e:14. Luke 2 2f. coi. 3 II. Gen .9 13) 14) 26. v. Jo- ;3. 819. Ezek. 36.2546. kieb,13.10,I205cc. A Box of precious Ointment: Or \ juft fication and falvation, though not as caufes of their in- te:eft in Chrift, juftification andfalvation. 0 Sirs, we muff alwayes carefully diftinguifh 'twixt the root and ground of our comfort, and between the teftimonies or evidences of our interell in the root of our comfort. Nov it muft readily granted that Jefus Chrift is the only root and ground of a Chriflians comfort and triumph ; and therefore faith Paul, God forbid that I Amid rejoyee in any thing, but in the Croft of Chrig. And fo in that, 2 Cor. 2. 14, NOW thanks be unto God, which alwaye; caufes us to triumph in Chrifi. So that, if at any time we behold this or that faving grace, or this or that part of holinefs fhining in our hearts or lives, we take comfort in it, not as, the caufe, or root, or ground of our comfort or triumph, but as in a tefthriony or evidence, becaufe it cloth manifef} our intereft in him, who is: our comfort, our peace, our joy, our falvation, our all in all. Look as the Rain-bow is not a caufe, why God will not drown the world, but a fign that God will not drown the world ; and as it is a fign that God will not drown the world, we may and ought to rejoyce in it, and to take comfort from it. So here, &c. 'Tis agreed on all hands, that fan6ti- fication is a precious. benefit of the Covenant of grace, as well as juftification ; and what crime can it then be, to evi- dence one benefit of the Covenant of grace, by another be- nefit of the fame Covenant. That he that is jullified, is alfo fanaified, and that he that is fanolified is alfo juftified, is fo clear, fo bright, fo fparkling, and fo full a truth con- tained in the Covenant of grace, that no man or devil can deny. Now what evil or error can it be for a man to affert, That he that is certainly fanaified, is certainly juflified ; (it peing the very language of the Covenant of grace) and that therefore he that knows himfelf to be fanaified, may alfo know thereby that he is faflified, Certainlyi thofe perfons that shall deny fanotification to be a molt flare, ,fweet and comfortable evidence of a mans juitification, they muff not only blot out and abolifh the Epiftles of fames and 7-ohn, but muff alfo race out and abolith all thofe Evanaelical pro- rnifes of grace and mercy, of happinefs and bbleffednefs, that!
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