These words contain the chief cause of all spiritual light, which is God, who by the same power by which he ' commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shincd into our hearts,' or rather by a greater, because here is more opposition, and no help at all from nature to spiritual things, not BO much as a seed of it.
* Hath shined into oiir hearts.' The end of spiritual knowledge in the ministry, is especially ' to give the glory of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ.'
I propound these things.
First, That God is glorious in his mercy, uisdom, and other attributes, /tts reconciling justice and mercy together. Secondly, That this glory of mercy is in Christ, and satisfaction of his justice by him. Thirdly, That the glory of God, and all his sweet attributes in the face of Christ, must be made known to others ; and that this knowledge may be, there must be a calling. So God hath shined into our hearts to give the light. The ministiy is to give the light of the knowledge of God ; knowledge leadeth us to Christ ; Christ to God, in whom our faith is terminated, as in its last object.
Divers of these things w^e have unfolded,
As the first, that God's mercy is a glorious mercy : therefore called the ' glory of God in the face of Christ.' That his mercy, specially in Christ, is his triumphing attribute. The power of God shineth in creation, the justice of God in damnation ; but mercy triumphs in salvation by Christ. And it is not every mercj*, but glorious mercy. Mercy sets all others on work, and therefore I mean that excellent mercy that stirred up wisdom to devise a way how justice might be satisfied, and so reconciled, that a way may be made for mercy. So that there is a wonderful mystery in these things, which the very angels desire to behold. This glory ' shineth in the face of Jesus Christ.'
' None knoweth the Father but the Son, none the Son but the Father, and they to whom the Father and the Son will reveal themselves by the Spirit,' Mat. xi. 27. If the Father revealeth his Son by his Spirit, the Son revealeth the Father by the Spirit. Then they are known, but [not] else.
' The glory of God shineth in the face of Jesus Christ,' being incarnate, made God-man. I will proceed to bring this truth home, to make it more clear and comfortable.
You see then the glory of God shine in Christ, and then it shines to us. So that Christ is between God and us ; the face of Christ between God and our face.
2 CORINTEIANS CHAP. IV, VER. 6. 331
What is the reason of this order ? Because God and we be in such opposition, that Christ must be between. God cannot love our nature, but as it is pure, and clean, and undefiled ; and it is only so in Christ. And therefore he loveth our nature only in Christ, as being knit to Christ, and so purged by the Spirit of Christ. For there cannot be more opposite terms than between God, ' who is a consuming fire,' Heb. xii. 29, and sinners ; therefore Christ cometh between. That is, the middle person of the Trinity must be the middle person for reconciliation. He that is the Son is fit to make us sons. He that is the image of God, is fit to restore us to God's image. He that is beloved, is fit to bring us in love with the Father, to give entrance and access to him. And therefore God shineth first ' on the face of Christ' before it come to us. It cometh to us at the second hand by reflection.
Then Christ is jmmum amahile, the first subject and seat of divine love, for he is the first begotten ; and whatsoever God loveth he loveth in relation to his Son. If he loveth us it is in relation to him. If be loveth any before they be in Christ, it is to give them to Christ. So that all the love of God must be seated in the first subject and receptacle of his love, which is Christ. First God shines on Christ, and then on all them that be one with Christ. Therefore Christ is called 6 dyarrrirog, ' The beloved,' and the Son of God's love, * in whom are all the treasures of wisdom,' Col. ii. 3 ; and therefore is truly lovely.
Whatsoever good we have, it is in Christ. For the first degree of salva- tion, the first link of the chain, from election to glorification, all is in Christ, seated in free grace, of which Christ is the first- fruit. For so ' God loved the world, that he gave his Son,' John iii. 16. Christ himself, and all the benefits by him, are first-fruits of the free grace of God, which was amor benevohntia-, a love of good will ; but then there was amor amkititc, a love of amity, which is only in Christ ; and the execution of all favours is in Christ. He calleth, justifieth, sanctifieth, and glorifieth in Christ, because by our consistence* in Christ we have all benefits, even from election to glorification. The apostle runneth in this stream : Eph. i. 3, ' Blessed be God, who hath blessed you with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus.' We are beloved in him, as the first love. So that in all things Christ is the first. He was the first Son of God,f we sons in him. What he is by nature, we are by grace and adoption. He is first beloved, we beloved for him, as having communion and fellowship with him. He hath justified us fi.-om our sins, and therefore we are justified in him. He is our surety. If he be not acquitted, we shall never be acquitted. He is risen, therefore we rise. He is the ' first-fruits of those that sleep,' 1 Cor. xv. 20. He is the * first-born of many brethren,' Piom. viii. 29; the ' first begotten from the dead,' Col. i. 18. He ascended, therefore we ascend. He sits in heavenly places, therefore we sit in heavenly places ; for God hath elected us to be conformed to him. He is the first-fruits of God's predestination, as Austin observeth (/i). God first made choice of him as the head of all, and of us in him. We are elected to be conformed to him in grace and comfort, in the love of God here, and in glory and perfect happiness here- after. He is our eldest brother. Now it is fit therefore that he should have pre-eminence in all things. Christ in all things hath pre- eminency, in love and grace, in every passage of glory, resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand of God ; and in all things hath pre-eminency.