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	righteousness_n	seal_n	9,017	5	9.6941	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69777	The intercourses of divine love betwixt Christ and his Church, or, The particular believing soul metaphorically expressed by Solomon in the first chapter of the Canticles, or song of songs : opened and applied in several sermons, upon that whole chapter : in which the excellencies of Christ, the yernings of his gospels towards believers, under various circumstances, the workings of their hearts towards, and in, communion with him, with many other gospel propositions of great import to souls, are handles / by John Collinges ...	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.	1683 (1683)	Wing C5324; ESTC R16693	839,627	984

can we imagine that we should be more concerned to discover our own vileness and naughtiness then Gods Grace and Mercy But of this I shall speak more fully in my handling the Second part of the Proposition Sermon XXXV Canticles 1. 5. I am Black but Comely O ye Daughters of Hierusalem c. I Come now to the second part of the Proposition I raised from these words I had no more time in my last discourse then to handle the former Prop. There are times when Christians are bound to own their graces and to declare what God hath done for their Souls There are such times when good Christians must not only say they are Black but also own that they are Comely That this is a duty appeareth from the practice of the Servants of God in holy Writ Psal 66. 16. Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my Soul And indeed what are most of the Psalms of David but declarations of this nature to say nothing of Pauls speeches before Festus and Agrippa c. But whatsoever I intended for the proof of it I shall bring under the explication applying it to the particular cases The Question is Qu. When and in what cases are Christians concerned to own acknowledg and declare unto others their grace and what God hath done for their Souls As I said of the other piece of a Christians duty so I shall say of this It is their duty 1. To own and acknowledg it to God 2. To the Church of God 3. To the Men of the World sometimes 1. To God This is their unquestionable duty at all times and you shall find it the frequent practice of the Servants of God in Scripture If we have any Comeliness it is Christs Comliness put upon us and it is but reasonable that God should have the acknowledgment of it to his Honor and Glory But of this there is no question neither is this the acknowledgment of the Text she is here speaking not unto God but to the Daughters of Jerusalem It is our duty also in some cases to own our Comeliness through grace unto men 2. To the Church of Christ and to particular Christians 1. To the Church and that in two cases 1. Upon our Admission into it 2. Upon our Re-admission and restoring to the Priviledges of it We find in the first Plantation of Churches of the Gospel there was ordinarily such a confession and acknowledgment It is said Mat. 3. That those who were Baptized of John were Baptized in Jordan confessing their Sins Matth. 3. 6. After Christs Ascension into Heaven we read of the three thousand Souls added to the Church that they were first pricked at the Heart and said to Peter and to the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do and in Acts 8. 36. when the Eunuch said to Philip Here is Water what doth hinder me to be baptized Philip answereth if thou believest with all thine heart thou maiest and he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God In those first admissions into the Gospel Church it is plain that Confession of Sin and Profession of a Faith in Christ were required as necessary and previous to Baptism by which Persons were admitted into a fellowship with the Church of God But altho the first admission into Gospel Churches were only of Grown Persons able to make Confessions of their Sins and a Profession of their faith in Christ which were alwaies done upon such admissions yet the Children of such persons so Baptized have been alwaies taken to be within the Covenant and so Members of the Church also but whether compleat Members or no hath been a question and indeed generally denied and something further required of them before they have been taken into a full Communion with the Church in the Ordinance of the Supper For that being an Ordinance of the Gospel which is a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith as was said of Circumcision with reference to Abraham Rom. 4. 11. It is but reasonable to conclude that none have a right unto it but such as are made Partakers of that Righteousness of Faith those that by an eye of Faith can discern the Lords Body by an hand of Faith lay hold upon Christ under those sensible signs and representations and that by Faith can Eat the Flesh and Drink the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ while with the Mouths of their Bodies they Eat the Bread and Drink the Wine Hence the Apostle commands us to examine our selves and so to Eat of that Bread and Drink of that Cup and telleth us that whoso Earteth the Flesh and Drinketh the Blood of the Lord unworthily Eateth and Drinketh Judgment unto himself and hence it is that some evidence both of Knowledg and Regeneration is judged necessary to such as have a full Communion in this Ordinance with the Church of Christ The best evidence whereof is undoubtedly an holy conversation That a verbal declaration in this case is absolutely necessary I cannot say which may be made in hypocrisie and it made signifies nothing if not confirmed by an holy Life where it can be made in truth and with freedom of Spirit it is doubtless exceeding satisfactory both to the Ministers of Christ who are Stewards of the Ministries of God of whom it is required that they should be faithful distributing their Masters goods according to their Masters order and to the Members of the Church with which they are joined But I by no means think that it ought to be insisted on as to many Christians who may be under fears and doubts and despondencies but evidence the change of their hearts by a holiness of life Thus far I have a little digressed to give you my judgment in this point By which you may se how little the difference in this case is betwixt Brethren would they calmly listen to hear and to understand one another and not judge each other not heard 2. Upon our re-admission or restoring to the Church of God The judicial separation of Scandalous persons from the Church is a sufficient evidence that no persons unholy in their lives ought to be admitted into a communion with it and that they are no more then presumptive members of it or if you will visible members that is such as in outward appearance are so but when by any open action they discover the contrary they ought to be separated from it and not restored without repentance of which repentance indeed it being the change of the heart we are no infallible judges having no rule of judgment but being forced to trust to the sincerity of Profession joined with a visibly reformed Conversation The Church of Christ in all ages so far as we may trust any account we have had of it hath required both 1. A verbal declaration of what God hath done for the offending party working in him or her a Godly shame

temptations As easie a thing as some make it to believe many Souls smitten of God and truly afflicted under the sense of sin find it one of the most difficult things in the world to give such a firm and steady Assent to the Revelation of the Gospel as will produce in their Souls any grounded confidence and resting on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour and shall be productive of such a change of heart and life as the Gospel requireth Hence though they be truly wounded in the sense of sin and have taken up resolutions through the Grace of God to sin no more as they have done formerly yet they cannot tell how to bring their Souls to any fiducial adherence and rest on the Lord Jesus Christ but they are still full of doubts and fears concerning their spiritual and eternal state the guilt of their sins is upon their consciences and they pine away in and under it but they are not able to reach out an hand to the Promise in and through Christ they have deep sights of their misery but they can see no hope no mercy at all in God for them Now to such Souls as these this is some relief to consider That no man cometh to the Son unless the Father draweth him It is no wonder that thou who hast formerly been not a stranger only but an enemy to God canst not at first come unto him without a powerful influence of Divine Grace when as those who are brought home to God stand in need of a daily Divine Influence to enable them to walk with him and to run after him This is not the weakness or frowardness or badness of thine heart alone it is the condition of every lapsed Soul And here the thinking Soul will come to feel the wound given it by the Fall of Adam and its own original corruption No man hath by nature more aptitude than another to acts truly spiritual You will say this is very cold comfort We are sure if we be without Christ we are undone and what if our hearts be no worse than others were till they were made better by the Power of Divine Grace so long as that they are so bad as we cannot come to Christ for life We have been lying in this state at the Pool of Bethesda under the Ordinances of God many months and years others within the time have been rolled in here we lie still as weak as ever I will but offer two things to the relief of a Soul thus complaining 1. That every Christian drawn to Christ doth not presently discern it Faith is one thing the sense of that Faith is another thing Many a Child of Light doth not walk in the Light I would hope charitably that that Soul which complains that it cannot believe and seriously bemoans its impotency doth believe a serious desire to believe is generally the fruit of believing I would say to the Soul that thus complaineth Thou art awakened to consider an Eternity and that thy Soul is hastening towards an Eternity yet thou dost not despair thou hast some hope In what is thy hope What dost thou trust in with reference to thy Eternal Happiness Such a Soul will easily see that its Moral Righteousness or Formal Performance of Duties are not the things it hopeth in Where then is thy hope those degrees of hope which keep thee out of the Pit of despair fixed Where can it be fixed but in Christ exhibited in the Promises of the Gospel so as thou rather complainest for want of sense than for want of 〈◊〉 2. If thou dost but pray and wait thou shalt see Christ will make thee to see that he hath drawn thy Soul unto himself Never poor Soul perished under thy circumstances that is heavy loaden under the sense of sin and weary of its sinful courses and sensible that it hath no Righteousness wherein it can stand before God and panting and thirsting after the Lord and his Righteousness I have alwaies thought that God would not be wanting to any as to his special Grace that had made the best improvement he could of common Grace But this case riseth higher God hath begun his good work in thy Soul and he will perfect it he hath begun with thee in a way of special Grace and more shall be added he hath brought to the birth and shall he not give strength to bring forth so as thou hast nothing to do but to pray to wait upon God in his Ordinances and to wait for God with patience Secondly I hear others complaining They would run after God they would follow the Lord fully the Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak they find their corruptions their temptations so strong their strength against them so small that they wonder they hold out so long and fear they shall one day fall They cannot find that they run after Christ something of duty they do but with so much dulness and heaviness as is far from running Christian be of good comfort 1. The Lord will draw thee do what in thee lieth the Lord will draw thee Who saith Paul shall deliver me from this body of death He presently subjoyns I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Spouse prayeth in Faith when she saith Draw me and we will run after thee If Abraham had considered his own body at that time dead as to such acts or the deadness of Sarah's womb he had never glorified God by a strong Faith in the Promise Rom. 3. 21. He considered none of these but the Promise only and concluded that what the Lord had promised he was able to perform Thou considerest how busie the Devil is and what he can do How strong thy lusts are how weak thou art and how little thou art able to do But thou dost not consider what a mighty God can do what he can do who hath said To him that hath shall be given and he shall have in more abundance Thou seest a great Mountain of lusts and corruptions great Mountains of temptations and thou art afraid But what art thou O great Mountain before the Lord 's Zerubbabel If it be the Lord's work who shall let him 2. Consider The Lord may sometimes not draw 〈…〉 as at other times and our running will bear a proportion to his drawing The Mother will never leave the little Child to go wholly alone for fear it falls she will alwaies have an hand upon it but she may sometimes put forth more sometimes less of the strength of that hand God never leaveth us wholly to our selves he knows we cannot stand or go without him but he sometimes lets us feel more of his strength sometimes less 3. Going slowly when God slackens his hand is indeed running that is equivalent to a going faster with a further influence It is like the Widdows Mite who hath no more to put in Like Hezekiah's chattering like a Crane Like the voice of David's weeping Like the sorrowful sighings of the

humiliation before it be brought home to Christ The Soul being enlightned by the Spirit of Grace seeth the vileness and filthiness of its own heart to that degree that it is ashamed and thinks that it cannot abase itself enough in the sight of God and from this disposition of the Soul to abhor loath and shame itself proceedeth this freedom willingness in the Soul upon all occasions with respect had to Christian prudence to vilify itself by the confession of its own blackness and infirmity 2. It proceedeth also from the habit of humility given to and wrought in the heart of every believer this is one of the perfections of the new Creature it differeth from the other little more then as the d●sposition from the habit This teacheth the Soul at all times a mean and low opinion of itself The Hypocrite is alwaies proud and looks upon all his gifts and good actions with a multiplying glass which makes them appear more then they are and greater then they are The humble Soul looks upon all as less In me saith Paul there dwelleth no good thing Hence he can hardly be heard to say any thing but in diminution and defamation of himself 3. It proceeds also from this Souls more perfect understanding the mark of perfection He knoweth better then another what God requires of him what degrees of faith love zeal holiness this makes him a better judge of his own imperfections and more ready to confess and bewail them The Hypocrite and natural man understandeth not the breadth of the Divine Law what faith what holiness God requireth of him he is proud knowing nothing as the Apostle speaks of some 1 Tim. 6. 4. not only his Pride prompting him to exalt himself but his ignorance knowing nothing as he ought to know it is the cause of his want of freedom to this duty It is with such a man as it is with a Sophister in the University A little knowledge that he hath puffeth him up he thinks he knows all things But when he comes to be Master of Arts to have lookt into Books a little more and to understand the compass of learning a little better then he complains of his ignorance and the small portion of knowledge which he hath So the man that hath but a mean and imperfect knowledge of the will of God he is proud and thinketh he knoweth all things but when God comes to open his Eyes and to let him see the mysteries of Divine knowledge he seeth more duty then he saw before and consequently more sin and more defects in his own Soul There is a vast difference betwixt that knowledge of duty sin which is in the heart of a Child of God under the illumination of the Spirit of Grace and that which is in a Soul not under that special illumination 4. Again a Christians often compuring himself with others and judging himself by their measures is often a great cause of this The natural man ordinarily chuseth companions like unto himself and judgeth of himself by their measures seeing himself as the Pharisee Luk. 18. to exceed the Drunkard in temperance and sobriety The Extortioner in justice and mercy the Adulterer in chastity The Atheist in a formality of dutiness a form of godliness he seeth no blackness in himself to confess he is Captain of his Form But now the converted Soul being come to be a companion of those that fear the Lord he sets before himself the examples of the Saints of God in Holy Writ and of those that are yet in the world that excel in virtue In the Scripture he reads of the faith of holy Abraham who believed in hope against hope not staggering at the promise through unbelies the patience of Job who when he had lost all his Estate all his Children yet did not speak inadvisedly with his lips nor charge God foolishly he reads of Davids exceeding love and delight for and in the law of the Lord. When he looks amongst his new Companions he sees in one Christian more tenderness of heart in another more faith in a third more zeal and activity for God then he can find in himself hence he cryeth out of his blackness and bewaileth his coming so short of others 5. Again he liveth in a daily sense of his wants and defects My sin saith David is ever before me and so his tongue doth but express the inward sense and apprehensions of his Soul 6. Lastly as all such Souls will be sensible of their defects and wants so they are continually desirous of an healing of their wounds and a Supply and relief Which they know confession is the way to obtain As for confession unto God the Wise man hath told us Prov. 28 13. That he that covereth his sins shall not prosper but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy David telleth us Psal 32. 3. That when he kept silence his bones waxed old through his roaring all the day For saith he Day and night thine hand was heavy upon me my moisture is turned into the drought of Summer What remedy did he find v. 5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee I said I will confess my trangressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my Sin Nor was this a particular favour to David but what others may expect upon the like application to God v. 6. For this shall every one that is Godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him A Godly man knoweth that as the hiding of his disease from the Physician and his wounds from the Chirurgeon is not the way to be cured or healed so neither is the hiding of the nakedness of his Soul f●om God the way to have it covered for altho in this there be a difference that our spiritual Physician knoweth our diseases without our discovery of them to him which the earthly Physician doth not yet God notwithstanding his knowledge requiring our acknowledgment makes the case the same And the reason is much the same for the confessing of our sins especially in some cases to a faithful Minister or to private Christians God sent Abraham to Abimelech Gen. 20. 7. For faith he he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee thou shalt live Genes● 20. v. 7 and he sent Jobs friend to Job Job 42. v. 7. and saith he my servant Job shall pray for you for him I will accept This in the first place lets us see the difference between a Child of God and one who is but a formal hypocrite An hypocrite generally seeth nothing but whiteness in himself Jehu can see and call Jonadab to see his zeal for the Lord God but he can see nothing of his own self ends in all that he did The Church of Laodicea said I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing tho at the same time she was wretched

so it is a creature of a great spirit and courage He rusheth into the Battel and is not afraid Jer. 8. 6. God speaking to Job concerning the Horse giveth an excellent and elegant description of him Job 39. 19 20. where God asketh Job Hast thou clothed his neck with Thunder Canst thou make him afraid at a Grashopper The glory of his Nostrils is terrible He paweth in the Valley and rejoyceth in his strength He goeth on to meet the armed man he mocketh at fear and is not affrighted neither turneth he back from the Sword The Quiverrattleth against him the glittering Spear and the Shield he swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage neither believeth he that it is the sound of the Trumpet He saith amongst the Trumpets Ha Ha and he smelleth the Battel afar off the Thunder of the Captains and the shoutings With respect of this Quality of the Horse I conceive it is that the Spouse is here compared to Horses War-like Horses full of spirit and courage I have likened thee to a company of Horses That is I have made thee bold couragious full of resolution to make a spiritual resistance to thy Enemies to bid a defiance to them no more to regard the reproaches and revilings the threats and rage and violences of wicked men that oppose thee and cause thy trouble than the Horse regardeth the ratlings of the Quiver or the sound of the Trumpet or the glittering Spear or Shield Fear not the rage and madness of thy Enemies I have made thee like to the Horses in Pharaoh's Chariots which are so bred and so spirited that they mock at fear and the more their Enemies rage and make a noise the more couragiously and with the more mettle they go on This I take to be the most proper and likely sense of the Metaphor in this Text accordingly I shall handle it 2. But it is not said To an Horse only but to a company of Horses Why to a company of Horses The term company denotes Multitude and Unity 1. It denotes Multitude The Church of Christ consists of many Individual Believers who in respect of their Innocency and feeding in the same Pastures are compared sometimes to a Flock of Sheep here in respect of that spirit of valour courage and fortitude which animates them all to a company of Horses 2. It is a term which denotes Unity not a numerical Unity but an Unity in some common work and in some accidents common to them all Thus the Apostle saith We being many are one body There is saith the Apostle Eph. 4. 4 5. one Body one Spirit they are called in one Hope of their Calling they have one Lord one Faith one Baptism they have one God and Father of all The Spouse is not compared to a company of Horses in a field or in the streets but to a company of Horses in a Chariot where they draw together run together upon the Enemy Every Believer also hath a Company within himself the several powers and faculties of his Soul armed with the whole Armour of God These are like a company of Horses in Pharaoh 's Chariots 3. But why in Pharaoh's Chariots Pharaoh was a common name to the Kings of Egypt and a company of Horses in Pharaoh 's Chariots signifieth no more than a company of the best Egyptian Horses-Egypt at that time was one of the most famous places for Horses in the world Hence you read that Solomon had Horses brought out of Egypt 1 King 10. 28. And the King of Judah sent his Embassadors into Egypt that they might give him Horses Ezek. 17. 15. So Isa 31. 1. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help and stay on Horses v. 3. Their Horses are flesh and not spirit So as I think they have but a feeble support from this Text who would make advantage of this Text to justify their notion that this Divine portion of holy Writ is no more but a Love-song betwixt Solomon and Pharaohs Daughter To all this I might add one thing more that the Horse by reason of those excellent qualities which the God of nature hath endued it with hath in all ages been in a very high esteem with men The vanity of some Persons in the expression of this hath been very great Historians tell us the Persians made solemn funerals for their Horses in other places they builded Pyramids over their Sepulchers Alexander the great built a City to the memory of his Horse Julius Caesar set up his Horse a marble effigies The Emperour Commodus would have his Horse buried in the Vatican Our age is more rational then to allow these vanities but yet it is vain enough many a man takes more care for the mangery of his Horse then for the Education of his Child and alloweth his Horses more attendance then his wife Which lets us see what a value men yet put upon this creature So as this sense may be put upon the Words of this Text thou art as dear to me and in as high esteem with me as the Horses in Pharaohs Chariots are to and with him The Proposition then of the Text amounteth to this Prop. That the Church of Christ and every particular believer in it is in Christs Eyes exceeding lovely and highly esteemed of by him and knowing that she is in the midst of Enemies he hath cloathed her with strength for the victory sufficient if she will make use of it he hath made her like to a Company of Horses in Pharaohs Charrots The proof of the Proposition then lyeth in the proof of these two things 1. That the Spouse of Christ is in his Eyes exceeding goodly and beautiful and highly esteemed of by him 2. That she is cloathed with sufficient strength and might to overcome her Enemies For the proof of the former I shall not insist upon it for besides the large discourse I have already spent upon that when I handled that phrase O thou fairest amongst women The expressions of Scripture are so obvious to every Eye where Christ setteth out his Love to and esteem of his Church and every particular believer that I need not spend time in giving you an account of them The latter is no less plain Immediately upon the fall God gave out this promise Gen. 3. 15. The seed of the woman shall break thine head and thou shalt bruise his heel The seed of the woman was Christ and his seed those that believe in him Conformable to this is that promise Rom. 16. 20. God shall bruise Sathan under your feet shortly It was an ancient promise made to Abraham and in him to all that walk in the steps of his faith Thy seed shall possess the gates of its Enemies God saith Zech. 10. 3. That he made his flock as a goodly Horse in the day of battel v. 5. And they shall be as mighty men which tread down the Enemies as mire in the streets in the battel they shall fight because the Lord

and their natural powers and faculties I therefore add 3. That this may seem plausible to those who either do not consider or will not allow those two contrary Principles which are in every renewed Soul but to those who believe and consider this it cannot Gal. 3. 17. For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things which you would especially when we consider also the advantage which the Flesh hath in us against the Spirit Vicious habits and inclinations are natural to the soil of our hearts It is a common observation Quod sponte prodit laetius prodit what a soil naturally brings forth it brings forth more vigorously and certainly than what it is made to bring forth by Art and Cultivation The heart of every man naturally inclines to motions and actions contrary to the Will of God Hence Self-denial is the first thing necessary to Christ's Disciple this makes more than a concurse of common Providence necessary to a spiritual act Now in our natural motions there is no opposition and therefore an ordinary conservative power of common Providence is sufficient to their production Nature giving no opposition to them but this reason differeth very little from the first therefore I shall not further inlarge upon this head 4. Lastly If we could exercise gracious habits without any supernatural influence exciting and quickening and also assisting and cooperating Then we might from our selves begin and carry on a supernatural act For suppose one indued with the habits of grace he is only by these furnished with a power to believe to love God c. The Question is Whence he acts and exerciseth these powers If this be from himself then the supernatural act begins and is carried on from himself and God should give only to will but not to do The Apostle tells us in 2 Cor. 3. 5. That we are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is from God If it be answered That as in natural actions God upholdeth the natural powers and faculties of the Soul so in the renewed Nature he upholdeth the Spiritual Powers This is too short for the Question is Whence a Christian is inclined to this or that individual good action and why more at one time than another for there is a never-ceasing influence of God upholding the principles and powers of the renewed Nature yet experience tells us there is not at all times the same power and vigour to act Besides in all God's influences and concurses of Providence with his creatures his influence is according to the nature of the second Cause with which he concurreth But when God concurreth with a spiritual habit or power in the Soul he concurreth with a Second Cause which is supernatural not a native quality in the rational Soul but adventitious superinduced qualities therefore an ordinary concurse of Providence is not sufficient and as the Second Cause with which he concurreth is supernatural so the Effect to be produced is of that nature also To all this might be added the mention so often made in Scripture of the Spirit dwelling in us helping our infirmities working in us And St. Paul's telling us that he lived yet not he but saith he Christ liveth in me Gal. 2. 2● and that 1 Cor. 15. 10. By the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but I laboured more abundantly than they all yet NOT I but the grace of God that was with me But I have spoken enough to the first Conclusion I laid down proving that our exercise of grace depends upon the Influence of Christ and that considering him not as God only granting his ordinary concurse of Providence to all his creatures motions and actions but considering him as Mediator and from whom the Spirit of Grace proceedeth There must be a double Influence of Christ to a Spiritual Act. 1. The first exciting moving quickening and stirring up the Soul unto it 2. Assisting the Soul in it 2. Degrees of exercises of Grace depend upon the degrees of those Influences Christ tells us That he came into the World that his People might have life and that they might have it more abundantly Joh. 10. 10. The aboundings of gracious acts depend upon the aboundings of Spiritual Life This is so obvious to every man's common reason that I need not inlarge in a Discourse to prove it Every one will conclude That if without Christ we can do nothing we cannot without him do great things if we cannot think a good thought we cannot pray a good prayer nor do an act which must speak a great self-denial and mortification of our members 3. As is the exercise of Grace so is the smell of it I have before told you that some Divines say the exercise of Grace is the smell of it I had rather by it understand the Acceptation of such exercise of Grace with God and the report of it amongst men which indeed dependeth upon the exercise and is more or less according to the exercise of it The more a Soul liveth in the improvement and exercise of those blessed habits with which God hath endued it the more it glorifieth God Joh. 15. 8. Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit so shall you be my Disciples Abraham being strong in the Faith gave glory to God and the greater is the sweet savour which the Soul gives in the World There is nothing in the exercise of gracious habits that is unlovely or unsavoury to that part of the World that hath not through malice out-lawed its reason they are not the exercises of Grace but the breakings out of sin and corruption which give the Souls of Christians any ill report amongst the generality of the men of the World Some few persons indeed there are who have such a perfect rooted hatred of God in them that as they say of the Basilisk that it hath such an hatred and antipathy to man that it will flie upon the Picture of a man so they will flie upon the Image of God where-ever they see it or think they see it but the number of these though in it self too great yet comparatively is but small The generality of men and women in the World are not so bad but a good man living uniformly up to his Principles hath a fairer quarter amongst them But amongst the People of God those who excel in vertue the exercises of Grace alwaies smell very sweet and amongst all men under the conduct of reason as is the exercise of these spiritual habits so is the Christian's smell more or less The Ointment poured forth is that which perfumes the house the reason is because that odoriferous quality is by the Air as its vehicle conveyed to our senses So for men and women in the World