Page:Christ the saviour of the world (1).pdf/9

 covenant. And he is their Saviour eventually, as actually ſaving them, Matth. i. 21. 'And ſhe ſhall bring forth a Son, and thou ſhalt call his name Jeſus; for he ſhall ſave his people from their ſins.' None but theſe will ever truly employ him as a Saviour, or put their caſe in his hand: and there are none of them but will certainly employ him ſooner or later, Acts xiii. 48. 'As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed.' John vi. 37. 'All that the Father giveth me, ſhall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in no ways caſt out.'

I. Our Lord Jeſus Chriſt is the official Saviour not of the elect only, but of the world of mankind indefinitely; ſo our text calls him 'Saviour of the world.' Agreeable to which God in Christ is called 'the Saviour of all men,' but with a ſpeciality, 'the Saviour of them that believe,' I Tim. iv. 10. The matter lies here: Like as a prince, out of regard to his ſubjects' welfare, gives a commiſſion to a qualified perſon to be phyſician to ſuch a ſociety, a regiment, or the like; and the prince's commiſſion conſtitutes him phyſician of that ſociety; ſo that though many of them ſhould never employ him, but call other phyſicians, yet ſtill there is a relation betwixt him and them; he is their phyſician by office; any of them all may come to him if they will, and be healed: So God, looking upon the ruined world of mankind, has conſtituted