2. That he is their Redeemer is the next ground of comfort. Job doth not profess faith only in a Redeemer, but in his Redeemer : ' I know that mij Redeemer liveth ;' not by an uncharitable exclusion shutting out others, and engrossing the Redeemer to himself, but —
[1.] By a fiducial application making out his own title and interest. Some things in nature are common benefits, not lessened to any because others enjoy them, as a speech heard, and the sun shining, (fee. The saints do not exclude others: 1 John ii. 2, ' And he is the propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world ,' 2 Tim. iv. 8, ' Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness ; not for me only, but for all them also that love his ap])earing.' This doth not lessen the benefit to us, and our obligations to him. Plato thought himself obliged in kindness to one that paid his fare for his passage over a river, and reckoned it positmn apud riatonem ojjicium, a courtesy that obliged Plato ; but when he saw others partakers of the same benefit, he disclaimed the debt, and only took part of it on himself U{)on which Seneca groundeth this aphorism, that it is not enough for him that will oblige me to him to do me a good turn, unless he do it to myself directly — non tantum mihi, scd tanquam mihi ; otherwise, quod dcbeo cum midtis, solvam cum multis. 1 will only pay my portion and share of thanks and
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respect. But this cannot be applied to this extraordinary kindness of Christ, for every man is indebted for the whole, not every man for a part of redemption. God's love to every one is infinite, and he hath ])aid an infinite price for thee, purchased an infinite happiness to thee. His love to thee was witliout measure and bounds, so must thy thankfulness be to him witliout stint and limit. Though he died for others as well as thee, yet thou art bound to love him no less than if it had been for thee alone ; he shed his whole blood for thee, and every drop was poured out for thy sake.
[2.] By a fiducial owning and appropriation, challenging his right in him. So doth Thomas : John xx. 28, ' My Lord and my God.' Faith appropriates God to our own use and comfort. The devils know that there is a God and a Christ, for they confessed, ' Thou art Jesus, the. Son of the living God ;' but they can never say with com- fort, ' My God and my Christ.' This application is the ground of our love to Christ, and our comfort in Christ.
Our love to Christ. Things that concern us affect us. This is the quickening motive to the spiritual life, ' Who loved me, and gave himself for me,' Gal. ii. 20 ; and 1 John iv. 19, ' We love him, be- cause he loved us first.' A particular sense and experience of God's love to our own souls doth most quicken and awaken our love to him again, when we see that he hath thought of us, and taken care of our salvation, that our names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
So for our comfort in Christ, It is the propriety a man hath to any good thing that doth increase the comfort of it. It is a misery to a man to see others enjoy a benefit which he hath as much need of as others, and he can enjoy no part of it. I may allude to that, Prov. v. 15, ' Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.' The gi'eater we know the benefit, the greater will be our trouble to want it. A poor man that sees a large dole given, and multitudes relieved, and he can get nothing, is the more troubled. So here, to see Christ ready to save sinners, and we have no comfort by him, is very afflicting : Eph. i. 13, ' After ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.' It is not suf- ficient to know that the gospel is a doctrine of salvation to others ; but every one should labour, by a due application of the promises to their own hearts, to find it to be a doctrine of salvation to themselves in particular. The seeing of meat, though never so wholesome, doth not nourish, but the eating of it. The beholding of Christ revealed in the word as a Saviour in general is not sufficient to give full com- fort, without applying him to be my Christ, my Saviour, my Redeemer. We must make sure of our share in this universal good. We read of blood shed and blood sprinkled, atonement made, and atonement received, but no man hath satisfying comfort by the blood of Christ till it be sprinkled upon his heart, and applied to him by the Spirit of God, and thereby assured that it was shed for him.
3. The next ground of comfort is, that our Redeemer liveth. This is true of Christ, whether you consider him as God or as man. (1.) As God ; so he is co-eternal with the Father, ' the first and the last,' the beginning of all things, and the end of them. So he saith not, he hath, or shall live, but he ' liveth.' ' In my flesh shall I see God.'