202 NEARN,FSS TO 60D [SE1tM. XI. his saints, when they worship him : he is near to all that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth, Ps. cxlv. 18. And his word is near us, even in our hands, and on Our lips ; that word which teaches ús the way to approach God, and ensures the blessedness. Ogive glory to God, the great and holy God, that he should ever bewilling to let sinners approach him ; that the Majesty of Heaven, and the supreme Lord of all, who had been highly provoked by his rebellious crea- tures, should ever come into terms of reconciliation ; that he himself should provide a reconciling sacrifice, to satisfy his own governing justice, and a reconciling spirit to reduce the rebel man to his obedience and love. This divine condescension, O my soul, demands thy wonder and thy worship. 2. Adore the mystery of the incarnation, and bless God incarnate; for this is the ground of all our habitual nearness to God, and all our actual approaches to him and heaven. It was the Son of God, who is one with the Father, that stooped down, and approached to our nature, and took a part of it into union with himself, that we might approach to the Deity: No man cometh to the Father, but by the Son, John xiv. 6. For ever had we, the wretched offspring of Eve, been banished from the courts, and the presence of God, had not this man Jesus, the son of Mary, been caused first to draw near, and to dwell near; and blessed be his name for ever. We rejoice with all the powers of our souls, to think how near to God the man Jesus is, for since he ap- proaches the throne, we shall approach too ; 21. We shall be blessed through his blessedness, Gal. iii. 8, 14. He was first chosen to draw near, and we chosen in him, Eph. i. 4. Nearness to God is still a matter of divine choice and distinction He approaches to God above, accepted in his own spotless righteous- ness, and we in him ; He is in a more transcendant manner one withGod, and we must be united to God by him, and so made somewhat like him, Johnxvii. 23. When our Mediator approaches to the Father in wor- ship, he, as our High-priest, bears the name of the whole church in heaven and earth, on his breast, and on his shoulders, Ex. xxviii. 12, -29. In his beauty. of
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