YeR. 6.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI, 119
turned into fruition. You are in the suburbs of heaven as soon as you close with Christ ; it putteth you above the clouds, and in the midst of glory to come. All the blessings of the covenant are made over to faith. It is God's acquittance which he showeth to Christ ; as when men are obliged to pay great sums of money, they receive an acquit- tance, as an acknowledgment that the money is received : John iii. 33, ' He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal, that God is true.' We give it under our hand and seal, that God is as good as his word.
But how shall we do to get faith ? I answer —
[1.] The habit of faith is freely given and wrought by God himself : Phil. i. 29, ' To you it is given on the behalf of Christ to believe on him; ' Eph. ii. 8. ' By grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God ; ' Heb. xii. 2, ' Looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our f;\ith.' And therefore the general means are waiting upon the word and prayer ; commend thy case to God by prayer, and wait for an answer in the Avord. Hearing there must be : Eom. s. 14, ' How shall they believe in him, of whom they have not lieard ? ' God will not infuse faith when asleep ; you must lie under the authority of the word. God's seasons are not at our beck ; if the first stroke of the flint doth not bring forth the fire, you must strike again ; it is good to be constant. And then if God suspend the influences of his grace, pray reujember the promise of giving the Holy Sjiirit: Luke xi. 13, 'If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? ' Knock once more ; a holy importunity argueth some presence of the Spirit, though we are not sensible of it ; it is good to be earnest, and to follow God with renewed requests and expectations.
[2.] I answer, Because we are required to believe ; though it be his gift, God requireth it of the creature. It is good to be doing ; let us use the means, and leave the blessing to God ; he may come ere we are aware, and though we can do nothing spiritually, yet it is good to be doing rationally. It is true, faith is not a work of nature, but this is the way of God's working. There are secret elapses of the Spirit of God, as Samuel thought Eli called, when it was the Lord ; there may be a spiritual work where we think it merely rational : besides, we are under a law ; God respecteth not what we can do, but what we ought to do. Three things are to be done — (1.) Something to humble the soul and fit it for faith ; (2.) Something to further the immediate working and actings of faith towards Christ ; (3.) Something for the regulating of these actings.
First, To fit the soul for faith, it is good to offer humbling matter. God was angry with Pharaoh : Exocl. x. 3, ' How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me ? ' Certainly we might do some- thing.
(1.) Pteflect on your present condition, and think of changes. It will not be ever with thee as it is now. I must die, and must come to judgment. Draw it to a short issue : Markxvi. 16, ' He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.' Do I believe ? upon what terms do I stand with God ? what
120 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. [SeR. XXIX.
assurance have I of bis love ? Especially do it, when God giveth thee a hint in his providence : 1 Kings viii, 47, ' If they shall bethink them- selves in the land, whither they were carried captives, and repent and make supplication unto thee in the land, of them that carried them captives, saying. We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness,' &c. Retirement gave them an opportunity to converse with themselves. It is good for us and our consciences to be together sometimes and enter parley, What am I ? how do matters stand between God and me ? Man has a conscience — a power to talk with himself : Ps. iv. 4, ' Commune with your own heart on your bed, and be still ; ' he can look inwardly to ask himself what he hath done : Prov. XX. 27, ' The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly : ' it is God's deputy, it sets up a tribunal within a man's self.
(2.) Examine yourselves by the laAv of God. A daily view of sins doth much conduce to humbling. Conscience is blind in many cases, therefore take the law along with you, and look into the purity of it : Rom. iii. 20, 'By the law is the knowledge of sin;' not only quoad naturam peccati, but quoad inlucrentiam in suhjecto. To man fallen, that is the nature and office of it : Rom. vii. 9, ' For I was alive with- out the law once ; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.' Paul was never troubled till the law was brought home to his conscience.