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SERM,
xi
(tgE
HIDHEN LIFE
OF
A
CFIRISTIAfst
173
v
furnish them
with
vital powers
that
shall
be
incorruptible
and
everlasting.
Thus
the
life
of
the
saints
is
hidden
in
the almightiness
of
God,
as well
as in his wisdom
and
goodness.
Thus it
is
contained
in
the
all sufficience
of
the
divine
nature,
and
each
part
of it
is
ready to
be
produced into'act,
in
every
proper
season.
2.
The
life
of
a christian
is
hidden
in
the
purposes
of
the
divine
will.
And.
in
this sense, the whole gospel;
with all its
wondrous
glories
and
mysteries,
is
said to
be
hid
in
God,
Eph.
iii. 9.
When
St.
Paul
preached among
the
gentiles
the
unsearchable
riches
of
Christ,
he
made
all men
see
something
of that
mystery,
which from
the
beginning of the
world had
been hid
in
God.
And
if
this
be compared
with
Eph.
i.
9. we
shall find
that
this mys-
tery
of
the
will,
or good-
pleasure
of
God,
was
that
which
he
eternally purposed
in
himself.
There
is
not
one dead
sinner
awakened, and called in-
to
this
divine and spiritual
life
here,
or
that
shall
ever
be possessed
of
life
eternal hereafter,
but it
was
contain-
ed in
the eternal secret purpose, and
merciful
design
of
God,
before the world
began.
For it
is
a very mean
conceit, and a disgraceful opinion concerning the
great,
God,
to imagine
that
he
should
'exert
his
power to work
life
in
souls,
'here
in time,
-by
any new
purposes,
or
sudden
designs,
occasioned
by
any works
or merit
of
theirs, which
he
had
not
formed
and decreed
in
himself,
long before
.he
made
man.
This doctrine would
repre-
sent God
as
a
mutable
being;
but
we
know
that
he
is
un-
changeable.
There
is
nothing
new
in
God
and his im-
mutability
is
that
perfection
of
his
nature
which
secures
the
performance
of
this
divine
purpose, and
the
life
of
every christian.
3.
I might
add, in the
third
place,
that
the
life
of a
christian
is
hidden
in
the
unknown
engagements
of
the
Father
to
his Son
Jesus Christ
the-Mediator.
That
sa-
cred 'and
divine
transaction
betwixt the
Father
and
the
Son,
is
often
intimated
in
the holy scriptures, and
some
of
the promises
of
that
covenant are there represented,
Ps.
lxxxix.
19,
28, 29, 56,
&c.
f
have
laid
help
,upon
one
that
is
mighty;
my
mercy
will
I
keep
for
him
for
ever,
and
my
cotenant shall stand
fast
with.
Trim
:
his
seed
kill
i-make
to
endure
for
ever,
and
his
throne as
4