1 Delivered December 10, 1669. VOL. IX. 34
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declare, ye manifest — " tlie Lord's death till lie come." These are the two immediate great ends of this ordinance : — a recognition of the death of Christ, which respects our faith and love ; and a repre- sentation of it, which respects our profession. Both are required of us.
I. There is that which respects our faith. The great work of faith is to make things that are absent, present to a soul, in regard to their sweetness, power, and efficacy; whence it is said to be "the evi- dence of things not seen : " and it looks backward unto the causes of things, and it looks forward unto the effects of things, — to what hath wrought out grace, and to what grace is wrought out; and makes them, in their efficacy, comfort, and power, to meet and centre in the believing soul.
Now, there are three things in reference unto the death of Christ that faith in this ordinance doth recognise, call over, and commemo- rate. The first is, the faith of Christ in and for his work ; the second is, the obedience of Christ ; and the third is, the work itself: —
1. Faith calls over the faith of Christ. Christ had a double faith in reference to his death : — one with respect unto himself, and his own interest in God; and the other in respect to the cause whose management he had undertaken, and the success of it. He had faith for both these.
(1.) The Lord Christ had faith in reference to his own person and to his own interest in God. The apostle, declaring (Heb. ii. 14) that because " the children were partakers of flesh and blood, Christ also did partake of the same/' that so he might die to deliver us from death, brings that text of Scripture, verse 13, in confirmation of it, which is taken out of Ps. xviii. 2, "And again," saith he, " I will put my trust in him." How doth this confirm what the apostle produces it for? Why, from hence, that in that great and difficult work that Christ did undertake, to deliver and redeem the children, he was ak along carried through it by faith and trust in God. " He trusted in God," saith he ; and that made him undertake it. And he gives a great instance of his faith when he was departing out of the world. There are three things that stick very close to a departing soul : — the giving up of itself; the state wherein it shall be when it is given up; and the final issue of that estate. Our Lord Jesus Christ ex- pressed his faith as to all three of them. As to his departure, Luke xxiii. 46, " He cried with a loud voice, Father, into thy hands I com- mend my spirit : and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." What was his faith as to what would become of him afterwards? That also he expresses, Ps. xvi. 1 0, " For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell ; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption," — " My soul shall not be left under the state of the dead, whereunto it is going; nor my body see corruption." What was his faith as to the future
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issue of tilings? That he expresses, verse 11, " Thou wilt show me the path of life" (which is his faith for his rising again) : " in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore;" — where he was to be exalted. And these words, " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit/'' were the first breaking forth of the faith of Christ towards a conquest. He looked through all the clouds of darkness round about him towards the rising sun, — through all storms, to the harbour, — when he cried those words with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And, by the way, it is the highest act of faith upon a stable bottom and foundation, such as will not fail, to give up a departing soul into the hands of God; which Jesus Christ here did for our example. Some die upon presumptions, — some in the dark ; but faith can go no higher than, upon a sure and stable ground, to give up a departing soul into the hands of God: and that for these reasons, to show the faith of Christ in this matter : —
[1.] Because the soul is then entering into a new state, whereof there are these two properties that will try it to the utmost : — that it is invisible; and that it is unchangeable. I say, there are two pro- perties that make this a great act of faith : —
1st The state is invisible. The soul is going into a, condition of things that " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard;" — that nothing can take any prospect into but faith alone. However men may talk of the invisible state of things which our souls are departing into, it is all but talk and conjecture, besides what we have by faith. So that to give up a soul cheerfully and comfortably into that state, is a pure act of faith.