CHAP. II. The Glory of the Person of Christ, as the only Representative of God to the Church.

The Glory of Christ is the glory of the Person of Christ. So he calls it in John 17:24 — "that glory which is mine," belonging to me, unto my Person.

The Person of Christ may be considered two ways. 1. Absolutely in itself. 2. In the undertaking and discharge of his office, with what ensued thereon. His glory on these distinct accounts is distinct and different; but all equally his own. How in both respects we may behold it by faith is that which we inquire into.

The first thing wherein we may behold the glory of the Person of Christ, God and Man, which was given him of his Father, consists in the representation of the nature of God, and of the Divine Person of the Father, unto the church in him; for we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). Otherwise we know it not, we see it not, we see nothing of it: that is the way of seeing and knowing God, declared in the Scripture, as our duty and blessedness. The glory of God comprehends both the holy properties of his nature, and the counsels of his will; and the light of the knowledge of these things, we have only in the face or Person of Jesus Christ. Whatever obscure imperfect notions we may have of them otherwise, we cannot have the illuminating, irradiating knowledge of the glory of God, which may enlighten [illegible] our hearts, but only in the face or Person of Jesus Christ; for he is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4), the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his Person (Hebrews 1:3), the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). I do here only mention these things, because I have handled them at large in my Discourse of the Mystery of Godliness, or the Person of Christ; to which I refer the readers for their full declaration and vindication. Herein is he glorious, in that he is the great representative of the nature of God, and his will unto us, which without him would have been eternally hid from us, or been invisible unto us; we should never have seen God at any time, here nor hereafter (John 1:18).

In his divine Person absolutely considered, he is the essential image of God, even the Father: he is in the Father, and the Father in him, in the unity of the same divine essence (John 14:10). He was with the Father (John 1:1). In the distinction of his Person, so is he his essential image (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). In his incarnation he becomes the representative image of God unto the church (2 Corinthians 4:6), without whom our understandings can make no such approach unto the divine excellencies, but that God continues to be unto us what he is in himself, the invisible God. In the face of Jesus Christ, we see his glory.

This is the original glory of Christ given him by his Father, and which by faith we may behold: he, and he alone declares, represents, and makes known unto angels and men, the essential glory of the invisible God, his attributes and his will, without which, a perpetual comparative darkness would have been on the whole creation, especially that part of it here below.

This is the foundation of our religion, the Rock whereon the church is built, the ground of all our hopes of salvation, of life and immortality: all is resolved into this; namely, the representation that is made of the nature and will of God, in the Person and Office of Christ: if this fail us, we are lost forever; if this Rock stands firm, the church is safe here, and shall be triumphant hereafter.

Herein then is the Lord Christ exceedingly glorious. Those who cannot behold this glory of his by faith, namely, as he is the great divine ordinance to represent God unto us, they know him not. In their worship of him, they worship but an image of their own devising.

Indeed, in the ignorance and neglect hereof consists the formal nature of unbelief, even that which is inevitably ruinous unto the souls of men. He that discerns not the representation of the glory of God in the Person of Christ unto the souls of men, is an unbeliever. Such was the state of the unbelieving Jews and gentiles of old; they did not, they would not, they could not behold the glory of God in him, nor how he did represent him. That this was both the cause, and the formal nature of their unbelief, the Apostle declares at large (1 Corinthians 1:21-25). Not to see the wisdom of God, and the power of God, and consequently all the other holy properties of his nature in Christ, is to be an unbeliever.

The essence of faith consists in a due ascription of glory to God (Romans 4:20). This we cannot attain unto without the manifestation of those divine excellencies unto us, wherein he is glorious. This is done in Christ alone, so as that we may glorify God in a saving and acceptable manner. He who discerns not the glory of divine wisdom, power, goodness, love, and grace, in the Person and Office of Christ, with the way of the salvation of sinners by him, is an unbeliever.

Hence the great design of the devil [illegible] beginning of the preaching of the Gospel, was to blind the eyes of men, and fill their minds with prejudices, that they might not behold this glory of his; so the Apostle gives an account of his success in this design (2 Corinthians 4:3-4): "If our Gospel is hidden, it is hidden unto those that are lost, in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." By various ways and methods of deceit, to secure the reputation he had got, of being god of this world, by pretenses and appearances of supernatural power and wisdom, he labored to blind the eyes of men with prejudices against that glorious light of the Gospel, which proposed the Lord Christ as the only image of God. This blindness, this darkness is cured in those that believe, by the mighty power of God; for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has irradiated our hearts with the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (verse 6), wherein true, saving faith does consist. Under this darkness perished the unbelieving world of Jews and gentiles; and such is the present condition of all by whom the Divine Person of Christ is denied; for no mere creature can ever make a perfect representation of God unto us. But we must a little further inquire into this mystery.

Since men fell from God by sin, it is no small part of their misery and punishment, that they are covered with thick darkness and ignorance of the nature of God. They know him not, they have not seen him at any time. Hence is that promise to the church in Christ (Isaiah 60:1-2): "For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon you, and his glory shall be seen upon you."

The ancient philosophers made great inquiries into, and obtained many notions of the Divine Being, its existence [illegible]. And these notions they adorned with great elegancy of speech, to allure others unto the admiration of them. Thereupon they boasted themselves to be the only wise men in the world (Romans 1:22) — they boasted that they were the wise. But we must abide in the judgment of the Apostles concerning them in their inquiries: he assures us, that the world in its wisdom, that is, these wise men in it by their wisdom, knew not God (1 Corinthians 1:21). And he calls the authors of their best notions atheists, or men without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12).

1. They had no certain guide, rule, nor light, which being attended unto, might lead them infallibly into the knowledge of the divine nature: all they had of this kind was their own reasonings or imaginations, whereby they commenced the great disputers of the world; but in them they waxed vain, and their foolish heart was darkened (Romans 1:21). They did at best but endeavor to feel after God, as men do in the dark after what they cannot clearly discern (Acts 17:27). Among others, Cicero's book On the Nature of the Gods gives us an exact account of the intention of the Apostle in that expression. And it is at this day not want of wit, but hatred of the mysteries of our religion, which makes so many prone to forgo all supernatural revelation, and to betake themselves unto a religion declared, as they suppose, by reason, and the light of nature; like bats and owls, who being not able to bear the light of the sun, betake themselves unto the twilight, to the dawnings of light and darkness.

2. Whatever they did attain, as unto rational notions about things invisible and incomprehensible, yet could they never deliver themselves from such principles and practices in idolatry and all manner of flagrant sins, as that they could be of any benefit [illegible] — so effectually demonstrated by the Apostle in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, as that we need not insist upon it.

Men may talk what they please of a light within them, or of the power of reason, to conduct them unto that knowledge of God, whereby they may live unto him: but if they had nothing else, if they did not boast themselves of that light, which has its foundation and origin in Divine Revelation alone, they would not excel those who, in the best management of their own reasonings, knew not God, but waxed vain in their imaginations.

With respect unto this universal darkness, that is, ignorance of God, with horrid confusion accompanying it in the minds of men, Christ is called, and is, the light of men, the light of the world, because in and by him alone this darkness is dispelled, as he is the Sun of Righteousness.

2. This darkness in the minds of men, this ignorance of God, his nature and his will, was the original of all evil unto the world, and yet continues so to be.

1. Hereon did Satan erect his kingdom and throne, obtaining in his design until he bore himself as the god of this world, and was so esteemed by most. He exalted himself by virtue of this darkness (as he is the prince of darkness) into the place and room of God, as the object of the religious worship of men. For the things which the gentiles sacrificed, they sacrificed unto devils, and not to God (1 Corinthians 10:21; Leviticus 17:7; Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:37; Galatians 3:8). This is the territory of Satan; yes, the power and scepter of his kingdom in the minds of the children of disobedience. Hereby he maintains his dominion unto this day in many and great [illegible], and with individual persons innumerable.

2. This is the spring of all wickedness and confusion among men themselves. Hence arose that flood of abominations in the old world, which God took away with a flood of desolation; hence were the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, which he revenged with fire from heaven. In brief: all the rage, blood, confusion, desolations, cruelties, oppressions, villanies, which the world has been and is filled withal, whereby the souls of men have been and are flooded into eternal destruction, have all arisen from this corrupt fountain of the ignorance of God.

3. Of such as those described, we are the posterity and offspring. Our forefathers in this nation were given up unto as brutish a service of the devil as any nation under the sun. It is therefore an effect of infinite mercy, that the day has dawned on us, poor gentiles, and that the dayspring from on high has visited us. See the glory of this grace expressed (Ephesians 3:5-10). God might have left us to perish in the blindness and ignorance of our forefathers; but of his own accord, and by his own powerful grace alone, he has translated us out of darkness into his marvelous light. But alas! the horrible ingratitude of men for the glorious light of the Gospel, and the abuse of it, will issue in a sore revenge.

God was known under the Old Testament, by the revelation of his Word, and the institution of his worship. This was the glory and privilege of Israel, as the Psalmist declares (Psalm 147:19-20): "He shows his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel; he has not dealt so with any nation." The church then knew him; yet so as that they had an apprehension that he dwelt in thick darkness, where they could not have any clear views of him (Exodus 20:21; Deuteronomy 5:22; 1 Kings [illegible]; 2 Chronicles 6:1). And the reason why God so represented himself in darkness unto them was to instruct them in their imperfect state, wherein they could not comprehend that glory which should afterwards be revealed. For as he is now made known in Christ, we see that he is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

4. Hitherto darkness in general covered the earth, and gross darkness the people, as unto the knowledge of God; only there was a twilight in the church. The day did not yet dawn, the shadows did not flee away, nor the daystar shine in the hearts of men. But when the Son of Righteousness did arise in his strength and beauty, when the Son of God appeared in the flesh, and in the discharge of his office; God himself, as unto his being, and manner of existence in three distinct persons, with all the glorious properties of the divine nature, were illustriously manifested unto those who did believe, and the light of the knowledge of them dispelled all the shadows that were in the church, and shone into the darkness which was in the world, so as that none continued ignorant of God, but those who would not see (John 1:5, 15, 17-18; 2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

Herein is the Lord Christ glorious. And this is that which I shall now speak unto; namely, how we may behold the glory of Christ in the representation and revelation that is made of God and his glory, in his Person and Office, unto all that do believe. For it is not so much the declaration of the nature of the things themselves, wherein the glory of Christ does consist, as our way and duty in the beholding of them, which at present is designed.

He calls unto us, saying, "Behold me, look unto me, and be saved" (Isaiah 45:22). What is it that we see in Christ? What do we behold in him? He asks that question concerning his church, "What will you see in the Shulamite?" Whereto he answers, as it were, the company of two armies (Song of Solomon 6:13), or the two churches of the Old and New Testament, in order and beauty. We may inquire, what shall we, what do we see in him? Do we see him as the image of the invisible God, representing him, his nature, properties, and will unto us? Do we see him as the character, the express image of the Person of the Father, so as that we have no need of Philip's request, "Lord, show us the Father," because having seen him, we have seen the Father also (John 14:9)?

This is our first saving view of Christ, the first instance of our beholding his glory by faith. So to see him, as to see God in him, is to behold his glory; for herein is he eternally glorious. And this is that glory whose view we ought to long for, and labor after. And if we see it not, we are yet in darkness; yes, though we say we see, we are blind like others. So David longed and prayed for it, when yet he could behold it only in types and shadows (Psalm 63:1-2): "O God, you are my God, early will I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you, to see your power and your glory, so as I have seen them in the sanctuary." For there was in the sanctuary an obscure representation of the glory of God in Christ. How much more should we prize that view of it, which we may have with open face, though yet as in a glass (2 Corinthians 3:18)?

Moses when he had seen the works of God, which were great and marvelous, yet found not himself satisfied therewith: therefore after all, he prays that God would show him his glory (Exodus 33:18). He knew that the ultimate rest, blessedness, and satisfaction of the soul, is not in seeing the works of God, but the glory of God himself. Therefore did he desire some immediate dawnings of it upon him in this world. "I beseech you, show me your glory." And if we have right apprehensions of the future state of blessedness, we cannot but have the same desire of seeing more of his glory in this life. But the question is, how may we attain it? If we are left unto ourselves in this inquiry, if we have no other way for it but the immediate fixing of our thoughts on the immensity of the divine nature, we must come every one to the conclusion that Agur makes on the like consideration: "Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man; I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the Holy. Who has ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fist? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if you can tell?" (Proverbs 30:2-4).

It is in Christ alone that we may have a clear distinct view of the glory of God and his excellencies: for him, and him alone has he appointed the representative of himself unto us (see John 1:18; 14:7-10; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Colossians 1:15-16; Ephesians 3:4-10; Hebrews 1:3). And we shall take an account hereof in one or two especial instances.

1. Infinite wisdom is one of the most glorious properties of the divine nature: it is that which is directive of all the external works of God, wherein the glory of all the other excellencies of God is manifested; therefore the manifestation of the whole glory of God proceeds originally from infinite wisdom. But as Job speaks, "Where shall this wisdom be found, and what is the place of understanding?" (Job 28:12). "Can we by searching find out God? Can we find out the Almighty to perfection?" (Job 11:7). As it is in itself an essential, eternal property of the divine nature, we can have no comprehension of it: we can but adore it in that infinite distance wherein we stand from God; but in its operations and effects it may be discerned; for they are designed of God for its manifestation. Among these the most excellent is the contrivance of the great work of the salvation of the church; so it is celebrated by the Apostle (Ephesians 3:9-11): "To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent, that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God."

If we have any interest in God, if we have any hopes of blessedness in beholding of his glory unto eternity, we cannot but desire a view (such as is attainable) of this infinite manifold wisdom of God in this life. But it is in Christ alone that we can discern any thing of it; for him has the Father chosen and sealed to represent it unto us. All the treasures of this wisdom are hid, laid up, and laid out in him: herein lies the essence and form of faith. Believers by it do see the wisdom of God in Christ, in his Person and Office: Christ the wisdom of God; unbelievers see it not, as the Apostle argues (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).

In beholding the glory of this infinite wisdom of God in Christ, we behold his own glory also; the glory given him of his Father; for this is his glory, that in and by him, and him alone the wisdom of God is manifested and represented unto us. When God appointed him as the great and only means of this end, he gave him honor and glory above the whole creation: for it is but little of divine wisdom which the works of it declare, in comparison of what is manifested in Christ Jesus. We in no way deny or diminish the manifestation that is made of the wisdom of God in the works of creation and providence. It is sufficient to detect the folly of atheism and idolatry, and was designed of God unto that end. But its comparative insufficiency, with respect unto the representation of it in Christ, as unto the ends of knowing God aright, and living unto him, the Scripture does abundantly attest. And the abuse of it was universal, as the Apostle declares (Romans 1:20ff.). To see this wisdom clearly is our wisdom; and a due apprehension of it fills the souls of believers with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.

2. We may also instance in the love of God. The Apostle tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8). Divine love is not to be considered only in its effects, but in its nature and essence; and so it is God himself; for God is love. And a blessed revelation this is of the divine nature: it casts out envy, hatred, malice, revenge, with all their fruits, in rage, fierceness, implacability, persecution, murder, into the territories of Satan. They belong not unto God in his nature or actings; for God is love. So the same Apostle tells us that he who slew his brother was of the wicked one (1 John 3:12). He was of the devil his father, and his works did he do.

But the inquiry is as before; how shall we have a view of this love, of God as love? By what way or means shall we behold the glory of it? It is hidden from all living, in God himself. The wise philosophers, who discoursed so much of the love of God, knew nothing of this, that God is love. The most of the natural notions of men about it are corrupt, and the best of them weak and imperfect. Generally the thoughts of men about it are, that he is of a facile and easy nature, one that they may make bold with in all their occasions, as the Psalmist declares (Psalm 50:21). And whereas it must be learned in its effects, operations, and divine ways of its manifestation, those who know not Christ know nothing of them; and many things in Providence do interpose to hinder our view of this love; for although God indeed is love, yet his wrath is revealed from heaven against the ungodliness of men. As all things at this day are filled with evidences of his anger and displeasure: how then shall we know, wherein shall we behold the glory of God in this, that he is love? The Apostle declares it in the next words (verse 9): "Herein was manifested the love of God toward us, because God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." This is the only evidence given us that God is love. Hereby alone is the divine nature as such made known unto us; namely in the mission, Person, and Office of the Son of God; without this all is in darkness as unto the true nature and supreme operation of this divine love.

Herein do we behold the glory of Christ himself, even in this life. This glory was given him of the Father; namely, that he should now declare and evidence that God is love; and he did so, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Herein we may see how excellent, how beautiful, how glorious and desirable he is, seeing in him alone we have a due representation of God as he is love, which is the most joyful sight of God that any creature can obtain. He who beholds not the glory of Christ herein, is utterly ignorant of those heavenly mysteries; he knows neither God nor Christ; he has neither the Father nor the Son. He knows not God, because he knows not the holy properties of his nature in the principal way designed by infinite wisdom for their manifestation; he knows not Christ, because he sees not the glory of God in him. Therefore whatever notions men may have from the light of nature, or from the works of Providence, that there is love in God, however they may adorn them in elegant affecting expressions: yet from them no man can know that God is love. In the revelation hereof Christ has the preeminence; nor can any man comprehend anything of it aright but in him. It is that which the whole light of the creation cannot discover; for it is the spring and center of the mystery of godliness.

These things are of the deep things of God, such as belong unto that wisdom of God in a mystery, which those that are carnal cannot receive, as the Apostle testifies (1 Corinthians 2:14). But the meanest believer who lives in the exercise of faith, may have an understanding of them so far as is needful unto his love and obedience. The sum of the whole is this; if you would behold the glory of Christ, as the great means of your sanctification and consolation, as the only preparation for the beholding of his glory in eternal blessedness: consider what of God is made known and represented unto you in him, wherein God purposed and designed to glorify himself in him. Now this is all that may be known of God in a saving manner; especially his wisdom, his love, his goodness, grace, and mercy, whereon the life of our souls does depend. And the Lord Christ being appointed the only way and means hereof, how exceedingly glorious must he be in the eyes of those who do believe!

These things being premised, I shall close this first consideration of that Glory of Christ which we behold by faith in this world, with some such observations, as may excite us unto the practice of this great duty, and improvement of this great privilege; the greatest which on this side heaven we can be made partakers of.

There are some who regard not these things at all, but rather despise them. They never entertain any serious thoughts of obtaining a view of the glory of God in Christ, which is to be unbelievers. They look on him as a teacher that came forth from God to reveal his will, and to teach us his worship: and so indeed he was. But this they say was the sole use of his Person in religion, which is Mohammedanism. The manifestation of all the holy properties of the divine nature, with the representation of them unto angels above, and the church in this world, as he is the image of the invisible God, in the constitution of his Person, and the discharge of his Office, are things they regard not; yes, they despise and scorn what is professed concerning them; for pride and contempt of others were always the safest cover of ignorance; otherwise it would seem strange, that men should openly boast of their own blindness. But these conceptions of men's minds are influenced by that unbelief of his divine Person, which makes havoc of Christianity at this day in the world.

I speak of those whose minds are better disposed toward heavenly things; and unto them I say, why do you love Jesus Christ? for so you profess to do. Why do you trust in him? Why do you honor him? Why do you desire to be in heaven with him? Can you give a reason of this hope that is in you? An account why you do all or any of these things? If you cannot, all that you pretend toward him is but fancy and imagination; you fight uncertainly as men beating the air. Or is one of your reasons hereof, that in him you do by faith behold that glory of God, with the holy properties of his nature, and their principal operations, in order unto your own salvation and blessedness, which otherwise would have been eternally hid from you? Hereon is he precious unto those who do believe.

Let us therefore, as many as are spiritual, be thus minded. Let us make use of this privilege with rejoicing, and be found in the discharge of this duty with diligence: for thus to behold the glory of Christ is both our privilege and our duty. The duties of the Law were a burden and a yoke; but those of the Gospel are privileges and advantages.

It is a promise concerning the days of the New Testament, that our eyes shall see the King in his beauty (Isaiah 33:17). We shall behold the glory of Christ in its luster and excellency. What is this beauty of the King of saints? Is it not, that God is in him, and he is the great representative of his glory unto us? Therefore in the contemplation of this glory consists the principal exercise of faith. And who can declare the glory of this privilege, that we who are born in darkness, and deserved to be cast out into utter darkness, should be translated into this marvelous light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ?

What are all the stained glories, the fading beauties of this world? Of all that the devil showed our Savior from the mount? What are they in comparison of one view of the glory of God represented in Christ, and of the glory of Christ as his great representative?

The most pernicious effect of unbelief under the preaching of the Gospel is, that together with an influence of power from Satan, it blinds the eyes of men's minds, that they should not see this glory of Christ, whereon they perish eternally (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

But the most of those who at this day are called Christians are strangers unto this duty. Our Lord Jesus Christ told the Pharisees, that notwithstanding all their boasting of the knowledge of God, they had not heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape; that is as Moses did. They had no real acquaintance with him, they had no spiritual view of his glory; and so it is amongst ourselves. Notwithstanding the general profession that is made of the knowledge of Christ, they are but few who thus behold his glory; and therefore few who are transformed into his image and likeness.

Some men speak much of the imitation of Christ, and following of his example; and it were well if we could see more of it really in effect. But no man shall ever become like unto him, by bare imitation of his actions, without that view or intuition of his glory which alone is accompanied with a transforming power to change them into the same image.

The truth is, the best of us all are woefully defective in this duty, and many are discouraged from it, because a pretense of it in some has degenerated into superstition: but we are loath at any time seriously to engage in it, and come with an unwilling kind of willingness, unto the exercise of our minds in it.

Thoughts of this glory of Christ are too high for us, or too hard for us, such as we cannot long delight in; we turn away from them with a kind of weariness; yet are they of the same nature in general with our beholding of the glory of Christ in heaven, wherein there shall be no weariness or satiety unto eternity. Is not the cause of it, that we are unspiritual or carnal, having our thoughts and affections accustomed to give entertainment unto other things? For this is the principal cause of our unreadiness and incapacity to exercise our minds in and about the great mysteries of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). And it is so with us moreover, because we do not stir up ourselves with watchfulness and diligence in continual actings of faith on this blessed object. This is that which keeps many of us at so low an ebb, as unto the powers of a heavenly life, and spiritual joys.

Did we abound in this duty, in this exercise of faith, our life in walking before God would be more sweet and pleasant unto us; our spiritual light and strength would have a daily increase; we should more represent the glory of Christ in our ways and walking, than usually we do; and death itself would be most welcome unto us.

The angels themselves desire to look into the things of the glory of Christ (1 Peter 1:10, 12). There is in them matter of inquiry and instruction for the most high and holy spirits in heaven. The manifold wisdom of God in them is made known unto principalities and powers in heavenly places by the church (Ephesians 3:10). And shall we neglect that which is the object of angelic diligence to inquire into; especially considering that we are more than they concerned in it?

Is Christ then thus glorious in our eyes? Do we see the Father in him, or by seeing of him? Do we sedulously, daily contemplate on the wisdom, love, grace, goodness, holiness, and righteousness of God, as revealing and manifesting themselves in him? Do we sufficiently consider, that the immediate vision of this glory in heaven will be our everlasting blessedness? Does the imperfect view which we have of it here, increase our desires after the perfect sight of it above? With respect unto these inquiries, I shall briefly speak unto sundry sorts of men.

Some will say they understand not these things, nor any concern of their own in them. If they are true, yet are they notions which they may safely be without the knowledge of; for so far as they can discern, they have no influence on Christian practice, or duties of morality. And the preaching of them does but take off the minds of men from more necessary duties. But if the Gospel is hidden, it is hidden unto those who perish. And unto the objection I say:

1. Nothing is more fully and clearly revealed in the Gospel, than that unto us Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, that he is the character of the Person of the Father, so as that in seeing him, we see the Father also; that we have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in his face alone, as has been proved. This is the principal fundamental mystery and truth of the Gospel; and which if it is not received, believed, owned, all other truths are useless unto our souls. To refer all the testimonies that are given hereunto, to the doctrine which he taught, in contradistinction unto his Person, as acting in the discharge of his office, is anti-evangelical, antichristian, turning the whole Gospel into a fable.

2. It is so, that the light of faith is given unto us principally to enable us to behold the glory of God in Christ; to contemplate on it, as unto all the ends of its manifestation. So it is expressly affirmed (2 Corinthians 4:6). If we have not this light, as it is communicated by the power of God unto those who do believe (Ephesians 1:17-19), we must be strangers unto the whole mystery of the Gospel (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

3. That in the beholding of the glory of God in Christ, we behold his glory also. For herein is he infinitely glorious above the whole creation, in that in and by him alone the glory of the invisible God is represented unto us. Herein do our souls live. This is that whereby the image of God is renewed in us, and we are made like unto the firstborn.

4. This is so far from being unnecessary unto Christian practice, and the sanctified duties of morality, that he knows not Christ, he knows not the Gospel, he knows not the faith of the Catholic church, who imagines that they can be performed acceptably without it. Indeed, this is the root from which all other Christian duties spring, and on which they grow, whereby they are distinguished from the works of heathens. He is no Christian who believes not that faith in the Person of Christ is the spring of all evangelical obedience; or who knows not that this faith respects the revelation of the glory of God in him.

If these things are so, as they are the most important truths of the Gospel, and whose denial overthrows the foundation of faith, and is ruinous to Christian religion: certainly it is our duty to live in the constant exercise of faith with respect unto this glory of Christ. And we have sufficient experience of what kind of morality the ignorance of it has produced.

Others there are who may be some way strangers, but are no way enemies unto this mystery, and to the practical exercise of faith therein: unto such I shall offer the ensuing directions.

1. Reckon in your minds, that this beholding of the glory of Christ by beholding the glory of God, and all his holy properties in him, is the greatest privilege of which in this life we can be made partakers. The dawning of heaven is in it, and the first-fruits of glory; for this is life eternal to know the Father, and whom he has sent, Christ Jesus (John 17:3). Unless you value it, unless you esteem it as such a privilege, you will not enjoy it; and that which is not valued according unto its worth, is despised. It is not enough to think it a privilege, an advantage; but it is to be valued above other things according unto its greatness and excellency. "Destruction and death say we have heard the fame of it with our ears" (Job 28:22). And if we do no more, we shall die strangers unto it: we are to cry after this knowledge, and lift up our voice for this understanding, if we design to attain it.

2. As it is a great privilege which requires a due valuation; so it is a great mystery which requires much spiritual wisdom to the right understanding of it, and to direct in its practice (1 Corinthians 2:4-5). Flesh and blood will not reveal it unto us, but we must be taught of God to apprehend it (John 1:12-13; Matthew 16:16-17). Mere unsanctified reason will never enable us unto, nor guide us in the discovery of this duty. Men are not so vain as to hope for skill and understanding in the mystery of a secular art or trade, without the diligent use of those means whereby it may be attained; and shall we suppose that we may be furnished with spiritual skill and wisdom in this sacred mystery, without diligence in the use of the means appointed of God for the attaining of it? The principal of them is fervent prayer. Pray then with Moses, that God would show you this his glory; pray with the Apostle, that the eyes of your understandings may be enlightened to behold it; pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Fill your minds with spiritual thoughts and contrivances about them. Slothful and lazy souls never obtain one view of this glory; the lion in the way deters them from attempting it. Being carnal, they abhor all diligence in the use of spiritual means, such as prayer and meditation on things unto them uneasy, unpleasing, and difficult. Unto others the way partakes of the nature of the end; the means of obtaining a view of the glory of Christ are of the same kind, of the same pleasantness, with that view itself in their proportion.

3. Learn the use hereof from the actings of contrary vicious habits. When the minds of men are vehemently fixed on the pursuit of their lusts, they will be continually ruminating on the objects of them, and have a thousand contrivances about them, until their eyes become full of an adulteress and they cannot cease from sinning, as the Apostle speaks. The objects of their lusts have framed and raised an image of themselves in their minds, and transformed them into their own likeness. Is this the way of those who go down to the chambers of death? Do they thus frame their souls, and make them fit for destruction, until their words, gestures, actions, proclaim the frame of their minds unto all that look upon them? And shall we be slothful and negligent in the contemplation of that glory which transforms our minds into its own likeness, so as that the eyes of our understandings shall be continually filled with it, until we see him and behold him continually, so as never to cease from the holy acts of delight in him, and love unto him?

4. Would we then behold the glory of God, as he manifests it in and by the holy properties of his nature, with their blessed operations and effects, without which we have nothing of the power of religion in us, whatever we pretend; this alone is the way of it. Go to the whole creation, and all things contained in it; they can say no more, but we have heard the fame and report of these things, and what we have heard we declare; but it is but a little portion of them that we are acquainted withal. The heavens indeed declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork. The invisible things of God are understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. But comparatively, it is but little that we can hence learn of these things, as unto what we may behold of them in Christ Jesus. How blind herein was the best philosopher in comparison of the meanest of the Apostles, yes, of him who is least in the kingdom of heaven?

But herein it is required, that we rest not in the notion of this truth, and a bare assent unto the doctrine of it. The affecting power of it upon our hearts is that which we should aim at. Wherein does the blessedness of the saints above consist? Is it not herein, that they behold and see the glory of God in Christ? And what is the effect of it upon those blessed souls? Does it not change them into the same image, or make them like unto Christ? Does it not fill and satiate them with joy, rest, delight, complacency, and ineffable satisfaction? Do we expect, do we desire the same state of blessedness? It is our present view of the glory of Christ which is our initiation thereinto, if we are exercised in it, until we have an experience of its transforming power in our souls.

These things are, it may be, of little use unto some. Such as are babes in spiritual knowledge and understanding, either because they are carnal (1 Corinthians 3:1-2) or slothful in hearing (Hebrews 5:12-14), are not capable of these divine mysteries. And therefore the Apostle did in an especial manner declare this wisdom of God in a mystery unto those who were perfect (1 Corinthians 2:6-7); that is, who were more grown in spiritual knowledge, and had their senses exercised to discern good and evil. It is unto those who are exercised in the contemplation of invisible things, who delight to walk in the more retired paths of faith and love, to whom they are precious.

Some few inferences from the whole of what has been declared, shall put a close to this part of our discourse.

1. The holy properties of the divine nature are not only represented unto our faith in Christ as unto their own essential glory, but as they are in the exercise of their powers for the salvation of the church. In him do we behold the wisdom, goodness, love, grace, mercy, and power of God acting themselves in the contrivance, constitution, and efficacious accomplishment of the great work of our redemption and salvation. This gives, as unto us, an unutterable luster unto the native comeliness of the divine excellencies. The wisdom and love of God are in themselves infinitely glorious, infinitely lovable; nothing can be added unto them, there can be no increase of their essential glory. However, as they are eternally resident in the divine nature, and absolutely the same with it, we cannot so comprehend them, as to have an endearing, satiating view of their glory. But as they are exerted in the work of the redemption and salvation of the church, as they are expressed, communicating their blessed effects unto the souls of those who do believe, which is done only in Christ; so the beams of their glory shine unto us with unspeakable refreshment and joy (2 Corinthians 4:6). Hence the Apostle on the consideration of the actings of the holy properties of God in this blessed work, falls into that contemplation: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who has first given unto him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things; to whom be glory forever, Amen" (Romans 11:33-36).

2. In and through Christ we do believe in God (1 Peter 1:21). This is the life of our souls. God himself in the infinite perfections of his divine nature, is the ultimate object of our faith, but he is not here the immediate object of it, but the divine way and means of the manifestation of himself and them unto us, are so. Through Christ we believe in God. By our belief in him, we come to place our faith ultimately in God himself; and this we can no otherwise do, but by beholding the glory of God in him, as has been declared.

3. This is the only way whereby we may attain the saving, sanctifying knowledge of God; without this, every beam of divine light that shines on us, or gleams from without (as the light shines into darkness when the darkness comprehends it not, John 1:5), every spark that arises from the remainders of the light of nature within, does rather amaze the minds of men, than lead them into the saving knowledge of God. So a glance of light in a dark night giving a transient view of various objects, and passing away, does rather amaze, than direct a traveler, and leaves him more exposed to wandering than before. Such were all those notions of the divine being and its excellencies, which those who boasted themselves to be wise among the heathen embraced and improved. They did but fluctuate in their minds, they did not transform them into the image and likeness of God, as the saving knowledge of him does (Colossians 3:10).

So the Apostle expresses this truth: "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:20-24).

After it was evident unto all, that the world, the wise, the studious, the contemplative part of it, in the wisdom of God disposing them into that condition wherein they were left unto themselves, in their own wisdom, their natural light and reason did not, could not come to the saving knowledge of God, but were puffed up into a contempt of the only way of the revelation of himself, as weakness and folly; it pleased God then to manifest all their wisdom to be folly; and to establish the only means of the knowledge of himself in Christ Jesus.

The glory of Christ is the glory of the person of Christ. So He refers to it in John 17:24 — 'that glory which is Mine,' belonging to Me, to My person.

The person of Christ may be considered in two ways. First, absolutely in itself. Second, in the undertaking and carrying out of His office, and in what followed from it. His glory under these distinct headings is distinct and different, but all equally His own. How we may behold it by faith in both respects is what we are inquiring into.

The first aspect in which we may behold the glory of the person of Christ — God and man — which was given to Him by His Father, consists in His representation of the nature of God and of the divine person of the Father to the church. For we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). Apart from this, we do not know God, we do not see Him — we see nothing of Him. This is the way of seeing and knowing God that Scripture presents as both our duty and our blessedness. The glory of God encompasses both the holy attributes of His nature and the purposes of His will, and we have the illuminating knowledge of these things only in the face or person of Jesus Christ. Whatever dim and imperfect notions we may form of them by other means, we cannot have the enlightening knowledge of the glory of God that shines into our hearts except in the face or person of Jesus Christ — for He is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4), the radiance of the Father's glory and the exact representation of His nature (Hebrews 1:3), the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). I mention these things only briefly here, as I have treated them at length in my discourse on the Mystery of Godliness, or the Person of Christ, to which I refer readers for fuller explanation and defense. Christ is glorious in this: He is the great representative of the nature and will of God to us — a revelation that without Him would have been forever hidden and invisible to us, for no one has ever seen God at any time (John 1:18).

In His divine person considered absolutely, He is the essential image of God — even the Father: He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, in the unity of the same divine essence (John 14:10). He was with the Father (John 1:1). In the distinction of His person, He is His essential image (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). In His incarnation He becomes the representative image of God to the church (2 Corinthians 4:6), without whom our understanding can make no real approach to the divine excellencies — God remaining to us what He is in Himself: the invisible God. In the face of Jesus Christ, we see His glory.

This is the original glory of Christ given to Him by His Father, and which by faith we may behold: He, and He alone, declares, represents, and makes known to angels and to humanity the essential glory of the invisible God — His attributes and His will — without which, a permanent comparative darkness would have covered all creation, and especially this world below.

This is the foundation of our religion, the Rock on which the church is built, the ground of all our hopes of salvation, life, and immortality. Everything resolves into this: the representation of the nature and will of God made in the person and office of Christ. If this fails us, we are lost forever. If this Rock stands firm, the church is safe here and will triumph hereafter.

In this, then, the Lord Christ is exceedingly glorious. Those who cannot by faith behold this glory of His — as the great divine means of representing God to us — do not truly know Him. In their worship of Him, they worship only an image of their own invention.

In fact, the essential nature of unbelief — the kind that is inevitably destructive to the soul — consists precisely in ignorance and neglect of this. Anyone who does not perceive the representation of the glory of God in the person of Christ is an unbeliever. This was the condition of the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles of old: they did not, would not, and could not see the glory of God in Him, nor how He represented God. The apostle explains at length that this was both the cause and the essential character of their unbelief (1 Corinthians 1:21-25). Not to see the wisdom of God, and the power of God — and consequently all the other holy attributes of His nature — in Christ is to be an unbeliever.

The essence of faith consists in giving proper glory to God (Romans 4:20). This we cannot do without the divine excellencies being made known to us — excellencies in which He is glorious. This is accomplished in Christ alone, so that we may glorify God in a saving and acceptable way. Anyone who does not perceive the glory of divine wisdom, power, goodness, love, and grace in the person and office of Christ — and in His way of saving sinners — is an unbeliever.

From the very beginning of the preaching of the Gospel, the great design of the devil has been to blind the eyes of people and fill their minds with prejudices, so that they might not see this glory. The apostle describes his success in this design (2 Corinthians 4:3-4): 'And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.' Through various methods of deception — using the reputation he had established as the god of this world, backed by pretensions of supernatural power and wisdom — the devil labored to blind people with prejudices against the glorious light of the Gospel that presented the Lord Christ as the only image of God. This blindness and darkness is cured in those who believe by the mighty power of God, for God who said 'Let light shine out of darkness' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6) — and this is what saving faith essentially is. The unbelieving world of Jews and Gentiles perished in this darkness, and such is the present condition of all who deny the divine person of Christ, for no mere creature can ever make a perfect representation of God to us. But we must inquire a little further into this mystery.

Since humanity fell from God through sin, it is no small part of their misery and punishment that they are shrouded in thick darkness and ignorance of the nature of God. They do not know Him; they have never seen Him. Hence that promise to the church in Christ (Isaiah 60:1-2): 'For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you.'

The ancient philosophers made great efforts of inquiry into the divine being and arrived at many ideas about its existence and nature. They adorned these ideas with elegant language to attract others into admiring them. They boasted of being the only truly wise men in the world (Romans 1:22). But we must accept the apostles' verdict on their inquiries: Paul assures us that the world, in all its wisdom — that is, these wise men by all their wisdom — did not know God (1 Corinthians 1:21). And he calls the authors of their best ideas men who were without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12).

First. They had no certain guide, rule, or light that, if followed, could lead them reliably into a knowledge of the divine nature. All they had were their own reasonings and imaginations, by which they made themselves the great arguers of the world. But in those very reasonings they became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened (Romans 1:21). At best they could only feel after God, as people groping in the dark after something they cannot clearly see (Acts 17:27). Cicero's book On the Nature of the Gods gives us a precise illustration of what the apostle means by that expression. And today it is not a lack of intelligence, but a hatred of the mysteries of our religion, that causes so many to abandon supernatural revelation and take refuge in a religion based, as they suppose, on reason and the light of nature — like bats and owls that, unable to bear the light of the sun, retreat to the twilight, to that borderland between light and darkness.

Second. Whatever rational ideas the ancient philosophers may have attained about invisible and incomprehensible things, they could never free themselves from such principles and practices in idolatry and flagrant sin as would have made their knowledge of any benefit — as the apostle so effectively demonstrates in Romans 1 that there is no need to dwell on it here.

People may say what they like about an inner light or about the power of reason to lead them to a knowledge of God sufficient to live by. But if they had nothing beyond that — if they did not borrow from a light that has its source and foundation in divine revelation alone — they would be no better off than those who, making the best use of their own reasoning, still did not know God but became futile in their speculations.

In view of this universal darkness — this ignorance of God, with the dreadful confusion that accompanies it in human minds — Christ is called the light of men, the light of the world, because in and through Him alone this darkness is driven away, as He is the Sun of Righteousness.

Second. This darkness in the minds of humanity — this ignorance of God, His nature, and His will — was the original source of all evil in the world, and it continues to be so.

First. On this darkness Satan erected his kingdom and throne, advancing his design until he effectively ruled as the god of this world and was regarded as such by most people. He elevated himself by virtue of this darkness — for he is the prince of darkness — into the place and position of God as the object of human religious worship. For the things the Gentiles sacrificed, they sacrificed to demons and not to God (1 Corinthians 10:21; Leviticus 17:7; Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:37; Galatians 3:8). This is Satan's territory — indeed, the power and scepter of his kingdom in the minds of the disobedient. By it he maintains his dominion to this day over many nations and among countless individuals.

Second. This is the source of all wickedness and disorder among people. From this ignorance arose the flood of abominations in the ancient world that God swept away with a flood of destruction; from it came the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah that He punished with fire from heaven. In short, all the rage, bloodshed, confusion, devastation, cruelty, oppression, and villainy that has filled and continues to fill the world — by which the souls of men have been and are swept into eternal destruction — all of it has flowed from this corrupt fountain of ignorance of God.

Third. We are the descendants and offspring of people such as those described. Our forefathers in this nation were given over to as degraded a worship of the devil as any people under the sun. It is therefore an effect of infinite mercy that the day has dawned on us poor Gentiles, and that the rising sun from on high has visited us. See the glory of this grace expressed in Ephesians 3:5-10. God might have left us to perish in the blindness and ignorance of our forefathers, but of His own free will and by His own powerful grace alone He has transferred us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Yet the dreadful ingratitude of people for the glorious light of the Gospel, and their abuse of it, will bring a severe reckoning.

God was known under the Old Testament through the revelation of His Word and the institution of His worship. This was the glory and privilege of Israel, as the Psalmist declares (Psalm 147:19-20): 'He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any nation.' The church of that era knew Him, yet with the sense that He dwelt in thick darkness where they could not see Him clearly (Exodus 20:21; Deuteronomy 5:22; 1 Kings 8:12; 2 Chronicles 6:1). God represented Himself in that darkness to instruct them in their incomplete state — a state in which they could not yet comprehend the glory that was afterwards to be revealed. For as He is now made known in Christ, we see that He is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Fourth. Until Christ's coming, darkness generally covered the earth and deep darkness the peoples as regards the knowledge of God — with only a twilight in the church. The day had not yet dawned, the shadows had not fled, and the morning star had not yet shone in human hearts. But when the Sun of Righteousness rose in His strength and beauty — when the Son of God appeared in the flesh and carried out His office — God Himself, in His being and His triune existence in three distinct persons, with all the glorious attributes of the divine nature, was brilliantly revealed to those who believed. The light of this knowledge swept away all the shadows that had remained in the church and shone into the darkness of the world, so that no one remained ignorant of God except those who refused to see (John 1:5, 15, 17-18; 2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

In this, the Lord Christ is glorious. And this is what I now want to address: how we may behold the glory of Christ in the representation and revelation of God and His glory that is made in His person and office, to all who believe. For what is intended here is not so much a description of the nature of the things themselves in which Christ's glory consists, but rather our way and duty in beholding them.

He calls out to us: 'Look to Me, and be saved' (Isaiah 45:22). What is it that we see in Christ? What do we behold in Him? He raises the question about His church: 'What will you see in the Shulamite?' — to which He answers, as it were: the company of two armies (Song of Solomon 6:13) — the two churches of the Old and New Testament in their order and beauty. We may ask the same: what shall we — what do we — see in Him? Do we see Him as the image of the invisible God, representing God's nature, attributes, and will to us? Do we see Him as the exact representation of the Father's person, so that we no longer need to make Philip's request — 'Lord, show us the Father' — because, having seen Him, we have also seen the Father (John 14:9)?

This is our first saving sight of Christ — the first instance of beholding His glory by faith. To see Him in such a way that we see God in Him is to behold His glory, for this is where He is eternally glorious. This is the glory we ought to long for and pursue. If we do not see it, we are still in darkness — yes, even if we claim to see, we are blind like everyone else. So David longed and prayed for this sight, even when he could behold it only in types and shadows (Psalm 63:1-2): 'O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, to see Your power and Your glory, as I have seen You in the sanctuary.' For in the sanctuary there was an obscure representation of the glory of God in Christ. How much more should we treasure the sight of it that we may now have with unveiled faces — though still as in a mirror (2 Corinthians 3:18)?

Moses, after having seen the great and marvelous works of God, was not satisfied with that alone. After all of it, he prayed that God would show him His glory (Exodus 33:18). He understood that the soul's ultimate rest, blessedness, and satisfaction lies not in seeing the works of God but the glory of God Himself. So he desired some immediate dawning of that glory upon him in this life: 'I pray You, show me Your glory.' If we have a right understanding of the coming state of blessedness, we cannot help but share the same desire to see more of His glory in this life. But the question is: how may we attain it? If we are left to ourselves in this quest — if our only recourse is to fix our thoughts directly on the immensity of the divine nature — every one of us must come to the same conclusion Agur reaches in a similar situation: 'Surely I am more stupid than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man. Neither have I learned wisdom, nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son's name? Surely you know!' (Proverbs 30:2-4).

It is in Christ alone that we may have a clear and distinct view of the glory of God and His excellencies, for God has appointed Him, and Him alone, as our representative of Himself (see John 1:18; 14:7-10; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Colossians 1:15-16; Ephesians 3:4-10; Hebrews 1:3). We will look at this briefly through one or two specific examples.

First. Infinite wisdom is one of the most glorious attributes of the divine nature — the attribute that guides all of God's external works and through which the glory of all His other excellencies is displayed. Therefore the manifestation of the whole glory of God flows originally from His infinite wisdom. But as Job asks, 'Where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?' (Job 28:12). 'Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?' (Job 11:7). As an essential, eternal attribute of the divine nature, we can form no real understanding of wisdom in itself — we can only adore it from the infinite distance at which we stand from God. But in its operations and effects it may be discerned, for those are designed by God for the very purpose of displaying it. The greatest of these is the design of the great work of the salvation of the church — celebrated by the apostle in Ephesians 3:9-11: 'to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.'

If we have any true interest in God, if we have any hope of blessedness in beholding His glory for eternity, we cannot help but desire some view — as much as is attainable — of this infinite and many-faceted wisdom of God in this life. But it is in Christ alone that we can discern anything of it, for the Father has chosen and appointed Him to represent this wisdom to us. All the treasures of this wisdom are hidden, stored up, and displayed in Him — and this is where the essence and form of faith lies. Believers by faith see the wisdom of God in Christ, in His person and office — Christ the wisdom of God. Unbelievers do not see it, as the apostle argues in 1 Corinthians 1:22-24.

In beholding the glory of this infinite wisdom of God in Christ, we also behold Christ's own glory — the glory given to Him by His Father. For this is His glory: that in and by Him, and through Him alone, the wisdom of God is manifested and represented to us. When God appointed Him as the great and only means for this purpose, He gave Him honor and glory surpassing the whole creation. For the works of creation declare only a little of the divine wisdom compared to what is manifested in Christ Jesus. We do not in any way deny or minimize the display of God's wisdom in the works of creation and providence. It is sufficient to expose the folly of atheism and idolatry, and was designed by God for that purpose. But Scripture abundantly testifies to its relative insufficiency — compared to what is revealed in Christ — for the purpose of truly knowing God and living for Him. And it was universally abused, as the apostle declares in Romans 1:20 and following. To see this wisdom clearly is itself our wisdom, and a proper understanding of it fills the souls of believers with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

Second. We may also take love as an example. The apostle tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8). Divine love is not to be understood only in its effects, but in its nature and essence — and so it is God Himself, for God is love. What a blessed revelation this is of the divine nature: it banishes envy, hatred, malice, and revenge — with all their fruits of rage, cruelty, relentlessness, persecution, and murder — into the territory of Satan. These things belong neither to God's nature nor to His ways, for God is love. So the same apostle tells us that the one who killed his brother was of the evil one (1 John 3:12) — he was of the devil his father, and he did his father's works.

But the question arises, as before: how shall we gain a view of this love — of God as love? By what way or means shall we behold the glory of it? It is hidden from all living, in God Himself. The wise philosophers who spoke so much of the love of God knew nothing of the truth that God is love. Most natural ideas about God's love are distorted, and the best of them are weak and incomplete. The general tendency of people's thinking about it is that God is easy-going and accommodating — someone they can take liberties with in all their dealings, as the Psalmist observes (Psalm 50:21). Since His love must be learned through its effects, operations, and divine ways of manifestation, those who do not know Christ know nothing of these things. Moreover, many things in providence can obstruct our view of this love — for although God is indeed love, His wrath is revealed from heaven against human ungodliness. When everything around us today seems filled with evidences of His anger and displeasure, how then shall we know? Where shall we behold the glory of God in the fact that He is love? The apostle provides the answer in the following verse (1 John 4:9): 'By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.' This is the only evidence we are given that God is love. It is by this alone that the divine nature as such is made known to us — in the mission, person, and office of the Son of God. Without this, everything remains in darkness as to the true nature and supreme expression of this divine love.

In this we behold the glory of Christ Himself, even in this life. This glory was given to Him by the Father — the glory of declaring and demonstrating that God is love — so that He might have first place in all things. We can see here how excellent, beautiful, glorious, and desirable He is, since in Him alone we have a true representation of God as He is love — which is the most joyful sight of God any creature can obtain. Anyone who does not behold the glory of Christ in this is utterly ignorant of these heavenly mysteries; he knows neither God nor Christ; he has neither the Father nor the Son. He does not know God because he does not know the holy attributes of His nature through the principal way infinite wisdom designed to reveal them. He does not know Christ because he does not see the glory of God in Him. Therefore, whatever ideas people may form — from the light of nature or from the works of providence — that there is love in God, however beautifully they may express them: no one from such sources alone can know that God is love. In the revelation of this truth, Christ has the preeminence, and no one can comprehend any part of it rightly except in Him. It is what the whole light of creation cannot discover, for it is the very center and source of the mystery of godliness.

These are among the deep things of God — belonging to that wisdom of God in mystery that those who are unspiritual cannot receive, as the apostle testifies (1 Corinthians 2:14). But the most humble believer who lives in the exercise of faith may understand them as far as is necessary for his love and obedience. The sum of the whole is this: if you want to behold the glory of Christ — as the great means of your sanctification and comfort, as the only preparation for beholding His glory in eternal blessedness — consider what of God is made known and represented to you in Him, in those very things in which God purposed to glorify Himself through Him. This is everything that may be known of God in a saving way — especially His wisdom, His love, His goodness, grace, and mercy, on which the life of our souls depends. And since the Lord Christ has been appointed the only way and means of this knowledge, how exceedingly glorious must He be in the eyes of those who believe!

With these things established, I will close this first consideration of the glory of Christ that we behold by faith in this life, with some observations that may stir us to practice this great duty and make the most of this great privilege — the greatest we can share in on this side of heaven.

Some people give no thought to these things at all, but rather despise them. They never seriously consider obtaining a view of the glory of God in Christ — which is itself to be an unbeliever. They see Him as a teacher who came from God to reveal God's will and teach us His worship, and indeed He was that. But they say this was the sole purpose of His person in religion — which is simply Islam. The manifestation of all the holy attributes of the divine nature, and their representation to the angels above and to the church in this world — as He is the image of the invisible God, through the constitution of His person and the carrying out of His office — are things they ignore. Indeed, they despise and mock what is professed concerning these things, for pride and contempt of others have always been the safest cover for ignorance — otherwise it would be strange that people would openly boast of their own blindness. But these attitudes of mind are shaped by a disbelief in His divine person, which is wreaking havoc on Christianity in the world today.

I am speaking now to those whose minds are more favorably disposed toward heavenly things. To them I say: why do you love Jesus Christ? For so you profess to do. Why do you trust in Him? Why do you honor Him? Why do you desire to be in heaven with Him? Can you give a reason for the hope that is in you — an account of why you do all or any of these things? If you cannot, all that you claim toward Him is merely fancy and imagination; you fight uncertainly, like someone throwing punches at the air. Or is one of your reasons this: that in Him you see by faith the glory of God — the holy attributes of His nature and their chief operations for your salvation and blessedness — which otherwise would have been forever hidden from you? This is why He is precious to those who believe.

Let all of us who are spiritual be of this mind. Let us make use of this privilege with joy, and pursue this duty with diligence — for beholding the glory of Christ is both our privilege and our duty. The requirements of the law were a burden and a yoke; those of the Gospel are privileges and blessings.

It is a promise regarding the days of the New Testament that 'your eyes will see the King in His beauty' (Isaiah 33:17). We will behold the glory of Christ in its fullness and splendor. What is this beauty of the King of saints? Is it not that God is in Him, and that He is the great representative of God's glory to us? Therefore the principal exercise of faith consists in the contemplation of this glory. And who can express the wonder of this privilege — that we, who were born in darkness and deserved to be cast into outer darkness, have been brought into this marvelous light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ?

What are all the tainted glories and fading beauties of this world? What are all the kingdoms the devil showed our Savior from the mountain? What are any of them compared to one sight of the glory of God represented in Christ, and of the glory of Christ as His great representative?

The most destructive effect of unbelief under the preaching of the Gospel is that it works together with power from Satan to blind the eyes of people's minds, so that they cannot see this glory of Christ — and by this blindness they perish forever (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

Yet most of those who are called Christians today are strangers to this duty. Our Lord Jesus told the Pharisees that despite all their boasting about knowing God, they had never heard His voice or seen His form — that is, as Moses had. They had no real acquaintance with God and no spiritual sight of His glory. It is the same among us. Despite the general profession of knowing Christ, very few actually behold His glory in this way — and therefore very few are being transformed into His image and likeness.

Many people speak much of imitating Christ and following His example — and it would be good to see more of that in practice. But no one will ever become like Christ through mere imitation of His actions without that sight and contemplation of His glory which alone carries transforming power to change them into the same image.

The truth is, the best of us are sadly neglectful of this duty, and many are put off from it because the pretense of it in others has sometimes decayed into superstition. We are reluctant to engage seriously in it and come to the exercise of our minds in it with only a grudging sort of willingness.

Thoughts of Christ's glory seem too high or too demanding for us — not something we can delight in for long. We turn away from them with a kind of weariness, even though they are of the same nature as our beholding of Christ's glory in heaven, where there will be no weariness or satiety throughout eternity. Is not the cause of this that we are unspiritual or carnal — that our thoughts and affections have been trained to entertain other things? This is the chief reason for our unreadiness and inability to occupy our minds with the great mysteries of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). It is also because we do not rouse ourselves with watchfulness and diligence to constantly exercise faith on this blessed object. This is what keeps many of us at such a low ebb in terms of spiritual vitality and joy.

If we were to abound in this duty and in this exercise of faith, our walk with God would be sweeter and more pleasant to us; our spiritual light and strength would grow daily; we would reflect the glory of Christ in our lives and conduct far more than we typically do; and death itself would be most welcome.

The angels themselves desire to look into the things of the glory of Christ (1 Peter 1:10, 12). These things contain matter for inquiry and instruction even for the highest and holiest spirits in heaven. The many-faceted wisdom of God in them is made known to rulers and authorities in heavenly places through the church (Ephesians 3:10). Shall we then neglect what angels themselves diligently seek to understand — especially considering that we are more closely concerned in it than they are?

Is Christ then glorious in our eyes? Do we see the Father in Him, or through seeing Him? Do we diligently and daily contemplate the wisdom, love, grace, goodness, holiness, and righteousness of God as they reveal and display themselves in Him? Do we sufficiently consider that the immediate vision of this glory in heaven will be our everlasting blessedness? Does the imperfect view we have of it here increase our desire for the perfect sight of it above? With these questions in mind, I will speak briefly to several kinds of people.

Some will say they do not understand these things or see that they have any relevance to them. Even if they are true, they are notions that one can safely live without — for as far as they can see, they have no bearing on Christian practice or moral duties. And preaching these things only draws people's minds away from more necessary concerns. But if the Gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing. To this objection I say:

First. Nothing is more fully and clearly revealed in the Gospel than this: that Jesus Christ is to us the image of the invisible God, the exact representation of the Father's person, so that in seeing Him we also see the Father, and that we have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in His face alone — as has been demonstrated. This is the principal and foundational mystery and truth of the Gospel. If it is not received, believed, and embraced, all other truths are useless to our souls. To refer all the testimonies given to this truth to the teaching He gave — as distinct from His person actively carrying out His office — is anti-evangelical and antichristian, turning the entire Gospel into a fable.

Second. The light of faith is given to us primarily to enable us to behold the glory of God in Christ — to contemplate it in line with all the purposes for which it is displayed. This is expressly stated in 2 Corinthians 4:6. If we do not have this light, as it is given by God's power to those who believe (Ephesians 1:17-19), we must be strangers to the whole mystery of the Gospel (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

Third. In beholding the glory of God in Christ, we also behold Christ's own glory. For this is where He is infinitely glorious above the whole creation: in and through Him alone, the glory of the invisible God is represented to us. This is where our souls live. This is the means by which the image of God is renewed in us and we are made like the firstborn.

Fourth. So far from being unnecessary to Christian practice and moral duty, anyone who imagines these things can be performed acceptably without this truth neither knows Christ, nor the Gospel, nor the faith of the universal church. This is the root from which all other Christian duties grow — the thing that distinguishes them from the works of pagans. No one is truly a Christian who does not believe that faith in the person of Christ is the source of all Christian obedience, or who does not know that this faith looks to the revelation of the glory of God in Him.

If these things are true — and they are among the most important truths of the Gospel, truths whose denial overturns the foundation of faith and is ruinous to the Christian religion — then we are certainly obligated to live in the constant exercise of faith with respect to this glory of Christ. And we have sufficient experience of the kind of morality that ignorance of it produces.

There are others who may be unfamiliar with this mystery but are in no way hostile to it or to the practical exercise of faith in it. To such I will offer the following directions.

First. Settle it in your minds that this beholding of the glory of Christ — seeing the glory of God and all His holy attributes in Him — is the greatest privilege we can enjoy in this life. The dawning of heaven is in it, along with the first fruits of glory, for this is eternal life: to know the Father and the One He sent, Christ Jesus (John 17:3). Unless you value it as such a privilege, you will not experience it; and what is not valued according to its worth is despised. It is not enough to think of it as simply a privilege or advantage — it must be valued above all other things in proportion to its true greatness and excellency. 'Destruction and death say, we have heard a rumor of it with our ears' (Job 28:22). If we do no more than hear about it, we will die as strangers to it. We must cry out for this knowledge and lift up our voice for this understanding if we truly intend to attain it.

Second. Since this is a great privilege that requires proper valuation, it is also a great mystery that requires much spiritual wisdom to understand rightly and to guide us in its practice (1 Corinthians 2:4-5). Flesh and blood will not reveal it to us — we must be taught by God to grasp it (John 1:12-13; Matthew 16:16-17). Mere unregenerate reason will never enable us to discover or pursue this duty. People are not so foolish as to hope for skill and understanding in some worldly craft or trade without making diligent use of the means by which it may be learned. Shall we then suppose that we may be equipped with spiritual skill and wisdom in this sacred mystery without diligence in the means God has appointed for obtaining it? The chief of these means is fervent prayer. Pray therefore with Moses that God would show you His glory; pray with the apostle that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened to behold it; pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. Fill your minds with spiritual thought and purpose about these things. Lazy, indifferent souls never obtain one glimpse of this glory; a lion in the road turns them back before they even try. Being unspiritual, they resist all diligent use of spiritual means — prayer and meditation on things that are uncomfortable, unappealing, and difficult. For others, the way shares the character of the destination: the means of obtaining a sight of the glory of Christ are of the same kind and the same pleasantness as that sight itself, each in its proper proportion.

Third. Learn how to pursue this glory by observing how contrary vicious habits operate. When people's minds are intensely set on pursuing their sinful desires, they constantly dwell on the objects of those desires and devise countless ways to satisfy them — until their eyes are 'full of adultery' and they cannot stop sinning, as the apostle describes. The objects of their desires have formed an image of themselves in their minds and transformed those minds into their own likeness. Is this what the people who go down to the chambers of death do? Do they shape their souls and make them fit for destruction until their words, gestures, and actions proclaim the condition of their minds to everyone around them? Shall we then be lazy and indifferent about contemplating that glory which transforms our minds into its own image — the glory that would keep our minds' eyes continually filled with Christ, until we see and behold Him without ceasing and never stop the holy acts of delight and love toward Him?

Fourth. If we would behold the glory of God — as He manifests it in and through the holy attributes of His nature, with their blessed operations and effects, without which we have no real power of religion in us, whatever we may claim — this is the only way. Go to the whole creation and all things in it; they can say no more than this: we have heard a report of these things, and what we have heard we declare — but it is only a small portion of them that we know. The heavens do indeed declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. God's invisible attributes — His eternal power and divine nature — are understood through what has been made. But comparatively, what we can learn from creation is only a little of what we may see of these things in Christ Jesus. How blind, in comparison, was the greatest philosopher compared to the least of the apostles — yes, even compared to the least in the kingdom of heaven?

But here it is required that we not rest merely in the idea of this truth, or in bare intellectual agreement with its doctrine. What we should aim for is its powerful effect on our hearts. In what does the blessedness of the saints above consist? Is it not in this: that they behold and see the glory of God in Christ? And what is the effect of this upon those blessed souls? Does it not change them into the same image — make them like Christ? Does it not fill and satisfy them with joy, rest, delight, contentment, and inexpressible satisfaction? Do we look for and desire the same state of blessedness? Our present sight of the glory of Christ is our initiation into that state — if we are exercised in it until we have experience of its transforming power in our souls.

These things may be of little use to some. Those who are babes in spiritual knowledge and understanding — whether because they are still unspiritual (1 Corinthians 3:1-2) or sluggish in learning (Hebrews 5:12-14) — are not yet capable of receiving these divine mysteries. The apostle therefore set forth this wisdom of God in a mystery especially to those who were mature (1 Corinthians 2:6-7) — those who were more advanced in spiritual knowledge and had their senses trained to discern good and evil. These things are precious to those who are practiced in contemplating unseen realities and who delight to walk in the more quiet paths of faith and love.

A few conclusions drawn from everything that has been said will bring this part of our discussion to a close.

First. The holy attributes of the divine nature are displayed to our faith in Christ not only in their own essential glory, but as they are actively engaged for the salvation of the church. In Him we behold the wisdom, goodness, love, grace, mercy, and power of God working together in the planning, design, and powerful accomplishment of the great work of our redemption and salvation. This adds, as far as we are concerned, an inexpressible luster to the native beauty of the divine excellencies. The wisdom and love of God are infinitely glorious and infinitely lovable in themselves; nothing can be added to them, and their essential glory admits of no increase. Yet while they eternally reside in the divine nature and are absolutely identical with it, we cannot comprehend them in a way that gives us an endearing, satisfying vision of their glory. But as they are expressed in the work of redemption and salvation of the church — communicating their blessed effects to the souls of those who believe, which happens only in Christ — the beams of their glory shine upon us with unspeakable refreshment and joy (2 Corinthians 4:6). Hence the apostle, meditating on the holy attributes of God at work in this blessed redemptive work, breaks into this contemplation: 'Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen' (Romans 11:33-36).

Second. In and through Christ we believe in God (1 Peter 1:21). This is the very life of our souls. God Himself in the infinite perfections of His divine nature is the ultimate object of our faith — but He is not the immediate object here. Rather, the divine means and way by which He manifests Himself and His perfections to us is the immediate object. Through Christ we believe in God. By believing in Christ, we come at last to place our faith in God Himself, and we can do this in no other way than by beholding the glory of God in Him, as has been explained.

Third. This is the only way by which we may attain the saving, sanctifying knowledge of God. Without this, every ray of divine light that shines on us from outside — every flash of it that breaks through as light shines into darkness when the darkness does not comprehend it (John 1:5) — and every spark arising from the remains of natural light within us, only bewilders the minds of people rather than leading them to the saving knowledge of God. Just as a brief flash of light in a dark night, giving a momentary glimpse of various objects before disappearing, bewilders a traveler rather than guiding him and leaves him more lost than before — so it is with all the ideas about the divine being and its excellencies that those who considered themselves the wise of the world embraced and developed. Those ideas merely fluctuated in their minds; they did not transform those minds into the image and likeness of God, as the saving knowledge of Him does (Colossians 3:10).

The apostle expresses this truth: 'Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God' (1 Corinthians 1:20-24).

Once it became clear to all that the world — the wise, the learned, the contemplative — having been placed by God's wisdom in the very conditions where they were left to themselves and their own reasoning and natural light, could not come to the saving knowledge of God, but were only puffed up in contempt for the one true way of His self-revelation, dismissing it as weakness and foolishness: God then saw fit to expose all their supposed wisdom as folly, and to establish the only true means of the knowledge of Himself in Christ Jesus.