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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	believe_v	faith_n	love_n	1,510	5	5.7755	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93277	Two books of Mr Sydrach Simpson, late master of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridg; and preacher of the Gospel in London. Viz. I. Of unbelief; or the want of readiness to lay hold on the comfort given by Christ. II. Not going to Christ for life and salvation is an exceeding great sin, yet it is pardonable. In the first book is shewed (besides many other things) 1 What unbelief it is that is here spoken of ... 7 Helps to attain readiness in beleeving. In the second book is shewed, 1 That unbelief is a great sin, and exceeding provoking unto God ... 7 God hath pardoned unbelief, and wil pardon it.	Simpson, Sidrach, 1600?-1655.; Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.; Loder, John, 1625 or 6-1673.	1658 (1658)	Wing S3827; Thomason E962_1-2; ESTC R203574	187,195	298

But most plainly in 2 Cor. 4.13 The Apostle speaks to this purpose Having saith he the same Spirit of Faith according as it s written I beleeved therefore have I spoken we also beleeve and therefore speak As the Apostle saith in 1 Pet. 1.11 That whatsoever the Prophets spake the spirit spake in them It was not they that spake but the Spirit of the Father that spake in them So the Apostle gives the Reason why he did deliver that Doctrin to the Corinthians because saith he it was suggested unto me by Faith and if you ask him how he came by that Faith he saith he had it by the Spirit It was not so much the Grace of Faith as it was the spirit of Faith which made him both to beleeve and speak It is indeed we that do beleeve As the Prophets Mouth and Lips and understanding were all used by the Spirit of Prophecy But as what they spake was put into them So what we do when we do beleeve is from the Spirit of Faith Having the same Spirit of Faith We beleeve saith the Apostle and therefore speak Beleeving is our act but it s by his vertue And that I may open this more plainly to you I shal insist upon these three Particulars I. That that Faith whereby we do beleeve is not of or from our selves but we receive it II. That in that act whereunto we are inabled by God we act as little as can be but are acted We are rather Receivers then doers III. That though we do beleeve never so little yet the least degree of Faith will give us Jesus Christ and all his priviledges As many as received him had this dignity saith he to be the Sons of God though they did but receive him For the First of these I. We cannot of our selves beleeve or receive Christ Therefore Faith is said in Ephe. 2.8 To be the Gift of God Not of our selves but through Grace ye are saved through Faith and not of your selves it is the Gift of God He laies no more upon Faith but only this that it was the means of our Salvation God was the cheif and principal and efficient cause ye are saved through Faith but even That you have not of your selves In Colos 2.12 It s called the Faith of the operation of God Even as the Heavens are said to be the work of his Hands and the Firmament in Psal 19.1 That is none could do and frame so glorious a thing besides himself We are not able to add one degree unto our Faith when we have gotten it and therefore we cannot obtain of our selves the least degree before we have it It is far more easie for a man to increase a stock then to get it In Lacke Luke 17 7. to the renth 17.5 The Disciples come and Fray Lord increase our Faith Our Lord tels them by and by a Parable that a Master doth not use to bid a Servant when ho comes from the feild to sit down but to waite upon him til he hath supped and he thinks not that the Servant hath any praise due unto him because he waites for his meat and waites at home as well as abroad And he makes this Conclusion of it when you have done all you can say you are unprofitable Servants This being spoken upon their desire of the Lords increasing of their Faith it holds forth thus much that Let us use al the means that we can for the getting and the increasing of our Graces yet that is a work which we shal never do of our selves We shal not move God to any thing nor do any thing that shal be an addition to what God hath done Now if we cannot add to the least degree of Faith then much less can we get the first degree of Faith I say beloved we cannot receive Jesus Christ For there is no room in our Hearts naturally for him All the faculties and places and capacities of our Souls being taken up with sin and self and with Satan In Rom. 1.29 We are naturally said to be filled with all unrighteousness We are born into the world as ful of sin as we can hold It is true we add to sin but it is because our capacity to sin is made greater by sin but as great as it is it is filled But we are ful of sin and therefore their is no room for Jesus Christ And if their were any room in our souls fit for Jesus Christ it being undefiled yet we have no Heart unto Jesus Christ He came to his own John 1.11 John 5.40 and his own received him not Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life Yea We cannot naturally but refuse to let Jesus Christ reigne over us For naturally sin hath our affections and is unto us as our selves A second nature and nature labors to preserve its self and therefore cannot but oppose Jesus Christ For his work is to take away sin Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world There are some material preparations unto faith as they are called whereby divers things that hinder Faith are removed in some measure And these are in the power of Nature A man may be in his Natural condition and have knowledg and yet that knowledg doth remove away ignorance which is a great hindrance unto Faith A man in his Natural state may be troubled for his sin and yet that trouble for sin doth take away pleasure in sin and that pleasure in sin is a hindrance unto Faith A man while he is in his Natural Condition may be in fear of the Judgments of God and thereby have the boldness and confidence of his presumptuous spirit somwhat abated These preparations these preparations I say are in our power But for al these a man may never beleeve upon Jesus Christ he may for ever be a stranger to him These preparations are not unto Faith as degrees of heat are unto fire There is not a necessary connexion between these and beleeving for a man may have them and perish as you know Judas had Much less are they the last disposition which immediately goes before Faith and least of all are they those things which get any thing at the hand of God But that which indeed doth prepare unto Faith properly that comes from the Spirit of Faith alone And so it 's said in Acts 16.14 That the Lord opened the heart of Lydia to attend unto the things which were spoken by Paul He opened her heart that is he opened her understanding to apprehend them he opened the things themselves that she might look into them he took away the prejudices that were in her thoughts against them She had by divers waies her heart shut up against the Apostles Doctrine even as a door in a Castle is barred that it must be broken open but the Lord broke al those bars Such thoughts as these were in her self That if she should receive such Doctrines she

Chap. Vers Page 3 7 107   9 34   11 93     107   12 8,69   15 34 4 2 70 6 10 103 10 28,29 8   38 91 11 1 11 James 1 23,24 74     75 2 20 6 1 Peter 2 1,2,3 51   9 64 2 Peter 1 21 119 1 John 3 16 46   23 46     63 5 10 63     70 TO THE READER IT will be needless for me to write any thing in the Commendation of the Author of the ensuing Treatise both because in London and Cambridge and elswhere where he was conversant he was for his Godliness Learning and Abilities as wel approved of as known As also because though by Reason of above twenty years knowledg of him and twelve years constant sitting under his Ministry and private intimacy with him I could say much yet whatever I should say of him would avail but little to such as were both strangers to him and are also to my self I assure you that in these Sermons you have nothing but what I took from his own Mouth when he Preached them which I did transcribe in the Authors life time with a desire that he might perfect and fit them for the Press which I found him willing to but hindred from by his constant Ministerial work and great weakness of Body I confess that my love of the Matter in the following Treatise and the Blessing which the Lord of his goodness vouchsafed me by the same Together with the leave which the Author in his life time oft gave me to Print any of his works that I had taken from him in writing have strongly inclined me since his death to publish some of them to the World But did forbear because I knew that Sermons Preached by the most able Minister may yet need and deserve his perusall and some amendments before they be Printed Yet at last am overcome to make them as they are publick by the importunities of many that heard them preached having this Confidence that you will remember that they are but Sermons Preached and not prepared by the Author for the Press And notwithstanding that I do beleeve that if you read them seriously ponderously and with a spiritual heart whether you are Ministers or private Christians you wil find no cause of repenting of your pains but rather wil be constrained to read them again again for I ever found his Sermons wel studied and digested that the oftner I read them the more I perceived in them Give me leave only to inform you that the Author did preach above fourscore Sermons upon that Text Eph. 13. To the Praise and Glory of his Grace and upon Texts relating to and pursuing that matter of Arminianism which he hath elaborately handled both Doctrinally and practically many of the which I have wrote out and am resolved as God gives strength and time to finish the rest yet I shal altogether omit the publishing of any of them unless I understand that these find good acceptance In the mean time A Blessing of those upon your hearts is and shal be the earnest Prayers of MARK CO● TWO BOOKS OF M R SYDRACH SIMPSON Late Master of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridg And Preacher of the Gospel in London VIZ. I Of Faith Or That beleeving is receiving Christ And receiving Christ is Believing II. Of Covetousness In the First Book is shewed besides many other things 1 That Persons that are beleevers are Receivers 2 That to Receive is the Principal use of Faith 3 That nothing should hinder our Receiving 1 Not our Sins 2 Nor Gods delaies 3 Nor the smalness of our receipts 4 Nor the greatness of our Wants 4 How Faith Receives 5 That Faith Receives Christ 1 In the understanding 2 In the Will 6 The temper of a man that hath faith 7 The necessity of Faith 8 Though Faith be smal yet it makes us the Sons of God 9 The Nature of True Faith 10 There are but few that Receive Christ 11 Three sorts that come not to Christ 1 Such as Receive him not as he is 2 Such as delay their coming to him 3 Such as give not that place to Christ in their hearts that is fitting for him In the Treatise of Covetousness is shewed 1 It is the Duty of all as they would obtaine eternal Life to be ware of covetousness 2 The Reasons of the Doctrine 1 Its a spiritual Sin 2 It over spreads the whole man 3 It s opposite to the Nature of Godliness and Religion 4 It s the Womb and seed of all Sin 5 It s a base Sin 3 The Dangerousness of covetousness 1 It is hardly avoided 2 It s difficultly cured 4 You shal have all things needful for this life if you wil look after Grace 5 Your Life lies in Grace not in Riches 6 There is more to be feared than to be desired in Riches 7 We should Mortifie our desires after Riches London Printed by Peter Cole Printer and Book-Seller at the sign of the Printing-press in Corn-hill neer the Royall Exchange 1658. A TREATISE OF FAITH JOHN 1.12 To them that received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God even to them that be leeve on his Name CHAP. I. The Scope of the Text. The Phrase of Receiving Christ opened Receiving denotes 1 Passiveness 2 A meanness of condition in the Receiver 3 A taking that which before he had not 4 A taking a thing with joy and gladness of heart The Doctrine Persons that are Beleevers are Receivers and to believe is to receive This proved by three Arguments 1. Faith is the appetite of the New Creature 2. All other acts of Faith are subordinate to this of Receiving 3. Nothing is done by Faith until such time as it doth receive THese Words are an Argument to prove the Eternal God-head of esus Christ because those that do receive him are made the Sons of God and have such a dignity and preheminence or prerogative thereby as none but God can bestow My intent in this Text is only to open the phrase of receiving Christ as it is Synonimous and made all one with beleeving on him As many as received him As many as believed on his name have this power to become the Sons of God First In generall Receiving notes passiveness or being the subject of a thing As cloth doth receive a color which is put upon it and is not naturall or proper to it And as the Earth receives the seed that is put into it by the hand of the Husbandman There may be an act in receiving yet Receiving doth principally note passiveness because that act is an order of nature either after receiving or else Receiving is the complement or that unto which the same act tends As a graft being put into a stock the Stock closeth with the Graft by vertue from its self So we having the Grace of Faith infused we also do adhere and cleave unto God Or as in receiving mony

dog as I instanced before yet his meaning is that he is come for you though not in the first place yet in the second and if he gives you but crums yet he wil give you the Childrens Bread 2. Neither be discouraged in this act by the smalness of your receipt Although you have gotten but a little in the use of many ordinances many yeares For mark it If you get never so little you get by that a title to al you shal have al in Gods own time That litle is like the bunch of Grapes which interests you in al the land of promise There was a blessing left in the Berry though there was but here and there one left upon the Tree They that make often and quick returns although they get but little at a time yet they get much in the whol Lay therefore al thy gettings together I say al together consider not the returns sent in in one praier or one sermon or one ejaculation or casting your heart into Heaven but lay al together Beggars take any thing that is given them they are not chusers they will be contented with the smallest That money which is not currant with others will pass with them The smallest piece of silver you have is a kindness to them Such meat as is not of use in the family is dainties and of use with them Herein thou shalt shew thy self to be a receiver in that thou art contented to be at Gods allowance Beloved you are receivers and receivers of free Grace You have it not because you earned it but because God doth abound and is rich in good works And therefore although you have never so little you have cause to rejoyce Thou art but a receiver by faith and therefore thou hast no cause to murmur Thou hast al things of Grace and thou shalt have every thing if thou submittest unto God in every thing he doth as pleasing unto thee for him to do what he pleaseth 3. And as you have not cause to be discouraged at the smalness of your receipt So neither are you to be discouraged in your receiving by the greatness of your wants For the promise runs thus in Matth. 21.22 All things whatever ye ask in my name beleeving you shall receive If you want all things yet if you shall have whatever you shall ask then believe that there is nothing that the greatness of your wants can amount unto that should make you say within your selves that this cannot be nor that cannot be given The greater things you ask the sooner you shall have God gives blessings like himselfe The promise is indefinite And if you ask you shall receive 4. Be not discouraged in this act of faith by the greatness of your receipts For although you have received much yet look for more He gives liberally and upbraids not James 1.5 He doth not say I have given you this and that and so often and releeved you in so many wants and set you up when you have been bankrupts and set you up in the state wherein you were many a time There is this reason why the greatness of your receipts should not discourage you because the more you have received the more there is yet behind to receive I say there is more yet behind to receive To whomsoever much is given God looks for much from them Luke 12.48 He gives Grace for Grace as you heard John 1.16 If he gives much Grace he wil give more Grace in a like proportion We are ashamed to ask of them again whom we have received lately from But here you need not for God hath much to give and that which you have received is not in your own name but in the name of him that is the Lord of all even Jesus Christ God gives often that there may be a fruition and Communion between you and him He gives you but a little at a time that you may come oftner and he gives you often because you may know that whenever you come you are welcome to him Thirdly And as you ought not to be discouraged So especially I beseech you take heed of refusing what is offered to you There is nothing more opposite to receiving than refufing In Acts 13.46 47. saith the Text there They did reject put away from them the words they did judgthe mselves unworthy of eternall life Seeing you put it from you and judg your selves unworthy of eternal life That putting away is directly opposite to this receiving Whoever doth put away the gracethat Gods offers he doth by that act pass Judgment upon himself as one that is worthy to have destruction for his portion And they did put it away by contradicting blaspheming and by questioning without any kind of reasoning but meerly out of the enmity that was in their Spirits unto the Doctrine which the Apostle preached concerning free justification So much shal suffice to have spoken of the second Use CHAP. IV. By this property of Faith viz. to Receive try whether your Faith be true or no. Objections answered USE III. IF Faith be a Receiving then by that property try whether your Faith be true or not What is the Spirit of it Is it a having and a craving and a longing appetite and desire in thee that can never be satisfied and contented Faith will make a man to live upon that he hath that is to take the comfort of it But it looks after more than it hath The just shall live by Faith saith the Text in Heb. 10.38 But what is that Faith A patient waiting that when you have done the will of God in one thing you may receive the promise in another And a patient waiting upon him as one that will not tarry long Faith makes a man to wait for far greater things than it hath already received This is the property of faith Give it but one thing that is good and you must give it all As he that commits one sin and commits it but once gets thereby a disposition unto every sin So he that doth excercise true faith once upon Christ must alwaies have from Christ As persons that long must have every thing they see else they are ready to die So faith looks for all from God and from none else It takes all that comes from God and looks for all that it knows God hath to give And hence it comes to pass that if one Beleever sees another in his party-colored coat as I may cal it alluding to that of the old Testament where the beloved child was so cloathed If a Beleever sees another cloathed with Peace and Joy through beleeving It works doubting in him and questioning whether he be a child of God because he hath not received those gifts or hath not received so much from God as others have Object It may be some will say unto me here I have cause to complain for I have not received And I have reason to complain because

of my wants I want Faith and I want love and I want patience and I want beavenly mindedness And it is not a little of these things that I want neither Answ Yet know that complaining is no argument that you have not received Because our hearts are so full of injustice that they will deny that to be paid them by God which they have received But it is an argument that you have received and that you have Faith because you would have more and are unsatisfied with what you have received For Faith is a receiving Object This is my Condition saith one that I am unquiet till I get all when I have a little then if I could get but this and that I should be contented and I bow my knee before God for it and he gives it to me but when I have it I am where I was Answ I answer Although thou shouldst do well to cease murmuring when thou hast gotten any thing for a little will go far but it is best whatever thy receipts be that thou shouldst look after more The Grace and Comfort that thou hast is likely to be true because it doth enlarge thy heart and make thee still to be a receiver Learn to distinguish therefore between murmuring and coveting Covet spiritual Gifts saith the Apostle in 1 Cor. 14.1 Covet thou maist that is thou maist be as covetous after a thing that God hath as a covetous man is after any thing in the world But murmur thou maist not for murmuring supposeth all to be thy due And then whatever God should give thee thou shouldst not receive as an Alms from him and he should lose his Glory Coveting is a desiring much from God and murmuring is a repining to think that God should give to any besides thy self To shut up this Use therefore examine what thy Faith sets thy Desires after And that thou maist judgaright Consider Whether it be Gifts or Grace If it be Gifts confider whether it be gifts meerly or not or gifts that are sanctified If it be gifts meerly then it is no argument of grace nay an argument that thou shalt not receive from God in James 1.4 5 6. You ask and receive not because you would spend it on your lusts You would be counted more for them and more eminent Christians than others and to be the greater Stars and after your motions you would have all the rest to walk but God resists such proud men If so be it be after Gifts that is that thou maist have power of speech or utterance and be able to reason every Point and matter of Religion and to say somthing to every thing that may arise there is more suspition I say more suspition But if it be after Gifts that are sanctified or especially if it be after much grace thou hast the faith of adherence and thou wouldst have faith of assurance thou dost adhere somtimes but thou wouldst have no distance between thy soul and Christ at any time and at no time have a hankering of soul after relief any other way but from Christ If thou longest after Grace after Love and after more Godly Sorrow then thou hast less cause to be troubled because thou feelest thy wants and thy feeling of thy wants is but only the life of thy Faith as it is a Receiver There is one or two Uses more of the Point which I shal make and so shut up the Point CHAP. V. Use 4. Then Beleevers ought to behave themselves as Receivers And that in these Particulars 1. In waiting continually upon Means and Ordinances 2. In being humble whatever they do receive 3. In being communicative Use 5. Consolation to all that have Faith USE IV. IF Faith be a Receiving Then Beleevers ought to carry themselves as Receivers I shall Instance in Three Particulars First Wait continually upon the Means and Ordinances Jesus Christ is to be found among the Doctors that I may allude unto that story of him The Ordinances may be called the highway wherin Jesus Christ comes that so he may cure the blind and the lame If you look into Eph. 4.8.11 you shall find the Apostle saith That the gifts which Jesus Christ hath received for men he gives to them by Pastors and Teachers and the work of the Ministry And if you compare the 20. verse with the verses that follow after the Apostle cleerly saith that that man doth not walk like a Saint nor worthy of his calling who doth not attend unto the Ordinances He doth not carry himself like himself Eph. 4.1 I beseech you walk worthy of your calling wherewith ye are called and then he comes and tels them that God hath appointed the Ministers to bring them together And when they are together to fil them with gifts according to that measure that Jesus Christ hath received of his Father for them As faith doth at first come by hearing so it is nourished by hearing and other Ordinances A Beleever is not one that lives immediatly upon God but upon God by means Rom. 10.17 For to live upon God immediately is the life of sight and not of faith It 's as directly opposite unto a life of faith to neglect Ordinances as faith and sight are opposite And therefore you shal find that by the word and ordinances faith is wrought in men in the daies of the new Testament though the spirit be given abundantly The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation as it is preached Rom. 1.16 It is the immortall seed whereby men are regenerated and begotten again as the Apostle Peter speaks 1 Pet. 1.23 As in the times of the old Testament the word and the spirit went together And so it doth still And that Covenant is established for ever How can they beleeve saith the Apostle therefore in Rom. 10.14 except they have heard and how can they hear whithout a preacher There are none more greedy of Ordinances than those that have had their Faith by them or that have received which is the phrase here in the Text the fulness of Jesus Christ by them As soon as ever men have been converted though their faith have been exceeding weak yet then they have put themselves upon the use of the Ordinances as I might shew you out of John 4. and Acts 2 and divers other places In Rom. 11. when the Apostle would set down the rejection of the Jews and that they should receive no more he sets them down as being barred and shut out from the use of the Ordinances which God gave to his people If Faith be a Receiving then he continually attending upon the Means and Ordinances because by them Jesus Christ doth convey his fulness Secondly Whatever you do receive be humble in 1 Cor. 4.7 What hast thou which thou hast not received and if thou hast received it why dost thou boast If what thou hast attained unto were either of thy self or given thee for what thou hast done thou mightst then glory as

go By and by it resolves it must not go that is no way for it to take It is but presumption and carnal confidence A double minded man as unto principles cannot be a Beleever But in the act or exercise of a Grace especially of Faith the Soul is of several minds until the Lord comes to overcome and mightily to subdue by the power of his Grace all the imaginations that are in our hearts against him That is one thing therefore to prove that there is as little of us as can be in the act of Faith But Secondly The Nature of Faith it self wil cleer it Faith as you have heard hath its acts in the Understanding and its Acts in the Will But now as it is in the Understanding the Light of Faith is barely Gods Testimony The things themselves promised being left obscure and in the dark as unto their own Nature that is a man doth beleeve the things of the greatest consequence and concernment to his Soul only because God saith they are thus and thus and he know not God being but a stranger to him For as Naturally our Understanding pierceth and searcheth into the causes of things themselves and will not be contented to know with the light of another but with the light of the things In Prov. 3.5 Faith goes another way Trust unto the Lord and cleave not to thy own Vnderstanding In 2 Cor. 10.5 Every thought and imagination must be captivated unto the obedience of Jesus Christ or the obedience of Faith It is not an assent from the evidence of the things themselves but from the report of another As a man beleeves there is such a place as Paradice or such a City as Rome though he never saw it only because of report So that look upon Faith as it is in the Understanding and it is a most irrational thing and it hath as little of man in it as can be Let me explain my self thus There are but Two Heads of all Knowledg One is called an Artificial Argument which ariseth from the Natures of things themselves And another comes from the report of others As one beleeves there is such a place as Jerusalem though he never did see it Now for a man to beleeve because another saith it is to see with his eyes and to beleeve upon his knowledg And this is the way that Faith goes It denies a man of his own Reason and bids a man take al things upon the report of the Lord even in the things of his great Salvation 2 Look upon Faith as it is an act of the Will and what is it but a resting Let him stay himself upon his God and upon the Lord Esa 50.10 11. And what doth it but only put out the sparks of his own kindling A man must be in the dark before he can do any of these acts Who is it that fears the Lord and obeys the voyce of his Servant that is in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and STAY himself upon his God But he that kindles a fire and compasseth himself about with the sparks of it shall lie down in sorrow The Will hath divers acts and motions but faith ceaseth all and putteth an end to all the motions of the Soul and all the courses which the Soul did take for its good naturally it ceaseth from what it did naturally for its own good and gives them a Quietus est and dischargeth them from all their labor and only leaves the Soul with God in Christ and lets God do all And hence it is beloved that there is so great a venture in Faith Like the Lepers that knew not what would become of them only they knew that death would be if they stayed in the City and it might be if they went down into the Camp they might have some relief but they could find but death Or as it is said of Abraham That he obeyed the Lord not knowing whither he went So doth a man in beleeving Or as it is said in Joel Repent for none knows but the Lord may return and leave a blessing behind him So because God commands therefore the Soul goes upon these terms though it knows no certainty Yea therefore hath Faith little of us because a Beleever knows not the time of his first conversion He doth beleeve and knows not that he doth beleeve Were there much of us in that act it could not be but we should know when we do it As we know when we eat and drink because they are natural acts But we beleeve and know not that we do beleeve Yea often times because we do so little we are afraid we have no Faith Because we take Faith at the least-wise to be such an imployment action of ours as should make us to be abundant and forward and singular in whatever we do But that is a Second Demonstration That God doth by Faith take as little hold of us as may be and useth our Understanding and Will as little as may be Thirdly Let me add a Third and that is that of the Apostle in 1 Cor. 1.26 Not many mighty and not many wise nor chosen You would sometimes wonder to see what poor and weak parted men Beleevers are Faith requires no great parts The things that are not as the Apostle saith in the same Chapter verse 28. those are the things that God hath chosen Somtimes I have seen a man of no great imployment in the World and yet deeply insighted into the things of Christ Fourthly As the last Demonstration of it You shal find that the Saints are sensible of a power working in them and constraining them to go to Jesus Christ That even as a man that is under the power of Satan though that reason be against his Lusts yet still he is put on and egged to the committing of them It 's a sign there is somwhat more than Natural corruption in him because according unto the Motion of Nature these contrary reasons would allay his desire and hinder his acts There is a spirit of the Devil that blows up that lust puts on to that course again And Beloved Because we find that when we would not beleeve and sit down resolutely in our selves and say we wil not beleeve and it is not for us to look for any thing but sorrow and that is all we shall have at Gods hand yet notwithstanding that we find somthing within us bids us look towards the Lord and to go unto him and not to take our own words and not to think it shall be with us as we think Whence can this come but from the Spirit of Faith It is not from Grace only but from that hand that acts it That shall suffice for the Second thing That Faith is not that which we have of our selves so when God enables us to beleeve he takes as little concurrence with that Grace of his as possibly may be CHAP. XVI Though