SERMON VIII.

THE

THE LIFE OF FAITH.

HABAKKUK ii. 4.

The just shall live by his Faith.

HE words of our text, which opens to us a wide field of reflections, may be taken in two senses. The first may be called a moral sense, and the last a theological sense. The first regards the circumstances of the Jews, when the prophet Habakkuk delivered this prophecy; and the last respects that great object, on which believers have fixed their eyes in all ages of the church.

Habakkuk, (for I enter into the matter immediately, in order to have full time to discuss the subject,) began to prophecy before the destruction of Jerusalem by the army of Nebuchadnezzar, and he was raised up to announce the progress of that scourge, or, as another prophet calls him, that hammer of the whole earth, Jer. 1. 23. Habakkuk, astonished, and, in a manner, offended at his own predictions, derives strength from the attributes of God to support himself under this trial, and expresseth himself in this manner; Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine holy one? We shall not die, O Lord! thou hast ordained them for judgment, and, O Mighty God! thou hast established them for correction. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, chap. i. 12, 13.

The prophet goes further. Not content with vague ideas on a subject so interesting, he intreats God to give him some particular knowledge by revelation of the destiny of a tyrant, who boasted of insulting God, pillaging his temple, and carrying his people into captivity: I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he VOL. IIL

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will say unto me. The Rabbies give a very singular exposition of the word, I will stand upon my watch, and they translate them, I will confine myself in a circle. The prophet, say thev, drew a circle and made a solemn vow, that he would not go out of it till God had unfolded those dark dispensations to him, which seemed so injurious to his perfections. This was almost like the famous consul, who, being sent by the Roman senate to Antiochus, made a circle round that prince, and said to him, "Either you shall accept the conditions of peace, which I offer you, before you go out of this circle, or in the name of the Senate I will declare war against you.

God yielded to the desire of his servant; he informed him of the dreadful vicissitudes, which Nebuchadnezzar should experience; and of the return of the Jews into their own country but at the same time he assured him, that these events were at a considerable distance, that no man could rejoice in them except he looked forward into futurity, but that faith in the accomplishment of these promised blessings would support believers under that deluge of calamities, which was coming on the church. The vision is yet for an appointed time. At the end it shall speak and shall not lie. If the Lord seem to you to defer the accomplishment of his promises too long, wait for it with all that deference, which finite creatures owe to the supreme Intelligence that governs the world. He, you will find, will not tarry beyond his appointed time. The soul, which is lifted up, that is to say, the man, who would fix a time for God to crush tyrants, is not upright, but wanders after his own speculations: but the just shall live by his faith.

This is what I call the moral sense of the text, relative to the peculiar circumstances of the Jews in the time of the prophet, and in this sense St Paul applies my text to the circumstances of the Hebrews, who were called to endure many afflictions in this life, and to defer the enjoyment of their reward till the next. Ye have need of patience, says the apostle, that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, Heb. x. 36-38.

But

*M. Popilius Læna a Antiochus Epiphanes dans Vellei Paterc. Hist. Rom. I. i.

But these words also have a theological meaning, which regards those great objects, on which believers have fixed their eyes in all ages of the church. This is the sense, which St. Paul gives the words in his epistle to the Romans. The righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith, chap. i. 17. In the same sense he uses the passage in the epistle to the Galatians, That no man is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident; for the just shall live by faith, chap. iii. 11. In this sense I intend to consider the text now, and to apply all the time allotted for this discourse to this view of it.

In order to develope the subject, I will do three things,

I. I will explain the terms of this proposition, the just shall live by faith.

II. I will prove the truth of it.

III. I will endeavour to remove the difficulties, which may attend the subject to some of you.

I. Let us explain the terms of this proposition, the just shall live by his faith. In order to understand the subject, we must enquire who is the just, what is the life, and what the faith, of which the prophet, or rather St. Paul after the prophet, speaks.

Who is this just, or righteous man? To form a clear notion of this, it is necessary with St. Paul to distinguish two sorts of righteousness, a righteousness according to the law, and a righteousness according to faith.

By righteousness after the law I understand that, which man wishes to derive from his own personal ability. By righteousness of faith I understand that, which man derives from a principle foreign from himself. A man, who is just, or to speak more precisely, a man who pretends to be just, according to this first righteousness, consents to be examined and judged according to the utmost rigour of the law. He desires the justice of God to discover any thing in him, that deserves punishment; and he hath the audacity to put himself on such a trial as justice pronounceth in these words of the law, If a man do these things he shall live in them, Lev. xviii. 5. He, on the contrary, who is just according to the righteousness of faith, acknowledgeth himself guilty of many and great sins, which deserve the most rigorous punishment: but he doth not give himself up to

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that despair, into which the idea of his criminality would naturally hurry him; he is not afraid of those punishmenst, which, he owns, he deserves; he hopes to live, because he expects God will deal with him, not according to what he is in himself; but according to his relation to Jesus Christ.

That these are the ideas, which must be fixed to the term just, is evident from these words of St, Paul; I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him, remark these words, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith, Phil. iii. 8, 9. This passage sufficiently shews the sense, in which the term just is to be taken, and this term needs no further elucidation.

The second also is easily explained. The just shall live, that is to say, although divine justice had condemned him to eternal death, yet he shall be freed from it; and although he had rendered himself unworthy of eternal felicity, yet he shall enjoy it. This is so plain, that it is needless to enlarge on this term. We intend to insist most on that term, which is the most difficult, the third term, faith, I mean, The just shall live by his faith.

To have faith, or to believe, is an expression so vague in itself, and taken in so many different senses in scripture, that that we cannot take too much care in determining its precise meaning. Faith is sometimes a disposition common to the righteous and the wicked; sometimes it is the distinguishing character of a christian, and of christianity; sometimes it is put for the virtue of Abraham, who was called the father of the faithful, Rom. iv. 11. by excellence; and sometimes it stands for the credence of devils, and the terrors, that agitate them in hell, are ascribed to it.

The variety of this signification arises from this consideration; faith is a disposition of mind, that changeth its nature according to the various objects, which are proposed to it. If the object presented to faith be a particular object, faith is a particular disposition; and if the object be general, faith is a general virtue. If we believe a past event, we are said to have faith, for through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, Heb. xi. 3. If we believe a future event, we are said to have faith, for faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of

things not seen, ver. 1. When the woman of Canaan believed, that Jesus Christ would grant her petition, she was said to have faith, O woman, great is thy faith, Matt. xv. 28: In a similar case, our Lord says, I have not found such faith in Israel, chap. viii 10. When the disciples believe, that they should work miracles in virtue of the name of Jesus Christ, it was called a having of faith, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall obey you, chap. xvii. 20. In a word, every act of the mind acquiesing in a revealed truth is called faith in the style of scripture.

But, among these different notions, there is one, which is particular, there is a faith, to which scripture ascribes extraordinary praise. Saving faith, the faith that Jesus Christ requires of all christians, and of which it is said, through faith are ye saved, Eph. ii. 8. and elsewhere, whosoever believeth shall have everlasting life, John iii. 16, this is the faith of which the text speaks, and of the nature of which we are now inquiring. To comprehend this, we must trace the question to its principle, and examine what is the object of this faith.

'The great and principal object, which is presented to the faith, that justifies, without doubt is Jesus Christ as dying and offering himself to the justice of his Father. On this account St. Paul says to the Corinthians, I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified, I. Epist. ii. 2. Faith contemplates the objects, that are displayed in the cross of Jesus Christ, and persuades the chrisian, that there is no other way of obtaining salvation, or, to use the language of scripture, that there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, Acts iv. 12. It inspires him with a sincere desire of lodging under the shadow of his cross, or, to speak in plain scripture language without a figure, of being found in him, not having his own righteousness, which is of the law: but that, which is through the faith of Christ. This is a general vague account of the nature of faith.

But as this notion of faith is vague, it is subject to all the inconveniences of vague ideas; it is equivocal, and open to illusion. We are not saved by wishing to be saved; nor are we justified because we barely desire to be justified.

We must, therefore, distinguish two sorts of desires to share the benefits of the death of Christ. There is a desire,

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