%117 - PREFACE. Quod homo est, esse Christus voluit.; ut et homopossit esse, quad Christus est, saith Cyprian. de Vanitat. Judse. And, Quod est Christus erimus Christiani si Christam feeerimus secuti, ibid. And he explains his mind in this expression by way of admiration, Seem. de Eleomosyn. Christus hominis Filius esse voluit, ut nosfilios.Deifa- ceret; humiliavit se, utpopulum qui priasjacebat, eri- peril; vulneratus est, ut vulnera nostra sanaret. CHAP. 4. That he was the foundation of all the holy counsels of God, with respect unto the vocation, sanc- tification, justification, and eternal salvation of the church, is in the next placeat large declared. And he was so on a threefold account. (I.) Of the ineffable mutual delight of the Father and the Son in those coun- sels from all eternity. (2.) As the onlyway and means of the accomplishment of all those counsels, and the communicationof their effects unto the eternal glory of God. (3.) As he was in his own person, as incarnate, the idea and exemplar in the mind of God of all that grace and glory in the church, which was designed un- to it, in those eternal counsels. As the cause of all good unto us, he is on this account acknowledgedby the an- cients. Obe., ye`V, ; A;yo5, o xgtsas lY ©st, Ñ z aa, tç, yag my ut, N irr dr 6,n, e, p Aóyoç 5eó,,5 Zterpatuis T6 zai äv9gaao5, 41reivroy ite{'v a ea; ñyaar7u, saith Clemens, Adhort. ad Gentest. "He " therefore is the Word, the cause of old of our being, " for he was in God, and the cause of our well-being. " But now he bath appeared unto men, the same eter- nal Word, who alone is both God and man, and un- " ! to us the cause of all that is good." As he was in God the cause of our being and well-being from -eter- nity; he was the foundation of the divine counsels in the way explained; and in his incarnation, the execu- tion of them all was committed unto him, that through him all actualgood, all the fruits of those counsels might be communicated unto us. CHAP. S. He is also declared in the next place, as he is the image and great representative of God, even the Father, unto the church. On what various acounts 1m is so called, is fully declared in the discourse itself. In his divine person, ashe was the only begotten ofthe Father from eternity, he is the essential image of the Father, by the generation of his person, and the com- munication of the divine nature unto hint therein. As he is incarnate, he is both in his own entire personGod and man, and in the administration of his office, the image or representative of the nature and will of God unto us, as is fully proved. So speaks Clem. Alexan- drin. Admonit. ad Gentes; ñ 5£ìY yàg rs" 0,& tub, ; A ;7.; V,óç r ö' yvry.-,o5, ó .9£ío5 Alyuu, Qanìs zgzirwrov fis, roan 8i aâ A;yuaI äv9gd ro5. " The image of God is his own 55 Word, the natural Son of the (eternal) Mind, the di- vine Word, the original lightof light; and the image " of the Word is man." And the same author again Predagog. agile i 0£u" ; ñ;yo5, m fwni£na, na; ; Osá, soea,(sam. " The Word is the face, the " countenance, the representation of God, in whom " he is brought to light and matte known." As he is inhis divine person, his eternal essential image; so in his incarnation, as the teacher of men, he is the representative image of God unto the church, as is afterwards declared. So also Hierom expresseth his mind herein, Com- ment. in Psal. lxvi. Illuminet vultum swum super nos; Deifacies quce est? utique imago dais. Dicit enim a- hostolus imagiaem Patris esse Filium. Ergo imagine sua nos illuminet; hoc est, imaginera swam Filium illumi- net supernos, ut ipse nos illuminet; lux enimPatris lux Fillii est. " Let him cause his face to shine upon us; " or lift up thelight of his countenance upon us. What " is the face of God? even his image; for the apostle " says, that the Son is the imageof the Father. Where- " fore let him shine on us with his image; that is, cause " his Son, which is his image to shine upon us, that he " may illuminate us; for the light of the Father and of t5 the Sonare the same." Christ being the image of God, the face of God, in him is God represented unto us, and through him are all saving benefits communi- cated unto them that believe. Eusebius also speaks often unto this purpose; as Demon. Evangel: lib. 4. cap. 2. '095' dslam of xporeI 9£oAoyxnr£5, 9£óv yivnro mia1, b ugahouwv, oY á ei, ,bsefgzTY,' nai eia£gsvomnu 94rrao, 01,o, iv a rf. Norm air ' Ltebna, a; be sal am 9d, fva5 Ti Ti, nul AÉ%se.9a5 si,agó5 ró agìeu iyops5Mesaç Wherefore the holy oracles speaking theologically, i5 or teaching divine things, do rightly call him God be- " gotten (of the Father), as he who alone bears in him- " selfthe image of the ineffable and inconceivable Deity. Wherefore he both is, and is called God, because of ass
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