Book III
Of the glories and royalties that belong unto Jesus Christ, considered as Godman in one person (besides what accrued to him from his performance of the work of our redemption}, and which were appointed for him, by his Father, from all eternity. The apparent manifestation of the divine attributes in the
person of Jesus Christ God-man. The designation of him in God s first
decrees, as the end for whom all the creatures were made. The part that he
bore as God-man in the creation, as by him all things were created. The
appointment of him by God to be one Lord over all, under him one God ; and to be in a more special respect the head of the elect, on whom they were
to hold the tenure of all the blessings bestowed on them above the dues of creation.
One Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and ive by him.
1 COB. VIII. 6.
CHAPTER I.
A preface giving a short scheme or draft of the ensuing discourse. An
exposition of Col. i.,from verses 15 to 19 ; all that is spoken there of Christ must be ascribed to him as God-man.
We have had the person of our Lord set out unto us, what and who he is. This text, in more general words, leads us next unto the consideration of the glory and royalties of this great person, who, as God-man in one person,
is sovereign Lord over all; and also, who hath 1. An universal influence and efficacy into all things
: Through whom are all things. 2. Specially into the salvation of the elect : And we by him. Neither doth the text
attribute these to him, as he is singly that second person, the Son of God ; but as he is constituted Lord by his Father. And therefore necessarily as considered the Son of God, personally united to that man Jesus, as hath been set out. And of him thus considered, I desire, may be understood
all that follows, as that which is the proper subject thereof.
It hath been no small diminution of Jesus Christ (as he is God-man), that men s minds having been intent upon him as a redeemer from sin and wrath (they being sinners, the consideration and burden of that hath lain
nearest them, and pressed upon their spirits), and that having once given them ease, they have in a manner only given him the glory thereof; whereas there is in other respects as great a revenue of glory from many other contributions due to him, even from whatever God himself can be
supposed to challenge glory from.
The subject of these following sections is, the glory of his person, and
CHAP. I.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 455
the relation thereof, simply considered and abstracted from the work of
redeeming us men from sins and wrath.
Ere I come to the particulars, I shall in this first chapter, which is an
introduction to the rest, do two things.
First, Give the sum and scheme of the particulars, that thus shew forth
the glory of his person.
Secondly, Single out one eminent and comprehensive scripture, viz., Col. i. 15, which gives a general bottom unto all the heads of that scheme or draft.
First, The series of the heads themselves. The first head is, The native personal glories which attend and are due to that human
nature united personally to the Son of God, besides those that arise to him
as a Redeemer.
Which are of two sorts.
First, Inherent in him, consisting of such attributes as accompany the union of that human nature to God s Son, and do make up an image of the Godhead in him ; besides his being the essential image of God as second
person ; such as is to be found in no mere creature. The second are incommunicable royalties, adherent or appertaining to
him, and yet no less due to him than the other. As,
1. That he as man, or rather as God-man, should have in the decrees and purposes of the Most High, the just honour to be the eldest or first born therein, in priority of order, before all other men or angels, that were
to be mere creatures.
2. In those decrees to be made the end or final cause of all other things, and this also as his due, that all other things that were to be created should be so disposed of, and contrived in God s eternal counsel, as might tend to
his glory, even as well as to the Father s.
Unto these two I add that which is the result of both, especially of the
first.
3. That by this designed union of the Son of God to our nature, and in
the person of the Son so united, and that simply and abstractly considered ; God hath, and doth make the highest manifestation and communication of
himself, such as by no created ways or means could ever have been attained
(which is the result of his being the image of the invisible God). And this
manifestation (we now speak of) is, both that which is made unto the elect
in him, and by him, and for his sake ; as also that one which is transcend-
ently made in and unto that human nature himself, who is one of us, flesh of our flesh, &c. So as by this personal union with the man Jesus, God hath attained his chiefest, highest, and most substantial ends, which
by all or any means else could not have been so attained.
The second head proceeds on such glories as are relative unto the works and counsels of God, touching the things that were to be made and brought forth into being by him, and the dependence they all have upon his being God-man ; wherein is shewn how that his Son s being made, and under
* The beginning of the creation of God ; the upholder of the whole creation in his Father s purposes ; yea, and virtually was the creator and maker thereof, as so considered. 2. The
taking to be made, man, he withal became, 1.
upholder and governor of them, when thus created. And, 3. All other of
his works (besides redemption) are committed to him.
A third head (which T shall treat of in another discourse, viz., of Christ the Mediator) is more special, namely, his glorious efficaciousness, to the
456 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK III.
accomplishment of the blessedness and salvation of God s elect, both men and angels, out of the common lump and mass of the whole creation ; which contains in it,
1. His being an head of union to angels and men, but more especially of
us, elect men unto God, to raise them up as creatures unto a supernatural union with God, above their law of creation.
2. Unto us men, yet more especially in his being a redeemer, over and above his being an head unto us, to deliver us from sin and the curse, by his (himself) being made both for us.
The coronis, or top-stone set upon this pillar and column of glory, which
is thus erected, and is a building unto our Lord Christ, is comprehensively contained in Eph. i. 10, That in the dispensation of the fulness of time, he might gather together all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. And it is the whole and full birth, the
all of God s everlasting purposes and decrees, and so the whole of what soever shall be accomplished, touching the person of Christ, the salvation of the elect, both angels and men, and the restitution of all the whole crea
tion by Christ. As, 1. That God s utmost design was to unite a select company of his
creatures to him, to be one with himself.
2. That to that end, he in his decrees contrived it so that the person of
Christ should consist and be made up of all things, all sorts of things in heaven and earth ; and so made a meet medium of such an union.
3. That he hath made up that body or company of his elect that were to be thus united to himself by Christ, in a correspondent anti-posture to that
of his person, made up out of all things in heaven and earth ; and consisting
(take the whole lump of them amongst them) of all sorts of things that are
to be found in either, both among angels and men ; even a special all things, out of all the general all things.
4. That he hath made his Son an head of union, which is common both
to angels and men ; and over and above, a redeemer or mediator of redemp tion of us men ;
* so gathering them all into one a second time in him.
5. That the whole creation (but those in hell, which are exempted out of
that catalogue) have by an overflow, a participation (take them in their
capacity) of this great union, and are restored to a glorious liberty therewith. Even so be it, blessed and thrice glorious Lord Jesus ; to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
I now at length must quit the conduct of this scripture, which I have
hitherto, all along, taken for my guide and bottom, namely, 1 Cor. viii. 6. And it having thus happily led me to that general, which hath these parti culars in the womb thereof, I shall take my leave of it, and betake myself unto another scripture, as adequate to this, and which is its next design and model, setting forth the heads forementioned almost in the same order and method I have proposed them in. This scripture I shall in this section
first suit, in the whole of it, to the particulars of this draft.
Col. i. ver. 15-19, Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born
of every creature : for by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers ; all things were created by him and
for him : and he is before all things, and by him all things consist : and he
is the head of the body, the church ; who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead ; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence
: for it
pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.
CHAP. I.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHKIST. 457
The apostle, from the 15th verse to the 23d, sets forth Jesus Christ in
all those rich and glorious excellencies revealed in the gospel ; and his
scope and intention designed therein (as likewise in the whole epistle) is, as
appears by the second chapter, to divert and take off the Colossians minds from going after Jewish rites, which he calls
* rudiments of the world, &c.,
Col. ii. 8, and which some would have introduced into their worship ; and
likewise, from vain and fruitless speculations, brought into their faith and
doctrine, but grounded on philosophy, carnal reason, traditions of men,
&c., ver. 8, which, having a show of wisdom in them, did so carry away their minds, as (to use his own words in the 18th verse) they were well
nigh spoiled or robbed (as were our forefathers, by the like subtilties of the
schoolmen, and the ostentation of pompous rites and ceremonies) of these
rich and never to be exhausted treasures of all wisdom and knowledge, which lay hid in Christ (ver. 3), but unregarded by them, by reason of the
other.
The apostle therefore, knowing that the super-eminent excellencies of
Christ, if once discovered, would withdraw their thoughts from gazing after such vain (though gaudy) speculations of science, falsely so called, and how
in him they were complete (as himself speaks, Col. ii. 10), and therefore needed not to go out of him, nor to be beholden to any other knowledge for direction in matters of faith and order, seeing that in him were hid ail
treasures of knowledge and wisdom ; he therefore brings in this King of
glory among them, clothed in all his royalties ; that look, as when the king comes in state into the presence chamber, though the eyes of the bystanders were before never so intent in beholding the curious pictures and rich
hangings about the room ; yet when the king comes in, they all turn their
: so likewise would it be with these Colossians, when they should once see Christ appear in his glory ;
eyes on him, diverting them from other objects
in, which the apostle purposely sets him forth in these verses, the like whereof he nowhere doth in all his epistles.
So then you see already this scripture, in the scope of it, to be pertinent to what we are about to demonstrate. It agrees with my design in this, that it sets forth Christ s excellencies in all their fulness. Let us next see how it will correspond with the particulars. The words (adding the 19th and 20th verses to them) do methodically set out those eminent particular heads which I have proposed.
First, The personal excellencies, which, as was said in that draft, are of two sorts.
1. Native and inherent in his person, considered as God-man, in these
words, that he is the image of the invisible God. Which, as he mentions
first, so it is the chief. The meaning is, that whereas the attributes and
excellencies that are in the Godhead are incomprehensible, or (to use the
apostle s word) invisible by any creature ; that of all those perfections in
the Godhead Christ is the complete image, in a transcendent way above what angels and men are ; and so, as they are in him, they are incom municable unto any mere creature ; he is the image of the invisible God,
* Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature.
to that end to make them visible to us. So, ver. 15,
2. There are made, extrinsical royalties, incommunicable to any mere
creature, and infinitely transcending all their privileges, whereof the text
instanceth in two: (1.) That he is the first-begotten of every creature,
ver. 13; and, ver. 17, that he is before all things. (2.) The end or
final cause, for whom and whose glory they were all made ; for this,
* all
458 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHEE, [BOOK III.
things were created for him, ver. 16. That as he is the first-begotten of
every creature, that is, the eldest, before all the rest, and by inheritance their Lord and King, and the sole heir of heaven and earth ; and so a King over them, with such a pre-eminency of title and prerogative as all other kings do want ; for they are neither the makers of their subjects, nor are their subjects made for them. But he is such a King, as is^the maker of all these his subjects, yea, their upholder, by whom all consist ; and therefore by a just right their final cause and end,
* all things were created by him, and for him.
2. Head. The universal influence he hath into all God s words. 1. As creator of them. 2. As upholder: ver. 16, 17,
* For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers
: all
things were created by him, and for him : and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
And these glories and excellencies of his, that all were created by him and for him, are amplified and illustrated by the apostle s particular speci fying the prime, the chief, the upper rank, of both worlds, heaven and earth. In heaven are thrones and dominions, that is, angels and arch
angels, the nobles of that higher house ; then in earth, principalities and
powers, kings and rulers, whom you so much adore. All these were made in him, by him, and for him ; and in him they all consist. The third head. That he is the head of his church, that precious body, of an elect and chosen generation, by God, out of all the rest ; 1 Pet. ii. 5, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Ver. 9, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a
peculiar people ; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath
called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. And the first-fruits of the creation, James i. 18. And thus ver. 18 of Col. i., He is the head of the body, the church ; and that in two respects
: 1. Of their union to God, which was God s primitive design towards them, intended in those
* who is the beginning, that is, the first foundation of their union with God ; and hereon the first corner-stone of their happiness was laid. And, 2, of their restauration from out of sin and death, to bring them into
words,
that first designed happiness, which is the great intendment of that union ; and this in those words,
* the first-born from the dead, which is added, because at and upon the resurrection of him, and of his members, of the sons of men, who were dead, and fallen into sin, &c., then begins the demonstration of what as an head he was ordained to be to all his church, in the glory that shall follow. Then appears and reigns for ever that rela
tion of his being a head of union, in its full and originally intended splen dour ; and that glory, by virtue thereof, which was originally and primarily ordained by God, then takes place, and the full efficacy thereof not till then. When Christ arose, then said God of him,
* This day have I begotten thee. Acts xiii. 33, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again ; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Now, and not till now, thou appearest and lookest like that Son of mine, whom I rejoiced in from
everlasting ; and now first thou hast recovered that primitive glory thou hadst in degree and repute with me, as God-man, afore the world was, and
which, as the first-born of every creature, thou wert arrayed with ; a glory only due to him that was the only and substantially begotten Son of God.
CHAP. I.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 459
The like to this holds good of his elect members of mankind, when fully recovered, and restored from death and the grave, by him first as a Re
deemer, now risen again, which death is the last part of their humiliation and debasement for sin.
And yet, as if the apostle, having enumerated these (though the chief) of Jesus Christ s prerogatives, yet because not all particulars, but had
given these few of all the rest for instance sake, therefore he sums up all whatever in these two totals or generals.
1. That in all he might have the pre-eminence, or the primacy. The
meaning thereof is, that God ordered him to be such a one as might not
only have all manner of privileges, that any in this or the other world do or may be supposed to excel in ; but also with a pre-eminence, a primacy in all, above what any one hath in anything whereof he may boast.
And, 2, that it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell, ver. 19. Here is again another all, and a fulness added to that all; an
all for parts, a, fulness for degrees, a transcendency in all, above all.
All these mentioned are over and besides that great and eminent work and service, of reconciling us men as sinners to God. Which is The fourth head. That over and besides these pre-eminences, he is the
reconciler and redeemer, by the blood of his cross : ver. 20, And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. So as that pre-eminence of things which is in the close of the 18th verse, as also that fulness, ver. 19, is distinct from the work of re
demption and reconciliation, which appears not only because in all this
glorious description of him, from ver. 15 the apostle mentions not the work of redemption or reconciliation, as making up any of this fulness, which in the 19th verse he intends ; but further, he makes that a surplusage, or rather another fulness, over and above this of reconciliation, here re hearsed. So the coherence carries it. For it pleased the Father, that
all fulness should dwell in him, and by him to reconcile, &c., ver. 20, as
being a work besides and superadded unto all his other fulness ordained to be in him.
As a premise to all that follows, I have one thing to clear, which is
necessary to found my way for the handling the foresaid particulars, namely,
That all this fulness, and the particulars thereof mentioned in this text, are attributed to Christ as God-man, either as actually united, or to be
united, in one person, and not only or simply considered as God or second
person.
For the better entertaining of this assertion, and the taking off prejudices,
it is meet that the reader should know how that holy and greatest light of the reformed churches, Calvin, in his comment upon this scripture, inter
preting the very first passage, which leads on all the rest, namely, that he
is the image of the invisible God, speaks thus in his comment thereon.
* He shews hereby, says he, that it is he alone by whom God, that is otherwise invisible, is manifested to us, according to that, No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten, that is in the bosom of the
* how the ancients are wont to expound this ; who, because they had a controversy with the Arians (who held Christ a mere creature), do urge this place for Christ s
Father, he hath manifested him to us. I know, says he,
being of the same essence or nature with the Father, namely, simply as second person and God. But in the mean time, they omitted what was
460 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK III.
the chief thing in the words, namely, how the Father hath exhibited, or
exposed himself, as in Christ, to be known by us. And again, says he,
1 The name (or title) of image is not spoken of the essence, but hath a
relation unto us. So as therefore Christ is the image of God, because he
makes, as it were, God visible unto us. And yet withal, so he adds, for
this it is also inferred, that Christ is of the same essence with the Father,
namely, as second person. For he could not truly (or to the life) repre sent God to us, namely, as God-man, unless he were the essential Word
of God, it being not compatible to any creature to represent God as here
is intended.
A wretched papist, to cast odium upon Calvin, wrote a treatise against him, to prove him, out of his own writings, unsound in that great article
of our faith, the Trinity, and about the Godhead of the person of Christ ;
entitling his book, Calvin Judaizing, or turned Jew, and heaping up about thirty-eight scriptures, which, as he says, Calvin perverted to such a
meaning. He allegeth his comment on this, in the last place, against him. Whereof Pareus, in his Opiiscula, printed 1595, undertook the defence, and saith, both interpretations, according to Calvin s own expressions, will
stand together, which I refer the reader to. Now, observe Calvin s sense, how they may stand together, namely, that Christ (here), as God-man, is
chiefly or directly styled the image of the invisible God in the apostle s
scope ; yet so as withal it argues, and from this inferred, must strongly,
yea, it must necessarily be supposed as the foundation of the other, that he* is so the image of God transcendently above all creatures (as here), must
necessarily also be the essential image of God. And this I would in this
place preadvise the reader once for all (though perhaps I shall be enforced
necessarily to inculcate it) to be the genuine drift of all those other inter
pretations of the like attributed to Christ ; which, in the ensuing discourses, in opening of this place, and of John i. 1, 2, &c., I shall pursue. And I
desire the candid reader so to understand me.
In the mean time, for the rest of the particulars here said of Christ, that
in what sense this of Christ s being the image of God, is interpreted by
Calvin, I shall with like freeness assert of them all, that they are spoken of him as God-man. This being but the first of this jury, and the rest enume
rated, therefore answers to, and are of the same sort and suit. And if this be so interpreted, then let us see if all the rest will not give up themselves
thereto. How this will be made good of all the particulars that follow, I
shall shew when I come to insist on each apart. I shall now collect gene ral reasons for the carrying on this analogy and proportion of interpretation through the whole, out of those two totals or summary propositions, where with he shuts up all the particulars enumerated (namely) ; that in all
things he might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell. This general demonstration I give, by laying these two things together, out of them two.
1. That all and every one of these particulars before rehearsed, are those, or some of those glories, which as so many several pieces do make up this
his pre-eminence in all things, and which, put together with the rest, are
parts of that fulness which is said to dwell in him.
And, 2. That the apostle makes all this fulness (whereof these are the
parts) to reside in Christ, by an act of God s good pleasure. And so by a
design, decree, or purpose of God, by an act of his will; for he says, It
* should dwell in him,
pleased the Father that all this fulness, spoken of,
* Qu. he who ? ED.
CHAP. I.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 461
; it was ex beneplacito, from the good pleasure of God. Thus Eph.
i. 9 (where the same word is used), the apostle calls it the mystery of his
will, (J*3ra rqv suftoxiav, after or according to his good pleasure, which he had
purposed in himself.
Now therefore, hence I infer of all these parts and pieces, that they must be understood of him as God-man. However, that other sense of theirs, attributed to him as second person, must also come in as that which is
necessarily the substratum and foundation thereof, and so originally and
primarily true of him as such, at least the most of them. Yet so, as
directly and primaria intentione, they are intended of the Son of God made man. For if they had been spoken of him singly, as second person, this would not have been said of them, that they are part of that fulness which
it pleased the Father, by an act of his will, and according to the purpose of his good pleasure, should dwell in him, for so they are natural to Christ, and not at all subjected to God s will.
For example, If these two speeches in ver. 15, he is the image of the
invisible God, and the first born of every creature, should have been
meant, the first of those his essential attributes of his Godhead, whereby Christ is God of God, and so the image of his Father ; this is not a fulness
that dwells in him according to God s good pleasure, or from God s will, for then Christ should not be God ; and that other speech, if it should be taken as meant of that eternal generation of him, as second person, from
everlasting ; then this general that follows, that it pleased the Father, that
all this fulness, and these pre-eminences (whereof these prerogatives here mentioned and this particular is a part) should dwell in him, would not have been so expressed. For Christ s eternal generation was an act of God s nature, not of God s will, or by a decree of his pleasure. He indeed
begets us of his own will (as James speaks, i. 18), but not so his Son as second person ; for him he begets naturally. So also that speech, ver. 17, He is before all things, if meant of his subsistence as second person, by that eternal generation of his, it could not then be made an act of God s good will, being it was natural and due unto him. But now, take all these spoken of Christ, as ordained to be Godman, to have nil these fulnesses meet in a human nature, ordained to be assumed into union with the second person. So indeed, all this might in deed be the object of God s decree, and an act of his good pleasure, in this
respect, that it was in God s good pleasure whether to have decreed him or
anything else, or no. And in truth it was the highest act of grace and God s good pleasure that ever was bestowed on any creature, to ordain that man at all unto that union.
Yet still, let all this be so understood, that though these things be meant
directly of Christ as God-man, as the Son of God dwelling in a human na
ture, yet so, as they are by inference as great and strong convictions as any other, that this person that is united to our nature, is in his person originally the essential image ; and therefore, so the image of God (as Cal vin observes this place holds him forth) as no creature is. That so he is the Creator, end of all things, or else he never had raised up that human nature he assumed, unto those royalties.
Thus much to shew how this scripture is a ground for all those heads and particulars, whereof I gave you the draft.
I next make entrance upon the heads themselves, to enlarge upon them.
462 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, TBOOK III.