330 Book IV. Locking unto j-efas. Chap.z.Sed.s ------------------------------------------------------- was made flefh;and fo that fleili which was fo weak,as not able to fave its own life, was cow enabled to fave millions offouls, and to bring forth the greatefl: dellgnes ofGod; now was it that truth ran to mercy and embraced her, and righteoufndfe to peace-and kiffed her, in Chrift they meet, yea in him was the infinite exad:- n(!fs of Gods jull:ice fatisfied. 3. ·A confideration that God hath fet up Chrift as a Mediator: that he was incarnate in order to reconciliation, and falvation of fouls, but for the accomplifhment of this dc:Ggne Chrift had never been incarnate ; the very end ofhis uniting fleili unto him, was in order to the reconciliation of us poore fouls ; alas we had finned and by lin deferved everlafting damnation, but to fa ve us, and to fatisf.ie himfelfe, God takes our nature and joynes it to his Son, and calls that Chrift a Saviour: this is the Gofpel-notion cfChrifl:, for what is Chrift, but God himfe!fe in our nature, tra~afIICling our peace? in thisChrifl: is that fulnefs, and righteoufnefs, and love, and bowels to receive the fir it acts ofour faith ; and to . have immediate union and communion with us; indeed we pitch not our faith firft or immediately on God himfelfe; yet at !aft we come to him, and our faith lives in God (as one faith fiVeetly) before it is aware , through the fw~t intervention of that perfon which is God himfelfe, only ealled by another name the Lord {efus Chrift, and t hefe are the helps of faith in reference to our unworthinefs, Gods juftice, and the want ofa Mediatour betwixt God and us. - 3. The manner how to act our faith on Chrift incarnate is thisI. Faith mufl: directly go to Chrifl: : we ffnde indeed in the Bible fome particular promifes of this and that grace : ·and in proper f-pe:~king the way to live by faith, it is to live upon the promifes in the want of the thing, or to apprehend the thing it felfe contained in the promife : but the promifes are not given to the eled immediately without Chrifl:; no) no, firft Chriit and then all other things, encline y o1tr eares, and come 1mto me; 1 •. Come unto Chrift, and then I will ?rJflk§ ttn evcdtrjling CovenatJt, (which containes all the promife>) even the Jure mercies of David. As in marriage, the woman firft confents to have the man, and then all the benefits that neceffarily follow; fo the ~~1 by f~iLb, firft pitcheth upon Chrifl: himfelfe, and then on ~~e prm-:
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