Trait 3.
TRAIT 3.
His intimate union with Christ by faith.
“I AM come,” said the good Shepherd, “that my sheep might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” John 10:10, 11. “I am the light of the world,” John 8:12. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” John 14:6. “I am the vine; ye are the branches,” John 15:5. The faithful minister understands the signification of these mysterious expressions. He walks in this way, he follows this light, he embraces this truth, and enjoys this life in all its rich abundance. Constantly united to his Lord, by an humble faith, a lively hope, and an ardent charity, he is enabled to say, with St. Paul, “The love of Christ constraineth me; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again,” 2 Corinthians 5:14. “We are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory,” Colossians 3:3, 4. “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more; but liveth unto God. We likewise reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 6:5, 9, 11. This living faith is the source from whence all the sanctity of the Christian is derived, and all the power of the true minister. It is the medium through which that sap of grace and consolation, those streams of peace and joy, are perpetually flowing, which enrich the believing soul, and make it fruitful in every good work; or, to speak without, a metaphor, from this powerful grace proceeds that love of God and man which influences us to think and act, either as members or as ministers of Jesus Christ. The character of the Christian is determined according to the strength or weakness of his faith. If the faith of St. Paul had been weak or wavering, his portrait would have been unworthy of our contemplation: he would necessarily have fallen into doubt and discouragement; he might probably have sunk into sin, as St. Peter plunged into the sea; he must, sooner or later, have lost his spiritual vigour, and have made the same appearance in the Church as those ministers and Christians who are influenced by the maxims of the world. The effects of faith are still truly mysterious, though our Lord has explained them in as intelligible a manner as their nature will permit: “He that abideth in me,” by a living faith, “and in whom I abide,” by the light of my word and by the power of my Spirit, “the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. If any man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and” being “withered, is cast into the fire and burned. Herein is my Father glorified, that,” united to me as the branches to the vine, “ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples,” John 15:6, 7, 8.
Penetrated with these great truths, and daily cleaving more firmly to his living Head, the true minister expresses what the natural man cannot receive, and what few pastors of the present age are able to comprehend, though St. Paul not only experienced it in his own heart, but openly declares it in the following remarkable passage: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet, not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me,” Galatians 2:20.