(Owen. The Glory of Christ, Part 1. File 4

(... continued from File 3)


Chapter 4. The Glory of Christ in his Susception of the Office of a  
Mediator -  
First in his Condescension.  
  
  
 The things whereof we have thus far discoursed, relating  
immediately unto the person of Christ in itself, may seem to have  
somewhat of difficulty in them unto such whose minds are not duly  
exercised in the contemplation of heavenly things. Unto others they  
are evident in their own experience, and instructive unto them that  
are willing to learn. That which remains will be yet more plain unto  
the understanding and capacity of the meanest believer. And this is,  
the glory of Christ in his office of mediator, and the discharge  
thereof.  
 In our beholding of the glory of Christ herein does the exercise  
of faith in this life principally consist; so the apostle declares  
it, Phil. 3: 8, 10, "Yea doubtless, and I count all things loss for  
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: that I may  
know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of  
his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death". This  
therefore, we must treat of somewhat more at large.  
 "There is one God," saith the apostle, "and one mediator between  
God and men, the man Christ Jesus," 1 Tim. 2: 5. In that great  
difference between God and man occasioned by our sin and apostasy  
from him, which of itself could issue in nothing but the utter ruin  
of the whole race of mankind, there was none in heaven or earth, in  
their original nature and operations, who was meet or able to make  
up righteous peace between them. Yet must this be done by a  
mediator, or cease for ever.  
 This mediator could not be God himself absolutely considered; for  
"a mediator is not of one, but God is one," Gal. 3: 20. Whatever God  
might do herein in a way of sovereign grace, yet he could not do it  
in the way of mediation; which yet was necessary unto his own glory,  
as we have at large discoursed elsewhere.  
 And as for creatures, there was none in heaven or earth that was  
meet to undertake this office. For "if one man sin against another,  
the judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the LORD, who  
shall entreat for him?" 1 Sam. 2: 25. There is not "any days-man  
betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both," Job 9:33.  
 In this state of things the Lord Christ, as the Son of God, said,  
"Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. Sacrifice and burnt-offerings  
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me; and, lo, I come  
to do thy will," Heb. 10: 5, 9. By the assumption of our nature into  
union with himself, in his own divine person he became every way  
meet for the discharge of this office, and undertakes it  
accordingly.  
 That which we inquire after at present, is, the glory of Christ  
herein, and how we may behold that glory. And there are three things  
wherein we may take a prospect of it.  
 1. In his susception of this office.  
 2. In his discharge of it.  
 3. In the event and consequence thereof, or what ensued thereon.  
 In the susception of this office we may behold the glory of  
Christ, - I. In his condescension; II. In his love.  
 I. We may behold this glory in his infinite condescension to take  
this office on him, and our nature to be his own unto that end. It  
did not befall him by lot or chance; - it was not imposed on him  
against his will; - it belonged not unto him by any necessity of  
nature or condition, he stood not in need of it; - it was no  
addition unto him; but of his own mind and accord he graciously  
condescended unto the susception and discharge of it.  
 So the apostle expresseth it, Phil. 2: 5-8, "Let this mind be in  
you which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God,  
thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no  
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in  
the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled  
himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the  
cross."  
 It was the mind that was in Jesus Christ which is proposed unto  
our consideration and imitation, - what he was inclined and disposed  
unto from himself and his own mind alone. And that in general which  
is ascribed unto him is "kenosis", exinanition, or self-emptying; he  
emptied himself. This the ancient church called his "sungkatabasis",  
as we do his condescension; an act of which kind in God is called  
the "humbling of himself," Ps. 113: 6.  
 Wherefore, the susception of our nature for the discharge of the  
office of mediation therein was an infinite condescension in the Son  
of God, wherein he is exceedingly glorious in the eyes of believers.  
 And I shall do these three things: - 1. Show in general the  
greatness of his condescension; 2. Declare the especial nature of  
it; and, 3. Take what view we are able of the glory of Christ  
therein.  
 1. Such is the transcendent excellency of the divine nature, that  
it is said of God that he "dwelleth on high," and "humbleth himself  
to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth," Ps. 113:  
5, 6. He condescends from the prerogative of his excellency to  
behold, to look upon, to take notice of, the most glorious things in  
heaven above, and the greatest things in the earth below. All his  
respect unto the creatures, the most glorious of them, is an act of  
infinite condescension. And it is so on two accounts.  
 (1.) Because of the infinite distance that is between his essence,  
nature, or being, and that of the creatures. Hence all nations  
before him "are as the drop of a bucket, and are counted as the  
small dust of the balance;" yea, that they "are as nothing, that  
they are counted unto him less than nothing, and vanity." All being  
is essentially in him, and in comparison thereunto all other things  
are as nothing. And there are no measures, there is no proportion  
between infinite being and nothing, - nothing that should induce a  
regard from the one unto the other. Wherefore, the infinite,  
essential greatness of the nature of God, with his infinite distance  
from the nature of all creatures thereby, causeth all his dealings  
with them to be in the way of condescension or humbling himself. So  
it is expressed, Isa. 57: 15, "Thus saith the high and lofty One  
that inhabiteth eternity, I dwell in the high and holy place, with  
him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the  
spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."  
He is so the high and lofty one, and so inhabiteth eternity, or  
existeth in his own eternal being, that it is an act of mere grace  
in him to take notice of things below; and therefore he does it in  
an especial manner of those whom the world does most despise.  
 (2.) It ariseth from his infinite self-sufficiency unto all the  
acts and ends of his own eternal blessedness. What we have a regard  
unto, what we respect and desire, it is that it may add unto our  
satisfaction. So it is, so it must be, with every creature; no  
creature is self-sufficient unto its own blessedness. The human  
nature of Christ himself in heaven is not so; it lives in God, and  
God in it, in a full dependence on God, and in receiving blessed and  
glorious communications from him. No rational creature, angel or  
man, can do, think, act any thing, but it is all to add to their  
perfection and satisfaction; - they are not self-sufficient. God  
alone wants nothing, stands in need of nothing; nothing can be added  
unto him, seeing he "giveth unto all life, and breath, and all  
things," Acts 17: 25. The whole creation, in all its excellency,  
cannot contribute one mite unto the satisfaction or blessedness of  
God. He has it all in infinite perfection from himself and in his  
own nature. Our goodness extends not unto him. A man cannot profit  
God, as he may profit his neighbour. "If thou sinnest, what does  
thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest  
thou unto him?" God loseth nothing of his own self-sufficiency and  
blessedness therein by all this. And "if thou be righteous, what  
givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?" Job 35: 6, 7.  
And from hence also it follows that all God's concernment in the  
creation is by an act of condescension.  
 How glorious, then, is the condescension of the Son of God in his  
susception of the office of mediation! For if such be the perfection  
of the divine nature, and its distance so absolutely infinite from  
the whole creation, - and if such be his self-sufficiency unto his  
own eternal blessedness, as that nothing can be taken from him,  
nothing added unto him, so that every regard in him unto any of the  
creatures is an act of self-humiliation and condescension from the  
prerogative of his being and state, - what heart can conceive, what  
tongue can express, the glory of that condescension in the Son of  
God, whereby he took our nature upon him, took it to be his own, in  
order unto a discharge of the of tics of mediation on our behalf?  
 2. But, that we may the better behold the glory of Christ herein,  
we may briefly consider the especial nature of this condescension,  
and wherein it does consist.  
 But whereas not only the denial, but misapprehensions hereof, have  
pestered the church of God in all ages, we must, in the first place,  
reject them, and then declare the truth.  
 (1.) This condescension of the Son of God did not consist in a  
laying aside, or parting with, or separation from, the divine  
nature, so as that he should cease to be God by being man. The  
foundation of it lay in this, that he was "in the form of God, and  
thought it not robbery to be equal with God," Phil. 2:6; - that is,  
being really and essentially God in his divine nature, he professed  
himself therein to be equal with God, or the person of the Father.  
He was in the form of God, - that is, he was God, participant of the  
Divine nature, for God has no form but that of his essence and  
being; and hence he was equal with God, in authority, dignity, and  
power. Because he was in the form of God, he must be equal with God;  
for there is order in the Divine Persons, but no inequality in the  
Divine Being. So the Jews understood him, that when he said, "God  
was his Father, he made himself equal with God." For in his so  
saying, he ascribed unto himself equal power with the Father, as  
unto all divine operations. "My Father," saith he, "worketh  
hitherto, and I work," John 5: 17, 18. And they by whom his divine  
nature is denied do cast this condescension of Christ quite out of  
our religion, as that which has no reality or substance in it. But  
we shall speak of them afterward.  
 Being in this state, it is said that he took on him the form of a  
servant, and was found in fashion as a man, Phil. 2: 7. This is his  
condescension. It is not said that he ceased to be in the form of  
God; but continuing so to be, he "took upon him the form of a  
servant" in our nature: he became what he was not, but he ceased not  
to be what he was. So he testifieth of himself, John 3: 13, "No man  
has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, the  
Son of man which is in heaven." Although he was then on earth as the  
Son of man, yet he ceased not to be God thereby; - in his divine  
nature he was then also in heaven.  
 He who is God, can no more be not God, than he who is not God can  
be God; and our difference with the Socinians herein is, - we  
believe that Christ being God, was made man for our sakes; they say,  
that being only a man, he was made a god for his own sake.  
 This, then, is the foundation of the glory of Christ in this  
condescension, the life and soul of all heavenly truth and  
mysteries, - namely, that the Son of God becoming in time to be what  
he was not, the Son of man, ceased not thereby to be what he was,  
even the eternal Son of God. Wherefore, -  
 (2.) Much less did this condescension consist in the conversion of  
the divine nature into the human, - which was the imagination of  
some of the Arians of old; and we have yet (to my own knowledge)  
some that follow them in the same dotage. They say that the "Word  
which was in the beginning," by which all things were made, being in  
itself an effect of the divine will and power, was in the fulness of  
time turned into flesh; - that is, the substance of it was so, as  
the water in the miracle wrought by our Saviour was turned into  
wine; for, by an act of the divine power of Christ, it ceased to be  
water substantially, and was wine only, - not water mixed with wine.  
So these men suppose a substantial change of the one nature into the  
other, - of the divine nature into the human, - like what the  
Papists imagine in their transsubstantiation. So they say God was  
made man, his essence being turned into that of a man.  
 But this no way belongs unto the condescension of Christ. We may  
call it Ichabod, - it has no glory in it. It destroys both his  
natures, and leaves him a person in whom we are not concerned. For.  
according unto this imagination, that divine nature, wherein he was  
in the form of God, did in its own form cease to be, yea, was  
utterly destroyed, as being substantially changed into the nature of  
man, as the water did cease to be when it was turned into wine; and  
that human nature which was made thereof has no alliance or kindred  
unto us or our nature, seeing it was not "made of a woman," but of  
the substance of the Word.  
 (3.) There was not in this condescension the least change or  
alteration in the divine nature. Eutyches and those that followed  
him of old conceived that the two natures of Christ, the divine and  
human, were mixed and compounded, as it were, into one. And this  
could not be without an alteration in the divine nature, for it  
would be made to be essentially what it was not; - for one nature  
has but one and the same essence.  
 But, as we said before, although the Lord Christ himself in his  
person was made to be what he was not before, in that our nature  
hereby was made to be his, yet his divine nature was not so. There  
is in it neither "variableness nor shadow of turning." It abode the  
same in him, in all its essential properties, acting, and  
blessedness, as it was from eternity. It neither did, acted, nor  
suffered any thing but what is proper unto the Divine Being. The  
Lord Christ did and suffered many things in life and death, in his  
own person, by his human person, wherein the divine neither did nor  
suffered any thing at all - although, in the doing of them, his  
person be denominated from that nature; so, "God purchased his  
church with his own blood," Acts 20:28.  
 (4.) It may, then, be said, What did the Lord Christ, in this  
condescension, with respect unto his divine nature? The apostle  
tells us that he "humbled himself, and made himself of no  
reputation," Phil. 2: 7, 8. He veiled the glory of his divine nature  
in ours, and what he did therein, so as that there was no outward  
appearance or manifestation of it. The world hereon was so far from  
looking on him as the true God, that it believed him not to be a  
good man. Hence they could never bear the least intimation of his  
divine nature, supposing themselves secured from any such thing,  
because they looked on him with their eyes to be a man, - as he was,  
indeed, no less truly and really than any one of themselves.  
Wherefore, on that testimony given of himself, "Before Abraham was,  
I am," which asserts a pre-existence from eternity in another nature  
than what they saw, - they were filled with rage, and "took up  
stones to cast at him," John 8: 58,59. And they gave treason of  
their madness, John 10:33, - namely, that "he, being a man, should  
make himself to be God." This was such a thing, they thought, as  
could never enter into the heart of a wise and sober man, - namely,  
that being so, owning himself to be such, he should yet say of  
himself that he was God. This is that which no reason can  
comprehend, which nothing in nature can parallel or illustrate, that  
one and the same person should be both God and man. And this is the  
principal plea of the Socinians at this day, who, through the  
Mohammedans, succeed unto the Jews in an opposition unto the divine  
nature of Christ.  
 But all this difficulty is solved by the glory of Christ in this  
condescension; for although in himself, or his own divine person, he  
was "over all, God blessed for ever," yet he humbled himself for the  
salvation of the church, unto the eternal glory of God, to take our  
nature upon him, and to be made man: and those who cannot see a  
divine glory in his so doing, do neither know him, nor love him, nor  
believe in him, nor do any way belong unto him.  
 So is it with the men of these abominations. Because they cannot  
behold the glory hereof, they deny the foundation of our religion, -  
namely, the divine person of Christ. Seeing he would be made man, he  
shall be esteemed by them no more than a man. So do they reject that  
glory of God, his infinite wisdom, goodness, and grace, wherein he  
is more concerned than in the whole creation. And they dig up the  
root of all evangelical truths, which are nothing but branches from  
it.  
 It is true, and must be confessed, that herein it is that our Lord  
Jesus Christ is "a stumbling-stone and a rock of offence" unto the  
world. If we should confess him only as a prophet, a man sent by  
God, there would not be much contest about him, nor opposition unto  
him. The Mohammedans do all acknowledge it, and the Jews would not  
long deny it; for their hatred against him was, and is, solely  
because he professed himself to be God, and as such was believed on  
in the world. And at this day, partly through the insinuation of the  
Socinians, and partly from the efficacy of their own blindness and  
unbelief, multitudes are willing to grant him to be a prophet sent  
of God, who do not, who will not, who cannot, believe the mystery of  
this condescension in the susception of our nature, nor see the  
glory of it. But take this away, and all our religion is taken away  
with it. Farewell Christianity, as to the mystery, the glory, the  
truth, the efficacy of it; - let a refined heathenism be established  
in its room. But this is the rock on which the church is built,  
against which the gates of hell shall not prevail.  
 (5.) This condescension of Christ was not by a phantasm or an  
appearance only. One of the first heresies that pestered the church  
immediately after the days of the apostles was this, that all that  
was done or suffered by Christ as a man were not the acts, doings or  
sufferings of one that was truly and really a man, but an outward  
representation of things, like the appearance of angels in the shape  
of men, eating and drinking, under the Old Testament; and suitably  
hereunto some in our days have spoken, - namely, that there was only  
an appearance of Christ in the man Jesus at Jerusalem, in whom he  
suffered no more than in other believers. But the ancient Christians  
told those men the truth, - namely, that "as they had feigned unto  
themselves an imaginary Christ, so they should have an imaginary  
salvation only."  
 But the true nature of this divine condescension does consist in  
these three things: -  
 1. That "the eternal person of the Son of God, or the divine  
nature in the person of the Son, did, by an ineffable act of his  
divine power and love, assume our nature into an individual  
subsistence in or with himself; that is, to be his own, even as the  
divine nature is his." This is the infallible foundation of faith,  
even to them who can comprehend very little of these divine  
mysteries. They can and do believe that the Son of God did take our  
nature to be his own; so as that whatever was done therein was done  
by him, as it is with every other man. Every man has human nature  
appropriated unto himself by an individual subsistence, whereby he  
becomes to be that man which he is and not another; or that nature  
which is common unto all, becomes in him to be peculiarly his own,  
as if there were none partaker of it but himself. Adam, in his first  
creation, when all human nature was in him alone, was no more that  
individual man which he was, than every man is now the man that he  
is, by his individual subsistence. So the Lord Christ taking that  
nature which is common unto all into a peculiar subsistence in his  
own person, it becometh his, and he the man Christ Jesus. This was  
the mind that was in him.  
 2. By reason of this assumption of our nature, with his doing and  
suffering therein whereby he was found in fashion as a man, the  
glory of his divine person was veiled, and he made himself of no  
reputation. This also belongs unto his condescension, as the first  
general effect and fruit of it. But we have spoken of it before.  
 3. It is also to be observed, that in the assumption of our nature  
to be his own, he did not change it into a thing divine and  
spiritual; but preserved it entire in all its essential properties  
and actings. Hence it really did and suffered, was tried, tempted,  
and forsaken, as the same nature in any other man might do and be.  
That nature (as it was peculiarly his, and therefore he, or his  
person therein) was exposed unto all the temporary evils which the  
same nature is subject unto in any other person.  
 This is a short general view of this incomprehensible  
condescension of the Son of God, as it is described by the apostle,  
Phil. 2: 5-8. And this is that wherein in an especial manner we are  
to behold the glory of Christ by faith whilst we are in this world.  
 But had we the tongue of men and angels, we were not able in any  
just measure to express the glory of this condescension; for it is  
the most ineffable effect of the divine wisdom of the Father and of  
the love of the Son, - the highest evidence of the care of God  
towards mankind. What can be equal unto it? what can be like it? It  
is the glory of Christian religion, and the animating soul of all  
evangelical truth. This carrieth the mystery of the wisdom of God  
above the reason or understanding of men and angels, to be the  
object of faith and admiration only. A mystery it is that becomes  
the greatness of God, with his infinite distance from the whole  
creation, - Which renders it unbecoming him that all his ways and  
works should be comprehensible by any of his creatures, Job 11: 7-9;  
Rom. 11: 33-36.  
 He who was eternally in the form of God, - that is, was  
essentially so, God by nature, equally participant of the same  
divine nature with God the Father; "God over all, blessed for ever;"  
who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and  
earth, - he takes on him the nature of man, takes it to be his own,  
whereby he was no less truly a man in time than he was truly God  
from eternity. And to increase the wonder of this mystery, because  
it was necessary unto the end he designed, he so humbled himself in  
this assumption of our nature, as to make himself of no reputation  
in this world, - yea, unto that degree, that he said of himself that  
he was a worm, and no man, in comparison of them who were of any  
esteem.  
 We speak of these things in a poor, low, broken manner, - we teach  
them as they are revealed in the Scripture, - we labour by faith to  
adhere unto them as revealed; but when we come into a steady, direct  
view and consideration of the thing itself, our minds fail, our  
hearts tremble, and we can find no rest but in a holy admiration of  
what we cannot comprehend. Here we are at a loss, and know that we  
shall be so whilst we are in this world; but all the ineffable  
fruits and benefits of this truth are communicated unto them that do  
believe.  
 It is with reference hereunto that that great promise concerning  
him is given unto the church, Isa. 8: 14, "He shall be for a  
sanctuary" (namely, unto all that believe, as it is expounded, 1  
Peter 2: 7, 8); "but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of  
offence," - "even to them that stumble at the word, being  
disobedient; whereunto also they were appointed."  
 He is herein a sanctuary, an assured refuge unto all that betake  
themselves unto him. What is it that any man in distress, who flies  
whereunto, may look for in a sanctuary? A supply of all his wants, a  
deliverance from all his fears, a defence against all his dangers,  
is proposed unto him therein. Such is the Lord Christ herein unto  
sin-distressed souls; he is a refuge unto us in all spiritual  
diseases and disconsolation, Heb. 6: 18. See the exposition of the  
place. Are we, or any of us, burdened with a sense of sin? are we  
perplexed with temptations? are we bowed down under the oppression.  
of any spiritual adversary? do we, on any of these accounts, "walk  
in darkness and have no light?" One view of the glory of Christ  
herein is able to support us and relieve us.  
 Unto whom we retake ourselves for relief in any case, we have  
regard to nothing but their will and their power. If they have both,  
we are sure of relief. And what shall we fear in the will of Christ  
as unto this end? What will he not do for us? He who thus emptied  
and humbled himself, who so infinitely condescended from the  
prerogative of his glory in his being and self sufficiency, in the  
susception of our nature for the discharge of the office of a  
mediator on our behalf, - will he not relieve us in all our  
distresses? will he not do all for us we stand in need of, that we  
may be eternally saved? will he not be a sanctuary unto us? Nor have  
we hereon any ground to fear his power; for, by this infinite  
condescension to be a suffering man, he lost nothing of his power as  
God omnipotent, - nothing of his infinite wisdom or glorious grace.  
He could still do all that he could do as God from eternity. If  
there be any thing, therefore, in a coalescence of infinite power  
with infinite condescension, to constitute a sanctuary for  
distressed sinners, it is all in Christ Jesus. And if we see him not  
glorious herein, it is because there is no light of faith in us.  
 This, then, is the rest wherewith we may cause the weary to rest,  
and this is the refreshment. Herein is he "a hiding-place from the  
wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry  
place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Hereon he  
says, "I have satiated the weary soul, and have refreshed every  
sorrowful soul." Under this consideration it is that, in all  
evangelical promises and invitations for coming to him, he is  
proposed unto distressed sinners as their only sanctuary.  
 Herein is he "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence" unto  
the unbelieving and disobedient, who stumble at the word. They  
cannot, they will not, see the glory of this condescension; - they  
neither desire nor labour so to do, - yea, they hate it and despise  
it. Christ in it is "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence"  
unto them. Wherefore they choose rather utterly to deny his divine  
person than allow that he did thus abase himself for our sakes.  
Rather than they will own this glory, they will allow him no glory.  
A man they say he was, and no more; and this was his glory. This is  
that principle of darkness and unbelief which works effectually at  
this day in the minds of many. They think it an absurd thing, as the  
Jews did of old, that he, being a man, should be God also; or, on  
the other hand, that the Son of God should thus condescend to take  
our nature on him. This they can see no glory in, no relief, no  
refuge, no refreshment unto their souls in any of their distresses;  
therefore do they deny his divine person. Here faith triumphs  
against them; it finds that to be a glorious sanctuary which they  
cannot at all discern.  
 But it is not so much the declaration or vindication of this glory  
of Christ which I am at present engaged in, as an exhortation unto  
the practical contemplation of it in a way of believing. And I know  
that among many this is too much neglected; yea, of all the evils  
which I have seen in the days of my pilgrimage, now drawing to their  
close, there is none so grievous as the public contempt of the  
principal mysteries of the Gospel among them that are called  
Christians. Religion, in the profession of some men, is withered in  
its vital principles, weakened in its nerves and sinews; but thought  
to be put off with outward gaiety and bravery.  
 But my exhortation is unto diligence in the contemplation of this  
glory of Christ, and the exercise of our thoughts about it. Unless  
we are diligent herein, it is impossible we should be steady in the  
principal acts of faith, or ready unto the principal duties of  
obedience. The principal act of faith respects the divine person of  
Christ, as all Christians must acknowledge. This we can never secure  
(as has been declared) if we see not his glory in this  
condescension: and whoever reduceth his notions unto experience,  
will find that herein his faith stands or falls. And the principal  
duty of our obedience is self-denial, with readiness for the cross.  
Hereunto the consideration of this condescension of Christ is the  
principal evangelical motive, and that whereinto our obedience in it  
is to be resolved; as the apostle declares, Phil. 2: 5-8. And no man  
does deny himself in a due manner, who does it not on the  
consideration of the self-denial of the Son of God. But a prevalent  
motive this is thereunto. For what are the things wherein we are to  
deny ourselves, or forego what we pretend to have a right unto? It  
is in our goods, our liberties, our relations, - our lives. And what  
are they, any or all of them, in themselves, or unto us, considering  
our condition, and the end for which we were made? Perishing things,  
which, whether we will or no, within a few days death will give us  
an everlasting separation from, under the power of a fever or an  
asthma, &c., as unto our interest in them. But how incomparable with  
respect hereunto is that condescension of Christ, whereof we have  
given an account! If, therefore, we find an unwillingness in us, a  
tergiversation in our minds about these things, when called unto  
them in a way of duty, one view by faith of the glory of Christ in  
this condescension, and what he parted from therein when he "made  
himself of no reputation," will be an effectual cure of that sinful  
distemper.  
 Herein, then, I say, we may by faith behold the glory of Christ,  
as we shall do it by sight hereafter. If we see no glory in it, if  
we discern not that which is matter of eternal admiration, we walk  
in darkness. It is the most ineffable effect of divine wisdom and  
grace. Where are our hearts and minds, if we can see no glory in it?  
know in the contemplation of it, it will quickly overwhelm our  
reason, and bring our understanding into a loss: but unto this loss  
do I desire to be brought every day; for when faith can no more act  
itself in comprehension, when it finds the object it is fixed on too  
great and glorious to be brought into our minds and capacities, it  
will issue (as we said before) in holy admiration, humble adoration,  
and joyful thanksgiving. In and by its acting in them does it fill  
the soul with "joy unspeakable, and full of glory." 


(continued in file 5... )



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file: /pub/resources/text/ipb-e/epl-09: owgch-04.txt