1. Through all conditions. By honour and dishonour, evil report and good report, afflictions, prosperities, 2 Cor. vi. 4-8. Whether despised or countenanced, still minding our great journey to heaven. Faith is necessary for all, that the evil be not a discouragement, nor the good a snare. Evil : Rom. viii. 18, ' For I reckon that the suffer- ings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.' Good : 2 Tim. iv. 10, ' For Demas hath forsaken us, and loved the present world.'
2. All duties required of us. That we still keep a good conscience towards God and towards man, Acts xxiv. 15, 16, in this faith and hope.
Reasons —
1. Walking by faith maketh a man sincere, because he expecteth his reward from God only, though no man observe him, no man com- mend him : Mat. vi. 6, ' Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.' Yea, though all men hate him and condemn him : Mat. v. 11, 12, ' Blessed are you when men shall revile and per- secute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my name's sake ; rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.' Now this is true sincerity, when we make God alone our paymaster, and count his rewards enough to repair our losses and repay our cost.
2. It maketh a man vigorous and lively. When we consider at the end of our work there is a life of endless joys to be possessed in heaven with God, that we shall never repent of the labour and pain
VeR. 7.] SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. 21
that we have takea in the spiritual life : 1 Cor. xv. 58, ' Always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord ;' Phil. iii. 14, ' I press towards the mark, because of the high prize of the calhng of God in Jesus Christ.' The thoughts of the prize and worth of the reward do add spirits to the runner.
3. It maketli a man watchful, that he be not corrupted with the delights of sense, which are apt to call back our thoughts, to interrupt our affections, to divert us from our work, and quench our zeal Now one that walks by faith can compare his eternal happiness with these transitory pleasures which will soon have an end, and everlastingly forsake those miserable souls who were deluded by them. As Moses : Heb. xi. 24, 25, ' By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to eojoy the pleasures of sin f'?r a season.'
4. Walking by faith will make a man self-denying ; for, having heaven in his eye, he knoweth that he cannot be a loser by God : Mark x. 21, * Forsake all that thou hast, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven ; ' so vers. 29, 30, ' Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sister, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, but he shall receive an hundred-fold.'
5. Walking by faith maketh a man comfortable and confident ; a believer is encouraged in all his duty, emboldened in his conflicts, comforted in all his sufferings. The quieting or emboldening the soul is the great work of faith, or trust in Gods fidelity. A promise to him is more than all the visible things on earth, or sensible objects in the world ; it can do more with him to make him forsake all earthly pleasures, possessions, and hopes : Ps. Ivi. 4, ' In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust ; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me ; ' so Paul : Acts xx. 24, ' But none of those things move me, neither count I ray life dear unto me, so I may fulfil my course wiih joy. Save the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me ' — did wait for him everywhere. I make no reckoning of these things. It maketh us constant. Have ye fixed upon these hopes with so great deliberation, and will you drawback, and slack in the prosecution of them ? Have you gone so far in the way to heaven, and do you begin to look behind you, as if you were about to change your raind, Heb. x. 39. The apostle saith, Phil. iii. 13. 'I forget the things which are behind, reaching forth unto the things which are before.' The world and the flesh are things behind us ; we turned our backs upon them when we first looked after heavenly things. Heaven and remaining duties are the things before us ; if we lose our crown, we lose ourselves for ever.
Use, Is to show the advantage the people of God have above the carnal and unregenerate. The people of God walk by faith, against the present want of sight. How do the world walk ? Not by faith, they have it not ; nor by the sight of heaven, for they are not there, and so continuing never shall be there. So they have neither faith nor sight ; what do they live by, then ? They live by sense and by fancy :