[1.] For impression, there is : —
(1.) Likeness ; for an image must be like him whom it representeth. An artificial image of God, or such as may be made by us, is forbidden upon this account: Isa. xl. 18, ' To whom, then, will ye liken God ? or what likeness will ye compare unto him ? ' What is there among all the creatures that can be like such an infinite and almighty essence ? or by what visible shape or figure would they represent or resemble God?
(2.) Deduction and derivation. The image is taken from him whom it is intended to represent. It is not some casual similitude between two men that have no reference or dependence one upon another ; but such as is between a father and his only-begotten son ; as it is said of Adam, Gen. v. 1, 'He begat a son in his own image;' and so it is verified in Christ because of his eternal generation. Like him, because begotten of him.
(3.) There is not a likeness in a few things, but a complete and ex- act likeness ; so Christ, as the second person, is called, Heb. i. 3, ' The express image of his person.' There is not only likeness, but equality. God cannot make a creature equal to himself, nor beget a son unequal to himself.
[2.] Representation ; for an image it serveth to make known and declare that thing whose image it is. If light produce light, the light produced doth represent the light and glory producing ; and the more perfect and immediate the production is, the more perfect is the re- semblance ; a lively expression of the pattern and exemplar. And
428 REDEMPTION BY CHRIST. [SeR. II.
this is the reason why the word invisible is added, because God, who in his own nature is invisible, and incomprehensible to man, revealeth himself so far as is necessary to salvation to us by Christ. Visible things are known by their visible images, with more delight, but not with more accuracy. The image is not necessary to know the thing ; but here it is otherwise. We cannot know God but by Christ : John i. 18, ' No man hath seen God at any time ; the only-begotten Son, which is in the. bosom of the Father, he hath declared him/ God is invisible, and incomprehensible by any but Jesus Christ, who being his only Son, and one in essence with the Father, he doth perfectly know him, and reveal unto mankind all that they know of him. Thus you see what belongs to an image,
2. In what respects Christ is the image of God.
[1.] In respect of his eternal generation. So Christ is ' the express image of his person ' — not substance, but subsistence. We do not say that milk is like milk, nor one egg like another, because they are of the same substance ; so Christ is not said to be of the same substance, but of the same subsistence. He is, indeed, of the same substance with him whom he doth resemble, but the image is with respect to the subsistence; so he resembleth the Father fully and perfectly. There is no perfection in the Father but the same is in the Son also. He is eternal, omnipotent, infinite in wisdom, goodness, and power.
[2.] As God incarnate, or manifested in our flesh ; so the perfections of the Godhead shine forth in the man Christ Jesus, in his person, word, and works.
(1.) In his person. .They that had a discerning eye might see something divine in Christ : John i. 14, 'We beheld his glory, as the glory of the only-begotten of the Father.' There is the as of similitude, and the as of congruity ; as if a mean man taketh state upon him, we say he behaveth himself as a king, but if we say the same of a king indeed, we mean he behaveth himself king-like, that is, becoming the majesty of his high calling. So we beheld his glory as, &c., that is, such a glory as was suitable and becoming God's only Son. So Christ was angry with his disciples because they were too importunate to see the Father, though they saw him ordinarily, conversing with him : John xiv. 7, ' If ye had known me ye should have known my Father also, and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him.' The Father is no otherwise to be known but as he hath revealed himself in Christ ; and having seen and known Christ, who was his image, they might both see and know him ; and when Philip saith ' Show us the Father and it sufficeth us ' — this will convince us all without further argu- ment— Christ answereth, ver. 9, ' He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.' They might see the Father's infinite power acting in him, his wisdom teaching by him, his goodness in the whole strain of his life ; so that in Christ becoming man, God doth in and by him represent all his own attributes and properties, his wisdom, goodness, and power.
(2.) In his word ; where God is revealed to us savingly, so as we may be brought into communion with him, so it is said, ' lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them,' 2 Cor. iv. 4. As God shineth forth in Christ, so doth Christ shine forth in the gospel. There we have the record of his doctrine,