[1.] Because the governor is invisible, and we do not see him that is invisible but by faith : Heb. xi. 27, ' For he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.' Temporal potentates are before our eyes, their ter- rors and rewards are matter of sense. That there is an infinite, and eternal, and all-wise Spirit, who made all things, and therefore hath a right to command and give laws to all things, reason will in part tell us. But faith doth much more assure the soul of it, and impresseth the dread and awe of God as if it did see him with bodily eyes.
[2.] Because it must appear that this is the will of this supreme being. As the ruler is invisible, so none without faith can believe that those commands are God's commands, holy, just, and good, without which persuasion there can be no obedience : 1 Thes. ii. 13, ' When ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, je received it, not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which worketh effectually also in you that believe.' There is need of faith to see that they be God's laws ; for it is not matter of sense, that the scripture is the expression of his commanding and legislative will, whereby he showeth to man what is holy, just, and good, andbindiiigly determineth his duty : Micah vi. 8, ' He hath showed thee, 0 man, what is good ; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God ? '
[3.] And partly, because many of these commands are contrary to natural reason, and are not so evident by those common rules by which we judge of things. Contrary to natural reason : Heb. xi. 17, ' And he that had received the promises offered up his only-begotten son ; ' and ver. 30, the compassing Jericho seven days, to natural reason, was a very unlikely means to make the walls fail down. So Abraham, con- trary to natural affection, offered his son ; and ' when he was called to go into a place, which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed ; and he went forth, not knowing whither he went,' Heb. xi. 8. There is cultus naturalis and cultus institutus — natural worship and in- stituted worship ; as Naaman's washing seven times in Jordan, 2 Kings V. 10. Some commands of God carry their own reason and evidence with them, others stand only upon the authority of his in-
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stitution, wliicli no natural light could ever reveal to us, but only faith, giving credit to the word of God.
[4.] And partly, because we are not only to see God in the command and see it urged bindingiy, but to receive it with that reverence that becometh so great a Lord. It is his command who ' is able to save and to destroy,' James iv. 12. He hath, potestatem vita: et necis — do or die ; so that intuitus voluntatis, 1 Thes. iv. 3; and v. 18 ; 1 Peter ii. 15. The sight of God's will is reason enough, and instead of all reasons to a believer. Thus to charge the heart, that we may not shift and dis- tinguish ourselves out of our duty, there is need of faith, that we may shake off sloth and negligence, much more all deceit and fraudulency ; a general dogmatical faith will not serve the turn.
2. It uniteth us to Christ as a fountain of grace, without whom we can do nothing : John xv. 5, ' Without me ye can do nothing.' We can do nothing without Christ, nothing apart from Christ : 2 Cor. iii. 5, ' Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of our- selves but our sufficiency is of God.' Christ is the fountain from whence all our supplies come : John i. 16, ' And of his fulness have we all received, and grace for grace,' and all by virtue of our union with him : 1 Cor. i. 30, ' Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption ; ' and the band of this union is faith ; Eph. iii. 17, ' That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.' As the Spirit on Christ's part, so faith on ours ; and the more we act faith, the more clear and sensible it is : John vi. d'o, 57, ' He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father : so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me ; ' as meat chewed and digested begets spirit and life, and is turned into the eater's substance. Some do but taste Christ a little, and spit him out again ; but those that concoct and digest him, that embrace Christ, and apply him by faith, and by a constant dependence, Christ doth abide in them by his constant influence and quickening virtue. By this spiritual union and mutual indwelling we are made partakers, not only of his righteousness and merits, in order to our justification, but also of his Spirit, in order to our sanctification. As the branches par- take of the sap of the root, and as members of the body are partakers of the life of the soul by which the body is quickened ; so whosoever is united to Christ, the Spirit of Christ dwelleth in him : Eom. viii. 9, ' Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his ; ' and if the Spirit of God dwell in us, he wfll not suffer us to be unholy and unfruitful.