86 c.,4 Declaration of f th.e Glorious MYSTERY alfo to place our twill and confidence in him, forfilch fupplies of grace, forfech an exercifeof the ads ofhis divine power, as whereby we may be fupported and delivered. And we haveherein the whole ofwhat we plead. Divine faith a&ed diftinCtly in, and terminated on the perfonof Chrift, and that with raped unto fupplies of grace and mercy from him, in a way of divine power. So be fpeaks unto Martha, John xi. 25, 26, 27, He that believetb in me, though he were dead, yet /hall he live, and whofoever liveth and believeth on me, fhall never die : believefl thou this I whereunute fhe anfwers, Tea, Lord, I believe that thou art Chrift the San ofGor6 His perfon was the objeft of her faith, and her belief in him comprized a trait for all fpiritual' and eternal mercies. I Stall add one more, where. in not only the thing it felf, hut the efpecial ground and reafon of it is declared, Gal, ii. 20. The life which I now live in the fleh, I live by the faith of the Son ofGod who loved me, and gave birnfe f far me. That faith he aiferts which is the caufe and fpring ofour fpiritual life; that life unto God, which we lead in the Seth, or whileft we are in the body not yet admitted unto fight and enjoyment. Of this faith the Son of God is both the author and the objeft, the latter whereof is here principally intended, And this is evidentfrom the reafon and motive of it, which are expreffed. This faith I live by, am in the continualexercife of, becaufe he loved me, andgave himfelffor me. For this is that which doth power- fully influence our hearts to fix our faith in him and on him. And that perfon who fo lovedus, is the fame in whom wedo believe. If his per- fon wasthe feat of his own love, it is the objeft of our faith. And thisfaith is not only our duty, but our life. He that hath itnot,is dead inthefigltt of God. But T hope it is not yet necelfary to multiply teltimonies to prove it our dutyto believe in Jefus Chrift; that is, to believe in the perfon of the Son of Cod, for otherfaith in Chrift there is none, yet I Shall add one or two confiderations inthe confirmation of it. ì.) There is no more necelfary hereunto, namely, to prove the perfon of Chrift, the Son of God, to be the proper and diftirict obje&of faith divine, than what we have already demonftrated concerning the fölemn invocation ofhim. For, faith theapoftle, How(ball they callon him in whom they have not believed? Rom. x. 54. It holds on either fide. We cannot, we ought to not callon him in whom wedo not, we ought not to believe. And in whom ive do believe, on him we ought to call. Wherefore if it be our duty to call on the name ofChrift, it is our duty to believe in the perfon of Chrift. And if to believe in Chrift be no more but to believe the do&rino ofthe gofpel which he bath revealed; then everyone whole do&tinewe are obliged to believe, on them we ought to call alfo. And on this ground we may call on the names of the prophets and apoftles, as well as on the name of Jefas Chrift, and be faved thereby. But whereas invocation or prayer proceedeth from faith, and that prayer is formercy, grace, life and . eternal falvation, faithmutt befixed on the perfon fo called on, as able to give them all unto us, or that prayer is in vain. , (2. Again, that we are baptized into the name of Jefus Chrift, and that diftin&ly with the Father, is a fufficient evidence of the necefhtyoffaith in his perfon. For we are therein given up unto univerfal fpiritual fubje&ion of foul unto him, and dependence on him. Not to believe in him, on his name, that is his perfon, when we are fogiven up unto him, or baptized into him, is virtually to renounce him. But to puta prefent clofeunto thisconteft. Faith in Chrift is that grace whereby the church is united unto him, in- corporated into one myltical body with him. It is thereby that he dwells in them, and they in him. By this alone are all fupplies of grace derived front
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