Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	abraham_n	believe_v	impute_v	7,639	5	9.9008	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90811	Authentēs. Or A treatise of self-deniall. Wherein the necessity and excellency of it is demonstrated; with several directions for the practice of it. / By Theophilus Polwheile, M.A. sometimes of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, now teacher of the Church at Teverton in Devon.	Polwheile, Theophilus, d. 1689.	1658 (1658)	Wing P2782; Thomason E1733_1; ESTC R209629	246,682	521

there is no Self-denial As for example If Moses had not esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt hee had not refused to bee called the Son of Pharaohs daughter if hee had not had courage to fortifie him against the fear of the wrath of the King hee had never left Egypt as hee did Thus you see the two first particulars cleared Now consider 3 Faith hath a mighty influence to set all of them a-work as many as are required in any one act of Self-denial Faith is a working grace but herein it hath the preheminence that it is the first grace that sets all the rest a-work Hence all the works of grace are said to bee the works and fruits of faith 1 Thess 1.3 Faith saith St. James if it have not works is dead being alone that is it is counterfeit faith Jam. 2.17 therefore hee shews that the esse of faith is seen in its operari I will shew thee my faith by my works vers 18. And hee further confirms it by the instance of Abrahams faith Seest thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect vers 21. Now lest any should think that these works spoken of are the proper works of faith as such a particular grace as every grace hath its proper works it may easily bee shewn out of Scripture that there is no good work that is not the fruit of faith As from that Heb. 11. Without faith it is impossible to please God by which the Apostle argues that the works of Enoch were works of faith because they pleased God vers 5. God is pleased with good works Col. 1.10 Now if there bee any such without faith God is pleased without faith Again the Apostle saith The life that I now live is by faith but the life that hee then lived was the life of grace the life of good works which hee did not live before Gal. 2.20 so that the truth is evident Faith is the Primum mobile as the spring-wheel in a Watch that sets all the rest a going or as the weight in a Clock Austin saith Amor meus poudus meum co feror quosunque feror My love is my weight by that I am carried whithersoever I am carried But what is the weight that moves love Why the Apostle tells us That faith worketh by love Gal. 5.6 And as for other graces you have instances enough in Heb. 11. All the grace that Abraham and Moses c. exercised in those eminent acts of Self-denial there recorded was set a-work by faith By faith Abraham c. By faith Moses c. Faith sets grace a work proportionably to the height of the act of Self-denial that wee are called to it doth not onely stir up grace and set it a working but it makes it work to such a height as is requisite to the greatness of the present exigency See a notable instance in Abraham Rom. 4.19 20. And being not weak in faith hee considered not his own body now dead and hee staggered not at the promise through unbeleef but was strong in faith giving glory to God and therefore against hope beleeved in hope vers 18. 4 Faith secures them in their working I had fainted saith David unless I had beleeved Psal 27.13 It is said of Moses that through faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee endured Heb. 11.27 Christ told Peter that Satan had desired to have him but that hee had prayed that his faith might not fail and therefore Satan could not have him Luke 22.32 Paul exhorts that above all things wee should take unto us the shield of faith Ephes 6.16 hee calls it a shield because as the shield doth cover all the other parts of the Armour so doth faith all the other graces In 1 Thes 5.8 hee calls it a breast-plate because it secures the heart therefore hee saith By faith wee stand 2 Cor. 1.24 Answ 4. Faith brings in the mighty power and strength of God to our assistance and therefore must needs bee able to carry us through this duty of Self-denial Though of our selves in our own strength wee can doe nothing yet in the strength of God wee may doe it with ease Now faith brings in Auxiliary forces from heaven engageth the Almightiness of God with us There is a kinde of Omnipotency in faith all things are possible to him that beleeveth Mark 9.23 and this is the reason of it It is said of Stephen Act 6.8 that hee was full of faith and power Where faith is there is power even the mighty power of God the greatness of his power toward us who beleeve Eph. 1.19 It is said 1 Pet. 1.5 that wee are kept by the power of God to salvation but through faith the power of God through faith In Matth. 9.22 Christ tells the woman that had an issue of blood Thy faith hath made thee whole why it was the power of Christ that made her whole I but it is attributed to her faith because her faith set the power of Christ a work for that end Thus you see wherein the power of faith lyes to carry a man through this duty of Self-denial and therefore what reason you have to make use of it in this particular The Fifteenth Direction 15 Keep in minde your former experiences 1 The experiences which you have had of Self-seeking 2 The experiences which you have had of Self-denial 1 The experiences of Self-seeking in these two particulars 1 What experiences you have had of the evil of Self-seeking 2 What experiences you have had of the wayes and means whereby you have been drawn to it 1 The experiences of the evil of Self-seeking 1 Of the evill of sin in it 2 Of the evill of suffering by it First What experiences you have had of the evill of sin in it Before you were exhorted to consider what evill of sin there is in it here to remember what evill of sin you have found in it by your own experience 1 Hath it not made you neglect many a duty as praying hearing meditating c. 2 Hath it not made you venture upon many a sin as lying swearing defranding c. 3 Hath it not often put you upon a course of sinning for a long time together 4 Hath it not made you prophane the Ordinances of God using them 1 As means for compassing your base ends 2 As cloaks for hiding them 5 Hath it not made you sometimes ashamed of Religion so that you durst not confess Christ openly before a Christ-deriding world 6 Hath it not been the cause of your unfruitfulness and unserviceableness in the places where you have lived so that few have been the better by you 7 Hath it not made you unfaithful to the trust that hath been reposed in you so that you have been a staffe of broken reed to those that have leaned on you 8 Hath it not hindred you from receiving much good from those to whose precepts you should

every wicked servant will bee found to have been a slothful servant at the Day of Judgement Matth. 25.26 But 2 If this were true that some such persons act adultimum virium to the uttermost of their power yet it follows not that therefore it is fit that God should give them grace nor doth God give any one grace upon that account for when they have done all that they can in this unregenerate state what is it that they have done why nothing well-pleasing and acceptable unto God because as the Apostle says f Rom. 8.7 8 The carnal minde is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be whence hee concludes that they that are in the flesh cannot please God Now is it fit that God should give them grace for doing that which doth displease him Again as faith without works is dead so works without faith are dead also and if they be dead works and not the service of the living God as the Apostle saith they are Heb. 9.14 how can a man by such works deserve to have grace What a monstrous thing is it that vice should merit vertue that a man by sinning against God should deserve to bee partaker of his holiness That Natural men may doe some things that are materially good there is none will deny but that they can doe any thing formally good smells too much of the Pelagian Forge and is manifestly contradictory to the Word of God which tells us that whatsoever such men doe is sin Prov. 21.4 Titus 1.15 And therefore most certain it is they can doe nothing to prepare themselves for conversion nothing to move God either to vouchsafe them the means of grace or to make them effectual as these men vainly teach t Dr. Twisse against Hoard Lib. 2. This is the peculiar glory of Gods grace to make us perfect in every good work and to work in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ and this he doth according to his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 Hebrews 13.21 for Grace is not conferred according to works that was condemned as a pestilent Doctrine long agoe in the Synod of Palestine and all along in divers Councels against the Pelagians That the Gospel prevails upon some and not upon others to whom it is preached whom it still leaves in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity our Saviour ascribes it wholly to the good pleasure of God as the only reason of it I thank thee Father Lord of heaven and earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Matth. 11.25 26. And Judas not Iscariot hearing him say that If any man loved him he would manifest himself unto him replies with wonder Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self unto us and not unto the world as if hee had said There was nothing in us more than in them that could move thee to it we were by nature the Children of wrath as well as others It is not only true of Election but of Vocation also It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy The grace of God is preventing grace it meets us in the way of sin even while wee are running away from God we doe not seek it first but it seeks us and findes us out in our lost condition that wee might seek it afterwards and having found it may be careful to keep it as Isa 65.1 I am sought of them that asked not for me w Non ergo putandum est cum Pelagianis gratiam dari ex merito iis communicari qui eam antea quaesiverunt Non enim quaeritur gratia sine gratia quae prima homisem perditum in se quaerit invenis ut postea eam quaerat censervet inventam R. vet in loc Exercitor in Gen 52. I am found of them that sought me not I said behold me be hold me unto a Nation that was not called by my name Therefore if wee have any evidence of a real work of grace in our hearts in any measure wrought by the Spirit of God let us cry Grace Grace unto it let us say unto the Lord as Mephibosheth unto David 2 Sam. 9.8 What are thy Servants that thou shouldest look upon such dead Doggs as we are And thus much for this first particular of Self-denial in respect of inherent grace the not ascribing it to our selves as the cause neither the efficient nor meritorious cause of it In the next place to deny Self in respect of inherent grace is 2 Not to rest upon it as the righteousness whereby wee are justified in the sight of God It is not a righteousness inherent but imputed whereby we are justified Righteousness inherent is a necessary antocedent of glorification 2 Thes 2.13 the subject of reconciliation is an enemy Rom. 5.10 of Justification a Sinner Rom. 4.5 but of Glorification a Saint Acts 26 18 it is also a necessary concomitant of Justification I Corinth 1.30 Rom. 8.29 30. where God doth alter and change the state there hee doth mend the condition by the operation of his holy Spirit but it is not the formal cause of it as Bellarmine and other Papists teach Iustification is a gracious sentence of God whereby for Christs sake apprehended by faith he doth absolve the Beleever from Sin and Death and accounts him righteous unto life x Non est Physica transmutatio qualitatum in haerentium sed moralis vel relativa transmutatia status qualis est mutatio hominis qui per condonationem creditoris ex debitore fit non debitor Ames Bellarmin Enervar Tom. 4.132 It doth not denote any Physical or real change of disposition but a judicial or relative change of state such a change as consists in pronouncing of a sentence and in reputation But to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness Rom. 4.5 where this phrase Faith is counted for righteousness is all one with that in the sixth verse God imputeth righteousness without works What this righteousness is that is there said to bee imputed the Apostle afterwards tells us Cap. 5.19 where he saith that as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners even so by the obedience of one shall many bee made righteous by which hee shews that the righteousness whereby we are justified is the obedience of Christ his active and passive obedience and therefore not a righteousness inherent in our selves but imputed to us for 1. It is the obedience of Christ and 2. The text saith that we are made righteous by that obedience in the same manner as we are made Sinners by the disobedience of Adam which is by y Non potest intelligi quomode in obedientia Adami constitueret posteros

also reign with him 2 Tim. 2.11 12. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradice of God Rev. 2.7 Hee that overcometh shall not bee hurt of the second death vers 11. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which us man knoweth saving hee that receiveth it vers 17. Hee that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end to him will I give power over the Nations and hee shall rule them with a red of iron vers 26 27. And I will give him the morning star vers 28. Hee that overcometh the same shall bee cloathed in white raiment and I will not blat out his name out of the book of life but I will confess his name before my Father and before his Angels Rev. 3.5 Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the temple of my God and hee shall go no more out and I will write upon him the Name of my God and the name of the City of my God which is New Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new Name vers 12. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with mee in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne vers 21. 2 It makes a clear representation of the great and glorious things contained in these promises and gives the soul assurance of them The Apostle tells us of faith that it is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 1 The substance or subsistence of things hoped for it gives them a substantial being long before they bee as if they did already actually exist Hence the object of faith is present that is faith considers it as present Faith beleeves that God doth answer before hee answers As God in answering sometimes prevents our asking Isa 65.24 Before they call I will answer so when faith is exercised it prevents Gods answering Before the Lord giveth I know I have it Faith reallizeth the blessings promised before they have a being When mercies are but in their principles in their conception and birth when they are but in their cradle and swadling bands faith speaks as gloriously of them as if they were fully acted and grown up before the eye And therefore it is 2 The evidence or demonstration of things not seen not onely because it apprehends them which neither sense nor reason doth but because it apprehends them and discovers them unto the soul as cloathed upon with so much certainty and reality When a man can discern no ground of incouragement either by sense or reason faith spies it presently Now this hath a mighty influence on the soul to carry it on in a way of Self-denial While we look not at the things which are seen but at things which are not seen saith Paul We count our sufferings but a light affliction 2 Cor. 4.17 18. By this means it begets hope in the soul as by the other fear and this makes one resolute to undertake any service though never so difficult and ready to undergo any suffering though never so dangerous in obedience to the will of God for his glory This it doth by giving the soul a sight of God in these promises 1 As able Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbeleef but was strong in faith giving glory to God being fully perswaded that what hee had promised hee was able also to perform Rom. 4.20 21. 2 As faithful to accomplish them Through faith also Sarah her self received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a childe when shee was past age because shee judged him faithful who had promised Heb. 11.11 Answ 3. Faith sets a-work all other graces which are requisite to bee exercised in any one act of Self-denial and secures them in their working This appears partly in the former particular by what hath been said of fear and hope but I shall speak more directly and fully unto it in this There is not any one act of Self-denial but to the performance of it there is required the acting of several graces in their kinde so that if any one of these graces should not bee acted there would bee no acting of the rest and consequently no Self-denial the act of Self-denial would bee prevented Now faith hath a mighty influence upon every grace to set it a work according to the nature and quality of the duty that is to bee performed and to maintain it in its working so that it shall prevail I will shew this in these four particulars 1 That to every act of Self-denial is required the exercise of several graces 2 That if any one of those which are required should bee stopt and hindred in its acting there would bee a stop of all the rest and consequently no Self-denial 3 That faith hath a mighty influence to set all of them a work 4 That faith secures them in their working 1 To every act of Self-denial there is required the exercise of several particular graces several graces must bee exercised in the judgement and in the will and in the affections See an instance in Moses his Self-denial Heb. 11.25 26 27. of grace exercised 1 In his judgement Hee esteemed the repreach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt vers 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accounting or judging or having accounted or judged c. 2 In his will hee refused to bee called the Son of Pharaohs daughter vers 24. and chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season vers 25. 3 In his affection Hee forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King vers 27. Some acts of Self-denial consists meerly in the exercise of grace others are performed by the exercise of grace These are the inward acts of Self-denial which are terminated within the minde these are the external acts To both are required the acting of several graces As grace is not single in its being so not in its working as there is a connexion of graces in the habit so likewise in the operation 2 If any one of those which are required should bee stopt and hindred in its acting there would bee a stop of all the rest and consequently no Self-denial As there is a conjunction so likewise there is a dependance of the several graces one upon another a conjunction in their being and a dependance in their working so that if one bee stopt all the rest stop too As it is in a watch if one wheel stop all the wheels when they come to the motion of that wheel stop too When there is required three or four particular graces to the making up of one and the same act of Self-denial if any one of them bee wanting