and fuffcrings are thine, even thine; beloved thu, andgave himfelfe for thee. , SECT· S· o/beleeving in [efm in that rrfiea. s. LEt us beleeve in [efm, carrying on the great work ofour falva~ion for us, during his futfcrings and death. Every ~nc looks upon this as an ea!ie duty ; only the humble foul, the fcrupulous confciencecryesout, what; i& itpoJ!ible that Chrift foould dye,Jujfer, foed hi& blood for me? hi& in"arnation wM wonde~fJd, hi& life on earth wM to ajlsnijhment; but that the Son of · Godfhould become mdn, live amongft men, a»d dye[Ncb 11 death, evm the death of the croj[e,forfurh a one MI am, I Clmnot pe/uve it; it i& an ab1Jf( paft faddoming ; the more I confider it, the more I am amaz:,ed at it ; [uppofe 1 had an enemy in my power, man, or devil; one that provok!;1 me every day; one that hunts my foHl to M~e it 1 Sam: ~i• r 9 , awaY.; foould I not fay :Vith Saul, if a ma~.find~ ~is enemy, will he · let hzm go we/law11y ? ft maJ be an tngemom{pmt ( fuch M David) would do thm much; 13ut would David, or any breathing [oufnot only[pare hu enemy, but JPill himfelfe to {<1ve hu enemy ? '¥!1ould aman become a devil to [ave devils? wtuld a man endure hell p11ines to free all the devils in hell from theiretm:al paim:s? and Jet wht~t rme thu in comparifon ofwhat Chrift hath done or fr4fered fer m ? It u not {o much for us to fuffer for deviiJ (for we are fellow-creatures) Mit u for Chrift God-man, man-God to fujfer form: Oh what an hard thing_ is it, conjidering my enmity agairtft Chrift, to beleeve that Chrift dyed for me, that he !!,ave himfeif-e to the death ; even to t.f;e death of the crof[e for my foul? Trembling foul! throw not away thy felfc in a way ofunbelief. It may be thou would'ft not dye for an enemy, an irrecon- . , cilable enemy; but are not the mercies ofGod above all the merci<!s ofmen? 0 beleeve! And that I may perfwade effectually. I fballlay down firft fome direCtions, and 2. Some encourage. mcnts ot faith. x. For .) . '
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