RESOLUTION II.

I am resolved, by (he grace of God, to walk by, faith, and not by sight, on earth, that so I may live by sight, and not by faith, in heaven.

AND truly, this resolution is so necessary to the performance of all the rest, that without it I can do nothing, with it I can do every thing that is required. The reason why I am so much taken with the garnish and seeming beauty of this world’s vanities, so as to step out of the road of holiness to catch at. or delight myself in them, is only because I look upon them with an eye of sense. For could I behold every thing with the eye of faith, I should 123judge of them, not as they seem to me, but as they are in themselves, ‘vanity and vexation of spirit.’ For, faith has a quick and piercing eye, that can look through the outward superficies into the inward essence of things. It can look through the pleasing bait to the hidden book, view the sting, as well as the honey, the everlasting punishment, as well as the temporal contentment there is in sin. It is, as the apostle very well defines it, ‘the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.’¹⁶¹¹⁶¹   Heb. xi. 1. It is the substance of whatsoever is promised by God to me, or expected by me from him: so that, by faith, whatsoever I hope for in heaven, I may have the substance of upon earth: and it is ‘the evidence of things not seen, the presence of what is absent, the clear demonstration of what would otherwise seem impossible; so that I can clearly discern, as through a perspective, hidden things and things afar off, as if they were open, and just at hand; I can look into the deepest mysteries, as fully revealed, and see heaven and eternity as just ready to receive me.

And, oh, could I but always look through this glass, and be constantly upon the mount, taking a view of the land of Canaan, what dreams and shadows would all things here below appear to be? Well, by the grace of God, I am resolved no longer to tie myself to sense and sight, the sordid and trifling affairs of this life, but always to walk as one of the other world, to behave myself in all places, and at all times, as one already possessed of my inheritance, and an inhabitant of the New 124Jerusalem; by faith assuring myself I have but a few more days to live below, a little more work to do: and then I shall lay aside my glass, and be admitted to a nearer vision and fruition of God, and ‘see him face to face.’

By this means, I shall always live, as if I was daily to die; always speak, as if my tongue, the next moment, were to cleave to the roof of my mouth: and continually order my thoughts and affections in such a manner, as if my soul were just ready to depart, and take its flight into the other world. By this means, whatsoever place I am in, or whatsoever work I am about, I shall still be with my God, and demean myself so, as if, with St. Jerome, I heard the voice of the trumpet crying out, “Awake, ye dead, and come to judgment.”

And thus, though I am at present here in the flesh, yet I shall look upon myself as more really an inhabitant of heaven, than I am upon earth. Here I am but as a pilgrim, or a sojourner, that has ‘no abiding city;’ but there I have a sure and everlasting inheritance, which Christ has purchased and prepared for me, and which faith has given me the possession of. And, therefore, as it is my duty, so I will constantly make it my endeavour, to live up to the character of a true Christian, whose portion and conversation is in heaven, and think it a disgrace and disparagement to my profession, to stoop to, or entangle myself with such toys and trifles as the men of the world busy themselves about; or to feed upon husks with swine here below, when it is in my power, by faith, to be continually supplied with spiritual manna from heaven, 125till at last I am admitted to it. And that I may awe my spirit into the performance of these, and all other my resolutions,