That which I shall now touch upon is this : We must remember what a strong foundation, what bottom, and basis, our faith hath. There is God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and Christ the Mediator. That our faith may be supported, we have him to beUeve on who supports heaven and earth, as in Heb. i. 2, and Col. i. 16, 17. He created all things as well as the Father. He is honoured of all as well as the Father. He that supports the pillars of heaven and earth is able to support the pillars of thy soul.
But how doth faith in Christ ease the soul of trouble ?
In a word, as it carrieth the soul out of itself unto God in Chnst, and unto Christ, unitmg and making us one with him, and so sets the soul above all trouble whatsoever. For, being one with Christ, we are already with him in heaven. And again, faith is a grace that presents things to come, as pre-
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sent, and so establislieth the soul. It is the hypostasis of things, it gives subsistence to thorn in the promise, and it doth never leave to do it till the things subsist indeed. It is a gi-ace that accompanieth the soul to heaven, looking upon things in the word of him that is truth itself, and so giving a kind of being to them, throughout all the way to heaven, till they have a being indeed. And then faith is out of office, yielding it up to sight, and the full enjojTnent of all.
Quest. 13ut did not the disciples believe already ?
Ans. Yes, they did. But they had need to renew their faith, as occa- sions were renewed, and as troubles were to increase. * Believe in me.' It is as he should have said : * Now there is occasion for you to use your faith. I must be taken out of your sight. You must see me suffer. And you had need of an extraordinaiy measure of faith to see me in such abase- ment, and yet to beUeve that I am God.'
We must grow from faith to faith, that we may live by it continually ; and we must increase with the increase of God, that as our difficulties do increase, our strength to go through them may increase also ; as they prayed, ''Lord, increase our faith,' Luke xvii. 5.
I give some directions how we might not be troubled.
And fii'st, we must labour to have our ^jffrt and portion in Christ, else there is nothing belongs to us but trouble. There are two sorts of men in the church, some that usm-p a peace and exemption from trouble, as if joy and comfoi-t were their portion. Satan is wise enough not to trouble them, and they take an order with then* consciences, that they shall not trouble them till needs must, till the hour of death, or some dismal accident. The only way for such is to be troubled, that their trouble may be a foundation of their comfort. For to such as live in their sins against conscience, ap- parently* so, that eveiy man may see it, and yet are not troubled, they have no interest in comfort. Nothing but woe and misery belongs to them. Indeed, Christ came to save sinners, but it is broken-hearted sinners, peni- tent sinners, that are weary and hea-vy laden under the burden of sin. And, therefore, though they speak peace to themselves, yet we dare not speak any comfort to them from Christ. As Jehu said to Joram, ' What hast thou to do with peace, as long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel are so many?' 2 I^ngs ix. 22. Dost thou talk of peace as long as thou art a swearer, a profane liver, a malicious person, against all that are truly good ? What hast thou to do with peace ?
Now, in the visible church, there is another sort that Satan laboureth to trouble. Since he cannot keep them in the state of nature, but they break from him — Christ pulling them out of Satan's kingdom by the power of his ordinances and Holy Spirit — he labours to trouble them in their peace all he can. Because they be, in the world, above the world, he envies their con- dition, that they should enjoy that paradise which he left, the comforts that he once had ; and, therefore, he labours to disturb them in their comforts.
The estate of such is mixed here in this world. They have that in them, and without them, which will always be a cause and occasion of trouble. They have corruption in them not altogether subdued ; and they have with- out them Satan taking advantage against them ; and the world opposing them. These, although they have something in them that must be subdued, yet something also that must be cherished and strengthened. And there- fore these are the persons to whom comfort properly belongs.
In heaven we shall have no need of being comforted, for there our peace * That is, ' openly.'— G.
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shall be to have no enemies at all. Our peace here is to have comfort in the midst of discomfort, and an heart enlarged in troubles.