x96 SERMONS upon Serm.34. thus Qualified, would not every one put in for a Share ? Believe, believe, this is the Condition. Vfe 3. It fheweth the Excellency of Faith. Thofe that have an Intereft in Chrifl's Prayers, are not defcribed by their Love, their Obedience, or any other Grace, (tho thefe are neceflary in their place) but by their Faith, and the Godly are elfewhere cal- led of the Houlhold of Faith. Where -ever our Implantation into Chrift, or Participa- tion of the Privileges of his Death, or our Spiritual Communion in the Church is fpoketiof, the Condition is Faith. It is a Grace that fendeth us out of our (elves, to . look for all in another. It is the Mother of Obedience; as all Difobedience is by Unbelief, fo all Obedience is by Faith. Firft he faid, Te (hall not die ; and then, Te fliall be as Gods. Firft he feeketh to weaken their Faith in the Word, ¿hey could not be proud and ambi- tious till they did difbelieve. Therefore above all Things, let us labour after Faith. Our Hearts are taken up with the World, the Honours and Pleafures of it ; thefe cannot snake its happy, but Chriftian Privileges will, all which are conveyed to us by Faith. But let us come to the fecond Point. Doá. 2. That in the reckoning and fenfe of the Gabel, they are Believers that are straight upon to believe in Chrii through the Word. Here is the Obje&, Chrift ; the Ground, Warrant, and Inllrumental Caufe, aitd that is the Word. The Warrant mull be diftinguifhed from the Object, theWarrant is the Word, and the proper object of Faith is Chrift, as confidered in his Mediatory Office. Sometimes the Aû of Faith is terminated on the Perlon of Chrift, and fometimes on the Promife, to (hew there is no doting with Chrift without the Promife, and no do- ting with the Protçtfe without Chrift. As in a Contra &, there is not only a receiving of the Leafe, or Conveyance; but a receiving of Lands by virtue of fuch a Deed and Conveyance: So there is a receiving of the Word, and a receiving of Chrift through the Word : the one maketh way for the other, the Promife for our Affiance in Chrift. Faith that af(ents to the Promife, doth alto accept of Chrift ; there is an Aá terminated on his Perlon. Faith is not afnfus axiamati, a naked Affent to the Propofitions of the Word, but a Confent to take Chrift, that we may rely upon him, and obey him as an Alfufìcient Saviour. But now let us fpeak of thefe diftinály. Firft ; Of the Ob)e &, that is, to believe in Chrift. There is believing of Chrift, and believing in Chrift. He doth not fay, thofe that believe me, but thofe that believe in me through their Word. Believing Chrift, implieth a Credulity and Affent to the Word; and believing in Chrift, Confidence and Reliance. Once more; Believing in Chrift, is a Notion diftiu& from Believing in God : Joh.14.s. Te believe in God, believe alto in me. Since the Incarnation, and fence Chrift came to exercife the Office of aMediator,there is a diltiná Faith required in him,becaufe there are diflin& grounds of Confdence,becaulb in him we fee God in our Nature, we have a claim by Juftice as well as Mercy, we have á Mediator who partaketh of God's Nature and Outs, and fo is fit to go between God and us. Briefly, to open this believing in Chrift ; it may be opened by the Implicit or Ex- plicit Ats of it, s. There is fomething Implicite in this Confidence and Reliance upon Chrift, and that is a lively fenfe of our own Mifery, and the Wrath of God due for Sin. All God's Ads take date from the Nothingnefi and Neceffity of the Creature, and from thence alto do begin our own Addrefles to God. God's Ads begin thence, that he may be All. in All : from the Creation to the Refurreáion, God keepeth this Conde, and then the Difpeu(ation ceafetb, for then there is no more want, but fulnefs. Creation is Qut of Nothing; Providence interpofeth, when we are as good as Nothing; at the Re- furredion we are nothing but Duft, God worketh on the few Relicts of Death and Time. So in all Moral Matters, as well as Natural, it is one of his Names, He come f?rteth thole that are cafi damn, When. he came to convert Adam, he bell terrified him ; They heard the Voice of God in the Garden, and were afraid, Gen.3, ro. He delivered ¡fad out of Egypt,when their Souls were full of Anguifh. We are firft exercifed with the Mi- nry of the Condemnation, before Light and Immortality are brought to Life in the Gofpel ; and (till God keeps his old Courfe } Men are Lift burdened and fenfible of their Load, before
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