is there a knowledge of it necessary unto us, that we may hve unto him, and come unto the enjoyment of him. This we obtain only in the face or person of Christ — h tpoaui'Kw rou xpisTou ; 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 Xoyog Tou Qsou — " the word of God ;" howbeit it is not Xoyog ousiudng., the internal, essential Word of God — but Xoyog ■7rpo(popixog, 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 piincipal 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 : Kom. 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 hereui to be considered.
1. " Object um 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. 1 8. But without it — by any other means, and not by it — we can behold nothing of this image of God.
3. " Lumen prseparans, 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 confoimable imto 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, 81; 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 tinith 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, in its depraved condition, ever so exert and evidence themselves, as in contriving ways for the representation of God unto