I o6 c/1 Declaration4. theGlorious 1%1 Yas T ERI M The motives unto the love of Chrift are fo great, fo many, fo düfufed through the whole difpenfation of GodM him unto us, a that they can by no hand be fully expreffed, let it be allowed never fo much to inlarge in the declaration of them; much lets can theybe reprefented in that fhort dif- courfe whereof but a very final part is allotted unto their confideratinq filch as ours is at prefent. The ftudying, the collodion of them, or fo many of themas we are able, the meditation on them, and improvement of them, is among the principal duties of our whole lives. What I Ihall offer is the reductionof them unto thefe two heads : (i.) The -ads of Chrift, which is the fubftance of them: And (s.) The fpring and fountainof thofe ads which is the life of them. (t.) Ingeneral theyare all the adsofhis mediatory office withall thefruits ofthem whereof we are made partakers. There is notany thing that he did or doth in the difcharge of his mediatory office,'from the firft fufcep- rion of it inhis incarnation in the wombof the bleffedvirgin, unto his pre- fent interceflion in heaven, but is an effedual motive unto the love of him, and as filch is propofed unto us in the.fcripture. Whatever he did or cloth withor towards us in the name of God, as the King and prophet of the church, whatever he did or doth with God for us as our high prief}, it all fpeaks this language in the hearts of them that believe; O love the Lord °fefrs in fincerity. The confideration ofwhat Chrift thus did and doth for us, is infeparable from that of the benefits whichwe receive thereby. A due mixture ofboth thefe, of what he did for us, and what we obtain thereby, compriaeth the fubftance of thefe motives. Who lovedme, and gave himfelffor me. Who loved us, and wafhed us in his own blood, and Tirade us Kings and priesunto God. For thou waft(lain, and haft bought ses unto God with thy blood. And both thefeare of a tranfcendent nature, requiring our love to be fo alfo. Who is able to comprehend the gloryof the mediator adings of the Son of God, in the affumption of our nature, in what he did and fuffered therein ? And for us, eye bath not feen, nor ear heard, nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive, what we receive thereby. The lead benefit, and that obtained by the leaft expence of trouble or charge, deferveth love, and leaveth the brand of a crime, where it is not fo entertained. What then do the greateft deferve, and thofe procured by the greateft expence; even the price of the blood of the Son ofGod ? Ifwe have any faith concerning thefethings, it will pro- duce love, as that love will obedience. Whatever we profefs concerning them, it fprings from tradition and opinion and not from faith, if it ingage not our fouls into the love of him. The frame of heart which enfues on the real faith of thefe things, is expreffed, Pfal. ciii. r, 2, 3, 4, 5. Weft. the Lord, 0my foul, and allthat is withinme, ble/ls' his holyname. Biers the Lord, 0 myfoul, andforget not all his benefits. Who for iveth all thine ini. quities and healeth all thy difeáfes. Who recleemeth thy lifefrom derruflion ; who crowneth thee with loving kindnefs and tender mercies, who farisfietb thy mouthwith good things;fo that thyyouth is renewed like the eagles. Let men pretend what theywill, there needs no greater, noother evidence, to prove thatany one dothnot really believe the things that are reported in the gofpel concerning the mediatory adings ofChrift, or that he bath no experience in lais ownfoul and confcienceof the fruitsand effects of them, than this, that his heart is not ingaged by them unto the moft ardent love towards his person. He is no chriftian Who lives not moth in the meditation ofthe medi- ation of Chrift, and the efpecial ads of it. Same may more abound in that work than others, as it is fixed, formed and regalar. Some may be more able than othersto difpofetheir thoughts concerningthem, intomethod And
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