HOW THE CHRISTIAN LIVES. 631 feted to assault and buffet us, we find inroads made upon our holiness and our peace. Always dying, yet behold, we live. I. By a fresh sight of the glory of Christ, and the all-sufficiency of the covenant of Grace ; when we our. selves are never so guilty, there is righteousness in him sufficient : when weare unholy, there is sanctifying grace in him: when weak and wavering,. there is life and strength, and stability in him : when diffident and sus- picious of our own hearts, there is faintness and safety in the covenant of Grace: when we lose our sight of Christ and'the covenant of Grace, we die; but we in a renewed view of the glorious Gospel, and the So' God, and then we live. Jesus is our life and our al- vation. II. By mourning for past miscarriages, and awak- ing and stirring up our souls to new vigour and watch- fulness. In this life, the children of God, walking through the wilderness, often fall and rise again; fad by sins of infirmity, and rise by repentance. By shaking off sloth, renouncing our idols, going forth again in new strength, by chiding our hearts out of their desponding frames. Psa. xlii. ult., Why art-thou cast down, O my.soul, and why art thou disquieted within me ? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him, who is the health óf my countenance and my God. III. By renewed exercises of faith on Christ and his Gospel. As we begin the spiritual life, so we must con- tinue in it, and so recover it. We are crucified with Christ, and yet we live ; and, as the apostle saith, . Not I, hut Christ liveth in nie. Gal. ii. r0. I live by the faith of the Son of God. IV. By some suitable word of God, brought to the heart, and imprest upon it by the Holy. Spirit, who is a sanctifier and comforter. Gal. vi. JO. Be not weary in well- doing, for in due time you shall reap if you faint not. The Spirit often makes use of his own word to quicken our dying graces, to revive our dying comforts, and to save our souls_from spiritual death. V. By the special ordinances of the New Testament,, I mean particularly the Lord's Supper; in all the parts of it, it is fitted to renew the dying life of a saint. Are we ready to dieunder the sense of guilt? Here is par- doning mercy. Are. we sinking under sorrows ? Here VOL, III. n I
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