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A36887 Abraham's faith stated and applied a sermon preached February 16, 1695/6 / by Geo. Duncumb ... Duncumb, George, 1661 or 2-1743. 1697 (1697) Wing D2609; ESTC R14747 11,585 30

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Abraham 's Faith Stated and Applied A SERMON PREACHED FEBRUARY 16. 1695 6. By GEO. DUNCUMB M. A. Rector of Albury in Surrey LONDON Printed for Tim. Goodwin at the Queens-Head against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCXCVII TO HIS PARISHIONERS THE Inhabitants of ALBURY Beloved IF one may make a Judgment of Mens Principles and Opinions by their most usual Practices nothing is more apparent than that the generality of Christians are persuaded That a Right Faith will Atone for an Irregular Practice for otherwise 't is hardly possible that Persons who are Orthodox in their Creed should so easily separate the Commandments from it Wherefore that you may not be deluded and fatally mis-led by any such false Notion which makes our Faith a matter of Speculation I do earnestly recommend the following Discourse to your Serious Perusal in hopes that by God's Blessing accompanying it it may prove a means to convince you effectually what little Reason there is to boast of having Abraham for your Father by living under the Profession of a most Holy Faith unless you likewise approve your selves his faithful Children by leading a Godly Righteous and a Sober Life This is my Aim and if I may but be so happy as to succeed in it I shall not matter what Strangers say of it in passing any uncharitable Censure on it The Publication indeed is somewhat unusual for though what you lately heard from the Pulpit comes now from the Press 't is altogether a Voluntier If this render it contemptible to other Readers as proceeding from an overweening Opinion of a plain Sermon it ought not to be the less acceptable to You for being a Freewill-Offering humbly presented and put into your Hands by Your faithful Minister Geo. Duncumb JAM II. 23. And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness And he was called the friend of God AS very Excellent Things are spoken of Faith and many Noble Acts have been done by it so there is none in whom this Saving-grace was more eminent than the person Characterized in my Text even Abraham who has the high Honour to be Intituled The Friend of God And since he seems to be set forth as a Pattern and Precedent for our imitation I shall 1. Enquire what kind of Faith or Belief Abraham's was And 2. Shew particularly what ours must be in order to be justified Tho' probably the Scripture here referred to may principally respect the Special Promise of God made unto Abraham touching a numerous Issue when stricken in Years according as it is written in Gen. 15. where upon this assurance when Sarah his Wife was naturally past Child-bearing it is said v. 6. That he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness I say tho' Abraham's thus believing in hope against hope may be reckon'd or counted the ground of his justification yet is it not sufficient to support the confidence of such presumptuous Believers as rely upon a speculative Faith expecting to be justified and saved by it For this passage is not to be consider'd singly and alone but must be taken in conjunction with an antecedent and a subsequent Act with what went before it and what follow'd after it whereby Abraham gave full proof of his Faith's being no less Obediential than Fiducial I mean no less forward to observe God's Precepts than to depend on his Promises You must note then that besides God's knowing the sincerity and stedfastness of Abraham's Faith at the time when he counted it to him for righteousness upon his not staggering at the strange Promise through Unbelief He had already experienc'd it God had long before made trial of it by a Command of some difficulty even that of leaving his Native Countrey and going into a strange Land with which he complied without the least hesitancy or reluctance he did not hang back and object its being a hard case to quit a certainty for an uncertainty but made haste and delayed not to fulfil the Commandment of his God not scrupling to part with his present possessions in considence of God's provision he readily forsook his Kindred and his Father's House thereby approving himself the friend of God under whose conduct he took his journey and followed not knowing whither he should be led as we read in Gen. 12. This was such a signal instance of his resignation to the Divine Will in an intire dependance upon God that the Inspired Apostle ranks it amongst the most worthy fruits of a true Faith saying Heb. 11.8 By faith Abraham when he was called to go into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obey'd and he went out not knowing whither he went That is he believed God that he would be as good as his word and in consequence of such belief was not disobedient to the heavenly Voice but did as he was bidden and repaired to the place appointed tho' he had no knowledge of it no Kindred or Acquaintance in it After he had long dwelt or rather sojourn'd here in the Land of Promise as in a strange Country the word of the Lord came unto him in a vision saying Gen. 15.1 Fear not Abraham I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward which is as if he should have said Let nothing daunt or discourage thee forasmuch as I will still stand by thee I will never leave thee nor forsake thee but will surely defend thee and always plentifully provide for thee Abraham it seems had already more wealth than he well knew what to do with having no Son to inherit it So that a Child was the only Blessing that he wanted and therefore he takes this occasion not out of any diffidence but from a longing desire to see the accomplishment I say he takes this occasion with humble confidence to put God in mind of a former Promise thitherto expected by his Servant even that of giving him a Son Whereupon this Ancient promise was graciously renewed and notwithstanding Ahraham was now grown old and his Wife both barren and also past the Age of Child-bearing yet being not weak in Faith he consider'd not his own Body now dead when he was about an Hundred years old neither the deadness of Sarah's Womb but knowing him to be faithful that promised and able also to perform it he believed God and it was imputed or accounted unto him for righteousness Not that we are to look upon this single act to be in it self the sole ground of Abraham's justification for unless he had justified this his professed Faith by a suitable action in time of trial we have no reason to think he would have been justified by himself Had he refused to obey the Special Command of God requiring him to Sacrifice his Son his only Son Isaac his bare believing the Promise could never have been imputed to him for righteousness There was no need that God to whom all things future are