as the true source of our redemption : " We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world, unto our glory f :" and he declares that the manifestation of them to the world under the Christian dispensation was eminently committed to him, and was to be a source of knowledge, not to men only, but to the angels themselves: " Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ ; and to make all men see, what is the fellow- ship of this mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ ; to the intent that now unto the prin- cipalities and powers might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord g."
Behold then here what treasures of wisdom and knowledge are unfolded to us ! We see the veil torn away from before our eyes, and the Sacred Three sitting, as it were, in council, to provide for man's re- covery, myriads of ages before his fall : we behold the Father proposing to lay our iniquities on his only-begotten Son; his Son accepting the office of our Substitute ; and the Holy Spirit engaging to render those mysterious plans effectual for the salvation of man ! Can we see nothing wonderful in all this ? Does not this " love surpass all knowledge," and all conception ? Is there not in it " a length, and breadth, and depth, and height" that can never be explored ? Yes ; and hence St. Paul speaks of " riches of glory" as contained in this mystery11 ; and, in reference even to a subordinate part of it only, exclaims, " O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out1 !"
Let us now pass on to the effects of these counsels, and see whether they also do not unfold the most stupendous mysteries.
f 1 Cor. ii. 7. s Eph. iii. 8—11. See also Col. i. 26, 27.
h Col. i. 27. • Rom. xi. 33.