light not in the contemplation of it, but either despise it or neglect it, and please ourselves in that which is incomparably beneath it."