ó c a[lenges on that account ; thefe may, and fhoufd be, where the blood of Chriff is made ufe of, and ap- plied by faith to the perfon's Confcence : They will not rnarr this confidence and boldnefs, nor full affurance of faith that we fpeak of (but rather further it) as is clear from the drawing near of the faints to God, recorded in the fcripture ; as for inffance, in that woman fpoken of, Luke 7. 38. who weeps, and weeps fo abundantly, that the washes the Lord's feet with her tears ; yet the draws near to him with confidence: Nay, this drawing near with full affurance of faith doth not remove all fear, looking on fear as it carries along with it the confideration of the ]infinite diffance and difproportion that is betwixt the inajeffy of the great God, and a finite fecklefs and finful creature ; nor that holy awe and filial reverence that is due to him, and well confluent with this full affurance pf faith, nay, infeperable from the lively and kindly ex- ercife of it : But it fuppofeth thefe four; i. That the believer, fled to the blood of fprinkling, may boldly go to God in prayer, as if his friendthip with him in Adams had never been broken ; as the apoffle infinuates, v. 19. while he fays, Having therefore, brethren, boldnefs to enter into the holrefi, &c. There is a liberty and boldnefs (as I full now fáid) allowed him to call God Father, as if the former covenant had never been broken by a fon tur- ning a rebel and traitor ; the covenant of grace under the bond of which he is brought, as God's confederate, making the relation to him as near, flrait, kindly, firm and fure as it was in that other, with confiderable fuper added advantages. 2. That he may meddle with, and make ufe of, the promifes, of pardon of fin, of fandification, of through- bearing in afii&ion, of quickning, of peace, of comfort, &c. according as he (lands in need, with confidence ; and may draw near with full affurance of the faith of God's faithfulnefs, as to the performance of them, in his own meafure, manner and time ; fo that, if the believer could as fully and ffrongly exercife his faith on the pro - mifc: as he bath warrant to do, he might with as much confidence, and fdlnefs of affurance, call himfelfon them, as Adam in innocency did on the promife of life in ale frf
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