Ammumumi 029 FAITH IN; ITS LOWEST DEGREES. [DISC. VII. the endsof the earth." As Jonah did when in the depths of the sea ; Jonah ii. 4. I am cast out of thy sight, yet I wild look again toward thy holy temple. Now the temple was a type of the human nature of Christ, inwhich Qod was pleased to dwell ; and the Jews in their prayers, even from the ends of the earth, and in heathen lands; turned their eyes towards the temple in humble hope of acceptance ; 1 Kings viii. 29, ä5, &c. So may the poor perishing sinner say, " Though I am far from God and holiness, and all hope in myself, or in any creatures that, are near me, yet I am within reach of thé call of Christ ; 1 hear the voice of his inviting grace ; I will look to- wards him as my only hope ; I will keep my eyes upon him and trust in him : I will by him draw near to God ; and my soul shall live." II. Believing in Christ may be described in this place by looking to him to express the 'lowest and the weakest degree of faith, for the encouragement of poor con- vinced trembling sinners. When persons. are awakened to a lively apprehension of their guilt, and a quick sense of their danger, and see themselves everymoment liable to perish under the wrath of an offended God, and at the same time feel their own utter inability to save them- selves, it is proper that the act of faith whereby we are saved should be expressed in the easiest manner, that may allure them toward Christ, the only Saviour, and may encourage them to hope.. When they are, as it were, at the ends of the earth, at a wide distance from God and Christ, they may look towards him, and send awish of desire and dependance that way ; like dying drown- ing sailors in a storm that look towards the shore, to see if there be any hope And such a look as this is or- dained of God to derive all salvation from so almighty, and complete a saviour as Jesus Christ is : For it con- tains in it the whole nature of saving faith, as the flower and the fruit are contained in a little green bud, though the several parts and the leaves of them are not yet un- folded, nor appear to sight. Sùch a look of a convinced sinner to Christ implies in it a distressing sense ofhis sin and present danger, a be- lief that there is help for him in Christ, and an aversion of the eye from every thing else ; a renouncing all other dependencies, an earnest readiness and desire topartake of this salvation, such as Christ offers it; that is, to make
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