ON THE OLO a bush: andhe looked, and, behold, the bush burned « with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Mo- "" ses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called un- to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, u Moses. And he said, here am I. And he said, draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, a for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. u Moreover he said, I am the God of thy fathers," &c. This fire was a type or declaration of the presence of God in the person of the Son. For with respect unto the Father he is called an angel, the angel of the cove- nant; but absolutely in himself, he was Jehovah, the GodofAbraham, c. And of his presence the fire was a proper representation; for in his nature he is as a con- suming fire; and his present work was the deliveryof the church out of a fiery trial. This fire placed itself in a bush, where it burned, but the bush was not con- sumed. And although the continuance of the fire in the bush was but for a short season, a present appear- ance; yet thence was God said to dwell in the bush; the goodwill ofhim that dwelt in the bush, Deut. xxxiii. 16. And this is so spoken, because the being of the fire in the bush for a season, was a typeof him in whom theful- ness ofthe Godhead dwelt bodily, and that for ever, Col. ii. 9.; of him who was madeflesh, and dwelt among us, John i. 14. The eternal fire of the divine nature dwells in the bush of our frail nature, yet it is not consumed thereby. God thus dwells in this bush, with all his good-will towards sinners. Moses looked on this sight as amarvellous and won- drous thing. And if it were so in the type, what is it in the truth, substance, and reality of it? And by direction given unto him, toput off his shoes, we are taught to cast away all fleshly imaginations, and carnal affections, that bypure acts of faith we may be- hold this glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father. I design not here to insist on the explication, or con- firmation of this glorious truth, concerning the consti- tution of the person of Christ in and by the incarnation. What I can comprehend, what I do believe concern- ing it, I have fully declared in a large peculiar treatise. Here I take the truth itself as known, or as it may be thence learned. My present business is only to-stir up ET OD CHRIST. 17 the minds of believers unto a due contemplation of the glory of Christ in the sacred mysterious constitution of his person, as God and man in one. So much as we a- bide herein, so much do we liveby the faith of the Son of God; and God can by a spirit of wisdom and revela- tion open the eyes of our understandings, that we may behold this glory unto our ineffable consolation and joy. And unto the diligent discharge of our duty herein, I shall offbr the ensuing directions. 1. Let us get it fixed on our souls, and in our minds that this glory of Christ, in the divine constitution of his person, is the best, the most noble, useful, beneficial object, that we can be conversant about in our thoughts, or cleave unto inour affections. What are all other things in comparison of the know-. ledge of Christ? In the judgment of the great apos- tle, they are but loss and dung, Phil. iii. 8 -10. So they were to him, and if they are not so to us, we are carnal. What is the world, and what are the things thereof, which most men spend their thoughts about, and fix their affections on? The psalmist gives his judgment a- bout them in comparison of a view of this glory of Christ, Psalm iv. 6. Many say, who will spew us any good? who will give and help`us to attain so much in and of this world, as will give rest and satisfaction unto our minds? That is the good inquired after. But, saith he, Lord, 41? up the light of thy coulatenance upon us. The light of the glory of God in the face of Christ Je- sus, is that satisfactory good alone, which I desire and seekafter. The scripture reproacheth thevanity and folly of the minds of men, in that they spend their moneyfor that which is not bread, and their labourfor that which profit- eth not. They engage the vigour of their spirits about perishing things, when they havedurable substance and riches proposed unto them. How do men for the most part exercise their minds? what are they conversant about in their thoughts? Someby themmake provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof, as Rom. xiii. 14. They search a- bout continually in their thoughts for objects suited un- to their lusts and carnal affections, coining, framing, and stamping of them in their imaginations. They fix their eyes with delight on toads and serpents, with all noisomeand filthy objects; refusing in the mean time
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