THE Life of Faith IN TWO SERMONS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD At S t. Mary's Church there On the 6 th of January 1683 4. and June the 29 th following By John Wallis D. D. One of His Majesty's Chaplains in Ordinary and Professor of Geometry in the University of Oxford LONDON Printed by James Rawlins for Thomas Parkhurst And are to be sold by Amos Curteine Bookseller in Oxford 1684. THE Life of Faith Hebr. 10.38 But the Just shall Live by Faith LIfe is that of which we are all Fond. And on the contrary Death is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which of all we most dread Skin for Skin and all that a man hath will he give for his Life Insomuch that Life is commonly put for Happiness and Death for Misery Behold I have set before you saith Moses Life and Good Death and Evil And again I have set before you Life and Death Blessing and Cursing Therefore choose Life that thou and thy seed may live That is That you may be blessed And Jeremy much to the same purpose but more literally Behold I set before you the way of Life and the way of Death And when God at first threatened In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dy the Death That which we commonly call Death though it were a part was but a small part of that threatening The whole of it was That he should be miserable And though he did not Dy the same day as to what we commonly call Death yet he did that day become miserable And so had He and all His continued to be if God had not found out a way to restore us from that Death to a Life of Happiness And what that is the Text tells us The Just shall live by Faith True it is that Death in the proper sense is a great Evil and it was so intended by God when he did at first threaten it as a part of that misery which was to follow upon Sin And even the Death of a Friend as well as our Own may justly be looked upon as a great Affliction But thus to Dy is a much less Evil than as the Apostle speaks to be Dead while we Live And it is an Allay to our Sorrow as well in reference to our own Death as to that of those we Love That he who Believeth in the Lord though he be Dead yet shall he Live And who soever liveth and believeth in him shall never Dy. You easily apprehend that when Christ saith He shall never Dy he did not mean it of a natural Death For thus It is appointed to all men once to Dy But thus rather He that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second Death hath no power Or if that expression may seem to be of a doubtfull sense as being involved in the obscure phrase of a mystical Prophesy yet that at least is plain That If we live after the Flesh we shall Dy but if through the Spirit we mortifie the deeds of the Body we shall Live For to be Carnally minded is Death but to be Spiritually minded is Life and Peace And this is the Life which the Text speaks of Which is Begun is Grace and Perfected in Glory And such a Life is that which the Just shall Live by Faith God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that who so ever Believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life That is That he should be eternally Happy He that Believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life and he that Believeth not the Son hath not Life but the Wrath of God abideth on him For the Just shall Live by Faith But if any man draw-back my Soul saith God shall have no pleasure in him The first place where we meet with this The Just shall Live by Faith is in Habak 2.4 And we have it cited as a saying very considerable three times in the New Testament Rom. 1.17 Gal. 3.11 and here Hebr. 10.38 And in all the Four places we have the words just in the same order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justus ex Fide vivet that of Faith standing in the middle of the other two words and capable of being referred to either The Just by Faith shall Live And may therefore be indifferently read The Just by Faith or By Faith shall live Justus ex Fide or ex Fide vivet Nor need we be much solicitous whether of the ways we read it For it may well enough have an aspect both ways But though in all these places the words ly in the same Order yet with a different Emphasis according as the Context and the Scope of the place direct In the first place the Emphasis seems to ly upon the word Just or Righteous as contradistinguished from those who are otherwise His Soul that is lifted up is not upright in him and consequently not pleasing to God But the Just shall live by Faith Where he shews the advantage that the Just or Righteous have as to the case there spoken of before those who are not so those who 's heart is lifted up or standeth out and refuseth to submit it self to God and Trust in him And to the same purpose in the place before us where we have a like opposition or contradistinction between the Just or Faithful and those who are not so The Just shall live by Faith But if any man draw-back saith God my Soul shall have no pleasure in him Where we have as in the other place a Promise to the Just and Faithful but with a direct exclusion of those who are otherwise who draw-back or Revolt from him or stand-out against him or believe not in him Which come much to the same pass And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a like sense in divers places of the New Testament is by Interpreters indifferently expressed by Disobedience or Vnbelief And this place in the Epistle to the Hebrews though it may in some words seem to differ from that in Habakkuk yet is by Expositors generally supposed to have a particular respect thereunto Nor need we as some would perswade us to change the reading of the Hebrew Text to make it agree with the Greek but it might well enough be so rendered as the Greek hath it though the Hebrew were then so read as now it is As is well shewed by a learned Writer of our own in his Notes upon Maimonides's Porta Mosis So that how comfortable so ever the Text may be or the Promise therein made to those that are truly Righteous and Believe in Christ It affords small comfort to those that are Wicked and Unbelievers who while they so continue are quite debarred from it Much like to the Pillar of the Cloud which was between the Israelites and Egyptians It gave light to the one but to the other was a Cloud and Darkness Or without such
by Faith And even by the same Faith to which he doth there exhort the Christian Hebrews It was the same Christ the same Gospel though not so clearly reveiled and the same Eternal Life which they expected though they were more in the dark as to the particulars and the distinct ways and methodes of bringing it to pass And as the first Threatening In the day that thou Eatest thereof thou shalt surely Dy extended to Spiritual and Eternal Death as well as the Natural For we are not to suppose that God Inflicts a greater Punishment than what he threatened So the Life there Promised by way of Insinuation and elsewhere Expressed He that doth them shall Live in them must be understood in a like sense not of Temporal Promises onely but of Spiritual and Eternal And the Apostle expounds it if the same Life or what is equivalent to be obtained by the first Covenant upon condition of Obedience and by the second Covenant by Faith in Christ. That no man is Justified by the Law in the sight of God is evident For the Just shall live by Faith And the Law is not of Faith but the Man that Doth them shall live in them The same Life or Blessedness though by different ways attainable And the Apostle here shews That it is the same Faith by which We beleeve to the saving of our Souls and by which the Elders obtained a good Report And by Faith Abraham with Isaac and Jacob Heirs with him of the same promise Sojourned in the Promised Land as in a strange Countrey of which though promised to them they had no other Enjoyment than mere Strangers For he looked for a City who 's Builder and Maker was God another kind of City than those on Earth All these Died in Faith not having Received the Promises which were therefore such as were to be enjoyed after Death but seeing them afar off and were perswaded of them and Embraced them and confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims upon Earth this being not the Countrey they sought for For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Countrey such a Countrey as yet they had not And truly if they had been mindful of such a Countrey as that from whence they came they might have had opportunity to have returned But now 't is manifest they desire a Better Countrey that is an Heavenly Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called Their God the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob For he hath prepared a City for them By all which the Apostle doth not only Declare that they expected an Heavenly Happiness but Argues strongly That it must needs be so And by Faith Moses he tells us Esteemed the Reproches of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt For he had respect to the Recompense of Reward as Seeing him that is Invisible Others were Tortured not accepting Deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection Others had Tryal of or did undergo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expertisunt Cruel Mockings of Bonds and Imprisonment Were Stoned were Sawn asunder were Slayn with the Sword c. And all these having obtained a good Report through Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 received not the Promise their Faith was exercised on better Promises than of what they here received God having provided for them Better things that they without us should not be perfect the Promises to them and those to us being the same Again As this Duty and Privilege of Living by Faith extended Backwards to the times before Christ So it extends Wider than the Nation of the Jews A Blessing which the Gentiles are particularly concerned in and which we this day celebrate The Epiphany or the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles For the Blessing of Abraham is come upon the Gentiles also through Jesus Christ that We might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith And the Scripture foreseeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that God would Justify the Heathen through Faith preached before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did before hand preach the Gospell to Abraham saying In thee that all Nations be blessed So then they which are of Faith the same are the Children of Abraham They which be of Faith are Blessed with faithfull Abraham And are therefore of the number of those as there it follows who shall Live by Faith Now if it be asked What it is thus to Live by Faith It is too large a Task for one Sermon to give a full account of it For allmost the whole Bible and the Practise of the Saints in all Ages are but a Comment on it I shall therefore content my self to give a short account of some of the chief Heads thereof To Live by Faith therefore is First to Beleeve the Word of God to give Credit to the Truthes of God or things by him declared how unlikely soever they may seem to be and however different from the common Sentiments of Natural men or what the Light of Nature alone could teach us For though there be nothing in Divine Truths Contrary to what the Light of Nature truly understood may teach us Yet there may be some things much above it which without Revelation cannot be known Thus By Faith we Beleeve That the Worlds were made by the Word of God that things that are now seen were made not of things that do appear That is that the now visible World was not made up of such things as we now see or that there was no praeexisting Matter such as we now see of which it was made but was indeed made of Nothing Which however contrary to the sentiments of Philosophers Ex nihilo nihil in nihilum nil posse reverti That nothing can be made out of Nothing Yet when God hath told us that it is so we are to give full credit to it There is indeed nothing from the Light of Nature Contrary hereunto why we should Disbeleeve it when it is Reveiled But yet we are sayd to know it by Faith because it is Above what Nature alone could have taught For when we see this glorious Fabrick of the World we might well admire it but could never know whence it was if God had not told us For though Naturalists have with a great deal of Reason talked of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Causa prima a Common Maker or First Cause which should give Original to all things else Yet this was but either from some faint Remains of an ancient Tradition from Adam and Noah downward to after Ages Or atmost be Conjectural and Groping in the dark and Guessing at this as a more likely Supposition than That it had Allways been or should take its beginning from a Fortuitous Concurse of Atomes Which yet the Wits of this Age as they would be thought or the Fools rather would now cry-up as
for us whereby we are entituled to that Purchased Possession And this by us is Accepted by Faith allso And all those are Relative Acts of God towards us rather then Works wrought in us But Regeneration and Sanctification are Works of God wrought in us by his Spirit and produce not one a Relative but a Real change Whereby is wrought in us a New Nature or as the Scripture calls it the New Man or the New Creature whereby Holyness and the Graces of Gods Spirit are Begun and Increased gradually till we come to that of the perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ to that Perfection which we shall attain in Glory And the Practise of Holyness and a Godly Life toward God and toward Man are the Fruit and Effects of such Holyness and Sanctification and necessary allso to Salvation So that Holyness and a Good Life with the Works of Piety Charity and other good Deeds are indeed Necessary to Salvation but belong properly to Sanctification rather than to Justification And I would Ask those Men who choose to speak otherwise Whether they think that beside Justification there is such a thing as Sanctification The Papist if he would speak out must say roundly There is not For when they say we are justified by Inherent Righteousness that is by Holyness they leave nothing for Sanctification But We who think that Justification and Sanctification though of the same Person be different Notions Why should we not rather refer Sanctify to Sanctification If it be said That the Justified and the Sanctified person are the same and therefore we need not so nicely distinguish between Justification and Sanctification I say 'T is true the Persons be the same But the Notions be different And though we may truly say Justus est Sanctus or Justificatus est Sanctificatus yet not Justificatio est Sanctificatio He that is Justified is Sanctified but not that Justification is Sanctification And a little Logick would teach a Fresh-man That Concretes may be predicated one of another when the Abstracts may not We may say that Homo est Animal but not that Humanitas est Animalitas Or that Homo est Albus but not Humanitas est Albedo If lastly It be thought Advantageous to the Practise of Holyness and a Godly Life to say that we are Justified by it I say Neither is this Necessary For this is as well done by preaching the Necessity of Regeneration and Sanctification as without which we cannot hope for Salvation And then the Exercise of Holiness and a Godly Life comes in properly in its own place as the necessary Effect of Sanctification And in this capacity it is that our Church without derogating any thing from the necessity of them doth place Good Works as the necessary Fruits of that Faith which Justifies and a Pretense of Faith without these she esteems to be not Faith but Fancy And therefore though shee exclude them as hath been said from the Office of Justifying yet thinks them necessary to be joined with Faith in every Person that is justified And makes it the Office and Duty of every Christian man unto God not to pass the time of this present life unfruitfully and idly not caring how few good Works we do to the Glory of God and the Profit of our Neighbours Much less to live contrary to the same For that Faith she tells us which bringeth without Repentance either Evil Works or no Good Works is not a right pure and lively Faith but a dead devilish counterfeit and faigned Faith as S. Paul and S. James call it For even the Devils Know and Beleeve That Christ was born of a Virgine That he fasted fourty days and fourty nights without meat and drink That he wrought all kind of Miracles declaring himself very God They beleeve also that Christ for our sake suffered most painfull Death to redeem from Everlasting Death And that he Rose again from Death the third day They beleeve that he Ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the Right hand of the Father and at the last end of this World shall come again and Iudge both the quick and the dead These Articles of our Faith the Devils Beleeve And so they Beleeve all all things that be written in the New and Old Testament to be true And yet for all this Faith they be but Devils remaining still in their damnable state lacking the very true Christian Faith For the right and true Christian Faith is not onely to believe that holy Scripture and all the foresaid Articles of our Faith are true But also to have a sure Trust and Confidence in Gods merciful Promises to be saved from everlasting Damnation by Christ Whereof doth follow a Loving heart to Obey his Commandements And this true Christian Faith neither any Devil hath nor yet any man which in the outward Profession of his Mouth and in his outward Receiving of the Sacraments in coming to the Church and in all outward appearances seemeth to be a Christian and yet in his Living and Deeds sheweth the contrary So that Our Church is far from allowing an Idle Lasy Life much less a Sinful and Wicked Life to accompany Faith But tells us that where there are Faith is not There is indeed she tells us a Faith which in Scripture is called a Dead faith which bringeth forth no good Works but is idle barren and unfruitful which is by S. James compared to the Faith of Devils And this is not properly called Faith as a Dead man is not a Man But as he thus readeth Caesar 's Commentaries Beleeving the same to be True hath thereby a Knowledge of Caesar 's Life and notable Acts because he beleeveth the History of Caesar Yet is not properly sayd That he Beleeveth In Caesar of whom he looketh for no help or benefit Even so he that Beleeveth That all that is spoken of God in the Bible is True and yet liveth so Vngodly that he cannot look to enjoy the Promises and Benefits of God Although it may be sayd that such a man hath a faith and belief To the Words of God yet it is not properly sayd That he beleeveth In God or hath such a Faith and Trust In God whereby he may surely look for grace mercy and everlasting life at Gods hand but rather for indignation and punishment according to the merits of his wicked life If then they phantasy that they be set at liberty from doing all good works and may live as they list they trifle with God and deceive themselves And it is a manifest token that they be far from having the true and lively Faith and allso far from knowledge what true Faith meaneth For the very sure and lively Christian Faith is not onely to Beleeve all things of God which are contained in holy Scripture but allso is an earnest Trust and Confidence in God This true lively and unfeigned Christian Faith is not in the Mouth