Chapter I
The words of the text (Col. i. 26. 27) explained. Though God had before
by various ways discovered the glorious mysteries of his grace, yet the revela
tion of them by the gospel excels all the other.
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ayes and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints : to whom God would make knoivn what
is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles ; which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory. COL. I. 26, 27.
THE apostle, in this chapter, from the 13th verse to the end, draws a
lively character of Christ and his gospel.
1. He describes Jesus Christ in all that fulness of tlie riches of his
glory wherewith he is arrayed and represented in the gospel, from the 13th
verse to the 23d.
2. He falls into a commendation of the gospel, which is that mystery wherein is made known the rich glory of Christ, who is the glory of this
mystery. And if the story that makes Christ known be so full of riches and glory, what then is Christ himself, the subject of it ?
The apostle doth both these on set purpose (as in the 4th and 8th verses
of chap. ii. he professeth), to divert and take off these Colossians mind from those vain, deceitful speculations of philosophy, and the ceremonial
law, and traditions of men, gaudily and speciously set out with enticing words,
* philosophy and vain deceit. He exposeth the beggarly condition
of those rudiments (as he names the best of them, Gal. iv. 9) ; and to dis
play the glory and riches of the mystery of Christ in all its brightness, he makes the enticing lustre of all other wisdom, which had almost spoiled that
glory of Christ (Col. ii. 8), to vanish. In the words of my text, Col. i. 26, 27, the current of his praise of the
gospel s glory swells highest, and runs with the deepest and strongest stream ; within the limits of which, therefore, I will confine myself (though much might be added from other Scriptures) as affording matter abundant to set forth the glory of the gospel, by all that doth commend unto us any other knowledge.
* See note, p. 226.
260 A DISCOURSE OF THE [CHAP. I.
1. You have here the rise and original of it, as withal of man s salva
tion ; how, and for what ends God contrived it and revealed it, and to whom. The great God (says he) took up a mind and purpose to reveal unto his saints infinite riches of his glory in it, and by it : and to that end framed this wisdom on purpose for them, and them alone. It is made manifest to his saints, to whom God would make known his riches and glory by it.
2. You have the subject of it, and common treasury of all that riches and glory discovered in it, which is Christ, God s Son. Which riches
7s the apostle by way of explanation. Now Christ s riches
is Christ, sa}
are unsearchable (Eph. iii. 8), and this doctrine of the gospel is the
field this treasure is hid in ; and Christ being also the Lord of glory
(1 Cor. ii. 8), hath filled it with a glory answerable, with riches of
glory.
3. You have the gain and benefit of it. For it reveals God and Christ, and all his riches and glory ; so being received and entertained by spiritual knowledge and manifestation in the hearts of men, it makes those saints
possessors thereof, by giving them a possession of Christ. And for your further security, you have them in you, by having him in you (who is the
treasury of all those riches) at the present. But then, the glorious know
ledge of this Christ, as he is in you, is yet a future pledge of a greater and more transcendent glory to come, greater than this gospel can reveal, or can be made known to you.
* Christ is in you the hope of glory. 4. You have added hereunto all sorts of excelling properties and royal ties to commend the glory of the gospel, above all that are or can be sup posed to be in any other knowledge. (1.) If depth and profoundness sets
a value, this is a mystery in every line of it. (2.) If preciousness and abundance makes any knowledge estimable, this is full of riches and glory.
(3.) If secrecy puts an esteem on any science, this hath been hid from ages and generations, but now made manifest. (4.) If it recommend any know
ledge, that when the secret is revealed, yet still it be not made common to
the ordinary sort of men, then the gospel is most excellent ; for though God hath revealed it, yet he retaineth and useth that art in revealing of it, that he makes known the riches and glory of it only to his saints ; others know it but in the outward letter of it.
1. I shall take a view of the rise and original of the revelation of this
glorious mystery. I cast the brief story thereof into this frame.
(1.) Our allwise and infinitely blessed God, possessing in himself infi
nite riches of glory, he thinks of ways to make them known, and that to some reasonable intelligent creatures, which by knowing of them might be made partakers thereof, and have their bosoms filled with all his riches ; for both to make them known, and withal to make them possessors thereof, are in the text : the one in these words, make known ; the
other in those, Christ in you the hope of glory. The text says, j$0e7.9jv, he would, he had a mind and a will, a longing desire to do it, and com municate it to us, to make us blessed. That is the first thing. He would make known, &c.
(2.) The second thing to be considered is the persons, to whom. The
* to his saints. His, that is, his elect, whom he hath chosen
text says,
to be holy, his saints, who are first his own by election, and then made
saints.
[l.j They are his, singled out from all the rest to be his peculiar, his
* Thine they were, (says Christ,
elect. The Lord knows who are his.
CHAP. I.] GLORY OF THE GOSPEL. 261
John xvii. 6), and thou gavest them to me ; and they have kept thy word. And Father (says Christ, Mat. xi. 25), I thank thee thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes ; even so it pleased thee. Yet [2.] he makes them saints, to whom he communicates himself:
yea, he makes them saints by making himself known to them. Judas (not
Iscariot) asked Christ, John xiv. 22, this bold question, How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world. Christ there mentions not the first part of this account here, namely, that they were
his peculiarly, and not the world (which yet being alone with his Father in
his prayer, he then takes occasion to mention, to move him) but he gives them this other part of the account here. Because (says he) I manifest
myself to saints, which you are, and I will cause you to be. His words
afore (in which Judas interrupted him) were these, at ver. 21, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he
that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. And his words in answer to Judas fully import
* Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will
it, ver. 23.
keep my words : and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. This answer was needful for their quick ening to obedience.
(3.) The third thing I add to this head is, that God had afore the dis
covery of this gospel, taken other ways to make known something of the
riches of this glory by them ; but yet had all that while kept and retained
this knowledge of the gospel as the last, to excel, and exceed, and to put down all the former ; which yet is but a preparation to that other discovery in the heavens, as all those former were to this.
Both these assertions are clear. The first is evident from those words, he now hath made manifest, that which was hidden from all ages, &c. And yet we know that former ages had much of the wisdom of God among them, both Jew and Gentiles.
The other assertion is evident from this, that the utmost discovery of
this mystery, and of Christ now, is but the hope ; and so not the posses sion of that glory which is to come. We are led therefore to consider a
little those other ways God had already taken to manifest the riches of his
glory b} , as an ante-masque to this that followed.
[1.] One way by which he began to manifest his glorious back-parts (Exod. xxxiii. 23), both to angels and men, was by the first creation and
the works thereof, and in the law and covenant of works. Whereof the
first holds forth his eternal power and Godhead, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them ; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead ; so that they are without excuse, Rom. i. 19, 20. The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firmament sheweth his handywork, Ps. xix. 1. And the angels, that were spectators of every day s
* Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened ? or who laid the corner-stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy ? Job xxxviii.
work, were infinitely taken with it :
6, 7. They shouted for joy to see him finish every day s work. Then
his wisdom also is displayed in governing so great a host, an army of
several creatures, to several ends, by perpetual laws. I instance but in
one, the placing of the sun in the heavens and the motion of it, so disposed
262 A DISCOURSE OF THE [CHAP. I.
and ordered as it could nowhere else be placed therein without an apparent inconvenience to some parts of the habitable world. But he hath made a
tabernacle for it, and set out the course thereof to visit all the earth. It
goes to its tropics, and misseth not a hair s breadth. There is infinite
justice also apparent in his righteous law, and withal infinite holiness in
so exact a rule of righteousness, which was the Jews wisdom and glory in
the sight of all nations. For the delivery of which law God come down, and made a heaven upon a dirty mole-hill, Mount Sinai, and constituted Moses a mediator, and put a glory upon his face, and then dressed up a
high priest gloriously for his worship, and erected a tabernacle, and after
that a temple admirably magnificent. How did the Jews boast of all these
! Eom. ii.
things
[2.] But all this contented not our God, who would make known a fur
ther mystery, viz., of the redemption of fallen man by Christ, which he
kept hid and close in his own breast, and not a creature knew it, no, not
his angels (not as we now know it in the gospel), which were his nearest
courtiers and dearest favourites. It lay hid in God, Eph. iii. 9, hid even from them, ver. 10. It was a mystery which, when revealed, should amaze
the world, and put the angels to school again ; as if they had known no
thing in comparison of this, wherein they know over again all those
glorious riches which are in God, and that more perfectly and fully than ever before. Such is the mystery of Christ revealed in the gospel, which is the last edition also that ever shall come forth in this world, and
is now set out, enlarged, and perfected ; wherein that large inventory of God s glorious perfections is more fully set down, with addition.
The reasons why God did by two ways intend to manifest himself thus
variously are :
First ; Because he would shew forth his manifold wisdom, which is the reason given of revealing the gospel, Eph. iii. 10, that to the angels might appear the manifold wisdom of God. His wisdom is so vast and large, that he could vary, and take more ways than one to display it. And as he had two sorts of reasonable creatures to shew himself unto, so he had a, double way, a double sample, and double method.
Secondly ; God did so, because indeed that other way was of itself too
obscure and too imperfect.
First, It was too obscure ; for in the gospel and works of redemption, the angels came to see all that they saw before, and that more clearly and
largely. They see more power in Christ, the power of God, 1 Cor. i. 24,
* declared with power thereby to be
in raising himself up from death to life,
the Son of God, Eom. i. 4. And they see also the exceeding greatness of
his power in raising us up also, Eph. i. 19, more than they did in the
creation. They likewise see a greater and clearer instance and manifesto
of his justice in putting to death his own Son, taking on him to be a surety for sinners, than if a world of worlds should have been damned for ever. And in Christ his Son also they came to see a greater and far more tran
scendent righteousness than ever appeared either in the law or inherent in
themselves.
Secondly, That other way was but imperfect. For those attributes which God accounts his greatest riches and greatest
glory, Rom. ix. 23, even his mercy and free grace, which he intends most
to exalt, never saw light till now. But not only more of his attributes come thus to be discovered, but fur
ther, the glorious mystery of the Trinity come thereby to be more clearly
CHAP. I.j GLORY OF THE GOSPEL. 263
unfolded, if not the first discovery made of the three persons ; there being scarce the footsteps of them distinctly to be seen in the works of creation
or in the law. But now, when the gospel comes to be revealed, and the work of salvation in it, then they were discovered to be
* three witnesses in
heaven, 1 John v. 7, witnesses to our salvation. And their several wit
nessing conies to be known by their several seals and hand-works, set
severally to our salvation, bearing the stamp and similitude of their three
several subsistences ; so as by those three seals of the election of Christ and us, of our redemption and of our sanctincation, we may know there are
three persons, and how they do subsist ; even as in men s seals their several arms being engraven, their houses and antiquity are known.
(4.) The fourth thing is, what new model or means it was which God
singled forth to print and publish his whole and utmost counsel to us by, after all those other ; the edition of which should thus excel all the former, and alone be full and adequate, and commensurable to his whole design ; even to manifest and communicate the whole, the full of all those riches of
glory in himself, but once for all, and no more, that he shall not need to
superadd any other, until himself immediately communicates himself face to
face. The text tells us that this excellent way of discovery is Christ com municated to us, it is Christ in us, the hope of glory. Which notes out, not only Christ to be the revealer, the prophet (as Moses styles him) who
by word of mouth or way of doctrine should discover the glory of God
(which the apostle fully renders to the scope I have driven at, Heb. i. 1,
* God who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son ). Whereas aforetimes God by degrees and by piecemeal, KoXuftsfig, uttered himself, one truth at
one time, another at another, by drops ; so it was for the matter ; and
croXurg<Mra)&, after sundry fashions and forms and shapes, such as were
dreams, visions, types, &c. ; so for the manner. This God hath now (as the opposition imports) once for all, in the last days and by wholesale,
uttered his whole counsel, and this uniformly after one only plain and clear manner and way, by word of mouth from his Son, spoken by his Son, as
the revealer. So it follows, chap. ii. ver. 3, Which at first began to be
spoken by the Lord (namely, Christ), but not only so, but that which the
text here holds forth is, that Christ, as the argument, subject, matter, is
the thing revealed. That alone takes up and fills up the whole of this new
doctrine ; which mystery (says he) is Christ, namely, subjective. It is
Christ known and communicated ; and in him all God s riches and glory.
1 . In him all the riches of God and the knowledge of him are laid up, as the treasury and subject of them ; and so discovered and communicated
to us objectively in the knowledge of him. Thus, chap. ii. ver. 2, 3, the
apostle further explains it. For having termed the gospel (as here) the
mystery of God and of Christ, he adds, In whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge ; not only to be revealed by him, or subjectively known in and by himself; but (which is the proper scope of the apostle)
objectively set forth, and contained in him alone, and in the knowledge of him made known to us.
2. In him shines the glory of God (2 Cor. iv. 6, The light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ), as the lively
image of all his features and perfections, and evidences of his inward coun
sels and affections. That therefore which I here insist upon is, that Jesus
Christ in all his glories is the great and eminent subject of the gospel,
Ilev. i. 1.
264 A DISCOURSE OF THE [CHAP. I.
3. It is the gospel of God (namely, as the author of it), but it is con
cerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. God had but one Son, and he made this gospel on purpose to honour him, and set him forth. It is all, and every word of it, some way or other concerning him, or about him. God made it purposely to set his Son Christ forth to us ; and in setting forth his Son, himself also. It is therefore termed (chap. ii. of this epistle, ver. 2) the mystery of God the Father, and of Christ. Christ, in that series of truths about him held forth in the whole New Testament, is the sum of
this newly revealed wisdom of God, 1 Cor. i. 24. So then, God s Son, first made our Christ, and that by being made man, is thereby further made a complete body and system of a new wisdom or
knowledge of the glory of God. And correspondently is that speech of the
apostle, chap. ii. ver. 2, to be understood, that their hearts might be com
forted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the
Father, and of Christ. This was that subject which terminated the
apostle s thoughts, as the horizon doth the eye ; he regarded not to look beyond it to anything else. And surely, if unto God himself his Christ is an aboundary, a sum of that wisdom manifestative, whereby he would make himself known to us, and rest contented therein, as the last and fullest till
we come to glory, then he may well be so to us, and may we reckon our
selves complete in him, as Col. ii. 10. How complete and lively a repre sentation Christ, as revealed in the gospel, is of the riches of the glory of God to be manifested to us, in comparison with all other, I shall shew by and by, when,
4. In the fourth place, I have added this, how real and lively a demon
stration or setting forth of Christ this our gospel, the mystery here is. The
story of that is this : the apostles that lived and conversed with Jesus Christ saw with their own eyes. He dwelt amongst us (says the apostle), John
i. 14 : God wearing flesh and blood about him and appearing in it, was God manifest in the flesh personally, 1 Tim. iii. 16. And so they had the
* And we beheld his glory
privilege in his person to behold his glory.
(says he), kthe glory as of the only begotten of the Father ; so lively repre senting the glory of the Father, that if they knew him, they must needs know the Father ; John xiv. 9, Have I been so long time with you, and
yet hast thou not known me, Philip ? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? They beheld it also in his doctrine, in his works and words, and gracious converse, full of grace in his converse, and truth in his doctrine, as it
* That which we (says John) have seen with our eyes
follows there.
(1 John i. 1), which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life. Yer. 2,
* For Christ our life was manifested, &c. And when he was gone to heaven, the Holy Ghost came down and caused them
to understand the end and intent, the use to us, the benefits and the full
meaning of all he did and said. He turned and translated to them the dark mystery of his sufferings written in blood, which they understood not, his resurrection, &c., into a familiar language to be understood and learned
by lost sinners, of remissions of sins ; redemption through his blood ;
dying, rising for them, in their stead; and a thousand such glories redound
ing to us, arid in us, that are the fruits and results, and reverberations of
all he did and acted. The Holy Ghost came and took of his, even all that he had done, and unciphered and unriddled it, shewed it to them (as Christ
says, John xvi. 14) ; and so glorified Christ afresh in that comment of
CHAP. I.] GLORY OF THE GOSPEL. 265
gospel light lie caused to shine in their hearts. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. And by them were
all these things in their sermons reported ; as Peter speaks, 1 Pet. i. 12, These things which are now reported by them (said he) that have preached the gospel to you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. And
whilst they thus preached him, God gave forth by their ministry the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Cor.
* the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
iv. 6, even
God, ver. 4.
But, alas ! as Christ himself was gone to heaven, and had taken up his
glory with him ; and those that were eye-witnesses of it, and should report
: the Holy Ghost therefore caused them to leave a frame and doctrine of the gospel in their writings, both the
it unto us, are likewise gone off the stage
story of his life and death by the evangelists, which is but Christ written in
ciphers ; and in their epistles, which give that story forth in plainer letters,
opening the use, and end, and intent of all. And these writings opened by the Holy Ghost, and the ministers of the gospel hold forth all pieces of it, and being set all together, make an express picture and image of Christ, and all his glories, who is the express image of the glory of God ; and is
therefore called the glorious gospel of Christ, the subject of it, who is the
image of God, and whose glory this holds forth. Thus (as Paul preached to the Galatians, Gal. iii. 1), before our eyes Jesus Christ hath been
pictured, Tgos^gap?), depictus fitit ; and that so really and lively, that he is
bold to affirm, he was crucified among them, even as well as at Jerusalem. The Holy Ghost did set them down (as it were) at Jerusalem by the cross, and brought him forth crucified before the very eyes of their faith, as really and expressly as if they had seen it done with their bodily eyes. Let any other tragic story be told by the quickest and most poetic fancy, and it cannot be said that it was done or perpetrated among them to whom it was
told. But the story of Christ and his truths, and all that is told, is said to be done among them, whilst it is a-telling. Yea, further, the glorious gospel, accompanied with the Spirit, is not only compared to a picturing or paint
ing by colours, the most lively and artificial that can be supposed, as in
that Gal. iii. 1 ; but further, it is compared to the real image of a person in a glass, in which you see his soul shines out in all the casts of his eyes, in all the postures of his demeanour, and all this in that sparkling manner, as if all the angels would limn or draw a picture, they could not come near
it. This you havre in 2 Cor. iii. 18, compared with 2 Cor. iv. 4, 6. In
the one he says, We see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, in and by the glorious gospel. In the other he compareth the other to a glass, We all behold as in a glass, the glory of the Lord. That look, how far more lovely
* the representation of a person is seen in a glass, above what
in a picture ; so is Christ in this gospel. Let all the curious artists in the world conspire to paint the sun, and bring all their orient brightest colours, and let a child but come and bring a looking-glass ; and what a wan, pale thing is the one, to the glory, splendour, and reality of the other. The
riches of the glory of the sun, no painting or colours can ever render ; but a looking-glass doth. And such is the revelation in the gospel made to
* We therein behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord ; and
believers.
therefore he calls it the glorious gospel of Christ, even as in the text. If you ask how this comes to pass ? I answer, By the Spirit that accom
< Even as by the Spirit of the Lord,
panies it. So in that 2 Cor. iii. 18,
Qu. lively ? ED.
266 A DISCOURSE OF THE [CHAP. I.
it is added. If the Spirit of revelation, as it is called, Eph. i. 17, accom
pany not this ministry and descriptions of Christ, they are but as pictures, or as dead words used to set forth any other narration. But the gospel being the ministration of the Spirit, he hath a peculiar act to bring down the real
subsistence, (as Heb. xi. 1), of the things themselves uttered about Christ, which put together make up this image of Christ, in the understanding and
spirit of the soul and mind. Can Satan make a lively shadow of a person long since dead, by condensation of colours, and his light shining therein,
appear to the eye ? The Spirit can do this much more of Christ, so as
though you see him not in that glory as he is (1 John iii. 2), in heaven,
yet the spiritual glory of Christ you see in every truth the gospel utters of him ; and have real communion with him thereby, 1 John i. 2, 3, even as
by laying your eye to the least beam of light that comes in at a cranny in a dark room, you see the glory of the whole sun. And as you cannot see the sun, but by its own light, so, nor Christ, but by a light let down from
himself, which the Spirit that is in his heart, and in ours, gives.
If you will ask how ? I answer, By creation. So in that 2 Cor. iv. 6. God that commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our
hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. The words we speak and utter of his glory are but words, and would be no more, though we were able to set them out with the
tongues of angels. But if that Spirit that is in Christ s heart, and lies hid
* My Spirit and my word shall not depart out of thy mouth ), if he accompanies it to our hearts, he presents the
in this word (as the promise is,
things, and the real images thereof to our souls in and through those words. He turns verba in res, as that philosopher when converted acknowledged. Which he doth to no other men but to his saints, to whom he would make known, &c. So then to shut up this ; suppose you had an absent friend alive, whom
loving, you desire at times to behold in his converse and behaviour, and
loving aspect to you ; and a picture of him did not content you, but you had a glass, into which at times the lively image came, and in which he
appeared to you really in such and such deportments
: such is the gospel when the Spirit accompanies it, and conveys Christ spiritually, and with
the sight of faith to the soul. And this will help us to understand why he
is called Christ in us ; of which hereafter. How should we prize and value such a glass as this, preserve it from
! You reject such as are false and misrepresent ; you affect pure and clear ones ; oh then,
soiling, spots, or breaking, and suffer it not to be perverted
keep to and preserve the gospel in its purity. You see your husband in it, and his beauty, every day.
5. How completely doth this gospel hold forth the riches of the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ, as a redeemer and crucified, 2 Cor. iv. 4, and 6, compared with 1 Cor. i. 28, 24. The word is %v crgotfworw, 2 Cor.
iv. 6. John i. 18, No man hath seen God at anytime (John i. 18), the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath de
clared him, sfyyqgaTo, which word (as your late critics* observe) Enarra-
tionem notat, non tarn sermone aut prcedictione, qudm expressione et reprasen-
tatione fact-am. It expressed him to the life, and brought God forth out of
his invisibility, Christ being (Col. i. 15) The image of the invisible God. There is indeed a full and complete image of the glory of God, which
shineth in his person, as he appears in heaven, whereof John, James, and
* Ludovicus de Dieu.
CHAP. I.J GLORY OF THE GOSPEL. 267
Peter had a glimpse, which transcends infinitely all that which the gospel can, or the Spirit of the gospel doth reveal of him. And by
rthis glory (John xvii., That they may be where I am, and see my glory ) we shall
see and understand by converse with him in heaven more, infinitely more, of the glory of God in and by him. But this glory the gospel treats not
of, but only hints ; we discern it but by collecting what glory must needs be due to that man in whom the fulness of the Godhead personally dwells. But that image of God which in Christ this gospel holds forth, is but the
hopes of that other glory, and is a lower thing than that which his person wears in heaven.
And yet this discovery of God in Christ transcends whatever any way was or could otherwise have been made. The back-parts of God, which we call his attributes, his power, wisdom, truth, justice, which God calls
his glory to Moses, Exod. xxxvi., and which we cannot see and live : these
are infinitely more really and substantially, and to the life, set forth to us, by what we know of Christ as a redeemer in the gospel ; and do infinitely transcend whatever of them either was, or could have been expressed in
millions of several worlds, filled all of them with several sorts of intel
ligent creatures, such as angels and men, to never so great a variety, as the 7roXuTo/x/Ao <rop/a of God could have diversified the natures of them into.
There is a threefold image of God in Christ.
1. As he is his Son, without the consideration of his dwelling in an human nature ; and so he is unto God the Father that image of himself by whom he understands himself. And were he not equal with himself, he should not understand or behold himself by him fully and perfectly. And Christ thus is in that respect as invisible, as incomprehensible as God him
self. For, so considered, he is God, and dwells in light inaccessible.
2. There is an image of the glory of God shining in his person in heaven, such as all that shall see it shall say (as they did, Mat. xvii., upon a glimpse of it) that it is proper only to the only begotten Son of God.
But, 3. There is a glorious image of all God s attributes, which shines
in the person of Christ (as he conversed here), and in the works which Christ hath done for us, and in the fruits and benefits that redound thereby to us : or in the works of Christ (which are the beams whereof this sun is the body) in us, now he is in heaven, leading us into communion with him
self. And they all make a complete image, and that more perfect, of the riches of God s glory
: and this the gospel treats of. The first of these is the foundation of the second, the second of this third : and do each exceed the other. There is a new and complete edition of all the attributes of God, which results out of the story of what he is, hath done, and is made
to us.
* the power of God, and the wisdom of God. He calls him by terms of the attributes of God in abstracto. And
In the 1 Cor. i. 24, Christ is termed
if the question be, Ho\v we are to understand it ? Not of what Christ is
essentially merely as God, or simply as the Son of God, which was the
first, nor yet as in his person as God-man, he hath an infinite wisdom and power inherent in him, which was the second ; but as he is made to us by his works of mediation for us, and the like, and in respect of what his
person is made to us. Which is clear by the context : for he speaks of Christ as he is crucified, and of the power of God shewn, and put forth in
calling and converting our souls bythe foolishness of preaching. It
pleased God, through the foolishness of preaching, to save them that be-
268 A DISCOURSE OF THE [CHAP. I.
lieve, ver. 21. And so it follows, ver. 23, We preach Christ crucified, unto them which are called, the power of God.
The like is as clear to be understood of Christ s being the wisdom 01 God, which is attributed to him in respect of what he is made to us ; so, ver. 30, who is made unto us wisdom, &c. And both these, the power and wisdom of God, appeared in Christ, in what he did and suffered. And therefore Paul subjoins, chap. ii. 2, As to know nothing but Christ
* as crucified. So then Christ as
(of which I spake afore), so he adds,
crucified, and by the like reason made flesh, and walking holily, dying, overcoming sin, wrath, Satan, hell, rising, ascending, and then converting,
justifying, glorifying us. In all and each of these works performed by him he is the power of God, the wisdom of God ; and so even in these a perfect edition of all those attributes. And for the same, and by the like reason, he may be entitled the truth, the life, the love of God, as he is in other scriptures. The truth of God, because he ratified all the promises, and confirmed them
true. The faithful witness, God s Amen. So he is to* the love of God, 1 John iv. 16, where God is said to be love, not in respect of what he is in
* God so loved the
himself, but in what he is to us in giving his Son ;
world, that he gave his only begotten Son. And not only so, but he who himself was God laid down his life for us (chap. iii. 16), sinners, enemies, which all commend that love, Rom. v. And thus is the love of God made manifest to the utmost, 1 John iv. 9, that whereas none could see the
infinite love of God as it is in himself; thus John in that very place, no man hath seen God at any time, ver. 18, nor can, nor could ever have come to have fathomed the infinite sweetnesses of love and kindnesses that
lie at the bottom of that heart ; therefore God, to express the utmost of
it, gave Christ, that in the love of Christ we might comprehend the height, the breadth, the depth of that love that yet passeth knowledge, as Eph.
iii. 19. Then to instance again in power ; Adam and the angels saw God s
power in the creation of the world, Rom. i. 20. But in Christ s, and his work of redemption, he came to see infinitely far greater works than these, as Christ speaks. Look upon him in the womb, and see God and man s nature united into one person, the power of the most High overshadowing his mother, Luke i. 35. Which word was sought out to shew how great and incomprehensible a power, mysteriously and secretly wrought within
that vail, in the framing and then uniting that human nature to the Son of God. As great artists, as curious limners, &c., work within doors, conceal
their work whilst a-doing, so the Spirit doth his power. And if the fram
ing the body of man, and the union of the body and soul, is wondered at by David, as so curious a piece of workmanship, and therefore wrought, as it
were, underground I am wonderfully made, says he, in the lower parts of
the earth how much more wonderful was the framing of an habitation for
the fulness of the Godhead to dwell in, and uniting God personally there unto ! Look again upon him on the cross, a weak and sorry man. For, as 2 Cor. xiii. 4,
* he was crucified in weakness, and yet left and found in
that weakness, but on purpose to make an infinite power of God appear ; his power was perfected in that weakness ; look on him as a poor man made
up of flesh and blood, bearing the wrath of God and all the sins of the
world. He bore that wrath that brake the back of men and angels, and crushed the strongest creatures to hell, and brake their bones without reco
very. But this weak drop of flesh and blood is backed and steeled with so
great and infinite a power, as he elnctates and overcomes it. Yea, and it * Qu. too ? ED.
CHAP. I.] GLOKY OF THE GOSPEL. 269
is impossible that he should be held under it, Acts ii. 24. Then see him
rising and flinging open the gates of death, the grave, and hell, declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, Eom. i. 4, like another Sampson taking these gates of brass off their hinges, and
carrying them on his back to the top of the hill he ascended from into heaven. Measure but the distance between the low estate of his body in
the grave, and of his soul on the cross, and that superexalted estate of
glory in the highest heavens ; and what compasses our * mathematic instru ments can the most enlarged understandings frame within their own thoughts to take this elevation ? So transcendent a power appears in raising up this
Christ from death to glory, which the apostle doth greaten accordingly, Eph. i. 19, and makes it the highest pattern of power that God ever put
* According to the working of his "mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, whom he raised from the dead (so low), and set him at his own
forth,
right hand in the heavenly places (so high), far above all principalities and
powers, &c. View the like in holiness. The glory of God s holiness is so
great, and his eyes so pure, that when he beheld the holiness of his best
creatures, the angels (and in any other that had been mere creatures, if
supposed greater than they, it had been all one), his critical curious eyes reckon it but folly. The angels, the inhabitants of heaven, are not clean
in his sight. But here is a holiness of a man in whom God dwells, satis
fies his curiosity, and though indeed it cannot profit him (as Ps. xvi. 1, Christ confesseth), yet he can find no fault with it. It cannot but fully
please him, for it is the righteousness of God. See the difference of the
strength, the efficacy of these two holinesses, and by that guess at the transcendent excellency and virtue of the one above the other. Sin, the
least sin, is stronger than all the holiness in men or angels. For the guilt of one sin no sooner arrested an angel, but it instantly expelled all holiness out of his heart, and wiped out the memory of all his righteous works. And no sooner seized it on Adam, but it drave out of his heart, as his
person out of paradise, all that stock of holiness was laid up in him for all
mankind, forced it forth of his and all our hearts, being but imputed to us. And yet, lo ! the holiness of Christ is such, that when the guilt of sin of all
the elect were thrown upon him, and reckoned by God and himself as his
own, yet his holiness is of such a sovereignty that it preserves him from the
infection thereof, overcometh sin, death, hell, the law ; and triumphing, cries out, Oh death, where is thy sting ? The sting of death is sin ; the
strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto God, who hath not only given Christ, but this Christ the victory. For the strength of his holiness
is such, that though it preserved not him from being hurt by the imputa tion of our sins, but laid hold on by us, and imputed by God unto us, it
expels all the virulent poison and venom of the deadliest sins out of our
hearts. Yet, oh ! f what a demonstration of an infinite holiness is here ?
4. There is the greatest of justice and wrath against sin. That God should put to death his own Son for sin, when he became but a surety for
it, was a clearer manifestation of his anger, and a higher piece of justice
against sin, than if he had made and there sacrificed millions of worlds.
5. There is the clearest brightness of his righteousness, such as is not found shining in the law or in their hearts ; I mean of Adam or the angels. For this, at the utmost, serves but to justify themselves, and there is little
enough of it too ; the weight of the least dust in their balance would cause a rejection of them as too light. And if the righteousness of them all by a * Qu. or ? ED. t Qu. Yes! oh ? ED.
270 A DISCOURSE OF THE [CHAP. I.
general contribution were contracted into any one of them, it could not serve
to free one sinner from one sin. Yea, only one sinful act in themselves would make a forfeiture of all the good in them, or that had come from them. But here is a righteousness of that efficacy as serves for millions of
sinners ; of that breadth, as is able to cover worlds of sins and millions of worlds ; of that length, that it reacheth to eternity, an everlasting righteous ness ; and no sin in God s people can wear it out, or evacuate and lessen the virtue of it. All the divine perfections mentioned before ; and, 6. Not only all before are more gloriously and perspicuously set forth
in a new edition of them, but with addition also of the discovery of some
perfections in God, which no way else had come forth unto our compre hensions. Yea, those attributes which God accounts his greatest riches and highest glory, as, Eom. ix. 23, his mercy and free grace, which he de
sired most of all to exalt in the manifestation of himself, never saw light
till now. That great love wherewith he loved us, hidden in his heart, now brake forth, as Joseph s to his brethren. His love to Adam, and mankind
in him, was but providential, founded on the law of creation, whereby he
loveth the works of his hands as such ; and whilst they should love God, God would love them. But here is a love issuing from what is in his own
heart as the fountain of it, and a spring, yea, a sea, to feed it, a love in
Christ founded on him, and in nothing in the creature, the same where with he loves him to everlasting, peremptory, unchangeable. Mercy and
free grace, which are the richest jewels in his crown, had never else appeared ; the doctrine of salvation through Christ being the stage set up on purpose whereon only it is represented, and off from which it is nowhere else seen, upon which it acts itself the greatest part and gives all the other their parts, and manageth, ordereth the whole scenes. All passages begin and end with
* by grace we are saved. The saints title is,
it, and tend to this, that
c vessels of mercy, Rom. ix. 23. The whole plot and frame is made up of
mercy, and is so called, 1 Pet. ii. 10. The doctrine itself that brings this
salvation is termed grace, Titus ii. 10, 11. It begins, sets all a-work, and ends all in glory.
Use. Let us, then, both ministers and people, be exhorted to study and
search into this gospel. My brethren, whatever other knowledge we may
pride ourselves in, and wear out our brains about the searching into, yet this is that which is the riches of the Gentiles and saints, as this text hath
it, the pearls of the world, Mat. xiii. 45, the glory of the ministry, 1 Cor.
ii. 7, which God ordained for our glory, namely, apostles and ministers , the preachers of it, the clear revealing of which was the desire and longing of the patriarchs and prophets, who, though they knew the legal covenant
as well as we, yet this doctrine of salvation, Christ s sufferings, God s grace, was it they inquired into, 1 Pet. i. 10-12, that is, sought to God by prayer and searched diligently, searched, using all the means of reading, medi
tating to attain to the knowledge of it, and all this diligently spent, and
thought it worthy of the chiefest of their pains. And all the answer they could get was this, that they delivered these things for us, it being ordained
for our glory ; which Paul, therefore, that had profited so much in the
knowledge of the Jews religion, Gal. i. 14, professeth, Phil. iii. 8, that he
accounted all dross and dung, for this excellent knowledge of Christ. For
he makes his knowledge therein his chiefest excellency, Eph. iii. 4. There
is a parenthesis, wherein you would think he boasted, speaking of his own writings, whereby,
* when ye read, saith he, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. The first obscure dawning made
CHAP. II.] GLORY OF THE GOSPEL. 271
John the Baptist, who did but point at Christ, greater than all the pro
phets that were afore him.
What do I speak of the study and glory of prophets and apostles ? It
is the study of the angels, and which they think worth their greatest in
tention. Look into those two places, 1 Pet. i. 10, Eph. iii. 10, Which
things the angels desire to pry into. Those glorious creatures that knew God in his legal covenant and work of creation (and those in heaven saw it more glorious than this visible world) more fully than ever Adam
did, that have the immediate participation of God himself, have his face
to read lectures in day and night, are yet glad if they can get but a
peep and glimpse of the way of saving men by Jesus Christ, as being a
knowledge of a greater excellency than otherwise they have any. Yea, and so desirous are they to learn it, that they are content to go to school
to the church, Eph. iii. 9, 10, that to principalities and powers might be made known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God.
But what need I speak of angels, prophets, or apostles ? It is the great study (I may so speak with reverence), the wisdom and great learning of God
himself, who was the first professor of it, called so, /car Ifo^v. 1 Cor.
* We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, and that a hidden wisdom before the world was, hid in God, Eph. iii. 9. It is God s art, and peculiar to himself, whereas of other
ii. 7, speaking of the gospel, says he,
knowledge men and angels have common notions infused at first creation, to attain to and pick out of themselves. But this is his wisdom, which he alone had studied, and which none knows but those to whom he reveals it.