f the PERsoi of CHRIST. 1 2g 3.) Man hereby 1óf1 all power and ability of attaining that end for which he wasmade, namely,the eternal enjoyment of God. Upon the mat- ter, and as much as in us Jay, the whole end ofGod in the creation of all things here below, was utterly defeated. Butthatwhich was the ma- lignity and poifon of this fin, was the contemptthat was caft on the holi- nefs of God, whofe reprefentation, and all its exprefs characters were ut- terly defpifed and rejected therein. Herein then lay the concernment of the holinefs or righteoufnefs of God in this fin of our nature, which we are enquiring after. Unlefs fome reparation be made for the indignity -raft upon it in the _relation of the image and reprefentation of it, unlefs there befome waywhereby it may be more eminently exalted in the -na- ture of man, than it was debafed and defpifed in the famenature ; it was guff, equal, righteous with God, that which becomes the rec'litude and and purity of his nature, that mankind fhould perilh eternally in that condition whereunto it was raft by fin. It was not therefore confiffent with the glory of God, that mankind fhould be reftored, that this nature °fours fhould be brought unto the enjoyment of him, unlefs his holinefs be more exalted, be more confpicuoufly reprefented in the fame nature, thanever it was depreffed or defpifed thereby. The demonftration of its glory in any other nature, as in that ofangels, would not-ferve unto this end, as we fháll fee afterwards. We muff now a little return unto what we-before laid down. Wifdom being the direftive power of all divine operations, and the end of all thole operations, being the glory of God himfelf or the demonftra- tion of the excellencies of the holy properties of his nature, irt was incumbent thereon to provide for the honour and_glory of divine holinefs in an exaltation anfwerable unto the attempt for its debafement. Without the conuderation hereof we can have no dueprofpeft ofthe aftings ofin- finite wifdom in this great work of our redemption and recovery by the incarnation of-the Son of God. 3. 'Sin brought diforder and difturbanee into the wholeruleand govern- ment. of God. It was neceffary from the infinite wifdomof God, that all things fhould be madeinperfeftorder and harmony, all in a direcî fubordina- Lionunto his glory. There could have been no original defeft in the natural or moral order of things, but it muft -have proceeded from a defeft in wifdom. For the difpofal Of all things into their proper order, belonged unto the contrivancethereof. And theharmony of all things among them- delves, with all their mutual relations and afpefts, in a regular tendency unto their proper and utmoft end, whereby 'though every individual fub- faffence or beingbath a peculiar end of its own, yet all their aftings, and and all their ends tend direly unto one utmoft common end of them all, is the principal effeft ofwifdom. And thuswas it at the beginning i when God himfelf beheld the univerfe, and lo it was exceeding good. All things being thus created and ftated, it belonged unto the nature ofGod to ,be the reftor and difpofer ofthem all. It was not a meer free art of his -will, whereby God chofe to rule and govern the creation, according unto the law of the nature of all things, and their relation unto him i but it was neceffary from his divine being and excellencies, that fo he Ihould do. Wherefore it concerned both 'the wifdom and righteoufnefs of God to take care that either -all things fhouldbe preferved in the fiate wherein they were created, and nodiforder be fuffered to enter into the kingdom and rule of God, or that in a way fuited unto them, his glory fhould be retrieved and re.eflablifhed. For God is not the God of co/if irs ion, neither the author nor approver of it, neither in his works, nor in his rule. But fin
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