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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.
O
give
glory to
God, the great
and
holy
God,
that
he
should ever
be
willing 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
with
God, and
we
must
be
united
to
God
by
him,
and
so
made somewhat
like
him,
John
xvii. 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