DISCOURSE VIII. 259 2. Once a poor christian in acottage, or in vile raiment, wascontemptible in our sight, now we look on tha saints, even in the meanest circumstances, as the excellent of the earth; for they are heirs of heaven, they are like to Christ, and formed ' after the blessed image of him, whom we have seen with an eye of faith and love. Holy Saviour, and holy saints ! They, the excellent of the earth, and he the ornament of heaven. 3. Thebible heretofore we looked onbut little better than a common book ; or perhaps it was our aversion. The New Tes- tament gave us no pleasure. The true glories of it were hidden from us. The gospel was a hidden gospel ; but now we look upon it as our most valuable treasure and portion ; and we often look into it ; for we find Jesus Christ there, with all his salva- tion. Every part of the bible carries quite another aspect than once it did. We look upon the promises as an inventory of our inheritance ; and we read those words, All things are yours, with a relish of unknown delight, because of our own interestin them : Andas they are repeated twice, to confirm our faith, so we can read them often, and dwell upon them with pleasure. dill areyours, for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's; 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. Then by virtue of this promise we can look to the heavens and the earth ; to the sun, moon, and stars ; to Paul, Apollos and Cephas; to minister, and to angels; to this world and the other ; to life and death, to things present and to come; with a humble and pleasurable belief of our interest in them, so far as we have need of them to make us holy or happy. And as we lookon the promises of the bible with another eye than formerly, so we behold the precepts of it in a sweeter light : We read them now as the rules of our happiness, as the model of our new-nature, as the holy transcript of the perfections of God, and the blessedadvises of our dear Redeemer. We look on his commandments, and behold they are no more grievous to us ; for his law is our delight ; 1 John v. 3. Ps. cxix. 77. As for the threateningsof the book of God, we once beheld them, per- haps, with a regardless eye, and a stupid heart ; or if we were awakened we read them with utmost terror, as the messengers of our damnation : We beheld them as so many angels with fla- ming swords, to forbid our entrance into paradise. But since we have seen Jesus with an eye of saving faith, the threatenings of scripture have no more such a dreadful aspect. Since the sword has awoke against the man that was God's fellow, andall the necessary vengeance was executed on Christ, our surety, we behold the threatenings as disarmed of their terror andno lon- ger a bar to our salvation. 4. The face of God, shining inhis terrible attributes of ho- liness and justice, was dreadful to our souls, so that we could no ft 2
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