------------------------- Chap·'2·Sca .5. J.Loolltng unto jjefu.s. Boo!~ lV. 151 Gods La 1 v condemns me , my ow_n confcience accufeth me , and jullice will ltave its due. h' h ft d b 3 . The want of a Mediator, or fume fuitable perfon, w tc may an etween the finner and God. Jf on my pan there be unworrhinefs, and on Gods part exact and flrict, and fevere jull:ice ; and withall I fee no Mediator , .whtch I may go unto, and fir£1: clofe withal! before I deal with the infinite glory of God h•mfelf,how Jlwuld I but defpair, and cry out ?0 wretched man that I am !0 that I had never been! or if I muft needs have a being; Oh that I hadbeen at011d, or fe;petlt, or any flenomom creAture rather thm a man; for when theydye they perijh, .tndthere san endof them , but t~e end of a reprqbate finner u torments t~ithout end : 0 wo and aiM ! I cannot bc/,eve, there sno room.f~r f.t<th in thu cafe! rhefe are t~e h1~drances. . . . 2 • The helps offairh m thts fad condmon arethefe. • 1. Aconliderarion that God is pleafed to pafs by, and to overlook the unworchinefs of his poor crearures; this we fee plain in the very act of his incarnation; himfelfdifdains not to be as his poor creatures, to wear their own llelh, ro take upon him humane nature ; and in a!I things to become like unto man, linonly excepted. 2. Aconlidtrationthat God fuisfies jull:ice, by ferring up Chrill: who is jul1:ice it felf; now was it that mercy andtruth met together, "ndrighttoNJneJSimdpeace kjffid each other ; now was it that free grace and merit, char fulnefs and norhingnefs were made one; now wasi£ that all things became norhing,and nothing all things; our nature which lay in rags, was enriched with the unfearchable treafures of glory ; now was it that God was made lleOJ;and fo char llefl]which was foweak, as nor able tofave its own life, was now enabled to fave millions of fouls, and to bring forth rhe greareft deligns of God; now was it chat tmtb ran to mercy and embraced her, and righreoufnefs 10 peace and ki1Ted her, in Chri£1: they meet, yea in him was the infinite exaC!nefs of Gods juflice farisfied. 3. A con!ideration char God ha~h fer up Chrill: as aMediacor : char he was incarnate in order to reconciliation, and falvation of fouls, but for the accomplilhment of rhis de– fign Chrill had never been incarnate; the very end ofhis unitingllelh umo him, ~as in order to the reconciliation of us poor fouls; alas we had finned, and by findeferved ever– lafting damnation, but ro fave us, and ro fadsfie himfelf, God takes our nature and joyns it to his Son, and calls that Chrift aSaviour : this is the Gofpd-norion of Chriil , for what is Chrift, but God him(elf in our nature, r-tanfalling•ur peace? in this Chri(t ~., that fulnefs, and righteoufnelS, and love, and bowels to receive che firft acts ofour faith . and to have immediate union and communion with us; indeed we pitch not our faith firft or immedhtely on Goa himfelf; yet at !all: we come to him, and our faith Jives in God (as one fairlofweetly ) before it is aware, through the fweet intervention of that perfon which is God himfelf, onlycalledby another flametheLordJefmChrift, and rhefe are the helps of faith in reference to our unworrhinefs, Gods juftice,and rhe want of aMedia– tor betwixt God and us. · 3. The manner hO\~ to actourfaith on Chrill:incarnateis this~ I. Faith mull: directly go ro Chrill: : we find indeed in rhe Bihle fome particular pro– mifes ofthis and that grace: and in proper fpeaking the way to live by faith, it is 10 live upon the promifesi ' the want of the thing, or to apprehend the thing it felf contained in the promife =.bur the promifes are ~o~ given ro the elect immediately without Chrill:; no, no, ~ri1:Chnfl and rhen all otherthmgs, encline your ears, andcomeuntome; I. Come unto Chrtll:, and then Iwi!lmak£anever/aftingCovenant, (which contains all the promifes) <ven theJure mercies of David. As in marriage, the woman firfl confems to have the man, !fa; ~~.3: and ~hen.all the benefits that n~celfar!ly follow ; fo the foul by ~aith, firft pitche;h upo11 Chrtll: lumfelf, and rhen on rhe prtvdedges that flow from Chnft. Say foul , dolt thou want any temporal bleffing ?' fuppofe it be the payment of debts, rhy daily bread , health, &c. Why, look now through the Scripture for promifes of thefe tltings, and let thy fatth act thus, if God h.'lthgivm me Chrift, the greateftblejfing, 1hen certainly he "'"/gwe_me all rh1e rhingsfo far "' the)! mt~y befor mygood : in the twenty ~bird Ffalm we find a bundle ofpronufes, bur he begms rhus, the Lord u my jhepherd, fatth Dadd, and Pi\il i what then? therefore 1Jita!l not want; the believing Patriarchs through faith fubdued · 23 ' Kmgdomes, wrought nghteo~<{ne(s, obtainedpromifes, ftopedthe momhsof Lyons,did won- tteb•.,; l l• ders Ill the world; but what did they chiefly look to in this their faith? furely to the pr 9 • mifeto come, and to that better thing, Chtill: himfelf; and therefore the Apofrk concludes, v. 39· 40. ha'Umhg fnchaficlordofwitneffi.', drat thus lived and died by faith, let mleok.Jmro [efm, the H.b AHt our and niflur ofowrJP.ith. . · , c ~ 13· l~ I z. Faith'
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