PART u, SERMON X. 15rá God, and his Saviour, with the samezeal of affection and fervent desire, that the men of this world indulge in their pursuit of created good: My soulfolloweth hard after thee; Ps. lxiii. 8. Carnal persons are contented to be absent from God, for he isnot their life : They can satisfy themselves with a shew of religion, without the power of it; and with empty forms of ordinances, without Christ in them, because theyare not born again, their life is not spiritual. The sinner lives upon visible creatures, and theseawaken his warmest affections. A saint lives upon hidden and invisible things, upon thehopes of futurity, andupon the glo- ries that are concealed in the promises : He lives upon the right- eousness and the intercession of Jesus his Mediator, upon the strength and grace of Christ, who is his ]lead in heaven ; upon the word, the promise, and the all-sufficiency ofa God ; and there- fore these are objects of his meditation andhis desire. I proceed now to the three inferencesfor our consolation. 1st Consolation. If our life be hidden with God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, then it is in safe hands. The wisdom and mercy of God have joined together, to appoint,' shall I say, such asecret repository for our spiritual life, that it might be for ever secure. What can we have, or what canwe desire more for the safety Of our best life, than that God himself shouldundertake to reserve it in himself for us, and, appoint his own eternal Son, in our nature, to be thegreat Trustee and Surety, for his exhibition of it in every proper season ? Our original life was hid in the first Adam ; it was intrusted with man, poor, feeble, inconstant man, and 'he lost it : He was of the earth, earthy, and our life with him goes down to the dust. Our new life is intrusted withChrist; it is hidden in,God, who is almighty and unchangeable ; and therefore itcannever be lost. The second Adam is the Lord from heaven, a quickening Spirit; 1 Cor. xv. 45, &c. And he that believeth on hint, though he were dead in nature, yet shallhe live by grace, for Christ is the resurrec- tion and the lfe: And if he be once made spiritually alive by Christ, he shall live for ever. This is the language of Christ himself; John xi. 25, 26. What an unreasonable thing is it then for a christian to fear what men or devils can do against him, for they cannot hurt his best life ! It is above the reach of all the assaults of earth or hell. Our Lord Jesus teaches us not to be afraid of them who onlycan kill thebody ; for the soul is not in their reach ; nor is it possible for them to prevent the body frompartaking of its share, in the glorious life appointed for a christian at the great rising- day. We see here uponwhat firm grounds the doctrine of a chris- tian's perseverance is built; Christ is his life, Jesus, the same
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