it is not to Assent to the Notional maters or things that belong to our peace Now this dissent from the things that belong unto our peace implies sundrie Gradations or Ascents which tend much to the Explication of Vnbelief 1. Not to know or assent to the sacred Notions of our peace is to reject them This was the case of Jerusalem she rejects al Christs gracious offers of peace she wil not so much as lend an ear to them Thus also it was with those obstinate Unbelievers mentioned Prov. 1. 30. They would none of my Counsel they dâ—spised al my Reproof To reject the counsel of Christ and to despise his Reproof is the height of Dissent and Disbelief So Jerem. 8. 9. Lo they have rejected the Word of the Lord and what wisdome is in them The Rejection of Gods Word is the highest degree of Ignorance and Unbelief The like Hos 4. 6. Because thou hast rejected knowlege I wil also reject thee This Rejection of the Word of God is a kind of total Infidelitie yea such a Dissent as implies an aversion in the mind from the sacred Notions of its peace Wherefore it denotes the dregs of Unbelief and a mind principled with enmitie against divine Truths For Truth is the most beautiful thing that is and of al Truths Divine are the fairest Now then to reject such argues a mind very much debauched and distempered by sin 2. Not to know the sacred Notions of our peace is not to give diligent Attention to them Many Evangelic Unbelievers dare not openly reject the things that belong to their peace but yet they do not attend with diligence unto them The first step of saving Faith is diligently to attend to the Reports of the Gospel to bow the ear to divine Truths as Pro. 5. 1. My Son attend unto my wisdome and bow thine ear to my understanding This Attention and bowing the ear to Divine Truths is the first step to the obedience of Faith Whence by Consequence not to attend or listen with diligence to the Reports of the Gospel takes in much of Unbelief This also was the case of many unbelieving Jews they did not attend to Christs Evangelic offers of peace Thus Psal 81. 13. O that my people had hearkened unto me c. i. e given diligent Attention to my Word Attention is the Contention of the soul to understand and that which drawes it forth is the admirable Greatnes Sweetnes and Suitablenes of Reports Unbelievers want an inward sense of the wonderful greatnesse suavitie and fitnesse of Evangelic gladtidings and therefore no wonder that they attend not to them 3. Men know not the things that belong to their peace when they yield not a discrete explicite Assent thereto True saving Faith implies an expresse judicious Assent it carries with it the highest and purest Reason yea the flour and Elixir of Reason What more rational than to assent to the First supreme Truth Truth it self Surely Believers are no fools they know who it is they believe and for what So Paul 2. Tim. 1. 12. I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him Paul was not ashamed of his sufferings because he knew whom he had believed he did not content himself with a Popish implicite faith but understood wel the object and reasons of his Faith Alas what is implicite Faith but implicite Unbelief Can he that understands not the Propositions he assents to rationally believe the same Is this to believe to understand nothing of what we believe Doth not this implicite faith destroy the very formal Nature of true faith What! may we suppose that Divine faith consists in ignorance If we pin our Faith only on the Churches sleeve without ever understanding what we believe is not our faith worse than that of Devils who know what they believe and therefore tremble Yea doth not this Implicite faith strip us not only of our Christianitie but also of our Humanitie For is not every rational Being so far a Debtor to truth as to examine wel the reasons and grounds of his Assent Yea doth not this implicite Popish faith carrie in it much of Atheisme and Blasphemie For to believe only as the Church believes without examining the Articles or Motives of our faith what is it but to make the Church our infallible God and our selves but mere Brutes divested of reason So that can there be any thing more destructive to the Notion and Nature of true faith than such an Implicite faith And yet alas how commun is it among a great number of Christians How many are there who pretend to be Believers and yet understand little or nothing of the main Articles or grounds of their faith It stands on sacred Record as a noble character of the Bereans Act. 17. 11. That they searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so Hence surely we may conclude that an implicite faith is no better than virtual Unbelief 4. Not to know the things that belong unto our peace is not to give a supernatural Divine Assent to them The things that belong unto our peace are supernatural and divine and therefore they cannot be truely apprehended by a Natural Human Assent To yield a natural human Assent to things Supernatural and Divine is no better than real Dissent Now men yield not a supernatural Divine Assent to the things that belong to their peace 1. When the principal Grounds Formal Reasons and proper Motives of their Assent are only natural and human i e when mens assent is grounded only on some human Autoritie or Argument Al faith is by so much the more firme by how much the more firme and infallible the Autoritie of him that reports the mater is If the Autoritie be only human the Assent can be but human and so fallible the Assent to the Conclusion being founded on the strength of the Premisses as the edifice is on the foundation Now the strength of a Testimonie consists in the Autoritie of him that testifies For such as the principal ground and Foundation of the Assent is such wil the Assent be and if there be any defect or imperfection in the Foundation of our Assent the same wil diffuse it self throughout the whole If Church-tradition or human Argument be the only or main ground of our Assent it can never be supernatural and divine as before 2. Men yield not a supernatural Divine Assent to the Gospel when the productive Principle or Efficient of their Assent is not Supernatural and Divine i. e when their Assent is not infused by the Spirit of God A natural Facultie can never of itself produce a supernatural Assent And the reason is most evident even from the commun nature of al Assent which requires some Adequation or Agreament betwixt the Object and the Facultie Now what proportion is there betwixt a natural mind and supernatural Truths Are
ye of doutful minds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let not your Minds hang as Meteors in the Air ful of suspense about future supplies be not of an anxious thoughtful Mind Let not your thoughts be distracted and as it were racked with carking cares The word signifies such an Anxietie as fluctuates 'twixt hope and fear Such is the suspicious anxious temper of Unbelief as to Providential maters of the Covenant 3. The last branch of the Covenant concernes maters of coming Glorie wherein also Unbelief may be said Not to know the things that belong unto our peace The chief concernes of our peace are those invisible Glories of the other world Al our present spiritual Suavities and Delices are but dreams in comparison of that formal Beatitude in the Beatifiâ— Vision of God face to face Alas how far short is our present vision of God in Evangelic Shadows and Reports of that immediate Intuition of God as he is 1 Joh. 3. 2 3 Whence the main worke of a Believer here is to live by faith in the daily contemplation and expectation of that approching Glorie For the more we eye our home the more industrious lively and pressing wil we be in our journey thither Faith maketh things absent present So Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which gives a substantial Essence an actual Existence a solid Basis or Foundation the First-fruits yea a real presence to those Good things hoped for of the other world So much is wrapped up in that Notion Then it follows The Evidence of things not seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Argument the Demonstration the Meridian Light the legal conviction the spiritual eye whereby invisible Glories are made Visible Such is the miraculous efficace of faith as to approching Glorie such a clear real fixed sight of Heaven has it here on earth Ay but now Unbelief draws a veil on al these invisible Glories and makes them to disappear what fantastic dreams what carnal and grosse Notions what base and unworthy thoughts has it of future rest How studious is Unbelief to obliterate and rase out the Idea of Eternitie fixed in the heart How apt is it yea industrious to remove far from conscience the second coming of Christ and ensuing Jugement How fain would it build Maâ—sions here and take up with something short of God Oh! how little doth Unbelief regard those Mansions of Glorie which Christ is preparing John 14. 1 2 How seldome or never doth it take a view with Moses on mount Pisgah of the celestial Canaan the new Jerusalem where is the Lambs Throne Yea what low cheap undervaluing thoughts hath Unbelief of that promissed Land Thus it is said of the unbelieving Jews Psal 106. 24. Yea they despised the pleasant Land or the Land of desire and believed not his word This pleasant land Canaan was a type of Heaven and in despising it they despised Heaven and al this lay wrapt up in the bowels of their Unbelief They did not yield a real supernatural firme certain practic Assent to the word of promisse touching Canaan and therefore they despised it and not only that but also the celestial Canaan which made God swear in his wrath against them that they should not enter in Heb. 3. 11. So much for the Material Notions both general and particular which Unbelief is ignorant of 2. I shal treat a little of the formal Object of Faith and how far Unbelief is defective therein The formal Object of Faith as it comes under the Notion of Assent is the Divine Veracitie or Autoriâ—ie of God appendent to his Word For look as in the Workes of God there are certain Divine Characters Ideas Impresses or Notices of Gods Wisdome Power and Goodnesse which a spiritual heart contemplates and admires so likewise in the Words of God there are certain Stampes and Ideas of the Veracitie and Autoriâ—ie of God which the Believer contemplates and assents unto as the formal object of his faith Thus 1 Thes 2. 13. Because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the Word of God Not as the word of men As here notes a Reduplication i. e the formal reason proper motive or principal ground of their assent to Gods Word was not any Human Autoritie but the Divine Autoritie or Veracitie of God And here lies the main specific essential Difference betwixt divine and human faith Divine faith receives the Word of God as the Word of God under that Reduplication i. e as it is clothed with Divine Autoritie but human faith receives the Word of God as the word of men i e as clothed with some human Autoritie Church-Tradition or the like commun Motives Now this human faith as to the Word of God is no other than real unbelief For he that believeth the Word of God only as commended to him by the Church doth really disbelieve the same It is not the Objects believed but the formal Reason of our belief that distinguisheth a Divine from a human faith He that assents to divine Truths merely on human Grounds or Reasons can have but an human faith which is real unbelief as he that assents to natural Truths reveled in the Word of God as reveled and clothed with Divine Autoritie has a Divine faith So that albeit the mind assentes to the whole Word of God yet if the principal ground or formal reason of its assent be not Divine Autoritie its Faith is but real Unbelief And here lies a main plague of Unbelievers its possible they do assent to the whole Word of God ay but yet they see not those sacred Characters those Divine stampes of Gods Autoritie and Truth which are appendent to his Word the chief ground of their belief is only some human Tradition or Autoritie Such was the Faith of those Samaritans John 4. 40. who believed merely for the saying of the woman c. whereas afterward ver 41. Many more believed because of his own word This is a Divine faith there was a sound of Heaven in Christs own voice a little Image or Stampe of Divine Majestie which the believing Samaritans could discerne O! Remember this If the Autoritie of God be not the chief bottome of your Assent your faith is but Vnbelief So much for the Notional object both Material and Formal of Unbelief CHAP. IV. An Explication of Unbelief as it opposeth or is defective in the first Act of faith namely Assent to the good things that belong to our peace WE now procede to the Act of Unbelief comprised in that Notion If thou hadst known This knowlege must be commensurate to or as large as its Object which as we have shewn is either Notional or Real As it refers to its Notional object so its termed Assent as to its Real object so Consent We shal begin with the first namely What
and tempests of legal fear doth unbelief raise in the soul whereby it is indisposed and hindered from any effectual endeavors and preparations for that day And oh how commun is this piece of Infidelitie Did not our great Lord foretel that it should be the main sin of these last days Luke 18. 8. Yea is it not foretold Mat. 25. 4. That the wise Virgins as wel as the foolish should in these last days be overtaken with spiritual slumber and removing far from them the coming of their Lord But oh what a dead sleep are the foolish Virgins under who mind not at al the coming of Christ And whence comes the Sensualitie and Luxurie of secure sinners but from this great piece of Infidelitie in not waiting for Christs coming as Mat. 24. 36-39 What makes many knowing Professors so formal dead-hearted loitering and lazy in al the great duties and services of Christianitie but their not expecting this great day Fiducial expectation of Christs coming makes Christians active and vigorous in al gracious exercices as we find it exemplified in Paul 2 Cor. 5. 9. Phil. 3. 12 13. Again whence springeth the excesse of unlawful passions and the prevâ—lence of domineering lusts but from unbelief as to Christs second coming Lively apprehensions and expectations of this glorious day are most efficacious to kil lusts and remove tentations as 2 Pet. 3. 10 11. How comes it to passe that men are so carelesse and regardlesse of a good conscience but from want of such lively expectations of Christs coming What made Paul so exact in keeping a good conscience but his faith in eying this great day as Act. 24. 15 16 How little do men mind affect or do any thing as they ought so long as they put far from them the coming of their Lord Doth not the peace comfort grace strength beautie and flourishing of a Christian depend on this piece of faith Doth it not argue a desperate hard unbelieving heart not to regard this day Do not such Professors as neglect this piece of Faith live below their principles and profession So much for the nature of Infidelitie CHAP. VIII Doctrinal Corollaries deduced from the precedent Idea's and Notions of Infidelitie HAving dispatchâ— the formal Idea or Nature of Vnbelief before we passe on to the remaining Questions it wil be not a little Vseful that we make some Improvements of what hath been laid down both by Corollaries and more practic Vses As for Corollaries various great truths may be deduced from the precedent Explication of Infidelitie As 1. That awakened Sinners may procede very far in Assent and Consent to the things that belong unto their peace and yet remain Infidels or Vnbelievers This Corollarie doth naturally flow from the former description of Unbelief and we need go no further for the exemplification hereof than those unbelieving Jews over whom our Lord here weeps and laments Alas how far did many of these awakened Jews procede in their Assent and Consent to Christ as their long-waited-for Messias Do they not immediately before v. 37 38. solemnely recognise him as their crowned King Oh! what joyous Hosanna's and Psalmes of Praise do they sing unto him as John 12. 13 14 15. which refers hereto And doth not this argue a great conviction in their consciences as also some faint and languid inclination in their wils towards him And yet Lo our blessed Lord weeps over them as those who knew not the things that did belong unto their peace Oh! What a soul-astonishing consideration is this to consider how far many poor awakend sinners have gone in owning Christ and yet at last have been disowned by him How many self-deluding souls assent to Christ in their jugements and yet consent to lust in their hearts If we make some brief reflexion on the forementioned particulars of faith what a strange concurrence shal we find to make good this Corollarie 1. Did not the unbelieving Jews of old as a world of false Professors now assent unto the Scriptures as the Oracles of God wherein al the good things of their peace were loged and yet never arrived unto a real particular fixed evangelic prevalent and vigorous credence thereof How many assent to the things which belong to their peace in notion but yet dissent in heart and practice Do not too many assent to the pleasing and sweet offers of the Gospel but yet dissent from the displeasing and self-crucifying duties thereof Oh! how far have many convinced Sinners gone in Attention to and Reception of the things of their peace What great and amazing Conceptions have they had thereof Yea how much have they approved of things most excellent Yea what strong legal assent have they yielded unto the terrors of the Law Yea have not some been as it were ravisht with joy in their contemplations of approching glories Yea and have not these convictions wrought their hearts to a great mesure of alienation and a version from sensible goods as also closing with the good things that belong to their peace And yet al this while what strangers have they been to a saving assent to the things that belong to their peace Have they not given a mere natural human Assent to supernatural Divine truths It s true they have received the Word of God but was it not as the word of men as clothed with some human Autoritie or excellence Oh! how many have their consciences awakened by the Word who yet never subject their Consciences to it How many receive the word of Faith and yet mixe not faith with the word they receive Alas what a dismal contemplation is it to consider how far many awakened Professors have gone in a professed and partial assent to the things that belong to their peace and yet al the while really dissented from them 2. May not also convinced sinners procede very far in their Consent to the good things that belong unto their peace and yet remain Infidels Did not many of these unbelieving Jews whom our Lord here weeps over approve of and consent to him as their crowned King and Messias and yet how soon do they spit in his face and bid defiance to him Is it not said John 2. 23 24. that many believed in the name of Jesus whom yet he did not believe or confide in They commit themselves to him but he dares not commit himself to them knowing them to be rotten-hearted Alas how many seem willing to take Christ hereafter provided they may for the present solace themselves some while in their lusts And do not al such demurs delays and Wils for hereafter argue a present Nil or unwillingnesse to embrace Christ as Luke 9. 59 61 Yea are not many terrified Wils under the stings and gals of conscience oft inclined to a present and speedy closure with Christ who yet never arrive to a saving election of him Oh! how many are there who elect a compound Christ or a single Christ with a compound
and Unbelievers are there who walk up and down under the masque and vizard of Believers Surely if al these pretended fancied faiths are real unbelief there can be no middle betwixt Faith and Unbelief and then how many great Professors wil fal under the black character of Unbelievers albeit they may now passe for good Believers 4. Hence also we learne That solid saving Faith is most rare and difficult but commun faith most cheap and easie It s no difficult mater in these knowing times to gain the Notion of Faith but oh how difficult is it to attain unto the thing faith A general implicite Assent to the things that belong unto our peace is very commun but oh how rare is it to meet with a particular explicite real Assent to the things of our peace formally considered Do not the most of Professors yield only a human natural or traditional Assent to Divine supernatural Truths and Mysteries Multitudes now adays receive the Word of God but how is it not as the word of men i. e as clothed with human Autoritie or the evidence of reason not as the Word of God 1 Thes 2. 13 A confused suspense reeling assent to evangelic Doctrines is very commun but is not a distinct fixed deep welgrounded assent as rare Oh! how superficial and feeble is most mens assent to the good things of their peace Or if some awakened consciences arise higher to a more complete and deep assent yet alas how legal is their assent even to evangelic Truths How hard is it even for true Believers much more for those who have only commun faith to see sin as sin and not to fal under a legal spirit of Bondage To assent to the truths of the Gospel when Conscience is fired with the terrors of the Law is no great pain but oh how painful a thing is it to assent to Gospel truths from an inward feeling apprehension of their own worth and excellence To assent to the Doctrines of the Gospel is commun but is it not as commun to dissent from the duties of the Gospel which in divine estimation is but a dead faith How few have impressions suitable to their faith How few are there among the croud of Believers who have an admiring assent an high estime and right valuation of the good things that belong unto their peace It is indeed very facile to yield a barren lazy dead assent to Evangelic Notions but oh how difficult is it to arrive unto a fruitful vigorous lively efficacious practic assent such as may forme and transforme the heart into the very image of those good things we assent unto So also for Consent it is very commun and easie for convinced sinners to be induced to make some indeliberate involuntary partial imperfect election of Christ and other good things that belong to their peace but oh how rare and difficult is it to attain unto a chearful speedy complete and fixed closure with Christ on his own termes as offered in the Gospel Is it not commun with many to adhere to Christ in Profession but to lust in Affection How many commun Believers give Christ good words but give their hearts to some Idol-lover Do not too many also pretend subjection to Christ and his soverain pleasure but really intend subjection to no other Lord than their own Lusts How many seem to depend wholly on Christ for Grace who yet secretly lean on their own understandings and good wils O that men would believe what a difficult thing it is to believe aright Alas how violent is the motion of Faith How much against corrupt nature are the supernatural acts of Faith Was there ever a greater miracle under Heaven excepting the Incarnation of the Son of God than the working of faith in an unbelieving heart Is not every saving faith a standing Miracle Oh! what a contradiction is it to carnal wisdome and corrupt Nature to assent and consent to the imputed righteousnesse of Christ What a painful thing is it to carnal hearts to part with right eyes and right hands every beloved lust for Christ How many thousand ways are there to Unbelief or commun faith but oh how narrow yea indivisible is the way to saving faith Commun faith growes among roses but Saving faith among thoâ—es What a grand deceit therefore is it to conceit Saving faith easie and commun Certainly he never yet believed aright that has not in some mesure had experience What a difficult thing it is to believe aright 5. Hence likewise we may conclude That Believers themselves have many Reliques and Remains of Vnbelief in them Alas how much darknesse is there mixed with their Notions of the good things that belong to their peace How much dissent is there in their assent to Evangelic truths It s true they dare not when they are themselves reject the good things of their peace ay but do they not too oft neglect and undervalue the same Are their Apprehensions and Impressions suitable to the worth of those objects they believe How then comes it to passe that on the interposure of some tentation they turne aside to lying Vanities Are not Believers themselves oft very confused and instable in their assent to evangelic Mysteries Yea have they not sometimes many prevalent suspensions hesitations and douts touching the sacred Scriptures and their Divine Autoritie How oft have many sincere Believers been violently assaulted with Atheistic thoughts that there is no God What a sealed Book and dark saying is the whole Gospel to many afflicted Consciences in times of Desertion In times of distresse how oft doth their Faith question the realitie of the Promisses What 's the reason why many true Believers are so much shaken in some difficult cases but because they do not bottome their Souls on the immutable faithfulnesse of God in his Promisses Are not the gracious offers of the Covenant most rich abundant and free How then comes it to passe that Believers are so poor and low in Grace Is it not from their want of Faith to draw out that fulnesse that is contained in and offered by the Covenant Have not Believers Gods immutable Word Oath and Fidelitie to confirme his Covenant And yet lo How backward are they to trust him in any straits How frequently do Believers stagger in their adherence unto Christ How much are they off and on up and down fast and loose with Christ How little are they acquainted with the applicatorie appropriating Acts of Faith What great things might Believers receive from Christ had they but a great faith to expect and receive them How seldome are the most of Believers in realising believing views of approching Glories What obscure and strained notions have they of Eternitie Had we eternitie in our eye and heart how would the view thereof darken the glorie of this lower world Did Believers eye much their home how vigilant active and vigorous would they be in their way thither Life and death are the same thing