260 FAITH IN ITS LOWEST DECREES. look upon him, andwe turned our eyes away from God : As for his attributes of love and mercy, we had no relish of them ; for we had no solid hope in them. We saw nothing in God desi- rable and delightful to us : We stood afar off; we neglected and forgot him ; or else we hid ourselves from him, as Adam did, becausewe were afraid. But now, since we have beheld God in Christ, as reconciling sinners to himself, now we can look upon him in all his awful and his peaceful attributes without dismay ; we can survey and dwell upon all his 'glories with a-sacred plea- sure : and lift up our eyes towards him with humble confidence in prayer or in praise ; for we behold him as God reconciled, and a Father, since wehave seen Jesus the Mediator and trusted in his name. With what surprize and overwhelming fear didwe oncebe- hold approachingafflictions, when we were without God, without Christ, and without hope ? But now we can look upon suffer- ings and sorrows without being overwhelmedby them ; we can look upon the huge swelling waves without painful apprehensions, and see the floods rise high without fear of being drowned for we have seen Jesus as it were walking on the water ; and we have heard him saying, It is I, be not afraid. We can look to him when we are afar off from our friends, even in the ends of the earth, acrd find light in darkness, and relief in the midst of our distresses. 6. How formidable once was the face of death. No pencil can describe the monster so hideous to the sense, as he appeared constantly to our awakened souls, before we had seen Christ. What horror did our spirits feel, and our flesh shuddered at the thought of his approach! How frightfully and yet how justly, didour guilty fancy paint him, and all his attendants, in their ter- rible array ! But the saint looks on death now as a harmless thing, for he has seen Jesusdisarm him ; Christ has abolished sin, and taken away the sting from death. The lively christian can look on it as a friend, or rather as a slave subdued to the service of his Lord, sent on a glorious message, to fetch him to dwell where his blessed Lord is. They shall be where I am, to behold my glory ; John xvii: 24. 7. Theman who has seen Jesus withan eye of faith, can look to the last great tribunal without terror ; for he knows and is ac- quainted withChrist the judge : He has seen him and trusted all the important concerns of that day into his hands. I know, saith the christian, whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is ableto keep all that I havecommitted to him unto that day; 2 Tiin. i. 12. Therefore hecan see the judgment-seat, and the books opened, without dismay or fearful expectation; for he has seen Jesus cross out all his sins with the blood of his sacrifice : Christ has cancelled them for ever' from the great register of heaven,
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