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through Christ which strengtheneth him. And all he suffers does not destroy his love, nor impair it in the least. It is proof against all. It is a flame that burns even in the midst of the great deep. "Many waters cannot quench" love, neither can the floods drown it." It triumphs over all. It" never faileth," either in time or in eternity.

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"Thus, in obedience to what Heaven decrees,
Knowledge shall fail, and prophecy shall cease;
But lasting charity's more ample sway,
Nor bound by time, nor subject to decay,

In happy triumph shall for ever live,

And endless good diffuse, and endless praise receive."

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So shall "the merciful obtain mercy;" not only by the blessing of God upon all their ways, by his now repaying the love they bear to their brethren a thousandfold into their own bosom; but likewise by an exceeding and eternal weight of glory," in the "kingdom prepared for them from the beginning of the world."-Sermons, vol. i, pp. 193-198.

Faith itself, even Christian faith, the faith of God's elect, the faith of the operation of God, still is only the handmaid of love. As glorious and honourable as it is, it is not the end of the commandment. God hath given this honour to love alone: love is the end of all the commandments of God. Love is the end, the sole end, of every dispensation of God, from the beginning of the world to the consummation of all things. And it will endure when heaven and earth flee away; for "love [alone] never faileth." Faith will totally fail; it will be swallowed up in sight, in the everlasting vision of God. But even then love,

"Its nature and its office still the same,

Lasting its lamp, and unconsumed its flame,

In deathless triumph shall for ever live,

And endless good diffuse, and endless praise receive."

Very excellent things are spoken of faith, and whosoever is a partaker thereof may well say with the apostle, "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift." Yet still it loses all its excellence when brought into a comparison with love. What St. Paul observes concerning the superior glory of the gospel above that of the law may with great propriety be spoken of the superior glory of love above that of faith: "Even that which was made glorious hath no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away is glorious, much more doth that which remaineth exceed in glory." Yea, all the glory of faith, before it is done away, arises hence, that it ministers to love: it is the great temporary means which God has ordained to promote that eternal end.

Let those who magnify faith beyond all proportion, so as to swallow up all things else, and who so totally misapprehend the nature of it as to imagine it stands in the place of love, consider farther, that as love will exist after faith, so it did exist long before it. The angels who from the moment of their creation beheld the face of their Father that is in heaven had no occasion for faith, it its general notion, as it is the evidence of things not seen. Neither had they need of faith, in its more particular acceptation, faith in the blood of Jesus: for he took not upon him the nature of angels, but only the seed of Abraham. There was therefore no place, before the foundation of the world, for faith either in the general or particular sense. But there was for love. Love existed from eter

nity in God, the great ocean of love. Love had a place in all the children of God, from the moment of their creation they received at once from their gracious Creator, to exist and to love.

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Nor is it certain (as ingeniously and plausibly as many have descanted upon this) that faith, even in the general

sense of the word, had any place in paradise. It is highly probable, from that short and uncircumstantial account which we have in holy writ, that Adam, before he rebelled against God, walked with him by sight and not by faith:

"For then his reason's eye was sharp and clear,
And (as an eagle can behold the sun)

Could have approach'd the Eternal Light, as near
As th' intellectual angels could have done."

He was then able to talk with Him face to face, whose face we cannot now see and live; and consequently had no need of that faith whose office it is to supply the want of sight.

On the other hand it is absolutely certain faith, in its particular sense, had then no place. For in that sense it necessarily presupposes sin, and the wrath of God declared against the sinner; without which there is no need of an atonement for sin in order to the sinner's reconciliation with God. Consequently, as there was no need of an atonement before the fall, so there was no place for faith in that atonement; man being then pure from every stain of sin; holy as God is holy. But love even then filled his heart; it reigned in him without a rival; and it was only when love was lost by sin that faith was added, not for its own sake, nor with any design that it should exist any longer than until it had answered the end for which it was ordained, namely, to restore man to the love from which he was fallen. At the fall, therefore, was added this evidence of things unseen, which before was utterly needless; this confidence in redeeming love, which could not possibly have any place till the promise was made that "the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head."

Faith then was originally designed of God to re-establish the law of love. Therefore, in speaking thus, we are

not undervaluing it, or robbing it of its due praise; but, on the contrary, showing its real worth, exalting it in its just proportion, and giving it that very place which the wisdom of God assigned it from the beginning. It is the grand means of restoring that holy love wherein man was originally created. It follows, that although faith is of no value in itself, (as neither is any other means whatsoever,) yet as it leads to that end, the establishing anew the law of love in our hearts: and as, in the present state of things, it is the only means under heaven for effecting it, it is on that account an unspeakable blessing to man, and of unspeakable value before God.-Sermons, vol. i, pp. 325– 327.

SECTION V.

His Joy.

CHRISTIAN joy is joy in obedience: joy in loving God and keeping his commandments. And yet not in keeping them as if we were thereby to fulfil the terms of the covenant of works; as if by any works or righteousness of ours we were to procure pardon and acceptance with God. Not so: we are already pardoned and accepted through the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. Not as if we were by our own obedience to procure life, life from the death of sin this also we have already through the grace of God. Us "hath he quickened who were dead in sins;" and now we are "alive to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." But we rejoice in walking according to the covenant of grace, in holy love and happy obedience. We rejoice in knowing that, "being justified through his grace," we have "not received that grace of God in vain ;" that God having freely (not for the sake of our willing or running, but through the blood of the Lamb) reconciled us to himself, we run, in the strength which he hath given

us, the way of his commandments. He hath "girded us with strength unto the war," and we gladly "fight the good fight of faith." We rejoice, through Him who liveth in our hearts by faith, to "lay hold of eternal life." This is our rejoicing, that as our "Father worketh hitherto," so (not by our own might or wisdom, but through the power of his Spirit, freely given in Christ Jesus) we also work the works of God. And may he work in us whatsoever is well-pleasing in his sight! To whom be the praise for ever and ever!—Sermons, vol. i, p. 107.

SECTION VI.

His Peace.

ANOTHER fruit of this living faith is peace. For, "being justified by faith," having all our sins blotted out, "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," Rom. v, 1. This indeed our Lord himself, the night before his death, solemnly bequeathed to all his followers: "Peace," saith he, "I leave with you;" (you who "believe in God," and "believe also in me;") "my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid," John xiv, 27. And again, "These things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace," chap. xvi, 33. This is that" peace of God which passeth all understanding," that serenity of soul which it hath not entered into the heart of a natural man to conceive, and which it is not possible for even the spiritual man to utter. And it is a peace which all the powers of earth and hell are unable to take from him. Waves and storms beat upon it, but they shake it not; for it is founded upon a rock. It keepeth the hearts and minds of the children of God, at all times and in all places. Whether they are in ease or in pain, in sickness or health, in abundance or want, they are

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