ws Book IV. 1/.,oolimg unto jjefu.s. Chap.2.Sectr j~<jily f.•llen 11nder thy di{pleafi•rc, they defcrve to be fet at an eternal dijiancefrom th!e, but 1mu{/ needs ht<ve them pardoned, anJ. receeved mto thy bofom ; come, makf thine 01 m terms, fee !uflice require nevu fo great fati;f.tuion, I have paid a priceJiifficient for all, a11d ejfrEh.tl for them ; give them what lawsthou pleafejl, !will undertak! they (hall obferve them, ,a;d tothi• pttrpofeaway, awayholySpirit, goto fuch and (uch fo•eis; enablethem to thei.-dutics, ye.<,. enable them tn dmy, and fan[!ifie them throt~ghout in fouls, bodies and fpirits. Why, tlus IS the prefent tranfachon o, Jefus Chnfl:, and therefore moll: defi– rable; methin~s I long to _kn?w what Chrifl: is_now a doing in Heaven fo; my foul , and is it not thus?_ IS nota_ll h1s ume fpent enher m r_eadmg pardons for hisredeemed ones, or in prefemmg p~tt.tto~s from them, and pleadmg for them Sorely he is fl:ill inter– ceding every day; 1t IS h1s prefent work for our fouls, 0 def(rable work! 2. In _rbis ~refem tranfadion lies the a~plimion of all Chri!i's former a&ings, whe– ther of hiS hab1tualnghreoUfnefs, or of hiS acbve and patlive obedience. All thofe paf– fages' of Chrifl:'s Incarnation, Conception , Circumcifion Birth Life and Dearh which more efpecially we look upon, as the meritorious c;ufes of 'our f;lv'ation, had been nothing to us, if they had nor been applied by Chrifl: : ·they were the me.ns of im~etration, but Chri!l'simerceffion is the means of application; Chri!l purchafed fa!– ya:wn by rhofe precedancous aCts, but he polfdfeth us of our falvation by this perfe– cbve and confummate ad of !m Imerce!Iion. The order of this is laid down by the Hcb. I· ",,.1-. ApoU\e, in that firll: he learned obedience by rh: things which he fujfered, and then being madeperfefl, !Jebecamerhc Amhor (or applymgcaufe) of etern~tl folvation to all them that obey him_; being to this purp~fe called of God an High Priejt t?jter the order of Mel– chifedeck.o Now IS not thts the dehrable a& above all other aCts? Alas! what am I better for a Mine of Gold in fuch, or fuch, or fuch a field, in which I have no propriety at all ? I am throughly convinc'd that Chri!l's merits are moll preciou· merits, bnt oh that they were mine! oh that Chri~'s Jnterceffion would bring the falve, and lay it to my fore ! oh that I could bear that vo1ce from Heaven, My [on, I WMincarnate for thee, and c.n– veived for thee, and born for thee, aNd cir~umcifed for thee, and I did the L~w, and fujferedthe penalty for thee; and now I am Interceding that thy very [o11l may have the be– nefit of all my doings, andof 111/ my fufferings. Why, if Chrifl:'s inrerceffion be the ap– plying caufe, if it bring home to my foul all the former tranfadions of Cbri!l, faying, .Ailthefe are thine, even thine, oh how defirable mull chis inrerceffion be? 3. In this application lies that communion and fellowlhip which we have wirh·the Fa~ John 17 , 11 • therandtheSon: lpr~y for thefe, that MthoiiF~ttherart inme, andlinthee, thAtthe"f alfo may be one in m. Under!l:and this foberly, we cannot think rhatthere lhould be thatonenefsinequalitybetwixt God aodus, as betwixt God andChrill; no, no, .but there is onenefs in limilitude and reality, even in this life; by verrue of Chrifl:'s inrer– cellion we have onenefs with God and Chrill:, not only in comforts, but alfo in graces; I pray you mark this; when Ifpeak of communion with God in this life, I meanefpe– cially the communication of grace between God and the foul; on God's part there's a fpecial influence of grace and favour to man; and on man"s parr, rhere is a fpecia! re– turn of graceand honour to God. Some trembling fouls are apt to think, that all com– munion with God and Chri!l confi!ls only in the comforts of the holy Spirit, whereas Chri!lians may as really and advamageoully have communion with God in fecret convey– ances of grace, in inward fuppons, in a concealed acceptation of fervice, in the hidden drawings of the foul God-ward, as in the more open, and comfottable manife!lations of God unto the foul ; communion with God is a familiar friendlhip ( I fpeak it in an holy humble fence ) now do we not as ufually go to a friend. for counfel and a.dvice, as for coll\fort and cheering? in afriends bo(om we inrru!l our farrows as well as our joyes. Suppofe afoul evenfpirirually overwhelmed, and ready to break, betaking it fdf unto God, and venting it felf before the Lord; now if afterwards the foul bath no more eafe, than by the bare laoching of the fore, if God pours in no balm at all, bur only gives fupporr ; 01all we fay that this foul in this cafe bath no communion ~vith God? 0 yes ! in God's fecret vi~ts of the foul, and in the fouls refl:lefs grop1ng after God, though no1hing bur darknels be apprehended. yet that foul lives in the light of God's countemnce; the Sun 01ines, thou~h aCloud inrerpofeth ; God fmiles though the foul do nor perceive ir; or certainly rhon hail: his firengthening- fupporring prefence, if not his f11ining; ndw this is rhe fruit of Chri!l's blelfed intercelllon; and this is the fub- ]okn ' i·•3· jed-mmer of Chrill's imerceffion, 0 my Farher, that thefe may be one in u;; I in them, and tho,. in ";c; I ill them by the injlt<ence aed power of my Spirit, and thou,
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