2. Be not satisfied with general notions concerning the love of Christ, which represent no glory unto the mind, wherewith many deceive themselves. All who believe his divine person, profess a valuation of his love, — and think them not Christians who are other- wise minded ; but they have only general notions, and not any dis- tinct conceptions of it, and really know not what it is. To deliver us from this snare, pecuKar meditations on its principal concerns are required of us. As, —
(1.) Whose love it is, — namely, of the divine person of the Son of God. He is expressly called God, with respect unto the exercise of this love, that we may always consider whose it is, 1 John iii. 1 6, " Hereby perceive we the love [of God], because he laid down his life for us."
(2.) By what ways and means this wonderful love of the Son of God doth act itself, — namely, in the divine nature, by eternal acts of wis- dom, goodness, and grace proper thereunto; and in the human, by temporary acts of pity or compassion, with all the fruits of them in doing and suffering for us. See Eph. iii. 19 ; Heb. ii. 14, 15 ; Rev. i. o.
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S38 THE GLORY OF CHEIST
(3.) What is the freedom of it, as to any desert on our part, 1 John iv. 10. It was hatred, not love, that we in ourselves deserved; which is a consideration suited to fill the soul with self-abasement, — the best of frames in the contemplation of the glory of Christ.
(4.) What is the efficacy of it in its fruits and effects, with sundry other considerations of the like nature.
By a distinct prospect and admiration of these things, the soul may walk in this paradise of God, and gather here and there a heavenly flower, conveying unto it a sweet savour of this love of Christ. See Cant. ii. 2-4.
Moreover, be not contented to have right notions of the love of Christ in your minds, unless you can attain a gracious taste of it in your hearts ; no more than you would be to see a feast or banquet richly prepared, and partake of nothing of it unto your refreshment. It is of that nature that we may have a spiritual sensation of it in our minds ; whence it is compared by the spouse to apples and flagons of wine. We may taste that the Lord is gracious; and if we find not a relish of it in our hearts, we shall not long retain the notion of it in our minds. Christ is the meat, the bread, the food of our souls. Nothing is in him of a higher spuitual nourishment than his love, which w^e should always desire.
In this love is he gloinous; for it is such as no creatures, angels or men, could have the least conceptions of, before its manifestation by its effects; and, after its manifestation, it is in this world absolutely incomprehensibl e.
CHAPTER VI.
The Glory of Christ in the Discharge of his Mediatory Office.
Secondly, As the Lord Christ was glorious in the susception of his office, so was he also in its dischai^ge.
An unseen glory accompanied him in all that he did, in all that he suffered. Unseen it was unto the eyes of the world, but not in His who alone can judge of it. Had men seen it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Yet to some of them it was made mani- fest. Hence they testified that, in the discharge of his office, they " beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father," John i. 14; and that when others could see neither "form nor come- liness in him that he should be desired," Isa. liii. 2. And so it is at this day. I shall only make some few observations; first, on what he did in a way of obedience; and then on what he suffered in the discharge of his office so undertaken by him.
TN THE DISCHARGE OF HIS MEDIATOllY OFFICE. 339
1. 1 . WJiat he did, what obedience he yielded unto the law of God in the discharge of his office (with respect whereunto he said, " Lo, I come to do thy will, O God ; yea, thy law is in my heart "), it was all on his own free choice or election, and was resolved thereinto alone. It is our duty to endeavour after freedom, willingness, and cheerful- ness in all our obedience. Obedience hath its formal nature from our wills. So much as there is of our wills in what we do towards God, so much there is of obedience, and no more. Howbeit we are, antecedently unto all acts of our own wills, obliged unto all that is called obedience. From the very constitution of our natures we are necessarily subject unto the law of God. All that is left unto us is a voluntary compliance with unavoidable commands; v/ith him it was not so. An act of his o^vn will and choice preceded all obligation as unto obedience. He obeyed because he would, before because he ought. He said, " Lo, I come to do thy will, O God," before he was obliged to do that will. By his own choice, and that in an act of in- finite condescension and love, as we have showed, he was " made of a woman," and thereby " made under the law." In his divine per- son he was Lord of the law, — above it, — no more obnoxious unto its commands than its curse. Neither was he afterwards in himself, on his o'^vn account, unobnoxious unto its curse merely because he was innocent, but also because he was every way above the law itself, and all its force.