THE LIFE OF FAITH.
Be ye Followers of me, as I also am of Christ,
1 Cor. xi. 1.
MEDITATE ofien of these. words of the apostle; The just man liveth by faith, Rom, i. 17. O what great things are contained in this life of faith!
The life of faith supposes, that one first dies to oneself. The spiritual death is here the beginning of life. You are dead, said the apostle, 3. and your life is hid with Christ in God.
To live in faith is to be only taken up with the objects of faith; to think only on the promises of faith; and to make our judgment of all things here below, only with respect to their agreeableness with the things of faith.
To live by faith, is to lead as to the exterior, a common life; but as to the interior, to unite oneself continually to God through Jesus Christ.
The life of faith maintains itself principally by mental prayer and the holy communion. Prayer puts to death the old man; and the holy communion gives life to the new man.
Nothing is more contrary to the life of faith, than the frequenting the high-life world, with its companies and assemblies; idle visits, vain compliments, frivolous letters, &c. But on the other hand, the life of faith grows in us by godly conversation, by an union with those who are truly good, and by the reading of such spiritual books, as are solidly pious and affecting.
The life of faith is much hindered by the tumult of business, by the trouble of scruples,
