Divine Drops Distilled from the Fountain of Holy Scripture, Part 12
Expoſitions and Obſervations on HABAKKUK 2. 4.
But the juſt ſhall live by his faith.
I Will not ſtand now to ſhew you what a juſt man is. Only in a word take notice that the juſt man here meant, is not a man that is juſt in his own ſight or in his own perſonall righteouſneſſe, or juſt in the eſteeme of the world: though men be ſo called, and not improperly: he is a juſt man that deales juſtly: but the juſt man in the Goſpell language, is a man that though he be not greatly eſteemed in the world; and though he hath many things that make him ſeem leſs juſt then many morall men that ſeem juſt, yet according to the law of God he is juſt, we are to declare him ſo, the Goſpell declares him juſt, becauſe God hath received a righteouſneſs whereby he calls him juſt; he calls him juſt, becauſe Ieſus Chriſt is The juſt man lives by faith four wayes. 1. In reſpect of juſtification.made righteouſneſs to him. Now the juſt man lives by his faith four wayes.
He lives by faith, firſt in reſpect of juſtification; there is a light that the Saints have, that whereas, as ſinners they were dead before in treſpaſses, and ſins, they now ſee themſelves acquitted of all their debts, they ſee Gods juſtice ſatisfied and his law fulfilled, and they ſee themſelves juſt men: whereas they were dead in law before, now, in law (or in Goſpell as it were) they are alive again. For ſo it is, that every man, and woman among us, though he be never ſo honeſt, or civill, or faithfull in holy duties, &c. yet if he be not juſtified by the righteouſneſse of Ieſus Chriſt, he is a dead man in the language of God, and according to the law of God. Juſt as a man at the barr that is condemned to die, he is a dead man in law, though the ſentence, as Solomon ſaith, be ſometimes delayed, and put off, and not executed: he may be reprived a little, from one yeer to another, but he is a dead man, that is, he is an unjuſtified man: ſo if God hath not given thee the righteouſneſſe of Chriſt, and a heart to lay hold of that, be what thou wilt in thy ſelf, and do what thou canſt of thy ſelf, yet thou art a dead man, and thoſe that lay hold of that righteouſneſſe are living men. This life is much ſpoken of Rom. 5. how we are dead by the firſt Adam, and alive by the ſecond Adam, that life is our juſtification, verſ. 17. By one mans offence, death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteouſneſſe, ſhall reign in life by one, Ieſus Chriſt.
There is ſecondly, a life of ſanctification, Epheſ. 4. they were ſtrangers from the life of God; that is, the life 2. In reſpect of ſanctification.of holineſse, and their hearts were heardned, and carried away with laſciviouſneſſe, &c. Thus a man comes to live by faith: for all that thou doſt, though thou account it holineſſe, and the world may account thee a holy man, yet if every graine of thy grace, and holineſſe do not come from Chriſt by the power of faith, thou art but a dead man, and all thy works are but dead works.
Then thirdly, the Saints live by faith, that is, the life 3. Faith is their aſſurance.of aſſurance (as I may ſo call it) the Saints they hold their aſſurance of the former by the power of faith (not by ſenſe) for a while at leaſt: they know they are Saints, how do they know it? by faith: they know they are juſtified, how do they know it? By Faith.
True it is, when God gives them the knowledge of ſenſe, they muſt not ſhut their eyes one day that they have it, but our eyes are ſo dim that we are ready to miſtake; ſo that the maine courſe of a mans life is by faith from Gods love in Chriſt in the free Covenant, which Covenant conſiſts in ſuch promiſes, which promiſes ſpeak to me by ſuch ordinances as this, and the Lords Supper, &c. This is a third way.
Fourthly, and laſtly, the Saints live by faith, that is, in all afflictions they do bear up their ſpirits, and are ſupported 4. It is their ſupport in afflictions.by the power of faith upon the word, though there be nothing ſeen, and appear. A naturall man cannot hold up, but ſink, further then there is ſome ſenſible, viſible thing to hold him up: but the juſt, thoſe that are Saints, they have an art, a myſticall art, whereby when they ſee nothing, but have a word, wherein God hath promiſed to do this, or that for them, they can bear up themſelves, and ſo go on as chearfully as if they did enjoy, or as if they did ſee their deliverance. Thus Habakkuk, we read, this proverb. verſe 1, 2, 3. The viſion is for an appointed time, in the end it will ſpeak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it, becauſe it will ſurely come, it will not tary, Behold, his ſoul which is lifted up, is not upright in him; but the juſt ſhall live by his faith.
There was a viſion that did promiſe good to this people, but this viſion muſt tarry a little, it muſt not be performed preſently: but they might ſay, how ſhall we do in the mean while? The juſt ſhall live by his faith. Though there be nothing ſeen, yet notwithſtanding they ſhall bear themſelves, and carry themſelves chearfully, and comfortably, and contentedly by beholding the truth of the buſines, and the ſweet expectation they have of it, as if it were come already. You have the proverb repeated by the Apoſtle in the Epiſtle to the Hebrews, in this ſenſe, yet a little while, and he that ſhall come will come, and will not tarry. You have need of patience, ſaith the Apoſtle. They were in great afflictions, there was a promiſe that God would help them, but what ſhall we do in the meane while, while the graſſe grows? In the meane while the juſt ſhall live by his faith; he ſhall drive on and carry on the work, and bear up himſelf, and his ſpirit, and his comfort, and all on the word of the Lord, and he ſhall do all this by his faith. So that this being the leſſon ſhortly (though I be not able yet to clear this fully to you: for truly this is a leſſon wherein we ſtill ſhall want light, we are not able to ſee it perfectly, it is from faith to faith, ſaith the Apoſtle. That is, we come from one degree of faith to another to live by faith: there are many kinds, many degrees of living by faith) Now this is it that I would commend to you, and exhort you to, that you would ſeek the Lord, and ſtudy the Scriptures, that you might come to this, that you may live by faith.
Firſt of all, in the groſſer part of it, concerning ſanctification (that is an eaſie thing to be underſtood) that you would not regard, or weigh any thing in all your profeſsion, but what doth come from Ieſus Chriſt by faith. Truly, much of our Religion, is a naturall kinde of Religion, and much of that which is like good in us, doth not ſpring from Ieſus Chriſt, and whatſoever is not from him, will never be accepted by him. We have many morall vertues from old Adam, that we gild over, and account them graces, but God loaths them. We have many duties that we have taken up in the imitation of others, by good education or the power of the letter Preached to us, and yet this is not the life of faith, it is not holineſse by faith.
And therefore, let us not (like many profeſſors) ſtudy the muchneſſe of Religion, or the plauſibleneſſe of it without; as that I am able to preach, as other preachers do, and you are able to pray in a day of humiliation as other profeſſors do, this is nothing: but let us labour that that little holineſse that is in us, may clearly proceed from the Lord Ieſus Chriſt. One had better have a Garden of a few true, and pleaſant Flowers, though there be but a few, then to have a Garden with ſome Flowers, and a world of traſh like Flowers, there is no pleaſure in it. Now, I fear that much of thy beſt duties ſpring from old Adam, much of thy beſt prayers, and much (it may be) of that Religion whereby thou art accounted a profeſſor: much of it, I fear, is nothing but old Adam, and his ruines ſcrewed up, and varniſhed, or gilded, and not from the Lord Ieſus Chriſt.
And therefore remember this, that as drunkenneſſe, and whoredom, and thoſe groſſe, and ſcandalous works of darkneſſe, are called dead works, ſo every graine, every ſtamp of good in thee, if it be not from the new Adam, it is but a dead work. I could ſhew you how you ſhall know the one from the other, but that the time is ſhort, and I muſt not hinder other occaſions; Therefore I leave that upon your thoughts that you may pray to the Lord: Lord; I do not care how men conceive of me, I care not though I be among the leaſt of all Saints, as Paul ſaith, if I be reckoned the leaſt of all Saints, ſo that that little Saint-ſhip, and holineſſe that is in me flow from Chriſt, that it be a grace from his grace, and light from his light.
But the other truth is wondrous hard to expreſſe, that we ſhould in reſpect of juſtification, and aſſurance learn the Art of living by faith, that when the Lord ſhall take away all comfortable objects of ſight, and ſenſe, that we can ſee nothing, we cannot pray at all; we ſee corruption upon corruption, and waves of temptations one upon another, and no working within to relieve us, that I am able then to live by faith; that is, to ſee a righteouſneſſe in Ieſus Chriſt, and to build upon his word, and Covenant, to hold my ſelf, and my aſſurance ſtill, I am a ſon ſtill, everlaſting life belongs to me ſtill, though I feele, and ſee nothing, but hell, and ſomething worſe if it may be, yet notwithſtanding I am a Saint, and I am righteous, and juſt, and the Lord is my father, and hath reſerved everlaſting life for me.
Beloved, the life that Chriſtians ordinarily do live, it is a life mingled with faith, and ſenſe: for if God give me free grace, why ſhould not I rejoyce in it? If I clearly ſee the firſt fruits of the Kingdom of heaven, why ſhould I exclude my reaſon not to conclude that there is more grace behind?
But there are other Saints that have a mixture of faith and ſenſe, that take away ſenſe, and their faith is gone, their faith is grounded upon ſenſe. And I have oft times looked in to my ſoul, and thought why the Lord ſuffered me to be carryed away with corruptions, and to be overwhelmed with temptations, whereas he hates theſe things, and I hate them, and I weary him, and they weary me, and he can help it, and I cannot; why he ſhould do thus, to ſuffer me to pray, and I cannot overcome? There are many reaſons the Lord hath given in to my ſoul from time to time: but of all reaſons this is the chief, that the Lord thereby would inure us to live by faith. The Lord comes many times when we are compaſſed about with grace, and holineſſe, and can go as you do into your Gardens, and take now one Flower, and then another, and make a poſie of grace, I behold my love to the Saints, and my delight in God, and my uprightneſse in my calling, and I make a poſie of them, God comes and daſhes it all, every jot, and what ſhall I ſay now? Now for a man to be able to take up a promiſe that the juſt ſhall live by his faith, that is, I am ſtill as juſt as ever I was, and I am aſſured of it (in a ſort) as much as ever, without the leaſt graine of any thing felt or ſeen, and I bear up my profeſſion, and all my works, as if I had thoſe views of graces that once I had, now all is gone. Whereas, ordinarily when God daſheth all this way, what is the fruit of it? Then a man concludes, I am an hypocrite, I am a damned creature, I cannot believe, then I muſt ſit in a holy moping, why? becauſe ſenſe is gone, faith is gone almoſt, faith ſtays no longer then ſenſe, and that is a ſigne that you alway lived by ſenſe: God takes occaſion many times to daſh all that ever is in us, and that ever hath been done by us; God will write hypocriſie upon it, he will make us read ſo at leaſt, doſt thou ſee what thou art? There is no creature more carnall; and in that thou haſt done, there is this crookedneſſe, and that hypocriſie, there is this guile, and that, all is naught. Then the Lord by this teaches one to go a high-lone, without crutches; one of theſe faintings teacheth one to go without a ſtaffe, alone. And therein alſo is the glory of God, that is glorious in all his works of creation, and providence, glorious in war, knapping the ſpear aſunder: but his glory in the Goſpell is more, that uſually when God hath ſhewed a Saint his confuſion and wickedneſſe, to magnifie his grace the more, then ordinarily, God takes theſe times to do more for a poor ſoul, then ever he did at any time: the Lord will then give a new ſeal of the pardon of ſins, and new diſcoveries of the myſteries of the Goſpell, and of Ieſus Chriſt in the midſt of theſe confuſions. But it is the hardeſt thing in the world, to live clearly by faith when ſenſe is gone; there is that I drive at all this while. I ſee poor creatures moping every where, and when ſenſe is out, then their candle is out, as Iob ſaith, How oft is the candle of the wicked put out? So, that Saint that lives by ſenſe, his comfort is no longer then he ſees, and feels grace, he hath aſſurance of Gods love no longer then he feels grace. So there are but few of you that have a root of faith, that in all the ebbings, and flowings of grace, your comfort, and ſtrength, and aſſurance by Faith goes on in its courſe as before. Now deſire the Lord to bring you to this clearely, that according to this bleſſed proverb you may live by faith.