of it, but either despise it, or neglect it, and please ourselves in that which is incomparably beneath it.

4. Because God is not thus known, it is that the knowledge of him is so barren and fruitless in the world, as it manifests itself to be. It were easy to produce, yea, endless to number, the testimonies that might be produced out of heathen writers, given unto the being and existence of God, his authority, monarchy, and rule; yet what were the effects of that knowledge which they had; besides that wretched idolatry wherein they were all immersed? as the Apostle declares, Rom. i. it rescued them from no kind of wickedness and villainy, as he there also manifests. And the virtues which were found among them, were evidently derived from other causes, and not from the knowledge they had of God. The Jews have the knowledge of God by the letter of the Old Testament. But yet not knowing him in Christ, and having lost all sense and apprehension of those representations which were made of his being in him in the law, they continue universally a people carnal, obstinate, and wicked. They have neither the virtues of the heathens among them, nor the power of the truth of religion. As it was with them. of old, so it yet continueth to be; they profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate,' Titus i. 16. So is it among many that are called Christians at this day in the world. Great pretence there is unto the knowledge of God; yet did flagitious sins and wickedness scarce ever more abound among the heathens themselves. It is the knowledge of God in Christ alone that is effectually powerful to work the souls of men unto a conformity unto him. Those alone who behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, are changed into the same im

age from glory to glory.

CHAP. VI.

THE PERSON OF CHRIST THE GREAT REPOSITORY OF SACRED TRUTH. ITS RELATION THEREUNTO.

DIVINE Supernatural truth is called by the Apostle the 'truth which is according to godliness,' Titus i. 1. Whereas, therefore, the person of Christ is the great mystery of godliness, we must, in the next place, inquire what is the relation of spiritual supernatural truth thereunto. And this I shall do in pursuit of what was proposed in the foregoing chapter, namely, That he is the great representative unto the church of God, his holy properties, and the counsels of his will.

All divine truth may be referred unto two heads: first, that which is essentially so; and, secondly, that which is so declaratively. The first is God himself, the other are the counsels of his will.

1. God himself is the first and only essential truth, in whose being and nature the springs of all truth do lie. Whatever is truth, so far as it is so, is derived from him; is an emanation. from that eternal fountain of it. Being, truth, and goodness, are the principal notions of God, and in him they are all the same. How this is represented in Christ, as he is in himself the essential image of the Father, and as incarnate, the representative image of him unto us, hath been declared.

2. The counsels of God are the next spring and cause, as also the subject matter or substance, of all truth, that is so declaratively. Divine truth is the declaration of all the counsels of God, Acts xx. 27. Of them all, the person of Christ is the sacred repository and treasury. In him are they to be learned; all their efficacy and use depends on their relation unto him. He is the centre and circumference of all the lines of truth, that is, which is divine, spiritual, and supernatural. And the beauty of it is represented unto us only in his face or person. We see it not, we know it not, but as God shines into our hearts to give us the knowledge of it therein, 2 Cor. iv. 6. So he testifieth of

himself, 'I am the truth,' John xiv. 6. He is so essentially, as he one with the Father, the God of truth, Deut. xxxii. 4. He is so efficiently: as by him alone it is fully and effectually declared. For 'no man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him,' John i. 18. He is so substantially, in opposition unto the types and shadows of the Old Testament; for in him 'dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily,' Col. ii. 9. The body is of Christ, ver. 17. He is so subjectively; for all divine truth relating to the saving knowledge of God, is treasured up in him.

In 'him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,' Col. ii. 3. That is, the wisdom and knowledge of God in his counsels concerning the vocation, sanctification, and salvation of the church; concerning which the Apostle falls into that holy admiration; 'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God,' Rom. xi. 33. And they are called treasures on a twofold account, both mentioned together by the Psalmist. 'How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O Lord, how great is the sum of them? They are treasures, because precious and valuable, and are therefore usually preferred above all earthly treasures which men most highly esteem, Prov. iii. 14, 15. And they are so because of the greatness of the sum of them; and therefore also called unsearchable riches, Eph. iii. 8. These precious unsearchable treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God, that is, all divine supernatural truths, are hid, or safely deposited in Christ, in and from whom alone they are to be learned and received. So are we said to learn the truth as it is in Jesus,' Eph. iv. 21. And the knowledge of all evangelical sacred truth, is in the Scripture most frequently expressed by the knowledge of him, John viii. 19. chap. xvii. 3. 2 Cor. ii. 14. chap. iv. 5, 6. Eph. i. 17. Phil. iii. 8-10. 1 John i. 1, 2. chap. ii. 4-13, 14. chap. v. 20. 2 Peter ii. 20.

Setting aside what we have discoursed and proved before, concerning the laying the foundation of all the counsels of God in the person of Christ, and the representation of them in the ineffable constitution thereof, I shall give some few instances of this relation of all supernatural truth unto him; manifesting

that we cannot learn them, nor know them, but with a due respect thereunto.

1. There are two things wherein the glory of truth doth consist (1.) Its light. (2.) Its efficacy or power. And both these do all supernatural truths derive from this relation unto Christ. (1.) No truth whatever brings any spiritual light unto the mind but by virtue thereof. In him is life, and the life is the light of men,' John i. 4. He is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,' verse 9. Wherefore, as truth is the only means of illumination, so it cannot communicate any light unto the mind, but only as it is a beam from him, as it is an organ to convey it from that fountain. Separated from him and its relation unto him, it will not retain, it cannot communicate any real spiritual light or understanding to the souls of men. How should it, if all light be originally in him, as the Scripture testifieth? Then alone is the mind irradiated with heavenly truth, when it is received as proceeding from, and leading unto the Sun of righteousness, the blessed spring of all spiritual light, which is Christ himself. Whatever notional knowledge men may have of divine truths, as they are doctrinally proposed in the Scripture, yet if they know them not in their respect unto the person of Christ as the foundation of the counsels of God; if they discern not how they proceed from him, and centre in him; they will bring no spiritual saving light unto their understanding. For all spiritual life and light is in him, and from him alone. An instance hereof we have in the Jews they have the Scriptures of the Old Testament, wherein the substance of all divine truth is revealed and expressed; and they are diligent in the study of them: howbeit their minds are not at all illuminated, nor irradiated by the truths contained in them, but they live and walk in horrible darkness. And the only reason hereof is, because they know not, because they reject the relation of them unto Christ, without which they are deprived of all enlightening power.

(2.) Efficacy or power is the second property of divine truth. And the end of this efficacy is to make us like unto God. Eph. iv. 20-24. The mortification of sin, the renovation of our natures, the sanctification of our minds, hearts and affections,

the consolation of our souls, with their edification in all the parts of the life of God, and the like, are the things that God hath designed to effect by his truth, John xvii. 17. Whence it is able to build us up, and give us an inheritance among all them that are sanctified,' Acts xx. 32. But it is from their relation unto the person of Christ, that they have any thing of this power and efficacy. For they have it no otherwise but as they are conveyances of his grace unto the souls of men. So 1 John i. 1, 2.

Wherefore, as professors of the truth, if separated from Christ as unto a real union, are withering branches; so truths professed, if doctrinally separated from him, or their respect unto him, have no living power or efficacy in the souls of men. When Christ is formed in the heart by them, when he dwelleth plentifully in the soul through their operation, then and not else do they put forth their proper power and efficacy. Otherwise they are as waters separated from the fountain, they quickly dry up or become a noisome puddle; or as a beam interrupted. from its continuity unto the sun, is immediately deprived of light.

2. All divine spiritual truths are declarative either of the grace and love of God unto us, or of our duty, obedience, and gratitude unto him. But as unto these things, Christ is all and in all. We can have no due apprehensions of the love and grace of God, no understanding of the divine truths of the word wherein they are revealed, and whereby they are exhibited unto them that believe, but in the exercise of faith on Christ himself. For in him, by, and from him alone it is, that they are proposed unto us, that we are made partakers of them. It is from his fulness that all grace is received. No truth concerning them. can by any imagination be separated from him. He is the life and soul of all such truths, without which, as they are written in the word, they are but a dead letter, and that of such a character as is illegible unto us, as unto any real discovery of the grace and love of God. And as to those of the other sort, which are instructive unto us in our duty, obedience, and gratitude, we cannot come unto a practical compliance with any one of them but by the aids of grace received from him. For 'with