Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	free_a	gift_n	offence_n	2,391	5	9.5104	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A92854	The humbled sinner resolved what he should do to be saved. Or Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ the only way of salvation for sensible sinners. Discovering the quality, object, acts, seat, subject, inseparable concomitants and degrees of justifying faith. The agreement and difference of a strong and weak faith; the difficulty of beleeving, the facility of mistake about it, and the misery of unbelief. The nature of living by faith, and the improvement of it to a full assurance. Wherein several cases are resolved, and objections answered. / By Obadiah Sedgwick, Batchelour in Divinity and late minister of the Gospel in Covent Garden.	Sedgwick, Obadiah, 1600?-1658.	1657 (1657)	Wing S2375; Thomason E900_1; ESTC R203520	234,690	315

bound for me alas saith he all my estate will not reach or extend to satisfie half of what thou owest Then he goes to another Sir be you pleased to engage your self Alas saith he I am so poore that the Creditor will not take my word Even thus it is when a man will runne to something in himself to justifie him before God alas saith holinesse I am not able enough and saith good works God may finde reason enough to discard us Therefore saith Faith To Christ To Christ None but Christ SECT II. SEcondly All that can justifie and save a man is only to be found in Christ as in the meritorious cause Ergo the only way to be saved is to be beleeve in Jesus Christ Hence is Christ called Heb. 2. 10. The Chaptaine of our salvation Heb. 5. 18. The Author of eternal salvation There be two things which if a man had he should be saved one is the forgivenesse of his sinnes Ergo saith David Ps 32. 1. Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered ver 2. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity Another is the possession of a most compleat righteousnesse by which he might stand and appeare perfectly just before the judgement seat of God so that if divine justice should look on it with the exactest eye yet it were every way unspotted and full Now these two are to be found only in Christ and by him First Remission of sinnes It is the purchase of his blood onely and therefore often in Scripture assigned thereto Thou canst not with all thy teares wipe off meritoriously the least of thy sinnes nor with all thy grace buy out the pardon of thy present failings All Remission is by blood by the only blood of Christ Secondly the righteousnesse which justifies and saves us is only in Christ He is made righteousnesse to us 1 Cor. 1. 30. and Rom. 5. 19. As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous see verse 21. Grace reignes through righteousnesse unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. I know that this Point of imputed righteousnesse is the great quarrel 'twixt us and the Church of Rome I shall therefore reserve the handling of it to the Uses where I may more fitly clear our doctrine Now put things together Whatsoever will save us is in Christ And faith is the only grace to conjoyne us with Christ and therefore To believe in Jesus Christ is the only way to saved SECT III. THirdly Salvation is by grace only Eph. 2. 5. Rom. 11. 6. And it is a free gift Rom. 5. 15. The free gift the grace of God and the gift of grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many and v. 16. the free gift is of many offences to justification and v. 18. the free gift came upon all men to justification of life Now if it be so then here 's roome for beleeving For Faith brings nothing of its own but receives all as gift from God It is the receiving grace Lord give me thy Son Lord give me the pardon of my sinnes Lord give me a righteousnesse Lord give me eternal life all these things are gifts and faith only receives these gifts Ergo. SECT IV. FOurthly Salvation is only conferr'd in such a way whereby God only may have the glory of it Though God doth bestow great matters on us for our good yet all the end of them is for his own glory To commend the riches of his grace and mercy Ephes 2. 7 8. so v. 9. Not of works least any man should boast that is he should vaunt and say I have got heaven by my own merits I have my wages for my labour and my happinesse for my penny Now the way of beleeving is the only way of acknowledgeing a God and of emptying of our proud imaginations whatsoever faith hath it hath taken the same out of a gracious hand All is almes which comes to faith and it will confesse I have nothing and am nothing but what I have received and what I expect I expect it for his sake who promiseth it not for my sake who receives it and thus faith puts all the glory on God SECT V. FIfthly neither would our salvation be sure nor our comfort sure if we were to be saved any other way then by believing in Jesus Christ Salvation would not be sure because First our happinesse would be no more sure now being in our own hands out of Christs then was Adams left to himself Secondly we would never be sure of salvation by any thing against which God might take just exception No sure comfort because conscience troubled with the sence of sin could never be pacified with imperfections and sins That which will not satisfie God can never pacifie conscience But saith the Apostle Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith we have peace with God faith findes one who was delivered for our offences who pacified God to the utmost who was without spot whose righteousnesse is full imputed to us accepted for us and so hereupon doth graciously quiet and still the heart We must distinguish 'twixt the root and fountaine and ground of our comfort and between the testimonies of our interest in the root of our comfort only Jesus Christ is the ground of a Christians comfort and therefore saith Paul God forbid that I should rejoyce in any thing but in the crosse of Christ If at any time we behold holinesse or any part of it in our hearts we take comfort in it not as the ground but as in the testimony because it doth manifest our interest in him who is our comfort our peace our joy our salvation our all in all Thus much for the Explication and confirmation of this great assertion viz. That to beleeve in Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation Now I descend to the useful Application of all to our selves CHAP. VIII The preaching and hearing of the Gospel of singular use THe first Use shall be for Information which consists in many profitable consectaries or inferences which will flow from this truth If beleeving in the Lord Jesus Christ be the only way to be saved Then first hence it will follow That the preaching of the Gospel is worthy the while it is of necessary and singular consequence Peruse that place Rom. 1. 16. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Chrict for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that beleeveth verse 17. for there is the righteousnesse of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith The Apostle presents two arguments of his honourable estimation and confident preaching of the Gospel 1. One is that it is the power of God to salvation that is it is the instrument which God useth and into which he doth imprint a power to save men It is called the power of

enemy to deal with It is thy Father to whom thou art bending the knee 3. He hath a mighty intercessor look as Jesus Christ is the mighty Redeemer for the persons of men so he is the mighty intercessor for the services of men and he ever lives to make intercession If thy wants be never so great yet thy God is able to supply them and if thy infirmities be never so many yet thy intercessor is able to cover and expiate them Thy services as thine ● carry with them a prejudice there was iniquity in the holy offering but then Aaron did bear the iniquity of them so thy Priest thy Christ thy intercessor he doth take off by the Application of his merits whatsoever is amisse and offensive and he doth ingratiate thy requests and procures audience and acceptance for thee Therefore now if thou be a beleever then in thy prayers come confidently to God if thou canst finde a promise and a Christ and a faith thou mayest cheerfully put up thy petitions to heaven What should hinder us from being confident Is God unwilling No he hath engated himself unto thee Is God unable Why He is able to do abundantly above all that we are able to ask or think Doest thou feare thy own distance Why but thou comest to a Father and thou comest by the blood of a gracious of a beloved of a powerful Mediator and Intercessor Hebrews 4. Having such an High Priest we may come boldly to the throne of grace See Heb. 10. Doest thou feare because of enmity Christ hath slaine that or because of infirmity Christ will cure that CHAP. XV. The Agreement and difference of strong and weak faith BUt now some may reply These are sweet comforts Obj. to beleevers but as the Eunuch to Philip of whom speaks the Prophet this of himselfe or of some other So here why to whom are these comforts to all or to some choice beleevers are they common comforts to every beleever or peculiar to the eminent and strong only This scruple hath made way for a singular point I will satisfie it by opening four particulars Sol. 1. The common unity of all true faith in respect of the habit yet the intensive diversity in respect of acts and degrees 2. The proofs of a strong faith with the instances of a weak faith in truth 3. The concordance of faith in all fundamental Comforts 4. The inequality of strong and weak faith in many true yet not essential consequences and consolations Concerning the first which respects the common unity of faith in respect of the habit and the diversity of it in respect of the acts and degrees Observe these things for the unity of faith SECT I. FIrst that all true faith though in a comparison of faith with faith in several subjects it may admit of several diversities and differences yet they consent and agree in these things viz. First in the immediate and special cause weak faith as faith comes not from one cause and strong faith from another cause but both the one and the other from one and the same cause viz. the blessed Spirit of God Not onely the flames but the sparks of fire are kindled by that Spirit which blows where it lists As in the Orchard the tree which stands strong and the tender plant which stands trembling both of them were at first set by one and the same hand so the faith which is now well grown and that faith which is as yet tender and full of doubtings both of them are the peculiar fruits of Gods sanctifying Spirit Though this childe in the cradle cannot runne and move as well as that in the field at work yet the father begat the one as well as the other and owns them both by vertue of one equal relation The day of small things are not despised by God who sees weaknesse in the strongest Faith and Truth in the weakest and is the Parent both of this and that 2. In the remote and singular cause You know that Gods free grace and love is the first wheele of all singular good unto men out of it came that great gift of Christ and that great work of Election from whence doth flow all the graces which sanctifie and bring to glory As many as were ordained to eternal life beleeved Now all faith is a drop out of this fountaine the weak faith is a fruit of that great love of God Acts 13. 48. electing us in Christ as well as the strong and is though not so sensibly evident yet as really a true testimony of our election The reason whereof is this not grace restrictively considered but grace in the whole latitude of it is the fruit of Gods election my meaning is this not only Graces as eminent as raised and elevated to some more perfect quality and pitch but grace in the whole compasse of it from the conception of it to the perfection of it from the dawning to the full day from the nature to the act from the acts to the degrees all of it in nature in parts in totum solidum all of it whether more or lesse strong or weak all is out of the same grace of Election It was not one love which elected him who is therefore now strong in beleeving with Abraham and another love which elected him who is now weak in beleeving with the father of the childe No but it was one and the self-same love which produced this and that faith yea that electing love was intensively one in producing of both It was as equally high towards this person as towards that and was as equally causative of the faith that is weak as of the faith which is strong being habitually considered and also in relation to the grace of Gods love in election 3. In the ordinary and usual instrumental cause the same womb of the word brought them both forth being efficaciously assisted by that Almighty Spirit That word which discovered misery and impotency and necessity to the one did so to the other That word which revealed the Covenant of grace and mercy in Christ to the one did so to the other beleever also That word which did assure the one that if he would come in and accept of Christ be should be saved did also of this assure the other That word which did encline the heart of the one to trust upon Gods promise and so to accept of Christ did likewise being quickened with the same Spirit draw and perswade the other 4. In the lively nature of beleeving look as the strong and weak man though they do differ in the measure of power yet they do agree in the nature of man though they differ in respect of working yet they agree in respect of being And as the sick man and the healthy man though they vary in their temper yet they agree in their nature though they differ in livelihood yet not in life So though the strong and weak faith differ exceedingly in

bountifulnesse of its own nature is the reason of its gifts and acts Suppose that a King executes a malefactor this is an act of justice and findes cause in the rebellion of the offendor Suppose that a King pardons a malefactor this is an act of graciousnesse and findes its reason only in the breast of the King and not in the worthinesse of the delinquent Thou stand'st upon thy worthinesse O if I were worthy of Christ why but is not Christ a gift he is often said to be given yea but is he not a gracious gift See Ephes 2. 7. God did shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us through Jesus Christ As if he should say if ever there were a gift free-given it is Christ If Christ be a gracious gift then he is not bestowed on the worthy but on the unworthy not on him who can challenge and say Lord there is good reason why I should have Christ and thou shouldest do me wrong if I have him not O no but he is a gracious gift and therefore the broken sinner may come in and say O Lord though I am unworthy yet give me Christ graciousnesse doth not expect any motion out of it self and therefore though in respect of my desert shame and confusion be my portion yet thy gifts of grace are free for thy exceeding riches of grace and mercy and love give me thy Christ If I meet an old decrepit poor beggar and seeing misery and poverty in his face I freely draw my purse and say there is a shilling for thee O no saith he Sir I am not worthy I am a poor man and ready to starve give it to that Gentleman yonder who is in gay cloathing and hath thousands in his chests for he is worthy what a proud folly were th●s why my almes was a gracious dole and if any man in the world had it he had who doth need but doth not deserve it So c. 6. Christ is worthy your taking though thou be unworthy of receiving 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief As if he should say this is so necessary a thing so good a thing so admirable a thing for a sinner so meet for him to hearken unto and to embrace What if the choisest Prince in the world should this day present himself to the foulest ill-favoure'dst neglected woman one without all beauty without all parts without all estate and assure her if she will consent to his termes he will bestow himself upon her Though she be totally unworthy to heare of such a thing yet the person is worthy and the acceptance of the motion is worthy all the world sees reason enough that she should hearken So it is Jesus Christ the Prince of peace the Lord of life the Authour of salvation comes to a sinful soul utterly naked and void of spiritual excellencies over-runne with all the spots of inglorious deformities exposed to all kindes and degrees of present and future miseries calls and invites that soule to accept of him upon his own termes yet that soul stands off and excep●s I am not worthy Thou wor●hy saith Christ what do I esteem of thy worthinesse Not for thy sake be it known unto thee is it that I offer my self unto thee not for any beautiful or ingratiating ornaments and gifts is this but for my own sake Am I worthy the receiving if so then accept of me Christ hath worthinesse enough and as our helps in the promises draw us thither so the treasures in Christ should do Obj. But you will say Christ hath let fall a word which tels me that there must be a subjective worthinesse as well as an objective worthinesse in me as well as a worthinesse in him Matthew 10. 13. If the house be worthy let your peace come upon it Sol. I answer that there is indeed a double worthinesse First one of the object when it is so every way excellent and necessary and sutable to the exigencies of a person so Christ worthy Secondly another of the subject which to restraine it now to the place alledged is a worthinesse of judgement and affection not a worthinesse of qualities and action Then a man is said to be worthy in reference to Christ not because he hath any taking and inviting qualities but when he judgeth worthily of the Lord Jesus and his affections draw after him as most worthy of all acceptation Lastly what is that which makes thee unworthy It is nothing in the world but sinne all the debasings of the soul are our sinnes and so there is a twofold unworthinesse 1. Meritorious 2. Excluding But then mark two things could never be if meer sinnings did effectually prejudice the soul with an excluding unworthinesse one is That Christ could never have been a worthy gift Another is That faith could never have beleeved truths in Christ It could never take Christ as a Saviour nor beleeve in him for the sure pardon of sins if that sinnes absolutely did involve the soul with such an unworthinesse as should for ever exclude it from partaking of Christ O no Though sinnes make unworthy yet Christ came to call sinners and though ungodlinesse makes unworthy yet Christ justifies the ungodly 4. Obj. But I am not sure that Christ is willing to bestow himself on me or that I should lay hold on him else I should I think be able to beleeve Sol. To this I will returne two things 1. One is clearing Christs willingnesse 2. The order of a Christians assurance First That Christ is willing I shall but light a candle to the Sunne in endeavouring to manifest the willingnesse of Christ to accept of sinners Why 8. Things what can possibly expresse a willingnesse which is not espiable in Christ First when thou wert a sinner and an enemy yet then did Christ shed his blood and die for thee Rom 5. 8 10. Nay he did not do this through constraint but through consent it was a free-will offering therefore is he said to offer himself and lo I come and to give himself and to lay down his life and to pay a price nay to be straitned till it were accomplished Luke 12 50. His death was the putting of the seal to the bond It ratified all the Covenant which it had not done had not Christ been willing Why he knew thee long before and saw thee in thy blood before he shed his own and had he been unwilling to have done thee any good or that thou shouldest have received any good from him he would never have cloathed himself with such a nature as he did assume neither would he have anguished his righteous soul nor have suffered such a tormenting and accursed death Verily if I would lay down my life for a person this would sufficiently argue and declare that I were willing to bestow my self on the perso

to utter how God doth forgive a sinner before he hath sinned which must be if pardon for all sins be a momentany act Yet I had rather captivate my judgment then occasion dispute only remember two things First no doubt but the justified person shall have every sin pardoned not some only but all Secondly justification doth not admit degrees though it may a continuance The righteousnesse and merit of Christ which is our justification is not more or lesse but is at all times one and most perfect SECT V. THe righteousnesse of Jesus Christ is that by which only we are justified The righteousnesse of Christ is the matter of our justification not the essential righteousnesse of his God-head but the righteousnesse of Christ as Mediator both God and man which was either The habitual holinesse of his Person in the absence of all sinne and in the rich and plentiful presence of all holy and requisite qualities Or the actual holinesse of his life and death by obedience the once perfectly fulfilling the commands and by the passive obedience of the other voluntarily suffering the penalty and commination of the Law for transgressions Now all this righteousnesse is imputed to us in justification For First no other righteousnesse can justifie Secondly as Christ was made sinne for us so we are made righteousnesse by him viz. only by imputation The Papists call upon us for a righteousnesse in Justification they will bring one forth of their hearts and good works Menstruous cloths saith the Scripture but we produce a righteousnesse most full perfect every way exact not in us but in Christ yet imputed to us by God How clear is the Scripture for us 2 Cor. 5. 21. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him Jer. 23. 6. The Lord our righteousnesse 1 Cor. 1. 30. Christ Jesus is made unto us of God c. righteousnesse How often doth the Apostle peculiarly interest imputed righteousnesse handling the doctrine of Justification Rom. 4. But the Apostle clears all Rom. 5. 19. As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Adae peccatum imputabitur mihi Christi justitia non pertinebit ad me said Bernard Object But Christs righteousnesse is His and how can it present us righteous before God It is none of ours Sol. First it is his in respect of Inhaesion but it is ours in respect of imputation His personally ours meritoriously Secondly we may be considered two wayes either absolutely 〈…〉 for me and alone or else as conjoyned with Christ and thus being by faith made one with Christ he makes over his righteousnesse unto us upon which God looks as ours in the matter of justification Ob. But if Christs righteousnesse becomes ours so by imputation that we may be truly accounted and accepted of as righteous Then by the like reason because redemption is made ours we may likewise be reputed true Redeemers and Saviours Sol. This is one of the arrows which Bellarmine draws out of his Quiver against the imputation of Christs righteousnesse but it is of no force For he is to be termed a Redeemer and Saviour not who doth receive and take the redemption and salvation procured by another but who brings redemption and salvation we are by the Redemption of Christ truly said to be redeemed though not our Redeemers and so by the imputation of Christs righteousnesse are we truly accounted righteous persons Obj. Againe if the righteousnesse of Christ be so imputed to us in justification that for it we are accounted perfectly righteous as if it were our own most perfect and intrinsecal Then why may not we be accounted as righteous as Christ yea and having Christs righteousnesse why may we not be the Saviours of men Since that is the righteousnesse which doth save all that are saved Sol. I answer To compare the same righteousnesse with the same is illogical and grosse for it is one and the same righteousnesse which is inherent in Christ and imputed to the beleeving soule Secondly the righteousnesse of Christ is not imputed to any particular beleever according to the whole latitude of its efficacy but according to the particular exigence of the person It is not imputed to Paul as the general price of redemption for all but as the price by which his soul in particular is redeemed These things being dispatched there is a difference amongst some Divines about that righteousnesse which is imputed some holding the passive onely others the active and passive Sol. The latter seems most solid Reasons these First there is no Justification without the fulfilling the whole Law but now to the fulfilling of the Law since the fall of Adam two things are required one is perfect and personal conformity to the Law in answering that active condition of it Do this and live Another is a plenary satisfaction to the sentence of the Law by bearing the penalty therein denounced in regard of sins already committed Secondly Again faith doth not abrogate the Law but establish it but if it should teach justification without Christs fulfilling of the Law it should abrogate the Law SECT VI. THe last thing which I should have inserted before is this That the justification of a sinner is a gracious and just action It is a gracious action that is the gracious love and favour of God was the cause of it It was his own free grace and favour that gave Christ his Sonne to be our righteousnesse and it is his free grace to give us faith to beleeve on his Son and when we do beleeve it is his Grace which imputeth unto us the righteousnesse of Christ Secondly it is a just and righteous action Rom. 3. 25 26. That he might be just and the Justifier of him that beleeveth in Jesus Gods justice is such that he will forgive no man his sinnes for which he is not perfectly satisfied neither will he accept of any as righteous who hath not a personal righteousnesse but having received a perfect satisfaction he will acquit the sinner beleeving for he is just and righteous and his Justice will not make a second demand yet here is the graciousnesse of God which will admit of the satisfaction and of the righteousnesse of another for us CHAP. X. The difficulty of beleeving in Jesus Christ A Second Use from this great assertion shall be to put our selves to a Tryal and Examination If to Vse 2 beleeve in Jesus Christ our Lord be the only way to be saved Then it doth much concerne us to search our selves whether we do beleeve indeed in Iesus Christ There are three things which I will premise as so many grounds why we should put our selves upon this enquiry and then I will give unto you the discoveries themselves The premises are these First the difficulty of beleeving in Jesus Christ Secondly the facility of errour

with high estimations The young man when Christ bade him sell all that he had and give it to the poore It was praeceptum experimentale he goes away sorrowfull Thirdly to the Scepter and Government of Christ we will not have this man Reigne over us say they and you reade in Psalme 2. How they did consult to break his bands asunder The Scepter of Christ is Heavenly and his Lawes are spiritual and his Wayes are righteous and straight they lay injunctions on the inward man as well as on the outward conversation and binde the thoughts and the intentions and affections Now what do you meane to pinne up a spirit which would have elbow roome what would you have a licentious heart and a turning and winding conscience to be precised and narrowed and restrained and so every way straitened You must give it leave to break the Sabbath to improve its gaines dishonestly to sweare now and then and to comply c. Fourthly to the Righteousnesse of Christ O what a do had that blessed Apostle with the Romanes with the Galatians with others to break them off from Iustification by Works And to fasten upon their hearts the Justification by Faith We are apt to stand upon our selves and to look for the matter of our acceptance and acquittance in our selves on man he thinks that his good meaning shall make him speed Another thinks that his doing no body any harme will let him into Heaven or else God help us Another stands on his devout Sacrifices Another on his charitable bounties Yea and those who should know better in the Doctrine of Justification how extreamly do they cling to their inherent Graces much a do before they can be made to cast their Crowns to the earth and to give the glory only to Christ who is worthy What paines is God forced to take to break us off from our selves we are so proud and so unwilling to be beholding to Gods free grace and Christ that God is faine to break our heart to pieces and to split our ship into shivers that we might only to Christ He must imprint the holy and mighty vigour of the Law on our consciences to shew us our utter impotency and sensibly acquaint us with our marvellous imperfections in graces and interruptions in duties and excursions of daily sinnings and all to fetch us entirely to cast our safeties only on the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ CHAP. XI The facility of error and mistake about believing SEcondly as it is hard to believe so it is easie to mistake and delude our selves in the matter of believing Four things make it to be so 1. One is the various kindes of faith 2. Another is the consimilitude of one of the extreams of faith 3. The easinesse of both And 4 the aptnesse in our hearts to be satisfied with these First there are divers kindes of faith As the Apostle spake of bodies all bodies are not the same bodies but there are bodies Coelestial and bodies Terrestial so I say of Faith all faith I speak of habitual faith is not the same kinde of faith we read of a Faith which the Devils have and we read of a Faith which the Hypocrites have and we read of a Faith which even Christs enemies whom he did not dare to trust had and we read of a Precious Faith a Faith of Gods Elect a justifying and saving faith Divines ordinarily distinguish of faith There is an Historical faith which is a crediting the word relating but not an embracing of it promising it is like the passing through a Garden and observing and smelling but not a flower is gathered so in Historical Faith the eye of the understanding goes over the Word of God and hath some apprehensions and general grants and intellectual submissions that God doth not lye but what he saith is true Neverthelesse there is not that quality of justifying faith in this which makes the heart to close with the goodnesse of truth and to embrace Christ 2. There is a wonderful faith a faith of miracles to remove mountaines to raise the dead which had some special and immediate promise and yet it was a gift bestowed on those who had no faith to save themselves Many who have cast out devils may at the last day be cast among the devils Lord Lord have not we Prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out Devils And yet Christ bid them depart Non novi vos 3. There is a temporary faith which hath in it some great apprehensions of the truths of God yea and reverent assents yea and some delightfull contentations in the same yea and some fruitfull expressions and with all these a singular degree of profession even to a zealous forwardnesse and notoriousness so that a man may be in the eye of others like a tall Ship and yet there is a Leake in the bottome which on the sudden sinks all This temporary faith though in many respects it handles the same object with saving faith it is tampering much about Christ and the promises yet it is intrinsically and extreamly different from it It doth not differ from it in respect of eminency or degrees nor in respect of existence or duration onely for the one is a living Spring and the other is a decaying Flood but in respect of formal nature also The temporary faith doth not indeed bring all the heart and settle it on Christ 4. There is this justifying and saving faith which bestowes the whole heart on Christ and takes Christ unfeignedly to be Lord and Saviour Now where there are so many sorts it is not a great difficulty nor an impossibility to mistake error is manyfold said the Phylosopher but the tru●h i● single and there is but one line to hit the mark out many to misse it Nay secondly there is a great consimilitude of one of the extreames of faith with faith it self viz. credulity It is strange yet ordinary that a man should make a heaven of his own and a God of his own and a Christ of his own and a faith of his own and a way to heaven of his own Presumption is a work much of an idle fancy and a gracelesse heart like a thiefe very apt to finger the Kings coine but without a warrant But to the thing Is there knowledge in faith why presumption pretends to that is there confidence in faith what more bold then presumption is there any sweet assurance in faith why presumption never doubted but could believe ever since a man was borne is there any joy in faith why presump●ion is as jocond and carelesse as if there were no heaven to be got no sinne to be bewailed nor course to be reformed Lastly these are easie and we are apt to content our selves with these instead of a true beleeving in Jesus Christ. To get a little seeming knowledge to carry Religion upon the lip and Christ on the tongue to be bold upon Gods mercy and Christs death

I would have the present grants are not satisfying of my desires yet something is got by every faithful seeking there is not one faithful prayer which thou hast dispatched to heaven but it delivers thy message and is returned with a blessing Either it gets more additions to some grace or other or more alienation from some sinne or other or more dispotion to some duty or other or more resolution to seek or more strength to waite Like the many Bees which go out every one comes home with some thing one with honey another with wax so every faithful prayer flies up to heaven and gathers something or other from the good promises and though not so much as thou desirest yet alwayes more then thou deservest though not so much as to satisfie yet as to help 5. Suppose that yet you are not answered it is then a sinne to murmur and quarrel but it is thy duty to wait I observe this 1. That God never gives thee so large an almes but that thou needest the next houre to become a farther Petitioner 2. That God is pleased to make the beggar to stay sometimes at door he doth not alwayes presently give what he intends certainly to bestow but as his own free grace is the treasury of our gifts and supplies so his own wisdom is the dispensor of the time and season Now then as the goodnesse of the promise should draw us to beleeve so the fidelity and certainty of it should cause us to wait and expect God doth give thee leave to urge him but he likes it ill to hasten him if God doth promise then it is thy duty to believe and if he stayes then it is thy duty to wait for God doth wait that he may be gracious and blessed are all they that wait for him CHAP. XVII Of living by faith HAving formerly shewed unto you what it is to beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ and earnestly pressed upon you to get faith in him I now proceed to another Use which supposing that Vse 5 by this time you have attained unto faith shall be to excite and perswade you then to live by that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ Beloved there be two offices of faith One is to breed conjunction and acceptance and this is done when the heart is upon good and choise and deliberated grounds effectually inclined to content and take whole Christ upon his own terms Another is to breed dependance and this is done when the beleeving soul makes continued use of that fulnesse and vertue which is in Christ touching the continued exigencies of its state and condition in this life As it is with a woman she first gives her consent and becomes a wife and then being a wife she looks upon her husband as the onely person to supply her direct her comfort her provide for her and hers So is it with faith first it doth espouse the soule to Christ it takes him as Lord and husband and then it casts all the provisions of the soule upon him all the supplies and helps it trusts on him for righteousnesse on him for pardon of sinnes on him for grace one him for strength on him for comfort on him for eternal life c. Now because this is a point of singular consequence give me leave therefore and it matters not if now and then I make a little digression to unfold these particulars that you may the better understand and be assisted how to use that faith in Christ which you have to live upon him by it 1. What it is in the general to live by faith 2. To what states the life of faith may extend 3. What it is more particularly to live by faith on Christ 4. What arguments and enducements I have to presse not only the getting of faith but also the living by faith on Christ 5. In what particulars the Beleevers should live by faith on Christ 6. What things oppose the life of faith 7. Tryals if so that we live by faith 8. What good helps may be found out to assist and more and more to encline and enable the beleeving heart still to live by faith If any other profitable and pertinent enquiry may hereafter fall in for the better information and direction besides those particular heads which I have now propounded unto you you shall have a view of them likewise but for the present I can think of no more Now the God of mercy and Father of all consolations direct and blesse their deliveries so unto you that you may not only have that precious faith but live by faith nay and die in faith and so receive the end of your faith even the salvation of your soules SECT I. Quest 1. VVHat it is in the general to live by faith Sol. I will not now stand on the several kindes and sorts of life viz. That there is a life of vegitation which the trees and plants do live and a life of sense which the beasts and cattel do live and that there is a life of reason and knowledge which man doth live and that there is a life of faith which the Christian either doth or should live Neither will I stand upon the opposition 'twixt the living by faith and living by works one being a legal life and upon our selves the other being an evangelical life and upon Christ Nor now of that opposition 'twixt the life of faith and the life of sense the one being a life in hand the other in promises That depending upon our eye this upon our eare that is sense dwelling on what it can see and faith on that good word which it doth hear These things being passed over I conjecture that to live by faith may be thus described It is an heavenly and dutiful committing of our whole persons To live by faith what and of our whole estates unto God with a pious depending upon his faithful and good promises in Christ for sutable and seasonable supplies in all our exigences occurrences and changes whatsoever Here are divers things observable First to live by faith is to commit all to God It is as it were to intrust him with our selves and ours I know saith Paul whom I have beleeved and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him 2 Tim. 1. 12. As if he should say I have put my very soul and life into the hands of Christ who I know will look to it take care of it for ever David makes this to be the putting of our selves under God as our Shepherd Psal 23. 1. and as our Keeper Psalm 121. 5. Mark this a man lives not by faith when he undertakes to be himself the Lord of himself or a God to himself when he trusts to his own heart or will subsist by his own arme or when he puts his confidence in any arme of flesh O no faith gives God the honour of our beings and safeties and resignes up all to be