1 2:2 Dook 111. Locking tmto :fejru. .w~ have peace wirhGod ; what? ha{\: t~ou peacewith God? and hath God {\:i\l'd thy foul with peace ? rhis is an argument of thy (innes pardon - 3. If thine hearth e fingularly inflamed with the love of Chrift; the woman that had many Jiiinesforgiven her Luke 7:.47 by Chrift, jhe lov ed him much. Upon that account fhe wept .at1d wafhed his feet with her teares, and fo wiped them with th; 'haires of her head; 'the kified h:s feet, and anointed them with ointment, nothing was too good for Chrill who had forgiven her a\! her finnes. - 4· If thy heart, and foul , and all that is within be fingularly enlarged to praife God for his pardons; .I'f,1o3J,1,3· Blef[e the L ord, 0 myfoul, 11nd fo;-ge t not all hisbenefits; who f orgiveth all thine iniqh~~ies. If thine heart feel his pardons, thy mouth will fing h1s pralies;and hereby thou may{\: be alfured that God hath pardoned all thyfinnes. Come now ; are thefe, 0 my foul , the grounds ofthy hopes? a lively fa ith in Jefus? an accornplifhment in fome meafure of the promifes ot the c;ovenant? why,thefe are the fewel ofhope ; if this be thy cafe, act thy hope llrongly on Chrift, and on the covenant ofgrace , fay not , hope is onely of things future , and therefore if I be already in covenant , what need I hope ? for whether thou art in covenant or no, it is the main queftion here; nay, though it be granted that thou art in covenant, and that hope is fwa ilowed up in the compleat prefence ofitsobject; yet it is not at all diminifhed, but rather encreafed by a partial prefence. As in mallie bodies,though violent motion be weakeft in th~ end ~yet natural motions are ever fwifteft t.owards che center: fo m the hopes ofmen , though fuch as areviOlent and grornd- ~-Jefi'e prove weaker and weaker, yet thofe that are ftayed and natural (or rather gracious) are evermore ftronger and ftronger till they procure the utmoft prefence and union of their object. The nearer we come to a fruition of a good, the more 1mpatient we are to want it, 0 then hope in 'J efus! draw on thy hope yet more and more in this Covenant ofgrace ! be not content onely with an hope ofexpectation , but bring it on to an hope ofconfidence , or affurance ; thou canft not faile if thou hangeft thy hope onJefus : Chrift is not fallened as a loofe naile, or as a broken rotten hedge in the covenant of grace ; he is there as a naile Ifa.U. tj ,14 in 11[urep!ace;aiJd they fbal.l han_g on himall the glory of his Fathers houfe; the off-fpring and the ijj ue; all vej[els of [mall quantit) , from
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