of the PERSON of CHRIST. 49 regeneration, which yet was plain and evident in comparifonof faine other heavenly myfteries, he asks of lrìni, IfI have toldyou earthly things hod ye believe not; (things wrought in the earth and in yourown breafts) how will you believe if I tellyou ofheavenly things? If I declare unto you the deep counfels of the will of God above? v. 12. But hereon a queftion might arife, how he fhould himfelf come to the knowledgeof thefe heaven- ly things whereof they had never heard before, and which no other man could tell them of, efpecially confidering what he had faid before, v. I1: Wefpeak thatwe do know, andtefify what we have feen. Hereof hegives an account in thefe words. Wherefore the afcending into heaven which he denies unto all men whatever, no man bath afcendded up to heaven, is an entrance into all the divine heavenly counfelsof God ; no man either bath or ever had a full comprehenfion of thefe heavenly things but he himfelf alone. And unto him it is afcribed on a double account; firft, that he came downfrom heaven, fecondly, that when he didfo, heyet fill continued in heaven; which two properties give us fuch a defcription of the perfon of Chrift, as declare him a full poffeffor ofall the counfels ofGod. He de- feendedfrom heaven in his incarnation whereby he became theSon of man i and he is and was then in heaven in theeffence and glory of his divine na- ture.- This is the full of what we affert. In the knowledge and revelation of heavenly niyfteries unto the calling, fanftification and falvation of the church, Both the prophetical office of Chrift confift. This he pofitively affirms could not otherwife be, but that be who came downsfrom heaven, was alfoat the faine inftant in heaven. This is that glorious perfon where- of we fpeak. He who being always in heaven in the glory and effence of his divine nature, came down from heaven not locally by a mutation ofhis refidence, but by difpenfation in theaffumption of our nature into perfonal union with himfelf; he alone is meet and able to be the prophet of the church in the revelation of the heavenly myfteries of the counfels of the will ofGod. In him alone were hid all the treafures ofwifdom and know- ledge, Col. ii. 3. Becaufe in him alone dwelt the fulnefs of the godhead bodily. v. 9. I do not hereby afcribe an infufion ofomnifcience, of infinite underftanding, wifdom and knowledge into the humane nature of Chrift. It was and is a creature finite and limited, nor is a capablefubjef of proper- ties abfolutely infinite and immenfe. Filled it was with light and wifdom to theutmoft capacityof a creature. But it was fo, not by being changed into a divine nature or effence but by thecommunication of the fpirit un- to it with out meafure: The fpirit ofthe Lord did reft upon Min, the fpi= rit ofwifdom and underf anding, thefpirit of courage and might, the fpi- rit ofknowledge, and ofthefear of the Lord, andmade himóf quick under- fanding in thefear ofthe Lord, Ifa. xi. 25. [3.1. The fpirit of God dwelling in him in all the fulnefs ofhis graces andgifts, gave him an underftanding peculiar unto himfelf; as above that of all creatures, fo beneath the effential omnifcience of the divine nature: Hence fome things as hewas a manhe knew not, Mark xiii. 32. but as they weregiven him by revelation, Rev. i. i. But he is theprophet ofthe church in his whole entire perfon, and revealed the counfel ofGod, as he was in heaven in the bofom of the Father. Curfed be he that trufteth in man that maketh flefh his arm, as to the revelations of the counfels of God. Here lies the fafety, the fecurity, the glory of the church. How deplo- rable is the darknefs of mankind in their ignorance of God and Heavenly things ? In what ways of vanity and mifery have thegenerality of them wandred ever fine our firft apoflafy from God? Nothing but hell is more fell of horror and confufon, than the minds. and ways of men deftitute O of
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