The Gospels Glory, Chapter 7
CHAP. VII.
Treateth of the fulneſſe of ſalvation manifeſted in the way God taketh to ſave ſinners by his Son.
SECT. 1.
3. THe third truth demonſtrating the 3. The way God took to condemn ſin in the fleſh of his Son, and ſo to take it away, provs the ſalvation full.perfect fulneſſe of ſalvation by Jeſus Chriſt, cometh now under conſideration, which is from the way and courſe God in his good pleaſure took and held in ſaving ſinners by his Sonne. This is held out in theſe words [Sending his own Sonne in the likeneſſe of ſinful fleſh, and for ſinne, condemned ſinne in the fleſh] which contain this doctrine: The way God took to ſave a ſinner by Chriſt, is a ſweet and ſound demonſtration of the alſufficiency of the ſalvation in Chriſt Jeſus, and the way was this, to condemn ſinne in the fleſh of his Sonne whom he ſent in the fleſh, and that of purpoſe to take away ſinne.
Two things are to be unfolded here,
1. The way which God taketh.
2. The effectualneſs of that way.
1. The way of God is this, while he ſaveth the ſinner, he will condeme his ſin to the low … Hell, and lower by farre; and that in the very ſame nature that hath ſinned, even in humane fleſh. That this may be done, he ſets out his own Sonne to be made fleſh: he ſends him in the ſimil…tude of ſinful fleſh, in a true humane ſoul and body, ſuch as ſinne had made frail, miſerable, and mortal; ſuch a one as ours is. He thus ſends him for ſin, that he may bear all their ſins charged on him. And then in this fleſh of his own Son, their ſinnes ſhall be condemned; the Son of God condemned for their ſin, and ſo in that condemnation, ſin for ever condemned; for this end he ſends him as one that hath taken upon him the Office of a Saviour, by mediation, by ſuretiſhip, and by redemption, and as he whom God had deſigned to this office.
Conſider every ſtep in this way: they are Five ſteps in this way of God. 1 His Sons preordination. 1 Pet. 1. 20. Epheſ. 1. 9five, the firſt ſtep is,
1. Gods preordination of the Sonne to be the Mediatour, that he in our nature ſhould execute the office of a Mediatour, of Prieſt, Prophet, and King, in a ſtate of humiliation. This preordination is Gods eternal fore-knowledge, counſel, purpoſe and decree out of his infinite good pleaſure within himſelf, appointing his Son to be the Chriſt to bring the Elect to glory. Chriſt Jeſus as God-man is the means of election to be executed, he is the cauſe of our ſalvation, but not of our election. In this preordination there was a Councel held between the Father, the Son, and the holy Spirit. In this councel all that concerns mans ſalvation was determined, Act. 2. 23. & 4. 28. The Son is ſet out, and by a free voluntary diſpenſation, he yieldeth to be ordained and appointed, Rom. 3. 25. And with him an Agreement is made, that he ſhould give his ſoul an offering for ſinne; and then, according to promiſe in that agreement, he ſhould ſee the fruit of that his travel of ſoul to his own hearts full ſatisfaction. Iſa. 53. 10. All that ever ſhall be ſaved were given to him before all worlds. John 10. 29. & 17. 6, 9, & 6. 37, 39. Life eternal is promiſed before the worlds, (foreign,) grace, that Tit. 1. 2. 2 Tim. 1. 10.is, free love and favour with the effects of it, was given the Elect in Chriſt, before the world began. A book of all is written; the Records, the moſt High's Parliament Rev. 20. 15 & 21. 27. & 13. 8.Roles, called the book of life, the Lambs book of life. And accordingly, he, before he was ſent, was Preached in Gen. 3. 15. promiſed to Abraham, in Gen. 22. 18. and to David, in Pſal. 132. was propheſied of *Iſa. 7. 4. & 9. 6, 7. & 53. Jer. 23. 5., was Typified in the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant▪ Heb. 9. and in Melchizedech, Heb. 7. 3. was ſeen in fore-ſhewes in a humane ſhape, in which of old he appeared frequently to the Fathers, as the holy Angels alſo uſed to do.
2. Gods miſſion of his Sonne is the ſecond 2. His miſſion.ſtep of this way of God, The work thus; 1. The Father and the holy Ghoſt do ſend, and the Son voluntarily condeſcends to be ſent. All ſtoops, nothing too dear for the ſalvation of a ſinner. The Sonne is brought in ſpeaking thus, I have not spoken in ſecret from the beginning, from the Iſa. 48. 16. A cleare old Teſtament proof of the Trinity Joh. 7. 28, 29.time that it was, there am I, and now the Lord God and his Spirit hath ſent me. 2. The Son came not of himſelf: he took nothing on him of his own head apart from the Father, in the whole buſineſſe of Redemption. 3. The Father gave him out of his boſome, he ſent him on this great errand, he parted with him, ſpared him not, but he delivered him up. 4. He ſent him in his Incarnation, in the fulneſſe of time, (but of this Act in the next ſtep.) 5. He ſent him into the world, into this miſerable, vain, ſinful place: he dwelt among men, and was found in faſhion as a man; he ſent him not Iſa. 61. 1.to delight and glory in the world. 6. He ſent him furniſhed with gifts; he ſanctified him, ſeparated him from all other, as Joh. 10. 36. Joh. 5. 3…. & 9. 4.only able and fit for ſuch a work as to ſave the world, and filled him with the Spirit, not by meaſure, as he is man; and having thus ſanctified him, he ſent him. 7. He ſent him, and gave him work to do and finiſh, and ſet him a day, a ſeaſon to do Joh. 7. 6. 8 & 8. 28. & 12. 49. & 14. 24. Joh. 17. 1, 4.it in; he neither did nor ſpake of himſelf, but as the Father which ſent him, gave him Commandment what he ſhould ſay, and what he ſhould ſpeak; he did nothing of himſelf, he doth what he ſeeth the Father do, and ſpake what he heard and learn't of his father; he did all in the very hour of the allotted day, and finiſhed his work in the hour of the day ſet him; the work ſome of it was none of the eaſieſt or faireſt work: he was not only to preach the doctrine of the Kingdome, and to confirm it by Miracles, to keep the law, and to fulfill all righteouſneſſe; but to be a pattern, in doing and ſuffering, yea, to be a Ranſome, a Price, a Sacrifice▪ for ſinne, to ſuffer a curſed death, and to be made ſin, and a curſe for us: and this Heb. 10. 8 9. …oh. 3. 17. Act. 3. 26, 1 Joh. 4. 9. 10. Joh. 8. 29. Joh. 16. 32hard and foul work he delighted to perform. 8. He ſent him not to condemn, but to ſave the world, to bleſſe his people, to be a propitiation, that in him we might have life. 9. He ſent him and was with him, he never left him alone, becauſe he doth alwayes thoſe things that pleaſe his Father; he never did his own will, or ſought his own glory, but his glory who ſent him; and when all his Apoſtles left him alone and forſook him, then the Father was with him. 10. He ſent him with Commiſſion; what was that? ſurely moſt worthy the peruſing by us; his Commiſſion he opens and reads: it was this. 1. His Commiſſion was and is, to ſeek and to ſave that which was loſt: 2. To dye and riſe Luk. 19. 10. Joh. 10. 28. Iſa. 49. 6. Joh. 6. 39, 40.again for his ſheep: 3. To be the Covenant of the people of the Jewes, and raiſe them up, and to be ſalvation to the ends of the earth: 4. To ſee that no believer periſh, but that he raiſe every one of them to everlaſting life at the laſt day: and to give faith to all that the Father hath given him, that the given of the Father may come unto him: 5. To ſpeak comfort to the weary ſoul: 6. To bruiſe and Iſa. 50. 4. & 61, 1, 2, 3. Joh. 4. 34. & 5. 30. Pſal. 2. 8, 9. 3. His incarnation. Heb. 10. 5. Heb. 2. 16.cruſh the enemies, and to rule all for the good of the Elect. A gracious Commiſſion.
3. The third ſtep is his Sonnes incarnation; God ſent his own Sonne in the likeneſſe of ſinful fleſh. God fitted him a body; the Sonne of God aſſumed not the nature of Angels, but the ſeed of Abraham; he aſſumed fleſh, that is, a true and very man conſiſting of an humane ſoul, and an humane body; he aſſumed fleſh and blood, not only a ſoul, the more noble part of man, but fleſh, even the beginning of our nature, growing from infancy Heb. 2. …4. Mat. 2. & 1.to perfection of age and ſtature, and not a full and perfect man grown, at his full ſtature and ripe age when he firſt aſſumed our nature; fleſh; weak, dying fleſh; he aſſumed into the unity of his perſon the ſimilitude of ſinful fleſh, the ſimilitude of the fleſh of ſinne; ſuch fleſh as ſinne hath now made it to be in us ſinners; not ſinful fleſh; for he never knew ſinne, but ſuch a ſoul and body as ours is now by ſin, and not ſuch as Adams was in the ſtate of innocency: that had been great love and great condeſcenſion and abaſement; but how great humiliation to take part of the ſame fleſh and blood of which we conſiſt? yet further, he took to him the likeneſſe of ſinful fleſh in a low and abject condition, having no form nor beauty; Phil. 2. 6, 7▪in the form of a ſervant, and not in the forme of the rich, the honourable, the potent; not in the form of a King, or of Gal. 4. 4.a Monarch: he took fleſh, made of a woman, made under the Law; he who was the onelyonly Law-giver, and might have been a Law to himſelf, is made of a woman; of the ſeed of Abraham, as well as of Adam, a Jew, under the Law of Moſes, circumciſed, and therefore a debtor to keep the whole Law, thus made under the Law that he might redeem thoſe that were under the Law.
See then the Sonne of God, the Word who was God is incarnate, God manifeſt in the fleſh, made fleſh of the ſeed of woman, a Virgin, the Virgin Mary, by conception, and by birth; by conception by the Holy Ghoſt, by his over-ſhadowing power ſanctifying and making her wombe fruitful. In this conception there was the plaſmation and forming of the childe Jeſus; 2. The aſſumption; 3. And the perſonal union of the humane nature of Jeſus Chriſt. The Sonne of God became fleſh alſo by birth, born of a woman and brought forth into the world. Although therefore he was ſent in the ſimilitude of ſinful fleſh, true and very man in all things like one of us, yet he was without ſinne: there was no ſinne in his conception, no ſinne in his birth, no ſinne in him all his life.
4. The fourth ſtep is the work alotted to him by his Father; he is ſent not only 4. His work appointed.to dwell among men, which had been a great abaſing buſineſſe, though it had been to dwell with the Saints on earth, but he muſt dwell among beaſtly men, among fat Bulls of Baſhan, and be with Mark 1. 13men ſet on fire; he muſt be with the Beaſts of the Wilderneſſe, farre from the eſtate of man in Paradiſe: he is ſent to fight with Divels; the ſorrows of death muſt take hold of him, & he muſt be compaſſed with the pains of hell. And which is above and beyond all this, he muſt be numbred with tranſgreſſours, and bear the ſinnes of many, even of all the millions which ſhall be ſaved; he that knew no ſin, is ſent to be made ſinne for them, and he to bear them, imputed to him, laid on him, on his own body, as if he had been the ſinner.
5. The fifth and laſt ſtep in this way of 5. Condemnation of ſin in his fleſh.God is this, The condemnation of ſinne in the fleſh of Gods own Sonne. Now this hath four diſtinct things in it.
1. The Lord layed on him the iniquities Foure things in that.of all the Elect, Iſa. 53. 1 Pet. 2.
2. Sinne indefinitely is charged on him: ſinne in all its evil came upon him; in its condemning power, even the curſe due to ſinne by the Law of God. In its defiling power, not defiling him, but the imputation of the foulneſſe, and defiling nature of ſinne came upon him; he was made ſinne. In its weakning power, weakneſſes not culpable, but miſerable, weakneſſes attending mans nature ſince the fall, but not ſuch as attend particular perſons, took hold of him; he was a man of ſorrows, and acquainted with grief.
3. He who was the holy one and the juſt, was made the ſinne-offering.
4. God condemned ſinne in his fleſh; the Sonne of God bears our ſinnes in his own body on the Tree; for ſinne the Son is condemned and crucified being made a curſe for us; ſinne would have held down the ſinner for ever in hell; there ſinne hath the maſtery over the ſinner, there it is alive in its full poyſon and ſtrength; but here ſinne is deſtroyed and utterly aboliſhed, it is fully and for ever taken away, and that in a legal and exact way of juſtice, the ſinner is ſaved, and ſinne condemned. This is the way, and the five ſteps in this way of God coming to us to ſave us.
SECT. 2.
2. The effectualneſſe and ſufficiency of The effectualneſſe of this way.this way appears in two things principally.
Firſt, In the fitneſſe of Chriſt Jeſus for the work; he is God to treat with and ſatisfie God: and he is man to deal with man: he is the Sonne of Gods love to make us ſonnes, and place us in Gods love and favour, by whom we have acceſs into, and ſtand in his grace, accepted in the beloved; he is the image of the Father, in whom we may ſee the Father, and who repaires the image of God in us, and to whom we are to be conformed; he is the ſon of man, our brother, the ſecond Adam in whom we partake of all that is Job 19. 25in him, our kinſ-man to whom the right to redeem doth belong.
Secondly, In the ſutableneſſe of every thing to our diſtreſſe; as for the diſtreſſe we were in, here we have, 1. Man the offendor. 2. Sinne the ſting of death. 3. Fleſh, that is to ſay, man made by ſin weak, miſerable and mortal. 4. Sinful fleſh, fleſh of ſinne, a body of death, a body of ſinne. 5. The Law, the ſtrength of ſinne. 6. The Laws weakneſſe to deliver the ſinner. 7. God offended; theſe are the ſeven cords of man diſtreſſe; anſwerably, here is 1. The Sonne of God made man; and ſo man puniſhed, ſinne puniſhed in the nature that ſinned; as God is holy, he is an adverſary to ſinne; as juſt, he puniſheth ſinne; as true, his threatning before the fall could not be made void, it muſt fall on man; for to man was the Law given, to man was death threatned, to man as the firſt Adam, on man muſt the puniſhment light; now here is a man, an Adam, the Sonne of God taking to him mans nature of Adam, though not by him hath ſomewhat to offer: and God through his Chriſt the ſecond Adam, and through him crucified, receiveth a ſinner into favour, remaineth holy, juſt and true. 2. The Sonne of God made man ſent for ſinne; ſo that here is in this Chriſt in his low humiliation a propitiation, a mercy-ſeat; here is the Lamb of God in whoſe fleſh ſinne was damned; the ſufferings due to ſinne he bears: GOD ſuffers, the Sonne of God doth all in the fleſh; (for actions are of the perſon) therefore here juſtice is ſatisfied, ſinne is taken away, and death is unſtinged. 3. In the fleſh, the humane nature of the Sonne of God, ſinne is condemned, and a perfect conformity to the Law in original and actual righteouſneſſe is performed and brought in before the Lord, therefore here is the ſinner juſtified and healed, health and ſoundneſſe reſtored by curing the diſeaſe in the very cauſe, and the fleſh is delivered and recovered thorowly. Here are the Prieſtly Robes, and the Royal change of rayment to cloath a poor naked ſinner withal 4. In this Jeſus Chriſt, the fleſh and ſinne are ſeparated, Adams ſinne and Adams nature divided, and mans nature made a Fountain of holineſſe and life; wonderful, high and heavenly things. 5. Here is the Law anſwered in the Comminations and in the Commandments by Chriſts obedience paſſive and active. 6. Here God by his Son doth that in weak fleſh, which the eternal Law could not ever be able to do. 7. Here is …od in Chriſt Jeſus reconciling the world to himſelf. God provides the Lamb, God condemns ſinne, God prepares a righteouſneſſe, fulfilling the Laws righteouſneſſe; and if God be thus for us, who can be againſt us? if God juſtifie, who ſhall condemn?
SECT. 3.
For the uſe of this.
1. This precious truth in viteth us to behold Uſe 1 again the love of God to man. Here To invite to contemplation. 1 Joh. 4. 9, 10. Tit. 3. 4. Eph. 2 4, 7. Eph. 1. 7. Tit. 2. 11.is love, here is love manifeſted; here is bountifulneſſe of love ſhining, never the like love manifeſted, never did God manifeſt the like love to this that appeared in redeeming in mankinde. It is exceeding kindneſſe, Gods great love wherewith he who is rich in mercy loved us; the riches of his grace, the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindneſſe, the glory of his grace abounding; the grace of God that bringeth ſalvation. Our bleſſed Saviour ſpeaks of it with emphaſis and admiration, God ſo loved the world; Paul ſpeaks of it as alone peerleſſe, God commended Joh. 3. 16. Rom. 5. 8.love to us: and John with an index, in this was manifeſted the love of God, herein is love. All other manifeſtations of love are not comparable to this; great was Gods love to man in the Creation, to place him Lord of the viſible world, to indue him with a ſoul bearing on it his Gen. 1. & 2.own image and likeneſſe, to ſeat and plant him in a Paradiſe, to provide him a Sabbath, to give him Sacraments; the Sacrament of life to eſtabliſh him, and of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil to warn him where his danger lay, and to bleſſe him with conjugal ſociety; great is his love in his daily providence over him; great in the Covenant made to all Nations in Noah; great in the particular experiments Pſal. 36. Gen. 8. 21, 22. Pſ. 107. 8, &c. Pſal. 104. 27, 34.men feel in ſickneſſe and health at Sea and Land; great to all creatures, his mercy reacheth to the heavens: all wait on him for ſeaſonable food. David ſaith hereupon, my meditation of him ſhall be ſweet. Great was his love to the Elect Angels whom he hath eſtabliſhed about his Throne; who alwayes behold his face; but to whom gave he his own Son? what nature did he ever unite ſo near to himſelf? where, or when did he ever ſuch works for any, as in earth to condemn, in hell to diſſolve all the Divels works, in heaven to provide Manſions, and all in, by and through the fleſh, the fleſh of his own Sonne, the ſimilitude of ſinful fleſh, fleſh indeed, but like ſinful fleſh; for a ſinful childe of diſobedient Adam, juſtly a childe of wrath!
All creatures here below are for this ranſomed captive ſinners rightful new and pure uſe. Angels that fell are reſerved in chains of darkneſſe to the judgment Jude ….of the great day, no Saviour afforded them, but they are ſet forth to warn us to flee the wrath to come: the bleſſed, holy and elect Angels, the innumerable company of them, are made miniſtring ſpirits ſent forth for the good of the heirs Heb. 1. 14. Heb. 2. 8. Rom. 8. 16of this ſalvation; the world to come is put in ſubjection to man: in Chriſt we are joint heirs with him of all things.
This love dec…ared is the powerful way to work on a ſinner. Hell and wrath, the Law and ſinne, without this propoſed, do terrifie and vex, but the heart flees God and loaths. All other love of God is abuſed by the deceitful wicked hard heart; but let this love be ſet forth, and now ſin and all the deſerts of it, wound, ſtab and gore, pierce and tear to pieces, and yet the heart draws near; and drawing near, melts down, diſſolves, deſires, pants after, longs for Chriſt, and God in Chriſt, judges it ſelf, juſtifies God while he judges him; truſts, though God kill him; cannot think or ſay any thing is ill that this God ſayes or does.
This love is the fatneſſe of Gods houſe, the River of Gods pleaſures, the light, the life, better than life it ſelf; this love fills with love, this love makes gracious, zealous, tender of heart, noble of ſpirit, and truly lovely; this ſweetens the croſſes, ſanctifies afflictions, and makes out bleſſings to be bleſſings.
2. Haſt thou informed thy judgment, 2. To exhort.and taken a view of Gods love in this way of ſalvation? Now then let this doctrine come in the power of it to perſwade & exhort thee to believe, to meditate with admiration, and to aſcend to fixed contemplation.
1. Believe this truth, this is the work Joh. 6. 29.of God; the work that God requireth; ſince we cannot work the righteouſneſſe of his holy Law, that we believe; there is no other work ſutable to Gods dealing with us; he ſends his Sonne, we are to receive him whom God hath ſent, and believing is receiving; he tells and teſtifies this unto the world, we are to believe his Word and Teſtimony; there is no other work left, Chriſt hath done and ſuffered all for us; believing is the acceptable work, it gives glory to God, and deſtroyes boaſting utterly; this faith doth all the work; by faith Chriſt is revealed, conceived, formed, born, lives and dwells in the heart; faith makes the ſinner mourn, pray, wait at wiſdomes gates, confeſſe Chriſt, contemn and overcome the world, deny himſelf, exalt God, lay under the creature, reſiſt the Divel, live holily and heavenly, and dye in hope, peace and joy: faith purifieth the heart, worketh by love, circumciſeth the heart to love God, makes to fear the Lord and his goodneſſe, frames to the life of a pilgrim and ſtranger on earth, and enables to do and ſuffer, and labour, and grow vigorous in the midſt and ſtrength of all that oppoſeth, like men heaven-born, born from above, as men heaven-aſpiring, as bound for and tending to the Countrey above. This is the will of God the Father that ſent Jeſus Chriſt his Sonne, that every one that ſeeth Joh. 6. 40. Joh. 17. 3.the Sonne and believeth on him, ſhould have everlasting life. This is Eternal life.
2. Meditate, Say with thy ſelf, Lord, what is ſinne? what is man? who art thou? ſinne it is the miſchief, that which deſtroyes the work of Gods own hand, and that which ruines the choiceſt creature, which no holy Law can aboliſh, which no ſacrifice but that of Gods own Sonne can expiate, that which condemns the Sonne of God; and can never be condemned in it ſelf, and in the heart of the ſinner, but by ſuch a way; and as for man, what is he? even duſt and clay, at his firſt and beſt raiſed out of the duſt of the earth: a very rebellious lump, a maſſe of rebellion, a lump of rebellious clay, a leprous heap, a putrified ſore, a hateful and hating enmity, proud, conceited, brutiſh, fooliſh, ſinful fleſh that is not ſubject to the Law of God, nor can be, unleſſe mortified, crucified, and created again; but as for Thee O Lord God, what is this name of Father? what is this thy Sonne? what is thy Sonnes name? Oh that we could tell; doſt thou make thine own Sonne to be ſin? and condemn him as a ſinner, and condemn ſin in his fleſh? is this the manner and Law of thy love to the ſonnes of men, to ſinful man? what manner of love is this! Now ſtay, make up what is wanting in thy conceiving of theſe things, in admiration, in the adminiſtration of faith, which makes us draw near to God, which tranſforms us into the image of Gods love.
3. Faſten thy thoughts; know thy ſelf and God in Chriſt more: behold his glory to make thee like him in this his love. Take the Goſpel glaſſe (and while in the glaſſe of the Law thou ſeeſt thy ſelf to juſt deteſtation and ſhame of face) with open face behold the glory of God in his grace in Chriſt his Sonne crucified; in that mitrour view it freely to transform thee into the image of this his love and grace, from one degree of glory, to another degree of glory. Let Gods love work in thee ſuch love to thy own ſoul firſt, and then ſuch love to the ſouls of others; their ſalvation dearer to thee, then thy own things temporal, than thy temporal life. A pure love, ſinne the enemy, and the ſinner the object of thy love; ſinnes againſt thee, not hindering thee ſeeking of their good. Love that is in deed and in truth; love to die for the brethren; love making willing to part with, lay down, lay out, expoſe to the utmoſt of ſufferings whatever is deareſt, willing to be counſelled, appointed and ſent: no envy, no ambition, nothing of ſelf. The greateſt and loweſt ſervice proves the greateſt love, love bearing one anothers infirmities and temptations. Behold this love to the eſpouſing of thy ſoul to Chriſt for ever, and adjure all not to diſquiet him who is the love.Cant. 2. 7. 3. To convince.
3. Suffering the Word of exhortation; Conſider alſo how this doctrine is full of conviction. It convinceth of the great ſinne and miſery of all men, yea, of all Chriſtians that refuſe Jeſus Chriſt; their refuſal is of the onelyonly remedy of a poor guilty ſinner, it's the refuſal of the Son manifeſting the greateſt love; 'tis the refuſal of God the Father coming to undone man in a way of ſalvation as myſterious as ſalvifical, as full of glory as of grace; the more exalted in lofty height, the more it is matchleſſe in loweſt condeſcenſions of free grace; their refuſal is a Prov. 8. 36degree of hatred of Chriſt, and this hatred of the Sonne is the hatred of the Father; they love death, they love to be damned, they love to go to hell, they love that which will bring them thither, they paſſe not for that which would deliver them thence, they have not the Word, nor the love of the Father abiding Joh. 5. 38, 42. & 8. 41, 42.in them; for then they would receive him whom the Father hath ſent: and all this hath the greater aggravation, in that every one ſo knows his ſickneſſe and ſeels his wound, that he will go out for ſome or other, and any one that comes in his own name, whom God the Father never ſent nor ſealed, him he will receive; every one will have his way of Religion, but this way of God he will not own.
4. This doctrine alſo giveth ground of 4. To humble.deep humiliation even to the godly who do believe, yet are guilty of much neglect of three things.
1. Of the riches of aſſurance; both of full aſſurance of underſtanding to the acknowledging of this myſtery of God, even Col. 2. 2.of the Father, and of Chriſt; and of the full aſſurance of faith that they might in God all day long and night glory in the Lord Chriſt alone, and rejoyce in him for evermore.
2. Of enjoying God in Chriſt in all other their enjoyments.
3. Of the high valuations of Jeſus Chriſt; when you hear theſe reproofs, ſay, Is not this a part of that love in Chriſt to the Elect Veſſels of mercy, that God condemns my ſinne, but yet he condemns not me? he condemns my ſinne that he might ſave me.
5. Laſtly, This miniſters ſtrong conſolation to the humbled; every one that 5. To comfort.deſires to be found in Chriſt, that ſeeks his righteouſneſſe, that owns his own want of all righteouſneſſe, and takes his own ſins as the deteſtable and deadly thing; to thee is this Saviour ſent, for thee did he come into the world, to thee doth God come in every ſtep of this way, to thee belongs this grace of God bringing ſalvation; Go over the whole of this truth, and put in thy ſelf, thy name, thou art the man or woman for whom God took all this care, and concerning whom he had all theſe thoughts of peace for good.
Hitherto of the third ſpecial truth demonſtrating that the ſalvation by Chriſt is a full ſalvation; the fourth followeth.