And then, again, you see he joins both together, ' Ye believe in God, be- lieve also in me,' to shew the distinction of persons in the Trinity, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. All om* faith is resolved at length into one God, but yet withal into three persons in that divine nature, because, as there is God the Father ofiended, so there must be a God to satisfy that God, and there must be a God to reveal and apply that satisfaction. The soul is so full of doubtings, that nothing can set it down but that which is above the soul and above the devil. And therefore, for our salvation, and to give us comfort, there is a necessity of three persons in the Godhead. The Father is oftended, God in the second person must satisfy ofiended justice, and God in the third person must reveal and apply that satisfaction for comfort. And therefore he names them distinctly, ' Ye believe in God,' &c. And because we cannot believe in God the Father but by beheving in Christ, therefore he joins them together, ' Ye believe in God, ye believe also in me.' ' No man comes to the Father but by the Son,' John xiv. 6. God the Father dwells in the light that no mortal eye can approach unto ; only he hath manifested himself in his Son, who is the engraven image of his per- son. God shines in the face of Christ, and as he comes down and makes himself known to us in his Son, so wo must go up to him in his Son, as he saith afterwards, ' I am the way, the truth, and the life,' John xiv. 6. There is no going to the Father but by me. Nothing is more tenible than to conceive of God out of Christ, for so he is a ' consuming fii'e,' Heb xii. 29. Therefore think of God as om-s in Christ. Cany Christ our elder brother with us, and desire God to look upon us in his Son.
Quest. Now, how doth faith in Christ case the soul in trouble ?
Ans. Many ways. I will name a few.
1. Faith in Christ hanisheth troubles, and hringeth in comfort, because it is an emptjdng grace. It emptieth us of ourselves, and so makes us cleave to another, and thereby becomes a gi'ace of union. It is such a grace as brings the soul and Christ together. Now, Christ being the fountain of comibrt, God having treasured all comfort in him (' for the fulness of the
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Godhead dwells in Christ,' Col. i. 19, and faith causeth Christ to dwell in us), brings the soul and Christ together, and so must needs make way for comfort. For it makes us one with the fountain of comfort, and by its re- peated acts derives fresh comfort.
2. Again, faith establisheth the heart. Now, to establish the soul there must be a solid basis, as in building there must be a foundation, and a planting upon that foundation. Now here is a foundation, God and Christ ; and there must be a grace to found and bottom the soul thereupon, and that is faith. And so the soul is established. The chain and connection of causes herein is this. God the Father in Christ, and by the Holy Ghost, conveys comforts, through the word laid hold upon by faith. It is not the word alone, for that is but as the veins and arteries that convey the blood and spirits. So the Spirit being conveyed by the promises, helpeth the soul to lay itself upon Chi-ist by faith, which is a grace of union, by which union with him the soul is established.
3. And then, again, faith stirreth up such graces as do comfort the soul, as hope in all good things promised. Aid therefore in the next verse he adds, to comfort them, ' In my Father's house are many mansions,' and faith is the grace that apprehends the joys thereof; and hope expects that which faith believes, and that hope becomes an anchor to the soul, and stayeth the soul in all the waves and troubles of the world. And what is the ground of that hope but faith ? Faith stu-reth up hope, and hope pitcheth on the promise, especially of life everlasting. And thus faith becomes a quieting and a stilling grace, because it raiseth the soul, by representing and making real to it better things than the world can give or take, as it doth also at other times present heavier things than the world can threaten. Faith makes things present to the soul ; and because it lays hold on divine things, greater than anything here below, therefore it overcomes the world, and all things in the world, yea, hell itself, because it lays hold on heaven and happiness, upon the power of God, and the mercy of God in Christ, and upon those rich promises. "What is in the world, or in the rank of good things, but faith outbids it by setting heaven against it ! and what evil is there but faith overcomes the fear of it by setting hell against it ! I shall have such a good if I yield to such a lust. Aye, but what is that to heaven ? saith faith. For faith being the hypostasis, the sul:)stance of things to come, makes them substantial and evident to the soul, as if they were already subsistent, being looked upon in the certainty of the word ; and so it aflfects the soul deeply, and upholds it strongly, even as if the things themselves were present, and so it banisheth and dispels all dis- comforts. The 11th chapter to the Hebrews is a comment upon this truth in the example of Moses and many others. "What greater object of fear might be presented to a man than the angry face and countenance of a tenible tyrant ? Yet when by the eye of faith he saw him that was in- \'isible, and then looked upon Pharaoh, what was Pharaoh to God ? When* Micaiah had seen God sitting on his throne, what was Ahab to him ? And when the soul hath entered into the vail, and sees the glorious things of heaven and happiness, what are aU things below ? Faith sets the soul on a rock, above the reach of waves, upon the love of God in Christ. And therefore set the grace of faith on work, keep it on the wing, preserve it on exercise ; and faith exercised wLU be able to comfort the most dejected soul in the world, and to raise it above all the troubles that can be imagined or befall us.