Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	believe_v	faith_n	word_n	7,647	5	4.8713	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81131	The arraignment of unbelief, as the grand cause of our nationall non-establishment: cleared in a sermon to the Honourable House of Commons in Parliament, at Margarets Westminster, upon the 28th. of May, 1645. being the day of their publike fast. / By Joseph Caryl, late preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolnes-Inne, now pastor at Magnus neer the bridge, London.	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.; England and Wales. Parliament.	1645 (1645)	Wing C749; Thomason E286_5; ESTC R200075	31,767	54

God An unbeleeving heart is an heart departing from the living God The antithesis in the Prophet ver 7. confirmes that exposition Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is Hope and trust are the contraries to unbelief But what is the portion of this unbeleeving heart No good I warrant you The sixth verse assures us so He shall be like the heath in the desert and shall not see when good commeth As unbelief locks sinne upon our souls sorrows and judgements upon our bodies so it locks our souls out of eternall and our bodies out of temporall salvation An unbeleever shall not see when good cometh that is he shall not taste or enjoy good when it commeth So Elisha told that unbeleeving Lord when in the name of the Lord he had promised plenty in Samaria Behold thou shalt see it with thine eies but shalt not eat thereof 2 King 7. 2. That text of the Apostle carries a shew of opposition against this truth Rom. 11. 32. God saith he hath concluded them all sc Jews and Gentiles in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all It seems then that mercy rather comes in then is shut out by unbelief God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all as if God intended to make his advantage and opportunity of shewing mercy to that people by finding them in an unbeleeving condition I answer There is a two-fold mercy First the mercy of vocation Secondly the mercy of salvation when the Apostle saith that God concluded or shut them all up in unbelief that he might have mercy upon them all he means it of the mercy of vocation The Gentiles in their time were all unbeleevers then God called them and the Jews at this time are unbeleevers they deny obedience to the Gospell yet God will call them again the calling of the Jews hereafter as heretofore the calling of the Gentiles shall be of free grace there was no preparation in the one there shall be none in the other to move God to call them to the knowledge of Jesus Christ God calls us to faith when we have no faith He calls to beleeve while we are in unbelief The mercy of vocation prevents faith God doth not call men because they are beleevers or because they have faith but he calleth them to beleeve he calleth them unto faith So the Apostle arguing about that great mercy of justification Rom. 3. 19. shewes how the Lord stops every mouth and makes all the world become guilty before him God doth not justifie any person because he is guiltlesse or holy but that he may be guiltlesse and holy He doth not justifie any man because he is free from sinne but that he may be free from sinne Thus the mercy of vocation prevents our faith and the mercy of justification prevents our righteousnesse and obedience God justifies the ungodly But in giving the mercy of salvation whether it be temporall or eternall salvation God looks upon a people or a person beleeving and therefore makes promises for faith to act upon that we may be saved that we may be established A second objection rises against this point from that speech of Christ in the close of the Parable of the unjust Judge and the importunate Widow where assuring his elect who cry unto him night and day that he will avenge them speedily he adds Neverthelesse when the Sonne of man commeth shall he finde faith on the earth that is he shall not finde faith on the earth and yet then he comes upon a gracious design the deliverance of his elect It seems then that unbelief or want of faith doth not hinder mercy for this great mercy shall be given in when faith shall not be found to beleeve it See here a plentifull harvest of comfort and yet at the same time a dearth of faith none to be found upon the earth I answer first The words import only a great declining of faith in those times not a totall decay of it Secondly The intent of those words is not to bring unbelief into any credit but only to support and cherish the faith of some few in the appearing of much unbelief and despondencie in others For in hard times we hear frequently such complaints as these Do ye not see how the hearts of men fail how their spirits are down how they give up all for lost Faith was never so low as now and therefore surely we must shortly be lower then we are this prevailing raign of unbelief among us is a sad argument that evils shall raign over us too thus the heart misgives To releeve such our Lord Christ saith Neverthelesse when the Sonne of man comes shall he finde faith on the earth As if he had said though all ought to encrease and strengthen faith in darkest times both in themselves and others yet let no man despair because some or many do not beleeve for as their unbelief shall not make the faith that is the faithfullnesse or faith-faith-word of God without effect Rom. 3. 3. so neither shall it make the faith of other men without effect Yea in this sense the lesse faith the more hope When you see the spirits of most drooping their flesh trembling and their hands hanging down This looks most like the time wherein Christ will come to avenge his elect and do great things And those Saints in whom faith bears up its head in such times may use the generall unbelief of their brethren as a strong advantage for their own faith and representing it to God in prayer may plead thus Lord faith failes exceedingly very few of thy oppressed people do or can be perswaded to beleeve that thou wilt help them why therefore Lord hasten in help now come to our succour Is not this the day of thy comming for thou shalt scarce finde faith on the earth to beleeve thou wilt come Thirdly Though Christ will come at last to releeve his people when little faith is to be found among them yet it shall be best with those in whom he findes most faith and wo to those who neglect the raising of their faith because they hear Christ will come when faith is down The freenesse of his grace in helping an unbeleeving generation will be no excuse but a reproof of their unbelief Our duty to beleeve is not the lesse because his goodnesse to those who beleeve not is so great yea they who to put themselves into a posture for deliverance cast away their faith are cloathed with presumption And though Christ may establish those who through weaknesse or want of faith cannot beleeve yet surely they shall never be established who through boldnesse with or wantonnesse upon his grace strive not to give him glory in beleeving To cleer which I shall now proceed to give you some demonstrations of this point why unbelief is the barre and stop of blessings This appears First From the greatnesse of the sinne of

God in our fullnesse as in our wants It is a hard thing to depend upon God in the weaknesse and want of means but it is harder to depend upon him in the fullnesse and strength of means This is the noblest act of faith And though we know in Heaven sense will swallow up faith yet on earth faith ought to swallow up our sense When we see and hear and enjoy most of the creature we should be as if we heard and saw and enjoyed nothing of the creature but lived upon God alone Observe this instanced in two great Kings Asa had an Army of men that bare targets and spears out of Iudah three hundred thousand and out of Benjamin that bare shields and drew bowes two hundred and fourscore thousand 2 Chron. 14. 8. A gallant Army Yet when Zerah the Ethiopian came against him with a more numerous Army Asa cried unto the Lord his God and said Lord it is nothing with thee to help with many or with them that have no power ver 11. But are six hundred thousand men no power Asa's faith saw no power in this compleat Army that he might see all power in God and engage him in the battell We rest on thee let not man prevail against thee He makes nothing of his Army in case of victory while he made nothing of it in case of an overthrow Let not man prevail against thee That of Jehoshaphat is yet more full who had an Army of eleven hundred and threescore thousand fighting men besides his Garisons for the field as appears upon his muster-roll 2 Chron. 17. 14 15 16 c. yet when the Moabites and the Ammonites made warre upon him he prays thus chap 20. 12. O our God wilt thou not judge them for we have no might against this great company that commeth against us neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee What had he no might knew he not what to do when he had 1160000 men in the field No not he He had no eye to see these or any thing but God and therefore saith Our eyes are not upon our Armies but upon thee In this faith of the creatures nothingnesse and the all-sufficiencie of God he prevailed over the Ammonites as Asa had done before over Zerah the Ethiopian We then receive most by humane helps when we expect least unbelief either takes our hearts off from God or which is as dangerous divides them upon the creature for when we lean upon two of which one is infirm we shall not stand by that which is strong but fall by that which is weak faith bids us use means and unbelief bids us trust it And though faith will trust some means in regard of their faithfullnesse yet it will trust none in regard of effectualnesse As God calls for all our obedience so for all our confidence confidence in man is ever accompanied with jealousies upon God such confidences God rejects and therefore we have not we cannot prosper in them Should this inquisition be enlarg'd and the lot cast to finde out every accursed thing which hath obstructed the influences of Heaven from making this Land a quiet habitation I might with like ease and cleernesse resolve them all into unbelief and therefore I leave unbelief under the guilt of this grand charge The Kingdoms enemy the hellish vapour which continues this our long Church-quake and State-quake or in the word of the text The stop of our establishment Let me then a while call in the help of faith as the noblest expedient for the cure of all our evils It is said Joh. 7. 37. that In the last day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying He that beleeveth on me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water Will it not be seasonable in this great day of your Fast and solemn humiliation to lift up a voice for faith and cry out saying If ye beleeve surely ye shall be established Set faith awork in every work let it be an ingredient in all your counsels in all your actions Ye act but as men not as the people of God as a Roman not as a Christian Senate without faith As by faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice then Cain his brother so by faith one offers the Church the state better advice then his neighbour When you prepare armes and Armies arme your selves with this shield Faith is the best weapon It will quench the fiery darts of men as well as the fiery darts of the Devil if your Armies were weak faith would recruit and strengthen them now they are strong faith will continue and encrease them when your affairs are at a stand faith will put them in motion faith is a friend at a dead lift If there be but a little meal in your barrell and a little oyl in your cruze faith will lead you into the store-houses of Heaven and shew you all the treasures and riches which are laid up there As Hezekiah led the Ambassadors of Babylon from chamber to chamber and shewed them all the riches and provisions of his royall house both for peace and warre so will faith but upon better principles take you by the hand and lead you from one attribute of God to another and shew you all fullnesse of all things there unsearchable riches of mercy here unchangeable faithfullnesse there infinite strength and here purest exactest wisedom to improve and manage it We can never be at a losse while we can beleeve for that will finde out helpe for us when sense can see none when reason and policie can project none If Information be desired how or when we act by faith towards publike establishment take it thus First Faith acts in the strength upon the truth and goodnesse of a promise Promises are the aire and element in which faith breathes and lives Faith languishes unlesse fed and dieted by divine engagements it relishes no fare but of Gods own providing it must have a promise in the word or a promise in the works of God to rest upon The works of God have a promise in them as well as the word of God and are therefore the objects of faith not only as faith notes the beleeving of what is done but also as it notes the beleeving of what is to be done In which sense we are to understand that reproof of the Jews Psal 78. 32. They beleeved not his wondrous works They did beleeve the history of his works namely that such things as are there recorded were done They could not but beleeve that God had wrought wonders for them in Egypt that he had drowned Pharaoh in and brought them safe thorow the red sea they saw these things their senses were witnesses but yet they did not beleeve the prophecie or promise which was vertually in those works namely that God would do more wonders for them till he had finisht and accomplisht their deliverance That history of their bringing thorow the red sea