Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n
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A33547
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An enquiry into the nature, necessity, and evidence of Christian faith. Part I. Of faith in general, and of the belief of a deity by J.C.
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Cockburn, John, 1652-1729.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing C4810; ESTC R24209
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50,203
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73
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also satisfie mens Minds in some measure about the Strange and Wonderful Dispensations of it which not being commonly handled we have the more largely insisted on In the Third and last Part shall be considered that Faith which is founded upon Revelation which also we shall indeavour to set in its true Light Both these Parts shall follow very soon if it please God to assist us and I heartily wish that all of them may prove Useful to the design proposed by helping to clear those Truths which are of the greatest Importance ESSAY I. Faith is and hath been the Perpetual Standard of Righteousness from the beginning of the World 1. AS all Authors whether Historians or Philosophers have their peculiar Phrases and way of Speaking so Faith is a word and term proper to Sacred Scripture It never occurs to us in the reading of any of the Heathen Moralists in that sense in which we meet with it almost in every leaf of the Holy Bible St. Paul as agreeable to the other Apostles he discourses often and very much of Faith so in three several Epistles he asserts that the Iust shall live by Faith and in one of them he Prefaces it with an as it is written testifying by this that it was no New Doctrine of the Gospel but what was taught by the Law and the Prophets And accordingly we find the same very words in the Prophet Habakkuk Chap. 2. 4. whence we may conclude that this is a Scripture Maxim of certain and perpetual Verity under every Dispensation as well the former as the present 2. By the Iust is to be understood the Good Holy and Righteous in opposition to the Wicked and Ungodly And to live comprehends and must be extended to the whole tract and course of their Life and Conversation for to restrain it to any single or individual act which hath not an Universal Influence upon the whole Man and all its Motions is to make the Scripture and Inspirer of it speak very improperly He is not said to Live in a place who Lodgeth there a Night or two but who has his constant Residence and Abode in it Nor can he be said properly to live by any Art or Science who now and then perhaps diverteth himself with it but only he who makes it his profession aim and study who constantly exerciseth it and subsisteth by it So when it is said that the Iust live by Faith the meaning is and must be that they always walk by Faith they order and frame their whole Life and Conversation according to it It is the Principle by which they are actuated and which produceth all that they do As the Soul and Spirit give Life to the Body excite direct and determine the Actions of the whole Man so Faith is the Soul Life and Spirit of a Just or Righteous Man the first and great Principles of his Motions the chief Rule and Director of his Actions that which quickens his Hopes awakens his Fears excites and curbs his Passion and which pusheth him forward to all that is suitable to his Rank Quality and other Circumstances in which he stands In a word to live by Faith must be to think speak and act by it for Life comprehends all this And he who doth thus live by Faith is truly Just Good Holy and Righteous For if it be true that the Iust do live by Faith it is also true that they who live by Faith are Iust. As Knowledge and Wisdom render a Man learned and wise so Faith makes one Iust and Righteous and this Righteousness encreaseth according to the proportion of our Faith for there are degrees of Faith as of Life there are weaker and stronger imperfect and perfect in both 3. Now that it is not peculiar to the state of the Gospel for the Iust to live by Faith but that they did so under the Law and before it doth further appear from what the Apostle writes in the Eleventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews where by a long enumeration of particular instances he proves that all the Righteous even up to Abel that is ever since the Fall did walk by Faith and that Faith was the source and spring of both their Common and Extraordinary Actions And he might have ascended higher and shewed that even in the state of Innocence Faith was appointed the Life and Soul of Righteousness for that Command which was given to our first Parents about the Tree of Knowledge in the midst of the Garden was to exercise their Faith as their Transgression was a failure of Faith as well as of Obedience St. Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians and in the first Part of that to the Romans pursues the same Truth against the Bigotted Jews and Judaizing Christians For to convince them of their Error in expecting to be Iustified by the Law of Moses He shews clearly that before the Law was in being Men were accounted Iust and Righteous before God by reason of their Faith and therefore that Faith was the permanent and perpetual Standard or Rule both for measuring Mens Righteousness and for obtaining their Iustification Because Abraham was an eminent Example of Faith therefore he was not only reputed Righteous but had the peculiar honour to be called the Friend of God and the Father of the Faithful in all succeeding Generations And all who believe and live by Faith are stiled the Children of Abraham and Heirs of his Honour and Privileges Upon which account they are also named the Children of God the holy Seed the righteous Generation in opposition to the Sons of Belial the Wicked and Reprobate who are branded with the Character of Vnbelievers Children of Vnbelief Persons without Faith as the Original bears which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Much more might be said on this Head but it sufficiently appears from what hath been said that according to the peculiar Dialect both of the Old and New Testament Faith and Holiness Believing and to be Iust or to live righteously are used indifferently as reciprocal Phrases which import or inferr one another And the reason of this Dialect is because according to the Philosophy of the Scripture that which goes under the Name of Faith is the first Principle which actuates a a good or just Man and that the Goodness or Righteousness which is acceptable to God is only the Effects or Expressions of that Faith which naturally and inseparably follow it as the Light doth the Sun Now before I proceed further it is fit to make a little Pause and it may be convenient to represent here the Obligation which lieth upon all who own the Authority of Scripture to entertain those Phrases and Expressions with respect and reverence 4. They ought to esteem them not only Sacred but Exact and Just and the fittest to convey true Notions into our Minds A Wise Man can express his own Thoughts best And sure none can be supposed more qualified to know the most apposite words