Some amongst us say, that if there were no other way for the i-edemption and salvation of the church, but this only of the incarna- tion and mediation of the Son of God, there was no wisdom in the contrivance of it. Vain man indeed would be wise, but is like the wild ass's colt. Was there no wisdom in the contrivance of that which, when it is effected, leaves nothing but admiration unto the utmost of all created wisdom ? Who hath known the mind of the Lord in this thing, or who hath been his counsellor in this work, wherein the mighty God became a child born to us, a son given unto us ? Let all vain imaginations cease : there is nothing left unto the sons of men, but either to reject the divine person of Christ — as many do unto their own destruction — or humbly to adore the mys- teiy of infinite wisdom and grace therein. And it will require a condescending charity, to judge that those do really believe the incarnation of the Son of God, who live not in the admiration of it, as the most adorable effect of divine wisdom.
The glory of the same mystery is elsewhere testified unto, Heb. i. 1-3: " God hath spoken unto us by his Son, by whom also he made the worlds; who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, upholding all things by the word of his power, by himself purged our sins." That he purged our sins by his death, and the oblation of himself therein unto God, is acknowledged. That this should be done by him by whom the worlds were made, who is the essential brightness of the divine glory, and the express image of the person of the Father therein, who upholds, rules, sus- tains all things by the word of Iris power, whereby God purchased his
4!8 THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
chiircli with his own blood, (Acts xx. 28,) is that wherein he will bo admired unto eternity. See Phil. ii. 6-9.
In Isaiah (chap, vi.) there is a representation made of him as on a throne, filling the temple with the train of his glory. The Son of God it was who was so represented, and that as he was to fill the temple of his human nature with divine glory, when the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily. And herein the seraphim, which administered unto him, had six wings, with two whereof they covered their faces, as not being able to behold or look into the glorious mys- tery of his incarnation : verses 2, 3 ; John xii. 39-41 , ii. 19 ; Col. ii. 9. But when the same ministering spirits, under the name of cherubim, attended the throne of God, in the administration of his providence as unto the disposal and government of the world, they had four wings only, and covered not their faces, but steadily beheld the glory of it : Ezek. i. 6, x. 2, 3.
This is the glory of the Christian religion — the basis and founda- tion that bears the whole superstructure — the root whereon it grows. This is its life and soul, that wherein it differs from, and inconceivably excels, whatever was in true religion before, or whatever any false religion pretended unto. Religion, in its first constitution, in the state of pure, uncorrupted nature, was orderly, beautiful, and glorious. Man being made in the image of God, was fit and able to glorify him as God. But whereas, whatever perfection God had communicated unto our nature, he had not united it unto himself in a personal union, the fabric of it quickly fell unto the ground. Want of this foundation made it obnoxious unto niin. God manifested herein, that no gracious relation between him and our nature could be stable and permanent, unless our nature was assumed into personal union and subsistence with himself This is the only rock and assured foundation of the relation of the church unto God, which, now, can never utterly fail. Our nature is eternally secured in that imion, and we ourselves (as we shall see) thereby. " In him all things consist;" (Col. i. 17, 18;) wherefore, whatever beauty and glory there was in the relation that was between God and man, and the relation of all things unto God by man — in the preservation whereof natural religion did consist — it had no beauty nor glory in comparison of this which doth excel, or the manifestation of God in the flesh — the appearance and subsistence of the divine and human natures in the same single individual person. And whereas God in that state had given man dominion " over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth," (Gen. i. 26,) it was all but an obscure representation of the exaltation of our nature in Christ — as the apostle declares, Heb. ii. 6-9. . There was true religion in the world after the fall, both before
Christ's person the glory of christian religion. 49
and after tlie giving of the Law; a religion built upon and resolved into divine revelation. And as for the ou.tward glory of it — the administration that it was brought into under the tabernacle and temple — it was beyond what is represented in the institutions of the Gospel. Yet is Christian religion, our evangelical profession, and the state of the church thereon, far more glorious, beautiful, and perfect, than that state of religion was capable of, or could attain. And as this is evident from hence, because God in his wisdom, grace, and love to the church, hath removed that state, and intro- duced this in the room thereof; so the apostle proves it— in all con- siderable instances — in his Epistle to the Hebrews, written unto that jiurpose. There were two things, before, in religion ; — the promise, vv^hich was the life of it; and the institutions of worship under the Law, which were the outward glory and beauty of it. And both these were nothing, or had nothing in them, but only what they before proposed and represented of Christ, God manifested in the flesh. The promise was concerning him, and the institutions of worship did only represent him. So the apostle declares it, Col. ii. 17. Wherefore, as all the religion that was in the world after the fall was built on the promise of this work of God, in due time to be accomplished ; so it is the actual perfomaance of it which is the foundation of the Christian religion, and which gives it the pre-eminence above all that went before it. So the apostle expresseth it: (Heb. i. 1-3:) "God, who at sundry times, and in divers man- ners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds ; who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by him- self purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."