Inftdelity. Effecqs ofknbeleefe. 2 z forts in Chrift and his doctrine : He that Both not by the eye of faith d.ifcerne Chrift, and by the hand of faith tin- gle and take out Chrift unto hnnfelfe,as his light and coun- fèilor to guide him, as his Roche to fùftaine him , as his 1 Prince, to be commanded by him, ashis pearle, looking for no other treafure, and as the husband to whomhe marries his foule, and on whom he places all his love : Hee that doth not thus beleeve cannot rejoyce in Chrift, Christ is none of his ; therefore he cannot rejoyce in him no more then the puore can rejoyce in a rich mans'treafure,to which himfelfe hath no title, or a woman in a man that is a firanger toher, in whom the bath no matrimoniali intereft, towards whom (he bath no matrimoniali love. Unbeliefe blinds the unierftanding, that it difcernes not the beauty,worth and excellencyof Chrift ; it hardens the heart, and makes it un- fenfible of Chrift, as the rocke is of the dew; it f*ts up the foule, and makes it uncapable of' Chrift ; as theeye that is (hut, is uncapable of' the light, ur.till it is opened agatne ; it alienates the mind of man from Chrift, and caufeth him to depart from Chrift to the creature ; as the men of She- diem did from the vine to the bramble, from the fonnes of Ierubbaalto Abirnelech :. 7 hrough unbeliefe Chrift is to the foule as a Swine under an Eclipfe, whom it fees not , as a fealed well of which it drinks not ; unbeleefe (huts out the foule from Chrift, and all his benefits, as Adam was kept out of thegarden, and from the tree of life, it makes Christ a stranger to his foule, and his foule a ftranger unto C.hrift; and as it excludes man from all communion with Chrift, fo it deprives him ofall joy in Chrift , He that beleeves not in Chrift, and in the benefits flowing from him , can never rejoyce in him, becaufn the foule is filled with all soy in beleevinc, Ifa. 5 3.11 Z.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=