Looking unto Jesus a view of the everlasting gospel, or, the souls eying of…

2. Faith must go to Christ, as God in the flesh. Some make this the difference of Faiths acting betwixt Believers of the New and Old Testament: Under the Old Testament, when Christ was but in the Promise, and not as then come in the flesh, their Faith had a more usual recourse unto God himself; as for Christ (God-man, man-God) they had not so distinct, but only a confused knowledge of him; and therefore we read not so frequently and usually of their recourse unto him, but only unto God.¹ O our God, wilt thou not judge them? we know not what to do, but our eyes are upon thee— and, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established.—and, The Lord heard this, and was wrath—because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation. But now under the New Testament, because Christ as Mediator, who was promised, is come, our Faith more usually and immediately addresseth it self unto Christ, as God in the flesh, God dwelling in our nature is made more familiar to our Faith, than the person of the Father, who is merely God: God in the flesh is more distinctly set forth in the New Testament, and so he is more distinctly to be apprehended by the Faith of all Believers: Ye believe in God (says Christ to his Disciples, whose faith and opinion of the Messiah was till Christ's Resurrection of the same Elevation with that of the Old-Testament-Believers) Ye believe in God; but he rests not there, believe also in me, ²make me the object of your trust and salvation, as well as the Father, believe also in me, not only so, but believe in the first place on me. One sweetly observes, that when Faith and Repentance came more narrowly to be distinguished by their more immediate objects, it is laid down thus, Repentance towards God, and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ; ³not but that God and Christ are objects of both; but that Christ is more immediately the object of Faith, and God i• more immediately the object of Repentance; so that we believe in God through believing in Christ first; and we turn to Christ by turning to God first. O remember this! Le• our Faith in the more direct and immediate exercise of it be pitch upon Christ as God […] the flesh.