do The Life of Faith. is but to thew God toman, in the fulleft profped of his Good- nefl and unmeafurable Love, that fo he may appear more ami- able to us; and :may be more beloved by us ; that LovingGooc'.. nefs may makeus good, and make us happy. 9. To encourage us to Love andGoodnefs, God doth in the Gofpe! give us the pardon of all our fins, as loon as ever we tern to him by Faitb and Repentance : Though we have dcfervcd Hell, he dcclareth that he will forgive us that defert. Ifwe hadcome to Hell before we had been redeemed, I think we thould have taken that Religion to be good indeed, which would have brought us the tydings offorgivenefs, and (hewed us fo ready a way tocfcape. ro. And this mercy is given by anVniverfal Covenant, of- fered to all, without exception : And the Conditions arc fo reafonable, that no one can have any juft pretence againft them. It is but to accept the mercyoffered with a believing tbankfull mind, as a condemned man would do a pardon. And what can be more fuitable to our mifcrablc fitzte ? r r. And to bringus to all this, and make us holy, Chriti hath givenus a molt holy word and dohrine : perfectly holy in itsprecepts, and in its prohibitions, and all the fubfervient kittories and narratives : And he hath added the perfet pat- tern of his holy life, that our Rule and Example might agree. 12. Sogood is this word, that it calleth us to the bigbeff degree ofGoodnefs, and maketh Perfeliion it felfour duty; that our dutyand bappinefs may agree ; and we may not have li- berty to bebad and miferable; but may be every way bound to our own felicity : And yet fo good is this Covenant of Grace, that it taketh not advantage of our infirmities to ruine us, but noteth them to humble us, in order to our cure : And st acceptethfincerity, though it command perfealien. And Chrift looketh not at our failings, as a fevere Judge, but as a Phy- fician, and a tender Father. a3. So good is our Religion, that the great thing which it requireth of us, is to prefer thegreateft good, before the leffer, and not tobe like children who take it for their riches tofill their pin-box ; or like foolifh Merchants,whohad rather trade for trath, than for gold.The great bufinafs ofChrittianprecepts is, tomakeus know that we arc capable of better things than meat
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