Caufes afr/ndlrvalülng C`A'a 315 will take thy foule from thee: What if that haft the tféf dome of eAchirophell ? yet not having C.hrift, thy wifkcrre. will be turned into foolifnncfl'e, and tbcu tnaycft faíle cfi wifdome in thy head to reftraine thy hands hem being¡ thine owne executioners : What if act/ raft all the Or-¡ divances of God to feed thee, all the Miniilcrs of Ccd to inflruc`t thee, all naturall and moral! indowtmentsa d mon illuminations to adorne thee,rnd all Ecele¡aiíicall Frr vileddesto honour thee, and yet haft not Chiift, ail thefe!. Hie Tharachj Chariots with(ut wheeler, will tuff r thee to fluke andperifli in the red Sea of Cods vengeance; tie pre- fence ofall worldly abilities is very frivolous in Chrtfts abfence, and man (hould never fo abafe and humble him- felfe for the want of any thing, as for the want of thrift and his communication ofhimfelfe unto him ; all that can be Paid to demonílrate mans being miferable, or to move man to humiliation, is briefly comprehended inthis, that he is Without Chrt ft. 3. Mans alienation from Chrift in his naturali and cor- rupt eflate doth difcover and lay open the caufti, Why thrift is of no more efteeme with the men of the world, . no more precious in the eyes ofcarnall men ;. here is the ground of it, they are without Chrift, they are ft-rangers to Chrift, and Chrift is a hanger unto them. For this caufe. r. They have no cleare and comfortable knowledge, rio true and gracious difcerning of Chrift, Cl-rift is hid- den from them, as light from the blinde. He ltwar in the World.. (faith the Evan elifi) and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He was in the world by his great and mighty workes of Creation and Providence, as a maker and a ruler ; by his univerfall prefenee, as a dwel- ler ; by his generali and common info e»ce, as a root in the branches, ininiftring rrefervation to all creatures, and by his Ordinances and Prophets, as ateacher in his Sehoole; yeas: he came among his owne; among the levees , by in- coirnariony in the vifible forme of a man , but the world neither, knew him, nor his own received him ; theyknow not the weepy' of Chrift, the men of the 914:world knew not 3,Caufe of un- dervalumá Chnf}.
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