D Col. ii. 9. c Col. i. 19. d John viii. 12.
e Jer. xxiii. 6. f Rom. x. 4. e Zech. xiii. 1. Tit. ii. 14.
h Heb. iv. 15. and ii. 18. > Heb. vii. 25.
k Eph. iii. 19. > Eph. iv. 7. m John iii. 34. Mai. ii. 15.
n John i. 4. and v. 26. ° Matt. xxv. 9.
that, being Head over all, he may impart out of it, and " fill all tilings with itp." Theirs is perishable : though they be filled with it now, even as a house with light from the meridian sun, they would be destitute of it in an instant, if the communications of heaven were intercepted or withheld : but his is immutable and eternal : he is " the same yesterday, to- day, and for everq."]
That our inquiries about this fulness are not merely speculative, will appear, while we shew,
II. What interest believers have in it —
Every believer receives out of the fulness that is in Christ —
[To state the precise mode in which Jesus communicates his blessings to the soul, is impossible ; nor while we remain strangers to so many things in nature, must we wonder, if there be some things in the dispensations of Grace which we cannot fully comprehend1". But the illustrations, with which the Scripture furnishes us, are sufficiently clear for any pur- poses of useful instruction. Christ is represented as a vine, of which we are the branches ; and as a Head, to which we are united as the members. Now, as between these a vital union and constant communication are necessary, in order to the support of animal or vegetative life ; so is it by constant, though invisible, supplies of grace from Christ that the believer is enabled to maintain his spiritual life and vigour s — ]
He receives from Christ "grace for grace" —
[The terms "grace for grace" are variously interpreted; nor is it easy to ascertain which of the different senses is the true one. Some explain it of " the substantial grace of the Gospel," which all, both Jews and Gentiles, receive ; " instead of the shadowy grace that was contained in the legal dispensa- tion :" others understand it as importing " grace upon grace," administered in copious and successive portions : others again think it means, " grace answerable to the grace that is in Christ Jesus:" and others, "grace for grace sake." Without deter- mining which of these interpretations we should exclusively retain, we may observe, in reference to them all, that all those blessings which believers under the law enjoyed by means of types and ceremonies, we have conveyed to us in a fuller measure, and by the more simple channel of the written word: " Christ came that we might have life, and have it more abun- dantly '." Nor is there any intermission to the communications
p Eph. i. 22, 23. and iv; 10. i Heb. xiii. 8. r John iii. 8.
s John xv. 5. Eph. iv. 15, 16. t John x. 10.
1599.1 believer's interest in Christ's fulness. 209
which we receive from Christ ; they flow, like the waves of the sea, in constant succession and the richest abundance : whatever we have received, it will always be found true, that " he giveth more grace11." His aim in bestowing on us such " abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness," is, that he may transform us into his own likeness. And this is the effect which he produces : as a parent begets a child in his own like- ness, or a seal stamps its own image on the wax impressed by it, so does the Lord Jesus communicate to us the very graces that there are in him, till we are " changed into his image from glory to glory x." All this he does purely " of his own good pleasure," and for the honour of his Father's name. He sees not any thing in us which can merit such unspeakable favours ; ** he is gracious because he will be gracious, and has compassion because he will have compassion y." Nor must we forget that this is the privilege of "all:" the Apostles them- selves could draw from no other fountain ; and it is alike open to all who will go to it2."]