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SEEM.
IX.]
THE
H1DDE1d
LIFE
OP
1A
CHRISTIAN.
153
Jesus
did on
earth, for
it
is
his
meat and
his
drink
to
do
the
will
of
his
Father
which
is
in
heaven.
This
is
a
feast
to
the christian,
which
the world
knows
not of; John
iv.
32, 34.
II:
The springs and principles
of
this
life
are
hidden'
and
unknown to
the
world
;
and therefore the
world
esteems
many
of
the actions
of
a
true
'christian: very
strange and
unaccountable
things,
as
we
shall shew
af-
terward, because
they
see
not
the
springs
of
them.
The
word
of
God, or the
gospel, with all
the
hidden
treasures of
it,
is
the
chief instrument, or
means,
where-
by this
divine
life
is
wrought and
supported
in
the
soul.
The true christian
beholds the
purity of God
in
the
pre-
cepts;
he
reads
grace, heaven,
and
glory in
the
pro-
mises
;
he sees
the
words
of
the
bible in a divine light,
and
feeds sweetly on
the hidden
blessings
of
scripture,,
deriving
life,
and nourishment, and
joy
from
it;
whereas`
the carnal
world
go
not
far beyond the
letters
and sylla-
bles.
The
gospel, which
is
all
light and glory
to
a saint,'
is
hidden to them
that
and
lost,
2
Cor.
iv. 3,
This
same gospel
is
written
in
the
heart
of
a christian,
and
is
the
principle
of
his life
there. This
is
immortal and
incorruptible, the
seed
of
the word abiding
in
the
heart
;
the
image
of
the
eternal God,
drawn
out
in
such characters-
as
our nature
can
bear
:
For the written word
is
a
trans-
cript
of
God's
holiness
;
and
when
it
is
inwrought into'
all the powers
of
a
believing
soul,
it
becomes
a
vital
prin-
ciple within
him
for
ever. A
believer
is,
as
it
were,
cast
in
the
'very
mould
of
the gospel
;
so
the word signi-
fies
;
Rom.
vi. 17.
This
is
the word hidden in the
heart,
that
secures the
saint
from
sin
;
Ps.
cxix.
1].
The
motives
and
springs
that
awaken a christian to
keep up; and maintain
this
spiritual
life,
are
things hid-
den from
the
eyes
of
the
world
;
things
eternal and
invi-
sible
;
2
Cor.
iv. 18.
While
we
look
not
at
the things
that
are
seen,
that
are temporal
;
but
at
things
that
are
unseen,
and
eternal;
we
then count
the
joys or
sorrows
of
this world, things
of
little importance
then
we
live
like christians,
and the
life
of our Lord Jesus
is
'mani-
Tested,
or copied
out,
in
our
lives
;
as
ver.
'l
0. 11.
The habits
of
grace
and
holiness
in
the hearts
of
be
-.
lievers,
whence
all
the actions
of
the spiritual
life
pro-
ceed,
are secret
and
hidden.
Who
knows how
they were