The Rise Race and Royalty of the Kingdom of God, Part 1 · Subpart 2 (1 of 4)

The Rise Race and Royalty of the Kingdom of God · Part 1 · Subpart 2 (1 of 4)

p. 202PSAL. XLV. VER. II.

Thou art fairer than the Children of Men: Grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.

THis Psalm is a Song of Loves. It containeth the whole mystery of the Gospel, and of the life of a Saint with his Saviour, both in the Figure and Substance, which is all an Heavenly Song of Spiritual, and eternal Loves.

An Holy Soul in love with Jesus Christ is altogether taken up with this Threefold exercise. 1. The Description, and Contemplation of the Person of her Beloved. 2. The Desire, and continual longings by day, and by night to be possess'd of, to enjoy this Person. 3. The care, and labour to be like him, to partake of his Beauties and Graces, to derive them by the channels, and streamings of the Spirit into itself, to transform itself into his Likeness.

St. Paul spends the first part of his discourses in drawing aside the Curtain, and setting the Person of Christ in its entire form, naked glories, and native sweetnesses in the Eyes of Believers. Then he leadeth, and presseth them to the enjoyment first, next to the Imitation of this Jesus upon the ground of his own Loveliness, Love, and Life.

The first part of this Psalm is spent in like manner upon the Person, and Praises of the Lord Jesus. This Verse hath Three Parts. 1. The Beauty of Christ; Thou art fairer, than the Children of Men, 2. The Love, and Sweetness of Christ; Grace is poured into thy lips. 3. The Seal of the God-Head, of the Father, of his Blessedness, and Eternity upon the Person of Christ; therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.

1. The first part in the Text is the Beauty of Christ; Thou art fairer than the Children of Men. Jesus Christ is the fairest of all men. He is fairer than the whole generation of Mankind. He is fairer than any person born of Man.

The Lord Jesus excells all Mankind in Beauty, in Three respects.

1. The Humane Nature of Christ taken by itself, was born of a Virgin-Mother, and God immediately supplying the place of a Father. So it was, as a Morning-beam begotten between a pure Sun, and a clear sweet Air. Then it was born without Sin, the proper, and only deformity of Spirits. Thus his Soul and Body were like a Silver stream, flowing quietly in a clean channel, where the Image of the Skie, and all the Heavenly Bodies figures itself constantly, and clearly. So did the Mind, Will, and Workings of the God-Head figure themselves, and shine in the Manhood of Christ. Lastly it is the common sense of Divines, that the Complexion of Christ was very delicate, and p. 203pure, arising from the most accurate proportion of the Elements, the most exact Harmony, and purity of the Humours, and Spirits in his Body. We never read, that he was at all Sick. As this made all his Sufferings the greater thorough the quickness of his sence: so it made him in his outward Form extreamly sweet, and lovely above the rest of men.

But besides all this, the Holy Ghost seems to fix its eye upon the Humane Nature of Christ in two other States different from that of his Incarnation by the Virgin Mary; as he is the First-born of the whole Creation, or of every Creature; and as he is the First-born of those that rise from the Dead; Coloss. 1. 15, 18.

The Jews say, that the Messias was the first Creature; that all the rest were made by Him, in Him, and for Him, as Pictures to the Life, and Copies to the Original. A German Divine teacheth, that he who receives the Body of Christ, receives at once all, that is good, or fair in the whole world from the Beginning to the End of it.

But the Humanity of the Lord Jesus, as he is the First-born of those that are risen from the Dead, excels Adam in all his Innocency, and primitive Perfections, yea, and Himself also, as he was the First-born of every Creature, the Natural Head of Angels, as much as Heaven exceeds the Earth, or a Paradise in the third Heavens an Earthly One, 1 Corin. 15. 49. The former was an Earthly Beauty, fading, designed for a Sacrifice, to be exposed to all sorts of shame, and Sufferings, to be made a Prey to the devouring jaws of Death. This latter Beauty is Heavenly, Incorruptible, seated upon a throne, which indureth for ever, and ever.

2. The Second Respect, in which Christ is fairer than the Children of men is, the Union between the Divine, and Humane Nature. All the Beauties of our Saviours Manhood are heightned by this Union to that Lustre, and Loveliness, which cannot be express'd in any meer Creature; as a fine Cloud, a Garden of Flowers, a Statue of Gold are quite other things, when the naked Sun sheds his Beams immediately upon them, than when they are seen in a common, or reflected Light.

By vertue of this Union the Humane Nature of Christ is One Person with the Divine. As precious stones are a common water congealed, but inclosing particles of the Heavenly, Aetherial Light, and Spirit: So the Manhood of the Lord Jesus in its lowest state of Flesh, in its Blood, in the Grave, excel'd in vertue, outshined in Lustre, Rubies, Diamonds, all the precious things of the Creature in Heaven, and Earth, by vertue of this Union. For in all these States God was the Person there; all subsisted in him, as Branches in the Tree of Eternity. As Thomas did to the Wounds of Christ: So may we to our Beloved in every form, in the Ghastliness of Death fall down ravished with the greatness of his Glory, and cry out; My Lord, and my God. Every thing of our Jesus seen into the depth, and inside of it, or in a right Light is an Heaven p. 204of Heavens, John 1. 14. The word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, the glory, as of the OnelyOnly-begotten Son of God.

3. The last, and highest consideration of our Saviours Beauty is, as he is God, One with the Father, the OnelyOnly true God. This is the Head of fine Gold, of solid Gold, to which all his other Beauties are, as the Locks, and Curles of his Hair, blacks as a Raven, Shadows, and Foils. Can. 5. 11. This is your Beloved, and this is your Friend, O believing Souls.

I shall now give you a Proof from Scripture, and Reasons concerning the whole Person of Christ after this explication of his Beauties in particular Forms, and States.

Man was made in the Image, and Similitude of God, of the whole Trinity. For so Divines expound that, Gen. 1. Let us make man in our own Likeness, of the Three ever-blessed Persons in the God-Head. Some make it a consultation of the Deity in the Assembly of all the Holy Angels to make man an Image, where all their various Excellencies should meet in the Unity of his Person, to make Man a Musical Harmony, of which every Angel makes a part only. Upon either of these Interpretations Man is the most beautiful of all Creatures, having the perfections of all Summed, and Sealed up in himself, to make a compleat similitude of the Divine Nature; like mystical Letters in the Living Word, of which the First Adam is a Figure. In the 1. of Ezek. The living Creatures full of Wings, and Eyes, by which the Angelical Nature is represented among their other manifold Forms, which appear in every particular Angel, is the Form of a Man. This Humane Form is the Image of God, the Beauty of the Angelical Essences, and the proper Essence of man.

Let us then enlarge our Doctrine, and confirm it in its Latitude.

If Jesus Christ be fairer than the Sons of Men, He is the fairest of all Things.

Proof. C…n. 5. 9, 10. The Spiritual Bride, which is the Church in general, and each believing Soul in particular testifieth of Christ by the Spirit of Truth, that He is white and ruddy, the chiefest of Ten Thousand.

We have here the Beauty of Christ set forth, first, Absolutely; then Comparatively.

First, Absolutely; He is white and ruddy. The Hebrew word for white signifieth smooth, clear, shining brightness, like that of the Body of Heaven in the fairest, and calmest day. That for ruddy imports the purest, and most sparkling red, like that of a Ruby. The same Word for the substance is set for the richest Ruby, Lament, for the Ground out of which the First Man was made, Gen. 2. which, say the Jews, was the fairest Composition of all the finest parts of the Earth, with its most precious vertues far beyond the finest Gold. The same word also is used for the First Man in his First Make, when he was the fairest Flower in Paradise.

The most perfect white is the purest Light, which hath no Darkness in it. The purest red, is the most exact mixture of Light, and Shadow.

p. 205In General these words import a compleat beauty in the Person of Christ. a beauty suitable to us, fitted to the Eye of our Faculties, our Sense, and Understanding. It is the manner of Men to express the most perfect beauty of a Face by pure White, and Red. We have also a signification, that the choicest beauties here are Shadows only of Jesus Christ. White, and Red in the loveliest Face below is the Type, and Figure; in that glorious Person it is the Truth, the Original. Divines call the Creatures with all their Excellencies Vestigia Dei, the Foot-steps of God. If the Print of Christs Feet in the Dust make such Beauties in Flesh and Blood, in these Heavens, in the Angels; what are the Beauties of his own Divine Person?

1. In Particular, 1. White is the Unity of Light in its simplicity. This is the Person of Christ, Red expresseth the variety of Light and Darkness with all their Degrees, and Mixtures, as they lie in the Unity of a pure, and simple Light. This is Light in its several Forms, and Dresses. This is the high, and Universal Harmony, which maketh all sorts of Musick, and Beauty thorow all things in Heaven, and Earth, as it sendeth forth Sounds, and Glympses of itself any where. This hath all things in itself in their several perfections. This maketh every thing in itself a Divine Musick, and Beauty to the Spiritual Eye, and Spiritual Ear.

2. White is the God-Head in Christ, making a Day of Beauty, whi…h hath no night going before it, or coming after it. Red is the Lord Jesus, as he is God-man, where the Day, and the Night make one entire Day of perfect Beauty, the Night sweetly shadowing the Day, the Day shining beautifully thorow the Night. Here Beauty hath all its Charms and Sweetnesses of its Mornings and its Evenings.

3. White is Christ in Glory. Red is this Christ, this Glory descending to the Depth of all Sufferings. Red is the Colour of Blood. Nothing is more apt among Natural things to delight, and ravish our Souls, than the Musick of an excellent hand carried down in just degrees by soft, and melting strains to the lowest, and there, as it were, quite silenced; then on a sudden carried up again to a Sprightly, and Triumphant height. How agreeable, how delightful a Spectacle is this to the Eye of the Spirit, to see the Lord Jesus, who is Glory itself descending with beautiful Conformities to the Wisdom of the Father, with sweet meltings of himself into the Will of the Father, thorow all degrees of Sufferings into the Silence, and Darkness of Death itself; then in a moment to spring up into Glory, and Immortality by the Resurrection from the Dead? What believing, and loving Soul, when she seeth these beautiful goings of her Jesus on the Earth, on Mount Golgotha, in the Grave, would not gladly go …own with him in the Fellowship of his Sufferings into the same Grave, as in… a Spiritual Marriage-bed, to come forth immediately in the glorious Morn…g of the Resurrection, as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber?

I have hitherto spoken of the Absolute Praise of Christs Beauty in this Scripture; p. 206He is White, and Ruddy. I am now to speak of the Comparative Praise; He is the chiefest of ten thousand: Ten thousand is a particular number set for All. The Hebrew word signifieth the greatest number; it is applied to Angels, Psal. 68. 18, The Chariot of the Lord is ten thousand; Angels are understood. The Angels are the fairest of all creatures. Our Saviour is the fairest of all the Angels. The word Chiefest is in Hebrew a Standard-bearer. The Standard-bearer carries the Banner. The Banner is the Mark and Prize under which all the Troop march, for which they fight, to which, and under which the whole Troop is gathered together. The Beauty and Loveliness of Christ's Person, is the Banner spread over all things, under which, in the force of which, for which all things move in their several courses, to which the gathering together of All shall be. The Instinct of this is All Love. The Possession and Springing forth of this All Joy. We read in the Acts of an Altar with an Inscription, To the unknown God. St. Paul preaching upon this Text, telleth the Athenians; Him, whom ye ignorantly worship, preach I unto you; meaning Christ. In the whole frame of Nature every Heart, every Creature, every Affection, every Action is an Altar with the same kind of Inscription; To the Unknown Beauty; To the Unknown Jesus. This is the Mark, the White, which every Being in nature ignorantly moveth to, which every motion ignorantly aimeth at; this is that which all Understandings, all Loves ignorantly worship, esteem and adore; this Beauty of Jesus Christ, concerning which we now speak. Blessed are your hearts, O Believers, which are Spiritual Altars with the Person of Christ, engraven upon them by the finger of God, flaming with the fire of an heavenly Love, and bearing this Inscription; To the known Beauty of that Jesus, whom we know, whose Person our Eyes have seen, our Ears have heard, our Hands have handled, the Arms of our Spirits have embraced.

I come now from the Proof, to the Reasons of the Doctrine, which are four.

1. Iesus Christ is Beauty in its Original.

2. He is the Perfection of Beauty.

3. He hath all the Parts of Beauty most compleat in his Person.

4. All Beauty is derived from him.

Reas. 1. The Person of Christ is Beautiful in its Original. He is the First, so the Highest, and Best Beauty, Heb. 1. 3. Christ is said to be The Brightness of the Glory of God. Four things go to make up the Glory of God: 1. Excellency; 2. Excellency at the height; 3. An Union of all Excellencies reflecting upon, imparting themselves to each other. All center themselves in the bosom of every one. All see themselves living and shining in the face each of other, as in a living Looking-glass. Our Beloved is that Image, into which this Glory so brings forth it self, that it is One with it self.

Brightness implies three things; 1. Glory at the Height, as Light in the Sunshine; 2. Glory appearing, Glory in an Image; 3. Glory in its Purity. The Person of our Jesus is such an Image, as is the Glory itself, a Deep of Glory, p. 207a pure, unmixt, unconfined, infinite Glory. He is an Image of so clear Glory, so One with the Glory, that All the God-Head appears in Him, and nothing of it can hide itself from being seen there.

The Person of Christ is the Essential and Eternal Glory of the God-Head in its own proper Form, in which it may be seen by Spiritual Eyes, in which it may be a heavenly Bridegroom capable of being possessed, embraced, and enjoyed by the Spiritual Bride, the Wife of this Lamb, without spot or blemish.

Can any soul that hath had the least glympse of this Mine, this Mass of Glory, the Blessed Person of Christ, be so treacherous, like Judas, as to value him at, and sell him for thirty pieces of silver, the Riches of this world? Can any Spirit, upon whose inward Eye the least Beam of his Beauty hath faln, be so prophane, as Esau was, to sell his Birthright, his Inheritance in this Kingdom of Beauty, the Glorious Person of his God and Saviour, for a Mess of Pottage, for sensual satisfactions, for a lust, for a shadowy life on Earth?

It is added, Heb. 1. 3. That He is the express Image of His, (namely, God the Father's) Substance, or Person. True Beauty is defined to be the proper and native Image of some True Good. The True Beauty calls, and allures all hearts to it. The True Good gives them rest in the bosom of that Beauty. Beauty is Goodness visible: Good is the Invisible Spring and Center in that Beauty. God is the First and Supreme Good; Jesus Christ then, who is the Express Image of His Substance and Person, in whom He is figured after the most exact and lively manner, is the First and Supreme Beauty.

God the Father is the First and Supreme Good, as the God-Head in the Root. Jesus Christ is the First and Supreme Beauty, as the God-Head in the Flower, springing out of, and standing in the Bosom of its Root, having all the virtues of the Root in clear and full figures forming themselves most gloriously, and most amiably upon it. The Holy Spirit is the First, the Supreme Love and Joy, as the God-Head in the Fruit, in which all the precious virtues of the Root, all the lively and lovely Beauties of the Flower are tasted, feasted upon, and enjoyed. To make our Esteem, Admiration, Adoration and Love yet greater, we must also observ… that these Three in the Divine Nature, in the Person of Christ, the Root, the Flower, and the Fruit, are inseparable; they all mutually comprehend each other, that every One may be perfect, having the Other Two entire in it self.

Ho! every one that sitteth under the shadow of any melancholy, any grief, or fear; that saith, who will shew us the True Good? Who will shew us Beauty indeed, or where the place of Love is? Who will make us to drink of the Fountain of Joy? Come hither to the Person of Christ. But come boldly, stand not without the Vail, press into the Holy of Holies, come near to the Person of Christ himself. Come past all shadows of Glory; come to the brightness of Glory, the naked Person of your Jesus. Here shall your Eyes be satisfied with Beauty; your Souls shall rest in Goodness; you shall take your fill of Love, and Joy.

p. 208Reas. 2. The Person of Christ is the perfection of Beauty, Psal. 50. 2. From Sion the Perfection of Beauty God shall shine. There are three Things, which I would make clear to you in this Scripture. 1. That Sion is the Third Person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, 2. That the Perfection of Beauty is a description of the Second Person the Lord Jesus. 3. Why these two are so joyned, as if one only were meant. This verse hath a deep Mystery of Divinity in it. Glorious Persons are contained here. But there is a Vail of borrowed Names from inanimate things upon them. It will be worth your time, and patience to stay a while at this place, to search into the Mystery, to take off the Vail, and discover the Beauty.

1. I think it will be plain to every understanding, that the blessed Spirit is figured by Mount Sion, if you compare three Scriptures, Gal. 4. 26. Jerusalem above is free, which is the Mother of us all, Gal. 4. 28, 29. We Brethren are the Children of the Promise, as Isaac. As therefore it was then, so it is now, he that is born after the Flesh, persecuteth him that is born after the Spirit. In the First of these verses, Jerusalem above is said to be the Mother of us all. In the Second these, All us, are expounded to be the Children of Promise. In the Third verse the same persons are described by being born after the Spirit. This Phrase of being born after the Spirit is fully explained by that of Jesus Christ, from whence it seemeth to be taken, John 3. That which is born of the Flesh, is Flesh: That which is born of the Spirit, is Spirit. To be born after the Spirit, and of the Spirit signifie both the same thing. Is it not then evident, that the Jerusalem above, which is free, which is the mother of all the Spiritual Seed, is the Eternal Spirit, after which a Saint is born, that is, of this Spirit, and in the Image of this Spirit, where there is Liberty, 2 Corin. 4.

Now lay the Third Scripture by these two, Heb. 12. 22. We are come to Mount Sion, the Heavenly Hierusalem, the City of the living God, to the Millions of Angels, the general Assembly, to the Church of the First-born written in Heaven, to the Spirits of just men made perfect, to God, to Jesus Christ. Before, we Saw Hierusalem above, and the Spirit, now we see Mount Sion, and the Heavenly Hierusalem to be the same. Is it not then an infallible demonstration, that Sion and the Holy Spirit are One, as the Type, and the Truth? Can any other be the living City of the living God, where all the Holy Angels the First-born of the Father, the Spirits of all Saints, as well on Earth, as in Heaven, Jesus Christ in his Mediatory Kingdom, the Father upon the Throne of Judicature meet, and appear together in the full liberty of Eternal Light, Love, and Joy; besides the Unity of the Spirit, which is the Sweet and Sacred band between the two Glorious Persons in the Trinity, between all pure, Spiritual, Divine Beings above and below? This is the Spring, and Immortal Seat of them all.

2. We have in this place another Person set forth by this bright, and lovely Character, the Perfection of Beauty. We may discover our own Beloved, and Bridegroom the Lord Jesus under this Title, if we bring to it the Lights of p. 209two other Scriptures shining like this by his Appearance in them. In Heb. 1. 3. He is stiled the Brightness of Glory. Is not this the same, as to say; The Perfection of Beauty? 2 Corin. 4. 6. God hath shined in our hearts unto the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face, or Person of Jesus Christ Can Face answer Face in a Glass more exactly than these Two Scriptures answer one another? In both you have God, God shining: in one you have God shining from the Perfection of Beauty: in the other God shining with a Light of Glory in the Face, or Person of Christ. God in all the Creatures, whether they be Visible, or Invisible casts forth Shadows only of Himself. Then he appeareth in the Perfection of Beauty; when he appeareth in the Person of Christ, as Light in the Body of the Sun.

3. But why are these two so joyned, as if they were the same Thing, from Sion the perfection of Beauty? I will not examine, whether we may not disjoyn them in reading, by putting in between them, and, or in, Particles frequently understood; from Sion, and, or in the Perfection of Beauty God shineth. This needeth not. There is plainly a difference between the English, and the Hebrew. The Hebrew runneth word for word thus: From Sion, from the Perfection of Beauty God hath shined. So you have the Three Persons of the everblessed Trinity clearly distinguished, and united in this shining of the God-Head. The Father shineth, from the Spirit his holy hill of Sion, from the Person of Christ the Perfection of Beauty. These Two Persons are placed here, as One in Another, a Globe of Light in a Globe of Light, and the Father shining from them both to awaken in us this great, and glorious Truth, that the Persons of the Sacred Trinity have their Perfection in each other, and are ever undivided, when they appear nakedly in their proper Forms. The whole Trinity is the Crown of Beauty upon every one of them.

In particular Jesus Christ never appears, as the Perfection of Beauty, but when he, and the Spirit appear both in One, 2 Cor. 3. from the 14th to the end you read of a vail upon the Face of Moses, the Person of Christ in the Type; then of a vail upon the Hearts of the Jews. These are both the same vail. For the vail is never upon the Person of Christ properly, and simply, but upon the Eye of our Spirits; as the Cloud is never upon the Body of the Sun, but upon our Corporeal Eyes. For, as that doth in the midst of its world; so doth the Person of Christ in the midst of all things ever comprehend, and contemplate himself, and all things, in the simple and pure Light of his own naked Beauties. But then in the same place we read, that the Vail is taken away in Christ; and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty; that is, freedom from the Vail; Christ is seen unvailed in his naked Glories. It is added; Now the Lord is that Spirit. Then mention is made in the last verse; of beholding the Glory of the Lord with open Face; that is, Eye to Eye, the naked Eye of our Souls to the naked Eye of his Beauties; every Spirit being all Eye. The verse is closed thus; as by the Spirit of the Lord; or more agreeably to the Greek, as of the Lord the Spirit.

p. 210I have alledged all this to make it plain to you, and to seal it upon your understandings, and memories, that Jesus Christ is then only seen in his true Person and shape, without a vail, when he is seen in the Spirit, when Christ and the Spirit are seen, as two distinct Persons in One. Sion, the Type of the Spirit signifieth Vision. Hierusalem the Figure of the same Spirit, the Heavenly Hierusalem is by interpretation the Heavenly Vision of Heavenly Perfection and Peace. The Lord Jesus is the Perfection of Beauty, the Heavenly Harmony of all things, the Peace of all Hearts, and Desires. The Person of the Spirit is the Heavenly Vision of this Heavenly Perfection.

By the way observe, that the Holy Ghost speaks in this 50 Psal. of the Day of Judgement the Second, and last Coming, and Appearance of our Lord and Saviour, after which he shall go away, and disappear no more. See here, what manner of Appearance this is; in what State, in what Form the King of Glory comes to the Marriage of his Bride, and to reign upon the Earth. He comes in a Spiritual, and Divine Form, in the Person of the Spirit. The Eternal Spirit is an anointing of Beauty upon the whole Person of our Beloved. He again is a Sun of Beauty looking forth in the Person of Spirit. Nay, the Lord Jesus cometh in the Glory of all the Three Persons; the Father shineth in the Person of the Son; the Son shineth in the Person of the Spirit; all Three in One shine together in the glorified Humanity of the Lord Jesus, all three glorifie that with themselves; Inhabiting, and shining forth round about with a full Light of glory in it, Figuring themselves in their Divinest Forms upon it; overshadowing it, and cloathing it with the Brightnesses of their own most entire, and most naked Appearances.

Thus is Jesus the Perfection of Beauty. The Glory of the God-Head is now consummate in Him, when all the Three Persons appear quite unvailed in his Person. You who love and wait for this Appearance of your Heavenly Bridegroom; who see this day, which his Spiritual Beauties make, and rejoyce to see it with a Joy unspeakable, and glorious; you, who live in the sweet dawnings of this day upon you; you, who have any thing of the Spirit of the Bride in you; cry continually; Even so, so come quickly Lord Jesus in this Thrice-Beautiful, and Thrice-Blessed Appearance.

Thus the Person of Christ is the Perfection of Beauty.

Perfection implyeth 3 Things.

1. Clearness.

2. Compleatness

3. Comprehensiveness.

1. Clearness. That which is perfect, is pure, hath no spot, or mixture of any thing Forreign. As every drop of Milk is Milk; so every thing, the smallest Point in the Person of Christ is Beauty. He is Beauty itself in the abstract, in its simple Essence. This Finite world cannot satisfie our desires, because they are infinite. Behold here the Person of Christ, a world of Beauty, and infinite to terminate, and satiate your infinite desires. For every thing is bounded by another, or by its Contrary; nothing by itself; as Light by Darkness▪ Life p. 211by Death. Our Lord Jesus is a Light of Beauty, where there is no Darkness, and so no bound to set a stop to it from multiplying itself endlesly within itself, meeting no where in its utmost Circles of glory with any thing besides itself. It is this Beauty, which is sown in every Spirit, shooting up, and budding in desires, flowring in delights. Love is this Beauty in the Seed, desires the sproutings of this Love. Therefore are our Loves, and Desires infinite, because this Jesus, the Beauty, which is their Root, and their Fruit, is so.

2. Compleatness. The Beauty of Christ is perfect; nothing can be added to it, Solomon saith, Eccles. 1. 7. All rivers run into the Sea, and the Sea is not at all the fuller. It is the Person of Christs, which is this Mystical Sea of all Beauty, and Sweetness, all the rivers of created Beauty, and Sweetness go forth from him, and take away nothing. They all return into him again, and add nothing. When Lot had been made to drink Wine freely by his Daughters, he perceived not when they lay down, nor when they rose up. Believing beloved Souls, drink in the Lovelinesses of your own Heavenly Husband, drink abundantly of them; so will ye have little, or no sense of the presence of the Sweetness of any Object, or Relation among the Creatures, when ye lye down in its embraces; or of its absence, when ye rise up from it never to return to the enjoyment, or sight of it any more. Your Jesus in his single Person is all Loveliness compleat in itself. He is the same; that which all Creature are; that which they are not; with them, and without them. Their presence, and their absence are the same, equally full of the same Beauty, and Sweetness in him.

3. Comprehensiveness. The Perfection of Beauty comprehendeth all Beauties, and Beautiful Things in itself. It is the First, and Essential Beauty, which by its presence beautifies every thing. The Beauties of Angels, Stars, and Flowers; of Bodies, and Spirits, all flourish together eminently, and unfadingly in the Person of Christ, which is the Paradise of God, and the Bed of Flowers there.

Thou, who mournest, and loathest thy self for some Deformity, or Defilement of Spirit; who bemoanest thy self for some defect, comfort thy self concerning this in the Person of Christ. God is said in one place; to call all the Stars by name, and no one of them is wanting. The Person of thy Saviour hath all Spiritual, and Natural Beauties in itself. Here thou mayst call by Name the proper Beauties of thy Person, to cloath all thy shame with Glory, to supply all thy wants with suitable Grace. Thou shalt find no one wanting. Every one will answer readily; here am I; behold I bear thine Image, and the Inscription of thy Name upon me. I have been laid up from Eternity in the Perfection of Beauty, and kept for thee, unto this Season.

You that complain for the want of any Loveliness, come to Jesus Christ, that you may have it, and have it in abundance, richly to enjoy. He is that well of Beauty springing up to eternal Life, that is, with All, with Infinite, with Endless Beauties.

p. 212You, who … your hearts captivated by any thing lovely on Earth, come hither. Where the Person of Christ is seen, as he appears in the Spirit, unvailed; there is Liberty; the fulness of a Divine Beauty, the freedom of a Divine Love taking off from our hearts the Chains of every ensnaring, and enslaving passion. Behold that which thou lovest, in Christ the perfection of Loveliness, where it is truest, and sweetest; so love it in him. Behold Christ beautifying by his presence every beautiful Object, like the Sun-shine on Flowers; so love him in it.

One said; if a man know not the way to the Sea, let him follow the course of a River. Every stream of Sweetness flows from our Saviour, and runs into him, Let thy heart accompany it in this course, so shall it be led by a pleasant Guide to Jesus Christ. The nearer thou followest it to Christs Person, the larger and fuller will the Sweetness be, as a River near the Ocean; till it be perfected in him.

When thy heart breaketh over any departing Beauty, or dying Sweetness in a Friend, Child, Wife or Life, then think upon the Comprehensiveness of Christs Beauty, which holds all other Beauties in it, as Heaven doth the Angels. Solomon saith in Ecclesiastes, When man dieth, the body goeth to the Dust, from whence it came; the Spirit to God, who gave it. Each thing returns to its Original, to the Element from whence it is taken, and of which it is ever a part. Darkness sinks down into the Pit of Darkness: the Spirit, which is the Light, Life, Sweetness every where, every Spark, and Image of Divinity re-ascends, and retreats into the Bosom of the first Image of God, which is Christ. Each pleasantness, each beam of loveliness, is a glance, and sparkle of this Eternal Image of Essential Beauty, which enfoldeth all things, and mingleth itself with all things. That which thou callest the fading of any Sweetness dear unto thee, is only the hasting of the loving stream to its beloved Sea; the disappearing of the bright flame of Life into the glorious Brightness of its unseen Element. Thou sayst; it is now dying, now dead, when it is emptying itself into the Ocean of Beauties; retreating into the pure, and incorruptible Element of Beauty, the Blessed Person of Christ. Cleave to it in this view of it, cast thy self with it into these secret, and sacred depths of Life, and Loveliness; so shalt thou never lose it, or thy self, save by being both together swallowed up into the perfection of Beauty, the Eternal Treasury of all Beauties, Jesus Christ.

I have now finished the Two first Reasons of the Fairness of Christ above all things; the Original, the Perfection of Beauty in his Person. Before I pass to the other Two Reasons, let us look down a little upon our selves, and make some application of these Beauties, which we have seen in the Person of our Lord, to our own Persons, to enlighten the Darknesses, and redress the deformities there.

Use. 1. A Caution. Let us take heed, that we make no inference, take no encouragement from the Loveliness of Christ to make our selves unlovely in p. 213his Eye, to defile his Spouse in our selves, to stain his Glory by Sensuality, Lust, or any presumptuous Sin. Our Saviour now dying saith to his Father of his Disciples: I sanctify my self, that they also may be sanctified, John 17. Jesus Christ put off in Death every thing of Earth, and Flesh. He lifteth himself up by his Cross into Glory; that he may present himself again to the Eye of our Spirits in the Spiritual, and Heavenly Brightness of the Divine Form, and Glory; that he may baptize us into the same Sea of his Blood, and into the same white Cloud of his own Spiritual Beauties; that we also by him may die to the Flesh, and live with him in the Spirit. Hath Jesus Christ to this end made himself higher than the Heavens, Heb. that our Hearts, and Live… should be low and vile, as the Earth? Is he ascended above all the Angels, all the Principalities, and Powers of Light, that we should become like Beasts, and yield up our Bodies, and Spirits Instruments to the Principalities and Powers of the Darkness of this World, and of Hell?

Is there any hope of renewing such a Person by words, who thus turneth the rightest, and pleasantest words of the Lord Jesus, and his Beauties unto nourishment to vain, and filthy Lusts, to Corruption? Is any more to be done, but to leave him to that Dreadful, and Delightful Maran Atha; which is by interpretation, The Lord cometh; to the Person of Christ himself in his own immediate Appearances, when those glorious and unexpressible Beauties of the Spirit, and God-Head, in which he shall appear, shall be Flames of Fire burning upon, and consuming every Earthly, Fleshly Principle, or Spirit in every Form.

Use. 2. A Conviction of the Evil of Sin, which blindeth us to the sight of this Beautiful, and Blessed Person of our Lord Jesus. How should we all curse to the Pit of Hell, from whence it arose, that Charm, or Enchantment, if any had such force to change the Sun into Sack-cloath, or hinder it from shining any more upon the Earth? How much worse than a Grave would it make the whole world, when we should have eyes open, and no Light? Far greater is that mischief, which the Devil worketh by Sin. By the charm of this world, which he raiseth, as an Apparition, and Lying Image from Hell, together with the Lusts, which he awakeneth by it, he taketh away from us the glorious Light of Christs Person ten thousand times brighter, sweeter, and of more consequence to us, than the Sun in Heaven, 2 Corin. 4. 4. By this means all our faculties are, as so many Eyes continually awakened, continually benighted with the blackness of Darkness, deluded with empty Shadows, and disappointed of the beloved Substance. So are our Spirits wandring in an everlasting Darkness, tormented night and day with the fire of their own restless, eager, and unsatisfied desires; while Jesus Christ their only Light, and Food is hid from them under the Cloud of their Corruptions.

Take heed especially of three Sins, 3 of Covetousness; Uncleanness; Enmity. 1. Take heed of Covetousness, Mat. 6. 22. Our Saviour warneth his Disciples to take heed, what they made their Treasure, because where the Treasure p. 214sure is, there the Heart will be. v. 21. The beloved Object irresistibly draweth the Heart to itself, and transformeth it into itself, as Seed doth the ground in which it is sown. The Eye, saith Christ, is the Light of the Body. If thine Eye be single, thy whole Body shall be full of Light, But if thine Eye be evil, thy whole Body shall be full of Darkness; and if the Light, which is in thee be darkness, how great is that Darkness? The whole Soul, and every Spirit is an Eye. The understanding is an Eye of Light; the Will is an Eye of Love. The same word for the substance of it in the Hebrew signifies an Eye, and a Fountain. The Object is the Light of this Eye, which sheds abroad in it the Beams of its Light, Sweetness, and Influence. These are the waters springing up in this Fountain.

The single Eye in the Language of the Scripture is the good, the liberal, large, open Eye. The Eye is single from its Object, when it hath fixed unchangeably in it that single Object, which is truly and eternally One; when it looketh upon all things only as they are comprehended in this Unity. This is such a singleness, such a simplicity, that the Eye, and the Object are both One; the Supream, and Eternal Unity is both the Eye and the Object in this Spirit; and so the Fountain, which goeth forth from its own Eden, maketh the Soul a Paradise, and watereth the whole Body.

The Evil Eye is a contracted, divided, narrow, covetous, envious, malicious Eye.

Beware O man, that the things of this world, that this world be not in thine Eye. As Jesus Christ is the Image of the Invisible God: so is this World the Image of its God, the Devil, the Prince of Darkness, by which he becomes visible to thee, enamou…eth thy Soul, setteth himself in thine Eye, and thine Heart, with all his Hells, and Fires hid within this Cloud. And now a blackness of Darkness big with a dreadful Tempest of Wrath dwelleth within thee, and covereth all things round about thee.

But if Jesus Christ be the Object of thy Love, he will be as a Divine Sun in the Center, and midst of thy Spirit, powring forth a great plenty of rich, and glorious Beams thorow all parts, every point of thy Soul, thy Body, every thing round about thee. Now all things shall be to thee one entire, and beautiful Body of Divine Light.

Indeed the world compared with the great, and glorious world of Light, and Beauty in the Person of Christ, is as a Mote in the Sun. But if this Mote be in thine Eye, it will deprive thee of the sight of this Sun.

2. Take heed of Uncleanness. St. Jude, v. 23. teacheth us to hate the Garment spotted with the Flesh. The Holy Spirit seemeth here to represent a Saint after this manner; Jesus Christ in the inward, and Spiritual Man, as a Sun shining in Heaven; The outward and natural Man, as a Garment of Light sent forth from this Sun, thorow which the Sun itself is seen in every point of it. As often as any unclean thought, or fleshly Imagination ariseth in us, this becomes a spot upon our Garment. Now the White is turned into Blackness of p. 215Darkness, the Beauty into Burning, the Face of Christ, and of Heaven are clouded, and appear no more.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, saith our Saviour, Matt. 5. All vision dependeth upon the suitableness between the Eye, and the Object. All sense in every kind of things proceedeth from the suitableness between each Faculty and its proper Object. Suitableness is the visible Image, and effect of an hidden Unity, and awakeneth that, as the Sun doth its own Seminal vertues in the Earth, which spring up into all manner of Plants, Flowers, and Fruits.

The pure Beauties of Christs Person are seen only by a pure Eye, which Eye is the living Image of the same Person in the Unity of the same Spirit, and awakened in us by the Appearances of that Glory. There is a Three-fold Purity; Moral; Legal; Evangelical.

If we would see the Image of God in the visible Frame of Nature, which is the Person of Christ in its Shadow; we must be baptized into the Blood, that is, into the Principle, and Spirit of this Image; we must be washed in this Laver from all the gross disorders, and pollutions of the Flesh unto a Moral Purity. If we would see the Divine Image shining in the midst of the Intellectual, Angelical, Invisible things of Nature, which is the Person of Christ in its Picture; let us baptize our selves into the Blood, that is into the Spirit and Principle of this Image. Let us in this Spring wash off, by the Fire upon the Altar offer up all sensitive Forms, which is the Sacrifice of Beasts, that our Spirits may be like the vail of the Tabernacle having Cherubims, the Forms of Invisible, and Heavenly things only formed upon them. This is our legal Purity.

But would we see that Image of the invisible God, which is itself invisible to every Natural Eye, of Men, and Angels? Would we see, not the Shadow, the Picture, but the Brightness of Glory; the Person of Christ in the Life unvailed? We must then be baptized into the Blood, the Spirit, the Principle of this Eternal, Essential Image of God. This alone can purify the Heavenly Things themselves, Heb. This alone can wash out the impression and similitude of every Creature in its Natural State, that the uncreated Glory, which alone is the true Heaven, and lies hid under the other, as a Diamond in a heap of rubbish may shine forth. This is our Evangelical Purity, and our Evangelical Vision of God in the Person of Christ.

When thou art come never so little past the lusts of the Flesh; thou shalt meet with him, whom thy Soul loveth, Jesus Christ in his Shadow. This will be an Earthly Paradise to thee springing up thorow thy body, thy senses, all vsible things round about thee. When thou art come never so little past the Flesh itself, and all Appearances of things in that; thou shalt meet with him, whom thy Soul loveth, in a lively, lovely Picture, thy Jesus in the Form of an Angel. All that was dear to thee, and present with thee in the dark shadow, thou shalt now see again with gain, and enjoy in the bright Picture. Thy Earthly Paradise shall be grown up, transformed, and enlarged with thee into a Heaven of p. 216Angels. When thou art come never so little past these Watchmen themselves, the Angels, without the walls of the City of this whole Creation; thou shalt meet with him, whom thy Soul loves, the Lord Jesus in his naked, living, and eternal Beauties. Here thou shalt see the Light of Life far above all Shadows and Pictures, enlarging itself to take in, and comprehend them also. Not only the Persons, and Things represented in those lower Scenes, and Forms: but the Scenes, and Forms themselves appear again, and appear eternally in this last and highest opening of the Mystery of God. Not only that Rose, which was the Treasure hid in the Seed, the Stalk, the Leaf, the Thorn, sheweth itself full blown in all its Beauties, and Sweetnesses, but that Seed; Stalk; each Leaf; every thing of the Rose-Tree; every dust of the Earth round about it, is now a Distinct Rose. This is the Rose of Sharon, our Jesus seen, as he is, the vail taken off in the Gospel by the Holy Spirit. Follow after Holiness in all degrees of it, that you may see this Jesus, as he ascends thorow all Degrees of things. Fly from every degree of uncleanness which will be a spot upon your Garments, that the Beauties of Christ cannot shine in them, neither in your outward, and Earthly, or your Inward, Angelical Garment.

3. Beware of Enmity. The Holy Ghost saith; … John. He that hateth his Brother, walketh in darkness until now. Every Saint, every Man, every Creature, each Providence is our Brother, as it is the work of God, the Birth of God by Jesus Christ, and beareth the Image of him, who is the Wisdom of God. All Hatred is a Twin-birth with Darkness. Both arise immediately out of the departure and separation from the Unity, which is the womb, from whence spring together that Blessed Pair, Light and Love. All Enmity and Hatred besides that, which is the loving, and lovely opposition of Love itself to Hatred, and Enmity, is the seed of the Serpent, out of which himself ariseth, and by which he propagateth his Serpentine brood. The Jews say in their Proverbs; The Spirit of God resteth not upon an Angry, or a sad Man. While thy Soul is wrapt up in a black Cloud of Malice, or tossed with any Tempest of wrath, the Sun of Love, the Glorious Person of thy Saviour, which is all an immortal Flame of Love appeareth not to thee, neither can it be seen by thee, all whose Lovelinesses are the Beauties, and Beams of Love.

Rom. 3. 24. Jesus Christ is called the Propitiation. This was in the Tabernacle and Temple the Golden Mercy-Seat, on which God sat between the Cherubims, and talked with Moses. In allusion to this we read of the Throne of Grace, Heb. 4. 16. The Person of Christ in his Heavenly Form is the Propitiation, the Golden Mercy-Seat, the Throne of Grace, the Throne of Love, of the freest, sweetest, purest Love, If you streighten a Flame, and bar it from its Liberty of extending, and dilating itself, you extinguish it, and lose at once its Light, and Heat. If you contract the Love of Christ in you by Wrath, or Enmity, you make your self uncapable of the sweet Light of his Appearances, and of the Heavenly Heat of his Graces, and Consolations. While there p. 217is among you strife, anger, malice, murmurings, whisperings, hard thoughts, evil speakings, or any such thing; Heaven is not now open upon you, neither do you see Jesus, as he comes up out of the Baptism of his Sufferings into a Resurrection of Glory with the Eternal Spirit in the Form of a Dove, in a Form of Love resting upon him.

The Priests in the Temple were Morning and Evening to trim the Lamps in the Golden Candlestick by pouring in fresh Oil, that the Light might not go out by day, nor by night. Your Persons, O ye Saints, are the Temple, your Spiritual and Divine part the Golden Candlestick, the Heavenly Person of your beloved is the Light in the Lamps of this Candlestick. If you would preserve this Light of Glory continually shining in you, be continually pouring in from that vessel of Love, the Heart of the Father, fresh Love, which is the Golden Oyl of the Spirit, in which the Life, and Light of the Divine Nature burneth, and shineth eternally.

But to conclude my discourse concerning these Three Sins.

The Scripture saith; Covetousness is Idolatry. We make an Idol of every Image besides the Lord Jesus alone, which we set up in our Hearts, as real, and excellent to bow down our Souls to it by our esteem, and affection. Every Idol hath its Devil in it. St. Paul saith plainly; What the Gentiles Sacrifice to Idols, they Sacrifice to Devils. You cannot eat of the Table of the Lord, which is his Glorified Person, to feast upon the Delicacies of his Beauties set before your Spirits there, and eat of the Table of Devils, which is this world; to feed upon the Dainties of the Flesh here. You cannot drink of the cup of the Lord, which is his Spirit, to take in the Wine of Spiritual Sweetnesses from this, and drink of the Cup of Devils, which is the Spirit of this World, to swallow down the riches, and pleasant things of that.

2 Pet. 2. 13, 14. We read of Spots at the Feasts of the Saints, who are those that have Eyes full of Adultery. St. Jude expoundeth those Feasts to be Feasts of Charity, that is, Love-Feasts, which were Joyned with the Supper of the Lord. The Appearances of Christs Person in the Visible, Angelic. l, Divine Images, are our several Love-Feasts. An adulterous Eye in the moral sense, which looketh upon any visible Object after an undue manner, is a Spot upon the First Love-Feast. The adulterous Eye in a legal sense, which looketh upon any Fleshly, or visible Figure of things, is a Spot upon the Second. The adulterous Eye, which setteth its Love upon Created Forms on Earth, or in Heaven, is a Spot upon the Last, and best Love-Feasts. All these Spots are Clouds upon the Person, and stains upon the Beauty of Christ, which at once dishonour and grieve him, darken and defile us, making us unworthy, and uncapable of his blessed Appearances to us.

As an adulterous Eye of Lust, so the blood-shot Eye of Wrath is unable to look upon this Heavenly Object, or to bear the brightness of his Glory.

I will wind up this Use with this solemn adjuration, and charge: If there p. 218be such a Person as our Jesus; if this Person have such unsearchable Treasures of Beauty, and Joy in it; if the presence, and appearance of this King in his Beauty, as a Bridegroom, as a Spiritual Sun in the hearts of the Saints be no dream, or fancy, but the very Spirit, and Truth, and Life of the Gospel; I adjure, and charge you, all his Saints, by the Hinds, and Roes of the Field, by the lovely Person of your Christ, by the pleasantness of his Appearances in you, that laying aside Covetousness; casting away all Filthiness both of Flesh, and Spirit; putting off all Wrath, Malice, Envyings, and evil speakings, you fix your Eye upon, fill your Souls with the Beautiful, and blessed Person of the Lord Jesus. This is your own Fountain. Drink waters from this Fountain alone. Behold your selves, one another, all things in the Light of this Person, of these Beauties, as they lie here, as they are comprehended in this fairest, greatest, and most Divine Image of all Loveliness. Christ is the Truth. The Appearance of things in the sweet Light of his lovely Person is True, This is that Truth, which if you walk in it, shall dwell with you for ever, shining with a precious, and living lustre in the darkest places of Sorrow, or Death. In this Truth live at peace, live in love within your selves, with one another, with all things. So the God of Peace, and Love shall be with you. Amen.

Reas. 3. I now come to the Third Reason of the Doctrine, our Lord Jesus is the fairest of all things, because he hath all the parts of Beauty compleat, and entire in his person. That work with my own Spirit, and with all Spirits, which is my design, and delight, is to woo them for Christ, and espouse them, as chast Virgins to Christ. Eccles. 12. 10. We read, that the Preacher sought out acceptable words, and the words, which he found out were upright. Solomon was a figure of Christ in glory, King in the Hierusalem above. This Glorious Person is the Preacher, the Text, and the Sermon. Acceptable words in the Original Language are words of delight, as you may see in the Margin. If ever it be fit to seek out pleasant, and delightful words; it is on this Subject, when we treat of the Lord Jesus, and his Beauties. If ever it be necessary to take care to speak right words; it is now, when we speak of him, whose Person is the Center, from which all the lines of the Gospel, of Evangelical Truths, Graces, Comforts, Glories, Spirits are drawn; into which they all run; in which they all meet. My endeavour therefore is, that all my discourses may be steps from one Scripture to another, that by the explications, and applications of these I may enlighten your minds to the sight, and warm your affections to the love of these Blessed and Heavenly Beauties.

There are four Parts, of which all Beauty consisteth; 1. Variety. 2. Harmony in the variety. 3. Light in the Harmony. 4. Life in that Light. These four meet all eminently, and transcendently, in the highest degree in the Person of our Saviour.

1. There is all variety in the Person of Christ. Colos. 1. 19. It pleased p. 219the Father, that in him all fulness should dwell. Observe how St. Paul cometh to this total Sum at the foot of the Account, to this Conclusion of all Fulness in Christ. From the 15th v. to this you have the whole Compass of Things in Nature, Grace, and Glory. From the 15th to the 18th you have the Circuit of Nature in the full extent of the Creation with its Creator. First there is God, as he is the Author of Nature. Jesus Christ is the Image of the Invisible God; v. 15. Then you have the whole Creation. He is the First-born of every Creature; or of all the Creation. The First-born is the Excellency of Dignity, the Excellency of Strength. Every Creature is in Christ, as in the Excellency of the Divine Strength. in its Divine Root, Power, Life, Vertue; as in the Excellency of the Divine Dignity; in its Divine Form, Beauty and Fruit. As our Lord Jesus is the Image of the Invisible God, so the whole Creation lieth in him, as in a Glorious Fountain-Head, in a Beautiful Womb, in a Beautiful Pattern, in one entire Form of Beauty. As our Lord Jesus is the First-born of every Creature; so each Creature is seen distinctly in Him, and he appeareth distinctly in each Creature, in its Primitive, Pure, Paradisical State.

In the next place you have this General drawn down into Particulars, the Heaven, and the Earth; the Visible, the Invisible things of the Creature; Angels with all their Orders; all comprehended in the Light of Christ's Beauties, like the living Creatures in the White Sheet let down out of Heaven to St. Peter, as he prayed on the top of the house. All are For, By, In Him; v. 17.

Lastly, For a close you have all the Forms of Nature, like Flowers of Silk in a Garment of Needle-work, shining together in the Person of Christ; v. 19. We read in the latter part of that verse, All things subsist by him. It is in Greek word for word, All things have subsisted together in him. As Beams of Light stand in the Sun, and out of the Sun; such a Sun is Jesus Christ, such a Visible Image of the Invisible God at the Head of the Creation, in which, and out of which all the Creatures stand; like a Bright, and mysterious knot of Millions of Distinct Beams: As a great and fresh Picture taken from the Life made up of many less Pictures, which stand in it, of which, several Copies are taken from itself, and Copy from Copy: So is our Beloved the first born of every Creature, in which all the Creatures subsist together in their proper Distinctions, and their Universal Harmony.

After this first Circuit of Nature, St. Paul passeth to the second Circuit of Grace, v. 18. Here also all things appear in Christ, as their first Principle, and their proper Habitation, Jude. The Garden of All, the distinct Root, and Flower of each Spiritual Plant. He is the Head of the Church; the Beginning, the Principle; the first-born from the Dead.

Both these Circuits. St. Paul bringeth into one Divine Circle of Christ's Glorious Person, like two distinct and pleasant Apartments, one excelling the other p. 220in Riches, Greatness, and Beauty, within the same Palace, in which all the pleasures of the God-Head, and of the Father, lie. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. v. 19.

Thus we see how St. Paul bringeth all fulness through all Generals, and Particulars of things every where into Jesus Christ, like the Silver and Gold out of all the Mines of Nature, and Grace, refined, and fashioned by the Hand of a curious Workman, the Divine Spirit into one Jewel.

Behold! All Fulness, the Fulness of all kinds and Degrees; All Fulness, the Fulness of all Things, Invisible, and Visible; Angels, and Men; Heaven, and Earth; Flesh, and Spirit; God, and the Creature; All Fulness, the Fulness of all States, Light, and Darkness; Honour and Dishonour; Pain, and Pleasure; the Griefs of all Sufferings, the Joy of all Glories; the deepest Guilt of Sin; the brightest Crown of Righteousness; He was made Sin for us, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him; Life, Death, the Resurrection from the Dead, Immortality; The Earth with its nethermost parts, the Heavens with all the Heights above them; in a word, Love and Wrath with all their Changes, and Dresses; All Fullness dwelleth together in Jesus Christ.

O the Greatness of the Majesty, and Fulness of this Heavenly Person! Job saith of Wisdom, which is one of the names of Christ, Job. 11. v. 6. The Secrets of Wisdom; it is double to that which is. The Person of Christ in the Secrets of its Spiritual Treasures, containeth all things, which are, and appear in the Light and Eye of the Creature; and besides these which are Copies, their Originals. Thus is it double to that which is; having in itself the Shadow, and the Substance; the Picture, and the Life; whereas all that is, is Shadow, and Picture only. The Platonists call Secondary, and created Beings; foreign, Beings; the Original they call foreign, and foreign, an Unity above all Being. But Job going on to speak of Jesus-Christ, addeth; Canst thou find out the Almighty to Perfection? v. 7. As high as Heaven, deeper than Hell; v. 8. The Measure thereof is longer than the Earth, broader than the Sea. That is observable; The Divine Wisdom called also the Almighty, is as high as Heaven; but deeper than Hell. His Heights are all Heavens; and his Depths are Heaven below Hell itself. What are the Dimensions, what are the Comprehensions of this Spiritual Person? It is the Heaven of Heavens for height of Glory. It stretcheth the Compass of its everlasting Beauties and sweetnesses, beneath Hell itself, comprehending that in its Depths, amidst the precious things of its sacred deep below. Its Measure extendeth beyond both Earth and Sea in all their Literal and Mystical Images. As the Earth hangeth in the midst of the Air; as the Air moveth in the bosom of Heaven: So Earth, Hell, Sea, Air, Heaven, and all live, move, and have their Being in this most high Person, and Spirit. O the Greatness of the Majesty, and Fulness of Christ!

p. 221I think not fit to pass over this Part of our Saviours Beauty, the variety in him, without Two Notes; one of the happiness of Believers; the other of the Unhappiness of Sinners.

1. Note. How happy are they, who are persuaded in their hearts to trust in Jesus Christ and by faith to abide in him? They dwell together with, and in all Fulness. When they travel through the valley of Baca, of Weeping; they go from Strength to Strength, from one part of the Variety, from one Beauty, in the Person of their Beloved to another; So they see, the God of Gods in Sion; the open face, and full Beauties of their Bridegroom in the Unity of His eternal Person, and Spirit in every form of things. Every Pit the deepest, and darkest is filled with Divine Beauties in him, and his Fulness.

Psal. 139. v. 6. David cryeth out; This Knowledge is too wonderful for me. The Name, that is, the Person of Christ is Emmanuel, that is, God with us. Mat. 1. v. 23. God inhabiting all Forms of things, that all Fulness may dwell in him, and so he may be with a Believer, a Believer with him every where, at all times. David was in this Contemplation of Christ's Person, and ravished with it; Thou compassest my path; v. 3. Thou hast beset me behind and before, v. 6. I am encompassed, and shut in with thy Person behind, and before, from Eternity to Eternity; in every Form of Darkness, or Light; Earthly, or Heavenly. I am still with thee. All these are Varieties only in thee. It is thy self, thy Person, besetteth, compasseth, comprehendeth me, and my way in them all. O Believers, when you see Jesus Christ in the least glance of His Person with the same Eye of Light, and Love, as David saw him with; do not you also meet with wonders of Delight, and Glory, which are too great for your Hearts, Affections, or Understandings to take in? Do not the lowest, and least things seen in him, appear to you as Divine Wonders, with such a height of Light in them, as no created Eye can reach.

But David caught up into the view, and Embraces of Jesus in his Heavenly Form proceedeth in his Rapture; Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy Presence, Face, or Person? v. 7. The Spirit, and the Presence, or Person of Christ are here both one, to teach us, that this Person, and Presence of our Saviour, in which he is the same, yesterday, to day, and for ever, in His Appearances to the Saints under the Law, under Grace, in Glory is entirely Spiritual, a pure Spirit. If I ascend up into Heaven, thou art there; if I make my Bed in Hell, behold thou art there; v. 8. Hell in Hebrew, and Greek signifies no more … the Grave, or the State of the Dead. It is added in Hebrew, Behold! Thou! These words, art there, are put in by the Translatours, as you may see by the Change of the Letter. If I take the wings of the Morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea, v. 9. even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right Hand shall hold me, v. 10. If I say the Darkness shall cover me, even the Night shall be light round about me; v. 11. p. 222Yea the Darkness hideth not from thee; but the Night shineth as the Day; the Darkness and Light are both alike to thee, v. 12. These last words too are added; to thee.

Go thy wayes, O Believer! O beloved Spouse of this Heavenly Lover; say to him with the same tongue, in the same language of Light, and Love, as David doth: Wherever I fly or fall, I am ever encompassed with, ever wrapt up in thy Spiritual, and Glorious Person, as my Heaven, as the Air of my Life, O my Beloved! If I fly, it is in the face of these Brightnesses; If I fall, I lie in the Bosom of these Beauties. When I ascend up into Heaven, behold thou art there. Heaven is, as a great Room of State, and Pleasure in the Divine Building of thy Person. The Light of this is all the Glory; the Love, and Loveliness of this are all the Treasures, and feasts of Joy there. The several Appearances of those Distinct Varieties in thy Person, shooting forth themselves like Beams with a Divine Lustre, Warmth, and Life, make all the Angels in Heaven. The Assembly of Glorified Saints is the Fruitfulness, and Fulness of thy Person; first thy Birth, and then thy Bride; like Eve to Adam in Paradise; the Heavenly Eve to the Last Adam in the Heavenly Paradise; thy self multiplying it self, that it may have a meet Help for it self to be the Object of all its Loves, the Subject of all its Joys, the Mother of all Living. What have I in Heaven besides thee? Ps. 73. 25. Thy Person filleth all those shining, and smiling Forms of things in Heaven. They are all the Beauties in thy Face; the smiles in thine Eye.

If I die, behold thee! Death itself is first an extasie of Love, in which thou overshadowest me, in a moment snatching me out of the Light of this world into the sweet, and everlasting Light of a far greater, and more Blessed world, thy Person. Then is it an extasie of Joy to find the same Jesus cloathed with the same white, and shining Rayment in the Grave, as I beheld him in Heaven. The Grave becomes a Bed, and that Bed thy Bosom. Luke 16. 22. The Begger died, and was carried by Angels into Abrahams Bosom; the rich man also dieth, and is buried. That which the Grave is to the rich man, that to the Begger, to the poorest Saint, is the Bosom of Jesus, figured by Abraham, in whom he lay hid, as the Seed of Eternity. Ere I was aware, my Soul made me, as the Chariots of Aminadab; Cant. 7. Aminadab is my Princely People; a Chariot of Angels of Glorious Spirits. This is the manner of the Death of Christs Spouse: Ere she is aware her Soul setteth her upon, or rather itself becometh to her a Chariot of Angels, where she sitteth upon a Golden Throne of Love, encompassed with Curtains of Light, and so is transported in the twinkling of an Eye into the Arms of her Beloved; her whole way itself lying in the same embraces, which are the end of her way; and those Angels being the varieties, and the movings of those Fulnesses of beauties in the Bridegrooms Person, which is the same Spring, and Rest of love in them all.

Go on then, believing Soul, with David, and say to thy Saviour: but the p. 223time may come, when I shall neither rest on thy bosom, as a Throne of Grace in Heaven, nor as a Bed in the Grave, in the Fellowship of thy Death. I may be hurried to the uttermost parts of the Sea; to that State, where storms of malice, and wrath rage most in the midst of the blackness of Darkness: But when it is so, even then thou risest upon me, and sweetly breakest, like a lovely morning, in the Beauties of thy Person round about me. Thou takest me upon thy Divine Beams, as upon Silver Wings with Feathers of Gold, in which the Glories of the Divine, and Humane Nature are united. As thou in thy course circlest thorow all the infiniteness of differing Beauties within thy self, thou carriest me upon these Wings of thine to the extremities of this Sea of Darkness, and Tempests, Even here also, as in Heaven itself thy hand, which is thy self, thy Spiritual Person, thy Divine Life in Act; the Activity, and Appearance of thine inseparable Glories lead me, as my Strength within, my guide and way before me, my light round about me. Yea even here thy right Hand, which is thy Person in the sweetest, fullest Act, and appearance of Love, Beauty, Majesty, and Power, holdeth me; at once bearing me up in itself, encompassing with itself. Thus the Sea, and Tempests are still thy Person in the same Lovely, and Eternal Form opening new Wonders of Beauty, and discovering greater Riches of vaster varieties within the bright Bound of its own Spiritual Fulness.

Yea if I sink so low, that I begin to faint, and say; now the Darkness will cover, and overwhelm me; now the night will seal up my Eyes from the sight of my Beloved, and hide him from me: then the Night it self becomes a bright Sun round about me in the Heaven of thy Person, where every spot of Darkness, as well as Beam of Light is a shining Point, or line of Beauty; and all so many several Suns set thick one by another.

Can. 5, 11. The Head of Christ is said to be as fine Gold; the Bushes, or Curles of his Locks black as a Raven, which is the Bird of Death. The blackest Darknesses, with the most affrighting Horrours are but those black Locks with their Bushes, and Curls, which grow, and live upon the Golden Head of my Jesus, and are a principal part of thy Beauties. Thy Golden Head is in the midst of them, shineth thorow them every where; like a mid-day Sun shedding his Beams of Gold thorow a pleasant Grove, making so perfect, and delightful a mixture of the Light, and the shadow, that both seem one. The Shadow heightens, and sweetens the Light; the Light shineth in the Shadow, sweetneth, and softneth it. Each appeareth, as the same Beauty, the same Person of Christ, in a different posture, in a different dress. Thus the Light and the Darkness are both alike in thee to me. The Light is thine Eye. Thy Person is all an Eye of Life, Beauty, Love. The Darkness is the Apple of thine Eye. Here all inferiour excellencies are lost, and covered in a deep shade. Here thy Spirit and Person is most naked; here it uniteth all the Beams, and Forces of its loveliness, and love; here I see my self, mine own Image, and Person shining with an Immortal light round about it. The Darkness is the variety making the p. 224Beauty, and distinguishing the unity of Light into the Riches of mani…old Divine Colours, Shapes, and pleasant Operations of Love-delights, in thy Person. The Darkness is the excess, and depth of thy Light swallowing up every Eye of Nature in me, then giving me a new Eye, and a new Vision of things in itself. Day unto day uttereth Speech; Night unto night declareth Knowledge: Psal. 19. 2. Thou my Jesus, the Immortal word, and onelyonly wisdom of thy Father, art this Speech, this Knowledge. The Day and Night agree in this; both are Divine Sounds of the Living Word; Divine Representations of the Heavenly Image, Divine expressions of the eternal wisdom; that is, both are thine Appearances, distinct Appearances of the same Beautiful Person; several parts of the same fulness lying together, as Lines, and Colours in the delightful Bosom, and Face of one Transcendent, Spiritual Beauty. Thy Person appeareth in them both with equal fulness, and is equally the fulness of both. Thus in this one blessed Person of thine both are made one, and are alike to me. This is the happiness of every Believer. This is my First Note.

2. Note. How unhappy is every Sinner, Prov. 5. 14. There is one brought in bewailing himself: How had I almost fallen into all Sin in the midst of the great Congregation? Thou canst never Sin out of the presence, from under the Eye of this Jesus, whose Person is the great Assembly of all Living, Immortal Beauties, pure Beauties, Spiritual, the Beauties of Holiness. A Poet in a clear night surprized by Thieves, as he Travelled, when they were now about to murther him, pointing to Heaven; so many Stars, saith he, as are yonder, so many watchful Eyes are there witnesses of this Murther: So many Forms of things, as are round about thee; so many Eyes of Heavenly Beauties look upon thee, make the darkest night to shine bright, as day round about thee, when thou thinkest to hide in the greatest secrecy the practice, or thought of any Lust. When thine Eyes shall be unsealed, how will thy Spirit within thee be amazed, and confounded, how will thine heart within thee be melted to see, that thou hast covered thy self with the loathsom, abhorred deformities of so many pollutions, so many profannesses in the midst of the great Congregation of all living Lovelinesses, and Loves walking round about thee, and seeing thee, though thou lookedst not to them? But thus much for the First part of Beauty in Christ; the Variety.

2. The Second part is the Harmony in this Variety St. Paul after that he had said; that all Fulness dwelt in Christ, addeth: and having made peace by his blood it pleased the Father by him to reconcile all things to himself, whether they be things in Heaven, or things in Earth, Col. 1. 20. The Spiritual Form of Christ is, as a Musical Instrument. All varieties of things in Heaven and Earth are so many strings upon this Instrument, which are all by the life and vertue of the Instrument itself so tuned one to another, and made to sound in Consort, that they fill the Ears of God himself with a most Divine, and pleasing Melody.

There is another Scripture, which agrees with this, and goeth further expressing p. 225the Harmony, and the Ground of it, Ephes. 1. 10. That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together all things in One in Him, both things in Heaven, and things on Earth, in Him. Here you have the Variety, all Fulness, the Fulness of Times; then the Harmony; this Fulness gathered up into One; & both these in Christ, in Him. Then the Fulness is explained; Things in Heaven, and things on Earth. Then he brings it in a second Time, in him. Unity is the ground of all Harmony. The Unity of Christs Person, maketh the Harmony in him by a concurrence of four Particulars. 1. The Unity of this Spiritual Person, which is most entirely one, springeth up into all variety within itself, 2. This Transcendent Unity boundeth all this infinite variety with itself. 3. This glorious Unity runneth through the whole variety, as a string of Silk through a row of Pearls. 4. The entire unity of this high and Heavenly Person standeth compleat in every branch, and point of all the vast variety at once; as the Soul is said to be all in the whole Body, and all in every part of it; or as if the Body of the Sun in stead of encompassing the Heavens successively should at once shine with its entire Body of Light in each point of the Firmament, as the same, and yet so many distinct Suns, being an Unity of all Lusters, and yet that Unity set in so many distinct Varieties, which are as highly, and ravishingly various each from other, as the unity is one in itself.

This is that wonderful Person of Christ; this is that Word, that Image of God, which is the Supream, and Universal Harmony, the Supream, the Universal Musick, and Beauty. This maketh all the Beauty, and Musick through Heaven. and Earth, as it giveth forth any where any Glance, or sound of itself. This Harmony comprehendeth all particular Musicks, and Beauties of the Creature with their several sorts and degrees in their distinct Perfections within itself. This maketh all things with all their motion, Musick, and Beauty by its Universal Presence with them, and comprehension of them. Blessed is he who hath a seeing Eye to discern this Beauty in every Appearance, the most rugged, black; blessed is he who hath a hearing Ear to take in this Musick from every motion, the most sharp, the most confused. Yea blessed is he who lies with his whole Person, and Life wrapt up in this Harmony; who moveth, as always carried on in the Chariot, upon the Wings of this Harmony.

A Caution. Naturalists report a Serpent to be often bred of the Brain, and Marrow of a mans back, when he is dead. So too often that Serpentine Spirit, which feedeth upon the dust of sensuality, and beareth an enmity to the Holy and Heavenly Dove, is engendred from the sweetest, and most substantial Truths, which are as the Marrow and Brain of Divine Wisdom, when they are become corrupted, and dead notions, in dead and corrupt Spirits. How are these two glorious Principles the Golden P…llars on which the Whole Gospel is established; That all Fulness dwelleth in Christ; That every thing of Christ, in Christ is altogether lovely; …mproved by many unto the grossest Pollutions, and greatest Profanenesses? But these are willingly ignorant, that as God is p. 226the God of order, and not of confusion, so all variety lieth in Jesus Christ in that perfect Harmony, which is the Beauty of Holiness, and the excellency of the Divine Wisdom.

All natural things stand in Christ in a double Harmony one with another; and with the Divine Nature, as faultless Figures of that purity, and glory in the Eternal Spirit. So Jesus Christ is both in one, the Image of the Invisible God, and the First-born of every Creature, Colos. 1. 15.

Then this Beautiful Nature of things in Christ is made a Sacrifice upon the Altar of the Cross in Death; that it may put off the Negative Imperfections, the Shadowy Darkness, Slightness, Confinement, Mutability inseparable from a meer Figure. Thus is this State of things subject to a double Law without it, and above it; one of its Pattern on the top of the mount above Nature; the other of Death, that it may by putting off itself in the Shadow put on its truer self in the Eternal Original. Thus we read that Christ, as he was the First-born of the whole Creation became the First-born from the Dead: Colos. 1. 18.

Thus thorow Death, being purified by the Blood of the Lamb the Creature passeth out of that Shadowy State by rending the Vail of Flesh, where it is in Bondage, into the Liberty of the Sons of God, where it is a Royal Law of Life, of Love, and of Liberty to itself in the Spirit of God and of Glory.

The Heavenly Person of our Lord Jesus is a Circle within a Circle.

1. The first and innermost Circle is the First Image of God in Nature. This comprehendeth the whole Creation. This is made up of its Day and Night; Light and Darkness. All things of Light, of Truth and Goodness, are embraced by a Light of Divine Love. All things of Darkness, of the evil of sin, lye in the Darkness of Divine wrath, where the Evil of Sufferings, as a Secret Fire consumeth them.

2. The Circle which immediately infoldeth this, is that of the Death of our Saviour. Here the First Image entreth into a Divine Shade, where by degrees it loseth it self and vanisheth, as to its former appearances in the Figure, sinking into its Eternal Seed. The Spirit of Glory in this Divine Shade is the Blood of Christ purifying the Heavenly Things in the Creature by washing away the Earthly Forms. This State the Jews call the lower Paradise, the Paradise, under the Earth. For as a Seed hath in it self all the Beautyes, and Sweetnesses of the whole plant under the vail of a naked Grain: so here all things are as Spiritual, and Divine Plants full of all Beauty, and Sweetness under the covert of this Purple, Perfumed Shade of our Saviour's Death, to which the Holy Ghost was an anointing of all precious Spices, and a Lamp shining in the midst of it. This Spirit is also, as a Fountain from Eden running along in the midst of this Paradise, like a River, and Gardens under ground in the Secret of the Earth.

The third Circle is the Kingdom and Glory of Christ. In this the two other p. 227Circles are seen, the First thorow the Second, as Faces in a Glass of Glory. Here the Heaven of the God-Head is open'd, and all things appear as Angels of God ascending, and descending in the Person of Christ. This is the Spring of the Spirit, in which all created Forms flourish like green Leaves, and flowry Blossoms in the Tree of Life, never to fall or fade; the Eye of the God-Head as a rising Sun shedding for ever sweet Beams of Love, and Life upon them.

4. The last and greatest Circle, the Crown of Life, and Beauty, is the Glory of the Father. This is the Autumn, and Season for Ripe Fruit. Now is Jesus returned thither, where he was at first. Now is he revealed, who was from the Beginning. God is the first, and the last; all in all. All things see, and enjoy themselves; all things are seen, and enjoyed in their unchangeable Originals. This is that Spiritual and Heavenly Form of Christs Person, into which he is ascended; in which he is, as on the Throne of the Father, which endureth for ever and ever; in which he hath gathered up all things into one. This is that Head of our Lord Jesus, which is of the finest, and solidest Gold.

Thus we have seen the Order, in which all things lie in our Saviours Person, according to which he descendeth first, and then ascendeth within himself: The Unity of this first and highest Form, which is the Supream and largest Circle, the outmost, and inmost to all the rest, as their Root, and their Crown, in the bosom of which all the rest lie as Colours and Figures in the Light. This so goeth down into the other, that it maketh all one, and resteth itself entirely upon each point of every one, and enfoldeth the whole in itself, so that all have the Truth, and the true manifestation of their Being and Beauty only, as they lie in this pure, and perfect Light.

Every inferiour Circle, or Form of things is comprehended in the Superiour, and hath there a double Appearance. 1. In plain. So it is a native Flower in that Mystical Garden; a fair feature in that Face of Beauty; a Spirit of that Spirit in that Spirit, one Spirit with it. 2. In Perspective. Thus the lower is seen in the higher, as at a distance, as at the end of a Cave, as it was in itself, as passed away according to that fashion of it.