[4.] His living is the root and cause of our life, for he having pur- chased eternal lile, not only for himself, but for all his members, ever liveth to convey it to them, and maintain it in them : John xiv. 19, 'Because I live, ye shall live also ;' John vi. 57, ' As I live by the Father, so he that believeth in me shall live by me.' By reason of the mysti- cal union that is between Christ and believers, they may rest upon it, that as long as the head hath life, the members shall not be utterly without life, for Christ is a pledge and a pattern of that power that shall work in us in order to life spiritual and eternal.
4. The next ground of comfort is the certainty of persuasion : ' I hnoio that my Redeemer liveth,' As if he had said, I clo not doubt of it, nor suspect it in the least. I hiow implies : —
[1.] A clear understanding of this mystery. The more fully we un- derstand the grounds of faith, the more efficacy they have upon us to beget confidence and joy of faith in us. The fears that haunt us are the fruits of darkness and ignorance, accompanied with a sense of guilt ; but as gospel-knowledge increases, they vanish as mists do be- fore the sun : Ps. ix. 10, * They that know thy name will put their trust in thee ; ' if God were better known, he would be better trusted.
[2.] I know, im})lies certainty of persuasion. This is either cer- tainty of faith, or of spiritual sense.
First, Of faith, which depends on the certainty of God's revelation. That was either the general promise in paradise : Gen. iii. 15, God had said, ' The seed of the woman shall break the serpent's head.' Now upon this promise Job is as confident of a redeemer, as if he had seen him with his bodily eyes. Thus Abraham is said to have seen Christ's day : John viii, 56, and Heb. xi. 13, ' These all died in faith, not hav- ing received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them.' Or his faith was built upon
300 THE TWF.LFTH SERMON. [JoB XIX. 25.
some particular revelation : Heb. i. 1, 'Goil, who at sundry times, and by divers manners, spake unto the fathers by the prophets.' They had a sufficient discovery of the Kedeenier to be aground of faith. Certain it is, the eyes of believers ^vere then upon him. We are told that Christ was ' the lamb slain from the foundation of the world,' Rev. xiii. 8. He is set forth in prophecies and types. ' Now faith is the evidence of things not seen ;' not seen by sense, but clearly seen in the promise. He was the joy of all ages, even of those that lived before he came in the flesh. The same is true after the coming of Christ, as well as before, for we ' believe in him whom w^e have not seen,' 1 Peter i. 8. We should as heartily love him and rejoice in him as if we had conversed with him bodily. Only we have an advantage : history is not so dark as prophecy, and it is more easy to believe what is past, where we have the suffrage and experience of so many ages to confirm us, than to expect wliat is to come, where we have only God's bare word to support us. The mystery is now more clearly revealed to us than before the exhibition of our Saviour ; therefore, according to our ad- vantage, so should the increase of our faith be. We should be able to say, 2 Tim. i. 12, ' I know whom I have believed, and I am per- suaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him.' We should rest upon Christ with more confidence.
Secondly, The certainty of spiritual sense. We know that he is a Eedeemer by the discovery of the word ; that he is our Redeemer by the application of the Spirit, as he manifests himself to us and in us. This knowledge of spiritual sense is often spf)ken of: Job xiii. 18, ' I know that I shall be justified ;' Heb. x. 34, 'Knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance ;' Rom. vi. 6, ' Know- ing this, that your old man is crucified,' that ii^, feeling. Now both these are of great comfort, the certainty of faith and the sweetness of sense ; for without the certainty of faith, the soul is only left to blind guesses and loose conjectures, and so can never have solid comfort. Without the knowledge of sense, that is, of our interest in salvation, the soul loses much of its joy and peace. As novices and men that have never be- fore been at sea are troubled at the swelling of every wave and billow though they are safe, yet, because they do not know they are safe, their voyage is a torment to them. So those that take the assurance of the word of God for the truth of redemption by Christ, and trem- blingly build upon it, yet because they know not their own interest, have not the comfort of the Spirit, their journey to heaven is the more troublesome. Therefore it C(»ncerneth us to build upon a sure founda- tion, so to get a clear interest.