I 4 Braze'nSerpent,a type [Chri/1. Rom.4i h. Gal.6. ro. ; iìeb.is.z.' canhelpe them, onely the Serpent muff cure them ; no fight elfc cancure. Thou mayeil fee gold, flyer, lands, friends, playes, pleafures, nay couldf thou fee heaven it fe1ft without Chrift, therewere no helpe or cure in it. In refpec`I of this fight the Aponte counted all things loffeanddung ; anddefired to tee and know nothing but jefus Chrift and him crucified,and lifted on the wood. I. Nonot Chrift himelfecan cure without this loo- king and faithfull beholdinghim : as the brazen ferpent not looked o13,healed not. The waifofthe eye or tight dìfàbled the lfraelites from cure though the ferpent wereby them : fo the want of faithdifableth God after äfort, and Chrift himfelfe from doinga man any good. Mark. 6. Chrift coulddoe nogreat cure in Capernaum 6e_ caufe of their imbeliefe. Neither can any ordinance of Goddoe him good that wants faith : no more then this ferpent ordained by God, could doe a blind Ifraelite good. If wee íhonld fend a man to the word, it mull j be a word offaithmull doe him good ; that is, notone- ly becaufe it is a begetteroffaith ; but becaufe it muft be j mingledwith faith, elfe it proves unprofitable, Heb.4.z. Ifto the Sacraments; if beebring not faith, they arenot to him the feale: offaith, but as feales fet toblanks. If to prayer; it mull be aprayer offaith that is availeable, Iam. S, t j. Iftogood works, and good life ; it mutt be a life of faith, led by faith ; for the jell mutt live by his faith. If to the Church of God ;.hee mull bee of the houfholdoffaith, elfe he (hall be but as Iudas among the Difciples. Faithmuff be every where difhfed, towalk by faith, liveby faith, anddia in faith,as theSaints in for- merages have done for our imitation. 3. Wemuff holdon this expeaationon our Serpent, as theIfraelites did till theywereperfecly cured. And becaufewe can never beeperfeetlycured in this life, but onely in `part; wee mutt (till looke up to jefus the Am- Idlertindfather ofeafcith,till we be fully and perfealy healed.
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