and his ways past finding out.' This alone is left unto us in the way of duty, that in the effects of them, we should contemplate on their excellency, so as to give glory to God, and live in a holy admiration of his wisdom and grace. For to give glory unto him, and admire him is our present duty, until he shall come eternally to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe ;' 2 Thess. i. 10.

We can do no more but stand at the shore of this ocean, and adore its unsearchable depths. What is delivered from them by divine revelation we may receive as pearls of price, to enrich and adorn our souls. For secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed, unto us, that we may do the words of his law;' Deut. xxix. 29. We shall not therefore in our inquiry into this great mystery, intrude ourselves into the things which we have not seen, but only endeavour a right understanding of what is revealed concerning it. For the end of all divine revelations is our knowledge of the things revealed, with our obedience thereon; and unto this end, things revealed do belong unto us.

Some things in general are to be premised unto our present inquiry.

1. We can have no view or due prospect of the wisdom of God in any of his works, much less in this of sending his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,' or the constitution of his person, and the work of redemption to be accomplished thereby, unless we consider also the interest of the other holy properties of the divine nature in them. Such are his holiness, his righteousness, his sovereign authority, his goodness, love, and grace.

There are three excellencies of the divine nature principally to be considered in all the external works of God. (1.) His goodness, which is the communicative property thereof. This is the eternal fountain and spring of all divine communications. Whatever is good in and unto any creature, is an emanation from divine goodness. He is good, and he doth good.' That which acts originally in the divine nature, unto the communication of itself in any blessed or gracious effects unto the creatures, is goodness.

(2.) Wisdom, which is the directive power or excellency of the divine nature. Hereby God guides, disposeth, orders,

and directs all things unto his own glory, in and by their own immediate proper ends; Prov. xvi. 4. Rev. iv. 11.

(3.) Power, which is the effective excellency of the divine nature, effecting and accomplishing what wisdom doth design and order.

Whereas wisdom therefore is that holy excellency or power of the Divine Being, wherein God designs, and whereby he effects the glory of all the other properties of his nature, we cannot trace the paths of it in any work of God, unless we know the interest and concernment of those other properties in that work. For that which wisdom principally designs, is the glorification of them. And unto this end the effective property of the divine nature, which is almighty power, always accompanies, or is subservient unto, the directive or infinite wisdom, which is requisite unto perfection in operation. What infinite goodness will communicate ad extra, what it will open the eternal fountain of the Divine Being and all-sufficiency to give forth; that infinite wisdom designs, contrives, and directs to the glory of God; and what wisdom so designs, infinite power effects. See Isa. xl. 13-15. 17. 28.

2. We can have no apprehensions of the interest of the other properties of the divine nature in this great mystery of godliness, whose glory was designed in infinite wisdom, without the consideration of that state and condition of our own wherein they are so concerned. That which was designed unto the eternal glory of God in this great work of the incarnation of his Son, was the redemption of mankind, or the recovery and salvation of the church. What hath been disputed by some concerning it, without respect unto the sin of man, and the salvation of the church, is curiosity, and indeed presumptuous folly. The whole Scripture constantly assigneth this sole end of that effect of divine goodness and wisdom, yea, asserts it as the only foundation of the gospel; John iii. 16. Wherefore unto a due contempla-' tion of divine wisdom in it, it is necessary we should consider what is the nature of sin, especially of that first sin, wherein our original apostacy from God did consist; wha was the condition of mankind thereon; what is the concernment of the holy God therein, on the account of the blessed properties of his nature; what way was suited unto

our recovery, that God might be glorified in them all. Without a previous consideration of these things, we can have no due conceptions of the wisdom of God in this glorious work, which we inquire after. Wherefore I shall so far speak of them, that if it be the will of God, the minds of those who read and consider them, may be opened and prepared to give admittance unto some rays of that divine wisdom in this glorious work, the lustre of whose full light we are not able in this world to behold.

When there was a visible pledge of the presence of God in the bush that burned' and was not consumed, Moses said, he would turn aside to see that great sight;' Exod. iii. 3. And this great representation of the glory of God being made and proposed unto us, it is certainly our duty to divert from all other occasions unto the contemplation of it. But as Moses was then commanded to put off his shoes, the place whereon he stood being holy ground;' so it will be the wisdom of him that writes, and of them that read, to divest themselves of all carnal affections and imaginations, that they may draw nigh unto this great object of faith, with due reverence and fear.

The first thing we are to consider in order unto the end proposed is, the nature of our sin and apostacy from God. For from thence we must learn the concernment of the divine excellencies of God in this work. And there are three things that were eminent therein.

(1.) A reflection on the honour of the holiness and wisdom of God, in the rejection of his image. He had newly ‘made man in his own image.' And this work he so expresseth as to intimate a peculiar effect of divine wisdom in it, whereby it was distinguished from all other external works of creation whatever. Gen. i. 26, 27. And God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him.' No where is there such an emphasis of expression concerning any work of God. And sundry things are represented as peculiar therein.

[1st.] That the word of consultation and that of execution are distinct. In all other works of creation, the word of determination and execution, was the same. When he created light which seems to be the beauty and glory of the

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whole creation, he only said, 'Let there be light, and there was light;' Gen. i. 3. So was it with all other things. But when he comes unto the creation of man, another process is proposed unto our faith. These several words are distinct, not in time, but in nature. God said, Let us make man in our image and likeness;' and thereon it is added distinctly, as the execution of that antecedent counsel; so God made man in his own image.' This puts a signal eminency on this work of God.

[2dly.] A distinct peculiar concernment of all the persons of the holy Trinity, in their consultation and operation, is in like manner proposed unto us. And God said, Let us make man.' The truth hereof I have sufficiently evinced elsewhere, and discovered the vanity of all other glosses and expositions. The properties of the divine nature principally and originally considerable in all external operations (as we have newly observed) are goodness, wisdom, and power. In this great work divine goodness exerted itself eminently and effectually in the person of the Father; the eternal fountain and spring, as of the divine nature, so of all divine operations. Divine wisdom acted itself peculiarly in the person of the Son, this being the principle notion thereof, the eternal wisdom of the Father. Divine power wrought effectually in the person of the Holy Spirit; who is the immediate actor of all divine operations.

[3dly.] The proposition of the effecting this work being by way of consultation, represents it a signal effect of infinite wisdom. These expressions are used to lead us unto the contemplation of that wisdom.

Thus God made man in his own image,' that is, in such a rectitude of nature as represented his righteousness and holiness, in such a state and condition as had a reflection on it of his power and rule. The former was the substance of it, the latter a necessary consequent thereof. This representation, I say, of God, in power and rule, was not that image of God wherein man was created, but a consequent of it. So the words and their order declare. Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,' &c. Because he was made in the image of God, this dominion and rule were granted unto him. So fond is their imagination who would

have the image of God to consist solely in these things. Wherefore the loss of the image of God was not originally the loss of power and dominion, or a right thereunto. But man was deprived of that right, on the loss of that image which it was granted unto. Wherein it did consist, see

Eccles. vii. 29. Eph. iv. 24.

Three things God designed in this communication of his image unto our nature, which were his principal ends in the creation of all things here below. And therefore was divine wisdom more eminently exerted therein, than in all the other works of this inferior creation,

1. The first was, that he might therein make a representation of his holiness and righteousness among his creatures. This was not done in any other of them. Characters they had on them of his goodness, wisdom, and power. In these things the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work.' His eternal power and Godhead are manifest in the things that are made. But none of them, not the whole fabric of heaven and earth, with all their glorious ornaments and endowments, were either fit or able to receive any impressions of his holiness and righteousness, of any of the moral perfections, or universal rectitude of his nature. Yet in the demonstration and representation of these things doth the glory of God principally consist. Without them he could not be known. and glorified as God. Wherefore he would have an image and representation of them in the creation here below. And this he will always have so long as he will be worshipped by any of his creatures. And therefore, when it was lost in Adam it was renewed in Christ, as hath been declared.

2. The second was, that it might be a means of rendering actual glory unto him, from all other parts of the creation. Without this, which is as the animating life and form of the whole, the other creatures are but as a dead thing. They could not any way declare the glory of God, but passively and objectively. They were as au harmonious well-tuned instrument, which gives no sound unless there be a skilful hand to move and act it. What is light if there be no eye to see it? or what is music if there be no ear to hear it? How glorious and beautiful soever any of the works of creation appear to be, from impressions of divine power,