Divine Truths in Jesus Christ, Chapter 1
CHAP. I.
Chap 1 A ſhort View of Gods All-ſufficiency and condeſcenſion in revealing himſelf. The various ways of Manifeſtation; In the making of the World and Man; After the fall, in the moral Law; and in types and ſhadows: Laſtly and above all, in and by Jeſus Chriſt.
GOD All-ſufficient muſt needs be his own happineſs; he hath his Being from himſelf, and his happineſs is no other than his being radiant with all Excellencies, and by intellectual and amatorious reflexions, turning back into the fruition of it ſelf. His Underſtanding hath proſpect enough in his own infinite Perfections: his Will hath reſt enough in his own infinite Goodneſs; he needed not the pleaſure of a World, who hath an eternal Son in his boſom to joy in; nor the breath of Angels or men, who hath an eternal Spirit of his own: he is the Great All, comprizing all within himſelf: nay, unleſs he were ſo, he could not be God. Had he let out no beams of his glory, or made no intelligent creatures to gather up and return them back to himſelf, his happineſs would have ſuffered no eclipſe or diminution at all: his Power would have been the ſame, if it had folded up all the poſſible Worlds within its own arms, and poured forth never an one into being to be a monument of it ſelf. His Wiſdom the ſame, if it had kept in all the orders and infinite harmonies lying in its boſom, and ſet forth no ſuch ſeries and curious contexture of things as now are before our eyes. His Goodneſs might have kept an eternal Sabbath in it ſelf, and never have come forth in thoſe drops and models of Being which make up the Creation. His Eternity ſtood not in need of any ſuch thing as time or a ſucceſſion of inſtants to meaſure its duration; nor his Immenſity of any ſuch Temple as Heaven and Earth to dwell in, and fill with his preſence. His Holineſs wanted not ſuch pictures of it ſelf as are in Laws or Saints; nor his Grace ſuch a channel to run in as Covenants or Promiſes. His Majeſty would have made no abatement, if it had had no train or hoſt of creatures to wait upon it, or no rational ones among them, ſuch as Angels and men, to ſound forth its praiſes in the upper or lower World. Creature-praiſes, though in the higheſt tune of Angels, are but as ſilence to him, as that Text may be read, Pſalm 65.1. Were he to be ſerved according to his Greatneſs, all the men in the World would not be enough to make a Prieſt, nor all the other creatures enough to make a Sacrifice fit for him; Is it any pleaſure to him that thou art righteous, ſaith Eliphaz, Job 22.3? No doubt he takes pleaſure in our righteouſneſs, but the complacence is without indigence; and while he likes it, he wants it not.
That ſuch an infinite All-ſufficient One ſhould manifeſt himſelf, muſt needs be an act of admirable ſupereffluent Goodneſs; ſuch as indeed could not be done without ſtooping down below his own Infinity, that he might gratifie our weakneſs. Thoſe two Hebrew words, foreign, which imports fleſh or weakneſs, and foreign, which is to annunciate and declare good tidings, are of a neer affinity. In the myſterie of the Incarnation God came down into our fleſh; and in every other manifeſtation of himſelf, he comes down, as it were, into the weakneſs of creatures or notions, that we, who cannot hear or underſtand the eternal Word in it ſelf, or enter the Light inacceſſible, might ſee him in reflexes and finite glaſſes, ſuch as we are able to bear. Every manifeſtation imports condeſcenſion. The World, as fair and goodly a ſtructure as it is, is but inſtar puncti aut nihili, like a little drop or ſmall duſt to him. Creature-reaſon, though a divine particle, and more glorious than the Sun it ſelf, is but a little ſpark for the Infinite Light to ſhew himſelf in. No words, no not thoſe in the pureſt Laws and richeſt Promiſes, are able to reach him; who, as an Ancient hath it, is foreign, Eſſence, Goodneſs, Wiſdom, all in hyperbole, in a tranſcendent exceſs above words or notions. His Name is above every name; nevertheleſs, he humbles himſelf to appear to our minds in a Scripture-image; nay, to our very ſenſes in the body of Nature, that we might claſp the arms of Faith and Love about the holy beams, and in their light and warmth aſcend up to their great Original, the Father of Lights and Mercies.
God hath manifeſted himſelf many ways. He ſet up the material World, that he, though an inviſible Spirit, might render himſelf viſible therein: all the hoſts of Creatures wear his colours. Senſible things (ſay the Platoniſts) are but the types and reſemblances of ſpiritual, which are the primitive and archetypal Beings. Every thing here below (ſay the Jewiſh Cabaliſts) hath ſome root above, and all Worlds have the print and ſeal of God upon them. Eternity ſhadows forth it ſelf in time; infinite Power, Wiſdom, and Goodneſs, pourtray out themſelves upon finite things in ſuch legible characters, that, as ſoon as we open our eyes upon them, we ſee innumerable creatures pointing to the Creator, and teaching that Wiſdom, which Archytas the Philoſopher placed in the reduction of all things to one great Original. Almighty Power hath printed it ſelf upon the World, nay, upon every little particle of it: all the creatures came out of nothing, and between that and Being is a very vaſt gulf. It was an infinite Power, which filled it up and fetched over the creatures into Being; it was an Almighty Word, which made the creatures at an infinite diſtance hear and riſe up out of nothing. The old Axiom, Ex nihilo nihil ſit, is Natures limit and a true meaſure of finite powers; but when, as in the Creation, Nature overflows the banks, when Nullity it ſelf ſprings up and runs over into a World, we are ſure, that the moving Power was an Infinite one. And as infinite Power appears in the being of the creatures, ſo doth infinite Wiſdom in their orders and harmonies. The curious Idea's and Congruities, which before were latent in the divine breaſt, are limned out upon outward and ſenſible things, ſtanding in delicate order and proportion before our eyes. The World is a Syſtem of contraries made up into one body, in which diſagreeing natures conſpire together for the common good: each creature keeps its ſtation, and all the parts of Nature hang one upon another in a ſweet confederacy. Meer natural Agents operate towards their ends, as if they were Maſters of Reaſon, and hit their proper mark, as if they had a providence within them. Such things as theſe teach us to conclude with Zeno, that foreign, Reaſon, is the Great Artiſt which made all; and to break out with the Pſalmiſt, O Lord! how manifold are thy works? in wiſdom haſt thou made them all. And as the two former Attributes ſhew forth themſelves in the creatures, ſo alſo doth infinite Goodneſs: all the drops and meaſures of goodneſs in the creature lead us to that infinite Goodneſs, which is the Fountain and Spring of all. Pherecydes the Philoſopher ſaid, That Jupiter firſt tranſformed himſelf into Love, and then made the World; he, who is eſſential Love, ſo framed it, that Goodneſs appears every-where: it ſhines in the Sun, breathes in the Air, flows in the Sea, and ſprings in the Earth; it is Reaſon in Men, ſenſe in Brutes, life in Plants, and more than meer Being in the leaſt particles of matter. The Manichees, who would have had their Name from pouring out of Manna, did brook their true name from Mania, that is, Madneſs, in denying ſo excellent a World to be from the good God. The light in their Eyes, breath in their Noſtrils, bread in their Mouths, and all the good creatures round about them, were pregnant refutations of their ſenſleſs Hereſy: the prints of goodneſs everywhere extant in Nature, ſhew the good hand which framed all.
In the making of Man in his original integrity, there was yet a greater manifeſtation. In other creatures there were the footſteps of God, but in Man there was his Image; a natural Image in the very make of his Soul, in the eſſential faculties of Reaſon and Will, upon which were derived more noble and divine prints of a Deity than upon all the World beſides. And in that natural Image there was ſeated a moral one, ſtanding in that perfect knowledg and righteouſneſs, in which more of the beauty and glory of God did ſhine forth, than in the very eſſence of the Soul it ſelf. His Mind was a pure Lamp of Knowledg without any miſts or dark ſhades about it, his Will a mirrour of Sanctity and rectitude without any ſpot in it; and, as an acceſſion to the two former images, there was an image of Gods Soveraignty in him, he was made Lord over the brutal World; without, the beaſts were in perfect ſubjection to him: and within, the affections. Now to ſuch an excellent creature, in his primitive glory, with a Reaſon in its juſt foreign or full ſtature, the World was a very rare Spectacle; the ſtamps and ſignatures upon the creatures looked very freſh to his pure Paradiſical eyes: from within, and from without, he was filled with illuſtrious rays of a Deity: he ſaw God everywhere; within, in the frame and divine furniture of his Soul, and without, in the creatures and the impreſſes of goodneſs on them: he heard God every-where, in his own breaſt in the voice of a clear unvailed Reaſon, and abroad in the high language and dialect of Nature. All was in ſplendor, the World ſhone as an outward Temple, and his heart was in luſtre like an Oracle or inward Sanctuary; every thing in both ſpake to Gods honour. Such an excellent appearance as this, was worthy of a Sabbath to celebrate the praiſes of the Creator in. But alas! Sin ſoon entred and caſt a vail upon this Manifeſtation; on the World there fell a curſe, which preſſed it into groans and travelling pains of vanity; the Earth had its Thiſtles, the Heavens their ſpots and malignant influences, all was out of tune, and jarring into confuſion. In Man all the Images of God more or leſs ſuffered, the orient Reaſon was miſerably clouded, the holy Rectitude utterly loſt: without, the beaſts turned rebels; and within, the affections. Nevertheleſs God, who is unwearied in Goodneſs, would further manifeſt himſelf. Promiſes of the Meſſiah, and of grace in him, brake forth unto lapſed man; and as appendants thereof there came forth Sacrifices and other types to be figures of heavenly things, and a kind of Aſtrolabe to the pious Jews, that by earthly things they might aſcend unto Celeſtial. Alſo the Moral Law was given forth by God, the ſpiritual Tables being broken, material ones were made; Holineſs and Righteouſneſs being by the fall driven out of their proper place, the heart of man, were ſet forth in letters and words in the Decalogue. This was ſo glorious a manifeſtation, that the Rabbins ſay, that Mountains of ſenſe hang upon every Iota of it. The Pſalmiſt in the 19th Pſalm, having ſet forth how the Sun and Heavens ſhew forth Gods glory, raiſes up his diſcourſe to the perfect Law, which, as it enlightens the inward man, is a brighter luminary than the Sun which ſhines to ſenſe; and, as it comprizes all duties within it ſelf, is a nobler circle in Morality, than the Heavens which inviron all other bodies are in Nature. The Commandment, ſaith the Pſalmiſt, is exceeding broad, Pſalm 119.96: it is an Ocean of Sanctity and Equity, ſuch as humane Reaſon, the ſoul and meaſure of civil Laws, cannot ſearch to the bottom. Love to God and our Neighbour is the center of it; and as many right lines as may be drawn thither, ſo many are the duties of it. Whatſoever it be, that makes up the juſt poſture of man towards his Maker or fellow-creatures, is required therein. Humane Laws are foreign, movable orders, ſuch as turn about with time; but the Moral Law is by its intrinſecal rectitude ſo immortalized, that, as long as God is God, and man man, it cannot be altered.
After all theſe Manifeſtations, God revealed himſelf to the World in and by Jeſus Chriſt; this is the laſt and greateſt appearance of all. In the inferiour creatures there is a footſtep of God, but not his Image; in man there is his Image, but a finite, a created one: but Jeſus Chriſt is the infinite increated Image of God. The nearer any creature doth in its perfections approach to God, the more it reveals him; life ſhews forth more of him than meer being, ſenſe than life, Reaſon than all the reſt: but oh! what a ſpectacle hath Faith, when an humane nature ſhall be taken into the Perſon of God, when the fulneſs of the Godhead ſhall dwell in a creature Hypoſtatically! Here the Eternal Word which framed the World was made fleſh; the infinite Wiſdom which lighted up Reaſon in man, aſſumed an Humanity; never was God ſo in man, never was man ſo united to God, as in this wonderful Diſpenſation: more glory breaks forth from hence than from all the Creation. We have here the Center of the Promiſes, the ſubſtance of the types and ſhadows, the Complement of the Moral Law, and Holineſs and Righteouſneſs, not in letters and ſyllables, but living, breathing, walking, practically exemplified in the Humane nature of Jeſus Chriſt.