Gofpel TOnfsion. body:fo alfo'the Union between Man and Wife is a near Union, but the Union betweenChrift and a ji;ftified Soul is nearer than any of there : there is one expre ilion in Scripture that Chrift ufth,Johrr /i4. zo. You in n4e, and 1 in you : there are no two things fonearly united ; though he members be in the body,the body is not in ,he members ; iò the branch, though it be in the root, the root ca,-.not be in the Branch ; but the Union between Chrift and us, I.r Chrifl. in pa, and we in him ; Hè that joyned to the Lord in ne Spirit : It is a fpiritual Union,and the Uni- on of fpirituai things i :the neareft that can be : Now, Bleffed is the man whofe fins are forgiven, becaufe by this means, God brings the Soul and Chrift to fuch a near Union, that all naiural Unions are but dark fhadows of it. Of the feventh 114yf?erie, It is byFaith, yet boafting excluded. 7.1t mug be byFaith, and that is the molt glorious work that ever God enabled a poor creature to do, yet boafting muff be excluded , the Scripture excludes .boafting froth both not only from the Law of works, but the Law of faith ; but you may fay, Howcan both be excluded b6th the Law ofworks and the L-iw of faith ? tor works theymay be excluded fay fome, becaufe works are our own, but faith is the gift ofGod ; God inables us to believe , therefore there can be no boafting of faith becaufe it is thegift of God, but works are our own ; this anfwer is but a fi&ion, for 7f we be inabled for the performance of any work that is ofGod too ; the workof any grace is the gift of God as really and truly as faith is the gift of God, all gracious works are perform°d 't-y the grace and gift of God. Adam could not do what he did in Innocency, but by the gift of God ; and therefore to fly boafting is excluded by faith, be- caufe faith is the gift of God , will not ferve the turn ; there- fore the myfterieof juftific tion is a great mytlerie,that notwith- ftanding faith i5 fuch a glorious work, as it is one of theglori- oufft works that ever any creature did, yet that this fhouldbe excluded, by this I cannot 'gut be perfwaded, that there is more in the work of Faith than in any thing Adam ever had ; and that faith the power of believing was not inAdam in theRate of
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