48 cfÍ Declaration of the Ölorioí&c My s TERY perfon, who fuppofe that the refpe& of the church unto Chrift in faith; love, truft and inftru&tion coinmenceth from the date ofhis incarnation. [a.] Thefull comprehenfion of the mind andwill of.God, of the whole divine counfel concerning his glory in the, fan &ification and falvation of the church, could not at once reticle in the mind of any meer creature. Yet was this neceffary unto him who was to be the prophet of the church, that is, the-fountain of- truth, life 'and knowledge unto it. Hence is his nine wonderful ceunfeller, as he who was a participant of all the eternal coun- fels ofGod ; whereon in him as incarnate all the treafures ofdivine wifdom and knowledge were hid, Col. ii. 3. In him this could be alone, in whom was life, and the life was the light of men, John i. 4. God did reveal his mindand will by angelsand men.: but as he did it at fundry times, fo hedid it by feveral parts, or various parcels, not only as the church was fit to re- ceive it, but as they were able communicate it. The whole of the divine counfels could not be comprehended' and fo not declared by any ofthem. Hence the angels themfelves, notwithltanding their refidence in the prefence of God, beholding his face , and all the glorious meffages wherein they were employed, learned more of his mind after the perfonal miniftry of Chrift, and the revelation of the myfteries of his counfel therein, than ever they knew before, Ephef. iii. 8, g,----11.1 Pet. i. 13. And on the account of their imperfe&ion in the comprehenfion of his counfels, it is faid that he chargeth his angels withfolly, Job. iv. 15. And the belt of the prophets not only received divine truth by parcels, but comprehended not the depths of the revelations made unto them, 'n Pet. i. 11, 12. To this purpofe is that divine teftimony, John i. 18. No man loath feen God at any time, the only begotten Son who is in the' bofom of the Father he bath declared bim. It is of all the prophets concerning whom it is affirmed that no man hails feen God at any time. So is it evident in the Antithefis between Mofes the principal'of them, and theLord Chrift in the verfeforegoing. For the law was given by Mofes, but grace and truth came by Jefus Chrift. Where- fore no man, no other man Or prophet whatever, bath feen God at any time; that is, had a perfe& comprehenfion of his counfels, his mind and will as they were to be declared unto the church. This is the privilege of the only begotten Son, who is in the bofom of the Father ; not only as being his eternal delight and love, but alfo as one acquainted with all his fecret counfels, as his fellow and participant of all his bofom thoughts. He fays that all that ever came before him were thieves and robbers, but the fheep did not hear them, John x. g. This fouie of old impioufly applied unto the prophets of the Old Teftament; whereas he intended it only of thofe falfe prophets who pretended of themfelves that they, any of them, were the Meijiah the great fhepherd of the hheep, whom his cleft thee would not attend unto. But it is true that all who went before him, nei- ther feparately nor joyntly had the knowledge ofGod fo as to declare him fullyunto the church. It 1s the molt fond andwicked imagination of the Socinians, invented to countenance their disbelief and hatred of his divine perfon, that duringthe time of his flelh he was taken up into heaven and there taught thedobïrine of the Gofpel, as Mahomet feigned concerning him- fell and his Alcoran. The reafon and foundation ofhis perfectknowledge of Godwas his being the only begotten Son in the bofom of the Father: and not a fi @itious rapture of his humane nature. To this purpofe have we Isis own teflimony, John iii. i1.' Andno man bath upendedup toheaven, but he that came downfrom heaven, even the Son ofmanwhich is in heaven. The matter whereof he treats is the revelationof heavenly things. For finding Nicedemosflow in the underftanding of the doctrine and neceffsty of regeneration,
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