88 SINS AND SORROWS SPREAD BEFORE GOD. of godliness ? if our God be not near us, if we never get near to God. Reflection II. How happy are we under the gospel, above all ages and nations besides us, and before us ! For we have advantages of getting near to God, beyond what any other religîbn has ; above what the heathen world ever enjoyed ; for theirlight of nature could never shew them the throne of grace: above what the ancient patriarchs had, though God came down in visible shapes, and revealed and discovered himself to them as a Iran or an angel: above what the Jewshad, though God dwelt among them in visible glory, in theholy of holies. The people were kept at a distance, and the high priests were to come thither but once a year ; and their veil, and smokes, and shadows, did, as it were, conceal God from them, althoogh they were types of a futureMessiah ; and even their shekinah itself, or cloud of glory, gave them nò spiritual ideá or notion of godhead, though it was a shining emblem of God dwelling among them. We have better ordinances, and brighter mediums of con- verse with God ; we have more powerful assistances to raise us. heaven-ward ; we have the Messiah, the Emmanuel ; that is, God inflesh, God conicnearus, that we may get near to him ; we have thepromise of the Spirit, which is one of the gloriouspri- vileges of the gospel; Eph. ii. 13, 18. Ye who sometimes were afar of aremade nigh through the blood of Christ: and through himhavewe access by one Spirit to the,Father.. Through Christ Jesus, and the purchase of his blood, and the working. of his Spirit, we approach to theFather, we are brought near to God. And this very method, viz. the atonement of the blood of Christ, and the working of the Spirit by which 'we are brought near to God in oúr first conversion, are the ways by which we Must draw near him in duty ever afterward : it is by the same. atonement, and by the same Spirit. We are continually con- tracting fresh guilt, and wereit not for the perpetuityof the virtue of that sacrifice, our guilt would be an irremovable bar against our comingnear to God daily and Hourly ; and after every new sin, were it not forthat Spirit, we could never get near to God again: but that Spirit is promised to abide with us; John xiv. 70. and in lieb. iv. 14, 16. Christ is passed into the heavens, is very near to God, andbath shewn us the way thither ; Heb. x. 19, 20. Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assu- rance offaith. O how should we value our acquaintance with Christ, and pray earnestly for his Spirit! one makes a way for our coming near to God, and the other actually brings us near. How glori- ous would churches be, if therewere more of this Spirit poured
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