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THE
HIDDEN LIFE
OP
A
CHRISTIAN.
[sERM.
IX.
kind than
that
which belongs to the
sinners
of
this
world
:
your
life
is
spiritual
and holy; theirs
is
sinful,
and
en=
gaged
in
the
works
of
the
flesh
:
Your
life
is
heavenly,
and seeks
the
things
which
are
above theirs
is
derived
from the
earth, and
grovels
in
the
dust:
Your
life
is
everlasting, for
your
souls shall
live
for ever
in
a glori-
ous state, and your bodies
shall be
raised
from
death into
equal
immortality, and
a
partnership of
the same
glory;
but their
best
life
its
only a
temporal
one,
and
when
that
is
at
an end,
all
their
joys
and their
hopes
are.for
ever
at
an end too, and
their eternal
sorrows
begin.
But
this
life
of
a christian
is
a hidden
life.
That
was
the
first
doctrine I raised
from
the text. Both the ope-
rations
and
the springs
of
it,
area
secret
to
the
world,
and
the
future
glories
of
it,
when
it
is
most properly
called
eternal
life,
are
still a
greater
secret, and much
more
,unknown
:
Yet, saith the apostle,
I
can
acquaint
you where the springs
of
it
lie,
and whence
all the
future
glories
of
it are
to be
derived
;
they
are hidden
in
God,
'with
our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now
by giving
so
short a
hint,
in
a word or
two,
where this
our
life is hid,
he
has
said
something greater, and brighter,
and
more sublime,
concerning
it,
than
if
he had shewn
us,
from a high
mountain,
at
noon -day, all the kingdoms
of
this world,
with
all the dazzling glories
of
them,
and then pointed
downward, there your
life is."
Let
this
therefore
be
the second doctrine, and
the
subject
of
our present
meditations,
that
the
life
of
a
christian
is
hidden
with
Christ
in
God.
It
is
hidden
in
God,
as
the first original and
eternal
spring
of
it,
and
entrusted-with Christ
as a
faithful
Mediator; it
iS'
hid
in
God, where
our
Lord
Jesus Christ
is,
and he
is
ap-
pointed
to
take
care
of
it,
for
us;
for he,
also
is,
called
our
life,
rer.
4.
The
method
I shall
take
for the
improvement
of
this
truth
is,
to explain these words
of
the apostle more
at
large, and then
deduce
sonie
inferences
from
them..
The
first
enquiry
will
arise,
in
what
respect
the
chris-
tian
"s
life
is
said
to
be
hidden
in
God
?
And,
Secondly,
What
is
meant
by
its being
hidden with
Christ
?
I.
First,
In
What
respect
is
the
life of
a.
christian
said
to
be
hidden
in
God
?