Between these two acts I confess there intercedes a twofold pro- mise of God ; — one, of giving a Saviour to his people, a Mediator, ac- cording to his former purpose, as Gen. iii. 15, "The seed of the woman shall break the serpent's head ;" and, " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be," chap. xlix. 10. Which he also foresignified by many sacrifices and other types, with prophetical predictions: "Of which salvation the pro- phets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you ; searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven ; which things the angels desire to look into," 1 Pet. i. 10-12. The other is a promise of applying the benefits purchased by this Saviour so designed to them that should believe on hira, to be given in fulness of time, according to the former promises; telling Abraham, that " in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed," and justifying himself b}^ the same faith. Gen. xii. 3, xv. 6. But these things belong rather to the applica- tion wholl}', which was equal both before and after his actunl mission.
(2.) The second act of the Father's sending the Son is the fur- nishing of him in his sending with a fulness of all gifts and graces that might any way be requisite for the office he was to undertake, the work he was to undergo, and the charge he had over the house
END OF Christ's death as eteexally intended. 167
of God. There was, indeed, in Christ a t^Yofold fuhiess and perfec- tion of all spiritual excellencies : —
First, the natural all-sufficient perfection of his Deity, as one with his Father in respect of his divine nature : for his glory was "the gioiy of the only-begotten of the Father," John 1. 14. He was " in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God," Phil. ii. 6 ; being the '• fellow of the Lord of hosts," Zech. xiii. 7. Whence that glorious appearance, Isa. v'l. 3, -i, when the seraphims cried one to another, and said, " Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts : the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke." And the prophet cried, "Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts," verse 5. Even concerning this vision the apostle saith, " Isaiah saw him, and spake of his glory," John xii. 41. Of which glory sTisvuffs, he as it were emptied himself for a season, when he was "found in the form" or condition "of a servant, humbling himself unto death," Phil. ii. 7, 8; laying aside that glory which attended his Deity, outwardly appearing to have " neither form, nor beauty, nor comeliness, that he should be desired," Isa. liii. 2. But this fulness we do not treat of, it being not communicated to him, but essentially belonging to his person, Avhich is eternally begotten of the person of his Father.
The second fulness that was in Christ was a communicated fulness, which was in him by dispensation from his Father, bestowed upon him to fit him for his work and office as he was and is the " Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus," 1 Tim. ii. 5 ; not as he is the " Lord of hosts," but as he is "Emmanuel, God with us," Matt, i. 23 ; as he was a "son given to us, called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace, upon whose shoulder the government was to be," Isa. ix. 6. It is a fulness of grace ; not that essential which is of the nature of the Deity, but that which is habitual and infused into the humanity as personally united to the other ; which, though it be not absolutely infinite, as the other is, yet it extends itself to all perfections of grace, both in respect of parts and degrees. Tliere is no grace that is not in Christ, and every grace is in him in the highest degree : so that whatsoever the per- fection of grace, either for the several kinds or respective advance- ments thereof, requireth, is in him habitually, by the collation of his Father for this very purpose, and for the accomplishment of the work designed ; which, though (as before) it cannot properly be said to be infinite, yet it is boundless and endless. It is in him as the light in the beams of the sun, and as water in a living fountain which can never fail. He isthe "candlestick" from wlience the "golden pipes do empty the golden oil out of themselves," Zech. iv. 12, into all that are his; for he is "the beginning, the first-born from the