1. As faith implies a coming to Christ, or receiving him; the word of God reveals him to us as giving an invitation to sinners, encouraging them thereunto; thus our Saviour says, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink, John vii. 37. And, as a farther inducement to this, it sets forth the advantages that will attend it, to wit, that he will not reject them, how unworthy soever they be; as, he says, Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out, John vi. 37. And there are many other privileges which he will bestow on them, namely, the blessings of both worlds, grace here, and glory hereafter, all which contain the very sum and substance of the gospel.
2. If we consider faith as including in it a giving up ourselves to Christ, to be intirely his; the word of God represents him as having an undoubted right to all who do so, inasmuch as they are bought with the price of his blood, given to him as his own, by the Father. And as they devote themselves to him, to be his servants, it sets before them the privileges which attend his service, as they are delivered from the dominion of sin, and a servile fear and dread of his wrath; lets them know the ease, pleasure, and delight that there is in bearing his yoke, and the blessed consequences thereof, in that as they have their fruit unto holiness, the end thereof shall be life everlasting, Rom. vi. 22.
3. As faith looks to Christ for forgiveness of sin, in which respect it is called justifying faith; so the word of God represents him to us, as having made atonement for sin; as set forth to be a propitiation to secure us from the guilt which we were liable to, and the condemning sentence of the law; as bearing the curse, and, as the consequence thereof, giving us a right to all the privileges of his children. It also represents this forgiveness as full, free, and irreversible; and the soul, by faith rejoices in its freedom from condemnation, and that right and title to eternal life, which is inseparably connected with it.
4. As faith includes in it a trusting or relying on Christ, the gospel represents him as an all-sufficient Saviour, able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, Heb. vii. 25. and as faith trusts him for the accomplishment of all the promises, it considers him as having engaged to make them good, inasmuch as they are yea and amen in him, unto the glory of God, 2 Cor. i. 20. And therefore, he runs no risque, or is at no uncertainty as to this matter; for Christ’s Mediatorial glory lies at stake. If there be the least failure in the accomplishment of any promise; or any blessing made over to his people in the covenant of grace, which shall not be conferred upon them, he is content to bear the blame for ever: but this is altogether impossible, since he that has undertaken to apply the blessings promised, is faithful and true, as well as the Father that gave them; and this affords them strong consolation, who are fled for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before them in the gospel, Heb. vi. 18. Thus Christ is set forth; and agreeably to this discovery made of him, faith takes up its rest in him, and therein finds safety and peace.
V. We shall now consider faith as strong or weak, increasing or declining, with the various marks and signs thereof. As habits of sin are stronger or weaker, the same may be said concerning habits of grace. It is one thing for them to be entirely lost; and another thing to be in a declining state: their strength and vigour may be much abated, and their energy frequently interrupted; nevertheless God will maintain the principle of grace, as we shall endeavour to prove under a following answer.[[65]] Grace is not always equally strong and lively; the prophet supposes it to be a declining, when he says, Revive thy work, O Lord, in the midst of the years, Heb. iii. 2. and our Saviour’s advice to the church at Sardis, implies as much, when he exhorts them to strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, Rev. iii. 2. and when he bids the church at Ephesus to remember from whence they were fallen, and repent and do their first works, chap. ii. 5. Some are said, as Abraham, to be strong in faith, giving glory to God, Rom. iv. 20. and others are reproved, as our Saviour does his disciples, at some times, when he says, O ye of little faith, Matt. vi. 30. As our natural constitution is not always equally healthy and vigorous, nor our condition in the world equally prosperous, the same may be said concerning the habits of grace; sometimes they are strong, and then, as the apostle says concerning his beloved Gaius, 3 John ver. 2. the soul prospereth, and we go from strength to strength, Psal. lxxxiv. 7. from one degree of grace to another; but, at other times, we are ready to faint in the day of adversity, and our strength is small, Prov. xxiv. 10. This cannot but be observed by all who are not strangers to themselves, or who take notice of the various frame of spirit, which are visible in those whom they converse with.
But if it be enquired; by what marks or evidences we may discern the strength or weakness of faith? though this will more evidently appear from what will be said under a following answer,[[66]] when we are led to speak concerning the reason of the imperfection of sanctification in believers; yet we shall not wholly pass it over in this place; and therefore, it may be observed, that the strength or weakness of faith, is to be judged of by that degree of esteem and value which the soul has for Christ, and the steadiness, or abatement of its dependence on him. The greater diffidence or distrust we have of self, and the more we see of our own emptiness and nothingness, the stronger is our faith; on the other hand, self-confidence, or relying on our own strength is a certain sign of the weakness thereof.
Again, strong faith is that which carries the soul through difficult duties; as the apostle says, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me, Phil. iv. 13. Whereas weak faith is ready to sink under the discouragements that it meets with; the former is stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, 1 Cor. xv. 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 discouragements; 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. xlv. 19.
We might also add, in the last place, that strong faith may likewise be discerned, when it is accompanied with an assurance 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;