And by these considerations may v\^e be led into that knowledge of and acquaintance with our Lord Jesus Christ, which is so neces- sary, so useful, and so much recommended unto us in the Scripture. And the utter neglect of learning the knowledge of Christ, and of the truth as it is in him, is not more pernicious unto the souls of men than is the learning of it by undue means, Avhereby false and mis- chievous ideas or representations of him are infused into the minds of men. The Papists would learn and teach him by images, the work of men's hands, and teachers of lies: for besides that they are forbidden by God himself to be used unto any such purposes, and therefore cursed with barrenness and uselessuess, as to any end of faith or holiness, they are in themselves suited only to ingenerate low and carnal thoughts in depraved superstitious minds; for as the worshippers of such images know not what is the proper cause nor the proper object of that reverence and those affections they find in themselves, when they apjjroach unto them and adore be-
186 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN AND ON [BOOK II.
fore them, so the apprehensions which they can have hereby tend but to the " knoAving after the flesh/' which the apostle looked on as no part of his duty, 2 Cor. v. 16. But the glory of the human na- ture, as united unto, the person of the Son of God, and engaged in the discharge of his office of mediator, consists alone in these emi- nent, peculiar, ineffable communications of the Spirit of God unto him, and his powerful operations in him ; this is rejDresented unto us in the glass of the gospel, which we beholding by faith, are changed into the same image by the same Spirit, 2 Cor. iii. 18.
Our Lord Christ himself did foretell us that there would be great inquiries after him, and that great deceits would be immixed there- withal. " If," saith he, " they shall say unto you. Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not," Matt. xxiv. 26. It is not a wilderness, low, persecuted, inglo- rious, and invisible condition, as to outward profession, that our Saviour here intendeth : for himself foretold that his church should be driven into the wilderness, and nourished there, and that for a long season. Rev. xii. 6 ; and where his church is, there is Christ, for his promise is, to be with them and among them unto the end of the world. Matt, xxviii. 20. Nor by "secret chambers" doth he intend those private places of meeting for security Avhich all his disciples, for some hundreds of years, were compelled unto and did make use of, after his apostles, who met sometimes in an upper room, some- times in the night, for fear of the Jews ; and such, it is notorious, were all the meetings of the primitive Christians. But our Saviour here foretells the false ways that some would pretend he is taught by and found in ; for, first, some would say he was sv rfi spyifjt,({}, " in the desert" or wilderness, and if men would go forth thither, there they would see him and find him. And there is nothing intended hereby but the ancient superstitious monks, who, under a pretence of religion, retired themselves into deserts and solitary places; for there they pretended great intercourse with Christ, great visions and appear- ances of him, being variously deluded and imposed on by Satan and their own imaginations. It is ridiculous on the one hand, and de- plorable on the other, to consider the woful follies, delusions, and superstitions this sort of men fell into ; yet was in those days no- thing more common than to say that Christ was in the desert, con- versing with the monks and anchorites. " Go not forth unto them," saith our Lord Christ; "for in so doing ye will be deceived." And again saith he, " If they say unto you, He is h roTg ra/j^iloig, in the secret chambers, believe it not." There is, or I am much deceived, a deep and mysterious instruction in these words. Ta/jts/a signifies those secret places in a house where bread and wine and cates^ of all
' Gates, viands. — Ed.
CnAP. IV.] THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 187
sorts are laid up and stored. This is the proper signification and use of the word. What pretence, then, could there be for any to say that Christ was in such a place? Why, there ensued so great a pretence hereof, and so horrible a superstition thereon, that it was of divine wisdom to foresee it, and of divine goodness to forewarn us of it ; for it is nothing but the popish figment of transubstantiatiou that is in- tended. Christ must be in the secret places where their wafer and wine were deposited, — that is, h roTc ra/xn'oig. Concerning this, saith our Saviour, " Believe them not." All crafts, and frauds, and bloody violences, will be used to compel you to believe a Christ in the pix and repository; but, if you would not be seduced, " believe them not." Such are the false ways whereby some have pretended to teach Christ and to learn him, which have led them from him into hurt- ful snares and perdition. The consideration that we have insisted on will guide us, if attended to, unto a spiritual and saving know- ledge of him. And we are to learn thus to know him, —