124 THE HIDDEN LIFE OF 'A CHRISTIAN. shall, First, Consider what is this ,life, which is said to be hidden. And, Secondly, Inwhat respects it is so: First, What is this life of a christian which is said to be hidden ? Not theanimal life, wherehy he eats, drinks, sleeps, moves and walks ; this is visible enough to all about him. Not the civil life, as he stands in relation to other men in theworld, whe- ther as a son, as a father, a master, or a servant, a trader, a labourer, pr an_officer in the state : For all these are public, and scesi of men. But the hidden life is that whereby he is a christian indeed ; his spiritual life, wherein he is devoted to God, and lives to the purposes of heaven and eternity. And this is the same life, which, in other parts of scripture, iscalled eternal ; for the life of grace survives the grave, and is prolongedinto glory. The same life of piety and inward pleasure, which begins on earth, is ful- filled in heaven ; and it maybe called the spiritual, or the eternal life, according to different respects ; for it is thesame continued life acting in different stations or places, and running through time and eternity; 1 John v. 11, 12. Eternal life is in the Son, and he that hath the Son, bath this life ; it is begun in him, he is already possessed of it in somedegree. As the life of the child is the same with that of thefull-grown man ; as the same vital principles and powers run through the several successive stages of infancy, youth and manhood ; so the divine life of a saint, begun on on earth, runs through this world, through death, and the separate state of souls ; it appears in full- grown perfection, in the final heaven, when the whole saint shall stand complete in glory. Thus the spiritual life of a christian is eternal life begun ; and eternal life is the spiritual lifemade perfect. Ifwe would describe this life in short, it may be repre- sented thus : It is a life of faith, holiness and peace; a life of faith, or dependance upon God for all that we want ; a life of holiness, rendering back again to God, in a way of honour and service, whatsoever we receive from him in a way ofmercy ; and a life of peace in the comfortable senseof the favourof God, and our acceptance with him through Jesus Christ. All these begin on earth, and in this sense faith itself, as well as peace and holiness, alkali abidein heaven : we shall for ever be dependants, for ever happy andfor ever holy. In a state of nature the man lived such a sinful and carnal life, thatwas more properly called death ; but when he becomes a believer, a true christian, he is new created ; 2 Cor. v. 17. new-born ; John iii. 3. raised from the dead, and quickened to
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