with; the former is stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, 1 Cor. v. 58. the latter is like a reed shaken with the wind. Strong faith, as it is said of Job, Job i. 21. blesses God when he strips him of all earthly enjoyments, and rejoices that the soul is counted worthy to suffer shame for his name, Acts v. 41. and this carries him above those fears which have a tendency to deject and dishearten him: He shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord, Psal. cxii. 7. Whereas, weak faith is borne down, with dis couragements; he finds it hard to hold on in the performance of his duty, and sees mountains of difficulties in his way; whereby the soul is ready to conclude, that he shall not be able to get safely to his journey's end. He does not rightly improve the consideration of the almighty power of God, and his faithfulness to his promise, in which he has engaged, that the righteous shall hold on his way; and he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger, Job xvii. 9. And when we sustain losses and disappointments in the world, or things go contrary to our expectation, then we are ready to say with the Psalmist, Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he, in anger, shut up his tender mercies? Psal. lxxvii. 9. and sometimes conclude, that we have no interest in the love of God, because the dispensations of his providence are afflictive, and fill us with great uneasiness. In this case fear looks upon every adverse providence, as it were, through a magnifying glass, and apprehends this to be but the beginning of sorrows; for it cannot say with the prophet, I will trust and not be afraid, chap. xii. 2. for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength, chap. xxvii. 4.

Moreover, the strength or weakness of faith may farther be discerned by our enjoying, or being destitute of communion with God; our conversing with him in ordinances, or being deprived of this privilege. We may conclude our faith to be strong, when we can say as the apostle does, Our conversation is in heaven, or we live above: but when, on the other hand, we have too great an anxiety or solicitude about earthly things, and an immoderate love to this present world, this argues the weakness thereof. The difference between these two may also be discerned, by the frame of our spirit in prayer. When faith is strong, the soul has a great degree of boldness or liberty of access to the throne of grace; a greater measure of importunity and fervency, accompanied with an expectation of the blessings prayed for, by a secret and powerful intimation from the Spirit, as a Spirit of grace and supplication; from whence it infers, that he that excites this grace will encourage it, as he says not to the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain, chap. xiv. 19. We might also add, in the last place, that strong faith may likewise be discerned, when it is accompanied with an assu VOL. III.

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rance of an interest in Christ's righteousness, and our right and title to eternal life founded thereon, or that God will guide us by his counsel, and afterwards receive us to glory, and a persuasion wrought in the soul by the Spirit, that nothing shall separate us from his love: whereas weak faith is attended with many doubts concerning our interest in Christ; sometimes fearing that our former hope was no other than a delusion, our present experiences not real, the ground we stand on sinks under us; and we are ready to conclude, that we shall one day fall by the hands of our spiritual enemies. When I speak of these doubts and fears, as an instance of weak faith, I do not say that they are ingredients in faith; for they are rather to be considered as a burden and incumbrance that attends it, so that though there be some good thing in us towards the Lord our God, or a small degree of faith, like a grain of mustard seed, these doubts proceed from the weakness thereof, as opposed to that which is strong, and would denote the soul to be in a happy and flourishing condition; which leads us,

VI. To speak concerning the use of faith in the whole conduct of our lives; as every thing that we do in an acceptable manner, is said to be done by it. It is one thing occasionally to put forth some acts of faith, and another thing to live by faith; which, as it is the most noble and excellent life, so nothing short of it can, properly speaking, be called a good life, how much soever many are styled good livers, who are wholly strangers to this grace. The apostle Paul speaks of this way of living, and considers it as exemplified in himself, when he says, The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Gal. ii. 20. He speaks of it as his constant work, or that which ran through the whole business of life. Whether we are engaged in civil or religious duties, they are all to be performed by faith. Here we shall consider the life of faith;

1. As it discovers itself in all the common actions of life; in these we act as men: but that faith, which is the principal ingredient in them, and their chief ornament, denotes us to walk as Christians; and this we are said to do,

(1.) When we receive every outward mercy, as the purchase of the blood of Christ, as well as the gift of his grace; and consider it as a blessing bestowed by a covenant-God, who, together with outward things, is pleased to give himself to us; which infinitely enhances the value of the blessing, and induces us to receive it with a proportionable degree of thankfulness.

(2.). When we set loose from all the enjoyments of this world, not taking up our rest in them, as though they were our portion or chief good; and therefore, the esteem and value we

have for them is very much below that which we have for things divine and heavenly. When we use them to the glory of God; and account the best outward enjoyments nothing, if compared with Christ; as the apostle says, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, Phil. iii. 8. This act of faith will quiet our spirits under afflictions, and induce us to submit to the disposing providence of God; when our best outward enjoyments are removed, or we called to suffer the loss of all things for Christ's sake, or by his sovereign will.

(3.) When all the success which we hope for in our secular employments, is considered as an instance of that care which Christ takes of his people, in which he over-rules and orders all things for his own glory, and their welfare; and therefore, we are persuaded that he will cause whatever we take in hand, to prosper, provided he sees that it is best for us; and if not, we are disposed to acquiesce in his will. This is such an instance of faith as will put us upon doing every thing in the name and to the glory of Christ, and fortify us against any disappointment that may attend our expectation, in every em. ployment wherein we are engaged.

(4.) When outward blessings, instead of proving a snare and temptation, to draw off our hearts from Christ, are a means to bring us nearer to him, so that if our circumstances are easy and comfortable in the world, and we have more frequent op portunities offered to us, to engage in religious duties than others, we are accordingly inclined to embrace them; and when every thing we enjoy, as an instance of distinguishing favour from God, above what many in the world do, excites in us a due sense of gratitude, and an earnest desire and endeavour to use the world to his glory.

(5.) When adverse providences, which sometimes have a tendency to drive the soul from Christ, and occasion repining thoughts, as though the divine distributions were not equal, are made of use to bring us nearer to him, so that whatever we lose in the creature, we look for, and endeavour to find in him. And when, with a submissive spirit, we can say, that he does all things well for us, as we hope and trust that he will make even those things that run counter to our secular interests, subservient to our eternal welfare; and as the result hereof, endeavour to keep up a becoming frame of spirit, in such a con dition of life, as has in itself a tendency to cast down the soul, and fill it with great disquietude,

(6.) When we devote and consecrate all we have in the world to God, considering, that as we are not our own, but his; so all we have is his: and when hereupon we are endow. ed with a public spirit, desirous to approve ourselves blessings

to mankind in general, to the utmost of our power; and when we have done all, not only say with David, Of thine own we have given thee, 1 Chron. xxix. 14. but as our Saviour taught his disciples to say, We are unprofitable servants.

(7.) The life of faith discovers itself in the government of our affections, namely, as they are kept within due bounds, set upon right objects, and rendered subservient to promote Christ's glory and interest. Hereby are we prevented from setting our affections immoderately on things of this world, when faith shews us that there are far better things to draw them forth, which deserve our highest love: it also prevents our being worldly and carnal, as though we were swallowed up with the things of sense, and had nothing else to mind, and religion were only to be occasionally engaged in; or, as though an holy, humble, self-denying frame of spirit were inconsistent with worldly business. Faith suggests the contrary; puts us upon making religion our great business, and engaging in secular affairs, rather as a necessary avocation from it, than that which is the chief end of living. It also puts us upon glorifying Christ in our secular concerns, as we manage them in such a way as he ordains; and hereby the soul is kept in a spiritual frame, while abiding with God in the calling whereunto he is called. This we attribute more especially to the grace of faith, not only as it is connected with, and (as will be observed under our next head) excites other graces; but as it has its eye constantly fixed on Christ as its object, and by this steers its course, and takes an estimate of the valuableness and importance of all the affairs of this life, by their subserviency to our salvation, and the advancement of his glory therein,

2. Faith discovers itself in the performance of all religious duties, and the exercise of all other graces therein. Thus we read of the prayer of faith, whereby a soul hath access to God as a father, in the name of Christ; firmly relies on the promises which are established in him, and has a liberty to plead with him, and hope of acceptance in his sight, Moreover, when we wait on God to hear what he has to impart to us in his word, faith having experienced some degree of communion with him already, and had some displays of his love, puts the soul upon desiring more, as the Psalmist says, My soul thirsteth for thee; my flesh longeth for thee, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary, Psal. lxiii, 1, 2. And whatever other ordinances of divine appointment, we are engaged in, we are hereby encouraged to hope for his presence, and draw nigh unto him herein, with a reverential fear and delight, in him and it puts us upon the exercise of those graces which are necessary for the right performance of gospel worship in general

These are not only joined with it, but may be said to be excited thereby; so that faith is, as it were, the principal of all other graces. Thus when the heart is drawn forth in love to Christ, it may be said, that faith worketh by love, Gal. v. 6. and when this love is accompanied with joy unspeakable and full of glory; this we have in a way of believing, and that which tends to excite the grace of love, is the view that faith takes of Christ's mediatorial glory and excellencies, and the obligations we are under to love him, from his grace of love to us; and this is a strong motive, inducing us to express our love to him, by universal obedience, which is called, the obedience of faith, Rom. xvi. 26.

When we exercise the grace of repentance, and thereby hate and turn from all sin, and are, in a peculiar manner, sensible, as we ought to be, of the sin of unbelief; it is faith that gives us this sense thereof, as it is best able to see its own defects. When we confess sin, or humble ourselves before God for it, faith views it not only as a violation of the divine law, but as an instance of the highest ingratitude; and when we desire, in the exercise of repentance, to forsake sin, faith makes us sensible of our own weakness, and puts us upon a firm and stedfast dependence on Christ, to enable us thereunto; and when, in the exercise of this grace, our consciences are burdened with a sense of guilt and unbelief is ready to suggest, that our sins are so heinously aggravated, that there is no room to hope for pardoning mercy, faith relieves us against these despairing thoughts, and encourages us to wait for the mercy of God, who will abundantly pardon, Isa. lv. 7. and with whom there is forgiveness, that he may be feared, Psal. cxxx. 4.

And when we use endeavours to mortify sin, this is to be done by a fiducial view of Christ crucified; and when we encourage ourselves to hope that the indictment brought against us for it, was nailed to the cross of Christ; and that there is no condemnation to us, as being in him, Rom. viii. 1. and that, as the apostle says, Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed: that henceforth we should no longer serve sin, chap. vi. 6. all this is to be done by faith.

We might also observe, that the grace of patience is connected with, and we excited, thereunto by faith. The apostle, Heb. vi. 12. joins both these together, as supposing that faith affords a motive to patience; and elsewhere we read, not only of what faith enables us to do, but bear, in the account which we have, of the great things which the Old Testament saints did, and suffered by this grace: and therefore, whatever graces are exercised under the afflictions of this present life; faith excites in us a resignation to the will of God, and consider them as the chastisements of a merciful Father, and