(2.) The second is qiresiimjit ion ; for this know, that in his own strength shall no man be strong. In St Paul's speech, ' By grace I am that I am,' 1 Cor. XV. 10. So again, saith he, ' In him' — to wit, in Christ — ' we live, and move, and have our being,' Acts xvii. 28. If we do presume, it is just with Christ to forsake us, as he did Peter. Take heed also of spiritual self-sufficiency, lest we rest on ourselves, and go not to Christ. Our moving to all good duty is by him. It is but a word for him to help us, either in things tending to a spiritual or a natural life. Therefore, for con- clusion of all, leave him not. In thy emptiness go to his fulness. If thy cistern be dry, turn the cock of thy faith, and his fountain will fill it again. Take him still along with thee, and thou canst not choose but live this life of faith in sanctification.
* Cf. footnote, Vol. I. page 126.— G.
THE LIFE OF FAITH.
SERMON II.
A)id the life which I now live in the fiesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. — Gal. II. 20.
We see here our blessed apostle doth exemplify himself a man living another life than the life of nature, from higher reasons, grounds, and principles : * I live,' saith he, 'by the faith of the Son of God.' First, he considers of another life than that which is rational, correcting the error of the same ; for as reason corrects sense, so faith doth reason. This makes a man a new creature. The spring of this life is Christ. The means of convey- ance is faith. It is meet now we should fetch all out of* ourselves ; for since Adam lost what he had, it is dangerous to trust ourselves with it any more. Therefore Christ keeps it for us, and makes it ours by conve^yance of his Spirit, making us all children of grace. Faith is wrought in us by the Spirit of God, and then it works, as Augustine says, acti agimm. Thus by effectual calling being once knit unto Christ, it is consecrated, as that by which we live. Christ is conceived in our souls by faith. As he was conceived in the Virgin's womb by her yielding to the promise, so we, closing with the promise, faith is wrought, and then Christ comes to live in the heart, as, believing the promise, he came thereafter to live in her womb. In the last sermon we propounded many things touching the life of faith, how it lives in effectual calling, in justification and sanctification, in glorification, and in the several grand passages of this life, one of which remains yet to be unfolded, as, the life of faith in glorification.
Quest. 1. But how ? Vision is for glory; what hath faith to do with this, which is of things unseen ?
Ans. 1. I answer, we live by faith in glorification thus, because faith lays hold on the promise, and we have the promises of glory set down in the word, and with the promise we have the first-fruits of the Spirit, and having the earnest and first-fruits, God will surely give the harvest. We have the Spirit, and thence faith reasons, God will make good his promise, he will not take back his earnest. Thus faith gathers great matters, be- lieves all, and so lives comfortably in expectation of fruition.
Ans. 2. Again, faith lives by the life of glorification in Christ the head. There is but one life of Christ and his members, and one Spirit, one with * That is, ' from without.'— Ed,
THE LIFE OF FAITH. 373
him in union in the first degree of life. His glory is our glory. As in justification our debts are made his, so his glory is made ours, as it is John xvii. 1, seq., and he is gone to prepare a place for us, to bring us where he is. ' The glory which thou gavest me,' saith Christ, * I have given unto them ;' yea, * and in him also we sit in heavenly places,' Eph. i. 3. So in regard of Christ to whom we are knit, we live the life of glory.
Ans. 3. Thirdly, by reason of the nature of faith, as Heb. xi. 1, which is to make things absent have a certain being. Now faith being wi'ought by an almighty power, raising us above ourselves to fasten and lay hold on so many mysteries, so it makes an almighty working in the soul, makes things afar ofl' to come evident. Thus it presents glory to us, as though it were present, and we in some sort live by it.
How to know whether or not loe live the life of faith in glorification.
1. This, where it is in faith, makes a Christian glorious, jnits him in a spirit that is glorious in all estates. There is no grace in him, but it is set a-fire by this faith of glory to come. When faith looks back on things, it hath strength, but when it looks on glory, all graces and virtues are set a-work.