put their trust in thee ; for thou, Lord, hast not forgotten them that seek thee.' 2 Tim. i. 12, ' For the which cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed ; for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.' I shall not enlarge upon this branch, because I shall speak at large concerning faith in the next particular.
And thus I have shewed you from the Scriptures what that knowledge is that accompanies salvation.
Now, the second thing that I am to shew you is, what that faith is that accompanies salvation.^ I have formerly shewed you that faith doth accompany salvation, but now I will shew you what faith that is that doth accompany salvation ; and that I shall do, by divine assist- ance, thus :
First, That faith that accompanies salvation, that comprehends sal- vation, that will possess a man of salvation, is known,
(1.) By the objects about which it is exercised. And,
(2.) By the properties of it.
First, By the objects about which it is exercised. Now the objects of faith are these.
(1.) The first object of faith. First, The person of Christ is the object of faith.2 It is Christ in the promises that faith deals with. The promise is but the shell, Christ is the kernel ; the promise is but the casket, Christ is the jewel in it; the promise is but the field, Christ is the treasure that is hid in that field; the promise is a ring of gold, and Christ is the pearl in that ring; and upon this sparkling, shining pearl, faith delights most to look. Cant. iii. 4, ' It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth. I held him, and I would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.' So Cant. vii. 5, ' The king is held in the galleries.' Faith hath two hands, and with both she lays earnest and fast hold on King Jesus. Christ's beauty and glory is very taking and drawing ; faith cannot see it, but it will lay hold on it. Christ is the principal object' about which faith is exercised, for the obtaining of righteousness and everlasting hap- piness. Acts xvi. 30, 31, * And the jailor said. Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' Christ is in a world of scriptures held forth to be the object about- which faith is most conversant; and the more faith is exercised upon the person of Christ, the more it buds and blossoms, like Aaron's rod. Faith looks upon him as the express image and character of his Father ; faith beholds him as the chiefest of ten thousand ; faith sees him to be the most glorious object in all the world.*
^ Fides est interdum id quod credimus. interdum id quo credimus. — Augustine.
* Christ, as lledeemer, is the immediate object of faith, and God is the ultimate ; for •we believe in God through Christ, Rom. vi. 11 ; 1 Peter i. 21 ; 2 Cor. iii. 4. Faith's motto is, Nolo benedictionem tuam sed te.
» Not but that the Father is also the object of believers' faith, John xiv. 1. Isa. Ixiii. 16, 16, with many other scriptures. But Christ is the object held forth by the Father for our faitli to close with, in respect of our justification and salvation. God is oljectitm ultimum fidei, the ultimate or highest object of faith; and Christ oljectum medialum, the mediate object thereof.
Rom. VIII. 32-34.] heaven on earth. 44:7
(2.) The second object of faith. Secondly, The second object that faith is exercised about is the righteousness of Jesus Christ : Philip, iii. 9, ' I desire to be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.' Paul would not be found in a legal righteousness, for he knew all his legal righteousness was but as ' filthy rags,' Isa. liv. 6. All his legal righteousness, sewed together, would but make up a coat of patches, a beggar's coat, that is good for nothing but to be cast away ; therefore he desired to be found in the righteousness of Christ by faith. He knew that Christ's righteousness was a pure righteousness, a spotless righteousness, a matchless right- eousness, a complete righteousness, a perfect righteousness, an absolute righteousness, a glorious righteousness. Faith loves to fix her eye upon that rich and royal robe, that blameless and spotless righteousness of Christ, wherewith the soul stands gloriously clothed before God, as being all fair as being without spot or wrinkle in divine account.' Oh, it is the actmgs of faith upon this blessed object, this glorious righteousness of Christ, that makes a man familiar and bold with God, that makes a man active and resolute for God, that strengthens a man against temp- tations, that supports a man under afflictions, that makes a man long for the day of his dissolution, that makes him prefer his coffin above a prince's crown, the day of his death above the day of his birth ; that makes him triumph over sin and Satan, hell and wrath. Adam's right- eousness was but the righteousness of a creature, but the righteousness about which faith is exercised is the righteousness of a God,^ Rom. iii. 21, and x. 3. Adam's righteousness was a mutable righteousness, a righteousness that might be sinned away ; but the righteousness that a believer's faith is exercised about is an everlasting righteousness, a righteousness that cannot be sinned away, 2 Cor. v. 21 : Prov. viii. 18. mide Dan. ix. 24, ' Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy ;' Ps. cxix. 1 42, ' Thy righteousness is an everlasflng righteousness, and thy law is the truth.' The righteousness of Adam was a righteousness subject to shaking, and we know that Satan did shake all his righteousness about his ears, as I may say. Oh but that glorious righteousness about which faith is conversant is an unshaken righteousness, a righteousness that cannot be shaken : Ps. xxxvi. 6, 'Thy righteousness is like the great mountains,' or rather, as it is in the Hebrew, ' Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God.' What more stable than a mountain ! and what mountain so stable as the mountain of God ! The mountains cannot be shaken, no more can that glorious righteousness of Christ, about which a believer's faith is exercised. Adam's righteousness was a low righteousness, a righteous-
1 Col. ii. 10 ; Cant. iv. 7 : Rev. xiv. 5 ; Eph. v. 27.
* The righteousness of angela is but the righteousness of creatures, but the righteous- ness that the saints are clothed with is the very righteousness of God ; and in this respect the.meanest saint is more excellent and glorious than the most glorious angel.