244 SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. [SeR. XXXIII.
4. From the effect of this renovation, which is the implantation of the three graces, faith, hope, and love, which are our light, life, and power. In the new nature faith is our light, because by it we see things otherwise than we did before. We see God : Heb. xi. 26, ' By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king ; he endured as seeing him who is invisible.' We see Christ : John vi. 40, ' That every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him.' They see such an excellency in him that all other things are but dung and dross in comparison of him. They see heaven and spiritual things, and things to come : Heb. xi. 1, ' Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, tlie evidence of things not seen ; ' and Eph. i. 18, ' The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.' Faith is the eye of the new creature that giveth us another sight of things than we had before. Without it we can- not see these things, 2 Peter i. 9. We understand what is good for back and belly ; we see things at hand, but cannot see things afar oflP, Then love is as it were the heart of the new creature, the seat of life, or wherein the new bent and inclination to what is good and holy doth most discover itself. We are never converted till God hath our love ; for grace is a victorious suavity or complacency. God in conversion acteth so powerfully, that his purpose is accomplished. He acts upon the will of man with so much energy that he mastereth it, and yet with so much sweetness that his power maketh us a willing people, Ps. ex. 3. That is, he gaineth our love, and then nothing he doth or saith is grievous, 1 John v. 3. Healing grace worketh mainly by shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts, and causing us to love him again. The sensitive delectation, which formerly captivated the will, is subdued, and the soul is brought to delight in God as our chief good ; so that grace, which is light in the understanding, is plea- sure in the will. There is a powerful love which maketh our duty easy and agreeable to us. Then hope that is our sti'ength, for the sense of the other world, where we shall have what we believe and desire at the fullest rate of enjoyment, doth fortify the heart against present temp- tations, the sorrows of the world, and the delights of sense. The soul is weak when our expectation is cold and languid ; strong, when the heart is most in heaven ; our moral and spiritual strength lieth in the heavenly mind. It is our anchor and helmet. Now all these graces are of God. The scripture is express both for faith, which giveth us a new sight of things : Eph. ii. 8, ' By grace ye are saved, through faith ; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God ; ' and love, which giveth us a new bent and inclination, or that victorious suavity which gently mastereth the will by its affectionate allui'ements, or pleasingly ravisheth the heart : 1 John iv. 7, ' Let us love one another, for love is of God.' This holy fire is only kindled by a sunbeam ; and hope is of the same extract and original : Pvom. xv. 13, ' The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, "through the power of the Holy Ghost.' That heavenly frame that maintaineth comfort in our souls in the midst of the tumults and con- fusions of the present world, it is wrought in us by the Spirit : these graces, as they are created after God, so created by God. After God ;
Ver. is.] sermons upon 2 corinthians v. 245
after his image. "Wisdom, power and goodness are the three great attributes to which answer hght, life and power, or, which is all one, faith, hope and love ; faith as the eye, and love as the heart. This life is received by faith, and acted in love. Hope as the strength ; and reason showeth it as well as scripture. Faith we cannot have of our- selves, for by sense we only see things that are before us. By reason things future, as they are contained in their causes, may be seen, if nothing hinder, but things spiritual, invisible, and wholly future, can- not be seen with any certainty, but in God's light, as he revealeth the object and openetli the faculty. Love we cannot have of ourselves, for man being a fleshly creature, his love accommodateth itself to the interests of his flesh. Suppose it to be placed like a needle between two loadstones, between God and the world, surely it will be drawn away by what is strongest and nearest. Self-love, being guided by concupiscence, tendeth towards the creature, till it be mastered by grace. Those pleasures which enter into the soul by the gate of the senses will corrupt oiu' love, till an higher pleasure, let in by the un- derstanding divinely enlightened, and into the will, draw it another way ; for before the understanding is dazzled with false light, or ob- scured by real darkness, that it can hardly discern good from evil. Such is the treachery of the senses, and revolt of the passions ; and the will, perverted by concupiscence, hath no inclination but to what is evil. Hope which floweth from love that cannot be ; for till God be our chiefest good, how shall we seek and long for the time when we shall fully enjoy him, with any life, seriousness and comfort?