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The beauty and glory of the life of faith is never seeu while all things succeed according to our heart's desire ; we do not know whether we live upon God or the creature, the encouragements of earth or heaven, till we be reduced to some necessities. Paul said, 'None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself,' Acts XX. 24.
2. That we mny despise the pleasures, and profits, and honours of the world. Affectation of worldly greatness is the great expression of the animal life, but the spiritual life, or the life of faith, inclineth us to look after the happiness prepared for us by Christ. The great use and end of it, is to keep us from aspiring after, and admiring great things hei-e below ; it quencheth the delights of the flesh, and begets a holy weanedness in us : Heb. xi. 13, ' Tiiey confessed themselves strangers and ])i]grims here upon earth.' To be carnally disposed arguelh little faith. In a pipe, if there be a leak, the water gusheth out, and runneth not forwaid ; our affections are diverted from things above, if they leak out to present comforts. They are the most active faculties, they cannot remain idle in the soul ; either they leak out to present things, or they run forward to heaven and heavenly things; and if they do so, the esteem of the world is abated. And therefore tills is the use of faith, to reject those fawning pleasures that would beguile us of those pleasures which are at God's right hand for ever- moi-e, those deceitful and vanishing honours that would bereave us of the glory, from whence we shall never be degraded.
2.. How or what shall we do that faith may have its perfect work with respect to this life of glory ?
1. Keep the eye of faith clear. When we are to see things at such a distance, and to see them with such affection, we had need of clear eyes. It is said, Heb. xi. 13, 'They saw them afar off.' The world is a very blinding thing : 2 Cor. iv, 4, ' In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glori- ous gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine upon them.' It is as dust cast into the eyes. A man may discourse of heaven, and talk at the same rate that other christians do, but he hath not such a lively afffctive sight of it. If we do not take heed of the suffusions of lust and carnal affections, these brutify us insensibly, and make us judge of all things according to present interest, and so molehills seem mountains.
[2.] Consider the harmoniousness of all the declarations that God hall) made eoncei'uing eternal life, how they suit with the doctrine of God the Fatlier, Son and Spirit.
(1.) As to God the Father, it suiteth his decrees; he hath deter- mined to bestow everlasting happiness on some, to the praise of his gloiious grace : Rom. viii. 30, ' Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called ; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified:' 2 Thes. ii. 13, 'God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Si)irit and belief of the truth.' And it suiteth to his covenant : God hath not only purposed out of his own love, but is under bonds to give us eternal life. A covenant is God's solemn transaction with his subjects, and consists of precepts, and laws invested with the sanction
84 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
of promises and IhreateniDgs. His commands, all of them, imply such an estate, and some express it. All of tliem imply it; for tliey are work in order to wages, or a reward to be given, and it is not fit vve should have our wages till our work be over. And some express it : John vi. 27, ' Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you ; ' and Mat. vi. 19, 20, ' Lay not up for yourselves trea- sures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal ;' and Luke xiii. 24, ' Strive to enter in at the strait gate.' And so for his promises: John vi, 47, ' He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.' If there were no such tiling, then all those commands and promises were given in vain, and would the wise and faithfid God flatter us with lies ? And for his threatenings : Mark xvi. 16. 'He that believeth not, shall be damned.' And are all the threat uings of God a vain scarecrow ?
(2.) Look upon the doctrines concerning Christ, Look upon Christ in his person, and states of humihation and exaltation; his coming from heaven shows it ; his going theie again was to piepare a place for us ; his sitting at the right hand of God, is to promote our interest in heaven ; his coming to judgment is to take us to himself. Consider Christ in his humiliation : why was Christ appaielled with our flesh, but that we might be clothed with his glory r* If Christ were in the womb, and in the grave, why may not we be in heaven ? It is more credil)le to believe a creature in heaven, than God in the grave. And then for his exaltation : when he had purchased a right and title, he went to heaven to prosecute and apply it. As the high priest went into the holy of holies with the names of the twelve tribes upon his breast ; so Je.sus Christ is gone into heaven with the names of all the saints upon his breast. And then consider his benefits: justification is our release fi'om the curse, and sanctification is to fit us for God. All ordinances tend to this, to nourish in us hopes of everlasting life. The word : Isa. Iv. 3, ' Hear, and your soul shall live.' The Lord's supper is food for our souls.