[1,] Upon justification of necessity comes sanctification. For what is the stop of God's mercy ? His anger for sin committed ; in which case he denies his Spirit, But with reconciliation there comes also the Spirit : as Ephes. i, 13, saith the apostle, ' In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,' Now the Spirit once given, is the seed of all graces. Whosoever is justified, hath the Spirit of Christ : Rom, viii, 9, ' And if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.'
[2,] Again, having the Spirit of Christ, faith fetches all strength from Christ. Samson's strength was in his locks ; a Christian's strength is in Christ. This the devil knows well, and therefore labours especially to weaken faith, and draw us from our strength, Christ says, * Without me ye can do nothing,' John xv, 5 ; and St Paul affirms, that he ' can do all things through Christ who strengthened him,' Philip, iv, 13, The Spirit gives strength.
[3.] Again, as by Christ and his Spirit we have strength, so by his Spirit we have strong convincing reasons to work with strength from rea- son. Why doth a Christian carry himself in a holy just carriage answering his profession ? Oh, saith he, I have great reason ; Christ hath loved me, and given himself for me ; and should not I give myself to him, deny my
808 THK LIFE OF FAITH.
lusts, and live to liim ? For, indeed, the foundation of all Christian obe- dience is laid hy faith in Christ. So when a man looks to heaven, he hath a reason to ahstain from all lets and hindrances of liis safe and comfortable passage ; to magnify the riches of Christ's love, which hath provided for him such an inheritance, and to live accordingly. So when he looks to the pardon of sins past, he sees reason to hate them more and more, to strive against them in time to come, and to love Christ the more, who hath pardoned them. And when he looks to God's free love in Christ, he' sees reason to he inflamed with divine love, to admire the riches of that grace, and to be thankful.
[4.] Again, Christian atfections are as the wind, to carry us on in a holy life. Thus strength, and reason, and afiections, these nnike a man work. First, love sets us awork : ' we love him,' saith the apostle, ' because he loved us first,' 1 John iv. 19. We have his love first shed abroad in our hearts, inflaming the afiections, and kindling the heat of divine love ; and then we send back a reflex of love unto him. God cares for nothing but faith which works by love. This love is a most operative afi'ection stirred up by faith. Indeed, all our Christian graces are set a-work by faith in Christ.
Thus you see faith apprehending Christ, as God ofi'ers him ; and these things which I have mentioned following, we comn to live the life of faith in sanctification : an example whereof see in that woman, who because many sins were forgiven her, loved much. Love is bountiful. All obedience comes from love. Love is the keeping of the law. This afi'ection is stirred up by faith, yea, by Christ, for by him we have the promise of the Spirit, whence all graces come, and promises of the new covenant, to have fleshly hearts given, and his Spirit put in us. All promises of justification and sanctification are derived from Christ. They are in him, made for him, and eflected for his sake ; for he is ' yea and amen,' the centre and ground of all the promises. Now being brought by faith to live in justifi- cation, we must of necessity also live by faith in sanctification. There be two parts of a holy life: 1. In mortification, dijing to sin; 2. In vilifica- tion, living to righteousness.
For the first. What does it to a man in this case ? Wlw, he looks what brought Christ to suffer so much ; my sin. So this affection stirs up the same passion in him, in a sort, which was in Christ, and makes him hate sin with a perfect hatred, as in Zechariah it is said, ' They should look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitter- ness for his first born,' Zech. xii. 10. Secondly, It looks on the love of Christ, that made him give himself for us. This makes us to hate sin, and provokes us to live unto him who hath done so much for us. These two things in the death of Christ stir up hatred to sin.
Then again, in vivification, the same Spirit which quickened him doth also quicken us : as Col. iii. 1, ' If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God : set your afiections on things above, not on things on the earth.' So that the same Spirit which is in Christ, being sent into us, quickens us also to have mounting and heavenly thoughts. As the foot and little finger, though distant, live and stir by the same life and spirits diffused through the whole body, so the same Spirit quickens every Christian this way. As also by imparting strength, he imparts reasons from the resur- rection of Christ to make us heavenly-minded, so when the soul dies one