3. The prophet's view of all this : * I saw' it, or 'I see' it. Though it were eight hundred and seventy years before, supposing him to prophecy about the end of Josiah, or be- ginning of Jehoiakim, yet taking it under the consideration of faith he makes it present to his view.
Faith looketh backwards and forwards, to what God hath done, and to what he hath promised to do. Abraham saw the day of Christ, so many ages after, because he found it by faith in the promise. Habakkuk saw the terrors of Cushan and Midian so many days before, because faith found it re- corded among the works of God to support itself in seeking the like mercies to be renewed. So that this is the sum of this verse: O Lord, faith makes it evident, and presents it before my view, how in former days, when thou wast doing great things for thy people, thou fiUedst all thine and their enemies with fear, vexation, trembling, and astonishment.
XIII. Observation. Faith gives a present subsistence to forepast works as recorded, and future mercies as promised, to support the soul in an evil day.
I have made the doctrine by analogy look both ways, though the words of the text look but one.
The apostle tells us, that 'faith is the substance of thino-g hoped for, the evidence of things not seen;' Heb. xi. 1.
1. 'Of things hoped for.' It looks forward to the pro- mises, and so gives the substance of them in present pos- session, confirming our minds and hearts, that they may have a subsistence as it were within us, though not actually made out unto us.
2. It is ' the evidence of things not seen.' It ejrtends
'■ Nitmb. XXV, xxvii. and xxxi
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itself not only to things promised, but taking for its object the whole word of God, it makes evident and present things that are past also. The faith commended ver. 3. is of things long since done, even the 'making of the things that are seen, of the things that do not appear.' ' Abraham saw my day.'saith our Saviour; John viii. 56. He saw it, as Habak- kuk saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; faith made it present to him : all the ages between him and his promised seed were as nothing to his keen-sighted faith. Hence the apostle puts the mercies of the promise ail in one form and rank as already wrought, though some of them were enjoyed, and some of them in this life cannot be. Rom. viii. 30. 'Whom he hath justified, them he hath glorified:' he hath done it for them already, because he hath made them believe it, and that gives it a present subsistence in their spirit. And for forepast works, they are still mentioned by the saints, as if they had been done in their days, before their eyes. Elisha calls up to remembrance a former miracle, to the effectino- the like, 2 Kings ii. 14.
There be three things in the past or future mercies which faith makes present to the soul, giving in the substance of them: (1.) Their love; (2.) Their consolation; (3.) Their use and benefit.
(1.) The love of them. The love that was in former works, and the love that is in promised mercies, that faith draws out, and really makes ours. The love of every re- corded deliverance is given to us by faith. It looks into the good-will, the free grace, the loving-kindness of God, in every work that ever he did for his, and cries. Yet this is mine : this is the kernel of that blessing, and this is mine : for the same good-will, the same kindness he hath towards me also. Were the same outward actings needful,! should have them also. The free love of every mercy is faith's proper object. It makes all Joshua's great victories present to every one of us. The promise that had the love and grace in it, which run through them all, is given him. Josh. i. 5. 'I will be with thee, I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.' Now the apostle tells us, that the truth and love of this promise is ours, Heb. iii. 5. Faith may, doth assure itself, that what good-will soever was in all the great mercies which Joshua re- ceived upon that promise, is all ours. All the good-will and
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choice love of, 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee,' is mine and thine, if we are believers. He that hath this pre- sent, hath all Joshua's victories present. The very glory of the saints in heaven is ours in the love of it. We enjoy that love which gave them glory, and will crown us also in due time.
(2.) In their comforts and refreshments. 'Thou gavest Leviathan to be meat to the people in the wilderness;* Psal. xiv. They fed their souls full of the sweetness of that mercy, the destruction of their oppressing tyrant: we chew the cud upon the blessings of former ages. Who hath not with joy, delight, and raised affections, gone over the old preservations of the church in former years? How do€S David run them over with admiration, closing every stop with, 'His mercy endureth for ever?' Psal. cxxxvi. And for things to come, as yet in the promise only, whether ge- neral to the whole church, as the calling of the Jews, the coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles, the breaking out of light, beauty, and glory upon the churches and saints, the confusion of nations, not subjecting themselves to the standard of the gospel, &c. or in particular, farther as- surance of love than at present enjoyed, nearer communion with Father and Son, being with Christ, freed from misery and corruption, dwelling with God for ever; how does faith act over these, and the like things in the heart, leaving a savour and relish of their sweetness continually upon the soul ? O how sweet are the things of the world to come unto poor believers! Christ leads the soul by faith, not only into the chambers of present enjoyed loves, but also into the fore-prepared everlasting mansions in his Father's house. Thus it gives poor mortal creatures a sweet relish of eternal joys : brings heaven into a dungeon, glory into a prison, a crown into a cottage, Christ into a slaughter-house. And this arises,