---- CHAPTER II: The excellency of faith shewed in farther instances.
CHAPTER II
The excellency of faith shewed in farther instances.
That it is ordained to give all the glory to God, and therefore God puts the greatest honour upon that above any other grace.
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it he tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus
Christ.—1 PET. 1:7.
The scope of the apostle (from the third verse) lies especially in three things. The 1st is to comfort them against afflictions, which is the general, which runs through all. And, 2dly, he doth that by setting out the greatness of salvation, which God hath appointed as the end of their faith, ver. 11. 3dly, His design is to commend and set out to them, that they might live by it, the excellency of that grace of faith, both as that which should keep them, as he saith, ver. 5, they are
'kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation;' unto that salvation he had spoken of before, as likewise being that grace which bears the shock of all the trials and tentations which they run through in this world, and overcomes them all; which grace, therefore, eminently above all else, shall be 'found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.'
It is faith here he means that shall be 'found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ;' for although he saith,
'The trial of your faith might be found unto praise,' &c., yet either first it is an Hebraism, trial of faith, that is, faith tried: or otherwise if you take it (as some), for the afflictions themselves that do try our faith, if they be so precious, much more precious than gold, then
faith itself that is tried must needs be much more. If the fining pot and the furnace, as Solomon saith in the Proverbs, which doth try the gold and silver, and which is cast away when the gold is tried, be of such worth and excellency, then the gold and silver itself much more.
But it is not afflictions or tentations that shall be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the latter day; but it is faith being tried by all those, that shall then be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, and that shall be crowned by God, as of all graces the most glorious and the most eminent also. And because that this grace is a hidden grace, and the glory of its transactions are not seen (as an anchor under water), therefore he saith, 'It shall be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.'
Jesus Christ is the chief object of faith, and faith honoured him when he was not seen, as the text hath it here: ver. 8, 'Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet ye believe.'
Because that faith honoured and trusted him thus when it saw him not, therefore will Jesus Christ, when he shall appear, honour this grace; that is, he will acknowledge an honour to be in it, and give the crown of all that is in us, unto faith: 'It shall be found,' saith he, 'unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.' And although that faith shall cease then (as the apostle elsewhere tells us), as the pillar of the cloud, and the pillar of fire ceased when the people came out of the wilderness into Canaan, yet notwithstanding the glory of faith, and the fruit of faith, and the end of faith, and the crown that shall be given to faith, begins but then. It shall be found, viz., for its past service, 'unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.' Now then, having to myself and to you also proposed the handling of the doctrine of faith in all those particulars which are useful,—I have shewn you some of the acts of faith, and also the author of it, and what is done for you when you believe,—I shall in the next place come to shew yon the excellency of this grace, and what a great deal of honour and glory there is in it, and shall be put upon it at the latter day. To manifest this unto you, let me lay this for a foundation, before I speak of that honour that God hath put upon it; that of all graces else faith is the meanest and
lowest, it is the poorest and the most nothing; but God always takes things that are not, and he filleth the hungry, and sends the rich empty away; he hath respect unto the low estate of this grace. It is in itself, I say, the poorest and the most beggarly grace of all other, if you compare it but with love, or with any else. It was love, whereby
Adam was united unto God, and not faith, which was answerable to that covenant; and love had something whereof to boast, but faith hath not; for in loving we return something unto God, for we return love to him, we give him love for his love, although he loveth us first; we, I say, do return something unto him again; we give as well as take; but in believing we do nothing but receive from God. The promises are said to be 'given unto them that believe,' Gal. 3:23, and ver. 14, to he 'received by faith.' Now you know what Christ himself said (it is a speech of his recorded in Acts 20:35), 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' So it is more honourable in itself to love God and to obey him, than merely to believe and to receive from him. But because God will not be beholden to the creature, and it shall never be said that any creature gave first to him, and was not recompensed again, hence therefore he hath taken faith, which of all graces else is the most empty (it is indeed nothing else but an open mouth for God to fill), and hath chosen to put glory upon it: 'Go ye,' says Christ, Mat.
9:13, 'and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice.' I find by Christ's own alleging it, that this saying is used in a double sense, or a double meaning, as indeed many scriptures are so intended by the Holy Ghost; either that God doth prefer mercy shewn by a man to himself, or by one man to another, before sacrifice to himself (and so it is urged, Mat. 12:7, upon an occasion of the Pharisees murmuring at the disciples plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath day), or else Christ meant (which indeed is the scope of Mat. 9:13, comparing it with Hosea 6:6, out of which Christ quotes it) to shew that God delights in his own shewing mercy more than in all our sacrifices, and that he delights more in our knowing him to be merciful and to be gracious, which indeed is seen in our believing on him, than in all our obedience which we perform to him. And that this is Christ's meaning is plain, for he speaks in the verse before of his own saving that which is lost, and of being a physician to them
that are sick: 'They that be whole,' saith he, ver. 12, 'need not a physician, but they that are sick.' And then he presently adds, 'But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice;' that is, I that am the Son of the great God, that am the Messiah, delight rather in being a physician, in healing, in shewing mercy to poor souls, than in all obedience as from you. And in Hosea 6:6 this is also added: 'I desire the knowledge of God more than burntofferings.' What is it in us that in us answers to mercy and grace in God? It is faith, it is the knowledge of him. You must know that the Old Testament useth much the phrase of knowing for believing: as in Isa. 53, 'By his knowledge shall he justify many;' and Jer. 9:23, 'Let him glory in this, that he knoweth me which exercise loving-kindness in the earth.' Now then here is the sum of this text, that God is more pleased, infinitely more pleased, thus in giving, in pouring forth his grace upon us, in shewing mercy to us, than he is with all our sacrifices, or whatever else we offer to him; and therefore answerably he is more pleased with our knowing of him to be gracious and merciful, and so in believing on him (for this knowledge doth in the law of it always contain suitable affections to God, and is the principle of all in us), than with all burnt-offerings. The least thing that God could have required of you, the meanest act upon his being merciful to you is this: do but know that I am merciful, do but believe it, do but rely upon it. The apostle, in 1 Cor. 1:30, saith, that God
'made Jesus Christ unto us to be wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.' To what end? 'That according as it is written,' saith he, 'he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.' Now where is this written? It is in Jer. 9:24, 'Let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness in the earth;' which brings us to the point in hand; and it is as if he had said, I will give you leave to glory in your faith if you will. Why? Because your faith it is merely knowing how good I am; so that when you glory in your faith, in your knowing of me, which exercise loving-kindness in the earth, the truth is, you glory in the Lord, for so you see the apostle interprets it. It is but as if God should say this, I am thus great and glorious, a God that exercise loving-kindness, and delight more in shewing mercy than in
all I receive from you, only I desire to have this mercy apprehended and believed by you. And when the creature comes to apprehend God to be thus merciful, it excludes all boasting, the very law of this knowledge doth, because it is suited to its object; it gives all honour to that God whom it knows to be thus gracious, it admires and adores him for it. Faith, my brethren, it is a passion, it is not an action, therefore it is compared to seeing the Son; now take the sense of seeing, and fit intramittendo, non extramittendo, it is done by receiving something in, not by sending anything out. The eye sees by receiving, by taking in the beams of the light, or by taking in the image of the colours from the object, irradiated by the light, and not by sending forth a light of itself; and so indeed is faith. Therefore it is that God hath chosen faith, because it is, if I may so express it, a mere passive grace. We shall know God by vision hereafter, and we know God by faith here; and both are parallel in this, that as heaven is but knowing God as we are known, it is but seeing his glory, and so being glorified thereby, as it is in John 17:24; so faith is but a knowing of God, and a giving glory to him, according to that knowledge of him, drawing on the whole heart answerably to live unto him. Saith Paul in Gal. 4:9, 'You have known God, or rather, are known of God.' Mark how he diminisheth and draws down even faith itself as low as possible. He seemed as if he would have put something upon our knowledge of God when he had said, 'You have known God,' but he takes away what he gives: 'You are rather known of God,' saith he. So that our knowing God hath nothing to commend itself at all, for it is a mere receiving, it hath nothing to glory in itself, no, notas it is knowledge, but from its object; for the thing it labours to apprehend, it is to be 'known of God.' The honour and glory of this grace I shall shew you by demonstrating two things.
1. The honour which this grace is ordained to give to God.
2. The use and hand it hath in our salvation. God honours it for both; for God hath a respect to both these.
1. To demonstrate the honour which this grace is ordained to give to God, I shall promise, that whatsoever honours God most, certainly
God will honour that most. It is the rule that God himself gives in 1 Sam. 2:30. Therefore if that this grace shall be 'found unto honour and glory at the appearing of Christ,' it must be upon this ground, because it hath given most honour and glory unto God; for, saith he,
'Them that honour me, I will honour.'
(1.) Take faith in the general nature of it. God hath appointed this grace to be the universal receiver, as I may so express it, of all the revelation of his glory which he dispenseth unto mankind in this world. Look what the eye and light is to this whole creation, this visible frame of heaven and earth, and all the glories that God hath stamped upon it, that is the light of the Spirit and faith in the heart of a believer to all those glorious things in the new creation, in that new world which God hath revealed in the gospel, which the gospel is the map of. All those things which are there revealed, they are all taken in universally, and apprehended by this grace of faith. God having made this glorious frame of heaven and earth, if he had not made also an eye to have seen all this, all that he had done had been in a manner lost, in respect of his end in it. So is it in this new world, which Ps. 8 speaks of; saith the psalmist there (speaking indeed of the gospel, and of the things of the gospel, and of Christ, as the apostle interprets it in Heb. 2), in allusion unto man's contemplating the heavens, the moon, and the stars, and the like, 'When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained.' How comes he to consider all these? Because he hath an eye to see all these, which doth let in the knowledge of all these into his mind. If a man's body had not had this small member, the eye, he could not take into his consideration at all the heavens, or the moon and stars, &c. So it is here; God hath made a new world, whereof Jesus Christ is the sun, and he hath made a whole new creation, 'a new creature,' and revealed a world of glorious truths, which have infinitely more harmony in them than there is in the old creation, and the law thereof. Now this little eye of faith, which God creates in the soul, and the light thereof, is that which takes in all
these, without which the glory of all these would be lost. Therefore we are said to 'behold the glory of the Lord,' in 2 Cor. 3:18. And as the eye is a mighty large sense, of a most large comprehension,—you see it can run up to heaven presently, it can go from east to west, and take in half the heavens at once,—so is faith in the soul; it doth draw in God and all his beams, draws in Christ and all his glory through a narrow cranny. Faith is a strange grace, for it doth in this partake of divinity itself. For wherein lies the excellency of God's knowledge?
His omniscience lies in this, that all things past, present, and to come, are present to him. Faith doth this too; it doth not only take them all in, but makes them all present. 'Abraham saw my day, and rejoiced,' saith Christ in John 8:56. And Heb. 2:9, 'We see Jesus crowned with glory and honour.' Faith makes all God's decrees from everlasting, and the day of judgment, and life to come, present to the soul; it makes Christ hanging upon the cross present. This is that grace which hath therefore a kind of a participation of divinity and omnisciency in it. It is the universal receiver of all that glory which God himself revealeth unto mankind.
(2.) I might shew you, that God hath made this grace an adequate instrument to honour and glorify his free grace by all the ways he would have it glorified; and to honour and glorify Jesus Christ in all ways that he would be glorified. Free grace in God himself, and in Jesus Christ, who is God's servant, and faith in us, these three are a measure adequate one to another, and in God's ordination ordained to glorify each other. As Jesus Christ did fully glorify free grace, and all the attibutes of God besides, and served free grace in its own way, so hath God appointed faith such a principle in the soul, as to apply itself to glorify free grace and Christ, to their full satisfaction, and to detract nothing from them.
(3.) Hence it is that God is not regardful, is not shy to put this grace in commission with Christ and with himself, and with all his own attributes. He glorifies it so much, because indeed it glorifieth him. It sets all the attributes of God on work, and it is said to do all that those attributes do, and all that God himself doth. It sets the power
of God on work, and then it glorifies his power. It is said of Abraham, Rom. 4:20, 21, that he 'being strong in faith, gave glory to God.' And what was it he gave God the glory of? 'He was fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.' It was a persuasion which gave this glory to him, and it was a persuasion of the power of God in God for the raising up of Isaac. Hereby now he gave glory to God; yea, hence, because without faith God should lose his glory, therefore the want of it puts a stop to his attributes in their working. As faith sets all the attributes of God on work, so it doth give them scope, vent, and time, as we say, that without it they will not work, they will do nothing. It is said, Mat. 13:58, that when
Christ came to Nazareth, 'he did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.' Faith holds the arm of God's wrath, and of his justice, and it lets loose the arm of his power, and wieldeth and manageth all that is in God; and God he is not shy to attribute all to faith that he himself doth. You shall find this in many instances in Scripture. Take that memorable place in Acts 3:16, see how strangely he speaks there; 'Know,' saith he, 'that his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom you see end know.' You see here that he putteth his name, and faith in his name, both into commission together for the making this man strong; and his name is all his attributes, his mercy, and his goodness, and his power, and whatsoever else was employed in doing that great miracle to this poor man. And here now is the reason also couched why that God is not jealous to put faith into commission with his own name, because that faith gives all to his name again, it gives all to God. Faith, if it be genuine, will not rob Christ a whit; therefore in the Scripture you shall find, that what faith is said to do, Christ is said to do, to save, and to justify, and to sanctify, &c.
The Scripture calls the righteousness of Christ the righteousness of faith, and the reason is this, because it is all one in respect of the soul's account, which truly believeth, and it is all one in God's account. It is all one in the soul's account to say that God doth it, and Christ doth it, and faith doth it, because the law of faith, the genius of faith, the form of faith, lies in this, in attributing all to God, and all to
Christ, and nothing to itself. While God doth all upon believing, faith attributes all to him; it is not faith else, for it is the genuine property of faith so to do: Gal. 2:20, 'The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.' But mark 'how he diminisheth it:
'Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' Faith still comes in with, 'It is not I,' even then when all is attributed unto it. It is its essential property so to do, and to give all unto God. Thus it doth in the soul's account. And thereupon in God's account it is all one too. You shall find that Christ seems careless what he attributes to faith. The truth is, this grace trusteth Christ, and Christ trusts this grace with all; for he knew that when he attributed anything to faith, he closely attributed it altogether to himself. It were a strange thing to hear that faith should be made omnipotent, that you should make another God of it as it were (as I told you even now it was made omniscient, because it maketh all things present to it), which is only attributed to God, Matt. 19:26, that 'with him all things are possible;' and Christ (Mark 14:36) makes it a property of God only, 'Father,' saith he, 'all things are possible unto thee.' Were it not blasphemy now to say of any creature, or of any man, that all things are possible to him? When Christ, in like manner, took on him to forgive sins, in Matt. 9:3, they quarrelled with him, 'This man blasphemeth,' say they; 'who can forgive sins but God only?' But now you shall find in plain words in Scripture (even of Christ himself, who hath said it,
Mark 9:23), that 'all things are possible to him that believeth;' it is, you see, the very same phrase that is used concerning God himself. I need not to tell you that you are saved by faith, and that you live by faith, and are justified by faith: no, what is said of God is said also of faith. And when Christ saith that all things are possible to him that believeth, it is as if he had said, All things are possible to me; because the grace he ascribes all this to gives all unto God again, it only apprehends the power of God, is but persuaded that God is able, and so resteth upon it; this is faith. Christ, when he had done a miracle, when he had saved a man's soul, when he himself was present in it, yet he would seem to put it off from himself, and to put it upon the man's faith: 'Thy faith hath saved thee,' and 'Thy faith hath made thee whole,' and the like. Had these speeches been spoken to any