Living on Christ.

upon it, or (what is better) more faith to throw all upon him, and to live more by him for the 'time to come.

CHAP. III.

HOW DO I LIVE UPON CHRIST?

ALAS! my soul, in spiritual things thou too often livest upon thyself. Thou seekest in frames, in forms, in creatures, and in animal life, what is only to be found in thy Redeemer, even a right inward peace and stability of mind. Outward duties are well in their place, but they have no divine life in themselves, and of themselves can give none to thee. They are to be performed, but not trusted in; to be used with grace, but not to buy grace. They are as the scaffold to the building, a mean for carrying on the spiritual work, but not the object or the end of the great design. In the power of Christ they are blessings; without his power, they have no life or help in them.

Many treat the ordinances as a fair substitute for serious and constant watchfulness over themselves, for patient devotedness to God, and for real holiness of heart and life, instead of the mean, and only the mean, which the Lord hath appointed, for leading up the soul to all this, as their proper and indispensable end. By such worshippers, the holy means are turned into a profane and detestable idol (as was the case with some of old; Isaiah, lxvi. 3.) in the sight of the Lord, who doth not regard lip-service, nor any

66

CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER.

No self.

carnal or corporal attentions only, but the poor and the contrite spirit, that can tremble at, while it hears and believes, his holy word.

Remember this for thyself, O my soul. Thy first and last trust must be in Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Without him, all prayers, praises, rites, and ordinances, dwindle into carcases without a soul. Every performance will be carnal and corporal, unless the Saviour fill it with his divine Spirit: And when this comes, then there is a sweet communion of heart with Christ, and a blissful reviving of the soul. Then, behind the veil of outward ordinances, there appears a delightful view of the Lord in his goodness, beauty, grandeur, blessedness, and glory; and such a view as no carnal eye can behold, and no unrenewed mind understand or conceive.

Mere professors stick in the flesh, and mistake the worship of the body and the motion of the lips, for the love, taste, action, and adoration of the soul. Religion is too sublime for those, who are rather carried through a course than live in it. The road, indeed, may be a good one; but these no more travel therein, than a corpse borne along in a hearse can be said to be making a journey.

My soul, thy life and thy liveliness are all laid up in Christ, and are to be drawn from him according to thy need. Thou hast no stock left to thy own disposal. As the manna was received daily from above, so thou must live out of thyself for thy spiritual daily bread. Having pleaded thy pardon by his blood, and thy justification by his righteousness, thou must live on him for grace still to plead both, to enjoy the effect of both, to commune with him from time to time, to deny thyself, to renounce the world and the devil, to

Out of self.

master corruptions, to be growing wiser in his word, and more rich in its experience, and, in short, to use him continually for thine all in all. The whole of this is spiritual, and therefore difficult, work; and thou art quite unable to perform it in any respect but through that strength which is made perfect in thy weakness. If Christ indeed be thy life; then, because he liveth, thou shalt live also.

In living thus upon Christ, thou art to live above thyself, and certainly above every thing which thou by thyself canst perform. This is the true and sublime life of the inner man, which is not corruptible, nor dependeth for vigour upon corruptible things. It is therefore a hidden life. Ye are dead, says the apostle, and your life is hid with Christ in God. No outward or carnal eye can see it at all, except in some of its holy outward effects, the true excellence of which, at the same time, it cannot apprehend: and the spiritual understanding of other believers can only discern its inward truth and growth, but in proportion as they themselves are spiritually grown up in Christ Jesus the Lord. A mere reasoner in religion knows nothing of the matter. He, who hath never left himself, nor truly disowned his own wisdom, righteousness, and strength, hath never yet come to Christ, nor rightly believed in him.

As thou art not to live upon thyself, O my soul, so thou canst not live this true life by the aid or opinions of others. If they are instruments of good to thee, it is thy heavenly Father who employeth them for that end. They themselves, as well as thou, must live upon him, for all their wisdom, grace, and strength, and not by the life

Instability.

of their own hand. Christ is and must be as much their life, as he is thine.

Thou sometimes waxest and wanest in thy duties, as the moon in her light. At one time, thou art full of spiritual appetite and vigour; at another, in lowness and want of strength. The cause is not in the Sun of Righteousness, who is always alike; but in thee, who turnest not the same aspect always to him, and therefore hast not always the same light and heat. If thou

thinkest to get the brightness from the stars around thee, instead of thy Sun; thou wilt be like the dark part of the moon turned away from the natural sun, which often scarcely appears, or when it doth, appears as dull as it is cold. In all providences, ordinances, and situations, Christ must be thy point of view, thy succour, thy light, thy life, and thy trust; or they will be found, however excellent in his hand, only beggarly elements in thine.

In all things that are truly divine and spiritual, the flesh soon becomes weary, and flags, and fails. When the exercise grows difficult, especially; then corrupt nature soon declines, and cannot sustain or endure the toil. Hence it is, that so many seem to receive the word with joy, and to run well for a time, who, when persecutions or trials arise, having no root in themselves, begin to find dislikes and offences, and so presently fall away. Their fallow hearts have not been broken up deeply enough by the gospel-plough (i. e. by the law) to cover well the gospel-seed. This seed, having never been hidden in the heart, hath taken no root downward in humble and secret contrition, nor grown into substance upwards to bring forth fruit unto perfection.

Outward show.

The hidden and spiritual life is often most active and strong, when the flesh is lowest and hath least to do. Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation. When the Lord is risen upon the soul, all that is weak and carnal, is as nothing before him. A sweet proof of this may sometimes be found in sick and dying believers. How do they triumph in spirit, with a glorious liveliness, over all the debilities of a dying body? When their heart and their flesh fail, God then appears most eminently to be the very strength of their heart, and their portion for

ever.

There is a knowledge of Christ after the flesh, which will carry men a great way into all the splendors of religious profession. It shall make a man look and talk seriously; carry him constantly to ordinances; give him great personal zeal and confidence; enable him to be very exact in all outward discipline and form of doctrine; nay, it shall bring him with a fervent activity (if a minister) into the pulpit, help him to deliver perhaps sound discourses with seeming earnestness and able oratory, so that multitudes shall hear and admire, and possibly be wrought upon by him; and yet in himself it may be mere flesh, have only selfish ends and views, and be the poor low knowledge of Christ by the flesh, after all. There is sometimes a little true life in this, and then it is strengthened and refined by trials and temptations; but when there is none, then by time, or trouble, or some other thing, it will finally fall away. If they had really been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us.

O my soul, there are depths of Satan, as well as of God; and there is no security for thee, but in