(3.) The great foundation that was laid for God's being with ua in the incarnation of the Son of God. Jesus Christ is the true Emmanuel, God with us, Mat. i. 23. There we see God in our nature, and so drawing nearer to us, and coming within the reach of our com- merce. In and by him, we are made nearer to God, who stood more aloof from us before. Since our nature dwelt with God in a personal union, first, there is a way opened for access : Heb. x. 20, ' By a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil ; that is to say, his flesh;' and Eph. iii. 12, ' In whom we have boldness, and access with confidence, through the faith of him.' Certainly it is a great advantage to think how near God has come to us in Christ, and how near he hath taken the human nature to himself. This maketh our thoughts of God more sweet and comfortable. Secondly, Not only access, but reconciliation : 2 Cor. v. 19, ' God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.' There was not only a distance between us and God by reason of impurity, but a difference by reason of enmity. God is a God of glorious majesty, and we are poor creatures ; God is a God of pme and immaculate holiness, and we are sinful creatures, lapsed and fallen under the guilt of sin, and desert of punishment. There was our great trouble and grievance, and nothing comfortable could we expect from him. But when God is willing to come among us, and take our nature, and die for a sinful world, there is a founda- tion laid for his being with us, to help us, and bless us upon all
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occasions. The wonderful marriage which the divine nature hath made with the human doth help us against the thoughts of distance ; but his death and sufferings, as the price of our atonement, doth make up the quarrel and breach between us and God. In his person, God manifested in our flesh, way is made for access ; for in Christ God doth condescend to man, and man is encouraged to ascend to God ; but in his sufferings the distance is taken away, and the guilty fears appeased which most do alienate us from God. God hath ' set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,' Rom. iii. 25. Now after such a foundation laid, will the Lord be strange to his people, as if the breach still continued ? It cannot be. Thirdly, God in our nature hath taken upon him an office to defend and help his people, which he manageth both in heaven and in earth. In heaven by his constant intercession : Heb. viii. 1,2,' We have such a high priest •who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens : a minister of the sanctuary, and of tlie true tabernacle, which the Lord hath pitched, and not man ; ' and Heb. ix. 24, ' For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, whicli are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.' We have a friend in court, Jesus the true and great high priest, who hath the names of his people graven upon his breast and shoulder, to show how much they are in his heart, and to represent them and their necessities to God. On earth, 1. Externally, by his powerful providence ; for all judgment is put into his hands, John v. 22, that he may defend his church and people. 2. Internally, by his Spirit : Mat. xxviii. 20, ' Lo, I am with you always unto the end of the world.' Into what part or age of the world our lot falleth, Christ is ready with liis protection and blessing. Now would Christ take such an office, to be head over all things to the church, and neglect the duty of it ? No ; the head of the church is also ' the saviour of the body,' Eph. V. 11. The whole body, and every member of it, is dear to him, as united to him in the sacred mystical body ; and he will take care of them. And upon these accounts we may pray for, and expect ' grace to help in a time of need : ' Heb. iv. 16, ' Let us come with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in a time of need.'
Obj. But you will say, If there be such a power and goodness in God, and thus secured by the mediation of Christ and his blessed cove- nant, how Cometh it that they are reduced to such great exigencies ? Judges vi. 13, ' If the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?'
Ans. 1. It is supposed you are christians, and have not the spirit of a worldling, that liveth upon and seeketh his main happiness in the creatures apart from God. A true christian is one that is dead to the world, but alive to God ; one that hath laid up his treasure above the reach of all enemies : Mat. vi. 19-21, ' Lay not up treasure for your- selves upon earth, where moth and rust dotii corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal ; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal ; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.' Otherwise we cannot deal with you, for it is a vain