On the Excellency of Chrift. 49 what a Gad bee is that it bath to deal with ? Shall not that ex- cellency of his that lath been opened unto you , make you afraid, and caufe you to fear fact, a God ? A ow then having fpoken fomewhat about the Excehency of God , and what apprehenfz- ons wee aie to have of God in all oar wages, wee are now .te fpeap fomewhat concerning the Excellency of Chrifl , and re flrew you what apprehenfions you are to have of f efo*t C brill, For this is eternal life, to know thee, and thy Son ; to know God , and not to know him in Chrifl , is to very little puì ?ofe. It is ne faving knowledge of God, if wee were able to dif- courfe never fo much of him , except wee know him in Jefus Chrifl, in his Son. And therefore for the knowledge of Chrifit, which I (hall endeavour to prefent as briefly as I did the knowledge of God rou may bee ?leafed to turn to that Scripture in Ifaiah 9. part of verf.6. onely in thefe words, And his Name Mail bee called Wonderful. Text. I F you read this verle, and that that follows, you might Ithink that you were rather reading an Evangelift , than a Prophet , one rather relating a Hiftory of what was done , than a Prophecie of what was to bee done. Ifaiah here pro - phefies clearly of Chrift , as if bee had been come at that tame, and yet it was between (even and eight hundred years before the coming of Chrift that this Prophecie was, ?into to a childe is born,unto:a a Son isgiven,and the Government fball bee upon his fboulder ; And his Name (hall bee called to on- derful. But it is the ufual way of Scripture to fet before us things to bee done,as if they were already done, to note the certainty of what. God reveals to bee done, and faith will make things that are net, to bee, as if they were really pre- fent. And indeed, faith never bath a proper work fo much as in this, in making things that are not prefent, to bee as if they were prefent, to make them real. It was a time of great diftrefs and trouble to the Church God , when this Propheciewas ,. as will appear from the feventh Chafrer H even
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