pretending to pray for those things which they hate or fear But more properly we may be said to pray in faith when we pray First With a more general perswasion either of the power of God Mat. 9.28 29. 2 Tim. 1.12 I am perswaded he is able to keep that which I have committed to him or of his faithfulness Heb. 11.11 1 Tim. 2.13 If we believe not he is faithful he cannot deny himself which words we are not to understand as if God notwithstanding the unbelief of men would perform to them his mercy promised or as if unbelief could not deprive us of it but whether we believe or no that shall not make the faith of God of none effect Rom. 3.3 Gods Promise shall be made good according to the true tenour and import of it to those that by faith lay hold thereon though we should by our unbelief exclude our selves from the benefit of it Secondly When we pray with a particular perswasion that we shall receive the mercies which we pray for Now the chief question is about this How far we may pray with such a faith And for answer hereof we must consider that our prayers are either for spiritual mercies or for temporal Again spiritual mercies are either such as are necessary to the being of grace or for the well-being of it that which is necessary to the being of Christianity is assisting and persevering Grace and of the receiving of this our assurance is answerable to the assurance which we have of our own sincerity For that of God to the Apostle My grace is sufficient for thee is equivalent to a Promise and is as applicable to every Believer as those words of God to Joshua which the Apostle applies to all Heb. 13.5 and that the Apostle 2 Cor. 12.9 doth not speak of the sufficiency of grace as distinguished from the efficacy of it see Rhetorforti exercitat 428. and that Heb. 13.5 is true as well of spirituals as of temporals that being the chief end why we should desire of God not to fail us nor forsake us that he may encline our hearts to walk in all his waies and keep his Commandments 1 Kings 8.57 58. but for such grace as is necessary only to keep us from particular infirmities or for our comfort or for the liveliness of our graces this is not promised so absolutely but after the manner of temporal mercies for which we cannot ordinarily pray with a particular assurance of being heard all the Faith we can exercise in such cases is only on the power faithfulness and goodness of God in generall and that he will not despise our Prayers Psal 102.17 but accept them graciously and answer them in such kinde manner time and measure as seems good to his grace and wisdome and accordingly are all such Promises to be understood Indeed somtimes God doth make an extraordinary impression of confidence upon the hearts of his people in their prayers for temporal mercies as in Luther when he prayed for his friend Myconius and Edward the sixt for Sr. John Cheek Fullers Hâ—story Lib. 7. Object We are commanded to believe that we shall receive whatsoever things we desire when we pray Mark 11.24 and whatever we ask in prayer believing we shall receive Matth. 21.22 Ans 1. It is evident in both these places by the context that our Saviour speaks of that Faith of miracles which was in the primitive Church and peculiar to those times 2. If this were universally true many would never die nor ever want any thing for though they should not possibly pray thus for themselves yet others might pray thus for them 3. They had not an absolute power of receiving whatsoever they asked in prayer but this Faith was from an extraordinary impress upon the soul which had not any particular Promise for its foundation but only the power of God an immediate perswasion of his willingness God preparing the heart to seek where he had an intent to lend his ear to hear Psal 10.17 Indeed as one boasted that he could make an engine which would remove the whole earth if he had some place else to fix his engine upon so Faith would remove the world if it had a promise to stand firm upon If it be said we should pray for nothing but what we have a promise for I deny it There are as Mr. Hooker Eccles pol. l. 5. Sect. 48. hath rightly observed two uses of Prayer It serves as a means to procure those things which God hath promised to grant when we ask and as a mean also to express our lawfull desires towards that which whether we shall have or no we know not till we see the event Yea I may add further we may therein represent our desires with a submission to the will of God of those things which we know we shall not have It was plainly our Saviours case Matth. 26.39 though he knew it was not possible that the cup should passe from him and that he was come to that hour for this end that he might drink it John 12.27 CHAP. V. The Gospel the Word of Life Of Hearing and Reading the Word The Word is effectuall by Faith How variously Faith acts upon the several parts of the Word Upon the History and Doctrine thereof Hebr. 11.3 illustrated Upon the Commands The Socinians notion of Faith censured 1 Thes 2.13 explained The Acts of Faith on the Promises Rom. 4.17 c. 2 Pet. 1.4 opened How the Promises to Grace and the Promises of Grace conduce to Sanctification How Faith acts on the Threatnings Heb. 11.7 cleared The Use of Threatnings to Believers Rom. 8.13 interpreted How the Word is a means of Faith though it be made effectuall by Faith THe next means of Spiritual Life is Hearing the Word of God This is called the Word of Life Acts 5.20 Phil. 2.15 and Life is promised to the Hearing of the Word Isa 55.3 John 5.25 it is clear he speaks thereof spiritual Life because he saith the time is already come and in the verse before he had been speaking of Everlasting Life which is begun in Regeneration This Word is both the seed whereby we are begotten again 1 Pet. 1.23 and the food whereby we are nourished when we are borne 1 Pet. 2.2 1 Cor. 3.2 the end of the Ministry being to perfect the number of the Saints by conversion and their graces by Edification Ephes 4.11 12. I will not examine whether this word be the instrument of the Spirit or whether they have their different wayes of working the one morally by perswasion the other physically by real influence but this is sure there is a Spirit of life accompanies the dispensation of the Word which quickens dead soules as a spirit of life entered into the Prophet and set him upon his feet when God spake to him Ezek. 2.2 and as there went a divine power along with the word of Christ when he bade Lazarus come out of his grave which raised him
the thing it self therefore he could not be sure of it And a child may comfort himself in hopes of his Fathers estate though he know not but his Father may disinherit him And if any reply that Adam might be taken up with the happiness of his present condition and so not need to look forward for comfort as Believers are fain to do and that Adam had not so much cause to suspect his condition as a believer hath I add a Merchant rejoyceth much in expectation of his Ship coming home richly laden yet he knowes it is subject to great hazards at sea and I desire this may be diligently heeded Faith of recumbency as it is commonly called is the most proper and most noble act of faith though I am farr from thinking that the conclusion is not de fide where both the premises are not so so that assurance is not faith v. Daille la foi fondee c. partie 1. c. 12. For as Christ said to Thomas Joh. 20.29 Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed blessed are they who though they are not assured either by any mediate or immediate testimony of the Spirit yet dare rely strongly strongly strongly as an eminent dying Saint once said upon the Promise of Jesus Christ that he will in no wise cast out those that come to him for as those are commanded to rejoyce that seek the Lord Psa 105.3 though they have not yet found him because he hath not said to any in vain seek ye my face so may those rejoyce that thus cast themselves upon Jesus Christ though he have not yet said to them I am thy Salvation Psal 35.3 and he takes pleasure in those who so hope in his mercy Psal 147.11 Sixthly By Faith we receive strength from Jesus Christ for bearing of affliction I have shewed before how we have Union and Communion with Jesus Christ and through him we are able to do all things Phil. 4.13 he speaks not there of active obedience only as a learned man hath observed Hales Romains 125. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is as much as vales or possum which is as well to suffer as to do and it is clear from the context that he speaks there chiefly of suffering Colos 1.11 There is a gradation strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience with long-suffering and joyfulness The power of God doth not only strengthen us to patience but to all patience we may have patience in some afflictions not in others those may bear losses perhaps that cannot bear affronts or disgrace and not only to patience but long-suffering this respects the length of our sufferings as the other did the weight of theâ— Some can endure a sharp brunt but tire under a long affliction But he goeth further to joyfulness those may endure an heavy affliction and endure it long too which yet go drooping and heavily under it but by Faith in the power of Christ we may bear long and heavy afflictions with joy Thus we are more than conquerors through him that loved us Rom. 8.37 we conquer afflictions when they do not conquer us but we are more than conquerors when we can rejoyce in them Lastly Faith looks to the recompence of reward as I before shewed the efficacy of it in this respect to overcome temptations so we shall now see how effectual it is to enable us to bear afflictions Though our outward man perish our inward man is renewed day by day saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.16 Afflictions did abound yet they gained spirituall strength to go on more cheerfully instead of fainting or drawing back and the reason hereof was they looked not on the things which were seen but on the things which were not seen vers 18. which is the work of faith Heb. 11.1 As Columbus when he first went to discover America ventured a tedious and long voyage over the main Ocean upon this confidence that he should there discover another part of the world which had formerly been unknown to us when the Spaniards that went with him were ready to mutiny because they had not so much judgment as to be perswaded of any such fruit of their travel Or as Moses had much adoe to get an unbelieving multitude along with him through the wildernesse but they were oft murmuring rebelling turning back in their hearts unto Egypt So have I seen those who have been unequally yoaked and have had some heavy burden of affliction lying on them the one hath born it cheerfully and comfortably the other hath been an hindrance and no help continually murmuring and complaining In such cases the vertue of faith doth most evidently appear and though there are not many amongst us where the Gospel is preached such infidels as to deny the Recompense of reward yet it is only the exercise of a true and lively Faith which can lift up the soul under affliction that being the very substance of the thing hoped for and the evidence of things not seen For a Conclusion of the whole matter let me borrow the words of a learned man Dr. Arrowsmith Tact. Sacr. l. 2. c. 7. s 13. O quanâ—â—â—â— memorem fides virtutum nobilissima c. How shall I make mention of thee O Faith the most noble of all Vertues What shall I say of thee Thou art the Hinge on which the Gate of heaven turns the Bucket by which we draw the water of life the Wedding Ring whereby the Soul is married to Jesus Christ the Receptacle of the Bloud of Christ the only Condition of the New Covenant and the chief part of the New Creature they that by thee attain to a recumbency are safe they that attain to assurance are joyful Thou art the Eye the Hand the Mouth yea the All of our Souls Yea I may add Faith is in Grace as the Philosophers Stone in Nature as a Catholicon or vniversal soveraign remedy for all diseases It is in the Soul as the Lungs in the Body the Instrument of breathing whereby Vitalis spiritus as Fernelius saith tanquam patulo alitur fovetur we are continually thereby taking in and giving out Either receiving from Jesus Christ or laying out for him Wherefore with all our getting as the Wiseman saith of Wisdome Prov. 4.7 let us get Faith and pray that God will fulfil the work of Faith with power in us 2 Thes 1.11 When Christ teaches his Disciples the exercise of Love they pray for the encrease of Faith Luk. 17.5 Whatever we are called to in this World let us pray Lord encrease our Faith hereby we shall be able to perform our Duties to exercise our Graces to overcome our Temptations to bear our Afflictions to hold up in Desertions yea all things are possible to him that believeth Mark 9.23 Search and examine your selves whether you be in the Faith or no 2 Cor. 13.5 No Faith no Life and be diligent in the use of all means for the strengthening
of Faith attend Ordinances treasure up Experiences consult the experiences of others be diligent in secret duties take heed of an evill heart of unbelief Heb. 3.12 This work is to be followed well for we are slow of heart to believe Satan is a great enemy to Faith and there are not in us the seeds of Faith as of obedience Sibbs Souls Conflict Especially let us be diligent in the use and exercise of Faith I have shewed the use of it in actu signato but let us learn the use of it in our dayly practice David in his greatest grief 2 Sam. 1.18 took care to have the Children of Israel taught the use of the Bow it is not having good weapons in the War that will do us any good without the use thereof and Faith in the habit not exercised is but as the Sword in the Scabbard Bellarmine De ascension in Deum propè finem The Apostles had Faith Luk. 8.25 but they had it to seek when they should use it and so were at present as if they had none as he that hath much and doth not enjoy it is as if he possessed it not Whatsoever condition you are in or whatever you are about stir up Faith for it hath some work to do therein Every thing is beautiful in its season Eccles 3.11 and this is the season of Faith as Christ said of the poor Joh. 12.8 I may say of some other Graces we shall alwaies have use for them in heaven not of Faith here we live by Faith there by sight FINIS A DISCOURSE OF Right Judgement on JOHN 7.24 Judge not according to the appearance but judge righteous judgement OUr blessed Saviour having healed a man on the Sabbath-day the Jewes were so enraged thereby that they thought to kill him John 5.16 And here he makes his defence shewing how unjustly and partially they dealt with him They do not stick to do those things on the Sabbath day which Moses commanded he having given them the command of Circumcision Levit. 12.3 though he was not the first Institutor of it and if it happened that the Sabbath day was the eighth day after the birth of the childe they circumcised it on that day which would have been a prophanation of the sabbath Mat. 12.3 had not Moses given such a command concerning it Hereupon our Saviour concludes his Apology with a wise and holy admonition which might be of use to them in the whole course of their lives and that was to judg righteous judgment and to that end he warns them of one thing that doth most ordinarily pervert the judgement and that is judging according to appearance or the face and outward shew of things And herein Christ may have respect either to his person or to his action if to his person then it is as if he had said You think the authority of Moses sufficient to dispense with the duties of the Sabbath and never scruple any thing that he enjoynes because you think God spake to him John 9.28 29. but if you would make an impartiall judgement and not suffer your selves to be deceived with the externall apearance of things you might know that though I come in the forme of a servant and not of a King as Moses did Deuter. 33.5 yet I have as sufficient authority from God for what I do as Moses had John 5.36 yea I have the testimony of Moses himself John 5.46 compared with Deut. 18.15 If it have respect to Christs action then his Argument is thus You passe sentence upon actions according to the appearance and first view of them without examining the grounds of them or considerings in what cases the command of God are dispensible when you see according to the command of Moses some things were done on the Sabbath-day which had not been lawfull but for such a particular command concerning them and you do not observe how commands that are but Ritual and of positive right may yield to works of justice and mercy else you would not have condemned the innocent Mat. 12.7 For the right understanding of the words of the Text we must know that both the Verb and the Nown verbal which are ordinarily joyned together in Scripture besides many tropical and improper acceptions which they have are for the most part taken either more largely for an act of the minde whereby we discern or determine of any thing as in those places Luke 12.57 Why of your selves judg ye not what is right Acts 4.19 Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye 1 Cor. 10.15 I speak as to wise men judge ye what I say The sence of the words in these places is obvious to every one that reads them Or else it is taken more strictly for judging evil or condemning as Mat. 7.1 2. both these significations of the word we have in that elegant Antanaclasis of the Apostle Rom. 14.13 Let us not judge one another but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way that is let us not condemn one another but rather determine this in our own mindes c. here it is evident that our Saviour understands it in the more large and proper sence Now this judgement is either a private judgement of discretion which belongs to every man in this respect thoughts are free so men think aright or else a more publick judgement of Authority which belongs only to those who are appointed thereto of this distinction see Aquin. 12 ◠q. 93. art 2. 3 m. This command of judging righteously was first given in respect to this latter judgement of Authority Deut. 1.16 but it is here by our Saviour applied to the former judgement of discretion it being necessary indeed in all cases that men should judge righteous judgement that is according to truth Rom. 2.2 as the thing is as the matter requires The judgment is the guide of our lives and all our actions and affections are regulated thereby Matth. 6.22 23. The eye enlightens the whole man as a candle doth a room And as the rest of the members would not do their work aright were it not for the eye that guides them so neither can man do any thing aright unless he be guided by a right judgment which will make all that proceeds from him to be full of light as with the light of a candle Luke 11.36 See Mr. Perkins on the former place and on this latter Erasmus Maldonate and Dr. Hammond The will indeed sits as Queen regent in the soul and the chief executive power belongs thereto but as the King doth what he doth with the advice of his Councel so the will followes the directions of the understanding and when the will seems to be refractory refusing to follow the guidance of the judgement it is because the judgement doth not represent to the will the object which it should chuse as omni
23. 1 Cor. 12.12 Now if any ask me what this Union is I must tell them I know not Christianus ad multa respondere potest Ignoro saith Austin If I should say it is a mystical union I do in effect say it is such an Union as I do not understand Eph. 5.32 yet as they say we may know God per viam remotionis vel negationis per viam causalitatis So I may tell you what this Union is not and what the effects of it are 1. It is not an essential Union as some have boldly affirmed for this would infer an equality of power holiness wisdom c. that is make the creature not only perfect in holiness but omnipotent omniscient the infiniteness and perfection of all excellencies being of the Essence of the Godhead And for that place John 17.21 it is forced to serve two Hypotheses Some thence deny the Deity of Christ because it is but such an Union that is between the Father and the Son as is betwixt Christ and believers Others would thence infer an essential Union betwixt Christ and Believers because it is such an Union as is betwixt the Father and the Son But the place will serve neither of their purposes signifying as Matt. 5.48 only some kinde of similitude no equality as Glassius hath fully proved Gram. sacr 501. c. 2. This Union is not a personal Union as some strangely speak see W. Dell. on Gal. 2.20 The whole process of the last Judgment as set down Matth. 25.31 c. fully proves that Christ and Believers remain distinct persons and that place Gal. 2.20 is not to be understood literally for then there were a plain contradiction in it But Christ is said to live in us because he makes us live as will appear by comparing Rom. 8.15 with Galat. 4.6 in one place the spirit is said to cry in another place to make us cry Nos clamamus sed ille clamaredictus est qui facit ut nos clamemus saith Austin de correp Grat. c. 15. And the Apostle speaks in that place as in 1 Cor. 15.10 but as one afraid of seeming to assume to himself and derogate from the Grace of Jesus Christ 3. It is not a corporeal Union as the Papists would prove from John 6.56 that place is interpreted literally only to serve their hypothesis of transubstantiation 4. It is not a meer Union of affections such as was in the primitive Christians Acts 4.32 or in the ten Kings Rev. 17.13 though there is such an union of affections 1 Cor. 6.17 Phil. 2.5 yet this is but the effect of a nearer Union which though we fully understand not its nature is set forth to us by several similitudes as of a vine and its branches John 15.1 c. Of an head and members 1 Cor. 12.11 Of an husband and wife Eph. 5.32 all which shew the effects of this union denoting the influence of divine power and vertue which believers have from Jesus Christ the sympathy that he hath with them their subjection to his guidance and direction the protection which they have and freedome from the Law by Jesus Christ as a woman under the covert of her husband But of these things in their place I now come to shew how this Union is made up by Faith which I prove First from 2 Cor. 13.5 where being in the Faith and Christ being in them are made indifferently a proof of Christ speaking in the Apostles Of the sense and contexture of that place See the Animadversions of Sr. Norton Knatchbull 2. Christ dwells in the heart by faith Ephes 3.17 he stands and knocks and Faith is the opening to him Rev. 3.20 when Lydia believed her heart was opened 3. By Faith we are espoused to Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 11.2 As the marriage Union is made by the consent of both parties so is this Union betwixt Christ and the soul Christ hath given his consent by the offer and promise of the Gospel and the soul consents when by faith it accepts this offer and layes hold on this Promise 4. By faith we are made the sons of God John 1.12 Gal. 3.26 and consequently Partakers of the spirit Gal. 4.6 Some indeed speak of an Union betwixt Christ and the elect before Faith by his Incarnation which they call a legal Union or a stipulatory Union such as is betwixt a Debtor and his Surety which they make necessary to his satisfaction since as they say unitas praestantis est fundamentum proprietatis ad officium praestitum others again load this with dreadfull consequences making it the foundation of Antinomianisme the ruine of Christian Religion leaving no room for Remission of sinnes I dare not peremptorily define in such a case yet it seems to me at present that there must be some relation betwixt Christ his elect whereby his satisfaction becomes available for them whereby he may obtain for them spiritual blessings wherwith they are blest in him Eph. 1.3 amongst which faith is to be certainly reckoned But the forementioned consequences of the former Doctrine as understood by them that maintain it I cannot so clearly apprehend If we have recourse to the civil Law for the proof of them which tells us that every obligation is taken away by the payment of the debt that tells us also that vicarius paena corporalis cannot properly pay the debt for in such a case that holds dum alius solvit aliud etiam solvitur And if it be said it is the same in sensâ— civili though not in sensu physico I answer in strictness noxa sequitur caput and aliud pro alio invito creditori solvi non potest Myn singer in lib. 3. Institut Tit. 30. so that God did in dispensing with the person uti suo jure and by an act of supream Dominion substitute Christ in our stead wherefore it was free for him to appoint himself upon what termes the Obligation should be taken away and here was room enough left for Remission I will but refer to Grotius de satisfac c. 6. where he sets down what the true notion of remission is and shews that there is properly Remission where an act of the rector or Creditor doth intervene to make a solution valid antecedently to which act such a solution may be admitted or refused and that such an act doth here intervene is evident which seems to be a dispensation unless we will understand interpretation in as large a sense as Suarez l. 6. de legibus cap. 1. S. 3. And further Grotius doth in the same place yield that solution ejusdem doth not ipso facto liberare unless it be with this intention ut reus liberetur So that whatever Christ paid it might be that the sinner might be freed at such a time or on such termes as should be agreed on between the Father and the Son Whereas some say what Christ did or suffer'd was as a Mediator this will not prove that he was
not sponsor the same person may be Mediator and Surety as the learned Parker hath proved by the examples of Judah Gen. 43.8 9. and Paul Philem. 9.18 de descensu lib. 3. Sec. 95. We should as carefully avoid Socinianism in this case as Antinomianism Aquinas p. 3. quaest 49. Art 1. c. goeth as far as any man for he saith plainly that the Redemption of Christ becomes available to the Remission of our sinnes as he is our head and we his members as the hand may do something to satisfie for the fault which hath been committed by the foot because actiones sunt suppositorum I have sometime wondered how this place of Aquinas escaped Mr. Wottons censure de Reconciliatione P. 1. l. 2. cap. 10. N. 3. cap. 16. N. 9. where he cites it considering how he disputes P. 2. L. 1. C. 16. c. But to leave this digression Whatever the Relation was betwixt Christ and his Elect as the foundation of his Satisfaction yet that which according to Scripture may most properly be called our Union with him is not before we believe when we become actual partakers of the benefits of his death as will more fully appear in the following Chapter CHAP. III. We are justified by Faith not before faith Why such as are justified are afflicted and their happiness deferred How faith justifies How imputed for righteousness Sanctification our formal happiness The fruit of the spirit received by faith yet in the Ordinances John 7 38 39. Hos 14.6 Psal 92.13 expounded HAving thus laid the foundation I will now proceed to shew you what Communion a Believer hath with Jesus Christ by vertue of this Union and First They partake of the Righteousness of Christ and so are freed from the sentence of death which before they lay under The Scripture abounds with the proof of this Acts 10.43 cap. 13.39 and whatever attempts have been made upon these places to disable them for the proof of Justification by Faith yet that place of the Apostle Galat. 2.16 is beyond all exception Knowing saith he that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ they believed to the end they might be justified now the end is not before the means unless in intention As for those who have so earnestly contended for Justification before Faith they seem to do it out of a good intent lest we should derogate from the Merit of Christ the justice of God or the comfort of the Saints But they are afraid where no fear is for yielding the certainty of Gods Election and the efficacy of Christs death whereby the Salvation of the Elect becomes sure in it self certitudine objectivâ yea supposing the greatest redundancy of merit in the sufferings of Christ all this doth not amount to justification And I would desire those who labour so earnestly in this business to consider these few things 1. The Elect are kept long out of heaven after the satisfaction made by Jesus Christ 2. They lie under many evils while they are in this world these things sense will not suffer us to deny 3. It is equally injust to inflict upon any what is not due to them and to detain from them what is their due and whether is it harder to say that we are not justified till we believe notwithstanding the satisfaction which Christ hath made for us or that we are justified and yet left under the power of Satan the curse of the Law dead in trespasses and sinnes wherefore they take not a right course to vindicate the justice of God but the matter seems to be thus whatever the purpose of God towards sinners hath been and whatever intrinsick value may be in the obedience of Jesus Christ yet his merit was not absolute but founded upon an act of Grace God condescending to accept of the satisfaction of our Surety where he might have required the Debt of us wherefore it was free for him to appoint upon what termes and at what time these for whom Christ died should be made partakers of the benefit of his death and under what discipline they should be exercised till they partake thereof especially seeing the condition he requires of them derogates nothing from his Grace being his own gift having such an aptitude in it self for that to which it is appointed and not contributing the least mite to the satisfaction for our sin and when the deferring of our happiness and the afflictions we suffer in the mean time are both for our advantage and work together for our good Rom. 8.28 2 Cor. 4.17 For the Question about the interest of Faith in our justification whether it justifie as an instrument or as a condition I think it deserves not half the words that have been used about it they are both of them School-termes and not found in the Scripture and should not therefore disturb the peace of the Church especially seeing both parties at variance are agreed in the thing but not in the formal notion under which they do conceive of it and I think both sides are so far agreed that Faith may be called an instrument allowing much impropriety of speech and that it may be called a condition while we thereby do not suppose any such thing as merit As guilt doth immediately result from the act of sin by vertue of the threatning so doth righteousness from faith by vertue of the promise as the Law is the strength of sin whereby it bindes over the sinner to punishment 1 Cor. 15.56 So the Gospel is the strength of faith by vertue of which the sinner is acquitted Yet I would not be understood as if I ascribed the same causality to faith in justification as to sin in condemnation And where Faith is said to be counted or imputed for righteousness we need not thereby understand that we are justified for our faith or that it is the matter of our justification but our faith is reckoned or imputed to us that is God doth reckon us believers and deal with us as such that is justifie us according to his own gracious appointment in the Gospel For so that is said to be imputed to us which is really inherent in us as sin is said to be imputed to a person when he is reckoned or accounted a sinner and dealt with as a sinner 2 Sam. 19.19 But now our justification is but in order to our sanctification for hereby we live to God and converse with him This is our formal happiness I mean Sanctification taken passively and in actu secundo and according to the degree thereof is the degree of our happiness When we shall know God perfectly we shall love him perfectly and then our joy and happiness shall be perfected And if we could suppose a man to be justified and not sanctified it would be but as if a man should have his debt
paid and be left in prison It s true such an one might be exempted from the punishment of sense and so in as good a condition as a beast but it would not exempt him from the punishment of losse Justification qualifies us for heaven morally but Sanctification naturally A fool may have a right to an estate if he be lawfully begotten but he cannot enjoy it without the use of reason So if we should be supposed to have a right to happiness by justification we could not enjoy it without sanctification Therefore they speak ignorantly who so much cry up Justification and speak so slightly of Sanctification Christ blesseth us in turning us away from our iniquities Acts 3.26 Now the Author hereof is the Holy Ghost who is the quickening Spirit Joh. 6.63 the spirit of life Rom. 8.2 in him we live and move spiritually As he divides his gifts to every one as he pleaseth so likewise his graces they are his fruits Galat. 5.22 the constant being of our Graces depending upon his perpetual in dwelling John 14.16 the liveliness thereof and our comfort on his arbitrary influence which he gives out or withholds at his pleasure Psal 51.11 This is as the dew Hos 14.5 which descends insensibly John 14.17 the dew sweetly refreshes Prov. 19.12 so doth the Spirit John 14.16 the dew makes fruitfull Gen. 27.39 so the Spirit makes us grow as the Liâ—ies for fruitfulness fragrancy beauty like the Cedars for duration and firm rooting which quantum vertico ad auras aetherias tantum radice ad tartara tendunt vide Rivet in locum Now it is by Faith that we receive the Spirit John 7.38 39. it is by the Spirit indeed that we are inabled to believe Faiâ—h being reckoned among the fruits of it Gal. 5.22 but then we receive greater measures of the spirit by faith Put water into a pump and you may bring up more while there is any in the well So let the Spirit be put within us whereby we may believe Ezek. 36.27 and Faith will continually draw further degrees from the fountain It is as the attractive power or magnetical vertue in plants whereby they suck juice and moisture from the root which makes them thrive and prosper And for the more full clearing hereof I will shew you how Faith doth improve all those Ordinances which are the breasts of consolation from whence the chiâ—dren of God do suck and are satisfied with the blessings of the Gospel Isa 66.11 Those that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God Psal 92.13 It is in the Church that the Ordinances of God are dispensed Neither yet do all flourish that are there but such as are planted there You may see many dead sticks and boughs in a Garden which are only for the support and defence of some choice plants or flowers so there are many amongst believers that make the same common profession with them which are but for their defence and security If there were none that professed Religion but such as are found and sincere believers how soon would they become a prey to Adversaries But they are those that are planted or ingrafted that bear fruit John 15.4 Now there are three Ordinances whereby a Christians spiritual life is maintained and which do all become effectual thereto by faith and these are Prayer hearing the Word and the Lords Supper Indeed though Baptisme is ordinarily administred when persons are not capable of exercising Faith yet there is some use to be made of it But I shall not treat distinctly of it here but leave the Reader to infer by proportion from what is said of the Lords Supper how it is to be improved there being much said about it in a few words in the larger Catechisme of the late Assembly and there being a Treatise written of it by Master Simon Ford. CHAP. IV. The use of Prayer though we pray by the Spirit yet we are to pray for the Spirit Mat. 7.11 and Luk. 11.13 compared an unbeleever cannot pray acceptably nor in the name of Christ yet is not therefore discharged of his duty by faith we pray with reverence boldness importunity Mat. 15.22 c. explained by Faith we wait for a return of Prayer helps to Faith in Prayer Psa 9.10 2 Pet. 1.4 Isa 30.18 illustrated what Faith is required in Prayer or what it is to pray in Faith Jam. 1.6 c. opened the ends of Prayer PRayer is as the Merchants Ship it fetches in all a Christians store even temporal blessings if they be really blessings are brought in by Prayer indeed sometimes men have them without asking but they had better aske them without having for it is by Prayer that they are sanctified to us 1 Tim. 4.5 And we are to pray not that we may incline God to give but because he is enclined and hath promised to give 2 Sam. 7.27 And though we pray by the Spirit Rom. 8.15 27. yet we must pray also for the Spirit Luk. 11.13 He is given to us as a Spirit of Supplication and thereby we obtain him to work effectually in us to all those ends and purposes for which Christ sent him into the World to be Vicarius Domini as Tertullian calls him De velandis virgin Cap. 1. To supply his absence while he is gone to appear in heaven for us The words of Christ are variously related by Luke and Matthew Luke relates them How much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that aske him Matthew How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that aske him Mat. 7.11 Of the Evangelists citing the words of our Saviour we may make the same judgment which was made Chap. 1. of the Apostles citing the words of the Prophets If the words of Christ were as they are related by Matthew then Luke makes a particular inference from a general or at least from an indefinite promise If God will give good things to those that ask him surely he will give his Spirit else we may say as Abraham Gen. 15.2 Lord God what wilt thou give me Nothing can be good to us without the Spirit if those which Luke sets down were Christs words then Matthew doth make the Spirit to be all good things in effect the promise of the Spirit being the great Promise under the Gospel as the Promise of the Messiah was under the Law and the Spirit being all in all in respect of Application as Christ is all in all in respect of impetration Col. 3.11 Or else he doth from the promise of the Spirit infer That God would give all good things as Christ argues Mat. 6.33 and the Apostle Rom. 8.32 He that gives the greater will not deny the less Now we can do nothing in Prayer without Faith which must qualifie us for it both habitually and actually First Habitually for without Faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 It must
be the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man that availes Jam. 5.16 for such a man only can pray in the name of Christ If a man should come to desire a favour of you in the name or for the sake of such a friend whom you much respect and whose name will prevail much with you would you not aske him presently What relation he hath to such a man that he useth his name So many come to God in the name of Jesus Christ And God may say to them and Why in the name of Christ What are you to Christ Or What relation have you to him Or suppose in the former case your friend whose name another makes use of should be near you at such a time and you go to him and aske him if he know that man that makes use of his name and he should tell you he is one that he hath nothing to do with one that hath done him much injury and from whom he never received the least respect or civility What answer might such a Petitioner expect So let us suppose our selves to hear God asking Jesus Christ when an Unbeleever comes to pray in his name if he belong to him or have any thing to do with him and Christ answering That he hath nothing to do with him and is one that despises his authority and contemns his grace and reproacheth his name and makes light of him What can we think it would availe such an one to pray in the name of Christ Yet an Unbeleevers incapacity of praying acceptably doth not give him a discharge from his duty for if wicked men were bound to do nothing but what they can do as they ought they should have no sins of omission but however I should in Thesi say it is the duty of an Unbeliever to pray yet in hypothesi if such an one should come to aske mine advice I would deal with him as with one who hath an erring conscience I would not advise him to do any thing against his conscience or to do his duty persisting in his errour but rather to lay aside his errour by rightly informing his conscience that so he might do that which is lawful in a lawful manner So I would not advise such an one to pray persisting in his unbelief but to believe that so he might pray acceptably It is true God doth somtimes out of the exuperance of his bounty hear wicked men 1 Kings 21.29 2 Kings 13.4 But though he bestows common favours on good and bad yet it is upon the righteous who are so by Faith that he bestows them with a special love Psal 146.8 But Secondly Faith qualifieth us actually for prayer 1. As it disposeth us to an holy awe and reverence of God He that will serve God acceptably must serve him with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12.28 God disdains such services as men would be ashamed to offer to their Prince Mal. 1.8 And it is more tolerable to erre by superstition in the Worship of God than on the other hand by rudeness and prophaneness Now Faith sets the soul as under the eye of God sees him who to sense is invisible Heb. 11.27 It being the evidence of things not seen So that by Faith the soul doth as really apprehend God present as if he were incarnat◠or had assumed an humane shape and there is nothing more effectual to beget in the soul a due reverence of God since the presence of Angels in our Assemblies requires such a decorum in the exercises which we there perform 1 Cor. 11.10 2. By Faith we come boldly to God in prayer though Faith prevent rudeness yet it comes with an holy boldness Ephes 3.12 it is by Faith as the Apostle there shews that we have access with confidence the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there used signifies freedom of speech when a man speaks his whole mind freely when a man can come boldly to God and challenge his Promise urge upon him as Austin saies of his Mother Monica his own hand-writing as David doth Psal 119.49 Remember thy word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope and Psal 143.1 he challenges God in his faithfulness and righteousness to answer him though he dare not deal with God upon terms of strict justice as he shews vers 2. yet he pleads that iustice which is founded upon his mercy and his promise made thereby 3. Faith encourages the soul to perseverance and importunity in Prayer there is an holy impudence to be used in Prayer so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used Luk. 11.8 doth properly import a clear instance of this we have in that woman Mat. 15.22 She comes to Christ and propounds her case to him and at first he gives her no answer Sometimes a Beleever may pray and have no audience Psalm 22.2 yet Christs silence would not make her silent but she cries after him ver 23. It seems the Disciples were weary of her importunity and Austin by comparing this place with Mar. 7.24 observes that she followed Christ from one place to another though he endeavoured to avoid her then Christ doth in effect give her a flat denial signifying to her that she was none of those to whom he was sent for the time of the full calling of the Gentiles was nor yet come So God doth sometimes deny the prayers of his People as he tels them plainly Judg. 10.13 He would deliver them no more yet neither delaies nor denial would beat her off but she still continues her suit then Christ gives her a very rough answer doth in effect call her a dog ver 26. Sometimes God seems to be angry even against the prayer of his People Psal 80.4 The more they pray the more their affliction encreaseth and things seem to grow worse and worse with them but yet she is not discouraged hereby but retorts Christs words upon himself arguing from thence against him If she were a dog yet there was something due to her as a dog the dogs eating of the crumbs which fal◠from their Masters table◠as David seems to retort such an argument upon God Psal 25.11 making that which might seem to make his sin less capable of Pardon an argument to prevail with God for the pardon of them the greater they were the more need he had of pardon and the more glory God would have in the pardon of them this is an excellent point of skill in prayer yea not only in wrestling with God but in wrestling with Satan Now observe Christs answer to this woman O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt Here is first Christs testimony concerning her her faith was great he imputes her importunity and perseverance to her faith 2. Here is Christs grant to her even what she would by which Christ shews how pleasing such importunity is to him and what a grateful violence as Tertullian calls it Apol. c. 39. is thereby offered to him
out of it So while Paul preached the heart of Lydia was opened Acts 16.14 And for this cause the ministration of the Gospel is called the ministration of the spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 Not that the spirit doth accompany the Word allwayes so as to make it effectual it did not so when Christ himself preached John 12.37 nor when Paul preached whom Austine desired so much to hear then some believ'd and some believed not Act. 28.24 but it works in subordination to Gods Election bringing home all such as are ordained to eternal life Act. 13.48 Now by Hearing the Word I mean with Dr. Ames Quaelibet praeceptio sermonum Dei sive praedicatione sive electione sive alia quaecunque ratione communicentur receiving the Word by preaching or reading or any other way Such words of sense signifying any way of perceiving a thing wherefore seeing is applyed to sounds Exod. 20.18 Revel 1.12 The Word of God was wont to be read formerly both publiquely and privately Of the publike reading of it we may see Nehem. 8.3 Acts 13.27 chap. 15.21 they read part of it in the Synagogue every Sabbath day and that they read it privately is plain from our Saviour's appealing so oft to their own reading Have you never read c. Mat. 12.3 5. chap. 19.4 21.16.22.31 and from their searching the Scriptures John 5.39 whether we understand that indicatively affirming what they did or imparatively commanding what they should do they were thereby inabled to judge the better of what they heard Act. 17.11 but this was not enough but they must have an Interpreter that they might understand what they read Act. 8.30 They not only read distinctly in the Law but gave the sense and caused the people to understand it Nehem. 8.7 8. yea they applyed it by exhortation c. Acts 13.15 Luke 4.18 And if it be said However this is necessary that the Scripture should be explained and applyed yet Preaching is not now necessary because we have expositions and Sermons now to read in greater plenty than formerly when there were no books but such as men wrote out I answer Would to God men would read them more and that they would but spend their spare hours therein which they spend idly or sinfully but let not this make us less esteem the hearing of the word preached for though reading may conduce more to the information of the judgment yet Preaching with a lively voice doth more excite the affections and further the successe of the Gospel is according as the Lord gives to every man 1 Cor. 3.5 and experience hath told us with what successe God hath blessed the preaching of the Gospel See the Letter of Archb. Grindall to Queen Elizabeth in Fullers History B. 9 p. 124 125. Though I had rather men should be instructed by the Homilies which were formerly read in the Church than by many mens Sermons And I believe God hath blessed them to the good of soules where there hath been want of able and godly Preachers yet God forbid that these should ever thrust out Preaching where such Preachers are not wanting He that desires to be more fully satisfied concerning these things may peruse Master Hooker's Eccl. Polit. l. 5. S. 21 22. and Mr. Hieron's Preachers Plea where these things are solidly and soberly debated I come now to shew how it is by Faith that the Word becomes effectual to our spiritual life The Apostle Heb. 4.2 tells us that the Word preached did not profit the Israelites because it was not mixed with Faith in them that heard it As to make the seed fruitfull in the earth there is required some moisture whereby it may be as it were incorporated with the earth and receive of the vertue and fatness of it for it will not grow if it lie under a dry and hard clod so Faith is necessary for ingrafting the Word into the soul wherefore it is the power of God to the Salvation of every one which believeth Rom. 1.16 And for the clear proof hereof I shall shew you how variously Faith acteth upon the severall parts of the Word of God There are in the Word 1. some things affirmed and that either Doctrinally or Historically these Faith assents to 2. Some things are commanded these Faith submits to 3. These Commands are enforced by Promises these Faith embraces and relies upon 4. These Commands are also enforced by threatnings these Faith stands in awe of First Faith assents to the truth of whatsoever the Word of God affirmes John 3.33 He that believes sets to his seal that God is true And 1. in the Historicall part of the Word particularly concerning the Creation it is said Heb. 11. by Faith we believe that the worlds were created by the Word of God c. If it be objected That this is a thing may be known and demonstrated by reason and therefore is not an object of Faith I answer First it is not to be taken for granted that the same thing cannot be the object both of Faith and Knowledge vide Baronium de fide Art 4.2 Though the Creation should be demonstrated by reason yet that it was made by the Word of God and that it was not made of things that do appear is the object of Faith as appears by the strange conceits which many of the wisest Philosophers had of it So for the Doctrines of the Scripture as of the Trinity and personal Union of the two Natures of Christ imputed righteousness the Resurrection c. Faith believe with reason against reason as it is said to believe the Promise in hope against hope that is though reason be not able to comprehend how these things should be at least some of them yet that they are we have reason enough to believe because God that cannot lie hath said it and though we know not how they should be God doth and this would be greater arrogancy in us to deny than if some rude ignorant fellow should face down a Mathematician that a starr is no bigger than the palme of his hand or the Sun than his cart-wheel or if there be any Antipodes they must needs go with their heads downward Now the Word is of great use to us in respect of these things which Faith believes The Apostle being to shew the great use and vertue of faith begins with this act of it whereby we believe the Creation of the world supposing that nothing will be too hard for a believers faith seeing as Amyrald in his Paraphrase on the place observes although the things that we believe do not yet appear this hinders not but we may have full assurance of their future existence seeing the same power of God which created the world of nothing may give beeing to whatsoever we believe when it seems good to him and we shall observe that frequently in Scripture God doth support the Faith of his people with this consideration of his creating heaven and earth Isa 40.28 and 51.13 and herewith David
strengthens his confidence Psa 121.2 My help stands in the name of the Lord that hath made heaven and earth as if he had said I will never distrust his power for deliverance or protection who could erect such a stately Fabrick from nothing And there are other historical passages of Scripture also which may be of like use unto us both for encouragement Deut. 8.17 and caution 1 Cor. 10.11 yea and for confirming our Faith in the Messiah John 20.31 that History of the acts and Sermons of Christ being written by John in his old age for the confirming of the Deity of Christ against those which then begun to deny it at the request of the Bishops of Asia which is the reason why he disputes more clearly of the Deity of Christ than any of the other Evangelists and records divers of his miracles which serve for the confirmation thereof that the rest do omit And for those points of Doctrine which Faith assents to and are not otherwise demonstrable by reason they are generally reckoned amongst those Fundamentalls the belief of which is necessary to Salvation But herein the use of Faith in this particular doth further appear when men do not believe such things as these it brings them to flat Atheisme at last for they first question and by degrees deny the Authority of the Scriptures when they see the improbability or rather impossibility as seems to their reason of many things both in the Doctrine and History of it as in Philosophy because some cannot conceive how such a vast body as it is demonstrable that the Sun is should move so many thousand miles in an hour as it is necessary it must if we suppose that it move at all venture rather to deny the received opinion of its motion and entertain that paradox of the motion of the earth Secondly Faith submits to the commands of the Word Heb. 11. we shall finde many eminent acts of Obedience ascribed to Faith as ver 8. By faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went It was an hard tryall for as the Proverb is patriae fumus igne alien◠luculentior the smoak of our own Country is as good as the fire of another and he was to go he knew not whither for God only bade him go into a country that he would shew him Gen. 11.33 So that command which was yet more hard of offering up his son he submitted to by faith ver 17. he was to offer up his son which was against nature yea his only begotten son that is of his wife and the son of the promise in whom his seed was to be called So ver 29. By faith they passed through the red sea when it was very unlikely the unruly surges of it should keep their place while they went so many miles ver 30. By faith they compassed the walls of Jericho seven dayes together with ramms hornes a very ridiculous thing in the eyes of men Now Faith doth thus submit to the commands of God because we are thereby brought into covenant with God and consequently subject our selves to his authority as a wife by taking another to be her husband doth oblige her self to those duties which do immediately result from such a relation and to that subjection which is due from a wife to an husband So by taking God to be our God and Christ to be our husband we are ipso jure obliged to submit to all his commands Deut. 26.17 Jer. 31.32 We are indeed obliged to this subjection before we believe but by faith we own our obligation and do actually and professedly make a recognition thereof So that we may say as Salvian de guberunt Dei lib. 3. Fides est fidelis Deo esse hoc est fideliter Dei mandata servare Faith is to be faithful to God that is faithfully to keep his commands yet I am far from thinking with Socinus Defens 108. that fides in Christum ista opera sunt re ipsa idem and that a faith of such a latitude is the matter of our Justification and holds the same place in the Covenant of Grace which perfect obedience should have done in the Covenant of Works these are not Faith formally but only effectivè true Faith necessarily producing these Vide Stresonis meditat de fide sect 34 c. Secondly Faith receives the Word as the Word of God 1 Thes 2.13 in which place we may observe three things 1. The power of the Word it wrought effectually 2. The persons in whom it had this efficacy they were such as did believe 3. The reason of it they received it not as the word of Man but as the Word of God which implies two things First Their receiving it Qua Verbum Dei or under that notion considered as the Word of God or believing it to be so whether it be strictly and properly the object of Faith that the Scriptures are the Word of God I will not stand here to dispute or determine and how the preaching of men may be received as the Word of God you may see in the fore-mentioned Treatise of Mr. Hieron We are to prove all things that we may hold fast that which is good 1 Thes 5.21 and that we may do so we are to search the Scriptures to see how that which we hear doth accord therewith Act. 17.11 and what is rightly deduced or inferred from the Word is of the same authority with the Scriptures as Daille and Vedelius have sufficiently proved against the new Methodists in France as they are called who by denying this did undertake quite to overthrow the Doctrine of the Protestants whatever the success of such an undertaking would have been their boasts may serve for a caution to those who decry consequences but I hope men are not so zealous now against them as they sometime were else I should before this time have taught that small Treatise of Daille to speak English wherein he useth his wonted candor and clearness Secondly To receive the Word as the Word of God is to receive it as becomes the Word of God that is as the Word of such a God who is so wise so just and faithful so good so holy that all his commands must needs be holy and just and good Rom. 7.12 and so not to be disputed but obeyed for by Faith we believe the nature of God as well as his beeing Now Faith is in this respect of singular use in the whole course of our lives how oft do men stand and dispute the commands of God till they reason themselves out of their duty in things that are against carnal reason and carnal interest things which are of meer positive institution not of any natural moral right but Faith considers not any thing against a Command as it is said Abraham did not against the Promise Rom. 4.19 If Christ bid
Peter cast in his net though he have toiled long in vain he will do it at his command Luk. 5.5 If a Believer should be enjoyned such things as the Prophets were oft enjoyned as Ezek. 4.8 12. unless as some think these things were only represented to them in visions and they were not really to do them see Smith his select discourses of Prophesie he would not stick at them but do all things without murmuring or disputing even such things as are most against interest Heb. 11.8 yea against natural affection Heb. 11.17 Ezek. 24.18 Thirdly Faith doth embrace the Promises that is lay hold on them thankfully accept them Isa 56.6 and relie upon them for the performance of the mercy promised Abraham being strong in the Faith gave glory to God and against humane hope believed in divine hope not regarding any thing which might be objected against the Promise of God Rom. 4.17 c. Let God be true and every man a lyar yea every thing a lyar sense and reason he considered not any thing that they could plead against a Promise How happy might a Christian be if he could live by faith in this particular Trusting God upon his bare word when there is nothing else to vouch him when we have neither sence nor reason to second our Faith But the Promises have a more peculiar influence into our spiritual life by them we are made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 that is are made godly like to God in holy dispositions and inclinations and the Promises conduce hereto both morally and as I may speak instrumentally There are Promises to Grace these promote it as we are thereby encouraged to the exercise of Grace 1 Cor. 15.58 and to press on to the perfection of Grace 2 Cor. 7.1 For supernatural habits are strengthened and confirmed by exercise and renewed acts though we should say they are not acquired thereby But there are Promises of Grace Whether the Promises of the first Grace be mad to or may be pleaded by any particular persons or whether they may be made only to the Church in general as the Promises in the Old Testament concerning the calling of the Gentiles I shall not take upon me to define But certainly there are Promises of following Grace to be pleaded by particular persons in Prayer as was shewed in the foregoing Chapter and this pleading of Promises in Prayer is as M. Dod would say like putting of bonds in suite Thus the Promises are means or instruments for conveying of Grace to us Fourthly There are Threatnings in the Word of God and these Faith makes the soul stand in awe of Psal 119.161 Certainly Davids heart stood in awe of the Word of God because he believed it as the Ninevites took warning at the preaching of Jonah and proclaimed a fast because they believed God Jonah 3.5 But the clearest proof hereof is Heb. 11.7 by Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Arke to the saving of his house In these words we have the faith of Noah commended from the warning he took at the threatning of God concerning the universal deluge which was to come upon the World he believing this threatning his fear put him upon the use of such means as might prevent the evill which he feared the best use of that passion and most that it is good for and we see the issue of it he saved himself and his house like a prudent man he foresaw the evill and hid himself Prov. 22.3 Now let us see the power of Noahs faith in this and how much reason he had to object against what he did First He was warned of things which did not appear that which was threatned was yet many years to come so that he might very probably die before that time and be past need of an Arke and what he was commanded was such an unlikely thing to be performed that it was enough to discourage his attempt he was to take two of all Creatures but such as lived in the water and seven of such as were clean beasts and food for all these it was seven months after the flood began ere the tops of the Mountains were seen and it is likely long after that before the earth brought forth food fit for them and it must be an huge Vessel to hold so many Creatures and food for them for so long a time And when he had made the Ark how should he get these Creatures together Or how should he rule them when he had them together And he might think that the undertaking of such a work would expose him to the scorn of others and if he let it alone he might escape as well as others yea better perhaps for having warning he might remove his habitation near some high mountain before the flood came but all these objections notwithstanding he went on with his work and we see what was the issue of it Oh how would men tremble at the Word of God if they did certainly believe the threatnings of it And what is it that hardens men in their wickedness but such carnal reasonings as Noah had in store to have brought out against the warning of God Tell men of the judgement to come enough to make an heathen tremble Act. 24.25 when he was a Judge on the Bench and his Preacher a Prisoner at the Bar Tell them of that horrour which will so amaze men at the last day as to make them call for the rocks to cover them or the mountains to fall on them Rev. 6.16 they either say with the Prophets hearers Ezek. 12.27 The Vision is for many daies to come and he prophesies of times afar off He tells us of things to come a long while hence and it will be time enough to prepare for them afterwards or else they say with those Deut. 29.19 they shall have peace though they walk in the imagination of their own heart or they shall escape as well as others or they shall be heard at the last day for their importunity for so shall many seek to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Luk. 13.24 c. or if they should set upon the work of repentance they must leave their old waies and their old company and so expose themselves to their scorns these are such reasonings as Faith in Noah overcame and it might be well for godly men to improve the threatning of the Word more to the restraining of their corrupt lusts and affections How should such places as Rom. 8.13 be as the Sword which the Angel held before Balaam when he followed the wages of unrighteousness Numb 22.23 If any shall to that place object that believers cannot die I am sure that place will prove then that believers cannot live after the flesh and that if we live after the flesh we are no believers it proves the connexion betwixt the means and the end betwixt dying and living after the flesh and let
the preheminence thereof above them But to come to the particular parts of this armour As First Truth if we take it with reference to the mind or judgment and thereby understand soundness of Doctrine which indeed is necessary for keeping together the rest of our spiritual armour this is evidently a fruit of Faith as appears by what hath before been spoken of Faiths assent to the Doctrine of the Gospel and the Apostle Acts 24.14 shews why he kept close to the Truth though it was branded with the name of Heresie and particularly to the Doctrine of the Resurrection which was accounted such a Paradox by the Philosophers of Athens Act. 17.18 He believed God with an implicite faith in whatsoever was written in the Scriptures Or if we take Truth as it respects the heart or for sincerity which indeed adds worth to all other Graces they being as Diamonds exceeding precious if true good for little if false and this is the fruit of Faith as Faith purifies the heart and as by faith we set God before us Heb. 11.27 there being no greater motive to sincerity than a sence of the presence of God Gen. 17.1 So for Righteousness if we understand it of the imputed righteousness of Christ for Justification this is a Brest-plate â—ensing the heart and conscience against the darts of Satan Rom. 8.33 though we have many wounds in other parts of the body if the heart be found we may recover but a stab there kills So if the conscience be untouched we may be able to sustain other infirmities Prov. 18.14 And this I have before proved to be the fruit of Faith and shewed how Faith improves it in urging the Promises if we hereby understand inherent righteousness this is also a Brest-plate Ps 25.20 Pro. 13.6 2 Cor. 1.12 Nil conscire sibi c. is as a brazen wall to a man Hor. Epist So Job cap. 31. having made a large profession of his own integrity ver 35. faith if his Adversary should write a book against him he would bind it to him as a Crown and he would go boldly to him and not be afraid to declare to him the number of his steps that is to give him a particular account of his whole life And this I have also proved to be a fruit of Faith And whatever is meant by the shoes of the preparation of the Gospel if it be such furniture as the Gospel prepares this is of no use to us without Faith as I have before shewed Chap. 5. where I have also said enough to prove that it is by Faith that we weild the Sword of the Spirit which our Saviour made so much use of in his encounter with Satan Mat. 4. That by the Helmet of Salvation is meant hope is plain from 1 Thes 5.8 and whether it be called an Helmet because it chiefly preserves the head securing us against errour as one thinks Templer on Jude 3. p. 11. Or take it in a larger sence I have before shewed that Hope necessarily supposes Faith the work of Hope being to expect the accomplishment of the Promise which Faith believes And Prayer which the Apostle commends as a general means for the use of our spiritual armour cannot be rightly performed without Faith so that our spirituall combate may well be called The fight of Faith 1 Tim. 6.12 seeing it is by Faith that it is wholly managed CHAP. X. The evil effects of sore afflictions where Faith doth not help to bear them Faith looks to the Author cause ends of affliction Good thoughts of God a great help to bear affliction Three ends thereof Deut. 8.16 Why outward troubles are oft accompanied with inward Faith sees all in God in affliction Assurance not necessary to comfort Believers more then Conquerours in affliction Col. 1.11 opened Recumbency the most noble Act of Faith The advantage of Believers above others in affliction The Conclusion ALthough afflictions are in a proper sence called temptations yet it will be requisite to consider them by themselves and to shew the use of Faith therein both for bearing them and improving them Afflictions if they be sore and heavy are as I have beforesaid a shadow of death by reason whereof a Christian is many times ready to faint Heb. 12.5 yea to charge God foolishly as if he would at last cast us off 1 Sam. 27.1 yea as if he had already cast us off Psal 31.32 Isa 49.14 yea as if he took pleasure or it did him good to grieve and afflict his own children Job 10.3 and which is more sad when they press hard our feet are ready somtimes to slip we almost repent of our repentance and think we have cleansed our hearts in vain Psal 73.2 13. So that God is fain to take off his rod lest we should be tempted to put forth our hand to iniquity Psal 125.3 But though we be as dying yet by Faith behold we live 2 Cor. 6.9 First Faith looks to the Author of our affliction seeth the invisible hand which inflicts and moderates them Heb. 11.27 while Sence looks only at the Instrument thereof Now this doth much quiet the soul under affliction as Eli said 1 Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good And Job though the Chaldeans and Sabeans had spoyled him and taken away his goods ascribes it to God as the righteous permitter and wise orderer of it Job 1.21 When Attila King of the Hunns came into France Lupus Bishop of Troyes met him and asked him who he was that so spoyled and made such devastations in the earth He answered Dei se esse flagellum He was the Scourge of God Whereupon Lupus commanded the City Gates to be opened to him and welcomed him with these words Fauste ingrediatur flagellum Dei Magdeburg Cent. 5. cap. 10. While the rod is in Gods hand there is no danger he is a wise God and cannot be overseen a strong mighty God who can rule the rod in his own hand Isa 10.15 A righteous God and can do us no wrong Jer. 12.1 and will not give man advantage against him so as to enter in o judgement with him Job 34.22 He is a good God who doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Lam. 3.33 and so will be sure to lay on no more than need requires 1 Pet. 1.6 Secondly Faith looks to the cause of our affliction Sence is ready to quarrel with God as if he took pleasure to afflict Job 10.3 as if he took us for his enemies and set us up for his mark to spend all the Arrows of his displeasure upon us Job 13.24 Chap. 16.12 but by Faith we may see through these clouds Isa 8.17 and stay our selves on God though we walk in darkness and see no light Isa 50.10 Job when he had recovered himself and had found his faith would not let his hold go of God though he should kill him Job 13.15 Yea Faith can see love and
modo bonum as Camero speaks not as good or best in every respect but though it do in thesi judge this or that to be best in general yet pro hic nunc as we say at this time and as the case stands it may judge the contrary more elegible as a Drunkard may judge temperance to be better than excess but having an opportunity to satisfie his appetite and a strong desire thereto and thinking for this once he may take liberty so to do and easily obtain the pardon of it he thinks it best at present to be drunk Or else the minde is as a Master that is much from home or is careless and negligent and doth not look to his servants to keep every one to his task and so they grow idle and dissolute In like manner do the inferiour faculties usurp authority when the understanding doth not clearly and actually represent things to the will whence it comes to passe that there are as well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lusts or wills of the flesh as of the minde Eph. 2.3 see Amyrald de lib. arbitr 110. As it is not every feeble wish or faint velleity of the will that can command the appetites but an earnest and resolute purpose thereof tantum quisque potest quantum seriò vehementer vult Camero 243. see Aug Confess l. 8. c. 9. and Mestrezat in Heb. vol. 2. 134. So it is not any habitual knowledg of the minde which indeed the Platonists would not account knowledg nor the weak and faint rayes thereof that can determine the will but the express clear actual dictates of it But for the more distinct and full handling of this matter I shall shew particularly wherein we are to judge righteous judgment for though Christ here speak either concerning his person or actions yet we may extend it further and it is necessary in respect of 1. Opinions 2. Actions 3. Persons 4. Things In all which respects I shall shew you how necessary a right judgement is and how we may make such a judgment First We must judg aright of Opinions or Doctrines Every Christian hath a judgement of discretion allowed him and as we are not to act ecstatically like the Energumeni which were acted of the devil but upon rational grounds knowing why we do what we do So neither must we believe irrationally but must judge for our selves It is not enough for us to follow the judgment of others for if the leader be blinde not only himself but he that follows him shall fall into the ditch Mat. 15.14 wherefore we had need have our spiritual senses exercised to discern good and evil Hebr. 5.14 A Christian indeed is not bound to determine every question that is disputed in the Schooles there are many hundred questions I believe in Aquinas and Scotus which many good Christians never heard of But yet it is necessary that all fundamental truths should be believed with an explicite faith and next to necessary that a Christian be able to make a right judgement of other Doctrines that are not fundamental 1. Because Error in judgement is so destructive to godlinesse corrupt Opinions being like vapours which being condeâ—â—ed in the head by the coldnesse of the brain as in a still drop down upon the vitalls and corrupt them so they corrupt mens practises Yea as some humours when they abound in the brain do so obstruct the passage of the animal spirits that they cause an Apoplexie which deprives a man of all sense and motion So some Errours do so obstruct the workings of the Spirit of God that they deprive a man of all spiritual motion I will press that Caution of Austin Epist 107. but tenderly where he bids us take heed lest while we plead for freewill amongst men we do not lose the benefit of our prayers for I do not think all that hold freewill to be of Seneca's minde Ep. 31. that we need not weary God with our prayers but may make our selves happy Yet there are many corrupt principles which have a more malignant influence upon mens practises than they are aware of Some mens words eat as a gangrene destroying the very life of godlinesse 2 Tim. 2.17 18. They it seems as some of later times turned the Doctrine of the Resurrection into an Allegory interpreting it mystically and the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.33 speaking of this very thing bids them take heed of being deceived they could not think how soon such Doctrine would corrupt their manners he that thinks he shall die like a beast will soon be perswaded to live like a beast wherefore Tertullian complains that corruption in Doctrine was worse than Persecution for Persecution made Martyrs but Heresie Apostates Praescript adv Haer. c. 4. Secondly Corrupt Opinions do ordinarily disturb the peace of the Church It is commonly said indeed that opinionum varietas opinantium unitas non sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Difference of judgment should not breed discord but we too oft finde it otherwise The Apostle could easily believe that there were divisions amongst the Corinthians because he knew there must be Heresies amongst them 1 Cor. 11.18 19. men in maintaining their own Opinions against others proceeding for the most part to strife of words and so to envy railings evil surmisings perverse disputings c. 1 Tim. 6.4 5. Now that we may be able to make a right judgment in this case I shall first lay down some Cautions then give some Directions and I shall begin with the Caution which our Saviour gives us here in the Text Judge not according to the appearance There was a sort of Philosophers indeed of old which made appearance of the essence of truth but that was because they made man the measure of all things and every thing was true which appeared to any man so to be and so there were as many truths as men of different Opinions But most men are ready to judge that to be only true which seems so to them and let a man set off any Opinion with a few plausible words and many think presently it is as a King against whom there is no rising up Prover 30.31 It is with Opinions as with men that which is first in its own cause is just till another come and finde it out Prov. 18.17 Hence it is that most men are of the opinion of those that they converse most with and wonder that any should believe the contrary or not rise up to what they say they ordinarily hear their own Opinions urged home and the Opinions of their adversaries have but a partial hearing when on the other hand their adversaries having their own Opinions represented to the best advantage wonder as much that every body should not be of their minde The Papists are so carefull to conceal from the people the Arguments of the Protestants that Sr. Edwin Sands tells us in his Europae speculum that he could not set his eye on