ON THE GLORY OF CHRIST. NM- CHAPTER. X. THE GLORY OF CHRIST IN THE COMMUNICATiON OF HIMSELF ONTO RELIEVERS. ANOTHER instanceof the glory of Christ which we are to behold here,by faith, and hope that we shall do so by sight hereafter, consists in the " mysterious corn. << munication of himselfand all the benefits of his media- don, unto the souls of them that do believe to their " s present happiness and future eternal blessedness." Hereby he becomes theirs' as they are his; which is the life, the glory and consolation of the church. Cant. v. s. chap. ii. 16. chap. iii. 10. He and all that he is being appropriated unto them by virtue of their mystical union; there is, there must be some ground, formal reason and cause of this relation be- tween Christ and the church, whereby he is theirs' and they are his; he is in them, and they in him: so as it is not between him and the other men in the world. The apostle speaking of this communication of Christ unto the church, and the union between them which sloth ensue thereon, affirms that it is a great mystery; for I speak, saith he, concerning Christ and the church. Eph. v. 32. I shall briefly inquire into the causes, ways, and means of this mystical communication whereby he is made to be ours, to be in us, to dwell with us, and all the benefits of his mediation to belong unto us. For as was said, it is evident that he Both not thus communi- cate himself unto all by a natural necessity, as the sun gives light equally unto the whole world: nor is he pre- sent withal by an ubiquity of his human nature; nor as some dream, by a diffusion of his rational soul into all, nor sloth lie become ours by a carnal eating of him in the sacrament; but this mystery proceeds from, and depends onother reasons and causes, as weshall briefly declare. But yet before I proceed to declare the way and man- ner whereby Christ communicate[' himself unto the church, I must premise something,of divine communi- cations in general and their glory. And I shall do this by touching a little on the harmony and corres- pondency that is between the old creation and the new. 1. All being, power, goodness, and wisdom were 47 originally, essentially, infinitelyin God. And in them, with the other perfections of his nature, consisted his essential glory. 2. The old creation was a communication of being and goodness by almighty power, directed by infinite wisdom, unto all things that were created for the mani- festation of that glory. This was the first communica- tion of God unto any thing without himself, and it was exceeding glorious, Psalm xix. 1. Rom. i. 2Q And it was a curious machine, framed in the subordination and tlependancy of one thing on another, without which they could not subsist nor have a continuance of their beings. All creatures below live on the earth, and the products of it; the earth for its whole production de- pends on the sun and other heavenly bodies, as God declares, Hos. ii.' 21, 22. 't I will hear, saith the Lord; I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they.shallhear Jezreel." God hath given a subordination of things in a concatena- tion of causes whereon their subsistence Both depend. But, 3. In this mutual dependency on, and supplies unto one another, they all depend on, and are influenced fromGod himself; the eternal fountain of being, power, and goodness. He hears the heavens, and in the con- tinuation of this order by constant divine communica- tion of being, goodness, and power unto all things, God is no less glorified than in the first creation of them. Acts xiv. 15, 16, 17. chap. xvii. 24-2g. 4. The glory of God is visible in the matter of it and is obvious unto the reason of mankind; for from his works of creation and providence they may learn his eternal power and Godhead, wherein be is essentially glorious. 5. But by this divine communication God did not intend only to glorify himself in the essential properties of his nature, but his existence also in three persons of Father, Son, and Spirit. For 'although the whole creation in its first framing, and in its perfections, was
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