rl"heLf ofChrifl. 48 t Gods juflice,we all (hall appear in him fo too; becauCe his bones cannot be brokeu.That which thus puts us into the Vnitie of Chrift, muff needs juftiiie our perlons, and fet us right in the prefence of (god ; and this is our Faith: The Apottle gives two excellent reafons why our Iuftifi- cation thould be of Faith rather than of any other Grace. The firf onGods part, that it might be of Grace : The fecond on the part of the promife, Tkeat thepromifemight be acre to all the (cede, Rjm. 416. Firft, Iullification that is by Faith is of metre Grace and favour, no way of worke or merit. For the as whereby Faith ¡unifies, is an a& of humilitie, and felfe- dereliction, a holy delpaire of any thing in our felves, and a going to Chrif}, a recei- ving, a lookin& towards him and his Al-fuíficiency; fo that as Mar laid of her felfe, fo we may fay of Faith; The Lord bath refpelt unto the lowlinere of his grace, which is fo far from looking inward for matter of luflifi- cation,thac it felfe as it is a work of the heart, credere, Both not j ufiifie, but only as it is an apprebenfon or ta- king hold of Chrift. For as the hand in the very receiving of a thing muff needs firíl make it felfe emptie (If it bee full before, it mutt let all that goe ere it can take hold on any other thing:) So faith being a receiving of Chrifl, ¡oh. z . i z. mull needs fuppofe an emptineffe in the foule before. Faith bath two prop erties (as a Hand) To worke, and to receive ; when Faith purifies the heart, fupports the drooping spirits, worketh by love,carries a man through á81i &ions and the like, thefe are the workes 9f Faith : when Faith accepts of righteoufnefle in Chrift, and re- ceives him as the gift of his Fathers Love , when it em- braceth the promifes a farre off, Heb. I I. 13. and layes á hold on Eternal' Life, I Tim. 6.1 2. This is the recei'r -> ing acct of Faith.Now Faith 'unifies not by working(left the effea thould not bee wholly of Grace, but part - ly of Grace, and partly of worke, Ephefians s. I i 8,9.) but
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=