Book.rv. Chap.2 . Seer 4 . -- ----- ------i--------- bave it) ca~r;e to {e/us, and beflught him to ccme duwn to bu boufe John~ .17. ,;rnd iQ ! eale ht5/cr.me, who w:u at the point of death. We do no; finde Chrilt often attend~d with ~obi!ity , but !me he is;not man} 1 Cor. X.t6. wife men after the jl·fh, mt manytnigh~Y, nrtmar.y nub!earec.dil d, yer God forbid bur that fome are, and may be; thi snoble Ruler • 1:1tens after Chnfl: in hts necdlicy; happy w~s it fur hirn that his fon was fick, for elfe he had not been fo well ac quainred with l1is ·~aviour; _0 we are loath ro come ro Chrifl: till we fc:e a need a neceffity for it; and hence it is that Cbrifl: fends weakneffe: fickndfcs, infirmities, oppofirions, and many afthctions that hs: may be fought unto: Come then, are we affltcted ? whither fuould we go but to Cana, to feek Chrifi? whither lhould we go but co-that C antfl of heaven, where our warer will be turned into wine, where our Phyfitian lives that knows how to cure fouls, and bodies, and all; chat we may once fay , it u g~od for me . that I wM t~jfiiCled. The flrfl: anfwer ChriH gives this .noble man Job. 41g! _is a word ofreproof.:, except ye fee jignos and wmden, ye l4ill not beleeve; incredulity was the common difeafe of the J ewes, which . n.o rco=ir could cure butwonders, A wick_fd tmd adu/rer' m gcrkrationfeckJ ll{tcr jigneJ; the doetrine of Chri!l and all the divine words that he lpake, mufi be made up with miracles, or they will not bclecve ;· it was a foule fault, and a dargerous one, ye will no'r beleeve . What is it that condemns tbe world but unbelief ? here's a noble Ca pernaite that probably had heard many a Sermon ofJefus Lhnfr; and yet here he is taxed with unbelief; iffuth as we that ];ve under the clear fun-thine of the Gofpel {hall not beleeve, 0 what a fin is this? Chrifis nexr anfwer •m. ~ 0, to this noble man is aword ofcomfort, go thy way thy fon liveth: Oh the meekneffe and mercy of Jefus C hriH! when we would have looked that he lhould have pmufued this fuiror for not beleeving, he rondefcends to him that he may beleeve: as fome tender mothers Ehat give the brdt to their unquiet children in ftead ofthe rod ; fo ufually deales Chrilt with our perverfneffe, go thy way t hy fon liveth, with one word doth Chr·lt neale two patients, the fon and the father; the fons fever, and the fathers unbelief; we can not but obferve here the fl:eps of faith . he that beleeved fomewhat ere he came, and more when he went, he grew to more and more faith in rhe way, and when he came home _l.lc: enlarged his faith to.all th~ skirts of his family. .Andt he maN bdeeved
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