(8.) Being thus inclined, disposed, and ready, in the eternal love of his divine person, to undertake the office of mediation and the work ' See his " Christologia," &c., chap, iv., p. 54 of this volume.
336 THE GLORY OF CHmST
of our redemption, a body ivas prepared for him. In this body or human nature, made his own, lie was to make this love effectual in all its inclinations and actings. It was provided for him unto this end, and filled with all gi^ace in a way unmeasurable, especially with fervent love unto mankind. And hereby it became a meet instrument to actuate his eternal love in all the fruits of it.
(9.) It is hence evident, that this glorious love of Christ doth not consist alone in the eternal actings of his divine person, or the divine nature in his person. Such, indeed, is the love of the Father, — namely, his eternal purpose for the communication of gi'ace and glory, with his acquiescency therein ; but there is more in the love of Christ. For when he exercised this love he was man also, and not God only. And in none of those eternal acts of love could the human nature of Christ have any interest or concern ; yet is the love of the man Christ Jesus celebrated in the Scripture.
(10.) Wherefore this love of Christ which we inquire after is the love of his person, — that is, which he in his own person acts in and by his distinct natures, according unto their distinct essential properties. And the acts of love in these distinct natures are infinitely distinct and different ; yet are they all acts of one and the same person. So, then, whether that act of love in Christ which we \vould at any time consider, be an eternal act of the divine nature in the person of the Son of God ; or whether it be an act of the human, performed in time by the gracious faculties and powers of that nature, it is still the love of one and the selfsame person, — Christ Jesus.
It was an act of inexpressible love m him, that he assumed our nature, Heb. ii. 14, 17. But it was an act in and of his divine nature only ; for it was antecedent unto the existence of his human nature, which could not, therefore, concur therein. His laying down his life for us was an act of inconceivable love, 1 John iii. 1 6. Yet was it only an act of the human nature, wherein he offered himself and died. But both the one and the other were acts of his divine person ; whence it is said that God laid doAvn his life for us, and purchased the church with his own blood.
This is that love of Christ wherein he is glorious, and wherein we are by faith to behold his glory. A great part of the blessedness of the saints in heaven, and their triumph therein, consists in their be- holding of this glory of Christ, — in their thankful contemplation of the fruits of it. See Rev. v. 9, 10, &c.
The illustrious brightness wherewith this glory shines in heaven, the all-satisfying sweetness which the view of it gives unto the souls of the saints there possessed of glory, are not by us conceivable, nor to be expressed. Here, this love passeth knowledge, — there, we shall comprehend the dimensions of it. Yet even here, if we are not sloth-
IN HIS LOVE AS MEDIATOR. 837
ful and carnal, we may have a reireslimg prospect of it ; and where comprehension fails, let admiration take place.
My present business is, to exhort others unto the contemplation of it, though it be but a little, a veiy little, a small portion of it, that I can conceive; and less than that very little that I can express. Yet may it be ray duty to excite not only myself, but others also, unto due inquiries after it ; unto which end I offer the things ensuing.
1. Labour that your minds may continually befitted and prepared for such heavenly contemplations. If they are carnal and sensual,
or filled with earthly things, a due sense of this love of Christ and its glory will not abide in them. Virtue and vice, in their highest de- grees, are not more diametrically opposite and inconsistent in the same mind, than are an habitual course of sensual, worldly thoughts and a due contemplation of the glory of the love of Christ ; yea, an earnestness of spirit, pregnant with a multitude of thoughts about the lawful occasions of life, is obstructive of all due communion with the Lord Jesus Christ herein.
Few there are whose minds are prepared in a due manner for this duty. The actions and communications of the most evidence what is the inward frame of their souls. They rove up and down in their thoughts, which are continually led by their affections into the cor- ners of the earth. It is in vain to call such persons unto contempla- tions of the glory of Christ in his love. A holy composure of mind, by virtue of spiritual principles, an inclination to seek after refresh- ment in heavenly things, and to bathe the soul in the fountain of them, with constant apprehensions of the excellency of this divine glory, are required hereunto.