according to their faith so is it done unto them. While they fight against sin, relying on the strength of their almighty King, they always conquer. His arm subdues the strongest lust; but if they attack the weakest without him, they are infallibly conquered. And this has so often happened to those fathers that know him that is from the beginning, that now they never dare go down to battle, but with their eyes upon the Lord. He has taught them to depend wholly upon him for the crucifying of the old man of sin day by day, and in the power of his might armies of lusts are made to flce before them. The Captain of their salvation encourages them to fight on, not only by subduing sin in them; but also by making this the earnest of their having in him an absolute mortification of sin. By faith they see it, and his victorious grace will never leave them until he put them into full possession of it. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ their Lord, ere long they shall have perfect and everlasting victory over the whole body and being of sin. And,

As the old man is thus crucified, so is the new man quickened by the power of Jesus, received by faith, according to what is written, "The just shall live by his faith." The justified person, by his union with Christ, is a partaker of the grace of life, and in virtue of this union he lives upon Christ as a member does in the body, and thereby he has communion with the Father, by the bond of the Spirit; and this spiritual life is begun and carried on by faith; it is a life of faith, not as if faith quickened a dead sinner for Christ is our life. But the sense and comfort, and strength of that life which Christ gives, are received by faith, and these are according as faith is. If faith be weak, so are they. As it grows, so do they. Which discovers to us another wonderful excellency of the life of faith, since by it we now partake of a spiritual and eternal life: "For he that believeth hath everlasting life;" hath it now, is already passed from death unto life; and he looks up to the Lord and giver of it for every thing needful, and expects it out of his fulness. Hear one of Q &

these happy believers thus relating his case. I am dead to the law, says he, yet alive to God; I am crucified with Christ, and am a partaker of the merit and power of his cross, and by faith I have in him an absolute crucifixion of sin; and although the old man is thus crucified, yet the new man liveth: nevertheless I live, yet not I-I live a spiritual life, yet not I as a natural man-I did not quicken myself, I cannot keep myself alive; Christ liveth in me, he is the Author of my life, and on him I depend for the continuance of it in time and in eternity: for the life which I now live in the flesh, while I am in this body of sin and death, I live by the faith of the Son of God; he is the Author, he is the Object of that faith, by which I have received life from him: by an act of sovereign grace he quickened me from a death in trespasses and sins, and united me as a living member into his mystical body, and I am kept alive through his living, acting, and working in me by his Spirit; he dwelleth in my heart by faith, and the more clearly I see this, the more do I love and en

joy the Prince of life, my precious, above all. expression, infinitely, eternally precious Jesus, who loved me and gave himself for me, that by his death I might be dead to sin, and by his resurrection might live to and with God for ever and ever. Thanks and praise be to thee without ceasing, thou dear Lamb of God, for thy love to me the chief of sinners. Let all thy people say, Amen.

This is the happy case of those believers, who are, like the blessed Paul, strong in the Lord Christ. By his death they are dead to sin, and because he liveth they are alive to God for they who are joined to the Lord are one spirit. And as their faith increases, they have more spiritual fellowship with Christ in his death and resurrection, not only in the merit, but also in the efficacy of both. They grow more dependant upon the Lord's strength, and he daily mortifies in them the old man of sin, and as he grows weaker their other enemies have less power over them. By their lusts satan tempts them; the more these are mortified, the weaker will be his tempta

tions. By their lusts, by the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, the world tempts them; as these are subdued, they will be more crucified to the world. Christ living, dwelling, and reigning in them by faith, will day by day weaken the strength of sin and satan, and the world; and by the power of his death and resurrection he will be conforming them more to his own image and likeness. He will by faith enable them to be growing up into him in all things, as long as they live. They will be going on from strength to strength, till sin and death be swallowed up in victory.

Until that happy time come, he has appointed certain means, in the use of which, they are to wait for the continual receiving of grace from him, to deaden the old man, and for the growth of the new. And this grace they receive; not merely because they use the means, but because they use them in faith; expecting his presence in, and blessing upon them. Believers set the Lord always before them, and look, through the means, at him: for without him, they are