Book lV. J.Lool\tng unto j)efu.s. Chap. 2 .Seer~ 5. 2. Faith mu[l direetly go to Clu:i[l.as Go9 in our fleOt ; fome chink it a ~arnal appre. benfion of Jefus Chrill, to know b1m as m flefh ; I confefs t? know h1m only fo, and abfolutely fo; to co~fi?er Jefus no other way, but as h~vmg flefh, and going up and down in weaknefs; tt 1s no better than a carnal apprehenlton; but to confider Chrifi as God in flefh and to confider that flefh as aeted by God, and filled with God it is not a carnal, but a true and fpiritual apprehenlion of Jefus Chrifl:; and hlther is f;ith to be direC!ed immediately , and in the fir[l place ; fuppofe a. cafe of danger by fome enemies, and I find a prom1fe of proteCtion from my enem1es, I look on that. but in the firll placethus I argue, if the'Lord hath given me Chrifl: (God in the flelh) to fave me from hell , then much more w11l he fave me from thefe flefltly enemies. iThus Juda had .a prom1fe that Siria lhould not prevail again[l Judah , they doubted of this, but how doth. the Lord feek to alfure them? why thus, a virgi11jha/1 conceive andbear a (on, and his nam< Jhall be Immanuel, this feems a [lrange rea(on to flefu and blood; I knew one turn Infidel, and to deny Jefus Chrill upon this very argu– ment. .Ah (thought he) what a grand impofture is this, that Chrifts conreption, and Chrifts birth manyyears afterjl1011~d be a prefent jign of the mine of Re:t..in King of .Aram, and of the pre{ervatwn of .Aha:t.. Rmg of 7udah? alas poor foul, he was not acquainted with this art ofliving by faith; he might have feen the very fame reafon elfewhere ,theyoiz! of their burthen and the ftujf of theirJhotelder, tmd the rod of their oppreffor flu;/! be bro– k!;z-for 1111to u1 a child is born, and unto UJ a Son isgiven; if their faith had not firfl: refpeeted Chri[l ir.carnate, they could never have expeC!ed any temporal deliverance by that promife of ddiverante, fir!l: laid down; But in this way they might, and fo may we.-You will fay what's this to us? they looked for Chri[l tO come in the flea, but .now he is come, and that time and ddign is gone and pall many a year fince ; I an– f•,•er no, the time is gone, but the defign is not ; Chrifr remains God in the fle/h to this very day; he came not as once to manife!l: himfelf in flefh, to farisfie Gods juOice in the Belli for fin , and fo to lay it down again ; that fleflt remains , and !hall re– main ; ooris it without ufe , for all the fpirit and life 11ich the Saints now have, or which the saints fltall ~a~e unto the .end of the work it is to be. conveyed through that llefl1, yea the Sptrtt lt felfdwells m 11, and IS conveyed through tt, and therefore if they had fo much Gofpel-Spirit in the time ofthe Old Tefiament (which indeed was rare) Iww much more Jl10uld we go to Chrill as God in the flefl1, and look upon it is a !landing ordinance, and believe perfeC!ly on it? 3. Faith mufl: go and lye at the feet of Chri[l; faith mull: fix and faften it felf on lhis God in our flefh : fome go to Chrifl: and look_ on 'jefw with loofe and tranfient glances, they bring in but llafhy, fec-ondary , ordinary aetings of faith, they have but courfe and common apprehenfions of Jefus Chrill. Oh but we fhould come to Chrifr with fvlemn ferious fpirits; we fhould look... on (efzu piercingly, till we fee him as God is in him, and as fuch a perfen tlms and thus qualified from heaven ; we fhould labour to apprehend what is the riches of this glorious myfl:erle of Chrill's incarna– tion; we fhould dive into the depths of his glorious aetings ; we lhould ftudy this mifiery above all other fiudies ; nothing is fo pleafant, and nothing is more deep; that one perfon flwuld be God and man, that God flwuld be man in our nature, and yet notalfume the perfon of a man· that blelfednefs fltould be made acurfe, that heaven /hould be let down into bell, that the God of the world would,fhut himfelf up ( as it were) in a body; that the invifible God fl>->Uld be made vifible to fenfe; that all rhinos 010uld become nothing, and make it felf of no reputation ; that God fhould mak~our nature, which had linned againft him, to be the great ordinance of reconciling us unto himfelf that God fl10uld take our llefh , and dwell in it with all his fulnefs, and make that' fleOt more glorious than the Angels, and advance t!tat flefh into one– ncfs with himfelf,. and through that llefl1 open all his councels and rich difcoveries of love and free grace unto the fo~s of men; that ~his man-God , God:man Jhould be our Saviour, Redeemer, Reconciler, Father, Fner•. )h what myfl:enes are thefe! no wonder if when Chrifl:was born, the Apofrle cryes, w; 1 :nv hisglory, M ofthe onlybegotttet< Son ofGod. noting out that at full fight of him , fo much glory fparkled from him as could app;arfrom non~, but aGod walking up and down the world. 0 my foul let not fuch a treafury be unlookt into; fet faith?n work with~ redoubled llrength; furely we live not like men under this great delign, tfour eye offa1th be not firmly and fiedfa!ll_y fet on this. 0 that we were but inllghted into thefe glor cs ! that we were but acquamted with thefe livdy difcoveries? how blelfedly might w . liw by thrfaith •f the Sqn of Go 1 d wholovrd tu, andgavr himfelf for m.? - -J.. Fait I'
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