Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	believe_v	faith_n	object_n	6,980	5	9.0206	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86493	Of the nature of faith. A sermon, / by Barten Holyday, Doctor of Divinity.	Holyday, Barton, 1593-1661.	1654 (1654)	Wing H2532; Thomason E809_17; ESTC R207573	12,893	37

making the understanding firmly assent to things that do not appear It is an Habit for vvhereas man after his fall had onely a possibilitie to Belief Faith does not onely reduce that possibility into an ability but also into a facility Though Christ lay a yoke upon us Faith makes it easie though Christ lay a burden on us Faith makes it light Draw me we will run after thee says the Spouse Cant. 1. 4. Nor does this Faith teach onely to runne but also it shews us which way to runne it does not onely give us vvill but also knowledge it being an habit of the understanding And this is manifest from the act of Faith which is to believe To believe being an act of the understanding which does notwithstanding include an act of the will the understanding in this act being determined by the command of the will The act of believing being a cogitation with an assent whereby eternal life is begun in us This is the end and yet the beginning of Faith according to that of the Apostle Faith is the substance of things hoped for the certainty of happinesse by Faith being counted for possession And it gives this possession whiles it makes the understanding firmly assent it makes it assent it is the victory of the holy Ghost upon the understanding which is happily led captive into liberty and by the power of Grace is delivered from the bondage of Nature And being delivered it does firmly assent There is a neutral act of the understanding inclining to neither part and that is doubting There is an act of the understanding inclining onely to one part but it is onely through some light reason and that is conjecture There is an act of the understanding inclining likewise onely to one part but it is with fear and that is Opinion But this act of Faith is not onely to one part but also with a firm assent In which firmnesse of assent it agrees with knowledge from which notwithstanding it also disagrees knowledge being of things that are manifest to the understanding but Faith being of things that do not appear And thus is the act of Faith distinct from all the other acts of the understanding Will you see the Power that produces Faith Behold Grace For since the object of Faith is above nature the act of Faith must likewise be above nature and therefore must proceed from such a cause as is able to raise the soul to such an assent Now whereas faith comes by knowledge and knowledge seems to depend rather upon the industry of nature then upon infusion True it is Faith does depend upon nature in respect of its outward cause as external persuasion but the principal and proper cause of Faith is grace working inwardly in the soul Will yee see the excellency of Faith You see it is a supernatural gift It is above corrupt nature which alas is so corrupt that of it self it is not onely not able to believe but does ungraciously resist belief But was it also above Pure nature had not our Parents in the state of Innocency Faith Faith they had in God but had they Faith in Christ Could Christ be the object of man's Faith before man's fall If we consider the person of our Saviour consisting of God and Man it were improper to say he was then the object of Faith but if we consider the sufficiency which was radicated in the Divine Nature and by which power the Divine Nature did assume the Humane Nature we may say that man could then believe in Christ because then he was able to believe in God in what manner soever it should please God to exhibit his sufficiency whether under the nature of Creation Redemption or Sanctification Faith being more properly grounded in the sufficiency of these acts then in the specification of them Gold Chrystal and a Starre are the object of the fight not in respect of solidity and transparency but in respect of visibility in which they all agree But a foreknowledge of Redemption which implies mans fall seems not congruous with the state of Innocence such knowledge being not a degree of perfection before man's fall but a relief of his imperfection after it Yet Aquinas acutely if not warrantably thinks that Adam then foreknew the mystery of the Incarnation though not as a means of Redemption yet of mans perfection in the future vision of God Will you see the manner of the Production of Faith It is wrought in the soul by a double work of grace by an illumination of the understanding and by an excitation of the will Grace inlightens the understanding whereby first it looks forward on the Law and then it reflects upon its own guilt and so begets Fear Next it beholds eternal life and a promise of that life in Christ Grace likewise inflames the will first to desire remission of sinnes and then an application of Christs promises to ones self for the effecting of such remission These then are the things which grace makes us look after this is the Order of the things which grace makes us look after the Law the Gospel Pardon and the Application of Pardon Behold likewise the Passions which grace makes us feel Behold the Order of the Passions which grace makes us feel Fear Hope Desire Joy This is the Method of the holy Ghost in the conversion of the Soul And as some of these degrees goe before faith so you may see also the degrees of faith You shall sometimes see a faith so weak that it appears to be rather Desire then Faith But yet it is a desire not only of salvation for Balaam also could desire to die the death of the Righteous but it is also a desire of Righteousness The fool the wise man both desire the end but only the wise man desires also the means Now this desire of grace is never without grace and has the promise of blessednesse Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse Mat. 5.6 And though this desire of Faith be not Faith Desire being a Passion and Faith an Habit yet this desire of Faith is never without Faith it is an infallible effect of Faith The desire of grace is a sanctified affection and where one affection is sanctified all are sanctified and where all are sanctified the whole man is sanctified He likewise that is sanctified is justified and he that is justified believes He then that unfeignedly desires Faith has Faith Which desire proceeds not from a want of Faith but from a want of the knowledge of Faith divers having Faith but not the skill to know it Sometimes you shall finde the weakness of Faith in respect of knowledge the knowledge of the Gospel Thus was the Apostles Faith in the knowledge of our Saviours Death and Resurrection For when our Saviour told them of his going down to Jerusalem and his sufferings there Peter rebukes him and sayes Master have pity on thy self this shall not be unto thee

Faith God saith Irenaeus look'd upon Abel's sacrifice and not upon Cain's propter ingenium offerentium Qualis est enim erga Deum voluntas offerentis talis est erga oblationem voluntas Dei such as is the sacrificers wil towards God such is God's vvill towards the sacrifice That therefore we may fully understand the nature of his offering we must fully understand the nature of his Faith and then we may be able to understand and imitate Abel's devotion in his sacrifice which he offered by Faith Know then we must that whatsoever creature is indued with reason the same is thereby also made capable of a faith all faith presupposing reason in which it is implanted in which it is employed Thus is there a faith in the glorious Angels who are indued with analogical reason and believe in God that they shall be preserved with perseverance in which faith they persevere in their perfection You shall see a faith too in the wicked Angels who do not onely know Gods Word but also give assent unto such knowledge which yet proceeds not from any special illumination but from the remainder of their natural angelical knowledge since their fall You shall finde a faith too in wicked men a faith by which they shall not save but continue and condemn themselves Yet by this faith they shall not onely know and assent unto Gods word but also professe that knowledge and assent as Saint Luke testifies of Simon Magus Acts 8.13 To which degree the Devils also in some sort arrive for they confessed that Christ was the Sonne of the most High and yet looked for no salvation by him nay they disclaimed all salvation by him crying out What have we to do with thee You shall yet finde a greater faith in wicked men whereby they shall not onely know and assent and professe but also rejoice nay and bring forth fruit Surely this will make the just man fear this will make him begin to suspect himself and not onely rest content with a direct faith to believe but seek also for a reflexive faith to believe that he does believe Yet even the faith of the wicked shall be attended with joy it shall be attended with fruit They shall bear fruit but it shall be like corn on the house-top in the heat of Summer it shall wither They shall bear fruit but it shall be like seed in the stony ground it shall take no deep root Luke 8.13 This faith shall passe away with time it shall passe away like time the causes of it shall passe away errour profit glory which commonly are the true causes of false faith Nay ye shall finde a greater faith even in wicked men a faith able to work miracles which faith where it has been found is judged to have been commonly grounded on some revelation or on some promise of God whereby a man believes God will bring such things to passe by him as by an instrument of such miracles And this was the faith which Simon Magus would have bought of the Apostles Acts 8.19 and though he could not get it for his money yet a worse hypocrite had it freely even Judas the worst of reprobates Yea and many more shall have part in this faith who notwithstanding shall have no part in Christ nay when at the last day they shall say to our Saviour Lord in thy name we have cast out Devils they shall be returned with I know you not They shall be cast out among those Devils whom once in his name they themselves cast out And may not this shake even the elect May not this cast them into doubting of their salvation Surely it may surely it does but it is but at some times it is but for some time it is but in some degree shake them it does but it is as the mighty wind shakes a mighty Tree it does but shake it it overthrow's it not nay it is so farre from overthrowing of it that by the shaking of it it makes it take the deeper root whiles both the tender strings and also the firmer and hidden spurres by which it is fastned do by the hollowing of the earth pierce farther into the earth Thus does the righteous man vvhen he sees that Faith even in a wicked man may be attended vvith profession joy fruit nay with miracles it does not make him desperate but diligent diligent to trie himselfe by the rules delivered in Gods Word to see whether or no hee have saving Faith Which indeed may more properly more effectually be called the Faith of miracles it being the truest miracle that any thing should be found in man which should be able to be an infallible instrument of the salvation of man Yet such is Faith the Faith of the elect who therefore carefully ask counsail of Saint Paul to know what such Faith is who has more carefully taught us what such Faith is And he has taught us that it is The substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Hebrews 11.1 By which we may learn both the nature of the things which our Faith aims at and also the nature of our Faith it self The things which Faith aims at have a twofold nature they are things not as yet in our possession they are things not as yet in our sight for in this life they are but hoped for and in this life they are invisible Now Faith is of that nature that it supplies both defects for by Faith vve have even here a kinde of possession and by Faith wee have even here a kinde of sight It is the substance of things hoped for the foundation the ground the confidence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the subsistence it is that by which things that are but hoped for are in admirable manner in our possession already It is the evidence of things not seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the argument proof demonstration S. Austin renders it the conviction of things not seen For as in natural knowledge Reason does convince the understanding so in supernatural knowledge Faith does convince the understanding not by the manifestation of the thing it self but by the authority of God that says it By which authority as the Apostle says he brings into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 And it is of things not seen Quae enim apparent sayes Saint Gregory jam fidem non habent sed agnitionem It is not so proper to say we believe things that are present as to say we acknowledge them By Faith then we have a kinde of possession of all those glories which we now but hope for and by Faith we may be said even to see those glories which in this life cannot be seen This is the nature of Faith which even the meanest may apprehend and if the more subtle would farther view it they may from inquisitiver eason improved by Religion know That it is an habit of the understanding whereby eternal life is begun in us