Use 4. Again, fourth! ij, if Christ be God's, and all things come to us from God by Christ, then ive see a rest for our soids. We can go no farther than God, and in God to the first person in trinity. The Christian religion pitcheth down a centre for the soul to rest in, a safe pitching place, a safe foundation. It shews our reconciliation with the great God now. Chris- tian religion shews that all is ours, and we are Christ's, and Christ is God's ; and there it sets down a rest for our souls. In Mat. xi. 28, Christ, after he had said, * All things are given me of my Father,' saith he, ' Come unto me,' therefore, * all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will ease you.'
3G A christian's portion ; or,
What encouragement have we to come to him ? ' All things arc given me of the Father.' ' €hrist is God''s.' Therefore 3'e may hoklly come unto me. * Ye shall find rest to your souls in me.' Ay, but is Christ the last rest ? No ; the Father is the last rest : for iu Christ I Icnow the Father is well pleased. Ye shall find rest in Christ, because he hath satisfied the Father. So all sohd comfort must be terminated in God, in the first person in the Trinity. We can go no further than God, the first person, the foun- tain of the Trinity. So you see in that we are Christ's, and Chi'ist is God's, there the soul hath footing for itself in God the Father. I Quest. But may we not rest in Christ '?
Ans. Yes. Because he is authorised of God the Father ; and we can go no further ; for the party ofi"ended first of all by our sins is God the Father, and he hath found out this remedy, this mediator. And therefore why should we suspect anything, to trouble our souls, to run in a maze, but go to God in the name of Chi'ist upon this very ground ? Lord, thou that art the party ofiendcd, and out of the bowels of mercy hast found out this mediator, I rest in him, because he came out from thee. And there- fore here is a solid rest for the soul, when the soul goes back to God the Father, and rests in him. We say of a circle, it is the strongest of all figures, because it is a rcmid figure: it strengthencth itself; whereas a straight line is weak. As we see those round bodies that are made arches, &c., they are the strongest figures, because every stone strengthens another ; so this is the strongest reflection of all, that as all things come fi'om God the Father, so when we go to him and rest there, who can make a rupture ? It is the strongest of all. The soul stays not in the way in this and that thing : all are false rests ; but it goes to Christ. And to satisfy the soul the more, when it rests in Christ, it rests in the Father. Therefore when
1 deal with Christ, and think of Christ, I must think I have to deal with the Father. Christ was incarnate ; it was as much as if the Father had been incarnate ; for it was by his authority. Christ suffered, but God ' gave him to death for us all.' See the Father in all, and there the soul will rest.
We see herein the wondrous strong salvation of a Christian. It is not only founded in the good will of the Son, or of the Father, but it is founded in the love of both, and upon the authority of Christ coming from the Father. For ' God was, in Christ, reconciling the world to himself,'
2 Cor. V. 19. So our salvation is founded and built upon the mutual love of the Father and of the Son to us. The Son loves us as from the Father, and the Father in the Son, so strong is our salvation built.
Use 5. Then again, Jifthly, for comfort. If Christ be God's, appointed by God a Saviour, and to make all things ours, to bring us back again, shall not we reason with the apostle, Eom. viii. 32, ' If he hath not spared his own Son, but given him to death for us all, how shall he not with him give us all things else ?' That place is a proof of the text in hand. How shall we prove that ' all things are ours ' for our good ? Because ' God hath not spared his own Son,' that is better than the world. Therefore God will rather create another world, than we shall want anything that is for our good. If he have ' given his Son for us all, how shall he not with him give us all things ? ' as much as shall be conduceable for our good.
Use 6. Now for an use of dut)/. Since God hath ordained and anointed Christ for our good, let us thank God for Christ, as the apostle doth : ' Blessed be God the Father of cur Lord Jesus Christ,' Eph. i. 3. We forget it. We see it is the beginning of eveiy epistle almost of Paul and Peter. ' Blessed be the Lord and Father of Christ,' 1 Peter i. 3. Alas I