' All these died in faith.'
They continued in faith to death, and then they ended their days in faith. When death closed up the eyes of their bodies, then with the eye of faith they looked upon Christ, upon God in Christ reconciled to them. The point is clear, that
Doct. The grace of faith, it is such a grace that it carries a Christian through all the passages of this life.
It enableth him to hold out to the end, to suffer those things that he is to suff'er, and in the end by it he dies. And when all things else leave him in death, when riches leave him, when friends leave him, when honour and great places leave him, when his life and senses leave him, when all leave him, yet faith will never leave him till it have put him in full possession of heaven, and then it ceaseth when it hath done the work it hath to do, which is to bring us to heaven. Then it is swallowed up in vision and sight, and hope into fruition, and enjoying of the thing"^ hoped for. It is a blessed grace, that stands by us, and goes along with us, and comforts us in all the passages of this life, and even in death itself, in those dark pas- sages. It never forsakes us till it have put us in possession of heaven.
' All these died in faith.'
Quest. What is it to die in faith ?
Ans. To die in faith, as I said, is to die in the Lord by faith ; and it looks to the time past, present, to come.
1. To the time past. To die in faith is to die in assurance of the for- giveness of sins, when by faith and repentance we have pulled out the sting of sins past. For faith looks upon Christ, and Christ hath taken the sting
* The perseverance of the saints will be found frequently discussed by Sibbes throughout his works. For references see the Index. — G.
410 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
of death in his own, and death ever since hath been stingiess and harmless to his members. He hath disarmed it. Death had nothing to do to kill Christ. Now seizing upon him, who should not have died, who was our surety, death hath lost his sting. So that to die in faith is to die in assur- ance of forgiveness of sins past by Christ.
2. For the present. In the present instant of death, to die in faith is to see God reconciled to us in Christ, and with the eye of Stephen, to see Christ ready to receive our souls. Acts vii. 59, to see Christ sitting at the rifht hand of God, to break through all that is between, to see ourselves sittin" ' at the right hand of God, in heavenly places with Jesus Christ,' Eph. i. 20. This is to die in faith ; to see ourselves there with our head, where we shall be ere long. Faith makes things to come present. To die in faith is to die in assurance of that blessed salvation presently, even at that instant of time, at the parting of soul and body, that Christ will receive our souls, that are redeemed with his precious blood, that cost him so dear. He will not suffer the price of his blood to miscarry. Faith apprehends that Christ will go down with us to the grave. As God said to Jacob, ' Fear not to go down into Egypt ; I will go with thee,' Gen. xlvi. 3, so God would not have us fear to go down into the grave, those dark cells and dungeons ; God will go down with us. ' Our flesh shall rest in hope,' Ps. xvi. 9, because Christ, our surety, was raised out of the grave, and sits in heaven in glory and majesty. Therefore ' our flesh rests in hope ; ' as it is, Ps. xvi. 10, ' Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.' Therefore our flesh rests in hope till the resurrection ; be- cause God did not suffer his Holy One to see corruption. This is to die in faith.
3. And /or the time to come. To die in faith is by faith to overcome all the horror of death. Death is a terrible thing ; and of all the passages wherein we have occasion to use faith, it is most exercised in death. It requires more to die in faith than to live in faith ; for then the soul it looks to the horror of the grave, it sees nothing there but dust and rottenness. It looks to the pangs of death, sense and nature doth. And likewise the soul, so far as it hath nothing but nature in it, it looks to the dissolution of two friends, the body and the soul, who have been long coupled together, and their parting is bitter. And then it looks to the parting with friends here, with whom they have lived lovingly and sweetly. In death, nature sees an end of all employment in this world, of all the comforts of this life, &c., and therefore it is a terrible thing. Now to die in faith is to die in conquering all these, with a spirit above all these. What doth faith in the hour of death ? It overcomes all these, and all such like.