2. By this cordial and unshaken faith, man wholly dedicates his heart to the Almighty, in whom alone he seeks his rest. To him only is he now united, and with him alone he enters into delightful fellowship. He partakes of all things that are of God and of Christ, and is made one spirit with the Lord. From him he receives divine power and strength; together with a new life, attended with new joys, new pleasures, new consolations, in which are found peace, inward ease, and durable satisfaction, together with righteousness and holiness. And thus man is born anew of God by faith. For wherever there is true faith, _there_ Christ is verily present with all his righteousness, holiness, and remission of sin; with all his merits, justification, grace, adoption, and inheritance of eternal life. This is the new birth and the new creature, springing from faith in Christ. Hence, the apostle calls faith a _substance_ (Heb. 11:1); understanding by it, a sure, solid, and unshaken confidence in “things hoped for,” and a lively conviction of “things not seen.” For the consolation conveyed by a vital faith is so powerful, as to convince the heart of the divine truth by inward experience, and by the tasting of the heavenly goodness in the soul, and of the peace of God, that passes all understanding; yea, it is so mighty as to enable its possessors to die with a joyful heart. In this consist that strength of the spirit, that might of the inner man, that vigor of faith, that holy boldness; this is that confidence toward God, that exceeding and abounding assurance, which are so copiously set forth by the holy apostles. 2 Tim. 2:1; Eph. 3:12, 16; Phil. 1:14; 1 John 3:21; 1 Thess. 1:5; 2:2. 3. That for which a man will dare to die, must be rooted in the soul, and, by the operation of the Spirit of God, afford an inward assurance. It must be a cordial, powerful, and eternal comfort, infusing heavenly and supernatural strength into the soul, by which the fear of death and the love of the world may both be subdued. Now all this begets so solid a trust in Christ, and so close a union with him, as neither death nor life is able to dissolve. Rom. 8:38; 2 Tim. 1:12. Hence St. John says: “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” 1 John 5:4.