2dly, I do therefore also believe, that he shall be the means and way of communication between God and his glorified saints for ever. What are, what will be, the glorious communications of God unto his saints for ever, in life, hght, power, joy, rest, and ineffable satisfaction, (as all must be from him unto eternity,) I shall not now inquire. But this I say, they shall be all made in and through the person of the Son, and the human nature therein. That tabernacle shall never be folded up, never be laid aside as useless. And if it be said, that I cannot declare the way and manner of the eternal communications of God himself unto his saints in glory by Christ ; I shall only say, that I cannot declare the way and manner of his communications of him- self in grace by Christ unto the souls of men in this world, and yet I do beheve it. How much more must we satisfy ourselves with the e^^dence of faith alone in those things which, as yet, are more incom- prehensible ! And our adherence unto God, by love and delight, shall always be through Christ. For God "svill be conceived of unto eter- nity according to the manifestation that he hath made of himself in him, and no otherwise. This shall not be by acting faith mth respect unto the actual exercise of the mediation of Christ, as now we cleave unto God ; but it shall be by the all-satisfying acting of love imto God, as he ha.th manifested himself, and will manifest himself in Christ.
272 THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
^dly, The person of Christ, and therein his human nature, shall be the eternal object of divine glory, praise, and worship. The life of glory is not a mere state of contemplation. Vision is the principle of it, as faith is of the life of grace. Love is the great vital acting of that principle, in adherence unto God with eternal delight. But this is active in it also. It shall be exercised in the continual ascription and assignation of glory, praise, and honour unto God, and the glo- rious exercise of all sorts of grace therein; — hereof the Lamb, the person of Christ, is the eternal object with that of the Father and the Spirit; the human nature in the Son, admitted into the com- munion of the same eternal glory.
MEDITATIONS AXD DISCOUESES
THE GLORY OF CHRIST,
PERSON, OFFICE, AND GRACE:
TIIE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FAITH AND SIGHT; APPLIED UNTO THE USE OF THEM THAT BELIEVE.
VOL. I. 18
PREFATORY NOTE.
The following treatise may be regarded as a series of Discourses on John xvii. 24. The subject is the Glory of Christ, as the representative of God to the church, — in the mystery of his Person, — in his office as Mediator, — in his exaltation on high, — in his relation to the church during every age of its history, — and in the final consummation of his work, when all things are to be gathered into a blessed unity, as the result of his mediation. The treatise is concluded by a statement of the difference between our views of the Glory of Christ as beheld by faith in this world, and as it shall be beheld by sight in heaven.
It is not professedly a sequel to the work of the author on the Person of Christ ; though, from some expressions in the Preface to these Meditations, tliey may be regarded in this light. Several of them are evidently an expansion of cer- tain thoughts and views, of which the germ will be found in the preceding work. The two works are, indeed, so closely connected, that they have been often pub- lished together. It has been thought jDroper, therefore, to adhere to this arrange- ment in the present republication of Dr Owen's Works.
There are some facts which impart peculiar interest to these Meditations. They were drawn up, according to the author's own statement, "for the exercise of his own mind," in the first instance; and illustrate, accordingly, the scope and tenor of his Christian experience. They form, moreover, his dying testimony to the truth, — and to the truth, with peculiar emphasis, as it "is in Jesus ; " for they are the substance of the last instructions which he delivered to his flock; and they constitute the last work which he prepared for the press. It is instructive to peruse the solemn musings of his soul when " weakness, weariness, and the near approaches of death," were calling him away from his earthly labours; and to mark how intently his thoughts were fixed on the glory of the Saviour, whom he was soon to behold " face to face." On the day of his death, Mr Payne, who had the charge of the original publication of this treatise, on bidding Dr Owen fare- well, said to him, " Doctor, I have just been putting your book on the Glory of Christ to the press." " I am glad," was Owen's reply, " to hear that that perform- ance is put to the press ; but, O brother Payne, the long looked-for day is come at last, in which I shall see that glory in another manner than I have ever done yet, or was capable of doing in this world ! "