6 I,IEDITATEOtS AND DISCOURSES. carnal, yea blind, and seeing nothing afar of' These enjoyments indeed are rare, and for the most part, of short continuance. Barahora, brevis mora. But it is from our own sloth and darkness that we donot enjoy more visits of this grace; and that the dawningsof glo- ry do not more shine on our souls. Such things as these may excite us to diligence in the duty proposed unto us, And (1.) I shall inquire, WHAT is that GLORY OF THE GLORY OF THE PERSON OF cH CHRIST, which we do, or may behold by faith! (2.) How do we behold it? (3.) WHEREIN our doing so differs from immediate vision in heaven. And in the whole we shall endeavour an answer unto the enquiry made unto the spouse, by the daughters of Jerusalem. Cant. v. 9. What is thy beloved more than another be- loved, O thoufairest among women? what is thy be- loved snore than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us? CHAP. II. ST AS THE ONLY REPRESENTATIVE OF GOD UNTO THE CHURCH. THE glory of Christ, is the glory of the person of Christ. So he calls it, John xvii. 22. that glarywhich is mine, belongeth to me, unto my person. The person of Christ may be considered twoways. First. Absolutely in itself. Second. In the susception and discharge of his office, with what ensued thereon. His glory on these distinct accounts, is distinct and different; but all equally his own. How in both re- spects we may behold it by faith, is that which we in- quire into. The first thing wherein we may behold the glory of Christ, God and man, which was given him of his Fa- ther, consists in the representation of God and of the divine person of the Father, unto the church in him; For we behold the glory ofGod, in the face of Jesus Christ. Cor. iv, 6. Otherwisewe know it not, we see it not, we know nothing of it: this is the way of seeing and knowing God, declared in the scripture, as our du- ty and blessedness. The glory of God comprehends both the holy properties of his nature, and the counsels of his will; and the light oftheknowledgeof these things, we have only in the face or person of Jesus Christ. Whatever obscure imperfect notions we may have of them otherwise, we cannot have the light of the illumi- nating, irradiating knowledge of the glory of God, which may enlighten our minds, and sanctify ourhearts, but only in theface or person ofJesus Christ; for he is the image ofGod, 2 Cor. iv. 4. the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image ofhis person, Het). i. 9. the image` of the invisible God. Col. i. 15. I do here only mention these things, because 1 have handled them at large in my discourse on the Mystery of God- liness, or the person of Christ; whereunto I refer the readers for their full declaration and vindication. Here. in is he glorious, in that he is the great representative of the nature ofGod, and his will unto us, which with- out him would have been eternally hid from us, or been invisible to us; we should never have SEEN God at any time, either here or hereafter. John i. 18. In his divine person, absolutely considered, he is the essential image of God, even the Father. He is in the Father, and the Father in him, in the unity of the same divine essence. John xiv. 10. Now as-he is with the Fa- ther, John i. I. in the distinction of his person¡ so is he his essential image. Col. i. 15. Heb. i. 3.- In his incarnation, he becomes the representative image of God unto the church, 2 Cor. iv. 6. without whom our understandings can make no such approach unto the divine excellencies, but that Gal continues to be unto us, what he is in himself, the invisible God. In the face of Jesus Christ we see his glory. This is the original glory of Christ givenhim by his Father, and which by faith we may behold. He, and he alone, declares, represents, and makes known unto angels and men, the essential glory of the invisible God, his attributes and his will, without which a perpetual comparative darkness would have been on the whole creation, especially that part of it here below. This is the foundation of our religion, the rock whereon the church is built, the ground ofall our hopes
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