and placing itself in view of the Divine plenitude and allsufficiency; and thus (that I may borrow those words of St Paul) 'we received the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in Him'.' The more this sensual, brutish, and self-central life thrives and prospers, the more Divine faith languisheth; and the more that decays, and all self-feeling, self-love, and self-sufficiency pine away, the more is true faith fed and nourished, the more vigorous it grows: and as carnal life wastes and consumes, so the more does faith suck in a true, divine, and spiritual life from the true Aurown who hath life in Himself, and freely bestows it to all those that heartily seek for it. When the Divinity united Himself to human nature in the person of our Saviour, He then gave mankind a pledge and earnest of what He would further do therein, in assuming it into as near a conjunction as might be with Himself, and in dispensing and communicating Himself to man, in a way as far correspondent and agreeable as might be to that first copy. And, therefore, we are told of 'Christ being formed in us,' and 'the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us; of our being made conformable to Him, of having fellowship with Him, of being as He was in this world, of living in Him and His living in us, of dying, and rising again, and ascending with Him into heaven,' and the like: because, indeed, the same Spirit that dwelt in Him, extends itself, in its mighty virtue and energy, through all believing souls, shaping them more and more into a just resemblance and conformity to Him as the first copy and pattern: whence it is that we have so many ways of unfolding the union between Christ and all believers, set forth in the Gospel. And all this is done for us by degrees, through the efficacy of the Eternal Spirit, when, by a true faith, we deny ourselves and our own wills, submit ourselves in a deep sense of our own folly

1 2 Cor. i. 9.

and weakness to His wisdom and power, comply with His will, and, by a holy affiance in Him, subordinate ourselves to His pleasure: for these are the vital acts of a gospel faith.

And according to this which hath been said, I suppose we may fairly gloss upon St Paul's discourses which so much prefer faith above works. We must not think, in a giant-like pride, to scale the walls of heaven by our own works, and by force thereof to take the strong fort of blessedness, and wrest the crown of glory out of God's hands whether He will or no. We must not think to commence a suit in heaven for happiness, upon such a poor and weak plea as our own external compliance with the old law is. We must not think to deal with God in the method of commutative justice, and to challenge eternal life as the just reward of our great merits, and the hire due to us for our labour and toil we have taken in God's vineyard. No: 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble':' it must be a humble and selfdenying address of a soul, dissolved into a deep and piercing sense of its own nothingness and unprofitableness, that can be capable of the Divine bounty: 'He fills the hungry with good things, but the rich He sends empty away. They are the hungry and thirsty souls, always gasping after the living springs of Divine grace, as the parched ground in the desert doth for the dew of heaven, ready to drink them in by a constant dependence upon God; souls that, by a living, watchful, and diligent faith, spreading forth themselves in all obsequious reverence and love of Him, wait upon Him as the eyes of a handmaid wait on the hand of her mistress:' these are they that He delights to satiate with His goodness. Those that being mastered by a strong sense of their own indigency, their pinching and pressing poverty, and His all

1 James iv. 6.

Luke i. 53.

sufficient fulness, trust in Him as an Almighty Saviour, and in the most ardent manner pursue after that perfection to which His grace is leading them; those that cannot satisfy themselves in a bare performance of some external acts of righteousness, or an external observance of a law without them, but, with the most greedy and fervent ambition, pursue after such an acquaintance with His Divine Spirit as may breathe an inward life through all the powers of their souls, and beget in them a vital form and soul of divine goodness;-these are the spiritual seed of faithful Abraham, the sons of the free-woman and heirs of the promises, to whom all are made 'Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus'.' These are they which shall abide in the house for ever, when the sons of the bond-woman, those that are only Arabian proselytes, shall be cast out.

CHAPTER VII.

An appendix to the foregoing discourse-How the whole business and undertaking of Christ is eminently available, both to give full relief and ease to our minds and hearts, and also to encourage us to godliness, or a godlike righteousness, briefly represented in sundry particulars.

FOR the further illustration of some things, especially

in the latter part of this discourse, it may not be amiss, in some particulars, which might easily be enlarged, to show, How the undertaking of Christ-that great object of faith-is greatly advantageous and available to giving full relief and ease to our minds and hearts, and also to encouraging us to godliness, or a true godlike righteousness. In the general, therefore, we may consider, That full and evident assurance is given hereby to the world, that God doth indeed 'seek the saving of that which is lost ";'

and men are no longer to make any doubt or scruple of it. Now what can we imagine more available to carry on a design of godliness, and to rouse dull and languid souls to an effectual minding of their own salvation, than to have this news sounding in their ears by men, that, at the first promulgation thereof, durst tell them roundly in the name of God, that God required them everywhere to repent, for that His kingdom of grace was now apparent; and that He was not only willing, but it was His gracious design to save and recover lost sinners who had forsaken His goodness?

Particularly, that the whole business of Christ is very advantageous for this purpose, and highly accommodate thereto, may appear thus:

I. We are fully assured that God hath this forementioned design upon lost men, because here is one (viz. Christ) that partakes every way of human nature; in whom the Divinity magnifies itself, and whom it carries through this world, in human infirmities and sufferings, to eternal glory: a clear manifestation to the world, that God had not cast off human nature, but had a real mind to exalt and dignify it again.

2. The way into the holy of holies, or to eternal happiness, is laid as open as may be by Christ, in His doctrine, life, and death: in all which we may see, with open face, what human nature may attain to, and how it may, by humility, self-denial, divine love, and a Christ-like life, rise above all visible heavens into a state of immortal glory and bliss.

3. Here is a manifestation of love given, enough to thaw all the iciness of men's hearts which self-love had quite frozen up: for here is One who, in human nature most heartily everywhere denying Himself, is ready to do anything for the good of mankind, and, at last, gives up His life for the same purpose; and that according to the

good will and pleasure of that eternal love which 'so loved the world, that He gave' this beloved and 'His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life'.'

4. Whereas every penitent sinner carries a sense of guilt upon his own conscience, is apt to shrink with cold, chill, fears of offended majesty, and to dread the thoughts of violated justice; he is assured that Christ hath laid down His life, and thereby made propitiation and atonement for sin; that He hath laid down His life for the redemption of him; and so in Christ 'we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins'.' Thus may the hearts of all penitents, troubled, at first, with a sense of their own guilt, be quieted, and fully established in a living faith and hope in an eternal goodness; seeing how their sins are remitted through the blood of Jesus, who came to die for them and save them, and through His blood they may have free access unto God.

5. Seeing sin and guilt are apt continually to beget a jealousy of God's majesty and greatness, from whom the sinner finds himself at a vast distance, he is made acquainted with a Mediator, through whom he may address himself to God, without this jealousy or doubting; for that this Mediator, likewise, is one of human nature, that is highly beloved and accepted of God, He having so highly pleased God by performing His will in all things. Certainly it is very decorous, and much for the ease of a penitent's mind, (as it makes also for the disparagement of sin) that our addresses to God should be through a mediator. The Platonists wisely observed that, between the pure Divinity and impure sinners, as there is no union, so no communion: it is very agreeable, every way upon all accounts, that they who, in themselves, are

and

1 John iii. 16.

2 Eph. i. 7.