absolutely incomprehensible unto us, is a necessary effect of our infinite distance from him. But as he externally represents himself unto us, and by the notions which are ingenerated in us by the effects of his properties, are our conceptions of him, Psal. xix. 1. Rom. i. 21.

This is declared in the answer given unto that request by Moses; 'I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.' Exod. xxxiii. 28. Moses had heard a voice speaking unto him, but he that spake was in thick darkness, he saw him not. Glorious evidences he gave of his majestatical presence, but no appearance was made of his essence or person. Hereon Moses desireth for the full satisfaction of his soul (as the nearer any one is unto God, the more earnest will be his desire after the full fruition of him) that he might have a sight of his glory, not of that created glory in the tokens of his presence and power which he had beheld, but of the uncreated glory of his essence and being. Through a transport of love to God, he would have been in heaven whilst he was on the earth; yea, desired more than heaven itself will afford, if he would have seen the essence of God with his corporeal eyes. In answer hereunto, God tells him, That he cannot see his face and live: none can have either bodily sight or direct mental intuition of the divine Being. But this I will do, saith God, 'I will make my glory pass before thee, and thou shalt see my back parts,' Exod. xxxiii. 18-23, &c. This is all that God would grant; namely, such external representations of himself in the proclamation of his name, and created appearances of his glory, as we have of a man whose back parts only we behold as he passeth by us. But as to the being of God, and his subsistence in the Trinity of persons, we have no direct intuition into them, much less comprehension of them.

3. It is evident, therefore, that our conceptions of God, and of the glorious properties of his nature, are both ingenerated in us, and regulated under the conduct of divine revelation, by reflections of his glory on other things, and representations of his divine excellencies in the effects of them. So the invisible things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead, are clearly seen, being manifested and understood by the things that are made, Rom. i. 20. Yet must it be granted, that no mere creature, not the angels above, not the heaven of heavens, are

meet or able to receive upon them such characters of the divine excellencies, as to be a complete satisfactory representation of the being and properties of God unto us. They are all finite and limited, and so cannot properly represent that which is infinite and immense. And this is the true reason why all worship or religious adoration of them is idolatry. Yet are there such effects of God's glory in them, such impressions of the divine excellencies upon them, as we cannot comprehend nor search out unto perfection. How little do we conceive of the nature, glory and power of angels? so remote are we from an immediate comprehension of the uncreated glory of God, as that we cannot fully apprehend, nor conceive aright, the reflection of it on creatures in themselves finite and limited. Hence they thought of old when they had seen an angel, that so much of the divine perfections had been manifested unto them, that thereon they must die, Judg. xiii. 21, 22. Howbeit they come infinitely short of making any complete representation of God, nor is it otherwise with any creature whatever.

4. Mankind seemed to have always had a common apprehension, that there was need of a nearer and more full representation of God unto them, than was made in any of the works of creation or providence. The heavens indeed declared his glory, and the firmament always shewed his handy-work. The invisible things of his eternal power and Godhead were continually made known by the things that are made. But men generally miscarried and missed it in the contemplation of them, as the Apostle declares, Rom. i. For still they were influenced by a common presumption, that there must be a nearer and more evident manifestation of God; that made by the works of creation and providence being not sufficient to guide them unto him. But in the pursuit hereof, they utterly ruined themselves. They would do what God had not done. By common consent they had framed representations of God unto themselves; and were so besotted therein, that they utterly lost the benefit which they might have received by the manifestation of him in the works of creation, aud took up with most foolish imaginations. For whereas they might have learned from thence, the being of God, his infinite wisdom, power, and

goodness, namely, in the impressions and characters of them on the things that were made; in their own representations of him, they changed the glory of the invisible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, and to birds, and to fourfooted beasts, and creeping things,' Rom. i. 23. wherefore this common presumption, that there was no way to attain a due sense of the divine being, but by some representation of it, though true in itself, yet by the craft of Satan, and foolish superstitions of the minds of men, became the occasion of all idolatry and flagitious wickedness in the world. Hence were all those imigavɛiai, or supposed illustrious appearances of their gods, which Satan deluded the Gentiles by; and hence were all the ways which they devised to bring God into human nature, or the likeness of it. Wherefore in all the revelations that ever God made of himself, his mind and will, he always laid this practice of making representations of him, under the most severe interdict and prohibition. And this he did evidently for these two rea

sons:

(1.) Because it was a bold and foolish intrenching upon his provisional wisdom in the case. He had taken care that there should be a glorious image and representation of himself, infinitely above what any created wisdom could find out. when Moses went into the mount, the Israelites would not wait for his return, but made a calf in his stead; so mankind, refusing to wait for the actual exhibition of that glorious image of himself which God had provided, they broke upon his wisdom and sovereignty, to make some of their own. For this cause was God so provoked, that he gave them up to such stupid blindness, that in those things wherein they thought to shew themselves wise, and to bring God nearer unto them, they became contemptibly foolish, abased their nature, and all the noble faculties of their minds unto hell, and departed unto the utmost distance from God, whom they sought to bring near unto them.

(2.) Because nothing that can fall into the invention or imagination of men, could make any other but false representations of him, and so substitute an idol in his place. His own immediate works have great characters of his divine excellencies upon

them, though unto us obscure, and not clearly legible without the light of revelation. Somewhat he did of old represent of his glorious presence, though not of his being, in the visible institutions of his worship. But all men's inventions to this end, which are neither divine works of nature, nor divine institutions of worship, are all but false representations of God, and therefore accursed by him.

Wherefore it is granted, that God hath placed many characters of his divine excellencies upon his works of creation and providence; many of his glorious presence, upon the tabernacle and temple of old; but none of these things ever did or could give such a representation of him, as wherein the souls of men might fully acquiesce, or obtain such conceptions of him as might enable them to worship and honour him in a due manner. They cannot, I say, by all that may be seen in them, and learned from them, represent God as the complete object of all our affections, of all the actings of our souls in faith, trust, love, fear, obedience, in that way whereby he may be glorified, and we may be brought unto the everlasting fruition of him. This therefore is yet to be inquired after. Wherefore,

5. A mere external doctrinal revelation of the divine nature and properties, without any exemplification, or real representation of them, was not sufficient unto the end of God in the manifestation of himself. This is done in the Scripture; but the whole Scripture is built on this foundation, or proceeds on this supposition, that there is a real representation of the divine nature unto us, which it declares and describes. And as there was such a notion on the minds of all men, that some representation of God, wherein he might be near unto them, was necessary, which arose from the consideration of the infinite distance between the divine nature and their own, which allowed of no measures between them; so as unto the event God himselfhath declared that in his own way such a representation was needful unto that end of the manifestation of himself, which he desigued. For,

6. All this is done in the person of Christ. He is the complete image and perfect representation of the divine being and excellencies. I do not speak of it absolutely, but as God proposeth

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himself as the object of our faith, trust, and obedience. Hence it is God as the Father, who is so peculiarly represented in him and by him, as he says, 'he that hath seen the Son, hath seen the Father also,' John xiv. 9.

Unto such a representation two things are required. (1.) That all the properties of the divine nature, the knowledge whereof is necessary unto our present obedience and future blessedness, be expressed in it, and manifested unto us. (2.) That there be therein the nearest approach of the divine nature made unto us whereof it is capable, and which we can receive. And both these are found in the person of Christ, and therein alone.

In the person of Christ we consider both the constitution of it in the union of his natures, and respect of it unto his work of mediation, which was the end of that constitution. And,

(1.) Therein as so considered, is there a blessed representation made unto us of all the holy properties of the nature of God; of his wisdom, his power, his goodness, grace, and love, his righteousness, truth, and holiness, his mercy, and patience. As this is affirmed concerning them all in general, or the glory of God in them, which is seen and known only in the face of Christ; so it were easy to manifest the same concerning every one of them in particular, by express testimonies of Scripture. But I shall at present confine myself unto the proofs of the whole assertion which do ensue.

(2.) There is therein the most incomprehensible approach of the divine nature made unto ours; full as all the imaginations. of men did ever infinitely fall short of; as hath been before declared. In the assumption of our nature into personal union with himself, and our cognation unto God thereby, with the union which believers obtain with him thereon, being one in the Father, and the Son, as the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father,' John xvii. 20, 21. there is the nearest approach of the divine being unto us, that the nature of things is capable of. Both these ends were designed in those representations of God, which were of human invention; but in both of them they utterly failed. For, instead of representing any of the glorious properties of the nature of God, they debased it,