f the PERSON Of CHRIST. 17 could attain. And asthis is evident from hence, becaufe God in his wif- dom, grace and love to the church, hath removed that Hate, .and.inrrodu- ced this in the room thereof; fo the apoftle proves it in all confiderable inflames, in his Epiflle to the Hebrews, written unto that purpofe. There were two things before in religion : The promife which was the life of it, and the infiitutions of worfhip under the law, which were the outward glory and beauty of it. And both thefe were nothing, or had nothing in them, but only what they before propofed and reprefented of Chrift, God manifefied in the fief& The promife was concerning him; and the inftitutions of worship did only reprefent him. So the apoftle declares it, Col. ü. 17. Wherefore as all the religion that was in the world after the fall was built on the promife of this work of God in due time to beaccomplifhed, fo it is the -actual performance of it, which is thefoun- dation of chriftian religion, and which gives it the preheminence above all that went before it.' So the apoftle expreffeth it, Heb. i. r, 2, 3. God who at, &c. All falfe religion pretended always unto things that were myf1eriour. And the more men could invent, or the devil fuggeft,that had an appearance of that nature, as fundry things were fo introduced horrid and dreadful, the more reverence and efteem were reconciled unto it. But the whole compafs of the craft of fatan, and the imaginations of men, could never extend it felf unto the leaft refemblance of this myftery. And it is not amifs conjedored, that the apoftle in his defcription of it, r Tim. iii. 16. did reflect upon, and condemn the vanity of the Eleufynian my/leries, which were of the greateft vogue and reputation among the Gentiles. Take away the confideration hereof, and- we defpoil chriftian religion of all its glory, debaftng it unto what Mabumetifvn pretends unto, and unto what in Judaifm was really enjoyed. Thefaith of this myftery ennobles the mind wherein it is, rendering ìt fpìritual and heavenly, transforming it into the image of God. Here- in confifts the excellency of faith, above all other powers and ads of the foul, that it receives, affents unto, and refts in things in their own nature abfolutely incomprehenfible. It is ßAvaal. b,wro, Heb. xi. i. The evidence of things not feen; that which makes evidence as by demonftrati- on, thofe things which are no way objeded unto fenfe, and which reafon cannot comprehend. The more fublime and glorious, the more inaccefhble unto fenfe and reafon are the things which we believe, the more are we changed into the image of God, in the exercifeof faith upon them Hence we find this ntoft glorious effect of faith, or the transformation of the mind into the likenefs of God, no lefs real evident and eminent in many, whofe rationally comprehenftve abilities are weak and contemptible in the eye of that wifdom which is of this world, than in thofe of the higheft na- tural fagacity, enjoying the belt improvements of reafon. For God bath cho- fen the poor ofthis world rich infaith, and heirs of the kingdom, jam. ii. 5. However they may be poor, and as another apoftle fpeaketh foolifh, weak, bofe and defpifed, r Cor. i. 27, 28: yet that faith which enables them to affent unto, and embrace divine myfteries, renders them rich in the fight ofGod, in that it makes them like unto him. Some would have all thingsthat we are to believe to be levelled abfolute- ly unto our reafon and comprehenfion, a principle which at this day (hakes the very foundations of chriftian religion. It is not fuf lcient they fay to determine that the faith or knowledgeof any thing is neceffary un- to our obedience and falvation, that it feems to be fully and perfpicuoully revea!'d in the fcripture ; unlefsthe things fo reveal'd beobvious and compre- F henfible
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