the act of faith at the heels Thou must stay the Lords leisure and wait till all clouds and storms be blown over till all doubts and fears shall vanish Psal 57.1 Light is sowen for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart but with the Husbandman we must wait in patience till the corn come up and the crop come in The storm doth not cease as soon as the ship-man hath cast anchor the winds then may yet blow and the tempest may be as strong nay it may be stronger than before but the rock to which thou art fastned is sure or if thy anchor hold all is sure Nothing shall hinder safety though something may interrupt thy security to thine own apprehension To trust is the act of faith but apprehended security is the fruit of believing and therefore cometh not till afterward it may be some moneths may be some years after long experience Nay it is not an inseparable fruit of believing I mean thy apprehended security is not thou maist possibly never in this life reach the apprehensions of thy security and yet thy condition may be secure It is secure as I said in the promise though not to sense if thou dyest whilst thou ridest at Anchor having thrown it out and fastned it on Christ yet thou dyest in the ship and not in the sea thou dyest in the Covenant of Peace and there is safety though the storm in this world may never cease That which I would commend to thee is to be much in self-purging self-humbling self-examination trust much and stedfastly to the end Do as they did in that great storm when neither Sun nor Stars were seen for many days cast out anchor and wish for day nay cast out two anchors that is safest in a tempestuous night trust and pray that God would break into thy soul with a calm morning light and mean while wait and say When will the day break and these shadows this darkness this tempest fly away My soul wait thou onely upon God for my expectation is from him Psal 62.5 Object 3. But say some To believe is an act of the understanding and is nothing else but an Assent to the truth of Divine Revelations which is expressed in Scripture By receiving of Christ John 1.12 To as many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to as many as believe in his name Where receiving of Christ which say they is An act of the understanding assenting to this truth That Christ is the Messias and Saviour of the world is made all one with Believing And so Isa 53.11 By his knowledge Notitiâ sui not suâ By the knowledge of him shall my righteous servant justifie many which knowing is an act of the understanding also The like John 17.3 This is life Eternal To know thee c. All which places do report thus much That Faith is an act of the understanding not of the will And to this they alledge the testimony of the Greek Fathers which make Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An undoubted Assent to the Doctrine of Salvation and to this Proposition in particular That Christ is the Messiah So that by all this it is clear to them that Faith is an act of the understanding not of the will But now Trust is an act of the will and therefore cannot be the formal act of justifying Faith Answ Now for Answer of this we must know that 1. To Believe In the general is no more than to assent to the truth of a Proposition for the Authority of the Speaker It is no more than An act of the understanding whereby we Assent to the truth of Divine Revelations But we speak not of Faith in general but of justifying Faith of that formal act of Faith whereby we stand justified before God And here we say that Faith is not an act of the understanding onely but of the will also The first It is Too Low Non pertingit ad justificationem as one saith It reacheth not so high as Justification The second Brings the Soul over to Christ by an act of Trust whereby a man is justified By the first we do but Discover the Justifying-Cause the Founain of Life Christ himself By the latter we Throw our selves into this Fountain In ipsum quasi totos nos immergimus and draw water of life from him Hence one None can be justified but by union with Christ Nullus potest justificari nisi per unionem ad Christum Durand and the first union is by Faith By what Faith The Speculative act of Faith No sure This doth no more unite the soul to Christ than the sight of the Sun doth draw a man up to heaven By what Faith then But by this act of Trusting Resting Leaning c. Hence Augustine To believe in Christ Credere in Deum est credendo in Deum ire is by believing to go into Christ and to be incorporate into his body which the Papists themselves will not say is done By a bare act of the understanding And therefore to pass this and come to the places alledged Where the first is 1 John 1.12 As many as received him to them he gave power c. where say they by Receiving is meant no more but An act of the understanding whereby they assented to this That he was the Messias For answer to this place we say That this word Receiving doth not onely denote the understanding but implies the will also Which will appear by this one Reason among many That Receiving is to be understood which is opposed to the Jews not receiving of him For having said in Verse 11 He came to his own and his own received him not Immediately is added But as many as did receive him to them he gave power to become the sons of God So that the matter of Inquiry will be How the Jews did not receive him Was it then onely in this Their not assenting that he was the Messias or Rejecting him and Refusing him for a Saviour It could not be the former Their non-assenting to the truth of this That he was the Messias Though it was the ground why Sundry did not receive him yet it was not the ground why all did not receive him For we read There were divers of the Scribes and Pharisees and Priests who knew right well that he was The Christ For so much do the Husbandmen themselves confess in the Parable as Christ brings them in Mat. 21.38 saying This is the Heir come let us kill him and seize upon his inheritance And how could our Saviour justly charge them with the Sin against the Holy Ghost unless they had known him to be the Messias Mat. 12.32 and wilfully rejected him against knowledge and conscience And how can any be said To make shipwrack of Faith which yet the Scripture saith some have done 1 Tim. 1.19 unless you will say A man made shipwrack of that he never
and see 4. Nathaniels desire to bee satisfied hee goeth out with him and that is the summe of the discourse between Philip and Nathaniel The second discourse is between Christ and Nathaniel from vers 47. ad finem In which you have five things observeable 1. Christs profession or commendation of him vers 47. Jesus saw Nathaniel comming to him and saith of him Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile 2. Nathaniels reply ver 48. Whence knowest thou mee which may bee construed two wayes 1. Either by way of question being convinced that hee spake right and that hee discovered his heart to him hee demands how it came to pass that hee knew his spirit so right as though hee had said it is true I desire to walk uprightly and sincerely with God but how canst thou tell that how is this discovered to thee art thou able to judge of the heart none knoweth that but God only 2. Or the words may bee conceived as a blunt and more rude reply whence knowest thou mee you never saw mee before nor I you and how then can you give so high a commendation of one you are no more acquainted with And I take them in this last sense because hee came with such a prejudice against Christ ver 40. 3. Christs further and clearer manifestation of himself to him vers 48. Jesus answered before Philip called thee under the Fig-tree I saw thee as though hee had said I there saw enough to discothy sincerity I saw what there thou didst or because I saw thee when thou thoughtest none did thou mayest well think I know thy heart 4. Nathaniels noble confession or profession of Christ vers 49. Nathaniel said Rabbi thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel 5. We have Christs commendation of this act of his Faith v. 50. Jesus answered because I said I saw thee under the Fig-tree beleevest thou with a promise of future and fuller revelation thou shalt see greater things than these Here you see that Christ passeth by his failings which were 1. His prejudice against Christ because of the place can any good thing c. 2. His rude reply to Christ when he discovered himself to him whence knowest thou mee these Christ passeth by and falls into the commendation of his present act of Faith So gracious a Saviour wee have that when wee present him with our duties hee will not remember our infirmities Hee saith I will remember your sins no more viz. to object them against us to upbraid much less to condemn us for them Hee did not object agaâ—nst Manasseh his witchcrafts and idolatries nor against David his Murder and Adultery nor against Matthew that hee had been a Publican and an Oppressor nor against Zacheus that hee had been an Extortioner nor against Mary Magdalen that shee had been an Adulteresse nor here against Nathaniel his behaviour towards him when once the soul comes in hee receives it and remembers its sins no more but hides and covers them In the Text observe three general parts 1. An open commendation of Nathaniels Faith because I said c. 2. A silent reprehension of others unbelief Beleevest thou 3. A gracious promise of future and fuller Revelation thou shalt see greater c. In the first consider 1. The Person commending Christ 2. The Person commended Nathaniel 3. The thing for what his readiness to beleeve 4. The ground of his Faith because I said I saw thee under the Fig-tree beleevest thou as if hee had said doth so small a thing induce thee to beleeve I have wrought no miracles raised no dead c. I shall do greater things in the sight of others heal the sick give sight to the blinde cleanse the Lepers cast out Devils raise the dead and yet many of them will not beleeve For the promise of fuller Revelation the words are thou shalt see greater things than these which is promised Either as a reward of his former Faith or for the increase of his present Faith and in these words hee points at what after miracles hee would do Thus you see the parts of the Text laid open to you but there is one thing yet which is necessarily to bee unfolded in the Text before wee leave the general view of it which is the ground of his beleeving which was Christs saying that hee saw him under the Fig-tree The question is Quest How so small a thing as this saying that hee saw him under the Fig-tree could bee likely to produce so noble a confession and profession of Christ or make him to beleeve Ans Wee will not now speak of Gods working by it for so wee know nothing is so small but by his working in and by it may prove admirably efficacious as on the contrary if hee work not no thing though never so great otherwise and seemingly promising will bee able to do any thing as wee see in the Jews who although they saw his miracles such as none but a God could do yet they beleeved not Wee will consider the thing in it self and so I finde these two things in it which might draw out such a confession and make him put forth such an act of Faith Because I said unto thee I saw thee under the Fig-tree 1. It may bee hee was then taken up with the meditation of the Messiah who was to come for at this time their thoughts were all full of it Luk. 2.25.48 and so God might now suggest to him that hee would reveal him to him 2. Or it may bee out of evidence and conviction of the omnipresence of Christ that hee could see him under the Fig-tree Nathaniel thought that hee had been alone and no eye had seen him and therefore when such an evidence was brought to his spirit that Christ saw him yea not only his person and outward actions but his heart also hee was thereupon convinced of the divinity of Christ and so cryeth out Rabbi thou art the Son of God c. Quest 2. But you will say How did this discover that Christ was the Son of God or the divinity of Christ Ans Hee knew that corporally hee was not there and therefore although his eyes told him that Christ was a man yet in that when absent hee could see him under the Fig-tree it did discover and declare him to bee God But 2. I think this speech of Christ which was the ground of Nathaniels Faith had not only relation to his seeing of Nathaniels person but to some special peece of service which Nathaniel was then upon Either meditation prayer or the like which Christ saw and his heart in it as if Christ had said I saw not only thy person under the Fig-tree but also the workings of thy spirit there I saw in them the uprightness and sincerity of thy heart and the goings out of thy soul when thou wert there alone which brought such a conviction of the divinity of Christ with it that it made him
Secondly By Purchase p. 54 Thirdly By Donation p. 55 Fourthly By Covenant p. 55 46. Second Reason Because they are adorned with his Beauties 1. Of his Righteousness p. 56 2. Of his Graces p. 57 2 They are persons singled out to advance the great design of glorifying the riches and freenesses of his grace p. 58 59 Uses 1 To strengthen our faith in expectation that Christ should do more for his Church p. 60 The Church Christs 1 Fould 2 Field 3 House 4. Flore p. 60 Note to Explication joyn Supplication p. 61 Second Consectary Then hee will never take his heart off from them Object God doth sometimes forsake his Church and People p. 63 In answer to the Objections several conclusions laid down 1 God doth sometimes seemingly when hee doth not really forsake them p. 63 2 God may partially forsake his People but hee doth never totally forsake them p. 64 3 God may forsake them for a time not for ever p. 65 Third Consectary Then all the passages of Gods Providence 1 Towards the Church in general 2 To any particular member are all for good p. 66 67 4 Consectary VVhat a fearful sin it is that causes God to deal hardly with that which his soul loves so dearly p. 68 69 70 5 Consectary It discovers into what you may resolve all the passages of God to his Church even into his own love p. 70 71 Two streams in which the Love of God doth run 1 Higher in four Particulers 2 Lower in four Particulars more p. 72 6 Consectary VVith what confidence wee may pray for the good of the Church p. 73 7 Consectary What will become of those who are enemies to his Church and People p. 74 8 Consectary See here the ground of acceptation of the services of his People p. 75 Use of Examination whether wee have interest in this love Four Rules to bee observed in our Examination p. 76 Inquiry it self hee whose heart is taken with Christ Christs heart is taken with him Signes Nine signes of a heart taken with Christ p. 77 to 88 Use of Exhortation To them of his Church 1 Walk sutable to this Love in five Particulars p. 88 2 Beware of abusing his Love Four particulars wherein Christs Love may bee abused p. 88 89 3 Bee much in contemplation of his Love p. 90 The thoughts of Christs Love will work seven Effects p. 90 to 93 4 Labour for a reciprocal affection towards Christ p. 94 95 The Contents of The Nature and Royalties of Faith JOHN 3.15 Whosoever beleeveth in him shall not perish but have eternal life 1 THe occasion of this discourse p. 41 2 The discourse it self p. 42 Parts of the Text. Ibid. Inquiries First What Act of Faith that is whereby a sinner stands justified before God p. 42 43 44 2 Upon what Object this Act is to bee terminated p. 45 Doct. The great thing which is required at our hands for Justification and Salvation is beleeving in Christ p. 46 1 What Faith is the Definition with the Explanation of it which answers to six Objections that are made against the Definition p. 46. to 61 2 Faith the only requisite whereby wee should bee justified and saved 1 No way of union with Christ but by Faith p. 61 62 2 Faith necessary for our communion with Christ p. 62 to 64 3 Why God should make choice of this Grace for our Justification 1 That it might bee by Grace Ibid. 2 That the promise might bee sure in two respects p. 64 65 3 That the promise might bee to all the seed Ibid. 4 That no man might have cause to beast or glory in himself p. 65 66. 4 How Faith justifieth p. 67 68 What are the Royalties of Faith Faith is a heart-chearing Grace 1 By procuring a sufficient paymaster Christ p. 68 65 2 By making us one with Christ by which his payment is ours p. 66 2 Faith is a heart-cleansing grace and that two wayes 1 Argumentatively from God four Arguments p. 69 2 From our selves two Arguments p. 70 2 Operatively Faith makes thee First Of the Merit of Christ Secondly Prayer Thirdly Promise of Christ p. 71 3 Royalty Faith is a heart-commanding grace and it inables the soul to do what it commands p. 71 72 4 Faith is a heart-quieting grace 72. 71. Again false figured Two manner of wayes Faith calms the heart 1 Imperiously and that 1 By commanding or 2 By checking the soul p. 72 73 2 In a perswasive mild way presenting three grounds for patience p. 73 74 5 Royalty Faith is a soul-securing grace nothing else will secure but beleeving p. 75 1 It sets the soul upon a soul-securing bottome p. 75 76 2 Instates the soul into soul-securing promises p. 77 3 Into soul-securing priviledges 1 Sons of God 2 Spouse of Christ 3 The inheritance of Christ. p. 77 6 Royalty Faith is a heart-humbling Grace it makes real all humbling considerations from God the justice of God threatnings of God against sin p. 78 79 7 Royalty Faith is a heart-softening grace and that p. 80 1 By looking upon heart-melting Promises Ibid. 2 Taking up heart-softening Considerations Ibid. 3 Looks upon soul-melting Objects a wounded and broken Christ the considerations of his sufferings p. 81 1 Either in themselves 2 Or in their cause 3 Or as the effect of sin p. 81 82 8 Royalty Faith is a heart-transforming grace heart head will transformed p. 82 to 84 9 Royalty Faith is a heart-pacifying grace an unbeleeving-heart a stormy heart above us within us below us all against us whilst unbeleevers p. 84 2 Faith makes us servants to the God of Peace p. 65 2 Subjects to the King of Peace p. 66 3 Christ our Peace interests us in the Covenant of Peace 4 Instates us into the conditions of Peace p. 66 Quest Many have peace and yet are not beleevers and many are Beleevers and yet want Peace Answered p. 87 to 90 10 Royalty Faith is a heart-inabling grace First To do Secondly To suffer p. 90 91 1 Faith begets inabling-promises p. 92 2 Supplies with soul-inabling strength Ibid. 3 Furnisheth a Christian with soul-inabling considerations in three Particulars p. 93. 2 Faith inables the soul to suffer p. 93 1 Puts the soul into a suffering frame 1 By putting the Judgement into a right frame Ibid. 2 Prevails with the will p. 94 3 Works upon the affections Ibid. 2 Faith furnisheth the soul with suffering resolutions Ibid. 3 Begets suffering graces p. 95 4 Layes in suffering strength Ibid. 5 Propounds to the soul suffering rewards Ibid. 11 Royalty Faith is a heart-innobling grace Ibid. 1 It sets our persons above others Ibid. 2 Our performances above others p. 96 1 It begets in us soul-innobling Principles Ibid. 2 Implants us into soul-innobling relations It first makes us servants of the great God 2 Friends of God 3 Sons and Daughters of God 4 Spouse of Christ 5 Makes us members of Christ who is such a head as doth
innoble his members p. 97 3 Faith puts us upon soul-innobling imployment p. 97. 4 Faith intitles us unto a soul-innobling inheritance p. 98 12 Royalty Faith is a soul-fatning grace which it doth after this manner 1 By destroying soul-consuming lusts p. 99 100 2 Faith puts a man into a soul-fatning pasture p. 100 3 Faith feeds upon soul-fatning dainties p. 101 1 On the Promises 101. 2 Upon a soul-fatning Christ. Faith feeds upon Christ 1 In the Word 2 In the Sacrament p. 102 103 13 Royalty Faith is a heart-emptying grace Ibid. 1 Of opinion of Righteousnesse in our selves p. 104 105 2 Of all opinion of strength to help our selves p. 106 107 14 Royalty Faith is an heart-inriching and filling grace p. 108 109 1 It inricheth the head with knowledge p. 110 2 The heart with grace p. 111 Four invaluable things 1 Favour of God in Christ 2 Souls of men 3 The Spirit 4 The Graces of the Spirit â—hese are such riches God bestowes upon none but beleevers Ibid. A Beleever the poorest and richest man in the world p. 112 15 Royalty Faith is an heart-raising grace 1 From the death of sin p. 113 2 From the death of inward trouble p. 114 1 By looking back upon soul-raising experiences p. 115 2 Looks upon soul-raising promises Ibid. 3 Layes hold upon a soul-raising Christ p. 116 4 Indites soul-raising prayers uses Arguments from it self from God p. 117 16 Royalty Faith is an heart-chearing grace p. 118 This joy of Faith is First Spiritual Secondly Hearty Thirdly Satisfying Fourthly Constant p. 119 Faith will inable to rejoyce 1 In Bonds 2 In Sicknesse 3 In Poverty Ibid. Five grounds of rejoycing p. 120 Objection Who more sad than Beleevers Answered 120 to 122 Five grounds of Sorrow arraigned at the bar of right reason p. 122 1 Is it thy former sin 2 Is it thy present corruption 3 Is it thy imperfections 4 Is it thy afflictions 5 Is it because under some present temptation Ibid. Matter of joy if Faith to see Gods aims in six particulars p. 122 123 17. Royalty Faith is an heart-guiding grace p. 124 It guides the heart in difficult cases p. 125 Faith will not own the flesh as a King nor as a Counsellor p. 126 18. Royalty Faith is an heart-establishing grace p. 127 Unbeleef unsettles the soul Ibid. Two things Faith establisheth the soul against First Against fears Secondly Against falling Against five sorts of fears p. 128 1 Of Men. 2 Of Want Ibid. 3 Of Death p. 129 4 Of Hell Ibid. 5 Of Judgement p. 130 2 Faith establisheth the heart against falling 1 Against total Apostacy p. 130 2 Against final Apostacy p. 131 1 Faith sets the soul upon a soul-establishing bottome 2 Interests the soul in a soul-establishing covenant Ibid. 3 Doth beget in a man soul-establishing principles p. 132 Six Principles Faith begets in a man p. 132 133 Use 1 Of Tryal incouragement to it 1 It is possible p. 134 135 2 Though possible yet it is difficult 1 In respect of the deceits p. 136 2 In respect of the doubts and mis-givings of our own heart at all times especially at three times First Of Humiliation p. 137 Secondly Of Temptation Ibid. Thirdly of Desertion p. 138 Secondly It is necessary to know whether wee are beleevers First In respect of comfort Ibid. Secondly In respect of Obedience p. 139 140 Two Rules observed in the Tryals following First Grand Rule the Word of God Secondly To lay down such evidences as are universal to all beleevers weak as strong p. 140 Method observed for Tryal are evidences taken First From the usual manner of Gods working Faith Secondly From the grace it self wrought First The manner of Gods working Faith 1 By discovering sin p. 141 2 By discovering the fulnesse and al-sufficiency that is in Christ p. 142 3 The freenesse of his Righteousnesse to all commers 4 Stirs up the soul to persevere 5 How God works Faith p. 142 143 Secondly Some evidences taken from the grace it self 1 Of a weak 2 Of a strong Faith Ibid. 1 The weakest faith hath strong desires after Christ wherein is shewed the difference between an unbeleevers desires and a beleevers p. 143 144. 2 A Weak faith will close with the precepts of God p. 144 145 3 Weak faith is joyned with mourning and sorrow for the weaknesse of it Ibid. 4 Weak faith is unfeigned faith not counterfeit 5 Weak faith is a holy faith accompanied with holinesse of heart holinesse in life p. 145 146 6 A weak faith doth not rest in weaknesse 7 A weak faith will cleave to Christ Five things by way of support to a weak faith 1 The smallest degree if true is saving p. 146 2 Though weak yet it is a growing 3 The weakest gives the soul union with Christ 4 It gives communion with Christ 5 It hath equal share in Gods love Difference between want and weaknesse p. 147 Evidences of a strong faith 1 An high prizing of Christ p. 148 Two things make Christ precious to a mâ—n 1 The knowledge of Christ and that 1 The want of Christ 2 The worth of Christ Ibid 2 The apprehension of the souls interest in him this a strong beleever doth p. 149. Four Tryalls whether we prize Christ p. 149. Some things more peculiar to a strong Faith than to a weak Faith p. 150 151. 2 Strong in Faith and strong in hope and expectations of the thing beleeved p. 152. Strong Faith and strong Patience Ibid. Strong in Faith and strong in Obedience p. 153. Strong for active and passive obedience p. 154 3 A strong Faith will beleeve nothing contrary to his beleefe Ibid. Though Satan takes up arguments from God 1 Inward or p. 155 2 Outward dealing with him p. 155 156 4 A strong Faith will trust God in difficulties 1 With small means p. 156 2 Without means p. 157 3 Against means p. 158 5 A strong Faith is accompanied 1 VVith much peace p. 158. 2 VVith much joy p. 159 6 Strong Faith will subdue strong corruptions Ibid. 7 Overcome strong temptations Ibid. 8 Over come strong doubts 159. 9 Strong Faith and strong prayers Strong 1 To wrestle with God p. 160 2 To prevail with God p. 160 161 10 Strong Faith can take 1 Long delays p. 161 2 Strong denials from Gods hand p. 161. 162. 11 Strong Faith hath strong desires 1 To go to Christ by death 2 That Christ would come to judgement p. 163 Use of Exhortation First To get Faith Motives 1 From the greatnesse of the sin of unbeleef it offers injury to all-God 1. VVisdome 2 Mercy and Love 3 Power 4 Truth p. 164 165 2 Unbelief is a mother sin the womb of sin entertainer maintainer of sin p. 165. 3 Unbeleef is a soul-killing sin p. 167. 2 Motive from the necessity of Faith 1 Needfull in respect of our persons Our persons are 1 Under the guilt 2 Power 3 Dominion of sin p. 167. 2 In respect of
our performances Faith is the salt that seasons all p. 167 168. 2 Branch of the Exhortation to those that have Faith to exercise Faith 1 In matter of Justification under the guilt of sin trust in God for pardon of sin p. 169. 2 Trust in him for sanctification 3 Trust in him for Mortification of thy Lusts five Scriptures to incourage us 170. 4 Exercise Faith in case of difficulties Ibid. 5 Exercise Faith in case of desertion p. 171. 6 In case of Calamity Nationall or personal p. 172. 3 Branch of the exhortation let us grow up in trust Ibid. Incouragements 1 The more Faith the more in love and favour with God p. 173. 2 The more Faith Grace more love of God more Patience Courage Obedience 3 The more spiritual comfort 4 The more strength to prevail with God Ibid. Means for the begetting of Faith 1 Keep close to Faith-begetting Ordinances 1 Word p. 174. 2 Prayer p. 174 175. 2 Have much to do with Faith-begetting company Faith-begetting Conference p. 175. 3 Cherish Faith-begetting considerations 1 Thoughts of our selves p. 175. 2 Of God cherish especially three thoughts p. 176. Two doubts keep men off from beleeving Ibid. Wee must do as those Lepers 2 King 7.3 4. p. 177. 12 Means for increasing Faith A conclusion p. 178. 179. With the doctrin of Works p. 180 181. The Contents of The slownesse of Heart to believe JOHN 1.50 Jesus answered and said unto him because I said unto thee I saw thee under the Fig-tree beleevest thou thou shalt see greater things than these PArts of the Chapter p. 185 186. Parts of the Text. 187. 1 Question arising out of the words p. 187. Answered Ibid. and p. 188. 2 Question for unfoulding of the words answered p. 188. Doctrins from the scope of the Text. 1 Doct. The eyes of Christ run through the world and behold the evil and the good Three Uses made of it p. 189. 2 Doct. Such is the goodnesse of God that hee commends us for that which is his own Two Uses made of this p. 189. Doctrins the Text more fully holds forth First That slownesse of heart to beleeve is a temper of spirit very offensive unto God Secondly It is very pleasing unto God when we will beleeve in him upon small Revelation Thirdly God will reveal great things to them who do so beleeve in him The first Doctrin cleared p. 190 191. That we are slow of heart to beleeve demonstrated in five particulars The 1 Greatnesse of that power put forth in the working Faith p. 191 192. 2 The complaints of sinners when they come first to beleeve p. 192 193. 3 Rhetorick work God useth to a poor humbled cast down sinner to bring him to beleeve p. 193. 4 Way God takes to confirm the covenant of mercy to beleevers p. 194. 5 Complaints of the Preacher p. 195. Grounds of the slownesse of heart to beleeve First From Satan who hath two stratagems p. 195 196 197. Secondly From themselves 1 From ignorance p. 197. 2 Pride 3 Too much tendernesse p. 198 199. 4 Doubt of Gods will p. 200. 5 Some rest on this side Christ p. 200 201. 3 Ground why wee are slow of heart to beleeve is taken from others p. 202. 1 Wee look upon their height p. 203. 2 Upon others depths p. 204. 205. 206. Three Reasons why this frame of spirit is so offensive to God 1 It argues and speaks a corrupt heart p. 207. 2 As much as in it lyes it makes void all the stupendious things of God p. 107. in particular 1 The great counsel of God 2 The thoughts of his mercy 3 The purposes of Gods mercy to thee p. 20. 4 Frustrates the expectation of God p. 209. 5 Gods end in sending Christ 6 The death of Christ 7 The promises of God to Christ p. 209. 3 Reason this keeps a man in an unserviceable condition both to God and Man p. 210 211. Use See how Satan doth delude their souls whom hee perswades not to beleeve is a vertue is a thing pleasing unto God p. 212. Reasonings of poor souls why they must not beleeve p. 213. 2 Use of Exhortation to three things 1 To bee convinced of the greatnesse of the sin 1 You wrong God 2 You gratify Satan Satan hath two glasses to discover sin p. 215. Quest How shall I know when God and when Satan discovers sin p. 216. A sinful looking on sin in seven particulars p. 217. 3 You injure your selves in three particulers 2 Be humbled for it p. 219. 3 Be quickned to beleeve p. 219 220. Consider 1 It is Gods command and that is first a sufficient warrant 2 It is sufficient security p. 220. 2 Consider you can do God no greater pleasure than to come in and beleeve in him p. 221. Faith a weapon to be weilded against seven charges of Satan p. 221 222. THE CONTENTS OF HYPOCRISY ISAIAH 58.2 THe World divided into four ranks of men p. 26 Those that are in the pale of the Church ranked in three sorts ibid. Those that are pretenders for Heaven into two sorts of which are the 1 Formal Christian ibid. 2 Upright and sincere Christian ibid. The Text opened ibid. Doct. That it is possible for a man to do much in the wayes of God even to abound in all outward performances and yet bee false at heart and have an unsound spirit here and miss of Heaven hereafter p. 263 The Doctrin proved and cleared by diverse Particulars as The first Particular is 1 Hee may hear the Word p. 265 2 May abound in hearing ibid. 3 May hear with affection ibid. Four kindes of affections that a Formalist may hear with 1 With affection of wonder and astonishment p. 266 2 Affection of fear and trembling ibid. 3 With delight and some kinde of love ibid. 4 With affection of Joy ibid. Secondly A man may not only hope but pray too nay make many Prayers ibid. And hee may joyn fasting to prayer ibid. Thirdly A man may seem to bee humbled to mourn and to weep for sin and yet bee unsound p. 267 There are four sorts of tears ibid. 1 Tears of Anger ibid. 2 Tears of desparation such as are the damned in Hell ibid. 3 Tears of compassion ibid. 4 Tears of Godly-sorrow ibid. Fourthly A man may seem to do much walk in many wayes of duty in outward shew of obedience to the letter of command ibid. Fifthly A man may cast up his vomit disgorge himself of all his old wayes p. 268 Hee may leave sin either 1 Out of fear of evil ibid. 2 Out of a wearinesse of it ibid. 3 Out of love of some contrary sin ibid. 4 Out of want of fit Instruments and means to compass his sin ibid. Sixthly A man may accompany himself with the People of God ibid. Seventhly A man may not only do but suffer too and yet bee unsound ibid. Reasons are 1 Reas Because no unsound spirit hath any thing in it which is essential to a
fearful in praises doing wonders IN trouble God charges us with two things 1 Faith p. 335 2 Prayer Ibid. In deliverance with two things 1 Thankfulnesse p. 356 2 Obedience Ibid. The words opened Ibid. and p. 357. Doctrin The wonderful God doth do wonderful things for his Church and People The Doctrin proved and illustrated p. 358 1 That God doth great wonders Ibid. 2 That God hath done great wonders and that either p. 359 1 With small means Ibid 2 Without means p. 360 3 By contrary means Ibid. 2 Querie Is the Grounds and Reasons 1 Because he is a wonderful God p. 361 2 To get himself a wonderful name Ibid. 3 As to get so to uphold his great name p. 362 4 Reason God doth wonders for his People that hee might inherit wonderfull praises from his People p. 363. 5 Reason To add torture to the Devill and his Children p. 363. 6 Reason That so our selves and the Generations to come might bee stirred up to trust in him p. 364 365. 7 Reason Because his love and ingagements move him to it 4. Ingagements 1 They are his p. 366 2 He hath promised p. 366 367 3 They trust in him p. 368 4 They seek him ibid. 3 Query VVhat are those wonders God doth for his Church and People p. 369 1 Wonders for their souls p. 369. to 373 2 Wonders for their outward man p. 373 374 375 4 Query When is the time which God takes to do VVonders for his Church 1 When God shall get him most glory of the enemies p. 375. 2 VVhen God shall get most praise from his People p. 375 376 3 When God can â—â—â—â—e Church most good and work the compleatest â—â—â—â—â—erances p. 376 4 VVhen thâ—â—â—emies of the Church are carried with most 〈◊〉 â—nd promise themselves most successe p. 376 377 5 â—â—en Gods people are brought most low â— Two times Gods time Mans time p. 377 378 6 VVhen God holds up a spirit of Prayer p. 378 379 7 VVhen the glory of God is mightily concerned p. 379 5 Query How shall wee know God will work wonders for us if God do not wee shall bee made three wonders to all Nations ibid. 1 Of folly and madnesse 2 Of scorn and hissing 3 Of misery p. 380 Grounds of Fear that God will rather make us a wonder than work a wonder for us first Spiritual grounds 1 Universallity of sin p. 380 2 Impudency of sin p. 381 3 Obstinacy of sin amongst us ibid. Second natural grounds of Fear 1 The opposition of wicked men against indeavours of reformation ibid. 2 The schismes and divisions among us 382. 3 The wilful blindnesse and security among us 4 Missing of opportunities amongst us ibid. Two Grounds of hope first From God 1 From the goodnesse of his nature ibid. 2 Because Gods glory is much concerned p. 383 Two Grounds of Hope from the Church of God the good of most of the reformed Churches in the Christian world doth depend upon the welfare of England ibid. Three Arguments taken from our selves 1 Sins are not National nor untenanced by Law p. 383 384 2 Wee are now in reforming of them p. 384 3 From the beginnings of mercy p. 385 4 The stock of prayers laid up p. 386 5 God hath drawn out the graces of his people ibid. Four Arguments taken from our enemies 1 Their former wickednesse which shall hunt them and finde them out p. 387 2 Their present sinfulnesse ibid. Object God hath given up the godly into the hands of wicked men Four answers to this Objection p. 388 389 Five Arguments to induce us to hope that God will do wonders for us is taken from the consideration of those great things that God hath promised to do for his Church and People in this latter end of the World 389 to 393 Vse of Information To inform us of the greatnesse of our God 1 Of his Power 2 Wisdome 3 Mercy 4 Truth 394 2 It informs us of the happy condition of the Saints 3 How precious the Saints are in the esteem of God 4 That the condition of the Church is many times sad because a wonder must bee expressed for their relief p. 395 5 They must not thereby dispair of help p. 396 6 There is no ground for wicked men to insult p. 397 7 What ingagements lye upon them that God hath done wonders for ibid. 8 Information What grounds there is for us at this time 1 To trust in God 2 To pray to him 3 To hope in him 4 To wait upon him 1 From the Experience of God p. 398 399 2 From the Power of God 399 9 This informs us what is the reason that God lets wicked men bring up their designs to ripenesse because hee can do wonders p. 400 401 Second use of Advice to wicked men p. 401 402 403 Third Use for incouragement of Gods People 1 There is no cause of fear p. 403 Fear is unbeseeming 1 A Christian which is the souldier of Christ 2 Religion which is the cause of Christ p. 404 2 There is lesse cause of discouragement p. 405 406 407 Fourth Use To teach three lessons 1 Thankfulnesse p. 407 2 Obedience p. 408 3 Dependence p. 408 409 Two great enemies of Dependence upon God 1 Obliterating the notions of God p. 410 2 Burying the remembrance of his works p. 411 Fifth Use Then it is good being on the Churches side p. 412 Sixth Use Let us fall down and adore this great God who can do wonders Seventh Use Let us carry our selves in such department as is sutable for such as are Expectants that God should do wonders for them p. 413 Eight Use Doth God do wonders for his Church then learn 1 To trust in God unbeleef imprisons God faith sets him at liberty p. 414 2 Bee incouraged to Prayer Faith and Prayer have had a hand in most wonders p. 415 3 Bee incouraged to hope ibid. 4 Bee incouraged to wait p. 416 1 Would you ingage God to do wonders beleeve p. 417 The excellency of Faith in four Particulars Let no difficulty undermine your Faith no nor discouragement put you off from seeking p. 418 Supplication is nothing without Reformation p. 419 420 SUch was his Out-side But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That once within Thou may'st not yet behold For fear of Sin It 's Dan. 12 3. Dazeling Glory Mortal would amaze And make thee Idolize It 's * Sun-bright raies Thy Sin would Crucify what Grace hath Crown'd And Thou with shame It 's Glory quite Confound No Stay a while First Get to Heaven And than Gaze-on And view the In-side of the Man Then Love Adore Admire Triumph And Sing Eternal Hallelu-jahs to thy King That Pious Soul Rev. 19.10 22.9 disclaims thy Worship He Thy Fellow-Saint will worship God with thee But is there left no Tran-script here beneath Of that Fair-Copy Rent from us by Death Yes Turn these Pages Reader Thou wilt see His every-line Breaths Immortality Ferd. Archer SINNE THE GREATEST
dear are you precious to him let him bee dear and precious to you Whatever God doth to the soul it makes an impression in the soul of the same to God Hee loves us and thereupon wee love him so his heart is taken with us thereupon our hearts are taken with him You see here the mutual Indeerments betwixt Christ and his Church Cant. 5.16 Pauls heart was so much taken with Christ that hee was ever in his thoughts ever upon his tongue Hee names him sixteen or seventeen several times in one chapter 1 Cor. 1.1 as Chrysostome notes Peter did but let a word of Christ fall and it is a door to open to further discourse of him Hee takes occasion upon the naming of him to enter into discourse concerning him As you see 1 Pet. 1.7 8. So greatly were their hearts taken with Christ that they could think nothing but Christ speak nothing but Christ No sentence compleat wherein Christ was not part of it Hee was the one of their esteems the one of their affections the one of their desires the one of their delights And so ought hee to bee of ours Get your hearts taken with Christ this will make you Christians indeed this will make you humble active chearful Christians An heart taken with Christ is Heaven on this side Heaven An Heaven on Earth Glory in Clay It is the Paradise where Christ delights to walk It is the House where Christ delights to dwell It is the Throne where Christ sits in his glory It is the Habitation of the blessed Spirit It is the Delight of all the blessed Trinity An heart taken with Christ is the humble soul indeed is the active soul the living soul which breathes forth nothing but love and desire after Christ It is an heart dead to the world for the World can never take that heart which once is taken with Christ All is empty to him whom fulness fills All is blackness where Beauty shines Oh! then get but an heart taken with him and thou livest a Life of Glory and a Life of Grace This is the Porch of Glory the suburbs of Heaven I told you before there were four speciall times in which the heart was taken with Christ I might adde a fifth which I hope is our times When Christ goes forth in his glory for the redemption and deliverance of his Church and punishment of his enemies Then is the heart taken with him 1. Taken with his Wisdome 2. With his Justice 3. With his Power 4. With his Mercy and goodness Which are the visible attributes Christ doth manifest in the deliverance of his Church You see this Isa 25.9 when God went forth in his Glory to deliver his Church the Saints were taken with him even to admiration and speak glorying Loe This is our God wee have waited for him and hee will save us This is the Lord wee have waited and will bee glad in his salvation Here was a Triumphant song of the Church This is our God This who appears so glorious so full of Majesty This This is our God not yours And good reason 1. Christ never appears in his Glory to his Church but hee makes his Church glorious You see when God delivered his Church from Babylon hee did appear in his Glory Psal 102.16 When the Lord shall build up Zion hee shall appear in his glory And you see as hee appeared in his Glory so hee made the Church glorious Isa 54.11 12 13. speaking of the same time Behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with Saphires I will make thy windows of Agates and thy gates of Carbuncles and all thy borders of pleasant stones 2. Christ now comes in with the Performance of Promises and needs then must he be glorious and the Church be taken with him If Christ were so glorious when hee made those promises what is hee when hee comes in to make good those Promises Christ hath reserved abundance of his visible Glory to bee seen by his Church now at the end of the World Our Fore-Fathers have seen him but an obscured Christ a persecuted and kept-down Christ Though glorious yet humble-glory But it will not bee long before the Church see him in his Glory when hee comes to destroy that man of sin with the brightness of his comming Blessed bee God for what our eyes see Let us follow him with admiration with the Church This is our God follow with spiritual triumph This is our God And let our hearts bee taken with his goings forth who is set forth in his glory now to redeem and to deliver his Church and People A TREATISE OF THE NATURE AND ROYALTIES OF FAITH BY SAMVEL BOLTON D. D. And MASTER of C.C.C. LONDON Printed by Robert Ibbitson for Thomas Parkhurst and are to be sold at his Shop over against the Great Conduit in Cheapside 1656. A TREATISE OF THE NATVRE ROYALTIES OF FAITH JOHN 3.15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life I Have intended with Gods assistance to enter upon a Discourse of Faith which might last till we come to the place where faith shall be no more And although my preaching of faith may end before yet your practising of it must not The just shall live by faith and the just must dye in faith This Text I have chosen for the foundation of this Discourse Which before I come to handle in particular I shall shew what coherence and dependance it hath with the former words For which purpose you must know that this Chapter from the beginning to Verse 22. contains a discourse between Christ and Nicodemus In which you may observe 1. The Occasion of the Discourse 2. The Discourse it self 1. The occasion of this Discourse most likely was a Question put by Nicodemus which is not here expressed but is probably implyed in Verse 3. in that it is said That Jesus Answered and by the Answer you may guess what the Question was It may be such an one as this What he must do that he might be saved 2. We have the Discourse it self Which was partly continued and partly interrupted Continued by Christ and partly interrupted by Nichodemus in divers places by his Objections Cavils and fleshly Reasonings This Text is a part of Christs continued discourse and hath special relation to the foregoing verse As Moses lift up c. so must the Son of man be lifted up Verse 14. That whosoever believeth in him be he who he will Jew or Gentile bond or free Barbarian Scythian c. Or be his sins what they will for nature never so hainous for number never so many for continuance never so long practised Yet whosoever believeth c. if they believe they shall be as readily and certainly pardoned and saved as other less offendors Whosoever believeth In which words we have 1. The Promise 2. The Condition of the Promise Or here is 1. An act Believe 2. The object Christ
of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and stay or lean upon his God and Isa 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is staid on thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because hee trusteth in thee which word in the matter of Justification designeth that Act whereby finding and feeling our own weakness as unable to support our selves wee do lean and rest on Christ as David Psal 28.7 The Lord is my strength and my shield my heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trusted in him and I am helped c. And to these words in the Old Testament wee may adde those forms of words in the New and so wee shall finde that what in the Old is expressed by some one of these words is in the New expressed by beleeving in and upon To instance in a few We trust in the name of his Holiness saith the Old Testament Psal 33.21 and He that believeth in his name saith the New John 1.12 13. Trust in the Lord with thy whole heart saith the Old Prov. 3.5 If thou believest with thy whole heart saith the New Acts 8.34 37. In thee O Lord have I trusted let me not be confounded saith the Old Psal 31.1 25.2 and He that believeth on him shall not be ashamed saith the New Rom. 10.11 So that you see that to Trust and to Believe are Synonima import the same things though they differ in name yet not in nature He that Trusteth Believeth and he that Believeth Trusteth In which sense we have the phrases of believing in or upon 1 Pet. 2.6 Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded Where by believing on him cannot be meant any thing but a laying and building our selves upon Christ as the foundation that we may be made a spiritual house as you have it in Verse 4 5. the like we have Rom. 10.10.11 He that believeth on him and so 2 Tim. 1.12 For I know in whom I have believed c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whence it is apparent that to believe in God is as much as to commit our selves to his trust for so it there followeth I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him or deposited with him or delivered up unto his keeping to that day that is his soul to everlasting life So that we see that to believe in Christ is with confidence and trust to rely upon him And thus much for the formal act of faith 2. For the formal object of faith and that not of faith at large for so the word of God is the objectum adaequatum of it but as it is particularly justifying faith quatenus justificat as it properly justifieth which is not the believing of every truth of God but that onely which by way of eminency is called The Truth that is Christ himself with all his merits John 14.6 and so here in the Text He that believeth in him Hence justifying faith is often called the Faith of Christ because he is the proper object of it Rom. 3 22 26. Gal. 2.16.20 And faith in Christ Acts 20.21 and Faith in the blood of Christ Whence I thus argue That Object to the Belief of which justification and salvation is promised that is the Object of justifying faith But to believe in Christ is Justification and Salvation promised Therefore Christ is the object of justifying faith Thus as briefly as I could having shewed what is the formal both act and object of justifying faith I shall now lay down this one Conclusion Doct. That the great thing which is required at our hands for Justification and Salvation is beleeving in Christ Hee that beleeves shall bee saved In the prosecution of this wee will shew 1 What Faith is 2 That Faith is the great requisite 3 Why God hath made choice of this to bee the instrument of Justification 4 How Faith doth justifie whether formally or instrumentally 5 What bee the Royalties of Faith 1 What Faith is For the first What Faith is Wee will not define the habit of Faith but the Act of Faith nor every Act but that only which justifieth Now according to the diversity of opinions herein such is the diversity of Definitions They who hold the Assent to bee the Act of Justifying Faith define it to bee a firm and willing Assent to the truth of God in generall and to this truth in particular that Christ is the Messiah and Saviour of the World They who hold it to bee a receiving of Christ define it to bee such an Act as whereby wee receive Christ in all his offices But not to trouble you with these That which I will give you is this Definition Faith is an Act of a regenerate person whereby knowing and assenting unto the Promises of God and to this Truth in particular that Christ is the Messiah or Saviour of the World doth rest upon him for Justification Sanctification and consequently for Salvation Now to explain this Definition 1 I say that Faith is an Act for wee speak not of Faith in actu primo as an habit infused and implanted in us but in actu secundo as an Act whereby wee are justified for wee are not justified by Faith as an habit or as a grace inherent in us but as I said by Faith as an Act as it goeth over to Christ as wee see here the Promise is not made to the Habit but to the Act of Faith Hee that beleeveth c. That is the first I call it an Act 2 The subject person so it is said to bee an Act of a regenerate person a man universally sanctified regenerated and born again for take Faith which way you please for the Act or for the Habit neither of them are before Regeneration 1 The Act of Faith that is not before the Habit of Faith a thing must bee in esse before it can bee in operari there must bee a Habit of Faith within before there can bee the exercise of Faith without 2 And this Habit of Faith is not infused before other graces it being part of our inherent Sanctification as infidelity is a part of our corruption nor is it again infused alone but together with the rest of the graces of Gods Spirit by which wee are regenerated So that Faith is an Act of a regenerated soul A man cannot beleeve till his understanding bee enlightened and his will changed and this is not before Grace Again to beleeve is an Act of a living man not of a soul dead in sin and therefore the soul must first bee indued with the life of Grace before it can perform this living action Indeed we are said to be sanctified by Faith and so it might seem that our Sanctification were a fruit of Faith an effect of Faith but wee are not to understand this as meant of the first work of Sanctification which is not acquired or put forth
by us but infused by God together with Faith as being a part of it But it is meant of the second or further work of Sanctification and so Faith sanctifieth us as it lends a hand to help forward and to perfect our Sanctification for so Faith doth strengthen and increase Grace in us by drawing down strength and life from Christ daily and in this sense as to their bene or melius esse all our graces have a kind of dependance upon Faith as a Mediatory grace as I may say as our Mediatour to our Mediatour in fetching down influence and strength for the strengthening and increasing of grace in us And therefore by the way it may bee a good Admonition to you when you finde any weakness in your love patience or in any other grace still to strengthen and increase Faith whereby you may draw down from Christ strength to all the rest 3 The third thing in the definition expresseth what this formall act is and here wee have 1 The essentiale Antecedens 2 The essentiale constituens 1 The essentiale Antecedens essentially pre-requisite to the justifying Act and this is knowing and assenting which two I might separate for the better discovery of our adversaries error in their implicit Faith who hold that it is sufficient for some only to beleeve as the Church beleeveth although they know not themselves any thing that they beleeve to maintain which blind Faith they say that Justifying Faith may bee without knowledge nay that it were better to bee defined by ignorance than by knowledge But wee must not stand to answer every thing that commeth in the way for so wee should stay long enough at the threshold I will therefore joyn these two both together as essentially pre-requisite whereby wee know and assent to our own miserable estate the freeness of God promise and grace which hee hath tendred to the soul in Christ both essentiall Antecedents to justification of which some expound that John 6.40 every one that seeth the Son and beleeveth on him shal have everlasting life Where by seeing they say is meant Christum praedicatum videre agnoscere pro filio Dei to see and acknowledge Christ the Son of God and Saviour of the World and indeed this must go before It is gradus ad rem though not gradus in re it is a pre-requisite or preparatory to justifying Faith but it is not justifying Faith as in the Generation of a man the sensitive soul goeth before and prepareth a fit organ for the infusion of the reasonable soul and yet not the sensitive but the reasonable soul doth inform so in the reparation of man hystorical faith doth precede and make way for the inducement of justifyâ—ng Faith and yet not the former but this doth justifie as Calvin saith a Vulgar knowledge and assent to truth doth joyn a man no more to God than the sight of the Sun doth lift a man to Heaven Otherwise did this hystoricall assent justyfie then it as well as Justification should be proper only to the Elect so Justification is Rom. 8.30 but so is not an hystorical assent for that Simon Magus had and other Reprobates may have 2 Essentiale constituens or that formal Act whereby wee are justified and that is rowling or resting our selves upon Christ or trusting on him for they are Synonimaes expressing the same thing in diverse words And that this is the formal Act of justifying Faith I refer my self and you to what in this kinde was said before I here only say that that which is imputed for Righteousness and by which wee are justified that is the true and formall Act of justifying Faith But such a kind of beleeving is imputed for Righteousness and is that by which wee are justified so saith the Apostle Rom. 4.5 to him who beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is imputed to him for Righteousness and Rom. 10.10 11. with the heart man beleeveth unto Righteousness and in the next verse hee Interpreteth that beleeving by beleeving on him for the Scripture saith whosoever beleeveth on him c. And therefore wee conclude so to beleeve is the justifying Act of Faith 4 The fourth thing in the Definition is the fruit which cometh in or the end of this Act and that is 1 Next and immediate Justification and pardon of sin 2 Mediate Sanctification and growth in grace 3 Ultimate The Perfection of all in Glorification But here some may object Object 1. First there are many who do trust and yet are not justified many who profess that they do this act but yet live in their sins as Balaam c. Therefore this is not the justifying Act. Ans I answer That although every one say hee trusteth yet every one doth not truly trust for there is a double affiance or trust The one is a slight and superficial affiance grounded upon no other foundation than a great apprehension that it is good to bee saved by Christ but yet so as neither to leave their old course or imbrace a new The other is a setled and grounded affiance and so qualified as that it is not to bee found in any not truly justified if it bee I shall yield the cause 1. It is a holy Trust Jude v. 20. Build up one another in your holy faith not as though holiness were required as an ingredient into faith in the act of Justification or giving us our first interest in Christ but this I mean by a holy trust that it is such a trust as is accompanied with holiness in the root and brings forth works of holiness in the fruit such a faith as is accompanied with holiness in the heart and declared in the holiness of our lives For although it be fides sola faith alone which justifieth and gives us the first interest in Christ yet it is not fides quae sola solitaria it is not a faith which is alone but such a faith as is accompanied with holiness in the root the graces of Gods Spirit and holiness in the life The faith which doth justifie us is not in formis but formata not a dead faith but animated and quickned with grace and holiness the whole man being sanctified 2. It must be an unfeigned Trust 1 Tim. 1.5 2 Tim. 1.5 There is a counterfeit and hypocritical Trust such as never comes to God from love but for shelter in a storm Psal 78.34 35 36. When he slew them then they sought him and yet did but flatter c. Or such a faith it is that closeth not fully with Christ in all his Offices They are content to have him as a Saviour but not for a Lord the priviledges and dignities that come in by Christ they are willing to own but not the duties and services which he requires They will commit themselves to Christ to save when in trouble then Lord help but to the Devil to serve Who is Lord over us Whereas now a true faith
is as careful to do its services as to partake of its priviledges if it throw it self into the arms of Christ to save it it will throw it self at the feet of Christ to serve him as Paul Lord what wilt thou have me to do 3. It must be such a Trust as ariseth from a believing disposition within There must be a seed and habit of faith before there can be an act of faith Although the acts be discerned before the habits yet there must be a habit a believing disposition within before we can act I know there are many who in case of danger lying upon their death bed or some present wrack and disquiet will make shew of doing this act of faith but yet wanting this believing disposition within like Jonahs Gourd or the untimely fruit of a woman or the stony ground-seed having no root soon withers decays and cometh to nothing God respecteth not the act of faith if it arise not from a believing disposition within but God hath sometimes accepted of the believing disposition and desires of faith when there hath not been strength enough to erect any vigorous act of believing I believe help my unbelief 4. It must be a perfect Trust 1 Pet. 1.13 Trust perfectly in the grace revealed Perfect I say not in respect of the measures and degrees of Trust there is none such here But yet perfect in respect of the nature of it i. e. there must be a full carrying of the soul over to Christ and a full rowling and resting on him It cannot be meant of the perfection of degrees for there can be no such absolute perfection to which another degree may not be added there is none so perfect in faith but that he may be more perfect none so strong but that he may be stronger although we cannot be more justified to day than we were yesterday in the sight of God For we say that Gratia remittens or justificans the justifying grace of God admits of no degrees is not capable of magis minus Yet the assurance of our Justification is a man may be more assured of his Justification to day than he was yesterday As justifying faith doth imply imperfection in the subject so the faith it self whereby we are justified is imperfect whilst we are here in respect of degrees But in the nature of it it must be so perfect that it carrieth the soul over wholly to Christ alone resting and rowling on him for an imperfect trust in this kinde is as good as nothing He that doth not rest the full weight and stress of his soul on Christ doth nothing for the matter of trust It is not every faint stirring and moving of the heart not every incompleat resting but such a full rest of the soul upon Christ that if he fails us we are sunk and undone for ever As you know a man is said to lean upon a thing not when he bears up himself onely by his own feet but when he rests a great part if not the whole weight of his body upon some thing or person else so that if it fail he falleth so thus it is to lean to rest upon Christ to commit the whole weight and stress of our souls to him that if he fail me I am undone I am lost for ever I see I am in a miserable condition I see he is an all-sufficient Saviour I see that there is nothing but death in me I see there is life enough in him and he invites me to come over to him he intreats beseecheth promiseth and therefore I will go over to him I will cast my self wholly on him I will look no other way therewill I trust and if I perish I perish I will dye in his arms I will dye believing This indeed is that great act of faith which entituleth us to Christ and gives us an interest in him even in the dusk of the morning the soul hath an interest And therefore on the contrary there is no readier way to be mistaken and so to miscarry than to trust equally to two stays to trust to Christ and to trust to our selves too As there is no way whereby a man is likelier to fall than to trust equally to two boughs whereof the one is sound and the other rotten whereof if one break it is as bad as if both did the man is sure to come to the ground whereas had he pitched his whole weight on the sound one onely he had been born up So here in leaning both on Christ and our selves whereas if we commit our souls and all their burdens to Christ onely if we fail he sinks with us We are sure to be upheld the Promise Covenant the Oath of Christ even Christ himself and all would sink if we fail If thy trust be thus qualified I pronounce thee a justified person no soul ever miscarried in a trusting way it is such an act as doth ingage all the Attributes of God his Justice Truth Mercy Power and all to do us good Object 2. But I have put forth this act of faith and yet alas I am not justified Answ Thou sayest thou puts forth this act of faith and thus qualified and yet thou sayest thou art not justified How knowest thou that Thou sayest thou art not because thou dost not know thou art I know that will be the next For thus poor hearts reason to their own discouragement I want assurance of Justification therefore I am not justified I want that inward peace and therefore fear my peace is not made with God Though there be nothing more clear than this that a man may have peace with God and yet want the peace of this in himself it is possible for a man to be justified and yet want assurance of it within Affiance doth justifie in the Court of God Assurance justifieth in the Court of Conscience to be justified is one thing to be assured is another In the object all is sure in the subject there may be much uncertainty It is possible for a man to put forth the act of faith yea and to continue in so doing and yet walk without peace and apprehensions of his own safety thy condition may be safe in the promise to the eye of faith though not to thy self in the evidence of sense Thy condition may be safe and secure although thou for the present dost not apprehend thy own safety or the security of it It is secure in the promise in respect of God though stormy and troubled to sense in respect of our selves Thou must not therefore look for a clear day and that the shower be over as soon as thou hast taken shelter nor for a calm so soon as thou hast cast anchor but thou must abide under the shelter and ride at anchor till the shower and storm be over and wait till times of refreshment shall come from the presence of the Lord. Godly security and apprehensions of safety do not ever presently attend
had except he do historically believe as Simon Magus and others did who did not feign a Faith in words as Calvin saith but being overcome with the Majestie of the Gospel did in a sort sc historically believe and acknowledge Christ the Author of Life and Salvation Nay and if man did not Historically believe then all the sins committed against the Gospel were only sins of Ignorance and not against Knowledge So that there were no sins in the Gospel against Knowledge Nor Now neither if this bee granted And therefore as their Non-Receiving of him was not so much an Act of the Understanding whereby they Assented not to this That CHRIST was the Messiah But rather an Act of the VVill whereby they refused him to bee their Saviour As you see plainly exprest by CHRIST Luk. 19.14 wee will not have this man to reign over us So Mat. 23.37 So that their Receiving of him was not a bare Act of the Understanding whereby they Assented to this That CHRIST was the Saviour But an act of the VVill whereby they chose him embraced him rested and trusted upon him as a Saviour And therefore seeing this Act of Receiving of CHRIST is not an act of the Understanding but an act of the VVill imbracing him trusting on him And that this Receiving is Beleeving as the Evangelist saith Therefore To beleeve is to trust To the other places Isa 53.11 John 17.3 where Faith seems to bee an act of the Understanding As By his Knowledge shall hee justifie many And This is eternal life To know thee c. Wee are to understand them Senechdochically where part is set down for the whole The whole nature of Faith being implied in those Phrases These Phrases are Hebraismes In which language words of Knowledge and Sense do imply the Will and Affections They do not only signifie the Act of the mind and Sense but imply the Will and affections too As you see Psal 1.6 The Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous That is The Lord loveth The Lord approveth of the way of the Righteous So where it is said Depart from mee I know you not That is I love you not I allow not of you I approve you not And so may that place in Isa 53.11 bee interpreted Non solum agnitionem Personae beneficiorum Christi significat sed etiam Fiduciam quiescentem in Christi It doth not only signifie the knowledge of the person and benefits of Christ but resting and trusting upon them Such a Knowledge of Christ as is mingled with Faith and works our Wills to accept of CHRIST to trust in him CHRIST being So known as to bee Embraced Rested upon Trusted upon shall justifie many Hee speaks of such a Knowledge of CHRIST as is joyned with Faith And to the Testimony of the Fathers alledged As wee will not Resolve our Faith into the Authority of any though never so eminent in the Church So No Authority shall bear us down in this matter if it bee not Consentaneous and Agreeable to the Word of Truth It is no matter what others have taught before us Nil refert quid hic aut ille ante nos docuerit sed quid is qui ante omnes est CHRISTUS Ciprian but what CHRIST himself who was before all hath taught who is Truth himself So that seeing this is not manifested I might refel them with the same ease as they are alledged But seeing Authority is stood upon And I reverence Authority when it is with God And that Authority doth make Faith nothing but An Act of the Understanding whereby wee assent Wee will in the same way overthrow that by setting Authority against Authority Weight against Weight That if nothing will bee said for us so nothing may bee said against us One may balance the other if not weigh it down Now that it is An Act of the Will also let us hear Augustine Fides sine Voluntate non potest esse Et Fides in Credentium Voluntate consistit Faith lyes in the Will Again Voluntate utique credimus Verily wee beleeve with the Will Credere non potest nisi Volens August upon John 6.44 God makes a man willing before hee can beleeve A man may receive the Sacrament against his Will pray against his Will But hee cannot beleeve against his Will said Augustine Another It were not Vertuous to beleeve if it were not voluntary Ipsum velle credere est essentiale Fidei To beleeve willingly is essential to Faith Another upon Rom. 10. With the heart man beleeves upon which hee saith Signantèr dicit Corde creditur id est Voluntate Hee saith remarkably man beleeves with the heart that is with the Will To these I might alledge many more But these shall suffice By which you see That Authority is more for us than against us But leaving the Contestation wee will come to the Issue and conclude this And To speak what I think I conceive that to beleeve is not an Act of the Will only Nor an Act of the Understanding only But An Act of the whole Soul It is so an Act of the Will as the Understanding is folded up in it and so an Act of the Understanding as that the Will and Affections are joyned with it Hence by some it 's call'd Actus Complicatus An Act wherein many Acts are folded up An Act of the Understanding An Act of the Will And ' its not Absurd to mee but very fit to say That That Act whereby the whole Soul is justified pardoned purified is an Act of the whole Soul As the Apostle saith With the Heart man beleeveth to Righteousness So that In Intellectu habet Initium In Voluntate Complementum It begins in the Understanding It is compleat in the Will and Affections All that I know of moment against this will bee this That wee shall seat Faith in diverse faculties which is improper Now for the Answer or removing this wee say 1 That Distinction of Faculties is a Philosophical Opinion and not received by all So that the Will and the Understanding are two distinct Faculties is an Opinion not received by all Many there are that make them more Notional than Real As the East West North and South in the Heavens Not that there are such things but that such things are feigned for our clearer Understanding It is thought by many of good worth that Anima intelligit in intellectu Eligit in Voluntate c. That there 's no such distinction of Faculties But that the same Soul doth Understand in the Understanding VVill in the VVill Doth Understand VVill Love and do all And there 's Scripture for it where wee read all these Acts attributed to the Soul it self As namely an Understanding Heart A willing mind c. And therefore seeing it is a bare Philosophical Opinion and not received by All This will not overthrow nor strengthen any Divine Truths 2 Though this were true That there were distinction of
Faculties yet I say Making of Faith an Act of the whole Soul of the Understanding VVill and Affections There 's no Necessity will follow thereupon of planting it in diverse and distinct Faculties Why may it not bee Planted and Subjected in the Heart which is the proper seat of Faith as well as of other Graces As others who have made The Formall Act of Faith a willing Assent which is both An Act of the VVill and Understanding to avoid the seating of the Habit in diverse Faculties have placed it in the Mind which say they comprehends the Understanding and the VVill So wee here To avoid the like do seat it more properly in the Heart And therefore that absurdity of seating Faith in diverse Faculties will not follow on us Though wee say That this Act of Faith whereby wee are justified Bee such an Act wherin many other Acts are folded up The Understanding assenting The VVill trusting c. Object 4 But to believe is to bee assured And therefore it is not to trust Ans I say That to beleeve is not to bee assured And to bee assured is not to beleeve Faith is not Assurance Nor is Assurance Faith as many have held I will not trouble you with the Controversie only I will infer these things 1 If Assurance were the Act of Faith whereby wee are justified Then where there 's no Assurance there 's no Faith This were an hard Consequent Nay then VVhoever lives and dyes without Assurance cannot bee saved They who live and dye without Faith cannot bee saved And if Faith were Assurance Then Whoever lived and dyed without Assurance could not bee saved Which far bee it from mee to hold 2 That which is a Consequent of justifying Faith is not Justifying Faith This is plain But Assurance is a Consequent of Justifying Faith It is that which follows it 1 Sometimes in order of Time 2 Alwayes in order of Nature 1 Sometimes in order of Time 1 John 5.13 These things have I written unto you that beleeve on the Name of the Son of God that you might know that you have Eternal life where you see Beleeving goes before and Knowing or Assurance follows after It is not contemporary with Faith but follows it 2 Alwayes in order of Nature As wee say The Truth of a Proposition is ever in order of Nature before the Knowledge of the Truth of it Things must bee in Esse before they can bee in Cognosci Things must Bee before they can bee known to Bee So there must bee pardon of sins before there can bee Assurance of pardon A man must bee Justified before hee can bee assured hee is Justified Justification must needs go before the Apprehension of Justification Now that which apprehends Justification is not Justifying Faith but follows it For Apprehension follows Justification No man can truly apprehend himself to bee Justified till hee bee Justified But Justifying Faith is in nature before Justification And therefore unless wee should say that That which follows is That which goes before wee cannot say that that which apprehends Justification is Justification And by Consequence Assurance is not that Faith which Justifies 3 Again If to beleeve were to bee assured that wee are Justified and our sins pardoned Then it will follow God commands us to beleeve an untruth Why How will that follow Thus Because God commands every one to beleeve 1 Joh. 3.23 This is his Commandement that wee beleeve on the name of his Son JESUS CHRIST Now If to beleeve were to bee assured wee are Justified and our sins pardoned Then God commands to beleeve an untruth That our sins are pardoned before they are pardoned That wee are Justified before wee are Justified Nay Such as are Reprobates and shall never bee pardoned If to beleeve were to bee assured of pardon Then I say God commands them to bee assured of pardon And so commands to beleeve a lye an untruth There is 1 The Act of Faith and 2 The Fruit of Faith The Act of Faith is To cast our selves on CHRIST to rest to trust on him The Fruit of Faith is Justification pardon of sin Reconciliation Now God commands no man to beleeve the Fruit of Faith untill hee hath done the Act of Faith Hee commands no man to beleeve hee hath an interest in the Promise till hee hath performed the condition of the Promise The Promise runs upon this condition Hee that beleeves shall receive remission of sins Act. 10.43 Act. 16.31 To the first Act of Faith All men indeed are tyed under pain of damnation Mar. 16.16 Joh. 3.18 The World shall bee condemned for unbelief And there 's no condemnation but upon breach of some Commandement And therefore all men are tyed to do the first Act. But now to the latter none are tyed but such as have done the former The first is the condition of the Promise or The Duty The second is the Benefit or Fruit of the Promise So that wee conclude this That Assurance is not the Act of Faith whereby wee are justified before God But yet That whereby wee are justified in our selves in the Court of Conscience Wee are said to bee Justified in three Courts 1 In foro Dei In Gods Court. 2 In foro Conscientiae in Court of Conscience 3 In foro Communi In the Court of men 1 In the Court of God It is not Assurance But Faith Affiance trust that doth Justifie 2 In the Court of Conscience It is not Faith but Assurance which Justifies Where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or first Proposition is the undoubted Word of God hee that beeleves shall bee saved The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Assumption is the Testimony of our own spirit with that word The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the verdict and Testimony of the SPIRIT of God testifying with our spirit according to the word whereby wee have Assurance In the Court of men It is nor Faith nor Assurance that Justifies but works Object 5 But you will say If Assurance bee not the Act whereby wee are justified Because it is a Fruit of Justifying Faith Much less can Trust bee the Act of it because it is the Fruit of Assurance That which is the Fruit of Assurance cannot bee the Act of Justifying Faith But this Trust and Affiance is a fruit of Assurance Assurance is the cause and works Affiance as the Effect Therefore Trust or Affiance cannot bee the Act of Justifying Faith Answ Assurance is twofold 1 Principiorum of Principles 2 Conclusionum of Conclusions The first The Assurance of Principles is no more but such a grounded undoubted Assurance as Beleeves the main Proposition of the Gospel as Hee that beleeves shall bee saved The second The Assurance of Conclusions is such an Assurance as is necessarily deduced from the word by Application in a practical Syllogism after this manner Hee that beleeveth shall bee saved But I beleeve Therefore I shall bee saved The first is The Assurance of the Object
The second is The Assurance of the Subject The first Of the thing beleeved The second Of the Beleever The first is The Assurance of the general Proposition whoever beleeves shall bee saved which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Col. 2. The full Assurance of Understanding or Knowledge which is the Plerophory of Assent to the Truth of the Gospel touching CHRIST a Saviour The second is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Assurance of Faith Heb. 10.22 And that is when wee are assured CHRIST is OUR SAVIOUR The first goes before the Act of Trust The second follows the Act of Trust And this Act of trusting and resting upon CHRIST is the ground of such Assurance Object But you will say How shall wee rest upon CHRIST for Salvation unless wee bee first assured of Salvation by him Answ Indeed unless wee know CHRIST to bee the only Saviour wee cannot rest upon him for Salvation But to say A man cannot rest upon him for Justification and Salvation except hee know hee is already Justified and shall bee saved I see little sense for that May not a man trust upon his friend who hath ingaged himself and promised to do such a thing for him untill hee knows it were already done for him So here May not the Soul rest upon CHRIST who hath promised pardon and forgiveness to them that trust on him except it first knew that CHRIST had already pardoned and forgiven him The ground of this mistake I conceive to arise from one of these two grounds 1 That they take TRUST for ASSURANCE or 2 That they take TRUST for a FRUIT of ASSURANCE And so all one with HOPE Now for the clearing of the first you must know that TRUST doth signifie these two things 1 Ipsum Actum Innitendi the very act of leaning c. 2 Consequens effectum Fidei the consequent Effect of Faith 1 It signifies that very act of Leaning Resting Rowling on CHRIST which is properly the act that Justifies 2 Sometimes it signifies the consequent Effect of Faith as full assurance and perswasion the lively sense of pardon and remission of sins But when wee speak of that act of Trust which Justifies wee mean not Trust in this second Acception For this is not Justifying Faith but Fidei Justificantis Filia the Daughter of Justifying Faith which comes after much sweat and pains in the work of God trial and experience of our selves and truth of our Graces But wee speak of Trust in the first Acception the resting and rowling of the soul upon CHRIST The former wee say is the act of justifying Faith and propriissimus actus Fidei justificantis the most proper act of justifying Faith The latter wee grant is the fruit of the former Trust and Assurance both set down by the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.12 I Know saith the Apostle whom I have beleeved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom I have trusted or committed my soul unto There is the first act of Faith And I am perswaded that hee is able to keep that which I have committed to his trust to eternal life There 's the second act of Trust Hee will bee all this to mee which I have Trusted to him for 1. I know There was Hystorical Faith Assent 2. Whom I have trusted or committed my soul to There was justifying Faith 3. I am perswaded There was the fruit of it To the first Act there concurs 1. A discovery of our own emptiness 2. A Discovery of CHRISTS fulness for Justification 3. A casting of the Soul upon him for Justification and Salvation Going out of our selves and casting our souls upon Christ To the second Act there is required 1. Not only a Knowledge that hee is a Saviour 2. But also a Knowledge that hee is My Saviour upon whom I trust or I am perswaded of Salvation by The second mistake is That they take Trust for a fruit of Assurance And so no ore but Hope Propter Spem Roboratam for strengthened Hope Answ That this act of Trust which wee make justifying Faith is not an act of Hope but doth differ from Hope or that affiance which they make Hope strengthened In this 1. That Hope looks to the end which is Salvation But this act of Trust looks to the Means which brings to the end and that is Christ 2. The act of Hope is to expect But the act of Trust is to lean and rest 3. The Object of Hope is Bonum Futurum a Future Good But the object of Trust is Bonum Presens a Present Good This act of Trust doth rest upon Christ Non per modum expectantis sed per modum possidentis not by way of Expectation but by way of Possession As Hee that beleeves in the Son hath life It is not said Hee shall have life but Hee hath life not in Spe but in Re not in Hope only but in Hand The life of Righteousness and Justification in Hand The life of Glory and Salvation in Hope And thus much shall serve for the first thing what Faith is In which I hope most of the controversie is over 2. Wee now come to the second That Faith is the only requisite whereby wee should bee justified and saved I shall not need to stand long on it 1. Union and Communion with Christ is requisite to Justification and Salvation There was no way whereby wee should bee Justified whereby wee should bee saved But only by vertue of our Union and Communion with Christ 1. No other way but by vertue of our Union with Christ In our selves wee were dead Branches and grew upon a dead stock and there was no help nor hope for us till wee were cut off from our own stocks the stock of Nature And were ingrafted into Christ who is the Stock of Life Hence the Apostle Hee that hath the Son hath Life and hee that hath not the Son hath not Life Hee that is united and ingrafted into Christ hath Life the Life of Justification here and shall have the Life of Glorification hereafter But hee that hath not the Son Hee who is not united to Christ hath not Life Nor the Life of Justification here Nor the Life of Glorification hereafter So that you see there is no Hope of Life or Justification except wee bee united to Christ who hath all Life in him There 's nothing but death in the World out of him And there 's no way to have Union with Christ but by Faith which is one bond of our Union with Christ It is Faith that unites us to Christ as Members to the Head And being Members of Christ God pardons us If a Malefactor had committed treason against a King and were adjudged to lose his hand or his eye If hee could now make his Hand or his eye which hee were to lose to become the Hand or the eye of the Kings Son Hee should bee spared hee should not lose them They were the hands and the eyes of the Kings Son And the King would spare
indeed there had been any thing in us which should have been the ground of the performance of this Promise to us wee had been lost long ago If God had put us upon the condition of Obedience and had given us Grace as hee did Adam yet the Law is strict requiring an exact Personal Universal and constant obedience And every failing would have lost us undone us for ever But now When our Righteousness is in Christ A Righteousness not wrought by us but wrought by Christ himself And freely given to us upon the alone condition of Faith This makes our condition sure 3. That the Promise might bee to all the seed not to them of the Law only but to them who were strangers to the Law of God God had made a promise to bee the Father of Abraham and of his seed Now this Promise could not have belonged unto us If God had not provided a way that wee might bee of his seed Now according to the flesh this was impossible That wee should bee of Abrahams seed and therefore by consequence wee could have had no interest in this Promise And therefore God hath made Faith to bee that Grace which makes us spiritually to bee the Seed of Abraham that so the Promise might belong to us If God had made the Law the condition of the Promise Or if hee had made the Law and Faith together yet then wee had never come to bee of Abrahams Seed Because wee were not under the Law But God having made Faith the Grace which doth make us the Children of Abraham Hence is the Promise to us as to his seed not to that part which is of the Law but to that part which is of the Faith of Abraham who is the Father of all that beleeve Though wee are never so far from the Law and the kindred of Abraham in the flesh yet God hath provided security for us that wee might bee his Children and bee inheritors in the Promise which is by Faith Therefore God chose Faith that the Promise might bee to all the Seed not to the flesh only for then wee should not bee of his seed but to the Spirit 4. The fourth Reason is Ephes 2.9 That no man might boast That is That no man might have cause to glory in himself or rejoyce in himself Now if it had been by any other way by any thing done by us wee should have gloried And therefore God chose this way that wee might glory alone in him 1 Cor. 1.30 31. That no flesh might glory in his presence Christ is made Wisdome Righteousnes Sanctification and Redemption that hee that glories might glory in the Lord Isa 45.24 25. In mee you shall have Righteousness and strength and in mee you shall glory God is exceeding chary of his Glory As in our Salvation hee aimed at the manifestation of his Glory So hee hath had care to bring it about in such a way wherein there may bee the Preservation of his Glory Now if God had pitcht it in any other way than in the way of Beleeving his Glory could not have been preserved wee would have been sharers with God wee should have divided the spoils of Glory with him And therefore God chose this which is A mean Grace in it self And so his Glory shall not bee obscured but more perspicuous as 1 Cor. 1. Nay such a Grace as doth throw a man out of himself empties a man of himself and casts him upon another It is such a Grace as makes the Soul all in another nothing in it self Rich in another poor in it self found in another lost in it self Saved by another damned by it self I live saith Paul yet not I but Christ in mee I live by the Faith of the Son of God or Faith in the Son of God Gal. 2.20 It is such a Grace as makes a man stand upon anothers bottom live by anothers life Rich by anothers riches cloathed by anothers Apparel fed by anothers meat A poor beggarly grace in it self And therefore God chose this It is such a Grace as gives God all the Glory As it was said of Abraham Hee gave glory to God by beleeving Rom. 4. Hee gave glory to his Truth to his Power to his Wisdome to his Mercy So this Grace in the Justification of a sinner it gives God all the glory it robs him not of any peece of Glory it gives him the glory of his Mercy of his Truth Hee that beleeves puts to his seal that God is true It sets up God makes him Alpha and Omega the beginner and finisher of all And therefore it being a Grace that honours God above all therefore God honours it above all other making it the Instrument of Justification And therefore my Brethren if ever you would have pardon from him give him the glory of his own Free-Grace Here is the controversie between God and man to this day God is willing to save us if wee will give him his Glory But our proud hearts will not yeeld to that That God should bee all in all Every man would willingly bee something in himself stand upon his own bottom God is willing to give us a Righteousness wrought out for us But wee would have a Righteousness of our own making Wee love the Spiders motto Mihi soli debeo To owe nothing to any but to our selves Wee are too like that proud Papist who said Hee would not have Heaven Gratis wee would merit it God is willing to give us objective worthiness worthiness in another in Christ But wee would have subjective worthiness A worth in our selves But this will not bee allowed God will have us poor in our selves empty in our selves cast out of our selves unbottomed of our selves Hee will have us poor and blind and naked before hee will bestow mercy on us God will not have us bring our penny to his purchase One dram to this fulness one shred to this garment of Christ. Hee will have it by Faith that so it might bee of Grace that not wee but hee might have all the Glory This is one Reason I am perswaded of the enlargement of our troubles of spirit and breakings Because wee will not let God be all in all wee will not let God have all the Glory Glad we should bee to bee sharers in our own Salvation Glad to do something We would have it of Debt not of Grace of Works not of Faith of Merit not of Mercy God would forgive us our debâ—s but wee would pay them wee are loath to bee proclaimed Banckrupts unable to pay God would willingly cloathe us but wee would make a garment of our own God would give us Heaven but wee would deserve it God would give us pardon upon beleeving that so wee might not glory in our selves but in him But wee would have it by way of working That all or at least something might bee attributed to our selves But you see God hath aimed at the Magnifying of his own Glory and
therefore hee hath chosen Faith to bee the Grace whereby wee should bee Justified And if ever you would bee justified if ever you would have Glory give him Glory 4. The fourth thing at first propounded to bee cleared was How Faith justifieth For the clearer answer whereto wee will lay down these two Distinctions 1 Faith may be considered 1. Either formally as an inherent Grace of God in us 2 Or instrumentally as that whereby wee receive Christ In the first sense it hath nothing to do with Justification The Papist because wee deny Faith to justifie in respect of its own worthiness say that we make it titulum sine re as it were a matter of nothing whereas in respect of Justification wee acknowledge it the only instrument and that is much to bee said of it 2 Faith is considered 1. Either absolutely as a Habit or Act of ours 2. Or Relatively as it hath relation to Christ and makes us one with him In the former sense again it hath nothing to do with Justification but in the second sense as it is related to Christ and brings us over to Christ so it is said to justifie us because it brings us to him by whom wee are justified Act. 13.39 By him speaking of Christ all that beleeve are justified by him but not by Faith absolutely but only as relating to him Indeed wee are said to live by Faith as well as by Christ Gal. 2.20 to have remission of sins by Faith Act. 10.43 as well as by Christ Ephes 1.7 to bee justified by Faith Rom. 3.28 as well as by Christ Isa 53.11 to have peace with God by Faith Rom. 5.1 as well as by Christ Col. 1.20 to bee sanctified by Faith Act. 15.9 as well as by Christ 1 Cor. 1.30 to overcome the World by Faith 1 John 5.4 5. as well as by Christ John 16.33 To bee the Sons of God by Faith Gal. 3.26 as well as by Christ Ephes 1.5 to have eternal life and to bee saved by Faith John 5.24 Ephes 2.8 as well as by Christ Math. 1.21 John 3.17 1 John 5.11 But now you must consider that none of these are spoken of Faith absolutely considered as either an Habit or Act of ours but only relatively as Faith brings us to Christ and makes us one with him by whom alone wee are justified adopted sanctified c. for between Christ and Faith there is such a Relation that as Justifying Faith is called the Faith of Christ or Faith in Christ or Faith in his blood so again the Righteousness of Christ by which wee are justified is called the Righteousness of Faith And so wee conclude this point that Faith doth not justifie as absolutely considered in it self but relatively as it hath relation to Christ the object and as it brings the soul over to him makes us one with him by whom wee are justified have remission of sins salvation c. 5 What are the Royalties and Priviledges of Faith First Royalty 1. Royalty of Faith It s an heart-clearing Grace 1. Faith is an heart-clearing Grace When wee are under the guilt of sin Faith doth justifie us And it is one of the Royalties of Faith one of the Peculiars of Faith that Faith alone doth justifie As the Apostle Rom. 3.28 Therefore wee conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law And this Faith clears the heart of the guilt of sin 1. By procuring a sufficient Pay-master Christ who hath satisfied Gods Justice to the full answered all Bills Bonds paid our debt to the utmost farthing Hence John 16.10 I will send the Spirit and hee shall convince the World of Righteousness because I go to my Father and you shall see mee no more That is hee shall convince the World That Perfect Righteousness is wrought for them That Gods Justice is compleatly satisfied But how shall wee know that Because I go to my Father and you shall see mee no more That is you shall see mee no more in this kind you shall see mee no more to come to suffer or satisfy for sin for I have done that already I have compleatly satisfied Gods Justice for sin And therefore you shall see mee no more in this kind Indeed If Justice had not been compleatly satisfied If there had been but one sin upon the file unsatisfied for wee should have seen him again Heaven could not have held him But now seeing hee is gone and wee see him no more an humbled a suffering-Saviour this shews all is done To this I might adde Col. 2.14 Hee hath blotted out the hand writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and hath taken it out of the way and nailed it to his Cross where by hand-writing of Ordinances is not meant the Ceremonial-Law only but whatever did binde us over to the Curse whatever did binde us over to death All which Christ hath removed by his death And the Apostles Gradation is observable here In the 13th verse hee had set down that our sins were forgiven Yea but that is not enough may some say Though the debt bee discharged yet the writing is to shew No saith the Apostle The Hand-writing of Ordinances is blotted out But may some say again it is not so blotted out so defaced but it may bee read and put in suit again a new quarrel may arise No saith the Apostle It is taken away Oh! But you will say it is not so taken away but as it is laid aside for a time it may be produced hereafter No saith the Apostle there is no fear of that it is nailed to the Cross it is torn in peeces it shall never be seen again never shall a new quarrel arise for the same Christ hath not only paid the debt but canceld and torn in peeces whatever might witness or testifie against us If a Debtor did know his Debt were answered yet if hee have his Bonds and Bills uncall'd in hee is still in fear But when hee hath all things which acknowledged his debt crossed torn in peeces made utterly void then hee is safe hee knows there is a discharge Why Christ did not only discharge our debt but defaced and abolished all such things as made acknowledgement of our debt hee left nothing that might witness against us untaken away And this is the first way whereby Faith doth clear us viz. by producing and bringing forth Christ who hath cleared all who is called a Suerty Heb. 7.22 Not only in passing his word for us but paying the Debt for us answering all and cancelling all that was against us But Faith doth not clear us only by producing of a sufficient Pay-master but 2. By making us one with Christ by which this payment is ours is all for us So that wee may say with Ambrose Pro me natus pro me vixit pro me mortuus Faith will say hee was born for mee hee lived for mee hee dyed for mee for mee hee fulfilled all
Person 2. The Conveniency This is fully made out in the necessity of it and that with an advantage there is such a conveniency as that it riseth up to a necessity in all the former particulars so that to an holy heart there is a moral impossibility of the contrary How can I do this great wickednesse and sin against God said Joseph Gen. 39.9 This is the first way of Faiths purifying the Heart Argumentativè or by way of Argument 2. Operativè As Faith doth operate and work for the cleansing of our nature making use of Christ who is called A Fountain Zach. 13.1 A Refiner Mal. 3.3 A Purger Joh. 15.2 Hee is said to come with Refiners fire with Fullers Sope to purge and purifie us And thus Faith makes use of Christ by the least touch of whom the sinfull flux of sin is dryed up and staid And Faith makes use 1. Of the Merit of Christ the Blood of Christ which is apt to purge us and cleanse us from sin And for this end was his Blood shed even to cleanse us from sin Tit. 2.14 Hee gave himself not only to bee a Redeemer to redeem us from Hell and the guilt of sin but to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Ephes 5.26 27. Hee gave himself for us that hee might sanctifie us and cleanse us by the washing of Water through the Word So Faith makes use of this Fountain to wash and cleanse the soul it opens this Fountain to the washing of the soul 2. It makes use of the Prayer of Christ John 17.17 Sanctifie them through the Truth thy Word is Truth 3. Faith makes use of the Promise of Christ wherein his Fidelity and Truth is ingaged for our Purification Jer. 33.8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against mee Ezek. 33.25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall bee clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you Isa 4.4 The Lord shall wash away the filth of the Daughter of Zion and purge away the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof Hence they are called Purging-Promises Thus Faith makes use of Christ of the Merit of Christ of the Blood of Christ of the Prayer and Promise of Christ whereby it sets on the work of Self-cleansing whereby it purifies the soul By vertue of which it washes the soul from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 Third Royalty Faith is a Heart-commanding Grace Christs Vice-Roy here in the Soul which Governs Rules Third Royalty Faith It s an Heart-commanding-Grace and bears sway in the soul by vertue of the power and Scepter of Christ Christ hath made Faith his Deputy here in the Soul and not any other Grace but Faith Hee knows Faith will rule by Christ by his power not its own So Rule as not to wrest the Scepter out of Christs hand It will rule for Christ and to Christ for his Glory and to his Glory not its own and therefore hee hath given Faith jurisdiction in the Soul So that it is a Soul-commanding Grace It is the Taskmaster of the Soul puts every Grace upon its work and burden It will not suffer any Grace to bee idle but puts every Grace to its work Nay it inableth the Soul to Doe what it Commands the Soul to Doe To every Precept wee have still a Promise Nay every Precept is a Promise Where God Commands us to Repent and Beleeve to make our selves new hearts to wash and cleanse our selves to circumcise our hearts Hee hath promised in his new Covenant to do what hee hath commanded to give us Faith to work Repentance in us to make us new hearts to circumcise the heart to wash and cleanse us from our filthiness And Faith urging the Precepts of God makes use of the Promises of God sues out the Promise and fetches strength from the Promise to perform the Precept Lord thou hast commanded mee to make mee a new heart and thou hast promised to take this stony heart from mee and to give mee an heart of Flesh Lord performe thy Promise to thy Servant in which thou madest mee put my trust Thou commandest mee to bee Holy and thou hast promised to make mee holy Thou art the Lord that Sanctifies Lord make mee Holy Da quod jubes jube quod vis sic enim implebitur voluntas tua obedientia nostra give what thou commandest and command what thou wilt and so both our obedience and thy Will shall bee fulfilled Thus you see as God so Faith ruling by God from God doth not only authoritatively impose commands and lay duties upon the soul but mercifully and friendly helps and inables the soul to do what is commanded It is not a Rigid-Master Reaping where it sows not commanding fruit from that ground whereon it sows no seed but sows strength to reap Obedience inables to do what is commanded to do It is said by Faith Abraham obeyed Faith did inable him to obey and made his obedience fruitfull and acceptable Faith inabled him to obey even in that great act of Obedience when his Son his only Son the Son of his Love the Son of the Promise the Son of his Old Age c. was to bee taken away by death killed murdered and that by his own hands c. And yet Faith inabled him hereunto Fourth Royalty Faith is an Heart-quieting Grace an Heart-calming and stilling-Grace It is a Grace thay layes all the tumults in the Soul all the insurrections in the Soul Fourth Royalty of Faith It s an Heart-quieting-Grace When Passions are up and unruly Affections do stir Faith doth allay and hush them When Passions of Fear are up Faith laies them will not suffer unruly fears to come into the Throne to command the Soul When Passions of Anger are up Faith doth quench their heat when Grief stirs Faith doth bridle and moderate this when Discontent is up and the Soul is ready to murmur and quarrel against God and his dealings Faith doth lay all these risings Faith hath a special art to still the Soul to strike it dumb in these cases Hence you see David I was dumb and opened not my mouth because it was thy doing Faith struck him dumb Wee read indeed Zacharie was dumb but Infidelity struck him dumb David saith here hee was dumb but Faith struck him dumb The former was a Penal-dumbness God silenced his Tongue because hee suspended his Faith But this latter was a dutiful-Dumbness such a Dumbness as Faith hath caused in the Soul which shut up his lips from murmuring not from praying Psal 39.9 hee praies there I was dumb and opened not my mouth and yet Take thy Plague from mee I am consumed by the stroke of thy hand c. The like power of Faith you see in the case of Aaron when it silenced his Soul in such a sad condition Levit. 10.3 4. And Moses said unto him This
Christ is such a Rock as doth derive vertue and strength unto the structure and building Indeed a man may build a weak house upon a strong foundation and the house fall for all that because the rock is a dead thing and cannot impart any of its strength unto the structure But it is not so here Bee the building never so weak yet this Rock can hold it up because it diffuseth its strength into the building Hence 1 Pet. 2.4 5. Christ is called a living not a dead Rock A living stone To whom comming as to a living Stone wee also as lively-stones are built up a spiritual house Which shews the transformation of the building into the nature and firmnesse of the Rock Thus you see Faith is a soul-securing-grace It sets a man upon a soul-securing-bottome It makes God our security who is called The strong-God The mighty-God The Rock of Refuge A defense A Shield A Tower A Fort. An High-place Mich. 4.8 The Tower of his Flock The strong hold of the daughter of Sion A Covert from the storm Isay 32.1 2. Faith makes All-God our security It ingages all-God to be our security His Power And is not this able to secure us His Wisdome And will not this secure us His Truth And will not this secure us His Mercy And cannot all this secure us Hee who trusts in the Lord Mercy shall compasse him on every side Hee is hemm'd in with Mercy Or mercy imbraceth him on every side to secure him As trust doth compasse mercy so mercy doth compass trust As trust imbraceth mercy so mercy imbraceth trust It is not Faith it self that doth secure us But Faith doth make God our security It sets a man upon a soul-securing-bottome on a soul-securing-God on a soul-securing-Power on a soul-securing-Mercy Therefore needs must a Beleeving a Trusting-soul be secure 2. It instates the soul in soul-securing-promises The promises of preservation from trouble Promises of Deliverance out of trouble All the promises which God hath made of Security Faith instates the soul into them all Hee hath promised When wee passe through the waters he will be with us and the waters shall not overflow us When we pass through the fire the flame shall not kindle upon us Isa 43.2 Hee hath promised Hee will stand at our right hand and wee shall not bee moved Psal 16. He will never leave us neither forsake us Heb. 13.6 The Gates of Hell shall never prevail against us Mat. 16.18 Hee hath promised to bee a Tower a Rock a Refuge a Covert from a storm an hiding place in time of Danger c. And it is faith that doth instate us into these Soul-securing-Promises As there is no promise to us till wee beleeve so if once wee beleeve all the Promises are ours Look into the word of God and what promises soever there are made for securing the soul All these are thine 3. Faith doth instate us into soul-securing-Priviledges 1 It makes us the Sons and Daughters of God John 1.12 13 As man as received him to them hee gave power or priviledge to become the Sons of God Even to as many as beleeved in his name Gal. 3.26 You are the children of God by faith in Christ And will not a father secure his child 2. Faith makes us the Spouse of Christ the members of Christ It ingrafts us and unites us into him And will he not secure his members 3. It make us the inheritance of Christ Hee hath promised to bee a Tower to his Flock A strong-hold to the Daughters of Sion These are all soul-securing-priviledges And therefore beleeving souls shall be secure Oh! Then Would you bee secured from the evil-day would you bee secured in the evil day Labour for Faith This alone secures the soul It sets a man upon a soul-securing-bottome Instates a man in soul-securing-promises Gives him right to soul-securing-priviledges Abrogate fears Surrogate Faith Down with fears which betray the succour of the soul and set up beleeving Sixth Royalty 6 Faith is an heart-humbling Grace 6 Royalty of Faith It s a soul-humbling Grace Whether it bee a Legal or whether it be an Evangelical Faith it works humiliation The one a Legal humiliation and casting down The other an Evangelical-humiliation we shall in this cheifly deal with the first It is said of Ahab that he humbled himself put on sackcloath and went softly And this was the fruit and effect of his Legal-Faith whereby hee beleeved the truth and certainty of Gods Judgements denounced against him and his house The men of Nineveh when Jonah preached that sad Sermon Jonah 3.4 Yet forty days and Nineveh shall bee destroyed It is said They beleeved God That is The truth of that message which Jonah brought from God And it follows as an effect of this Faith They humbled themselves and proclaimed a fast and put on Sack-cloath and sate in ashes from the King upon the Throne to the meanest of them And my Brethren Faith hath a great influence into the work of self-humbling 1 It takes up self-humbling Considerations From God the justice of God the threatnings the curses God hath denounced against sin 2. Faith doth Realize all this to the Soul which God hath said against sin Faith doth not make these things more reall then they are but doth Realize things to the Soul not imaginary but real things which being lookt upon as reall things do humble This is the Reason why one when he hears of Gods threatnings denounced against Sin goes home and lyes in the dust is humbled and cast down as Josiah when hee read the book of the Law And another stands up out-faceth Hell and the curse He is never humbled nor cast down It is because the one he looks upon these things are reall and true the other hee looks upon them as fancies Imaginary things If men beleeved that all that evil which God hath threatned against Sin were true they could not drink down sinne as water nor eat the bread of Sin with such delight as they do If the swearer did beleeve there were a flying Rol gone out against him as Zachary saith If the Drunkard did see death in the Pot c. If I say wicked men beleeved the Reality and Truth of these things they could not go on so quietly in their wicked courses but would be humbled Hence the Apostle sets this down for the ground why the Preaching of the word was not profitable to them Because it was not mixed with Faith in them that heard it They did not beleeve what they heard and so neither the word of Terror nor the word of Comfort did profit them As the promises of God are not quickning raising comforting except there bee Faith so the Threats are not Killing humbling working if Faith be not there Wee may preach till our spirits fail and spend our labour in vain our strength and pains for nought if the things which God speaks and we preach be not beleeved If you
by unbelief do slight all the threats of God denounced against sin if you make childs play of them as the word signifies 2 Pet. 3.3 If you look upon these but as Bug-bears things to keep men in awe and not real things No marvel if you bee not Humbled But if by Faith you would Realize these things to your selves and behold them not as Fancies and sad dreams but such things as are infallibly true real things not as painted Hell painted fire but as reall you would them finde them to work These mingled with Faith would lay a man in the dust Now this is a property of Faith to Realize the Object or thing beleeved and hence comes an influence on the soul to humble and abase it 3 Faith doth not only take up humbling Considerations and Realizeth all these to the Soul But Faith makes all this present Faith doth give a present being to all this Hence Heb. 11.13 Faith imbraceth the promise The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith kisseth the promise gives a present being to the promise And as it gives a present being to the promise or word of comfort so to the threatning and word of terror Faith discovers death and hell and all at hand for Sin Faith looks upon sinne in all it's Doomes-day apparrel and array smels fire and Brimstone in sin Whereas unbeleevers they look on these things at the wrong end of the Prospective and that makes things neer seem a far off and that afar off is not seen at all But Faith looks upon them through the right end of the prospective And there things a far off are seen at hand present Hence it is called The Evidence of things not seen As it was said of Abraham Hee saw the day of Christ and rejoyced and yet Abraham was dead many hundred of years before Christ yet by vertue of his prospective by vertue of his Faith hee saw it as if it had been present though it were never so far off So here though the second day of Christ the day of judgement bee a far off yet Faith sees it and is humbled Faith gives it a present Being 4. Faith applies and brings home all this to Soul As the word of Comfort the Promise is applyed and brought home to the Soul by Faith so the word of Terror the Threatning is brought home to the soul by the same Faith by which the Soul is cast down and humbled The manner of Faiths Application is by a practical Syllogisme where the Major or first Proposition is the Word of God The Assumption or second Proposition is the Testimony of Conscience and the conclusion is inferred from them both as hee that beleeveth not but continueth in sir is for the present guilty and obnoxious to wrath at the last Judgement But I beleeve not but continue in sin Therefore I am for the present guilty and obnoxious to wrath to bee inflicted at the last Judgement Seventh Royalty 7. Faith is an Heart-softening-Grace Such a Grace as doth not only humble us but soften us not only break us 7. Royalty of Faith It s an Heart-softening-Grace but melt us In the Law it humbles us it breaks us but the heart like a flint every dust still reteins its flinty stony Nature is a stone And therefore in the Gospel it melts us it dissolves us Thunders of Sinai terrifie but Dews of Sion mollifie So much Faith so much Sorrow they are like the Fountain and the Stream whereof the one ariseth no higher than the other So much Faith and apprehension of Mercy so much brokenness of spirit for sin Where Unbelief doth stony the Heart harden the Heart dries up the spring and issues of sorrow No Heart is so hard as an Unbeleeving-heart neither the Promises nor Threatnings neither Mercy nor Justice neither Word nor works will melt it Faith on the contrary turns the Soul into Water dissolves a man into tears opens all the deep springs of sorrow in the Soul 1. Faith looks upon Heart-melting-Promises Takes a survey of the Riches of Gods Love and Mercy in making such precious Promises which doth exceedingly melt 2. Faith takes up Heart-softening-Considerations from the Love and Mercy of God towards us which are Heart-melting-Mercies from the goodness and sweetness of God Faith makes us see God as hee is It makes God no otherwise than hee is not more gracious not more merciful than hee is But Faith discovers him as hee is a gracious and a mercifull God It doth but undraw the Curtain but take off the Mask which Satan and Infidelity have put on and makes us to behold God as hee is in all his glorious excellencies Soul saving attributes and Mercies which who can behold by Faith but must needs mourn and dissolve into tears that they have offended him Thus you see Ezek. 36.31 when God had discovered himself in his Pardoning-Mercy his washing Forgiving-Mercy to the beleeving soul then they shall mourn and bee humbled Oh! There is nothing breaks the heart more than Mercy nothing melts a man more than the smiles of God the Mercies of God which being discovered to the Soul the Soul is not able to stand stubborn under it 3. Faith looks upon a Soul-melting a Soul-softening Object upon Christ a wounded a broken Christ And who can behold him but with an Humbled and a broken-heart A bleeding Christ without a bleeding Heart Oh! Here is enough in this Object to open all the springs of sorrow in us wee need not to go to Bellarmines Twelve Considerations to open the Fountain of tears in us wee need not bring in the miseries of mankind for one nor the sad condition of the Souls in Purgatory for another Wee need not bee beholden to him for such considerations as these to help us to mourn Oh! Here is enough in Christ in a broken and wounded Christ to open all the springs in thee and if thou hadst a Fountain of tears to spend them all The Considerations of his sufferings 1. Either in themselves 2. Or in their cause 3. Or as the Effects of sin 1. The Considerations of his breakings and sufferings as they were in themselves 1. The sufferings of his Body What woundings breakin gs scourgings crownings peircings did hee endure upon his Body 2. The sufferings on his Soul What conflict and struglings with the wrath of God the powers of darkness what weights what burdens what wrath did hee undergo when his Soul was heavy unto death be set with terrors as the word implies When he drunk that bitter Cup that Cup of bitterness that Cup mingled with Curses which made him sweat drops of blood which if men or Angels had but sip's of 't would have made them reel stagger and tumble into Hell 2. The Consideration of his sufferings in the Cause as the meriting cause of all our good procurer of all our Peace Life Salvation Hee was wounded that wee might bee healed scourged that wee might bee solaced drank the
bitter Cup of wrath that wee might have the draught of Mercy Hee was slain But not for himself saith Daniel But wounded for our transgressions broken for our iniquities The Chastisement of our peace was upon him Faith looks upon these his sufferings as the meriting causes of our good 3. The Considerations of his sufferings as effects of sin as the effects of our sin as that which our sins have brought upon him Which Consideration must needs effect and break our hearts When the soul shall look upon Christ and say It was I that have been the murderer I that have been the Traitor my sins which brought all this evil on thee I sind and thou sufferedst It was I that did eat the soue Grape and thy teeth were set en edge My sins were thy death yet by thy death thou brought'st the sinner life I have wounded thee yet thou hast healed mee even out of that wound which my sins have made hast thou sent out a Plaisâ—er even thy Blood for my sins Oh! This must needs fill the heart with sorrow Faith still looks upon an Humbled Christ with an Humbled Heart upon a Broken Christ with a Broken Heart upon a Bleeding Christ with a Bleeding Heart upon a Wounded Christ with a Wounded Heart Hence Zach. 12.10 They shall look upon him whom they have peirced And how shall that sight affect them It follows They shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only Son and lament for him as one lamenteth for his first born In that day there shall bee a great mourning as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Vallie of Megiddon God made the same Organ for seeing and for weeping And the soul that sees well weeps well Never soul that did by the Eye of Faith look upon this Son of Righteousness but their frozen hearts did melt within them Would you ever bee mourning men and Women for sin would you bee in bitterness as one is in bitterness for his first born Oh! Steep your thoughts in the blood of the Lamb Dwell a little on Christ crucified Look wistly upon Christ by Faith and this will solvere Gelicidium melt and thaw our frozen hearts turn us from stones into flesh Eight Royalty 8. Christ is an Heart-transforming-Grace 8 Royalty of Faith It s an Heart-transforming-Grace Such a Grace as doth transform the Soul into the nature of the Object Faith is as powerful in this spiritual conception to work in us the image of the Object seen as Fantasy is oftentimes in the natural conception The Poets tell us of some that did transform such as beheld them into stones such a power there was in the Object the thing beheld as to transform say they But here it is true If by Faith wee cast our Eyes upon Christ of stones wee shall bee turned into men of sinners into Saints of a hard heart to a soft and fleshly of Children of Satan to the Sons and Daughters of God Joh. 1.12 As many as beleeved on him to them hee gave power to bee the Sons of God Sons not born of the flesh or the will of the flesh but of God who begets like himself As that which is born of flesh is flesh So that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Hence wee are said to bee made partakers of the Divine Nature To bee transformed into the image and likeness of God To bee Holy as Hee is Holy Pure as Hee is Pure To bee as hee is in this World Never soul that looked on him by Faith but came away with another heart They looked to him and were enlightened saith the Psalmist Psal 34.5 But plainly you shall read the Transforming Power of Faith 2 Cor. 3.18 Whiles beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord wee are changed into the same image from Glory to Glory Such a Glass hee is that never did the Eye of Faith behold him but the Soul was changed with the sight from a Wolf into a Lamb from a sinner into a Saint from Darkness to Light You were once Darkness now are you Light in the Lord. It turns a man upside down wholly transforms him Indeed there is no change of the substance of soul and body nor of the faculties of soul and body but the qualities of the faculties are cleer changed The Head is transformed where before was darkness now there 's Light where before it did judge highly of carnal things and low esteemed spiritual it doth now the quite contrary The Will is transformed where before it was full of obstinacy and stoutness contradiction and rebellion now there is pliableness to good and conformity between Gods Will and his They are not two but one Will. Gods Amen is his Amen Gods Fiat his Fiat Gods Will his will So the Heart that is transformed whereas before it was nothing but a noisome sink of sin nothing but a Cage of unclean birds the womb of sin a seminary of lust Now it is washed purged purified sanctified made a fit Receptacle for Christ an Habitation for God by his Spirit Thus you see Faith is an Heart-transforming-Grace Wee cry and say Oh! If I had another heart I could beleeve If my heart were more holy more sanctified why the way to get another heart is to beleeve do but beleeve and you shall see another heart come into you another Spirit another Soul Do but look upon Christ and you shall bee transformed It is such a look as sends a man away with another heart As the Wise men It is said After they had seen Christ beheld Christ they went home another way So when by Faith wee have seen Christ it sends the Soul another way with another spirit with other Principles with other Resolutions There is this Power of Faith to transform the Soul into the nature of the Object beleeved Belief of the Promises breeds Principles in the Heart suitable to the Promises Belief in Christ breeds a Spirit suitable to Christ As Faith Belief in God a Father breeds Principles of Love Fear Reverence and Obedience in the Soul such things as are agreeable So the belief in Christ a Saviour breeds Principles of Trust of Love of Desire with the like Ninth Royalty 9 Faith is an heart-pacifying Grace 9 Royalty of Faith It s an Heart-pacifying-Grace Isa 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is staied on thee because hee trusteth in thee A place alledged by One who lying on his death-bed and injoying abundance of peace and calmness of spirit being demanded how it came to pass hee was not now assaulted with Satan replyed Hee knew no ground no cause save this God had promised To keep that soul in perfect Peace whose mind was staied on him who trusteth on him Hee relyed on Christ and therefore injoyed rest Isa 27.5 Let him take hold of my strength That is by Faith lay hold on my Covenant my Christ and I will bee at peace with him Hence the Apostle Rom. 5.1
Being justified by Faith wee have Peace with God Rom. 15.13 Now the God of all hope fill you with joy and peace in beleeving An unbeleeving-heart is a stormy heart an unpeaceable-heart All things Above us Within us Quae supra nos Intra nos Infra nos Contra nos Below us are all against us whilst wee are Unbeleevers 1. Above us wee have an angry and displeased God 2. Within us wee have a stormy and troublesome Conscience threatning nothing but death like the troubled Sea casting up mire and dirt as Isaiah speaks Isa 57.20 There is no Peace saith my God to the wicked 3 Below us we have there all the Creatures our enemies ready upon Gods commission to execute his displeasure upon us But now being Beleevers all is at Peace 1. All above us is at Peace The Controversy betwixt God and us is ended Faith takes up the quarrel betwixt God and us Wee have Peace with God Rom. 5.1 2. All within us is at Peace A peaceable God makes all at Peace Tranquillus Deus Tranquillat omnia when once our Peace is made in the Court of Heaven which is upon the first act of beleeving Then follows Peace in the Court of Conscience Peace which passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 Our rest is to behold God at rest our Peace is to see him at Peace Eum quierem aspicere Quâ—â— esceâ—e est 3. All below us are at Peace with us Wee have Peace with all the Creatures All are now our Friends Job 5.23 The stones of the Field shall bee at league with thee the Beasts of the Field shall bee at peace with thee c. Thou shalt know that Peace shall bee in thy Tabernacle Prov. 16.7 When a mans wayes please the Lord hee will make his enemies to bee at peace with him When before upon our Rebellion with God all the Creatures were our enemies now being reconciled all are made friends 1. Faith makes us the Servants to the God of Peace in whose service there is Peace Prov. 3.17 All his Paths are Peace Every step of Godliness hath Peace with it And the reward of whose service shall bee Peace Psal 29.11 The Lord will bless his people with Peace Psal 85.8 The Lord will speak Peace to his people at the last though they meet with much trouble for the present war within and war without war with lusts war with Satan yet the God of Peace shall tread down Satan under our feet at last and put an end to this war Rom. 16.20 They shall have a Peace in the Conclusion And a Peace after war is the surest and most setledst Peace Psal 37.37 Mark the upright man The end of that man is Peace Though there bee stormes and troubles in the way yet the end of the journey that shall bee Peace A calm after stormes and never shall there arise storme more to all Eternity 2. Faith makes us subjects to the Prince of Peace unto Christ who is called our Peace Ephes 2.14 And our Peace hee is 1. Not only meritoriously by shedding his Blood for the purchase of our Peace Col. 1.20 Christ is our Peace having made Peace through the Blood of his Cross So Isa 53. The chastisement of our Peace was upon him Or that chastisement which did meritoriously procure our Peace was upon him God directed all the war against him that wee might have Peace As Jonah was thrown into the Sea that the storm might cease so Christ upon the Cross into the Grave that God and wee might bee at peace together But Christ is not only our Peace thus meritoriously by procuring Peace for us But also â— Efficiently by working of Peace in us Christ hath not only wrought Peace for us but hee works Peace in us Pacifying our Consciences calming our stormy spirits setling and establishing his Peace in us Christ is called the Prince of Peace as the King is the Fountain of Honours and bestows them where hee will so Christ is of Peace and bestows it when and where hee pleaseth Wee read that Moses was a man of Peace but hee was not a Prince of Peace Hee could not bestow Peace hee could not instill peaceable and calm affections into the mutinous Israelites But Christ hee is not a man of Peace but King of Salem Prince of Peace who is able to bestow Peace who can calm the most stormy and troublesome spirits with as much ease as hee did the Winds and Waters which was but with a word Peace and bee still Now Faith makes us one with Christ who is the Prince of Peace Christ joyned God and us together and Faith joynes Christ and us together in whom wee have Peace John 16 33. â— In mee yee shall have Peace Faith makes us subjects to this Prince of Peace whose Kingdome and reign over his people doth not consist in meat and drink but in Righteousnesse and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost 3. Faith doth interest us into the Covenant of Peace and therefore being Beleevers wee must needs have Peace I say Faith doth interest us into the Covenant of Peace the Gospel of Peace the alone condition whereof is beleeving Whosoever beleeveth shall bee saved Time was that Hoc age do this was the condition of life do this and live So ran the old Covenant But now Crede Beleeve and bee saved The Law required works It 's called a Covenant of Works but the Gospel Faith It s a Covenant of Grace Made out of meer Grace and performed of meer Grace wherein God promiseth pardon of sins upon meer Mercy and Grace 4. Faith doth instate us into the conditions of Peace Faith gives us the grounds of Peace Justification Reconciliation with God pardon of sin and Sanctification of the whole man As there is no Peace where God is not propitious so there 's no Peace where the sinner is not sanctified A Beleeving heart is an holy heart and an holy heart is a peaceable heart Grace and Peace and Righteousnesse and Peace are still coupled together To shew that where there is no Grace there is no Peace and where there is Grace there is Peace though not ever in the Possession Gratia est bonum initiale Pax est bonum finale and sensible injoyment yet ever in the hope and assurance of the promise of Peace Grace is the root and Peace is the fruit A good Conscience is a continual Feast They who do the work of God shall have the Peace of God Gal. 6. They who walk according to this Rule Peace shall bee on them c. Hence the Psalmist Psal 119 165. Great Peace have they that love thy Law They which love the Law of God shall have the Peace of God Object But you will say Many have Peace who yet are not Beleevers Object And many are Beleevers and yet want Peace Therefore Peace is not a Fruit of Faith Ans Now to meet and to resist this Objection Answ which like a two-edged-sword
give away to jealous mis-giving and mistrusting thoughts of God or of themselves Some there are who do nothing but make objections against themselves and Gods dealings with them And a quarrelsome heart is for the most part a troublesome heart You shall see some to whom God hath given evidences of their estate and condition and such as might content them such as they might have Peace in But they will quarrel against them Either their evidences are not so clear as others are not written in so fair and legible characters as others are Or else they want sealing And therefore they will take no comfort in them Thus do many forsake their own mercies breed their own disquiet and are injurious to their own peace When God hath spoken Peace and Peace to their Souls yet they return back again to folly to the folly of Unbeleeving Doubting Questioning of Gods love And no marvel if such do want Peace Men that will forgoe their evidences give up their claim and title to Christ Men whom Satan can make unsay what they know God hath said to their hearts may soon sit down in dumb silence and discouragement If when God hath manifested himself to you hath come and supped with you hath given you the white stone of absolution the Hidden Manna of comfort and consolation those manifest experiments of his love and yet you will joyn Issue with Satan give way to doubts No marvel if you disturb your peace bring insufferable fears and disquiets upon your selves And it were just with God to leave you to the doubts and mis-givings of your own hearts and never to give you a word of Peace more but suffer you to bring your gray hairs with sorrow to the Grave seeing nothing will satisfie you 6. The Reason why Beleevers have no more Peace is Because they seek Peace no more in a way of beleeving They seek it more in the Law than in the Gospel more in Sanctification than in Justification more in the Precept than in the Promise more in working than in beleeving more in their Obedience than in Christ. And therefore no marvel seeing all this is imperfect that they have no more perfection of peace So long as you make the grounds of your peace any thing within your selves or any thing wrought by your selves you will never have fulness of peace There may bee some peace for a time in these things but it is not a full and satisfying peace nor yet a permanent and constant peace It may be gotton to day lost or incumbred to morrow Every imperfection will disturb your peace Every failing will raise up a new and fresh storm breed a new quarrel in the soul Hee that would have peace must seek it in the God of Peace in the Prince of Peace in Christ himself in whom hee said Joh. 16.33 Wee should have Peace When there 's a storm in your selves there 's peace in him when there 's no peace in you in regard of your imperfections and failings there 's yet peace in Christ who is a perfect Saviour The Sacrifice is imperfect but the Priest is perfect Tenth Royalty 10 Faith is an Heart-inabling-Grace 10. Royalty of Faith It s an Heart-inabling-Grace It is such a Grace as inables a man 1. To do 2. To suffer A Beleeving Christian is a strong Christian He is strong for any service It is said By Faith Abraham obeyed God Faith did inable him to obey And it was a great act of Obedience as you may read scil The offering of his Son his only Son the Son of his love If it had been an adopted Son only and not his Natural or if his Natural and but one among many the trial had not been so great But hee was his own and only Son and the Son of his old age and therefore like to have no more the Son of the promise not an Ismael but an Isaac a Son long expected now exceedingly rejoyced in hee was the Son of his Love Now to part with such a Son was a great tryal But here was not all the tryal If hee had but parted with him in the way of Nature by a natural death this had not been so much but to part with him in way of Sacrifice wherein hee was to bee cut in peeces nay and hee himself must bee the Butcher of this Son of his Love must imbrue his own hands in the blood of this Son This was a great tryal yet here was seen the power of Faith tht it inabled him to obey Hee did not consult with Flesh and Blood did not dispute but obey By Faith hee obeyed Faith it is an Heart-inabling-Grace It will inable you to pray yea and to pray to purpose to wrestle with God Beleeving-prayers are wrestling prayers wherein the Soul wrestles with God by strength of his Promise his Covenant his Truth his Christ It inables you to hear and to hear with profit when Faith doth incorporate it self with the Word it will be profitable Faithful hearing is ever fruitful hearing It will inable you to receive the Sacrament and to receive with comfort Faith is the Organ whereby wee feed on Christ receive Christ Faith is the instrument that conveyes Christ the Conduit-pipe A beleeving Receiver is a blessed Receiver It will inable you to bring forth much fruit To bee fruitful in Obedience It plants us into a fruitfull stock and how can wee bee barren Plants It draws life and nourishment from Christ A faithfull Christian is a fruitfull Christian Men of a good Beleef are men of a good Life That soul that hath yeelded obedience to the Promise in a way of beleeving is ready to subject it self to every Precept in a way of Obedience Faith doth inable a man to contend with lusts with the strongest corruptions The sons of Zerviah which else would bee too hard for us It inables us to combate with Satan It is our shield whereby wee resist it is our weapon whereby wee conquer It sets Christ against Satan by whom wee over-overcome as the word is Wee are more than Conquerors It inables us to overcome the World This is our Victory whereby wee overcome the World even our Faith Whereas unbeleef doth slay and disable the heart both from doing and suffering An unbeleeving heart is an impotent heart The state of unbeleef is a state of impotency and disability to the performance of any thing that is good There is a total and universal impotency in an unbeleeving heart Hee cannot pray hear receive Faith on the contrary doth inable and strengthen the soul to all Obedience It inables a man to yeeld A willing Obedience cheerfull Obedience voluntary Obedience a constant a fruitful an universal Obedience It will inable a man to do his duty Towards God Towards others Towards himself It inables a man to walk through the duties of all relations faithfully The Husband to the Wife the Wife to the Husband The Parents to the Childe The Child to the
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. These fourscore and six years I have served Christ and hee hath never hurt mee all this time and how then can I blaspheme my King and Saviour The like of Cyprian who being desired to consult with himself before hee should suffer Fac quod tibi praeceptum est replies Do your office In so just a thing as this there needs no Consultation The like of that rich Virgin which Basil speak of who being condemned to the fire was offered her life and estate if she would renounce her Faith shee returns Valeat vita pereat pecunia c. Let my mony perish my life cannot and though I lose this life I shall have a more enduring a more abiding a more abounding life in Christ To these many more might bee added to shew how Faith doth furnish the Soul with suffering Resolutions as that of Chrysostome who said if you take away my goods c. 3. Faith begets suffering graces courage magnanimity patience humility self-denyal contempt of the World high prizing of God It sets God above all the comforts and contentments in Heaven and Earth It gives adherence to the Truth by which the Soul is inabled to undergo any thing 4. It laies in suffering-strength strength from God strength from the Promise which saith When thou passest through the water it shall not overflow thee when thou passest through the fire it shall not kindle upon thee c. Isa 43.2 It fetcheth strength from Christ who like Simon of Cyrene helps to bear part of every Cross Thus Faith goes out of it self stands upon anothers bottome leans upon anothers power rests upon anothers strength whereby the Soul is inabled to go thorow any thing All this is conveyed by this Instrument of Faith 5. It propounds to the Soul suffering rewards That For these light afflictions which are but for a moment wee shall receive a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory That for the loss of temporals wee shall gain eternals That If wee suffer with Christ wee shall reign with Christ. That No man shall lose Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands or Houses or Brethren or Sisters for his Names sake but hee shall receive an hundred fold more here and shall inherit everlasting life Matth. 19.29 God will bee all this to thee Nay God will bee more than all this to thee More than Riches more than Friends more than Life it self unto thee All which considerations do exceedingly inable the Soul to undergo sufferings and tryals Eleventh Royalty 11. Faith is an Heart-in-nobling-Grace That which sets one man above another 11. Royalty of Faith It s a Soul-in-nobling-Grace That which doth raise up and exalt one man above another in Gods esteem is Faith that which doth put a difference between man and man is Faith or nothing Acts. 15.9 1. Faith is such a Grace as sets us above others our Persons above others A Grace which makes us Kings and Priests unto God which raises us and sets us out of the croud They are noble whom God doth in-noble honourable whom God doth honour God is the King of Kings the Fountain of all Honour who can exalt whom hee pleaseth and throw down whom hee pleaseth who can in-noble whom hee pleaseth and abase whom hee will And this honour have all his Saints This hath God thrown upon the poorest Beleever hee hath made him a King and a Priest Rev. 1.6 1 Pet. 2.5.9 2. Faith sets our performances above others Our prayers our duties our obedience Faith raises them above others Heb. 11.4 By Faith Abel offered to God a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain Cain offered Sacrifice as well as Abel but Faith put the difference betwixt them By Faith hee offered a more excellent a more noble Sacrifice than Cain Faith puts a difference betwixt the works of Christians and the works of Heathens Though there were no difference for the matter yet Faith puts a vast difference for the manner Faith puts a difference betwixt the Abba-Fathers of a Childe of a Saint and the Ave-Maries of a superstitious Papist betwixt the Prayers of a Saint and the Devotions of a sinner betwixt the cryes of a Saint and the howlings of an Hypocrite But to return Faith is an Heart-in-nobling-Grace 1. It begets in us Soul-in-nobling-Principles Principles like our selves It is such a Grace as doth sublimate a man begets high glorious and heavenly Principles in the soul By this wee are made partakers of the divine nature It is an Heart-spiritualizing-Grace Whereas Unbeleef doth sensuallize a man beasts a man as Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 5.20.21 Hence wee read An Unbeleeving heart is called a gross heart make their heart gross so Faith doth raise up a man spiritualizes a man A Beleeving heart is a fine heart a spiritual heart It refines the soul Faith doth raise up a man as high above reason as reason doth raise a man above meer sense It sets a man as high above a man as Reason doth a man above a Beast Faith is the Spirit of Grace Not only a spiritual Grace but the Spirit of all our spiritual Graces It hath nothing but spirituality in it and hath to do with nothing but spiritual things with God with Christ with Heaven with Justification pardon of sin All which are spiritual things far above sense nay and Reason too their objects reach not so high which things though they bee Real and none more Real yet they are spiritually Real not sensually Real to Faith not to sense nor to Reason neither And therefore unbeleeving men do esteem these things either meer-nothings or they are next door to nothing in their thoughts Imaginary things Notiones secundae which have no foundation in Being no existence in the World 2. Faith doth implant us into Soul-in-nobling-Relations 1 It makes us Servants to the great God of Heaven and Earth who though it were Hyperbollically said of Tyrus Merchants yet may it truly bee said of God makes all his servants Kings Gods service is an honourable a noble service Nay it makes us not only Servants but 2. It makes us friends of God Abraham a Beleever was call'd Gods Friend nay not only Friends but 3. It makes us Sons and Daughters of God Gal. 3.26 You are the Children of God by Faith Wee may glory in our Pedegree A Beleever is best born nobly born Jam. 1.18 Of his own Will begat hee us by the Word of Truth Joh. 1.13 Born of God Nay 4. It makes us the Spouse of Christ who is such as Husband as doth en-noble his Wife Wee know among men The Wife is honoured with her Husbands honour The Lawyers have a speech Mulier fulget Radiis Mariti The Wife shines with the Husbands Rayes shee shines with his brightness If hee bee honourable whatever shee was before yet now shee cannot bee base If hee bee noble shee cannot bee ignoble because hee confers and throws all his honours upon his Wife So here by Faith being
is a Soul-inriching-Grace It gives a man not only Title and interest into a Soul-inriching-God a Soul-inriching-Christ a Soul-inriching-Treasure but gives the soul the possession and injoymnet of all this By Faith wee possess God injoy God and by no other way but by Faith in Christ Though Faith be poor in it self the poorest Grace of all as having nothing of its own such a Grace as lives all upon anothers stock is fed with anothers food rich by anothers riches as the Apostle said of himself Hee was poor yet making many rich having nothing yet possessing all things so I may say of Faith Though it bee poor in it self yet it makes us rich doth inrich us with all the riches of Christ though it hath nothing in it self yet it possesses all things it possesseth Christ which is all Oh! If you bee rich in Faith you cannot bee poor in Grace Quantum credimus Tantum amamus Quantum credimus Tantum speramus Saith Aug. poor in Holiness Faith sanctifies So much Faith so much Grace so much Faith so much Love so much Faith so much Hope so much Faith so much Humility so much brokenness of spirit for sin so much Patience Zeal c. Never was it known a strong Beleever to bee a weak Christian So much Faith write down so much Grace Little in Faith and little in Grace little in love c. Grace is still proportionable to the measure and degrees of Faith like the fountain and the flood Hence Faith is called the Mother-Grace 2. Pet. 1.2 3. Grace and Peace bee multiplyed on you by the Knowledge of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the acknowledgement that is by Faith The augmentation of Faith doth cause the multiplication of Grace not in the kinds only but in the degrees The more Faith in degrees the more Grace Grow in Faith and you grow in all Grace Decrease in Faith and all the Graces of God decrease in thee There is decay of Love of Joy of Patience The ground of all decayes is the decay of Faith Well then To draw to a conclusion of this you see Faith is an inriching-Grace 1. It inricheth the understanding with knowledge with heavenly wisdome which is better than gold It makes the Head a store-house of divine knowledge There is some Knowledge before Faith Scientia Principiorum the Knowledge of Principles But the best Knowledge is after Beleeving Wee beleeve and know saith John First beleeve and then know Crede ut intelligas beleeve that thou mayest understand Hence David Psal 119. Teach mee good Judgement for I have beleeved thy Word Not that I may beleeve but for I have beleeved Non possunt discere qui nolunt credere Addiscentem oportet credere Hence Augustine upon Heb. 4.2 The Word did not profit them because it was not mixt with Faith in them that heard it saith They cannot learn because they will not beleeve Hee that would learn must beleeve As Knowledge of things revealed goes before Faith so Faith goes before the exact understanding and clear apprehensions of them How shall a man bee able to understand these heavenly Mysteries in the Word all which are far above Reason The Mystery of the Trinity the Mystery of Christ in whom there is nothing but Mysteries His Person a Mystery his Nature his Works all Mysteries 1 Tim. 3.16 Without Controversy great is the Mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory That hee should bee God-Man mortall and immortal That there should bee such greatness and such baseness such infiniteness and yet such finiteness in one person These are all Mysteries Hence Christ is called Isa 9.6 Wonderful because all is wonderfull in Christ hee is wonderful in his Person in his Nature in his offices in the managing of them A chain of wonders So the Creation a Mystery Resurrection a Mystery Christian Religion is nothing else but a bundle of holy Mysteries Which how shall any man understand until first hee beleeve Hee that seeks to know before hee beleeve shall never know The best way to know is to shut your eyes captivate Reason and Beleeve and then you shall see and know Thus you see Faith inricheth with Spiritual Knowledge 2. As Faith inriches the Understanding the Head with Knowledge so it inriches the Heart with Grace It makes the Heart a Treasury of divine and holy Graces The least of which are worth all the Riches of the World Divines set down four invaluable things 1. The Favour of God in Christ 2. The Souls of Men. 3. The Spirit 4. The Graces of the Spirit 1. The Favour of God That 's invaluable Psal 63.3 Thy loving kindness is better than Life And Life is the most precious thing a man hath in the World Skin for Skin and all a man hath will hee give for his life The Devil was right there Now Gods loving-kindness is better than Life 2. The Souls of Men. What will it profit a man to gain the whole World and lose his Soul Christ sets the gain of the whole World against the losse of one Soul Hee puts one Soul in one Balance and the whole World in another And one Soul weighs down all What will it profit its too light All that gain cannot make up this loss It is an incomparable loss because an irrecoverable loss once lost lost for ever There 's no recovery of a lost soul Though a man may lose other things yet may hee recover them again Man may lose Riches c. but not his Soul when once lost for want of beleeving 3. The third invaluable is the Spirit not to bee bought with silver or gold Hence Peter told Simon-Magus when hee would have bought the Spirit Thy mony perish with thee Thinkest thou the Gift of God may bee bought with mony 4. The Graces of the Spirit The least of which doth weigh down all the World The least grain of Grace of Love of Repentance of godly sorrow Humility is worth ten thousand Worlds Faith is more precious than gold saith Peter Now these are the Riches that Faith doth possess the Soul of the invaluable Riches of Grace Other Riches God deals out promiscuously and No man knows either love or hatred by any thing before him A man may do wickedly and prosper as it was said of Antiochus Epiphanes Dan. 8.24 â—5 These Riches Gods enemies do share in as well as his friends Nay and have often the greatest share the greatest portion Job 21.7 Jer. 12.1 Dives may have more wealth Saul more command Agrippa more gorgious apparel than the dearest of Gods Saints But now these are such Riches as God bestows upon none but Beleevers Abraham gave portions to the Sons of the Concubines and sent them away but unto Isaac hee gave all hee had Rex honores dignis Other Riches may bee taken away A man may bee rich to
light into the world saith Christ that whosoever beleeveth in mee should not abide in darknesse The least touch of Christ by Faith doth raise up and revive the Soul in this sad Condition As the dead man was raised to life and revived but by touching the dead bones of Elisha 2 King 13.21 so the Dead Soul if it do but touch the Dead and crucified body of Christ by Faith is raised up and revived Such a vertue and influence comes from Christ as doth raise up and comfort the Soul Thus Faith doth raise the heart by laying hold of Christ He who raised up himself will raise up all his members If our head had been still under water wee had then perished but he being risen will raise us up also being his members 4 Faith inables a man to put up Soul-raising-prayers indites Soul-raising-prayers strong Prayers and cries to God As Prayer helps Faith So Faith helps Prayer It inables a man to wrestle with God now in the Dark of desertion as it did Jacob in the Dark of the Night Yea and to wrestle with him by his own strength the strength of his Covenant of his promise of his Christ In which Encounter Faith will take up arguments 1 From it self 2 From God 1 From it self By presenting its miserable Condition in the absence of God That all his own work is ready to sink and dy to come to nothing if hee help not Oh! will Faith say Lord my flesh fails my heart fails my strength fails my spirit fails Oh! Come down before I dye come strengthen the things that are ready to dye in me This argument David took up Psal 143.7 Hear me speedily O Lord my spirit fails Oh! Hide not thy face from mee lest I bee like unto them that go down into the Pit So Psal 39.10 12 13. Take thy plague from mee I am consumed by the stroke of thy hand c. Hear my prayer O Lord hearken to my cry Keep not silence at my tears for I am a stranger with thee a sojourner as all my Fathers were Oh! spare a little that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more 2 Faith will take up arguments from God 1 From the justice and truth of God He hath promised never to leave nor forsake his people 2 From the immutability of God Thou art JEHOVAH thou changest not therefore the Sons of Jacob are not consumed Mal. 3.6 Thou never repentest of thine own work Thou never hast wooed my heart to lose it again Thou never tookest my heart to leave it again and take thy heart clean away Thou never didst set thy heart on mee to take it off again 3 From the power of God Abraham at a plunge was supported with this strong staff of Comfort when though by Gods command hee was to sacrifice his Sonne Isaac yet hee accounted that God was able to raise him up even from the dead Heb. 11.19 Lord if thou wilt thou canst Mat. 8.2 4 From the mercy of God Lord thou art gracious and merciful ready to relieve It 's true I am a sinner but thou art a Saviour I am sinful but thou art mercifull I am impious but thou art gracious I have done that Ego admisi undè me damnare potes Tu non amisisti undè me salvare soles for which thou mightest damn mee but thou hast not lost that by which thou mayest save mee True I am not worthy of a smile from Heaven I have deserved to bee sent from darkness here to everlasting darkness hereafter from this partial to total and universal darkness But Lord proportion not thy dealings to mee according to my deservings from thee Let not the strong God take a pattern from my weakness good God do not ever remember my evil least thou forget thine own goodness thine own mercy O bone Do-â—â— mine noli recordare malum moum ne obliviscaris bonum tuum But thou who art found of them who seek thee not Oh! Be mercifully found of a soul who seeketh thee Thus will Faith work it self out of trouble and gather arguments to prevail with God for deliverance It will take up arguments From Soul-raising-Attributes From Soul-raising-Promises From Soul-raising-Relations From Soul-raising-Experiences It will incompass God with Gods own strength And God cannot because hee will not deny God will not reject his own strength not strive against his own mercy not resist his own Spirit not falsifie his own Truth but will raise up and revive the Soul Thus you see Faith is a Soul-raising-Grace Where Unbeleef holds the soul under water buries the soul in these sad conditions Faith raiseth up and reviveth it A beleeving soul cannot long lye under trouble If all the Power Truth and Mercy of God will fetch him out hee shall bee sure to bee delivered Faith ingages and sets a work all these to help Oh! The Reason my Brethren why you lye so long in spiritual Agonies buried up in spiritual troubles is because you let not Faith come in to work for you let Faith have her perfect work and it will raise you Sixteenth Royalty 16. Faith is an Heart-chearing-Grace 16. Royalty Faith is an Heart-chearing Grace Faith is such a Grace as doth chear and comfort the soul with unexpressible Consolations It is such a Grace as makes an inlet of all the Consolations of God into the Soul Faith brings a report to the Soul that God is his God Christ is his Christ that his Name is written in the Book of Life his sins are pardoned his soul shall bee saved And such news as this must needs fill the soul with unexpressible Consolations with joyes unspeakable and full of glory All other joyes are but mad and disorderly joyes They are carnal not spiritual outward not inward joyes they are but painted not true Joyes imaginary not real Joyes unsatisfying not tull Joyes inconstant not stable Joyes The best false Raptures Anabaptistical Illusions not true Joyes But this Joy The Joy of Faith it is grounded joy it is 1. A spiritual Joy for the Nature of it 2. A Hearty Joy for the Nature of it 3. A Satisfying Joy for the fulness of it 4. A Constant Permanent Joy for the duration of it My Joy shall no man take from you Alas what are all other joyes to the Joy of Faith The least morsel of this Joy is worth all the full meals of worldly delights The least gleaning of this Joy is worth the whole Harvest of carnal mirth The least drop of this is worth an Ocean of any other There is more moisture in one drop of this than in a flood of temporal and carnal delights True Joy grows upon the stock of Faith Where there is no Faith there is no true Joy Faith is the Root and Joy is the Fruit. It is call'd The Joy of Beleevers Beleevers are the Subjects of it and a Joy in Beleeving Beleeving is the Root of it Rom. 5.1.2 Being justified by Faith wee have
Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also through Faith wee have access into this Grace wherein wee stand rejoycing under the hope of the Glory of God Rom. 15.13 The God of Hope fill you with all Joy and Peace in Beleeving Where there 's Faith there 's Joy If Faith of Evidence Ubi Fiducia ibi Laetitia there Joy doth naturally result and arise from it If but Faith of Adherence there Joy is hid and secret though it doth not appear The seed of Joy is hid as yet under the Clods of Faith but in time it will break forth and appear Joy is there though it bee not seen There may bee a divorce between Faith and actual rejoycing for a time but there can bee no divorce between Faith and the Matter and Ground of Rejoycing not between Faith and the Affection of Joy My Joy shall none take from you Thus you see Faith is an Heart-chearing-Grace It fills the soul with such a Joy as nothing is able to bereave the soul thereof It is not Losses Crosses Poverty Sickness Prisons Persecutions which are able to take away this Joy of Faith 1. Faith will inable a man to rejoyce in Bonds to rejoyce in Tribulations and Sufferings for Christ as the Apostle saith As Sufferings abound the Consolations shall superabound As if all the floods of Consolation did issue from the spring of Sufferings 2. It will inable a man to rejoyce in sicknesse Faith will bee our best Cordial and let in such a beam of Gods love into the Soul as will chear and comfort the heart in this condition warm and inlighten it not only inlighten but warm the heart in this condition 3. It will inable a man to Rejoyce in Poverty in Calamity in Famine You see Habakkuks confidence Hab. 3.17 18. Although the Figtree do not blossome nor shall there bee fruit in the Vines though the labour of the Olive shall fail and the field shall yeeld no meat though the sheep bee cut off from the Fold and there bee no Bullock in the stall yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation Though the waters of Calamity should rise so high as to drown up all his comforts yet hee could rejoyce in God In the absence of all worldly comforts Faith can let in springs of Consolation from God to rejoyce the Soul If God if Christ if Glory can rejoyce the heart Faith will not want matter of Joy in the saddest condition It is an Heart-chearing Grace Faith will present to man Soul-rejoycing-grounds There are these five grounds of Rejoycing 1. Our Election Hence Christ saith Rejoyce that your Names are written in the Book of Life 2. Our Redemption 3. Our Justification 4. Our Sanctification 5. The Promises and Hopes of Glorification And Faith presents all these grounds of rejoycing It makes a discovery to the soul that wee are Gods chosen such as hee hath elected that wee are his Redeemed ones such as hee hath purchased that wee are his Justified ones such as hee hath pardoned that wee are his holy ones such as hee hath sanctified and shall bee hereafther glorified And when such a report is made to the soul from Heaven when Faith hath been in Heaven and brings this news down to the soul how can it bee but the Soul must rejoyce and bee filled with all Consolations Object But alas you will say Who are more sad who are more disconsolate than Beleevers are And therefore how is Faith an Heart-chearing-Grace Ans 1. Beleevers may rejoyce and thou not discern it It is a Joy which is not known but by experience Hence the Apostle saith It is a Joy that passeth all understanding None know it but they who feel it A stranger doth not intermeddle with this Joy As they cannot feel it so they cannot see it and therefore are no Competent Judges whether Gods people are joyfull or whether they bee sorrowfull 2. But to answer further You say Beleevers are sad and disconsolate people 1. All Beleevers are not so They are such as are 1. Under some present cross and affliction Gods hand is gone out against them though for good For all things work together for good to them that love God and are chosen according to his purpose But I say some present evil is upon them and this may sadden the spirits of the best for a time though this may bee their infirmity Paul had learned in all estates therein to bee content and if to bee content then to rejoyce unless it were Contentation by force sure not well pleasing to God If indeed their comfort did lye in the presence and injoyment of these outward things then no marvel if in the absence of them they were cast down I say If the floods of their comfort were maintained by such springs as these then no marvel if these being taken away they bee bereave of their Joy But seeing these things are too short either to breed or feed either to beget or fuel a Christians Joy why should the deprival of them so much affect the heart as to take away their Joy Have you not still the ground of Joy you have lost your goods but not your God You are deprived of your Comforts not of your Christ And therefore except you do make Gods of the Creature prize them too highly in your Judgement ingage your hearts and affections too much to them why should your Joy bee taken away You see Paul had learned in all estates to bee content and the Prophet Habakkuk before mentioned and why not you 2. Such they are as for the present are under some sad and sore Temptation combate with Satan and for the present their spirits are sadned and cast down 3. Such as are in deserted conditions God having withdrawn himself and hid his face from the Soul Than which there is no sadder condition in the World when not a Star but the Sun it self is rent from the Sky when not a single Comfort but the universal Comfort seems to bee gone This may sadden the spirit of Gods people for a time All Jobs crosses did not so much affect him as this The loss of his Goods of his Possession of his Children came not so neer him as the apprehension of the loss of his God Hee could lift up his head under all the other but here hee was ready to sink Such a Condition Gods people may bee in which may cause sadness of spirit as was David Heman Hezekiah and others 2. So secondly for those of Gods people that are thus sad and disconsolate it is not as they are Beleevers but as they are Doubters Their Trouble ariseth from Doubting not from Beleeving It is not Faith but the want of Faith which is the cause of their uncomfortable walking If Gods people would live more out of themselves and more in Christ if they would live more the Life of Faith and less the Life of Sense if they would
But Johanan wanted Faith to beleeve there was safety where was no means of safety And therefore hee chose rarher to go down to Egypt than to abide at Jerusalem And if that mans reason might direct it 't was the likeliest way for in Jerusalem was nothing but Penury Want Famine and War In Egypt there was Plenty Peace and all abundance But now observe Though the way were never so likely yet following his own wisdome and rejecting the counsel of God I say following his own wisdome and counsel and neglecting the direction of God hee ran upon his own ruine it was his utter undoing You see there the thing hee thought hee should avoid hee fell into Hee thought to have avoided the Sword Famine and Pestilence but all these followed him God would make him know it was better to follow the guidance of Faith though the way were never so dangerous unlikely to carnal wisdome than to bee led by his own wisdome though 't were never so likely Men that would avoid danger out of Gods way do surely run into it Hee that will follow his own wisdome not Gods shall run into mischief You see this in Jeroboam It was a likely project in carnal reason in mans way To continue his Throne and Kingdome by making of Calves that so the people might bee kept from Jerusalem and might not revolt back to Judah But in Gods way it was the way to his ruine the overthrow of him and all his house Eighteenth Royalty 18. Faith is an Heart-establishing-Grace 18. Royalty Faith is an Heart-establishing-Grace It settles a man upon such a Foundation as nothing can unsettle him Psal 125.1 They who trust in the Lord shall bee as Mount Sion which cannot bee removed but abideth for ever Such a man is Homo quadratus Fall hee which way hee will hee lights upon his square Psal 112. His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord his heart is established hee will not fear Whereas Unbeleef doth unsettle the soul fills a man with unsufferable perplexities sets a man upon the rack of fears It is that which keeps a man in fears and that which causeth a fresh return of doubts and fears If you do not beleeve yee shall not bee established And Unbeleeving man is an house without a foundation a man without a bottom like a ship unballassed in a Tempest tossed hither and thither Faith on the contrary doth make a man a rock in a storm doth stablish and settle the heart in the greatest Tempest The lesse Faith the more Fear the more Unsettledness The more Faith the lesse Fear the more Stability Faith doth unburden our hearts of all our fears and all our cares When a man beleeves not all the burden lies upon a mans self But when wee beleeve wee cast all the burden upon the Lord. Wee are troubled and affraid what shall become of our souls what of our bodies what of our Children But Faith doth unburden the soul of these cares and thoughts it doth quit and discharge the soul of these fears Faith casts the whole burden upon the Lord makes God to bear all the burden not only the burden of sins but the burden of cares and fears comming to him weary and heavy laden and by Faith casting our burden upon him hee bears all Pro. 16.2 Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall bee established Psal 55.22 Cast thy burden upon the Lord and hee shall sustain thee There are two things Faith establishes the soul against 1. Against Fears 2. Against Falling 1. Faith establisheth the heart against fears When a man beleeves not hee is nothing but fears and scruples But when once Faith comes it doth answer all cases silences all doubts stablisheth the heart against all fears There are five Fears which Faith doth establish the heart against 1. The Fear of Men. 2. The Fear of Want 3. The Fear of Death 4. The Fear of Hell 5. The Fear of Judgement 1. Faith establisheth the heart against humane Fears the fear of men Faith will banish these unlawful and tyrannical fears It will not suffer them to enter the Throne and take possession of the heart Psal 27.1.3 The Lord is my light and my Salvation There was his Faith Whom then shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my life Of whom then shall I bee affraid Though an host should incamp against mee my heart shall not fear in another Psalm God is our hope and strength a help in trouble ready to bee found Therefore will not wee fear though the Earth bee moved though the Mountains bee hurled into the midst of the Sea Psal 46.1 2. 2. Faith doth establish us against the Fear of Want Many there are that fear to out-live their labours to out-live their Riches their Comforts Oh! say they I shall one day want and bee in misery Now Faith settles the soul against these fears Why will Faith say hath not God said The Lions shall hunger and suffer want That is as the Septuagint read it the mighty Nimrods the great ones of the World who have their baggs full They shall sooner want than they that fear the Lord shall want any thing that 's good Why will Faith say Doth God cloathe the Lillies feed the Ravens and will hee not take care for thee Mat. 6.24 to the 34. what hath not God ingaged himself to bear thy charges to Heaven Hath hee not promised to give thee all things necessary both for life and godliness not only for Godliness for Spirituals but for Life too for Temporals Hath not Godliness the promise of this Life that now is and of that that is to come Doth God take care for Ravens for the Beasts of the field Doth hee feed his Enemies and will hee forget his friends Hath hee given thee a Christ and doubtest thou hee will give thee a crumb will hee not give us all things who hath not withheld himself from us Thus the Apostle doth reason Nonnè dabit sua qui non dâ—tinuit se Rom. 8.32 Hee that spared not his own Son but freely gave him for us how shall hee not with him freely also give us all things Sure hee who trusts God for his soul will trust God for his Body Faith doth not single and chuse out its Object to beleeve this not that but all comming from the same Truth Fides non eligit Objectum the same God it beleeves one as well as another Hee who depends on God for the many will depend on him for the less Hee who trusts God for pounds will trust him also for pence If I tell you earthly things saith Christ to Nicodemus and you beleeve not how will you beleeve if I tell you heavenly things So if you will not beleeve God for earthly things how can you beleeve him for heavenly things If not for sustentation how then for salvation 3. Faith doth stablish the heart against the Fear of Death the King of Fears as Job
calls it And of all terribles the most terrible as the Philosopher speaks Unbeleef doth slay the heart with fears A man that knows not what shall become of his soul to all eternity no marvel if hee bee afraid to dye When a man shall lye upon his death bed and knows not whither hee shall go Quo vadam nescio As it was said of Aristotle I go I know not whither Or when a man shall look upon death and Hell behinde it upon the Pale Horse and Hell behinde as wee have it Rev. 6. no marvel if hee bee afraid to dye But when by Faith wee can look upon God a Father Christ a Saviour and can say God is my God Christ is my Christ Heaven is my Inheritance Glory is my portion no marvel then if death bee not terrible no marvel then if hee bee ready to meet death and say with Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace Or with Paul sigh out Cupio dissolvi I desire to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ Men that have not assurance of a better life it is no wonder if they bee loath to leave this they know not where to mend themselves Earth in Possession is better than Heaven in Reversion But when God hath given a man the assurance of a better life when a man hath his hope in his hand his evidences sealed Oh! then death is not terrible There will bee a willing Resignation of the soul into Gods hands I'ts true in some case Hee that beleeves maketh not haste but here the more wee beleeve the more haste wee make to bee with God 4. Faith Stablisheth the heart against the Fear of Hell Faith knows who was in pretium as well as in premium and beholds Christ not only in Premium to intitle us to Heaven but in pretium as the price of our Redemption to free us from Hel. As by his Active Obedience hee answered Gods commanding and remunerative Justice So by his Passive Obedience hee answered Gods condemning and vindictive Justice freeing us from that wrath and misery which otherwise wee should unavoidably have fallen into 5. Faith doth establish the heart against the Fear of Judgement There shall bee no condemnation to such as are in Christ Jesus such as are Beleevers The Judge is our Advocate our Saviour Hee to whom wee are to answer hath answered for us Hee to whom wee are to give satisfaction hath satisfied for us Hee is our Redeemer who hath laid down his life for us Faith knows Christ will bee All in All to the soul not only in life to preserve it but in death to comfort and in Judgement to absolve thee and save thee 2. Faith doth establish the heart against falling 1. Against Total Apostacy 2. Against Final Apostacy 1. Against Total There is not a Total Apostacy Though the Saints fall sadly yet not Totally 1. A Child of God may lose all the comforts of spiritual life yet not spiritual life it self Hee may bring himself into such a sad condition by sin that hee may sin away all the comforts of this life Thus David Psal 51. Restore to mee the joy of thy Salvation Hee had not lost life but the comforts of it and desires they may bee restored A man may out-live the comforts of life this is a sad thing to out-live comforts here but Faith at least layeth the grounds of those comforts that are endless 2. A man may lose all the Vigorous and Powerful Operations of Grace and Life yet not life it self It may bee with a Child of God as with a man in a dead Swoon though there bee life in him yet the operations of life are but little discerned It 's not with him as it was wont to bee Hee thinks to go out as sometimes Sampson in prayer c. but his strength is gone from him as his was But his life is hid with Christ in God as the Apostle hath it Col. 3.3 3. A man may lose some measures and degrees of spiritual life yet not life it self Hee may suffer a great decay in his Faith a great abatement in his Love and Zeal c. and yet life is not lost Thus it was with the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2.5 Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first Works Wee are not to think that the Church was fallen from Grace but only from some measures and degrees of Grace And concerning the same Church Rev. 2.4 when it is said Shee had lost her first love it is not meant that shee had lost the Grace of Charity you see the fruits of it in the second and third verses But shee had lost the degrees It was not extinguished but cooled only The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies not that shee did altogether Amittere lose it but somewhat Remittere remit and abate of the fervency of it As one saith of Peter Motum fuit i◠co spiritualis vitae robu◠non amotum con cussum non excussum Gratiam fidei remisit Actum intermisit Habitum non amisit The strength of spiritual life was moved in him but not removed shaken 't was but not shaken off Hee remitted the Grace of Faith intermitted the act of Faith but lost not the Habit. Isa 6.13 Hee shall bee like an Oak whose substance is in him when it casts its leaves so the Holy seed shall bee the substance thereof Like to that is that of 1 Joh. 3.9 Whosoever is born of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him neither can hee sin because hee is born of God It may bee with him as 't was with Nebuchadnezzar The Tree may bee hewn down but the stump is bound with a bond of Iron 2 Faith establisheth the heart against final Apostacy Though they fall foulely yet not finally They have the Prayer and Intercession of Christ the Power of Christ the Merit of Christ the Promise of Christ Faith produceth all these Wee are said to bee established by Faith to live by Faith to stand by Faith to bee preserved by Faith as with a guard 1 Pet. 1.5 Wee are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto salvation By Faith wee are said to subdue the flesh to have victory over the World to quench the fiery darts of Satan to bee saved by Faith c. Indeed all ages give reports to us of many who have been eminent in Profession and yet have come to nought Some fallen from Grace to basenesse some fallen from Grace to bitternesse some from Grace to vitiousness some from Grace to malitiousness But these were never true Beleevers A Star fallen is not a Star Stella caden◠non est Stella They went out from us because they were not of us for had they been of us they would have continued with us 1 Joh. 2.19 It is the evil heart of Unbelief that causeth them to depart from the living God Heb 3.12 Where there is true Faith
sinner And you have seen the Excellency of this Grace laid down in many Glorious Priviledges and Royalties You have seen that God hath poured more honour upon the head of Faith than upon any other Grace Let all this perswade with us to put our selves upon the search and tryal whether wee have Faith or no. Put such a question as this to thy own soul Am I a Beleever yea or no Have I Faith yea or no It was a duty which the Apostle did commend to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether yee bee in the Faith prove your own selves And it is that which after this long discourse of Faith I would commend to you all That you would put your selves to the Tryal Examine whether you have Faith or no. Therefore hath God given us a faculty different from all Creatures whereby wee may reflect upon our selves Many there are who will winnow others but not sift themselves spel others but not read themselves searching others rather than themselves But let it bee your care every one to prove and examine himself The incouragement to this duty I will take from these two grounds 1. It is a thing possible to bee known whether you are Beleevers yea or no. 2. It is a thing necessary to bee known 1. It is a thing possible to bee known Hence have wee so many exhortations to examine and search If it were not possible to bee known in vain were these exhortations God doth not use to put us upon Impossibilities Though God in the Law may require that of a natural man which is impossible for him to do Rom. 8.3 because hee gave man once ability to do whatever is commanded yet in the Gospel Christ doth require nothing of the faithful which by Grace is not possible to bee done Possible then it is There is light enough in the Word if a man will bring his heart unto it and deal impartially with himself in the search whether hee hath Faith or no. The Papists indeed do say It is a thing impossible to know whether hee bee a Beleever or no. If men did know they did beleeve then they might be assured of their own Salvation But this say they no man can bee assured of A Position clean against Scripture Authority and Reason The Scripture is plain the Precepts of the Scripture plain 2 Cor. 13.5 Gal. 6.4 Let every man prove his own work Let every man examine himself They who are commanded to try may upon Tryal know whether they have Faith or no. But every man is commanded to try God in the Gospel doth not put us upon Impossibilities Besides the examples of Scripture are plain The Eunuch a new Convert when Philip told him hee might bee baptized if hee did beleeve answered I beleeve that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Act. 8.37 The like of the Father of the possessed Child when having but a weak Faith yet could say Lord I do beleeve Mar. 9.23 So Joh. 6.69 Wee beleeve and know that thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God Joh. 11.26 27. Beleevest thou this saith our Saviour to Martha there Shee answers Yea Lord I beleeve thou art that Christ that should come into the World Hence saith Augustine The Beleever seeth his own Faith whereby hee doth beleeve Again as soon as Faith is in us Vide fidelis ipsam fidem suam Ipsam fidem quando inest in nobis videmus in nobis Mentis nostrae fides nostra conspicua wee see it in us The mind is not ignorant of its own actions When it understands it knows it self to understand When it discourseth it knows it self to discourse When it desires it knows it self to desire To take away this act of the soul whereby a man reflecting upon himself and his own actions is able to know and judge of them were to destroy the Prerogative royal of an intellectual nature Now if the naked spirit of a man bee able to judge of his own actions here how much more the spirit of a man being helped by the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.12 If Faith it self bee a witness Hee that beleeveth hath the Witness in himself 1 John 5.10 How much more when the Witness of Gods Spirit joynes with us when the Spirit witnesseth what place is left for doubting If Faith it self bee a Light How much more Quando Spiritus testatur quaenam relinquatur ambiguitas Fides est lumen seipsum visibilem faciens when Gods Light comes in with ours The Light of the Spirit to the Light of our Spirit Besides How shall a man receive the comfort of his own Faith as Hezekiah did Isa 38.3 and Paul 2 Cor. 1.12 if it bee not possible for a man to evidence to himself that hee doth beleeve Is it possible for a man to know his vitious actions to his humiliation and not possible to know his vertuous actions to his consolation If it bee granted of the one why should it bee denyed of the other Indeed I will grant thus much though it bee possible yet it is exceeding difficult 1. In respect of the deceits 2. In respect of the doubts and mis-givings of our own hearts 1. In regard of the deceits of a mans own spirit The heart is deceitful above measure who can know it Jer. 17.9 And take heed lest the Light within you Or That Light you think to bee within you prove darkness They that are much vers'd with their own hearts do finde an Hell of deceit in them Mens hearts are like some pictures If you look on one side there 's an Angel but on the other a Devil There are depths of deceit in the hearts of men which makes the work exceeding difficult Every way of man is good in his own eyes There is a Generation of men saith Agur who are pure in their own eyes and yet are not washed from their filthiness Such deceits there are in the heart that if a man will take all of trust which comes up hee will surely bee deceived You see this in the Children of Israel Deut. 5.27 28. They said Whatever the Lord said unto them they would do it It is like they spake as they meant at that time But hee that searched the heart saw deeper into them than themselves into themselves Hee espied deceits to lye low which they were not perhaps aware of And therefore saith Oh! That there were such a heart in them that they might keep my Commandements alway Hee saw they wanted yet the Heart This was but self-deceiving I might instance also in Hazael when the Prophet told him what beastly cruelty hee should exercise toward the Children of Israel What! saith hee Is thy servant a Dog that hee should do such belluine and beastly cruelty It may bee hee spake what was uppermost hee spake as hee meant for the time hee was not aware nor did hee discern the deceit of his heart hee thought his heart to bee far from that now
will bee nothing to the soul that loves him Love is as strong as Death You see it in the Apostles They counted not their lives too dear to give to death for the Love of Christ It is not the Bloud which is in the veins the spirits which are in the arteries the Life in the Body which will be too dear There is a kinde of unquenchablenesse in Love like the stone in Thracia which burns in the Water Much Water cannot quench Love 1. Much Afflictions from God cannot quench our Affections to God As all our dealings to God doth not alter Gods affections to us so all Gods dealings to us will not alter our affections to God Si diligis Domine fac quicquid vis was the speech of Calvin Lord if thou love mee do what thou wilt And Jobs Though thou kill mee yet I will still trust in thee And the Church professeth the like Psal 44.17 18 19. All this is come upon us yet do wee not forget thee nor have wee dealt falsely in thy Covenant Our heart is not turned back nor have our steps gone out of thy paths Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death c. 2. Much afflictions for God shall not cool our affections to God Wee shall bee ready to go through a Sea through a Wildernesse through the sharpest incounters for Christ Nothing shall pose a strong Beleever When once the soul is perswaded of the Love of God by Faith then there follows abundance of love to God again 1 John 4. from 15. to 19. Whosoever confesseth that Jesus is the Son of God in him dwelleth God and hee in God And wee have known and beleeved the Love that God hath to us God is Love and hee that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him c. wee love him because hee loved us first And that of Mary Much was forgiven her and therefore shee loved much Whiles a man looks upon God as an enemy who hates him hee can never love him But when once the soul by Faith doth apprehend Gods love to him then doth the soul love God again The love of God begets love in the soul to God Amor Dei amorem animae parit No mans heart is warmed with the sense of Gods love but it is inflamed with love to God again As the Sun beams shining upon a Glasse begets a reflection of the Beams upon the Wall So the Love of God shed abroad in our hearts breeds a reflection of love back again to God 2. Strong in Faith and strong in Hope and expectations of the thing beleeved which is that which holds up our head and keeps the soul from sinking in the midst of all these worldly troubles 3. Strong Faith and strong Patience A strong Faith will bear strong Afflictions with strong Patience Faith doth strengthen a mans shoulders to bear evils and troubles with Patience A weak Tree is blown down with that which moves not a stronger Tree Weak shoulders sink under that burden which a strong one will bear away So a weak Faith would sink with that tryal which a strong Faith is able to undergo with strength of Patience And therefore it is Gods goodnesse still to proportion the Tryal to the strength A strong Faith can receive a mercy and bee thankful and can render a mercy and bee patient A strong Faith can injoy a blessing and bee chearful and can lose it and bee contented Hence saith Paul I have learned in all estates therewith to bee content I know how to abound and how to suffer want c. Hee was a man strong in Faith And the ground of all is this because a strong Faith having dear evidence and apprehensions that God is a Father doth conclude that all his dealings are for good All things shall work together for good to them that love God And hee hath said Hee will never depart from us from doing us good Faith like the Philosophers stone turns all into Gold sees all Gods dealings to bee for good If God then afflict a man why will Faith say It 's for good I have need of such Afflictions to work out such a strong corruption Are the Afflictions many why will Faith say I have need of many Afflictions because I have many corruptions Are they long why I have need of that too because sin and I are so hardly parted It is so hard to make a divorce betwixt sin and my soul and therefore the afflictions had need to continue long Faith sees that God aims at this to wean us from the World to win us closer to him to exercise and increase our Graces to weaken sin and corruption to make us more fruitful Therefore doth hee prune us that wee might grow more If a man lop Trees at sometimes they will wither and dye but if at other times they will be made more fruitful God useth to afflict the wicked at such time But the Saints when they may grow the more Therefore God winnows us fannes us to blow away the chaff Therefore hee puts us as Gold into the fire that wee may come out much more pure Strong Faith and strong Obedience Obedience is proportionable to our Faith The greater the Faith the more the Obedience A little Tree a young Tree may bring forth good fruit as well as a greater but not in equal quantity to the greater so hee that hath the least degree of true Faith lives a godly life brings forth some fruits of Obedience but they are not so plentiful in good works as those whose Faith is come to an higher degree Weak Faith doth obey and this Obedience is a willing a chearful a fruitful a constant an universal Obedience both 1. In respect of the Subject The whole Man and 2. In respect of the Object The whole Law There is a willing yeelding of the soul up to God to walk in every way of God As David Lord I am thine or as the Prophet Isaiah One shall say I am the Lords Otherwise it were not true Obedience But they are not able to act so much as the stronger They are as large in desires in affections to obey but not in expressions of Obedience But the stronger the Faith the stronger is the Obedience the stronger the Will the stronger the Affections and the spirit in his Obedience A Child may do actions as well as a Man but not with that strength as a man doth them hee cannot do them so strongly so vigorously A weak Beleever may pray hear c. but not pray so strongly so powerfully as others who have more Faith So that you see where there is strong Faith there is strong Obedience A strong Faith will follow God fully in every way In losing waies as well as in gaining waies In suffering waies as well as in doing waies In discountenanced waies as well as in such as the World doth countenance In strait waies
as well as in broad waies in rugged waies as well as in plain smooth waies In difficult as well as in easie waies You see this in Abraham concerning the sacrificing of his son In which act hee might seem to disobey in his Obedience And the dutiful yeelding to it might seem to contradict duty There seemed not only Nature and reason to cry down this act of Obedience but even the word too The yeelding of Obedience did seem to justle against the Precept of Obedience Yet you see hee obeyed God It is said By Faith Abraham obeyed God By Faith indeed It was a strong Faith That strong Faith that beleeved hee should have a Son did now obey God in offering of his Son Strong Obedience proceeded from his strong Faith Strong Faith produceth strong Obedience 1. Strong for Active 2. Strong for Passive Obedience The same Faith doth supply the soul with Active strength for doing duties and with Passive strength for suffering duties 1. A strong Faith is strong to bear Reproaches for Christ As Moses Hee esteemed the Reproach of Christ greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt Heb. 11.26 And Paul Therefore wee labour and suffer Reproach because wee trust in the living God 1 Tim. 4.10 2. A strong Faith is strong to bear losses for Christ As they Heb. 10.34 Who took joyfully the spoiling of their goods as if the enemy had done them a great courtesie A strong Faith is strong to bear Persecutions Scourges Death it self for Christ You see what the Apostles indured what Stephen indured Why saith the Text Hee was a man full of Faith Act. 5.8 Strong Faith did inable them to suffer and bear and to go through difficulties prisons persecutions scourgings c. for Christ A strong Beleever doth rejoyce if hee can hold up God as it were though himself bee down if hee can raise up Gods Glory though it bee by the ruine of himself save his honour by losse of himself What Epaminondas said who having resolved concerning his Buckler either to defend it or to dye for it being wounded to death brake forth into these words Num salvus est Clypeus meus Is my Buckler safe If that bee safe I am well So the Beleever in the midst of all his sufferings if hee can keep his Buckler safe hold up God and his Glory All is well 3. A strong Faith will beleeve nothing contrary to his belief All the temptations of Satan all the arguments of men shall never bee able to reason him out of his Faith A weak Faith is quickly brought to deny his conclusion to yeeld up the cause Satan may make a man unsay what formerly hee hath said But a strong Faith will hold the conclusion against all Satans sophistry His Faith hath been gotten up by many invincible experiences from Gods behaviour to him as a Father from the souls behaviour to him as a Child And all that Satan can do shall not out-reason his Faith What a man saith by feeling a temptation may make him unsay but what a man saith by Faith nothing can make him unsay If Satan do assault such a man and tell him God doth not love him God is not his Father yet will the soul binde it self to this Mast and hold his conclusion against all with the Church Isa 63.16 Doubtless thou art our Father thou Lord art our Father our Redeemer Say Satan takes up arguments from Gods 1. Inward Or 2. Outward dealings with us 1. From his Inward dealings May bee a man is in some present Desertion and wants the clear Evidences which formerly hee had and Satan from thence doth argue That God is not our God hee is not our Father yet will not a strong Faith bee reasoned out of his Faith The soul will yet conclude it though it cannot clear it and beleeve it when it cannot see it The strong Christian lives by Faith not by feeling and knows God may bee His God though by sense it bee not discerned but that God is not his God You see this in Psal 22.1 My God! My God! There 's Faith Why hast thou forsaken mee There 's sense Faith held the conclusion against sense That God was his God though sense could not apprehend but that hee was forsaken of God And therefore when the eye of Sense and Evidence is put out yet hee hath the eyes of Faith to see and beleeve And Blessed is the man saith our Saviour to Thomas who beleeves and sees not Joh. 20.29 A strong Faith will trust God further than hee sees him Faith is the Evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 Faith will trust upon the Promise of Mercy in the want of Sense of Mercy Our Faith is not begotten by sense and feelings but by the Promise and therefore in the want of sense and feelings the soul may beleeve Isa 50.10 Though a man walk in darkness and sees no light yet may hee trust in the Lord and lean upon his God A weak Faith if it want feeling it is gone but the strong Faith will Hope against Hope Beleeve against Sense Reason and present Evidence and can say God is mine though it want the present Sense and Evidence of it It will trust in God a Father when his dealings seem to argue him an Enemy Faith will read Love in his angry looks and look through the mist of Desertion and see the affections of a Father under the expressions of an Enemy Thus did Job by Faith Though thou kill mee yet will I trust in thee Full well it knows Though God hide his face yet hee cannot deny himself 2. Say hee takes an argument from Gods outward dealings in chastising and afflicting of us and say If God loved thee hee would not so afflict thee If God were thy Father hee would not so chastise thee However the weak Faith may bee born down with such a temptation as this yet the strong Faith is not moved with such a temptation it is able to retort on Satan because God loves mee therefore hee scourgeth mee that I might not bee condemned with the World That I might not love the World therefore hee suffers the World to frown on mee That I might bee crucified to the World therefore hee suffers mee to bee crucified in the World Because I am a Child therefore hee afflicts mee Hee scourgeth every Son whom hee receiveth Rom. 12.6 7 8.9 c. God takes liberty to chastise our bodies to save our souls And God loves tenderly when hee corrects severely Job 5.17 Pro. 3.11 Thus doth a strong Faith hold up the conclusion of Faith against all the Reasonings of Satan against it Let him produce never so many Evidences to the contrary yet will hee not bee born down in it It 's a maxime of Faith hee will hold to against all opposition whatsoever You see it was thus in Job When God had taken away his goods when his hand was upon his body and upon his spirit too not only withdrawing himself from
him but positively inflicting of his displeasure upon his soul yet all that Satan could do by himself all that hee could do by his friends who joyned with Satan in the battel could not make him unsay what his heart and the Spirit of God had so often said nothing shall make him to eat his own words Nothing shall cause him to deny his integrity The root of the matter was still in him and hee will live and dye with this in his heart with this in his mouth that notwithstanding all this God is his God God is his Father his heart hath been sincere before him And this was a strong Faith that would bee thus resolute in beleeving when hee had so much reason on the other side to bear him down 4. A strong Faith will trust in God in difficulties in difficult cases in exigents Here is the tryal of Trust It will trust in God 1. With small means 2. Without means 3. Against means 1. With small means Strong Beleevers know full well bee the means never so small if God bid them to bee effectual they shall do the work As Jeremy was drawn out of the Dungeon with old rotten Raggs so God can make use of weak and contemptible means to effect his own purposes to draw thee out of the Dungeon of affliction Faith knows God can help with few as well as with many with a small hand as well as with a great all is one to him It was that that Asa said to God when Zera the Ethyopian came against him with such a great hoast that hee seemed to bee but a Centry in the midst of a large circumference 2 Chron. 14.11 Lord it is nothing with thee to help with many or with few Help us Lord for wee trust upon thee and in thy name wee go out against this great multitude And the day was theirs But in another hee was overthrown when the difficulty was less because hee trusted not on the Lord. The like wee read of Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 20.1 2 3 4. and many others 2. Strong Faith will trust in God without means Zeph. 3.12 I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people a people stripped of all means and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. So 2 Cor. 1.10 11. Wee had the sentence of death in our selves wee saw no help no means and all this was That wee should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead 1 Tim. 5.5 Shee that is a Widdow in deed and desolate Trusts in God c. Thus you see strong Faith will trust in God in the absence of means when all means are wanting It knows God is able to do his purpose without as well as with means A strong Faith makes God all its confidence And therefore when all means fail when all props are taken away yet confidence is not Unbelief will trust God no further than it sees means to bring about the thing it desires You see the unbeleeving Noble Man when the Prophet Elisha told him in that great famine that the next day there should bee such great plenty What! saith hee If God could open the windows of Heaven how could this bee Though there were a famine on earth hee had no reason to think there was a dearth in Heaven God was able to do it his hand was not shortened But here it was Hee saw no means whereby this might bee effected and therefore hee could not beleeve it God may work wonders and yet in an ordinary way You see here in this Famine A wonder it was that they should have such plenty in so short a time And it was too big for the noble mans Faith to beleeve But yet you see it was a wonder wrought in an ordinary way The like you see in the Israelites Psal 78.19 20. Can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness Indeed hee smote the Rock and the waters gushed out But can hee provide flesh for his people also One would have thought that the former experience of Gods power should have satisfied them in this that they that granted the one could not have denyed the other that God was able to do that also But the former was over and here was a new strait they were in and they saw no means how it should bee effected therefore they could not beleeve it The like of Ahaz Isa 7.11 12. God told him that his enemies that were come against him should not prevail against him God would fight for him And that hee might bee certain of this hee bids him Ask a sign in Heaven or in the deep for the confirmation of his Faith But saith Ahaz I will not tempt God What 's that I will provide for my self I will not trust in the want of means I should tempt God in so doing And many such Ahazes wee have in the World They think to trust in God in the absence of means is to tempt God What say they doth God work wonders that hee should do this without means Why God can do wonders and yet in an ordinary way Thus strong Faith will trust without means God is not trusted at all if not trusted alone If wee take in any thing with God in our trust wee trust not God at all as wee ought When men are brought to the lowest strait they are nearest to the highest God And then will Faith work best when it works alone and then is God nearest to help when mans strength is small Mans extreamity is Gods opportunity The ancient Tragedians when things were brought to that pass that they saw no possibility of humane help they used to bring down some of their Gods Hence that Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not much unlike that Proverb among the Jews In the Mount of the Lord it shall bee seen 3. A strong Faith will trust against means in the opposition of all means Such know that hee that can help without means can help if hee please against all means Is any thing too hard for the Lord Thus Moses trusted in God when the Red Sea was before them the Egyptians behinde them and the Mountains on each side of them Fear not stand still behold the salvation of the Lord c. Thus David when the people would have stoned him The Text saith David comforted himself in the Lord his God Thus Daniel and the Three Children Abraham also both in the receiving and offering of his Son Isaac 5. Strong Faith is accompanied 1. With much Peace 2. With much Joy 1. VVith much Peace Strong Faith lives in the upper Region above all storms There 's much variety of weather here below now calms now storms but if a man were above there 's a continual serenity and clearness Strong Faith lives in Heaven above all storms and therefore there 's nothing but calmness and quiet Rom. 5.1 Being justified by Faith wee have Peace with God Isa 26.3 Thou wilt preserve him in perfect Peace whose mind
is stated on thee Rom. 15.13 The God of all Consolation fill you with all Joy and Peace in beleeving Such a man hee hath Peace above him Peace with God Hee hath Peace within him a peaceable conscience not a dead Peace a sleepiness of Conscience like unto the calmness of the dead Sea whose calmness is not of Nature but from a curse But a sound Peace a spiritual Peace a Peace after VVar a Peace joyned with VVar and Conflict the surest Peace of all 2. With much Joy So much Faith so much Joy Rom. 15.13 1 Pet. 1.8 In whom beleeving yee rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and full of Glâ—ry There 's attending a strong Faith a full Joy an Harvest-Joy Such a Joy as will hold out in troubles Joy that 's Persecution-Proof Prison-Proof Tribulation-Proof Rom. 5.3 Wee joy in Tribulations Other men may joy in Prosperity in Abundance But this is a Joy that out-lasts Riches out-lasts Comforts a Joy which nothing can quench 6. Strong Faith will subdue strong corruptions strong sins strong lusts those Sons of Zerviah that are too hard for us Faith makes use of Sin-subduing Promises of a Sin-subduing Christ And the more Faith the more Strength is conveyed from Christ to us Faith sets the Power of Christ against the power of lust the strength of Christ against the strength of corruption who is able to subdue all things unto himself and to conquer the most untamed corruptions 7. Strong Faith will overcome strong Temptations Temptations from the World Temptations from Satan Strong Faith subdues where weak Faith is blown down with every blast of Temptation not being able to stand out against the assaults of Satan Strong Faith overcomes the allurements and threats of the World it overcomes all This is our victory whereby wee overcome the World even our Faith 8. Strong Faith overcomes strong doubts answers strong Objections in the soul Such doubts and objections move not them that are ready to overwhelm a weak Faith It will flye away with such twigs as will hinder the flight of weaker Christians There are doubts in the best Beleevers So long as there is flesh Fides non omnem dubitationem expellit sed vincet so long there will bee doubts but strong Beleevers are not overcome with doubts but will overcome doubts Though Faith doth not expel yet it conquers doubts Rom. 4.20 Abraham staggered not through unbelief but being strong in Faith gave Glory to God That is though there might bee some doubts yet they prevailed not to the staggering of his Faith His Faith overcame his doubtings A weaker Faith is full of doubts making the soul like a pare of Ballances the scales whereof are wavering sometimes this way sometimes that The mind hath now its assenting and by and by its dissenting Now it saith God is my God Christ is my Christ and anon it fears Christ is not his God is not his Now it hopes its sins are pardoned anon it fears its sins are not pardoned Now the soul thrusts out for Comfort and by and by draws back with discouragement On this side it sees ground why it should beleeve it shall bee saved yet on the other side sees ground whereby to fear it shall bee damned But a strong Faith overcomes all these doubts having strong perswasions of its interest in Christ It saith Christ is mine and nothing shall make it unsay Christ is not mine It is able to answer all 9. Strong Faith and strong Prayers 1. Strong to wrestle with God 2. Strong to prevail with God 1. Such are strong to wrestle with God Faith doth furnish a man with a deep sense of his wants with strong affections with strong Promises to wrestle with God to have those wants supplied Jacobs Prayer was called a wrestling with God It was a wrestling-prayer such an one as proceeded from a strong Faith as you may read in the story Gen. 32.24 to the 30. where hee incounters God with Gods own strength the strength of his Promise the strength of his Covenant O God of my Fathers Abraham Isaac Thou hast said thou wilt bless mee thou badst mee return into my own Country and thou wouldest deal well with mee Deliver mee now then I beseech thee from the hand of my Brother c. Moses Prayer was a wrestling-Prayer Exod. 32.10 to the 16. where hee was so strong as to stop the proceedings of God against a rebellious people insomuch that God bids him let mee alone It was a Beleeving-Prayer So may it bee said of Hezekiahs Prayer Daniels Prayer They were wrestling-Prayers strong-Prayers I will instance but in one The Woman of Canaan Mat. 15.22 to the 28. where you see how shee wrestled with Christ Her case was doubtfull for a long time shee went through great temptations shee is reported to bee a Woman great in Faith 1. There was Tentatio Taciturnitatis There was the tryal of silence Shee prayes and Christ answers her not a word Here was a great tryal when God shall hide himself in a Cloud and not answer her prayers 2. There was Tentatio Particularitatis first nothing then worse than nothing vers 24. I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel As if hee had said Thou dost not belong to the election of Grace thou art not in Covenant I came only to mine own not to thee therefore I will not help thee 3. There was Tentatio Indignitatis The tryal of Indignity vers 26. It is not meet to take the Childrens bread and cast it unto Dogs Yet see the strength of her Faith how it inabled her to out-wrestle these temptations how it inabled her to follow God True Lord but yet the Dogs may eat the crumbs Bee it that I am but a Dog yet thy Dog And if thou wilt not give mee leave to eat of Childrens morsels deny mee not Childrens crumbs such as fall from their Table such as they have no need of Thus you see strong Faith produces strong Prayers strong to wrestle with God himself 2. Strong to prevail with God They are not only wrestling but prevailing-Prayers Jacob wrestled and Jacob prevailed Moses wrestled and Moses prevailed David wrestled and hee prevailed The Woman of Canaan wrestled and shee prevailed vers 28. Oh Woman great is thy Faith Bee it unto thee even as thou wilt So the Church for Peter and they brake open the Prison doors and set him free They are called availing Prayers Jam. 5.19 The effectual fervent Prayer of a Righteous man availeth much Thus strong Faith hath strong Prayers And let mee adde this more A strong Faith doth not only make strong Prayers But a strong Faith can take 1. Long Delaies 2. Strong Denyals well at Gods hand 1. A strong Faith can take long Delaies well at Gods hand Hee that beleeves makes not haste Such a man can wait upon Gods time for the bestowing of a Mercy Such a man knows that God hath a fulness of time to bestow mercy in And
under the light of the Gospel It is agreed upon all sides that this is damning Hee that beleeves shall bee saved but hee that beleeves not shall bee damned Mercy it self saith so Hee that you look to bee saved by saith it Mark 16.16 Nay not only damned but the sorest damnation of all the deepest Cellars of Hell the lowest Vaults of Hell are reserved for such who are Unbeleevers now under the Gospel This is condemnation that is the sorest condemnation That Light is come into the VVorld that a Christ is tendred to you a Christ is offered to you and men love darkness rather than light yet men will not beleeve John 3.19 There is no fall into Hell like such an one as is taken at a stumble at Christ No damnation like that which is pronounced in the Court of Mercy An Unbeleever is condemned in the Court of Mercy And when Mercy it self condemns as it shews the offence to bee hainous so it makes the condemnation the more heavy As the sowrest Vineger comes from the sweetest VVine so out of the sweetest Mercy the sorest condemnation It will bee ten thousand times easier for those who are condemned under the Law their torments will not bee so heavy Hell will not bee so hot to them as to such who are now condemned under the Gospel It had been better for you that you had been born Turks and Heathens such as never heard of Christ than Christians if you live and dye in an unbeleeving condition Thus you see Unbelief is a remediless sin Such a sin as there is no remedy for it no plaister for it All other sins have a Remedy and Christ is the Remedy But unbelief denies the Remedy There is a plaister for Drunkenness for Swearing for Murder c. All other sins have a Plaister and Christ is that Plaister But Unbelief denies the Plaister God gives the Mercy of the Book to all other sins if sinned against the Law and condemned by the Law yet hee tenders the Mercy of the Book Hee that beleeveth shall bee saved But Unbelief rejects this Mercy It will not read If the Law condemn us wee are suffered to appeal to the Gospel If Justice condemn us wee are suffered to appeal to Mercy As you see the Publican who was arraigned sentenced and condemned by the Law But hee appeals to the Court of Mercy God bee merciful to mee a sinner And you see the Sentence took no hold on him But now If Mercy condemn us if the Gospel condemn us whither shall wee appeal whither shall wee go Now it is Mercy that condemns unbeleeving men they are condemned in the Court of Mercy Hence one There is no sin that doth peremptorily Non filios Diaboli faciunt quaecunque peccata Filios Diaboli infidelitas facit and Quoad eventum damn us but unbeleeving There is no sin that doth de facto bring death but unbeleeving Other sins do create a merit of death but unbelief doth actually bring death upon the soul While a man beleeves not hee is under the Covenant of Works and there sin doth de facto bring death it bindes all sin upon the conscience makes a man to stand out to answer for his own guilt bear his own curse and therefore it is said Joh. 3.18 Hee that beleeves not is condemned already Hee is condemned in all Courts 1. In the Court of Justice The Law condemns him Cursed is every man that continues not in every thing that is written in the Law to do the same Gal. 3.10 2. In the Court of Mercy That condemns him This is the sentence there Hee that beleeveth not shall bee damned Mark 16.16 3. In the Court of Conscience Hee is self-condemned and hath a beginning of the execution Thus then you see of what a fearful nature is this sin of unbelief It is the greatest damning sin now under the Gospel 2 Motives from the necessity of Faith 1. In respect of our Persons 2. In respect of our Performances 1. Faith is needful in respect of our Persons Our Persons are 1. Under the guilt of sin of many thousand sins And without Faith there is no Justification 2. Under the power of sin of lust And without Faith no subduing 3. Under the pollution and filth of sin And wee had need of Faith for the purifying of our hearts So that Faith is needful for the justifying of our Persons the subduing of our lusts the purifying of our hearts 2. Faith is needful in respect of our Performances Faith is necessary to every work of a Christian needful to every Ordinance Wee must pray in Faith hear in Faith receive in Faith do all things in Faith Faith must incorporate it self with every duty Whatever is not of Faith is sin Rom. 14.23 Whatever is before Faith is only the issue of a corrupt nature and of a corrupt conscience and therefore it cannot please God Tit. 1.15 Rom. 10.14 Faith is the salt which seasons and sweetens every duty It is the life and soul of every performance without which all are but dead and stinking works and cannot please God Faith is to duty as the Soul is to the Body When you go to Prayer you had need of Faith whereby you may Cry Abba Father without which Prayer is but the complaint of Nature or the cry of a hopeless and desperate heart When you go to hear you had need of Faith to incorporate it self with the word heard without which the word will not profit us nor the word Promising nor the word threatning the one to humble us the other to raise us and comfort us When you go to receive you had need of Faith Hee goes to work without tooles that goes to any Ordinance without Faith You have need of Faith to give you admission into Gods Presence Draw neer with a true heart in assurance of Faith Heb. 10.22 You have need of Faith to give you acceptance in the work You have need of Faith to procure a blessing when all is done Faith is the great Grace that is to bee imployed in all the Ordinances of God This must run through every Ordinance if you would profit by them The word must bee mingled with Faith Prayer with Faith c. Unbelief makes every Ordinance of God unprofitable to us What is the reason that men hear the Word and get no more benefit but because they beleeve not Heb. 4.2 The Word preached did not profit them because it was not mingled with Faith in them that heard it Do you think the word of Threatning could bee heard and you not bee humbled if you did beleeve the Truth of all who were able to lift up his head nay to stand under the threats of the great God of Heaven and Earth if hee did beleeve It is said The Devils beleeve and tremble Jam. 2. And had you but as much Faith as they to beleeve the truth of what God threatens against sin it would make the stoutest sinner of
seems to hide himself or withdraw himself from our souls withholding either his quickening or his comforting Spirit yet trust still You that walk in darknesse and see no light Trust in the Name of the Lord and rest upon your God Isa 50.10 Trust in God in the darkest night of Desertion cast anchor there as the Apostle did What though the soul were as dark as Hell yet God can make it as light as Heaven That God that caused light to shine out of darkness can also shine into our dark hearts What though there bee nothing within thee nothing without thee nothing round about thee to comfort thee yet there is something above thee Cast anchor in Heaven there 's an Almighty God to stay thy soul upon The Name of the Lord is a sufficient prop and rock to rest upon in any condition The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the Righteous flye to it and is exalted Prov. 18.10 or is in safety There 's safety in the Tower when all other sorts and Bulwarks are gone when Out-works are taken and Walls are scaled there is yet safety in the Tower So here when all Out-works are gone when all our Evidences seem to bee gone when nothing appears to comfort us yet the Name of the Lord is a strong Tower to flye to a rock to rest on whereupon being exalted wee are delivered from danger and set out of gun-shot Hence wee read the Name of the Lord opposed to all staies and props which Faith had to rest on Isa 50.10 Hee that walks in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Here is such a bottom for Faith to rest upon that if Faith should fail All God would fail with it His Mercy His Truth His Wisdome His Power c. Let us then cast anchor here and wait till the time of refreshment come wait till all storms and clouds bee blown over Light is sown for the Righteous and joy for the upright in heart But wee must wait with the Husbandman with patience till the crop bee throughly ripe Thou must not look for clear day so soon as thou hast taken shelter nor a calm so soon as thou hast cast anchor but there thou must abide ride at anchor wait till the time of Refreshment shall come from the Lord. Godly security and apprehension of safety do not ever attend the act of Faith at the heels To trust is the act of Faith and apprehended security is the fruit of beleeving and therefore comes not till afterwards Here is thy comfort as was said before if thou diest whilst thou lyest at anchor having anchored on this rock thou dyest in the ship not in the Sea thou dyest in the Covenant and there is safety though the storm never cease Thy condition is safe and secure though thou do not yet apprehend the safety and security of it Never soul miscarried in a trusting way There is not one example in the Word no not one in the World where ever man trusted in God and was ashamed Psal 22.4 5. Our Fathers trusted in thee They trusted and were delivered God hath ingaged himself hee hath not only set the Sun and the Moon and Stars to pawn not only Heaven and Earth but even himself too Hee hath ingaged his Truth his Mercy his Promise his Wisdome and Power to save and keep them who trust in him All Heaven would sink if that soul that truly leans and trusts in God should miscarry 6. In case of outward Calamity not only Personal but National Other Nations God hath dealt withal as with Jerusalem Hee turned them upside down as a Dish and wiped them 2 King 21.13 Indeed wee have injoyed Peace and Plenty Peace with Plenty and Plenty with Peace How many ships deep laden with Mercy hath the stream of the Gospel brought to our shore But yet our sins may give us occasion to suspect the water heating for us Rods are preparing for us except wee return Would you then bee safe in the evil day Trust in the Lord. Hee that trusts in the Lord Mercy shall compass him about Psal 32.10 Hee shall bee begirt with Mercy Mercy shall imbrace him on every side As Faith doth compass Mercy so Mercy compasseth Faith As the Beleever imbraces Mercy so Mercy imbraces him Hee shall bee begirt with Mercy And not Mercy only but all Gods attributes are for him As whilst a man is an Unbeleever all God is against him All the Power of God the Wisdome of God the Justice of God is against him so if one bee a Beleever all is for him Faith makes all God ours his Mercy ours his Power his Justice c. As Jehoshaphat said to Ahab I am as thou art and my people as thy people 2 Chron. 18.3 So God to a beleeving soul all hee is or hath is for its use Faith doth initiate us into Covenant with God And there being a Covenant All God is for us Well then Let this exhort us all to bee resolute and peremptory in beleeving as Esther If I perish I perish in a beleeving way 3. Let this exhort us to grow up in Trust to grow to Perfection There is a Perfection 1. Of Nature 2. Of Degrees All Beleevers have the same Perfection of Faith for kind but all have not the same Perfection of degrees Well then You have that Perfection in the kind labour for this Perfection of degrees also Grow up from trust of Affiance to the trust of Assurance Let us not ever bee staggering and doubting but come to some grounded perswasion of Gods Love labour to bee rooted and grounded in love labour to work out all doubts and fears whereby wee dishonour God wrong our selves 1. Weakening our Faith 2. Hindring our growth 3. Disabling our selves to work 4. Discouraging our selves in our Christian way 5. Gratifying Satan And let us labour to grow up to higher measures in Beleeving Many incouragements might bee named 1. The more thou growest in Faith the more thou growest in the love and favour of God the more thou win'st his Love There is nothing in the World doth so much win Gods favour as a great degree of Faith Abraham was therefore called the friend of God And therefore though thou mayest bee saved with a less degree yet if thou wouldest grow more in Gods favour grow more in Faith 2. The more Faith the more Grace the more love of God the more Hope the more Patience the more Courage Obedience Repentance Humility Thou weak Christian if thou desirest more brokenness of heart for sin more love to God c. Why the way is to strengthen thy Faith 3. The more Faith the more spiritual Comfort the more Peace Joy and consolation These are the fruits of Faith 4. The more Faith the more strength to prevail with God in Prayer And therefore let this put you on to labour for the increase of Faith Grow from Faith to Faith In Temporals
wee are ready to look above us who is higher richer not below us who is poorer But in spirituals wee look below us not above us behind us not before us how many come short of our measure not how many do out-strip us And therefore wee content our selves with that wee have But let us labour to forget all behind and to presse forward to the mark of the Rich calling of God in Christ Jesus as the Apostle did If thy Faith bee true it is of a growing Nature Now to all this I will adde some means 1. To get Faith 2. To increase Faith 1. Means for the begetting of Faith 1. Labour to keep close to Faith-begetting Ordinances These are 1. The Word 2. Prayer 1. Frequent the powerful and sincere preaching of the word of God a Faith-begetting-means Faith comes by hearing Rom. 10.17 True Faith is the Daughter of Mercy For this end God hath set up this Ordinance in the Church that it might bee a means for the begetting Faith in the hearts of unbeleeving men And God doth often in the opening of Scripture open our understandings that wee may beleeve Luk. 24.45 John 20.31 And in the hearing of the Word keep thy Ear open to hear what God saith by his Spirit in the Gospel Faith comes not by mercy of the Law but of the Gospel And in the Gospel dwell upon Faith-breeding-Promises Indeed all the Promises tend to beget Faith but especially such wherein the good Will of God and the Heart of God is discovered such wherein the freeness and richness of Gods Promises are discovered Promises are of two sorts 1. Either such as are conditional granted upon the performance of some duty in us As such as these Beleeve and thou shalt bee saved Repent and thy sins shall bee forgiven thee 2. Or such as are made and performed in meer Mercy such wherein God promises to give that condition which hee requires to the Promise Wee have not only promises of giving pardon and remission to the beleeving sinner but wee have promises of bestowing Faith upon the unbeleeving sinner There are some Promises wherein wee are to bring Faith to the Promise As here whoever beleeves shall bee saved And There are some Promises that wee must go unto for Faith Some that wee must bring Faith to and some that wee must go to for Faith as those free and absolute Promises I will take away your stony hearts and give you hearts of flesh And such wherein hee hath said Hee will work all our works in us and for us Oh! say some If I had but so much Repentance so much brokenness of heart if but so much love then I could beleeve Alas wee must not bring our penny to the Promise We must beleeve and then all the rest will come in The way to have a broken heart is to beleeve The way to repent the way to love God 2. The second Ordinance is Prayer Though none of this Faith bee in Heaven yet all Faith comes from Heaven It is the gift of God And therefore wee are to seek to him for it Wee may joyn our selves to Faith-begetting-means But it is God that must make the means effectual for the working of Faith It is a grace above the power of man and therefore requires the power of God to work it I say 1. It requires the Power of God Nay not only the Power but 2. It requires the greatness of his Power Nay 3. The excess of greatness of his Power Nay 4. The mightiness of that excess Yea and 5. The working of all this mighty Power As the Apostle shews Ephes 1.19 where wee have all those five particulars set down And therefore there is need of calling in for all the help of God all the power of God for the working of it It is the hardest thing in the World to cast a man out of himself to cut a man off his own stock to throw a man off his own foundation And when that is done it is as hard a work to bring this man over to Christ to make a man to lye full and flat upon the promise of Grace for mercy And therefore how much need is there of stirring up our hearts How much need of calling in for the strength of God by prayer This is the second Prayer is a fruit of Faith and yet prayer is a means for the begetting of Faith As the Spirit is a fruit of Prayer so prayer is a fruit of the Spirit As you see Luk. 11.13 compared with Rom. 8.15 In the one place the Spirit is said to bee the fruit of Prayer Hee will give his Spirit to them that ask him In the other Prayer is the fruit of the Spirit You have received the Spirit of adoption whereby you cry abba Father 3. Have much to do with Faith-begetting-Company Faith-begetting-conference Where thou shalt hear the discoveries how God hath wrought Faith in them and how God doth work Faith in the hearts of unbeleeving men Did not our hearts burn within us when hee talked with us by the way and when hee opened to us the Scriptures said those two Disciples after their conference with Christ travelling in company together to Emmaus Luk. 24.32 The like of Aquilla and Priscilla with Apollo Act. 18.26 4. Dwel much upon and cherish Faith-begetting-considerations which are 1. Thoughts of our selves 2. Thoughts of God Thoughts of our emptiness and thoughts of Gods fulness Considerations of our own misery and thoughts of his love and mercy Omnes post te currimus audientes quod nullum spernis peccatorem Bernard Think how God hath dealt with you and how God hath dealt with other sinners who have come to him Such were Manasses Mary Paul Wee all run after thee O Lord seeing thou despisest no sinners Thou despisedst not the weeping Mary the begging Canaanite Et si his peccatoribus veniam dâ—disti paratus es nobis si modo impetramur the intreating Publican the confessing Theef the Adulterous Woman the denying Disciple the persecuting Paul And if thou refused'st not those thou wilt not reject mee If thou pardonedst them thou wilt pardon mee if I beleeve in thee But in particular cherish these three thoughts 1. The consideration of thy own vileness and emptiness thy sin and misery by reason of sin And this will drive thee out of thy self 2. The consideration of the fulness riches and al-sufficiency of Christ who hath all fulness in him who is able to save to the utmost a bottome able to hold up any weight of sin 3. The consideration of the freeness of Christ and the Promise God keeps open house invites intreats beseecheth us to beleeve and come in Ho! Every one that thirsteth come yee to the Waters come buy yee that have no silver and eat Come buy Wine and Milk without mony c. Isa 55 1. And Hee that comes to mee saith Christ Joh. 6.37 I will by no means cast out Let him that
will come whoever hath a mind let him come Bee his sins what they will bee for nature for number for continuance yet come and finde acceptance Who is a God like unto thee That pardonest iniquity and passest by the transgressions of the Remnant of thy heritage Thou reteinest not anger for ever for thou delightest to shew mercy Mic. 7.18 There are two things when men are humbled which keep them off from beleeving either 1. A doubt of Gods Power Lord if thou canst 2. A doubt of his Will Lord if thou wilt 1. Some doubt of his Power Oh! Is God able to pardon such a sinner as I have been Can hee pardon so great so bloudy so crimson sins If they were but such or such I should not doubt But being so great how can God pardon 2. Others doubt of his Will They will bee ready to say They know there is a fulness of Power in God hee is able to forgive my sins let them bee what they will bee hee hath a Sea of Mercy able to drown Mountains as well as Mole-hills But alas I doubt of his Will whether hee will shew mercy to such a sinner And therefore if ever you would beleeve you must get an heart convinced of the 1. Fulness and al-sufficiency of Christ to pardon 2. And of the freeness and willingness of Christ to shew mercy to such as do beleeve Dwell upon such considerations as these are being means to beget Faith When men are once convinced of the fulness of God they will come over to him if withall they bee fully convinced of their own need It is possible for a man to beleeve this fulness in Christ and yet not bee able to clear his acceptance Wee read of the Lepers who seeing nothing but death in their condition 2 King 7.3 4 resolved not to stay there but to go over to the Camp of the Assyrians If they save us alive say they wee shall live and if they kill us wee can but dye And there were many reasons which might cause them to expect no better but death from them 1. They were Jews and so their enemies 2. They might bee suspected for Spies 3. If not yet they were Lepers good for no service such as might infect the whole Camp Yet seeing their Misery in want of bread and knowing that there was bread to bee had they resolved to adventure So if there were but a through discovery 1. Of our own Misery a conviction of that 2. Of the fulness and all-sufficiency of Christ it were possible so far to prevail with a man as to throw himself on Christ though hee bee not yet able to clear whether God will ever accept him But when wee take that other consideration in and do think of the sweetness and freeness of Gods love and mercy to accept of poor returning sinners what should then hinder but the soul should come over and beleeve in him And therefore if ever thou wouldest have Faith cherish these thoughts dwell much upon such considerations as these Men say they would beleeve but in the mean time they never cherish such thoughts and considerations as may beget Faith If there bee any thing in the Word which makes against them this they will harbor and cherish they will feed upon the Wormwood and the Gall but if there bee any thing to nourish and cherish Faith this they will suppress They have an ear open to hear what the Law what sin what Satan saith but none to hear what God saith in the Promise They will promote the Devils cause his arguments sharpen his weapons against themselves But they will silence the pleadings of Gods Spirit in them They will look upon the dark side of the Cloud not the light side The threatnings of the Law they will apply and set on with all their might But if Promises come they finde no acceptance with them They will nourish considerations of their sins their guilt their misery by reason of sin and aggravate it to the utmost but the thoughts of Gods Love of the freeness of his Mercy of the promises of pardoning sins these they reject My Brethren This is not the way to get Faith If ever you would beleeve you must study the freeness of Gods Mercy in Christ his willingness to pardon and forgive poor sinners if they come over to him 2. The second means for the strengthening of Faith are these 1. Make use of the Ordinances 1. The Word 2. The Sacraments 3. Prayer 1. The Word Wee say The same way things are begotten the same way they are nourished Corpora naturalia eodem modo quo generantur nutriuntur Faith is begotten by the Word and Faith is nourished by the Word It is both the Begetter and the Nourisher both the Breeder and the Feeder of Faith Rom. 15.4 1 Joh. 4. 2. The Sacraments which were instituted and set up for this end to increase your Faith God knew hee had to deal with unbeleeving persons and therefore hee doth not only give the Promise his Covenant and Oath for the confirmation of us but to all these hee annexed his Seal the Sacraments Mountains upon Mountains to confirm us A man would not desire so much of any honest man as God hath here condiscended to for the confirmation of our Faith One would have thought his bare word had been enough considering the Truth and sufficiency of the Person that spake it But hee hath given his Oath Nay but hee rested not there but his Seal too The Sacraments And therefore make use of them 3. Bee much in Prayer that God would strengthen and increase thy Faith Prayer is the fuel of Faith the food of Faith A man may as well live without meat as Faith without Prayer As the soul lives by Faith so Faith lives by Prayer Faith helps Prayer and Prayer helps Faith again As there is a Communion among the Ordinances every Ordinance doth help another The Word helps Prayer and Prayer helps the Word So there 's a Communion between Ordinances and Graces Faith helps Prayer and Prayer helps Faith Prayer cannot say of Faith I have no need of thee nor Faith of Prayer What need have I of thee As there is a mutual dependence of one Christian on another a means to nourish Communion as Christians help one another One may say Help my Zeal and I will increase thy knowledge strengthen my Faith and I will inflame or kindle thy affections so here There is a mutual dependence between Faith and Prayer Faith saith to Prayer Help mee to beleeve and I will help thee to pray And Prayer to Faith Help mee to pray and I will help thee to beleeve Such a Communion there is And therefore bee much in prayer for strength 4. Live much in the Heaven of the Promise Feed upon the freeness and sweetness and fatness of the Promise Delight your selves in fatness Let your way lye much above live much out of your selves This is your way A man
cry out Rabbi thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel thou who knowest the heart must needs bee God c. as if a man should say to his friend thou art one that art charitable mournest for thy sin and in case hee should answer but how know you that hee should reply did I not see such an act of charity which you did did I not see you mourn bitterly for sin at such a time c this in some resemblance commeth somewhat near to this instance but yet falleth short because wee judge of the outward act Christ here of the inward which manifested him to bee God omniscient the searcher of the heart c. Thus I have shewed you the coherence with the parts of the Text and have in part unfolded what might seem difficult and obscure in it Now there are some Doctrines which lye about the verge of the Text some from the person commending some from the person commended and some from the thing for which But I shall touch only upon those which arise from the main scope of the Text and they are two Doct. 1. That the eyes of Christ run through the whole World and behold the evil and the good Hee that saw Nathaniel under the Fig-tree seeth thee in all places in all companies c. to this purpose read Psal 139. Amos 9.2 3 4. Hee is totus oculus all eye to see and all hand to feel and finde out Hee who is to bee Judge of all the actions and waies of men must necessarily know them all Use 1. Say not then that God sees not say not that darkness shall cover thee esto quod nemo non tamen nullus though no man yet some eye seeth thee Use 2. This may bee comfort to the Saints Christ sees you under the Fig-tree sees you in a corner sees your persons your actions your spirits Hee sees your prayers hee sees your tears hee sees your afflictions your pressures Exod. 3.7 Hee hears your groans c. Use 3. This is terror to wicked men hee sees them too hee sees your malice against his Saints your vileness and abominable filthiness I saw you in such a place at such a time in such and such pollutions in which thou wouldest have been loath in which thou would have been confounded if men should then have seen thee From the commendation of Nathaniels Faith Observe Doct. 2. That such is the goodness of God that hee commends us for that which is his own Hee commends Nathaniel here for that Grace which hee had given him God works graces in us and then commends us for them hee gives us mony and then commends us for our riches hee makes us beautifull and then commends us for our beauty in which hee doth only beautifie his own beautie and love his own graces in us Hee doth here commend Nathaniels Faith which yet was only the Faith of his own powerfull working Hee commends David for his uprightness Hezekiah for his perfectness Moses for his meekness Cornelius for his devotion the Publican for his compunction the poor Widdow for her liberality and the Woman of Canaan for her Faith and importunity all which was only the work of his own Grace in them God will finde matter of love and liking in us from that which is his own hee can pass by ours and own his As a Father loveth his child for that which is of his own nature in him and so doth God in us Use 1. Then see what a sweet Saviour wee have who will pass by our imperfections and deformities and take notice of his own beauties in us Use 2. And accordingly wee should learn to look upon our selves as Christ doth though black in our selves yet beautiful in Christ although I would have you to own and to blush at your own defoâ—mities yet not so as to blinde your eyes from beholding Christs excellencies as in himself so in you by his grace take the shame of your own sins but let God have the honour of his own Graces by this you shall nourish your humility and yet not weaken your Faith you shall abhor your selves and yet extoll Gods free Grace But these are but by the way to which many others might bee added I will fall upon those which the Text doth more fully hold out and they are these 1. That slowness of Heart to beleeve is a temper of spirit very offensive to God this is hinted in the implied tacit reprehension of others whilst hee so commends Nathaniels forwardness 2. That God takes it well at our hands or it is very pleasing unto God when wee will beleeve in him upon small Revelation 3. That God will reveal great things to them who do so beleeve in him Thou shalt see greater things than these it is a promise of future and fuller manifestation to bee vouchsafed to him Wee shall begin with the first which is Doct. That slowness of heart to beleeve is a temper of spirit very offensive unto God I need not stand long to clear the truth of this Doctrin if you look into Joh. 1.50 that high commendation of Nathaniels Faith is a silent upbraiding of others for their slowness of heart to beleeve Because I said I saw thee under the Fig-tree beleevest thou It is as if hee had said for that without question is implied why I have done greater things in the sight of otheâ—s I have healed the sick opened the eyes of the blinde raised the dead cast out Devils and yet they have not beleeved And doth so small a manifestation work on thee Because I said I saw thee under the Fig-tree c. I have not raised thee from the dead implying hee had done it to others And hence hee is said to upbraid those Cities wherein his mighty works had been done because they beleeved not Mar. 16.14 And this was a great aggravation of their sin where so much had been done to perswade them to beleeve yet slow c. The like in Joh. 12.37 38. But though hee had done so many miracles before them yet they beleeved not on him that the saying of Esaiah might bee fulfilled who hath beleeved here was a great aggravation of their sin And upon this ground hee reproveth his Disciples Luk. 24.25 26. Oh fools and slow of heart to beleeve all that the Prophets have spoken ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to have entred into his glory c And how often doth hee upon the same ground rebuke his Disciples O yee of little Faith Mar. 9.19 O faithless Generation how long shall I bee with you how long shall I suffer you Implying it put Christ to the utmost of his patience to bear with them in their unbelief Which yet if you read the story you will finde it was no small work it was because they could not cast out the dumb spirit out of a man possessed which yet hee himself tells them afterward vers 29. that this was the
greatest of difficulties this kinde came forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting which shews the work was of more than ordinary difficulty yet because their Faith was posed in it hee tells them they were a faithless Generation and hee was weary of them it put him to the utmost exercise of his patience to bear with them And you see the like of Peter whose Faith was so great as to carry him upon the waters to walk upon the waves upon a bare command and word of Christ yet afterwards the wind growing strong and corruption working hee was affraid and begins to sink and then cryed Lord save mee Mat. 14.30 31. And how much was Christ displeased at him who had put forth so glorious an act of Faith as to walk upon the waters upon a bare command yet because hee held not out Christ reproved him Oh thou of little Faith wherefore didst thou doubt was this a little Faith c. But wee will pass this and in the prosecution of this Doctrin wee will shew these eight things 1. That wee are slow of heart to beleeve 2. What are the grounds that wee are slow of heart to beleeve 3. What are the reasons why this slowness of heart is so offensive to God For the first that wee are slow of heart to beleeve This will bee demonstrated to you if you consider with mee these five particulars 1. The greatness of that power which God doth put forth in the working Faith in an unbeleeving heart Faith it self is called the work of Gods power nay of his almighty power The same power which God put forth in the raising of Christ from the dead even the same power hee doth put forth in the working of Faith in an unbeleeving heart Ephes 1.19 20. There are many mighty works of God which are not saving works As the works of Creation the works of Providence These are mighty works but they are not saving works But there are no saving works of God which are not mighty Every work of mercy is a work of might too every work of grace is a work of power too though every work of power bee not a work of grace yet every work of grace is a work of power And the work of an almighty power Actus omnipotentis Actus omnipotentioe Not only an Almighty God doth work but also according to the Almightiness of God when hee works Faith and Grace in a graceless heart There are two names given to this in Scripture both which speak the greatness of Gods power in the working of it 1. It is called a resurrection from death to life not of a dead body but a dead soul Psal 88.10 wilt thou shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise to praise thee hee speaks not there of a natural death but of the condition which hee was in lying for the present slain and dead as it were under the apprehensions of God wrath Shall a soul that now lyes dead and slain with the apprehensions of thy wrath and displeasure arise by Faith to praise thee Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise to praise thee That is wilt thou shew the greatness of thy power in working Faith in an unbeleeving soul this is no less than a resurrection from the dead the dead arise c. And therefore this must needs require the greatness of Gods power to effect it It is a great work to recover a sick man but more to restore a dying man but to raise a dead man to life this is the work of God only Yet all this is nothing to the resurrection of a dead soul To raise our bodies when consumed by fire when vanished into air when corrupted in the water when turned into dust and rottenness is not so great a work as to raise a dead soul a soul dead in sin to work Faith in an unbeleeving heart This is the Almighty work of God 2. And hence Secondly It is called a work of Creation 2 Cor. 5.17 thus in Christ And you know Creation is the work of God only it is the production of something out of nothing Men may produce something out of something but to produce something out of nothing is proper to God alone There is lesse distance between the least dust and the most glorious Angel in Heaven than there is between it and nothing Wee say and its true inter ens non ens nulla proportio there is infinite distance between something and nothing Such a distance as none but a God can bring together Now this work of Faith and Grace in the heart in an unregenerate and unbeleeving man is a new Creation A Creation of light in a dark heart of life in a dead heart of Faith in an unbeleeving heart of Grace in a graceless heart which is a work which requires the almightiness of Gods power for the effecting of it And that is the first demonstration 2. If you do consider the complaints of Beleevers when they first come to beleeve What sighs what tears what groans what pains what struglings with unbeleef with doubts with fears Crying out with the man in the Gospel Lord I do beleeve help my unbeleef It may bee now the doubt of Gods power of Christs al-sufficiency to pardon sin to forgive so great and hainous wickednesse and say with him Lord if thou canst do any thing help Mark 9.22 or if not so yet they doubt of his wâ—ll whether God will pardon them yea or no and say with another in the Gospel Lord if thou wilt thou canst make mee clean Matth. 8.2 Every dayes experience tells us how hard a thing it is to cast a man out of himself and when that is done Oh how hard a thing is it to bring that soul over to Christ and the promise Now a thousand objections are raised the soul is now as full of scruples of doubts as the Sun is full of motes Oh what swarms of unbeleeving thoughts what multitudes of doubts and objections that it is beyond the power of any but of him alone that can deal with the heart either to discover them or answer them or if answered yet the soul is still unsetled till God come in This is plain in cast down and humbled souls 3. If you look upon the Rhetorick God useth to bring a poor humbled and cast down sinner to beleeve Read Isa 40. beginning Comfort you comfort yee my people saith my God Speak yee comfortably Say your warfare is accomplished your iniquities are pardoned c. But least any should say alas tell not mee of this no comfort belongs to mee hee is buried up in troubles God doth not regard him why see how hee saith in vers 27. Why sayest thou Oh Jacob and speakest Oh Israel my way is hid from the Lord and my Judgement is passed over from my God Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the
earth fainteth not neither is weary hee giveth power to the faint c. Do you doubt of his power why hee is the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth and hee can pardon c. What though thy sins bee great yet hee tells thee hee will abundantly pardon Isa 55.7 8 9. Let the wicked man forsake his wayes and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and hee will have mercy upon him and to our God for hee will abundantly pardon the word is multiply to pardon as thou hast to sin But you will say how can this bee this is far above the thoughts of a Creature Why but saith hee in the next verse My thoughts are not as your thoughts neither are your waies my wayes saith the Lord for as the Heavens are higher than the earth so are my wayes higher than your wayes and my thoughts than your thoughts But alas there are such and such conditions required Why but saith hee Ho! every one that thirsteth come Revel 22.17 Do you doubt of his will Why hee tells you It is not the will of your heavenly Father that any of these little ones should perish Matth. 18.14 You think it is but Christ saith it is not hee knows the thoughts hee thinks to thee they are thoughts of peace and not of evill c. Jer. 29.11 And how doth hee say As I live I do not delight in the death of him that dyes turn you turn you and live Oh why will yee dye Ezek. 18.31 32. And God would have all men saved by comming to the Knowledge c. 1 Tim. 2.4 Yea but this Covenant is not firm I may sin away mine own mercy See what God saith Isa 54.10 the Mountains shall depart and the hills shall bee removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my Peace bee removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee It is more firm than the Covenant of the day and night Jer. 33.20 21. can a Woman forget her sucking child that shee should not have compassion on the Son of her womb yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Isa 49.15 This with abundance such like Rhetorick God useth to draw a poor humbled doubting sinner to beleeve and why should God use such Rhetorick to perswade with men if it were so easy a matter as men make it to beleeve This shews the difficulty of Faith 4. If you consider the way that God takes to confirm the Covenant of mercy and pardon to Beleevers Hee gives you his Promise his Oath his Seal heaps Mountains upon Mountains and all to confirm it hee layes Heaven and Earth at stake nay hee pawns his Truth his very being and all to perswade with unbeleeving men to beleeve God needed not to do this in respect of himself his purpose was as good as his promise his Promise as good as his oath his oath as firm as his seal hee needed not to do this in respect of himself as if that his oath would binde him more than his promise But God hath done this in respect of us to strengthen our Faith that wee might bee stedfast in God when wee stagger in our selves that wee might bee strong in God when weak in our selves As the Apostle in Heb. 6.16 17 18. That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye c. God hath thus condescended to all this to beget Faith in unbeleevers that if his promise would not perswade with you then his oath if not that yet his seal The great Seal of Heaven You could not desire more of the most faithless and dishonest man in the World than God hath condescended to who is yet the faithfull and unchangeable God You have a Promise will not that do Vae nobis si nec juranti Deo tredimus you would have an Oath will not that do you have a Seal witness all And what doth all this but plainly demonstrate the greatness of the difficulty to beleeve Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciâ—ra Wee say it is in vain to do that by more which may bee as well done by lesse If Promise would have done it the Oath added had been in vain but shall wee think that any thing of this was in vain that wee cannot Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necessitate And was all this then required would no lesse serve the turn Tell mee then whether this do not fully enough demonstrate the difficulty of Faith Thou that thinkest Faith so easy thou that never found the difficulty of it mayest well think thou hast no Faith In this God shews the difficulty of beleeving that his Promise his Oath c. are all ingaged to work and confirm it 5. If you consider the complaint of the Preacher You hear Isaiah complaining Isa 53.1 Who hath beleeved our report or our Doctrin as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may import And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed And Christ complains of the same Joh. 12.37 38. Though hee had done so many miracles before them yet they beleeved not on him that the saying of the Prophet might bee fulfilled viz. who hath beleeved our report And Paul hee takes up the same complaint as you see at large Rom. 10.16 17 18 c. And wee our selves may take up the same complaint Wee have spent our strength in vain and our labour for nought Though wee have declared the wonderfull things of the Gospel the freeness vastness greatness of the love of Christ the preciousness of Promises yet men beleeve not Oh that I could not complain of those c how many offers of Christ have you had how many tenders of mercy How often hath Christ unbowel'd himself to your souls in the Promise how often hath God invited intreated beseeched called Hoe every one that thirsteth come But yet senselesse people do not thirst and thirsty people do not come c. Oh! here is enough to demonstrate that wee are slow of heart to beleeve 2. Wee come to the second What are the grounds c. And wee will reduce them to these three general heads 1. There are some grounds from Satan 2. Some from our selves 3. Some which are taken from others which do foreslow the heart from beleeving in the Promise You must know I speak of men awakened and convinced of their miserable condition not such as go on with a high hand in their sins I speak of men humbled 1. Then the reasons or grounds why wee are so slow c. From Satan are the delusions and false suggestions of Satan You must know there are two main stratagems which hold up Satans Kingdome in the World 1. Is to keep presumptuous sinners from being humbled 2. The other is to keep humbled sinners from beleeving The first of these is by keeping of presumptuous sinners from being
humbled which hee doth these wayes 1. Either by perswading them they are no sins they live in and here hee tells the Prodigall hee is but liberal the drunkard hee is but sociable the covetous person hee is but frugal the proud person hee is but comely and handsome c. wee say nullam vitium sine patrocinio Sauls Covetousness in sparing the best of the flock t was his devotion 't was his zeal to Sacrifice the Pharisees Covetousness had an act of devotion to patronize or set it off with So Jezabel paints her face to make it seem comely 2. Or else if hee cannot perswade them to that that they are no sins but conscience is inlightened and quickned and checks him for them hee cannot stand against his own light nor under his own reproofs Then hee perswades them they are but veniall and small sins or if great yet pardonable nay and that at any time as the Theef upon the Cross what sayes hee God is mercifull and if but at the last thou canst say God bee mercifull to mee Lord have mercy upon mee why then all is well there is no doubt of mercy And because men are better versed in the Service-book than in the Scripture perhaps hee will cite a Text out there At what time soever a sinner c. This is the first stratagem to keep presumptuous sinners from being humbled And if hee prevail not then but that notwithstanding all these good words a soul is convinced of sin and humbled for it then hee hath a second 2. A second Stratagem and that is to keep humbled sinners from beleeving and that hee doth these wayes 1. Hee labours to have them despair of a pardon and that upon one of these two grounds 1. Hee will now tell you either that your sins are greater than can bee pardoned As Cain Gen. 4.13 So it is in the Original my sins are greater than can bee pardoned Hee will so aggravate mens sins and heighten mens trespasses and so lessen and streighten Gods mercy that hee will indeavour to perswade their sins are above a pardon they are greater than Gods mercie to pardon and that is the first way which hee deals with ignorant consciences in trouble 2. Or if hee cannot perswade in that then hee hath another way to bring men to despair and that is from the will of God Why will hee say though thy sins are not greater than God can pardon yet they are greater than God will pardon hee will never bee mercifull to such a wretch as thou hast been dost thou think God will ever shew mercy to such a vile sinner as thou hast been what one who hath sinned against such a light such means such mercies and committed so horrible sins and continued in them And thus hee aggravates sin As before hee lessened sin all hee could to keep men from being humbled so now hee aggravates sin all hee can to keep men from beleeving As before hee inlarged Gods mercy above the bounds of the Law now hee inlargeth Gods Justice above the bounds of the Gospel Before hee presented to you Gods mercy in a false glass to make you presume And now hee presents Gods Justice to you in a false glass to make you despair And indeed of the two hee is better able to set out Gods Justice than his Mercy because hee feels the one and knows what it is but hee shall never taste of the other hee can therefore better present Gods Justice as it is than Gods Mercy as it is 2. Or if hee cannot bring men to despair upon these grounds yet another stratagem hee hath to keep men from beleeving 3. And that is thirdly by telling them they are not disposed and fitted for mercy you are not broken for sin you do not love God c. And in this stratagem hee labours to hinder us by telling us wee want such dispositions as follow beleeving more than such as go before Faith yet hee oftentimes useth the other and tells men they are not humbled enough not broken enough before they were humbled then any thing would serve the turn to dispose and fit them for Mercy and now they are humbled hee tells them they are never humbled enough Before a sigh in a good mood was enough to qualifie them for Mercy and the Promise Now sighs groans tears daily breakings under the burthen of sin is all nothing all is too little Indeed hee fain would have thee to lye in Hell and stay there or if hee doth not object against thy soul the want of humiliation Why then hee will tell thee thou wants Faith if thou had'st Faith then thou might go over to the promise but thou wants Faith and what doth hee mean by that why that is thou wants assurance hee would put men to assurance before they do beleeve hee would put them to the evidence Christ is their Saviour before hee suffer them to rest upon Christ as a Saviour Or if not this yet hee will tell thee thou want'st such and such dispositions before thou can beleeve hee would fain have men either to bring something of their own to the Promise or hee would have men to expect these things before they go to the Promise when indeed these things follow upon the souls closing with the Promise Thus doth Satan keep many poor souls in a hoodwinkt condition and hinders them from going over to Christ and the Promise And that is the first 2. The second ground why men are so slow to beleeve and that is taken from themselves 1. It doth arise from their ignorance they know not the tenor of the Covenant the tearms of Mercy Men brought out of a sinfull condition once awakened to see their sins can think of nothing but working themselves to life licking themselves whole therefore they fall upon prayers duties as I have sometimes told you as so many bribes for a pardon as so many pennies laid out for the purchase of Mercy Wee run naturally to the Covenant of works but wee must bee drawn before wee can go to the Covenant of Grace No man can come except c. Joh. 6.44 A convinced man runs to the Covenant of works but hee must bee a converted man that goes truly to the Covenant of Grace 2. It doth arise from our pride often that wee will not take Mercy gratis wee will not deny our selves and close with Mercy as God tenders it You have a strange phrase in Rom 10.3 they would not submit to the Righteousness of Faith here are proud hearts indeed that it should bee matter of submission for a condemned man to take a pardon a wounded man to take a plaister a sick man a cordiall a naked man cloathing a lost sinner a Saviour One would think this is strange that it should bee a matter of submission to accept of the Righteousness of Christ to bee saved But wee like well of the Spiders motto mihi solo debeo I owe all to my self and would
because you fall short of that eminency in them you are thereupon dâ—â—couraged and wounded in your comforts But admit that others of the Saints were as excellent as thou seest them as thou apprehends them and grant it that thou wert weak and full of many imperfections Yet why should this keep thee off from Christ and the Promise It is strange that that which should draw thee to the promise should drive thee from the Promiâ—e will a man refuse physick because hee is sick a cordial because hee is faint meat because hee is hungry mony because hee is poor cloathing because naked you would think this to bee unreasonable and why not the other Assure your selves that is not a good sight of imperfection that shall either blinde or bleer the eye of Faith and hinder us from beholding Christ and the Promise or that shall discourage and deter us from going over to Christ and the Promise Thou would'st bee as others of the Saints before thou didst beleeâ—e thou must beleeve before thou can bee as others are that which put a difference between thee and him was Faith there is the same treasury and the same fulness in Christ for thee as for others if thou get Faith to make use of it Besides why should imperfections keep thee off What man will reject a present pardon because hee sees himself unable to do the Prince future service who will not take it and bee more thankfull and the more admire the Princes clemency that should accept of him after all his rebellions when yet hee could have no eye or respect to any future service of advantage hee could do the Prince And why then should wee reject Gods pardon because wee see not our selves able to do him future service You should take it and bee more thankfull more admire the riches and freeness of Gods Grace who justifies the ungodly Ceâ—tâ—inly that which gives you the advantage and puts you into the way of the admiration of God serves the end most which God aimes at in giving of pardon therefore hee pardons that you might admire and say Micah 7.8 Who is a God like unto thee pardoning iniquity but the more sin the more imperfections the more advantage you have to admire the riches and freeness of Gods Grace and Mercy therefore why should this discourage you Besides though Princes may pardon former treason yet they cannot change the traiterous heart nor can they inable them for the future to bee loyal and obedient But now God can with the pardon of sin hee can and doth change the heart of the sinner hee sends him away with another heart with the forgiveness of former disobedience hee gives strength and ability to obey for future and therefore why should either present sense of sin and imperfection or the apprehension of the want of future ability keep us off from closing with Christ and the Promise seeing by this the sin is pardoned the nature is healed and the soul inabled to future service Indeed the way to do him service is to come in c. 2. As wee look upon others heights so wee look upon others depths and by that keep off from the Promise It may bee wee see and hear of others of the Saints who have been exercised with great troubles terrors legal breakings c. and have been in sad conditions it may bee for many months nay years and thou reflectest upon thy self and seest thou was never thus humbled thou never had experience of such legal breakings either none at all or not in that measure which others have had and thereupon thou concludest certainly the Promise doth not belong to mee And this is another ground which prevails with many c. Now to take off this in a few words 1. Why should anothers humiliation bee a pattern for thee when it may bee that which inlarged his troubles were 1. Some outward cross and affliction which was joyned to his inward trouble as when the fountains from below and windows from above were opened there was a great flood a deluge So when afflictions from beneath and troubles from above concurre this is a deluge of sorrow 2. Or may bee that which inlarged another mans trouble was some horrible temptations injections of Satan blasphemous bloudy thoughts c. 3. Or may bee some bodily distemper the predominancy of some humour as melancholly which gives edge and entertainment to terrors and spiritual troubles 4. Or may bee his ignorance in the Covenant of Grace the tearms of Mercy 5. Or may bee the long concealing of his trouble as you see David Psal 32. 6. Or may bee giving credit to the lying suggestions of Satan 7. Or may bee his pride his unbelief jealousy frowardness of spirit as it is with such as will nourish themselves in a needlesse bondage and will not hearken after comfort making their chains heavier than God hath made them who will not suffer a thought of hope or comfort to enter through the anguish of their bondage Like the Children of Israel in Egypt Exod. 6.9 God sent them delivery but they looked not after it through the extreamity of their bondage And is there any reason then that others humiliation should bee a pattern to thee Thou mightest as well desire part of their cross which yet thou wouldst not do for a great part of many mens humiliations is either their sin or their cross c. 2. Why should other mens humiliations bee a pattern for thee when yet God doth not require the same measure nor is the same measure alike necessary to all neither in respect of God or of men 1. Not in respect of man some need not so much as others As some mens flesh is harder to heal than others so some mens hearts A Needle may do that to one which a lance will not do to another A frown to one which blows will not do to another Some men are of crabbed and untoward spirits and knotty blocks had need of hard wedges 2. Some men have longer scores greater reckonings have been greater sinners than others and though not ever yet ordinarily God doth proportion the sorrow to the sin 3. Some men of greater parts of greater places who are not so easily humbled many things may bee in the subject which may vary the case And as the same measure is not necessary in respect of man so the same is not necessary in respect of God his ends are various 1. Some men hee intends to bestow greater measure of grace upon than upon others and hee layes a proportionable foundation 2. Some hee intends to use as one of a thousand to comfort others therefore hee doth exercise them with difficulties with humiliations eclipses of his favour with temptations injections of Satan decayes relapses that they may bee experimentally able to settle and comfort others 2 Cor. 1.4 3. Some hee intends for great services great imployments to make them Champions in his cause And therefore hee doth humble them
you would not bee so injurious to him as to hinder him of the fruit of it every one would bee ready to cry out of such an act of injustice Why thou art Christs reward hee shed his bloud laid down his life for this end for this purpose And by thy standing out thou dost what is in thee to rob Christ of this his reward the fruit of his death and therefore what a provocation is it Reas 3. Because this temper keeps a man in an unserviceable condition both to God and man And this must needs bee very offensive to God It was one great end that God sent Christ into the World for that wee might bee able to do him service it was the end of our Creation and of our redemption too that being redeemed out of the hands of our enemies wee should serve him Luk. 1.74 75. Though our service was not the impulsive cause of Gods redeeming us though it was not the motive which did perswade and prevail with God to send Christ into the World to redeem us yet this was an end one main end which God aimed at in sending Christ into the World that wee might bee able to serve him without fear c. Christ did not discharge us from the debt of sin to free us from the debt of service but therefore did hee pay the one that wee might bee able to return the other As the Apostle Rom. 8.12 where having shewed that wee are justified and our sins pardoned hee concludes therefore Brethren wee are debters not to the flesh c. Christ hath broken the bands of subjection to others that wee might take upon us the yoak of service to him Christ freed us from the curse of the Law that wee might yeeld obedience to the Commands of the Law from the penalties that wee might obey the Precepts from the Law as a Covenant that we might walk in obedience to the Law as a Rule Plane dicimus decessisse legem quod onera c. That as the Law was given with Evangelical purposes so it might now bee kept of us with Evangelical principles So that this was one main end that God aimed at in our redemption that wee might bee able to do him service Now therefore that which crosseth this great end which God aimed at and keeps us in an unserviceable condition to God must needs bee very offensive to God But that unbeleeving doth It makes you utterly unserviceable to God There is a twofold unbeleef 1. Reigning 2. Remaining unbeleef For the first where Unâ—eâ—ieâ— reigns that man is altogether dead and no more able to do a peece of service to God than a dead man to perform actions of life As Christ saith Joh. 15.5 without mee yee can do nothing And for the second remaining Unbelief so far as Unbelief remainâ— so far it â—cts so far as it prevails so far are you wounded disabled â—or serâ—ice Though there bee not a total and universal impotency as â—n the former yet there is a partial disabilâ—ty and this is more or lesse according to the workings and prevailings of Unbeleef in you It is said of Abraham Heb. 11.8 That by Faith Abraham obeyed God And it was a high act of obedience It is Faith which doth inable us to obey and quicken us in obedience 1. It begets Soul-inabling-Principles such Principles as are suitable to the command and thing commanded 2. Faith supplies a man with Soul-inabling-strength from Christ Wee have not only inherent but assistant strength not only operative but cooperative c. from Christ and Faith furnisheth us with it 3. Faith doth furnish a man with Soul-inabling-considerations 1. From God 2. From the work 3. From the rewards c. 2. It inables the soul to suffer 1. It puts the soul into a suffering frame 2. It doth furnish the soul with suffering resolutions Faith cloatheth the soul with strong resolutions as in the three Children Dan. 3. 3. Faith begets suffering graces Courage magnanimity patience humility self-denyal contempt of the World high prizings of Christ 4. Faith layes in suffering strength strength from God from the Promise c. 5. It propounds to the soul suffering rewards for these light afflictions which are but for a moment work c. 2 Cor. 4.17 All which I might insist large upon to shew you how Faith doth inable the soul c. So Unbeleef it keeps the soul in an unserviceable condition Hee that doth not yeeld obedience to the promise in a way of beleeving cannot yeeld subjection to the Precept in a way of obeying men of a bad beleef can never bee men of a good life Hence wee read that Faith and Obedience and Unbeleef and Disobedience are expressed by the same name Rom. 15.31 which shews how near they are together If you bee once beleevers you will then bee obedient and while you continue in Unbeleef you must needs bee disobedient It is observeable that God gave the Law four hundred and thirty yeaâ—s after the Pâ—omiâ—e as the Apostle saith Gal. 3.17 which shews that Faith in the Promise must bee the spring of all our obedience to the Precept When God gave the Law see what a preface there is to obedience I am the Lord thy God As if hee had said here is that which must inable you to obedience After Adams fall God doth not then give him any new commands hee puts him not to work again but now to beleeve hee gave the Promise then and not the Law to shew that now hee must have a new Principle of working before hee could work hee must now beleeve that hee might bee able to do Many men think they can do God better service by doubting than by beleeving by standing off than by comming in But alas Satan deludes thee if hee get between thee and the Promise if hee keep thee off from Christ hee will either dishearten thee from obedience or hee will discourage and disable thee in thy obedience Faith is the spring of action the rise of all obedience without Christ wee can do nothing and without Faith wee must needs bee without Christ for Faith gives the soul union and communion with him it implants us into Christ and then and not till then wee bring forth fruit It is said of Abraham Heb. 11.8 That by Faith Abraham obeyed God and you know it was a high act of Obedience the sacrificing of his Son and so is the sacrificing of our sins It is Faith alone that doth inable the soul to do to suffer Wee now come to the Application wherein I shall bee brief because most of it I shall refer to the second Doctrin Use 1. If so then see how Satan doth delude their souls whom hee perswades not to beleeve is a vertue is a thing pleasing unto God Are there not many who as Jonah said hee did well to bee angry So they say they do well not to beleeve they do well to stand out c. You shall hear some make it a
matter of conscience not to beleeve they ought not to beleeve should such sinful creatures such vile wretches so polluted c. Should they beleeve this were to presume to sin against Gods Justice in the closes with his Mercy this were to give holy things to dogs c. Satan presents sin And some there are so witty as to object against all that can be brought as if they took a pride to argue themselves into a condition of misery setting the pride of their own carnal reasonings against the riches and freeness of the mercy of God if you bring a promise to them when cast down for sin and indeavour to fasten a promise on them they can tell you that this is not the meaning of the Promise or certainly this Promise doth not belong to mee Alas will they say all this is but lost labour you might as well caâ—â—y a cordial to a dead man as bring a Promise to them it is a â—â—uâ—tless thing if upon examination wee shall discover some spots oâ— a Child in them some undoubted evidences of one whom God â—peaks mercy unto Yet they will tell you all these are false all â—â—â—se are in Hypocrisy It s true if these things were in truth 〈◊〉 I could then conceive some hopes of mercy but I know â—â—ey are all in Hypocrisie they are all unsound and counterfeit c. Ergo no Mercy Thus doth many a poor soul take pains to reason himself into misery and side with Satan and take part with the corruptions and unbeleevings of his own heart against himself And what will bee the end of it sure it will breed bitterness in the latter end for the present it is thy sin and for the future it will bee thy misery either it will cause God to withdraw himself from thee as hee tells them Deut. 32.20 Or cause thee to withdraw thy self from God As the Apostle speaketh Heb. 3.12 Take heed least there bee in you an evil heart of Unbeleef in departing from the living God Hee that withdraws himself from the Promise cannot long keep close to the Precept hee that keeps at a distance from Mercy will not long walk in the wayes of duty When the workings of natural conscience are done when fears are allayed when troubles are blown over then will all service bee done too if not yet the continuance of troubles and fears will make you cast of all and say there is no hope or will discourage your hearts in your walking that your life will bee little better than a martyrdome with continual racks and troubles It was before thy sin not to beleeve but now it will bee thy misery before thou wouldest not now thou canst not Thou soughtest arguments before to keep thee off from the Promise and thou wilt now seek as many arguments against such arguments which might bring thee over to the Promise And this miserable unbeleef is the fruit of sinful unbeleef This disability to come to the Promise is the punishment of thy former slowness to come to the Promise And this temper you shall see in many who have reasoned themselves down do finde it now a harder work to reason themselves up again Who have put themselves into a greater incapacity to close with the Promise by those wayes which they have thought to bee helpful to them It is easier to give entertainment to carnal reasonings to the suggestions of Satan and the objections of our own fleshy hearts than to get rid of them again Many have given willing entertainment to these at first who would more gladly bee rid of them afterward if they could But the continuance of them is a fruit of your entertainment of them If you will entertain doubts and fears and set up your own carnâ—l reasonings against the Promise then you shall have doubts and feaâ—s and caâ—nâ—l reasonings when you would not to keep you from the Promise As God said in another case Hos 8.11 Because you have made many Altars to sin thâ—râ—fore Altars shall bee unto you to sin So here because you have set up your carnal reasonings and your unbeleeving thoughts against the Promise to hinder you from closing with the Promise therefore carnal reasonings c. shall bee a hinderance c. Thus is miserable Unbeleef a fruit of sinful Unbeleef which the more miserable the lesse sinful the more seen the more sorrowed for the more lamented and mourned for the lesse sinful while it was your sin it was not seen it was not sorrowed for and now it is c. and the more misery the lesse your sin in Gods account Carnal reasonings were before your pride now your grief you sought them before you would bee rid of them now they were your delight before now they are your trouble your misery which is something But they had not now continued to bee your misery if they had not before been entertained as your sin c. This is the fruit of slowness of heart to beleeve Use 2. Is of Exhortation If so then three things 1. Bee convinced of the greatness of the sin 2. Bee humbled for it 3. Bee quickened to beleeve 1. Bee yee convinced of the greatnesse of the sin it is a sin whereby you wrong God gratifie Satan wrong your own souls 1. You wrong God in it you obscure his glory you limit his power you contemn his wisdome you give a lye to his truth you abuse his love you sleight and reject all the precious and peerlesse thoughts of his Mercy and Grace I told you not long since that God was more severe against Unbeleef than any sin because Unbeleef was most severe to God No sin was more cruel to God God hath no greater enemy in the World than Unbeleef It is an enemy to whatever is most dear and precious unto God Therefore is hee such an enemy to Unbeleef if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 2. You gratifie Satan I beleeve thou wouldst not willingly if thou knew it gratifie Satan for a World I tell thee in thy standing off thou dost not only gratifie him but thou canst do Satan no greater a pleasure no greater a courtesy in the World In this Satan hath all his desire of thee that which hee desires is to make void all the great things of God that which hee desires is to make the death of Christ in vain to make the bloud of Christ to bee shed in vain to make the great counsel of God the great things of his wisdome and mercy to no purpose in the World And by this standing off thou dost what lyes in thee to answer his desire and therefore this must needs glad him Besides Satan knows full well if hee do not wound thy Faith thy Faith will wound him break the head of the Serpent and therefore it is that which hee laboureth after in all his temptations if hee cannot keep thee from beleeving yet to wound and weaken thy Faith that thou
mayest not wound him If hee cannot make thee his friend yet if hee can weaken his adversary If hee cannot take away thy weapon yet if hee can weaken thy arm or blunt thy weapon hee is content If hee cannot destroy thy Faith yet if hee can weaken thy Faith if not hurt thy Faith yet if hee can keep thy Faith from hurting him by weakening of it for every act of Faith wounds Satan bindes him in chains c. And therefore if hee can prevail to keep thee from beleeving or if hee can weaken and wound thy Faith hee is well contented this gratifieth him What can gratifie him more than to make a Pageant of all the great things of God than to make all these great things like a dream What can gratifie him more than to keep thy soul at a distance from Christ and the Promise what can pleasure him more than to make a soul look upon God as a God of terror and wrath What more than to keep the soul upon racks upon fears discouragements and disquiets this is some of his own spirit of darkness Nay what can gratifie him more than to keep a soul in a dead unserviceable condition make a man unfit to live unfit to dye unfit for any service to God and man Why all this doth Satan do if hee can but prevail to keep thy soul from Christ at distance from the Promise as I could shew you at large c. The way Satan doth it is by setting out sin Though I would bee willing to see sin yet I am not willing to see sin in the Devils glass I am not willing to see sin when Satan discovers sin Satan hath two glasses wherein hee discovers sin 1. Hee hath a lessening or extenuating glass wherein hee discovers sin to wicked men which makes them appear less than they are great sins small sins infirmities and lesser sins to bee no sins 2. And Satan hath a multiplying or magnifying glass wherein hee discovers sin to them when cast down and extends it not only above the greatness of sin but of mercy also As I would have my eyes broad and open to see sin when God discovers it So I would shut mine eyes when Satan discovers sin Quest But how shall I know when God and when Satan discovers sin 1. When God discovers sin hee keeps up the apprehensions of mercy above the greatness of sin But when Satan discovers sin hee heightens sin above the riches of mercy As you see in Cain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my sin is greater than can bee pardoned 2. When God discovers sin he doth not bleere but rather clear the eye of Faith to the beholding of Christ hee makes the soul fitter to see Christ doth not hinder but helpeth the soul in sight of Christ But when Satan discovers sin hee doth ever bleer and blinde the eye of Faith from the beholding of Mercy either hee discovers the malady and conceals the remedy or hee holds the eye of Faith that it cannot look upon Christ for mercy Hee puts the soul into a present incapacity to look up to God for mercy hee stings but holds not up the brazen Serpent 3. When God discovers sin it is to drive us out of our selves and to draw us unto Christ and the Promise makes the Law a Schoolmaster c. Gal. 3.24 but Satans discoveries of sin sets us further off from Christ 4. When God discovers sin it is to make the soul more in love with Christ to prize Christ more to advance him more to love him and desire him more It is such a discovery that makes the soul to run to the remedy But when Satan discovers sin it is to make us more affraid of Christ to flye from Christ as Adam never the more to desire him 5. When God discovers sin hee humbles the soul under the sight of it hee makes a man to abhor himself makes sin hatefull to him But when Satan discovers sin it is to discourage us not to humble us hee may make sin fearful but never makes it hateful Besides as you may know by the manner and the end of the discovery whether Gods or no. So by the time and temper wee are in Satan discovers sin when hee hath gotten the soul at an advantage he comes upon us as Simeon upon the Shechemites when they were sore Gen. 34. when hee hath gotten the hill and the wind on us when wee are in some sad condition when in temptation when in darkness when in some distresses when wee are drawn from our succours It is a passage of one that Satan when hee discovers sin and so hee openeth our wound hee gets us into the wilderness into the cold from our friends succours c. But when the Spirit of God openeth our wounds it is by the fire friends about us cordials near us c. But I think the difference is rather to bee taken from the manner of the discovery than from the end and effects of it Well then that is a sinfull looking on sin 1. Which heightened sin above the riches of mercy 2. Which bleereth and blindeth the eye of Faith from beholding Christ and the Promise 3. Which sets the soul at a farther distance from Christ 4. Which makes the soul affraid of Christ 5. Which discourageth the soul under sight of it And hee that thus looks upon sin in Satans glass no marvel if hee bee slow to beleeve and to come over to the Promise 7. When Satan discovers sin hee rather makes a malady than discovers a malady never discovereth one wound but makes another never discovereth a sin but takes a course that that discovery shall bee sinfull 3. Thirdly as you wrong God and gratifie Satan so you injure your own souls 1. You rob your selves of comfort and keep your selves in unnecessary racks and troubles and bondage And this is a great evil Nature cannot subsist without comfort comfort is to the soul what the soul is to the body a man cannot live without it and it puts grace to it too though for a time Grace may live and act strongly in the want of comfort yet when troubles continue and a man walks long without comfort it will put Grace to it to the utmost to subsist Oh what abundance of comfort what floods of consolation what peace what joy dost thou rob thy self of in thy standing off 2. You hinder your souls of Grace Quantum credimus tantum amamus Grace keeps a proportion with Faith So much Faith so much Grace c. keep down Faith and all Grace is kept down and where Faith stirs all the wheels move it s the spring of motion the Master-wheel Faith is the stomack which receives all for the nourishment of the whole As all the members depend upon the stomack so all the Graces upon Faith It is a Mediatour to our Mediatour it fetcheth in provision to the soul all depends upon it If Grace be weak Faith goes over to Christ
c. for the supply of strength 3. You make your selves every way unserviceable to God as I shewed you you make your selves unable to do unable to suffer for him You make your selves good for nothing unserviceable to God to the Church to his cause to your selves too c. Many there are that think they can do God better service in standing off than in comming in by Fear than by Faith They think that in nourishing their doubts and their fears they do cherish their care watchfulness humility And on the contrary they think that if once they should come to beleeve then they should bee more loose and careless and take more liberty to themselves Indeed you would have more liberty to service not to sin You would not bee tyed to service with coards of fear but with bands of love your principle of service and your manner of service would bee changed where now you serve nim out of fear then out of love now out of convictions of conscience then out of propensions of a divine nature now you serve him as slaves involuntarily then as sons with willingness and delight c. Now you do duty as a task then as your trade And you will walk in the wayes of duty though you see no commings in As a man that loves his trade that loves his calling hee will hold it up and follow it though hee get nothing by it though no gain or comming in by it So the soul which hath a Principle bred in him suitable to the things of God which is wrought by Faith hee will hold up to pray and to do duty though hee finde not commings in there is a natural agreeableness between him and duty between his spirit and the work and though hee never get good by it yet hee will hold up his spirit to the doing of it As it is with a man whose nature is sensualized that hath sinned away the very common Principles pluckt up the very senses of nature hee will drink and bee drunk though hee undo himself by it though hee hurt his body impoverish his estate yet hee will drink c. As Solomon saith a Whore will bring a man to a morsel of bread will undo a man yet hee will go on in sin hee will not leave his sin though undone by it hee will sin not only though hee get nothing but though hee get hurt though hee undo himself thereby yet hee will go on in sin and the reason is that universal sutableness that is between his soul and sin So on the other side a godly man hee will serve God hee will hold on in duty in obedience though hee finde no comming in by it There is such a sutableness between the spirit of a beleever and the work that though there is no commings in though hee finde no peace no comfort in the wayes of God yet hee will hold up to the work Where now an unbeleever if hee do not by these things get peace which is all hee looks after in the doing of it if he do not get comfort at last hee throws off all because there was no Principle of sutableness to hold him to the duty Therefore you see how Satan deludes you Faith alone is the spring of action that which sets us a work and quicken us in working if Faith bee up all his Graces will bee so too and if that bee down all other Graces are weak and down with it As Parisiensis saith it is the vertue of a Christal when the vertues of other precious stones are extinct to raise them and revive them again So doth Faith with our Graces when Davids heart was down in Psal 43.5 you see hee recovers himself by his Faith no sooner did hee exercise his Faith but his heart is raised That which quickeneth you to service and inables you in service is Faith and that which deads your spirit and makes you unserviceable is unbeleef and therefore bee convinced of your sin 2. Bee humbled for it this is the great sin the womb of sin the Mother and Nurse of sin as I have shewed That which holds up Satans Kingdome in you is your unbeleef if this fort were once taken all the rest would quickly yeeld up You see when Christ would conquer covetousness hee labours to conquer unbeleeving as you see Mat. 6.25 to the end That being overcome all the rest yeeld up and are vanquisht Nay it is a sin which doth not only uphold particular sins but the state of sin It is called a state of unbeleef wee do not say a state of drunkennesse a state of swearing c. but a state of unbeleef others are but particular this an universal sin And is there not then cause to bee humbled for it you see what a sin it is how you wrong God how you gratifie Satan how you injure your selves and is there not cause then to bee humbled for it Men are hard to bee humbled for this sin because hard to bee convinced either that they are guilty of it or that it is a sin Prophane and wicked men worldly men they will not bee convinced that they do not beleeve Though there bee nothing more plain if the Devil did not delude them for Faith and sin cannot stand together you can no more separate Holiness and Faith than Light and the Sun And humbled men they are hard to bee convinced that it is a sin Though it is easy to convince them that they do not beleeve they are sensible enough of that yet it is hard to perswade them that it is a sin not to beleeve that it is their duty to beleeve they think they do well in keeping off from the Promise they express their tenderness of Gods justice and holiness and judge it a great wrong to both that God should bee merciful to such sinners as they But I must tell thee it is a greater sin than all thy sins a killing a murthering an undoing sin It is a finishing sin that seals thee up in a state of sin and therefore you had need to bee convinced of it and humbled for it 3. Bee yee quickned to beleeve What shall I do now to perswade with you who are slow of heart to beleeve to come in and beleeve Alas all that I can say is nothing if God do not mightily work upon your hearts and perswade with you Shall I tell you there is an inexhaustible fulness of mercy in God and merit in Christ for the greatest sinner among you and this is something Shall I say that God is willing to forgive the greatest sinner of you if you will now come in and beleeve If you will go by Gods revealed will and thou hast no other rule to go by nor to bee judged by there God tells thee that hee keeps open house hee invites hee excites hee intreats hee beseeches to come these were something to perswade with our hearts But I shall pass them I will only name these two
his spirit his soul was heavy to death Mat. 26.38 when hee sweat drops of blood c. Luk. 22.44 7. Doth hee say thou art still full of corruptions Why but thou mayest say Christ is full of holiness and by him though I bee black yet I am comely As I look not to be justified by mine own inherent righteousness so I shall not bee condemned for this remaining corruption so long as it is not reigning so long as seen and sorrowed for Though I desire to bee acceptable to him in holiness yet I do not desire that my holiness should bee the ground of my acceptance Thus may a soul which hath closed with Christ bee able to weild this to set Christ against whatever Justice Law Sin Satan brings Oh! then let us bee stirred up you that are slow of heart to beleeve to come over thou seest thou canst do him no greater pleasure Thou thinkest thou dost well in doubting but thou dost exceedingly offend God thou canst not do him a greater discourtesy c. Object But doth God command every one to beleeve pardon Ans God commands every one to do the act of Faith but not to beleeve a pardon till hee have done that If any shall get hold of the horns of the Altar and yet rest in sin God will deal with him as Joab c. 1 King 2.28 29. c. God commands thee not to beleeve a pardon so long as thou purposest to go on in sin but yet hee alwayes commands thee to beleeve him so as to give up thy self to Christ c. that thereby thou mayest have pardon and assurance and salvation A TREATISE OF THE Miserable Condition OF UNBELEEVERS BY SAMVEL BOLTON D. D. And MASTER of C.C.C. LONDON Printed by Robert Ibbitson for Thomas Parkhurst and are to be sold at his Shop over against the Great Conduit in Cheapside 1656. A TREATISE OF HYPOCRISY BY SAMVEL BOLTON D. D. And MASTER of C.C.C. LONDON Printed by Robert Ibbitson for Thomas Parkhurst and are to be sold at his Shop over against the Great Conduit in Cheapside 1656. A TREATISE OF HYPOCRISY ISAIAH 58.2 Yet they seek mee daily and delight to know my wayes as a Nation that did Righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God They ask of mee the Ordinances of Justice they delight in approaching to God A TEXT which I may tremble to read and you to hear Well may wee ask that question Lord who is it then that shall bee saved Is it possible to do thus much and yet miss of Heaven Lord who is it then that shall bee saved The whole World may bee divided into four ranks of men 1. Some that are in the Church visible but not of the Church invisible 2. Some that are of the Church but not in the Church 3. Some that are both in the Church and of the Church 4. Some neither in nor of the Church Some that have both right to and possession of this great priviledge Some that have possession but not right Some that have right but not possession Some neither possession nor right But yet to come nearer Those that are within the pale of the Church and so within the bounds of Gods call wee may rank into these three orders of men 1. Some who are Atheistical and prophane Such as will do nothing for Heaven as Gallio They care for none of these things Act. 18.17 2. Some who are Hypocritical and unsound That will do something but as good as nothing 3. Some who are sincere and upright Who will come up to Gods price and walk throughly in all the wayes of God But wee shall yet draw them into a narrower compass viz. Those who are pretenders to Heaven Of which there are but two sorts of people in the World For wee will cast out the Atheist the Worldling the prophane Person the Drunkard the Swearer These are men upon whose forehead you may read They are going to Hell There are then but two sorts which are pretenders for Heaven 1. The first is the Formal Christian 2. The second is the Upright and Sincere 1. The first Hee will do something for Heaven hee will bid much for Heaven hee will walk in the round of duty hee looks to the matter but neglects the manner 2. The second hee will come up to the price hee will do all Gods commands looking to the Manner as well as to the Matter The one hee will give God the carkass and body of duty The other hee will give God the life and spirit of duty Of the first sort wee have some in the Text who went high to fall short of Heaven at last Surely if wee but read the words and if God had not said they had been unsound wee should have judged them of the best of men Do but cast your eyes upon the Text and read over the particulars 1. They seek God and not for a time only in a storm in trouble as many will do Beleeve mee they go further They seek mee daily They had their morning and evening Prayers 2. They delight to know my wayes 1. They knew the wayes of God 2. They delighted to know his wayes which is equivalent to this they did not only know the wayes of God but desired to know the wayes of God and for ought I know might have some kinde of delight in the knowledge of his wayes 3. As a Nation that did Righteousness and forsook not the Ordinances of their God That is if you looked upon them they would seem to bee as holy a people as any I have in the World There is none who would judge otherwise of them by any outward appearance but that they were as holy as sincere as any in the World Though they were not a Nation that did Righteousness yet they appeared to bee so They were as a Nation that did Righteousness not only as a Nation who heard who knew who spake Righteousness but as a Nation that did Righteousness They appeared to the judgement of the World to bee as exact as the choicest Saints which God had in the World 4. They ask of God the Ordinances of Justice They desire and pray that God would inform them in the wayes of Justice how they should bee governed and ruled in the World a people which hath respect to their civil Laws and Government pretending to desire Gods Warrant Gods Direction Gods Rule in all things As if they would do nothing even in their civil Affairs without Gods special Warrant and Direction 5. They take delight in approaching to God Than which how can wee have an higher expression What do they approach to God and daily approach to God as you see in the beginning And do they delight in approaching to God do they delight in hearing do they delight in praying do they delight in approaching to God in his Ordinances Here was a stupendious height What can wee say more how can wee go any higher Here wee may stand and
sinne and therefore because hee sins in aeterno sui hee is punished in eterno Dei. So I may say of a godly man if hee should live for ever hee would sorrow for ever His sorrow is infinite in desire and affection though finite in the act and expression of it And indeed a bounded a stinted sorrow is no sorrow Hee whose heart and eyes do dry up together whose expression in tears and affections of sorrow do end together though hee had wept a sea of tears hee hath not yet mourned for sin As I told you last day that a Sincere heart doth rise up praying from Prayer so hee goes away weeping from weeping with a weeping heart when his eyes are dry Godly sorrow hath affections of mourning when the expressions of mourning ceaseth because every drop of tears doth arise from a sea of tears within As every act of faith doth arise from a beleeving disposition a habit of faith within so every expression of sorrow from an affection of sorrow in the spirit every drop of tears from a spring and fountain of tears within the soul Hence wee read 1 Sam. cap. 7. vers 6. where their sorrow is expressed by this phrase They drew water as out of a well as out of a spring and poured out before the Lord Their eyes did not empty so fast as their heart filled Their eyes could not poure it forth so fast as their hearts did yeild it up All their expressions of mourning were less than their affections of mourning And shall I now tell you though your sorrow may bee sincere and yet not proportionable to the measure of sin yet your sorrow cannot bee sincere if not proportionable to the merit of Sin if it be not infinite sorrow infinite I say in the desire and affection though not in the act and expression And alas how few there are Sincere mourners you that are sturdy Sinners you dry eyed Sinners you hard hearted Sinners when was the time you have thus mourned for sin wee see your sinnings every day but who hears of your repentings wee hear of your drunkennesse your swearing your lying your gaming your dicing and revelling even till the morning watch upon the Lords day but wee hear not of your repentings In stead of that wee hear of your new sinning you adde Sin to Sin not repenting to sinning As it was said of Herod that hee added this to all his wickedness that hee shut up John in Prison this was the great aggravation of his sin this fill'd his measure hee added this to all So there are some who will adde this to all their sins that adde this to all their drunkenness their swearing gaming revelling to persecute and evilly intreat those who are Gods messengers to them Take heed of thus adding drunkennesse to thirst and malice and rage to drunkennesse lest Gods wrath and jealousie smoak against such excesses Deut. 29.19 20. 5 Character Sincere mourning is a faithfull mourning So much faith so much sincere mourning so much godly sorrow They are like the fountain and the flood the one arises no higher than the other In respect of donation faith and repentance are infused at the same instant of time though in respect of manifestation repentance goes before faith Faith being like the sap which is hid in the root more secret in the heart and repentance like the bud which is sooner discerned than faith both to a mans own self and others Yet in respect of the order of nature faith doth necessarily goe before repentance Nemo potâ—st agere paenitentiam nisi qui sperat de indulgentia As a legall faith before a legall sorrow so an evangelicall faith before an evangelicall sorrow No man can truely repent but hee who hath some hopes of pardon Well then sincere Repentance is a faithful Repentance such a Repentance as doth arise from Faith by which I mean not a legal Faith whereby a man beleeves the threatnings of the Law to bee true and hee guilty This is too low This may breed a vexing tumultuous turbulent slavish sorrow but not a godly sweet evangelical mourning But I mean here an evangelical Faith and yet not the Faith of assurance or the Faith of evidence this is too high There may bee godly sorrow sincere mourning in that soul which yet for the present wants the evidence and assurance of Gods love in Christ But such a Faith I mean which is the lowest spring of godly sorrow Whereby the soul is perswaded 1. Of the all-sufficiency of Gods Mercy and Christs Merits for the pardoning of sin 2. Of the freeness and willingness of God to pardon sin 3. And then throws it self upon the Mercy of God the grace of Christ for pardon and forgiveness Which though it appear to bee small yet it will cost you something before ever you reach this But now the mourning of an Hypocrite doth not arise from Faith but from sense either from some present sting or trouble of conscience or from some outward pressures upon the body And hence it comes to pass that his sorrow is not a constant sorrow while the trouble lasts the weight is upon him so long hee howles and cryes but if once the trouble bee blown over the Sky clears his mourning is done As Job saith of his praying will hee pray alwayes hee will not So I may say of his mourning will hee mourn alwayes hee will not When conscience wrings him when the heart is overwhelmed with trouble then hee falls a howling and crying but when the trouble is over hee wipes his eyes and mourns no more But now again hee whose sorrow doth arise from Faith hee doth not only mourn when conscience is troubled but when conscience is at peace Nay when the heart is fullest of peace and joy the eyes are biggest with tears when the pearle of joy is in the heart the dew of tears is in the eyes I say when the soul hath most assurance of Gods love then will Faith produce child-like arguments to raise up the springs of sorrows in us to open all the fountains of tears in the soul Oh will the soul say hath God been so mercifull and am I so sinfull Hath hee been so good to mee and I so evil to him As the frowns of God do break the heart so the smiles of God do melt and dissolve it 6. Character A sincere mourning is a filial mourning There are the mournings of a son and the mournings of a slave the one doth arise from fear the other from love love 1. Of God to the soul 2. Of the soul to God 1. From the consideration of Gods love to the soul When the soul sits down and recounts the immensity greatness of Gods love to it when it takes a view of what God might have done with it and what God hath done with it how justly hee might have damned the soul and how mercifully hee hath saved the soul what cost what care what pains
shall come to the Church with full tide and stream of lust lifting up his head puffing at God glorying in his sin and shame Nay perhaps Come with purpose to contemn to scorn the Dispenser And to see this man return home by the Ministery of a weak man wounded slain laid upon his back crying out with the Publican God bee merciful to mee a sinner or with Paul Lord what wilt thou have mee to do I am willing to do any thing to suffer any thing c. Here is a wonder well may wee say in the voice of the Prophet What ails thee thou Jordan that thou art driven back Thou sea that thou fleddest And as the birth of a Christian so 2 In the life 2. The life of a Christian in grace is wonderful It is a mysterious life A life hid from the world for 1. The seat of this life is hid and secret 2. The principle and spring of this life is secret and mysterious 3. The Nourishment mysterious 4. The conveyance of nourishment 5. The comforts of this life All wonders Nothing in Grace but wonders 3 In Perseverance 3 When God shall hold up a mans heart to fear him to seek him to beleeve in him in times of darknesse and temptations Here is a wonder All the workings of Faith are wonders but especially in temptations and Desertions 1 That a man by Faith should conquer a troop of fears silence an Army of doubts answer a throng of disputes and carnal-reasonings overcome all the powers of darknesse to chase ten thousands Devils before him which all the power of earth cannot do Here is a wonder 2 That a man by Faith should hold up his head under the burden and guilt of many thousand sins the lest of which would sink the soul if Faith did not cast all this upon the Lord. 3 That a man by faith should bee a rock in the midst of a storm and stand immoveable when the winds blow and the billows rage when heaven and earth seem to come together as you see David did Psal 27.1 2 3. and Psal 46.1 2 3. I will not fear though the earth be removed though the mountains bee hurled into the midst of the Sea 4 When God shall keep alive a little spark of grace in the midst of a sea of corruptions hold up his own work in the mids of all Counter-workings and oppositions of sinne and Satan Here is a wonder 5. When God shall make a man willing to sacrifice his goods liberty life rather than to wound his Conscience and offend his God This is a wonder which without the power of God could not bee wrought 6. VVhen God shall bear up the spirits of the Saints with joy and comfort in the absence of all created comforts as you see Hab. 3.17 Although the fig-tree shall not blossome nor shall fruit bee in the vine c yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Nay in the presence of all created discomforts to stand up and rejoyce under the frowns menaces scorns scourges prisons persecutions of men imbrace the stake kiss the chains smile on the terrors of death rejoyce with Stephen under a shower of stones Here are Wonders 7 When God doth turn all the afflictions nay all the sins of his Church and People to the good of his People to humble them more cast them out of themselves cast them upon the hold of Faith the exercise of Prayer make them more watchful more careful more exact Here 's a wonder Secondly God works wonders for the body for the outward condition of the Church for the good of his people 2 Gods Wonders for the Body in regard of the outward man 1 God doth often restrain the wickedness and malice of men against his Church that though they bee never so full of Hell and fury yet they shall not bee able to vent it against the Church and People of God Thus you see it was with Rabshakeh when hee came with purpose to destroy Jerusalem yet God put his hook into his nose and his bridle into his lips Hee restrained him as you see in 2 King 19.28 32 33. And this made David to say when the Princes took counsel together to take away his life My times are in thy hands Psal 31.15 Though they bee never so full of malice their designs bee never so bloody yet my times are in thy hands they shall not bee able to hurt mee though they consulted yet hee knew they could not act God could restrain them God hath the Devil much more wicked men in a chain and they cannot go a jot further than hee gives them chain and that shall bee no further than for his own Glory and the good of his Church as hee tells us Psal 76.10 Surely the wrath of man shall turn to thy Praise and the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain Though wicked men bee never so full of wrath and fury against the Church yet they shall vent no more than what shall turn to the Glory of God nay the Praise of God so much as his People shall have cause to praise him for The remainder of wrath though never so full hee shall restrain They shall burst before they shall vent any of it to the hurt of his People And this is a great wonder His setting bounds to the fury of men as hee doth to the raging of the Sea Hitherto shalt thou go and no further restraining the malice of men against the Church is as great a wonder as to see a Milstone hang in the Air and not fall down 2 God doth often calm and still the raging fury of wicked men against his Church and People Hee doth not only bound them but still them And thus you see it was with Esau Hee came forth with rage and bloody-purposes against Jacob to bee revenged on him for all But you see how God calmed him In stead of killing him hee falls upon his neck and kisses him It was God that did it And therefore it is said Gen. 33.10 That Jacob saw the face of Esau as the face of God It was not Esau but God that hee saw in Esaus face Hee saw God appearing in the wonderful changing and calming of his spirit who came with such fury against him And this was the fruit of his wrestling and praying the night before 3. VVhen God doth carry on great purposes with weak and contemptible Power makes weak means successful to do great purposes and effects This is a wonder and a wonder God often doth as you see in Asa 2 Chron. 14.11 It is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no Power As the Mariner can turn about the greatest ship with the smallest Rudder So God who ever sits at the Helm and steeres and governs all can bring about his own purposes by weakest means As hee brought Jeremy out of the dungeon with old rotten rags good
success They said they would Pursue they would overtake they would divide the spoil their Lust should bee satisfied on them c. But God shews a Wonder and layes all their Pride and all their hopes in the dust what began in pride did end in shame It was the best speech that Ahab ever spake when Benhadad made such a vain boast that the dust of Samaria should not serve for handfuls of them who followed him Tell him saith Ahab Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as hee that putteth it off God shews a wonder and all is turned about 1 King 20.11 And forward Benhadad and his thirty two Kings who came to help him fled before the face of seven thousand of Israel as there you may read 7. Information This may inform us 7 Information What ingagements of duty and obedience do lye upon such a People for whom God shall do wonders 1 What ingagements of Love Love is the Loadstone to beget Love And God having exprest his love to us how should this ingage us to love him again 2. What ingagements of thankfulness Psal 111.4 Hee hath done his wonderfull works to be remembred As if hee had said This is the end I did these wondrous works for that you should remember them If you would not have remembred them I would not have done them It is the speech of Seneca This is the rule of good turns Haec est lex beneficiorum that the giver must soon forget hee gave but the receiver must never forget he hath received Indeed God hath done wonders for this Nation many wonders wherein hee hath exprest his Wisdome his Power his mercy his Justice And yet God hath forgotten he hath given he goes on as freely in mercy as if every mercy were the first mercy he hath bestowed But have not we forgotten that we have received if so God will Remember that he hath given God doth remember hee hath given when his People forget they have received As you see hee did to David I have done this and this and if that had been too little I would have given thee such and such things more so upbraiding him with his forgetfullnesse If you would not have God remember against you what he hath given do you then remember what you have received from God This will quicken you to thankfulness 8 Information 8. Information If God do wonders for his Church then let this discover unto us What ground and what incouragement there is for us at this time 1. To trust in God 2. To pray to him 3. To hope in him 4. To wait upon him that he would do wonders for us You have incouragements 1 From the experience of God he hath done wonders read the 78. Psalm and the 9th of Nehemiah and you shall see a little Chronicle of the great Wonders which God hath done for his Church and People And this is a mighty incouragement the experience of what God hath done for his People heretofore As wee may say of the Experience of Gods Judgements on the wicked Lege exemplum ne exemplum fias read the example lest thou thy self bee made an Example read the example of Sodom of Pharaoh of Jerusalem All these were set up to deter you from their sins As the judgements of God upon the wicked men are set down to deter us from sin so the mercyes and deliverances of the Church are recorded To incourage us to beleeve to trust in him in the like difficulties Can our condition bee sadder than Israels was at the Red-sea than Davids was than Jehoshaphats than the Churches in Hamans time And God did then deliver them that wee might be Incouraged to trust in him in the like straits and difficulties And as wee have incouragement from the experience of Gods wonderfull deliverance of others so we have incouragement from the wonderful deliverance of our selves Revolve in your thoughts those great deliverances in Eighty-Eight in the Powder-Treason and that late deliverance which swallows up all the rest when the Heavens were black the Clouds were gathered and threatned to come down in a storm of bloud when two Armies were in the field and ready to make our Land an Aceldema a field of bloud yet how wonderfully God did then step in to compose the differences and to settle a peace when there was nothing but expectations of war and ruine This our God hath done and besides this many fresh and later experiences of his goodnesse All which should now come in to incourage us to beleeve and trust in the same God to do great things for us Indeed wee ought to trust God though wee had never tryed him though wee had never experience from him But when hee helps our Faith by former experiences this should strengthen our confidence and make us to go unto God as to a tryed friend Were wee but well read in the story of our lives wee might have a Bible of our own drawn out of the experiences of Gods dealings with our selves and wee should bee able to say in any difficulty and distresse I dare trust God in this difficulty I dare venture on him in this present distresse I have tryed him and have found him true hee never failed mee And because hee hath been my help therefore under the shadow of his wings will I rejoyce as saith the Prophet 2. A second incouragement is From the Power of God 2. Incouragement Hee can do wonders Hee not only hath but hee can do wonders still The Arm of the Lord is not shortned that hee cannot save What hee hath done hee can do Hee is still as wise as powerful as faithful as merciful as ever hee was There is no shadow of change in him There is nothing above his skill nor above his power if not above your Faith to beleeve It is our sin only which hinders the current of Mercy that stops the stream of Mercy our unbeleef our neglect of duty our unthankfulness our pride c. Let us remove these and Mercy comes amain You have a full place for it Judg. 10.10 11 12 13 14 15 16 c. You see there that God had oftentimes delivered them hee had wrought many wonders for them as hee tells them there And they were now again in a new distresse and therefore cry to God But God tells them they had walked unworthy of former deliverances and therefore hee would deliver them no more whereupon they go and confesse their sins before God they humble themselves and reform their evil wayes And saith the Text His soul was then grieved for the misery of Israel God delivers them Well this may bee our condition God hath wrought many deliverances for us wee are now in new straits but wee have walked unworthy and our sins may stand as an obstacle to hinder Gods proceedings of mercy Let us now then humble our selves and reform and God will bee grieved for our misery as
God do wonders for his Church Then let us fall down and adore this God who can do wonders for us Who would not fear thee O King of Nations saith the Prophet Jer. 10.7 It was the speech of an Heathen King when hee had seen the Wonders that God had done Let all men fear and tremble before the God of Daniel Dan. 6.26 When Christ had done that great wonder in calming the rage of the sea the Text tels us They all fell down at the feet of Jesus and worshipped him Gods wonders for us call out for our Worship of him Fall down then at the feet of this God and Worship him Fall down at the feet of his Power and dread it Fall down at the feet of his Mercy and adore it Fall down at the feet of his Wisdome and admire it Admiration is sutable to Wonders It is said Hee shall bee admired in his Saints When wicked men tremble do you fall down and admire and blesse that God adore that God who alone doth wonders 7. Use Doth God do wonders for his Church 7 Use and are wee now in a sad condition A people that shall bee made a wonder unlesse God do a wonder for us Oh! then let us carry our selves in such a deportment and demeanour as is sutable to such who are expectants that God should do wonders for us Oh! that wee could put our selves in a posture fit for mercy and deliverance Seeing you look for a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness saith the Apostle what manner of persons ought you to bee So seeing you look you expect that God should do wonders for you Oh! What manner of persons ought you to bee in Holiness of Life how holy how humble how spiritual ought you to bee in all manner of conversation Oh! take heed of sinning in the face of mercy in the face of deliverance Lye not swear not c. It was a sad aggravation of Israels sin They provoked God at the Red-Sea even at the Red-Sea it is doubled to put a greater Emphasis on it Psal 106.7 It is nothing but our sins which hinders the current and stream of Mercy if these were removed mercy would come amain Whereas on the contrary sin will not only make our but even the good purposes of God to become abortive to us You see it in Jer. 18.9 10. At what time I shall speak concerning a Nation or a Kingdome to build and to plant it If it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice Then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them Many buds and many blossoms of future deliverance have appeared Oh! it were a sad thing if our sins should blast all these and rob us of the fruit of our hopes of our prayers and tears Our sins put obstructions to all Gods proceedings of Mercy And therefore you see when the Temple was to bee built and great things were to bee done for them The Prophet by way of necessary preparation exhorts the people to repentance to cast away their sins Hag. 1.6 knowing this that though God had begun yet if they continued their sins they would quickly make a stop of Gods mercy God would soon repent of his mercy to them God had brought Israel out of Egypt and brought them near Canaan yet their sins comming betwixt them and Canaan turned them back again into the Wildernesse and there they walk in a Round forty years before they could finde admission into Canaan God is gone out before us triumphing in the greatnesse of his strength preparing a way hewing down difficulties levelling mountains turning all our oppositions into good But if you do not leave your sins you will make God quickly to leave you so to work your own confusion Well then You are all expectants of Mercy let every one of you labour to put himself into a posture fit to receive mercy Let every one walk and demean himself as such as looks for great things from God And then that God that hath begun will assuredly make an end Hee that hath laid the foundation and is laying stone after stone upon it every day will not desist till the building bee perfected 8 Use 8 Use Is it so that God doth wonders for his Church then learn 1. To trust in God You see Hee is a God doing wonders And as Christ said Learn 1 To trust in God Mark 9.23 If thou canst but beleeve All things are possible to him that beleeveth Wonders are possible There is nothing too hard for God to do if there bee nothing too hard for you to beleeve There is nothing difficult but to beleeve Hee that hath conquered and overcome his own unbeleef hath done all All things are possible to the Beleever Do not you stick at beleeving and God will not stick at doing wonders for you Heb. 11.33 34. By Faith they subdued Kingdomes stopped the mouthes of Lions quenched the violence of fire c. As Unbeleef doth imprison Gods power mercy and goodnesse It is said Hee could not do much because of their unbeleef And they limited the holy One of Israel So Faith sets God at liberty sets the power of God at liberty Nay it puts on the power and mercy of God Therefore exercise Faith The time of our trouble should bee the time of our trust As Mordecai said to Esther God set her up for such a time as that So I may say of Faith God set up Faith for such a time as this When means fail when there is nothing but weaknesse below when sense and reason are put to it then is it Faiths work to come in And therefore exercise Faith Let not any difficulty undermine Faith Let not any seeming discouragement come between your souls and the promise Zach. â— 6 Things marvelous to you are familiar with God things wonderful to you are easy to God You have Bibles Oh! that you had Faith to make use of them you would there finde all things are possible with God and therefore nothing impossible to Faith 2. Bee incouraged to Prayer This is the great work of our times 2 To pray to God Faith and Prayer will do wonders Faith and Prayer have had an hand in most of the wonders that ever were done in the Earth These will set the great God on doing wonders for us A Prayer made up of promises and put up by Faith will shew wonders in Heaven and in Earth You read what wonders Gods people have wrought by Prayer They have dryed up the Sea Exod. 14.21 brought fire from Heaven 2 King 1.10 Caused the Sun to stand still Josh 10.13 Vanquisht the enemy Exod. 17.12 Praying-Moses did more than fighting-Joshua The day would fail to tell you of all See what wonders followed upon Davids Prayer Psal 18.6 In my distress I called upon the Lord I cryed to my God hee heard my voice out of his Temple my cry came unto his
ears See what followes vers 7 8 13.14 Then the Earth shook and trembled The Lord thundred in the Heavens and the highest gave his voice Hailstones and coals of fire Hee sent out his arrows and scattered them hee shot out his lightenings and discomfitted them And an excellent place you have Isa 54.15 When the enemy shall come in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him That is shall both defend from his violence and put him to flight And it is an observable phrase The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard That is saith one The Spirit of Prayer is lift up When trouble and evil are threatned the enemie comes like a flood irresistably then the Spirit of the Lord stirring up Prayer in his peoples hearts shall lift up a standard against them bee your defence and chase them away When God doth intend to bestow great things on his People first hee gives them the Spirit of Prayer the Harbinger and Forerunner of mercy Jer. 3.19 But I said How shall I put thee among the Children and give thee a pleasant land As if hee had said I have purposes of mercy to thee I have thoughts of deliverance I think to bring thee into thy own land again and do wonders for thee But what way shall I go to effect and bring about this And I said thou shalt call mee my Father As if hee had said I have now bethought mee of a way I will poure a spirit of Prayer upon thee and thou shalt call mee Father and so I will put thee among my Children 3. Bee incouraged to hope as well as to pray Hope 3 Incouragement to hope in God Heb. 6.19 it is called the anchor of the soul sure and stedfast that takes sure hold and then breaks not in the greatest tempest at such an anchor wee may ride in the most overgrown storm They say Clement was cast into the Sea with an anchor fastened to him and could not drown wee shall not in the deepest Waters if wee bee fastened to this anchor for God delights in them who hope in his Mercy Psal 147.11 and whom God delights in enemies shall not delight over his mercy shall prevent their utterly undoing-misery Hope is the Daughter of Faith therefore when Faith hath brought forth the birth of Prayer let it bring forth the other Twin also of Hope And then also 4. To wait on God 4. Bee incouraged to wait For as long as we hope we will wait and no longer as long as you expect and hope your friend will come to you so long you will stay and wait for him but give over hoping once and then you will together give over waiting Hope hath two acts it expects that a Mercy will come and then it waits till it do come as it is confident of Gods goodness and truth that in his due time hee will shew mercy so it is conscious to its own duty and therefore humbly and patiently waits Gods leisure till that time come and this although many cross Providences and greatest dangers should come between yea in the way of thy Judgements O Lord have wee waited for thee saith the Church Isa 26.8 and well they may seeing by experience they ever finde that the Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him Lam. 3.25 And then when you have learned these lessons of trusting in God praying hoping and waiting on him Then you shall say with the Church Isa 25.9 Loe this is our God wee have waited for him and hee will save us This is the Lord wee have waited for him wee will rejoyce and bee joyful in his salvation There are many glorious wonders which God is now to do at the latter end of the World for his Church This time is reserved for a time of Wonders And who knows but this may bee one of the Wonders which God now doth for his Church at this time Could wee but remove 1. Our Unbeleef 2. Our Unthankfulness 3. Our Neglect of Duty 4. Our Unworthy Walking Could wee but 1. Beleeve more Strongly 2. Pray more Fervently 3. Live more Holily And God would do Wonders for us I tell you the way to ingage God to do Wonders for England is 1. To Beleeve more 2. To Pray more 3. To Reform more 1 Would you ingage God to do Wonders for England Beleeve Set Faith on work and you will work in the bowels of a Promise nay in the bowels of God pitch Faith upon God Let Faith have her full and perfect work And there is No Temptation so strong but Faith will conquer No Affliction so great but Faith will master No Prison so strait but Faith will open No Danger so great but Faith relieves us in No Misery so unsufferable but Faith will deliver us out Do but beleeve saith Christ and thou shalt see the wondrous works of God As if hee had said God will do no wonders John 6.4 if you will not beleeve Indeed God can do wonders as Christ said Hee could not do much because of their unbeleef Though unbelief take no Power no Wisdome from God For as the Apostle saith God is faithfull whether men beleeve or no So I may say God is Powerfull God is mercifull God â—â— Wise c. though wee beleeve not But though our unbelief do not weaken the Power of God yet it straitens and limits it Though it rob God of no mercy yet it robs us of all Though he hath mercy yet hath he none for us Well then that is the first Beleeve You have to deal with a God and this God is a God of Power and this God and this power is yours in Covenant And by vertue of that all for your good Let Faith now stirre Mark 9.23 If you can but beleeve all things are possible wonders are possible To Beleeve is difficult but to him that Beleeveth nothing is impossible If you had but faith as a grain of mustard-seed say to this mountain bee thou removed hence and bee cast into the sea and it shall bee done Though Faith bee but weak though but small A grain yet if it bee but lively if a grain of Mustard-seed Acris Fervida if it have Acrimonie and Vivacity in it as Mustard-seed hath one grain shall bee able to remove a mountain That is whatever may bee to the glory of God and the good of his Church be it never so difficult the least Faith if true Faith will effect it and bring it about You shall read in Heb. 11.33 what wonders Faith hath wrought It hath the same Power and the same God of power to deal with still Incouragements to Faith I have given you diverse in the former discourses from the Power from the love of God from all those former experiences that both ourselves and generations before have had of Gods goodnesse As I have shewed at large 2 Would you ingage God pray to
you all to tremble And do you think the word Promising Beseeching Intreating could bee so unprofitable if you had Faith to mingle with it to apply it to your selves It is because you bring no Faith to the Word that the Word of God is not a raising a quickening a comforting word to your souls That it is not an inlightening a convincing a converting and a reforming word So for the Sacraments Could these bee so unprofitable could you live under them and get no further victory of lust no more increase of Grace if you did bring and exercise Faith here to fetch from this treasure opened It is necessary to every Ordinance necessary to your Callings necessary to every condition Wee had need of Faith to go through all the conditions of this life Through Prosperity Adversity Sickness Health Losses and Injoyments As the Apostle said of Patience the Daughter so I say of Faith the Mother You have need of Faith that after yee have suffered the Will of God yee might inherit the Promise Heb. 10.36 If our condition bee prosperous wee had need of Faith to see all is for good and need of Faith to inable us to make a good use of it 1. You had need of Faith to see the Tenor of your injoyments That you injoy them not only out of leave but out of Love not only from a general Providence but from a particular Promise 2. You had need of Faith to see further than your present Estates to look upon these pence and farthings as earnests of better things as something in hand for those things in hope 3. You had need of Faith to see the heart of the giver in the gifts his Affection in the expression the God of Mercy in the injoyment of Mercy to taste the fountain in the stream An unbeleeving man hee is not able to clear this Hee may have prosperity in Judgement and heap up Riches to his own destruction All his Wealth may bee but fuel to that fire to make Hell hotter as Oile to kindle the flame of lust so fuel to increase the fire of torment hereafter So if our condition bee troublesome and afflicted wee had need of Faith to see all is for the best and need wee had of Faith to make the best use of it to humble us wean us winne us c. Faith can see good in all making all good to him though in themselves never so evil 3. There are Motives drawn from the excellency of Faith I shall say no more of it but what I have already said and you may read in these several Royalties of Faith already laid down The second branch of the Exhortation is to you that have Faith Let mee exhort you to exercise your Faith 1. In matter of Justification under the guilt of sin Trust in God for Pardon for Justification What though thy sins bee never so great Iniquity Transgression and sin sins of Nature sins of Course sins of Custome what though they bee bloody and crimson sins yet hee can pardon hee can forgive them Thy sins are great his Mercy is greater Thy sins are many His Mercies are more Thy sins have abounded His Mercy superabounds As thou hast been plentiful in sinning so hee is in Mercy for pardoning sin Isa 1.18 Though your sins were as crimson they shall bee made white as Snow though as red as Scarlet they shall bee as Wooll Isa 55.7 Let him return to the Lord and hee will have mercy upon him and to our God for hee will multiply pardons Though thy sins have weakened the Law and made that unable to save thee or do thee good Rom. 8 3. yet they have not weakened Christ and Grace Christ is able to save to the utmost even to the utmost of your sins the utmost of your doubts and fears Non datur summum malum There is neither quality nor quantity of sins that can pose the fulness of Christ There is not so much evil in sin in all thy sins as there is Mercy in him If thou canst beleeve all things are possible to the Beleever They are Christs own words Mark 9.23 It is possible for thy greatest rebellions to pass away as a cloud and to bee dispelled and scattered as a mist if thou canst beleeve Hee can drown Mountains as well as Molehils 2. Trust in him for Sanctification Christ is full of all Grace and Truth Joh. 1.14 hee is able to fill a World of hearts with Grace Thou desirest more love brokenness of heart sincerity fruitfulness Christ is able to afford thee all of all this 3. Trust in him for mortification of thy lusts and corruptions Go over to Christ for power to subdue your lusts and unruly corruptions If ever you would make any happy conquest of lust by Faith have recourse to Christ there you shall have strength against your unruly affections Christ is as able to cleanse as to clear to purge to subdue and take down the power of sin as to take away the guilt of sin 1. Wee have his Prayer to subdue and conquer our lusts to sanctifie our Natures John 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy Truth 2. Wee have his Promise I will subdue your iniquities Micah 7.19 Sin shall no more have dominion over you Rom. 6.14 3. Wee have his Power who is able to subdue all things to himself Phil. 3.21 Hee will trample Satan under our feet 4. Wee have his office and fidelity to appeal unto where wee may complain of our own flesh Hee undertook it as a part of his business to purge and cleanse his people Tit. 2.14 Hee came not only to bee a Redeemer but to bee a Refiner a Purifier Hee gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquitie and to cleanse and purifie us to bee his peculiar people zealous of good works 5. Wee have his Merits as a Sanctuary to fly to as to a Laver as to a Fountain set open to wash us from all sin filthiness and uncleanness Zach. 13.1 4. Exercise Faith in case of Difficulties 1. In case of Temptation Thou art it may bee in many Temptations Exercise Trust. Thou knowest who hath conquered Death Hell who hath overcome Principalities and Powers all the Powers of Darkness who hath led captivity captive and triumphed over all on the Cross Trust therefore in him 1. For support and strength in the Combat Hee hath promised My Grace shall bee sufficient 2 Cor. 12.9 God is faithful who will not suffer you to bee tempted above what you are able But will with the Temptation give an issue that wee may bee able to bear it 1 Cor. 10.13 2. Trust in him for deliverance out of it and victory over it That hee should conquer the strong man and snatch us as brands out of the fire and tread down Satan under our feet Rom. 16.20 Deliver us out of Temptations 2 Pet. 2.9 The Lord knâ—ws how to deliver his out of temptations 5. Exercise Trust in case of Desertions When God