3o c 4Declaration of the Glorious My ST ERY been in heavenwhiff} he was on the earth ; yea defired more than heaven it felfwill afford, if he would have feen the effence of God with his cor- poreal eyes. In anfwer hereunto God tells him, that he cannot fee bisface and live; none can have either bodily fight or direct mental intuition of the divine being. But this I will do, faith God, .Iwill make my glorypaf: before thee, and thoufhalt fee mybackparts, Exod. xxxiii. I8,.19, 20, 21, 22, 23, äc. This is all that God would grant, namely, fuch external repre- fentationsof himfelfin theproclamation ofhis name, and created appearan- ces of his glory, as we have of a man whofe back parts only we behold as he paffethbyus. But as to the being ofGod, and his fubfiftence in the Tri- nity ofperfons, we have no dire& intuition into them, much lefs compre- h'enfion of them. 3. It is evident therefore that our conceptions of God, and of the glori- ous properties ofhis nature, are bothiiigeneratcd in us, and regulated un- der the condu& of divine revelation, by refle&ions of his gloryon other things, and reprefentations of his divine excellencies in the effe£ts of them. So the invifible things of God, even bis eternal power and Godhead, are clearly feen, being manifelled and underflood by the things that are made, Rom. i. 20. Yet muff it be granted, that no meer creature, not the angels above, not the heaven of fieavens, are meet or able.to receive upon them, fuch charabters of the divine excellencies, as to be a complete fatisfa&ory reprefentation of the being and properties of God, unto us. They are all finite and limited, and fo cannot properly reprefent that which is infinite and immenfe. And this is the true reafon why all worfhip or religious adoration of them is idolatry. Yet are there fuels effects ofGod's glory in them, furls impreflionsofdivine excellencies upon them, as we cannot com- prehend nor fearch out unto perfe&ion. How little do we conceive of the nature, glory and power of angels? So remote are we from an immediate comprehenfion of the untreated glory of God, as that we cannot fully ap- prehend, nor conceive aright, the reflection of it on creatures in them felves finite and limited. Hence they thought of old, when they had feen an angel, that fo much of the divine perfections had been manifeffed unto them that thereon they mull dye, Judg. xiii. as, 22. Howbeit they come infinitely fhort ofmaking any complete reprefentation of God, nor is it other- wifewith any creature whatever. q. Mankind feemed to have always had a common apprehenfion, that there was need of a nearer and more full reprefentationof God unto them, thanwas made in anyof the works of creation or providence. The hea- ven: indeed declared hisglory, and the firmament always (hewed his handy- work. The invifible things of his eternal power and Godhead, were con- tinually made known by the things that are made. But men generally mifcaeeied and miffed it in the contemplation of them, as the apoffle de- clares, Rom. i. For frill they were influenced by a common prefumption, that there muff be a nearer and more evident manifeftation of God ; that made by the works of creation and providence, being not fuflìcient to guidethem unto him. But in the purfuit hereof, theyutterly ruined them- felves. They would do what God had not done. By common confent theyframed reprefentations of God unto themfelves ; and were fo befotted therein, that they utterly loft the benefit which they might have re- ceived by the manifeftationof him in the works of the creation, and took up withmoft foolifh imaginations. For whereas they might have learned from thence, the being of God, his infinite wifdom, power and goodnefs, namely, in the imprefhons and cbaratler: of them on the things that were made; in their own reprefentations of him, they changed theglory of the invifible
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