FORGIVENESS OF SIN. to behold= it in, his face, because of the open and illus- trious manifestation of the glory of God in him. And how do we behold this glory 1 In a glass, "as in a glass," that is, in the Gospel, which hath the image and likeness of Christ, who is the image of God, reflected upon it and communicated to it. So have we traced truth and grace from the person of the Father, to the Son as Mediator, and thence transfused into the word. But doth it abide there l No, God by the word ,of the Gospel " shines into our hearts." 2 Cor. 4 : 6. He ir- ,radiates our minds with a saving light into it, and ap- prehension of it. And what thence ensues l The soul of a believer is changed into the same image, by the effectual working of the Holy Ghost, chap. 3 : 18, that is, the likeness of Christ implantedon the word, is im- pressed on the soul itself, whereby it is renewed into the image of God. This brings'ail into a perfect har- mony. Where Gospel truth is effectually received and experienced in the soul, there is not only a consonancy between the soul and the word, but between the soul and Christ by the word, and the soul and God by Christ. And this gives assured establishment to the soul in the things it believes. Divine truth so con - veyed to us, is firm, stable, and immovable. And we can say of it in a spiritual sense, "That-which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes,,which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life," we know tobe true. Yea, a believer is a testimony to the certainty of truth. Words may be pretended; real effects have their testimony insepara- bly annexed to them. 3. Hence it appears that there must be great assu- rance of the truths which are thus received and be- lieved. For hereby are " the senses exercised to dis- cern good and evil." Heb. 5: 14. Where there is a spiritual sense of truth, from an inward- experience of
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