Consent And this As Dr. Of Faith p. 102 103. Preston says Is the least degree of Faith when there is so much weight as will cast the Ballance the right way though there be something left in the other end of the Ballance that is some doubting some fear yet if I so far believe the Promises and the Word of God that I am willing to take Christ for my Husband and to bestow my self on him this is Faith If there be so much Assent so much firmness of perswasion as to bring us to take Christ for our Lord and Saviour this is the least degree of Faith And though doubtings even of the Truth of the Word and Gospel may sometimes arise yet the Souls Assent to the Truth is certainly predominant when thus it casts the Seale Such doubtings are not predominant and therefore not inconsistent with Faith Thus I am led to the second Act of Faith II. Faith doth not barely Assent but Consent Thus with the Heart Man believeth Rom. 10.10 And they that suppose Faith to be seated both in the Vnderstanding and Will cannot make it one single Act. So it is not a bare assent to the Truth of the Promise but an hearty consent to God's terms a willing acceptance of what God offers upon his terms And to believe in Christ and to receive him are made one and the same Joh. 1.12 If I truly believe the Promise then I no otherwise expect or hope that it should be made good and performed to me then upon my consenting to and performing the condition And the soundness and firmness of ones Assent may well be questioned here when this consent does not follow Baxter Direct to sound Conversion edit 2. p. 271. As all Men would take another course says an excellent Writer if they did but see Heaven and Hell with their Eyes so all Men would presently throw away their worldly fleshly pleasures and turn to God and an holy Life if they did but as throughly believe the Joys and Torments to come as if they saw them And that Saving-Faith does always include in it a consent to the condition on which Salvation is promised is plain and evident because no other Faith is Saving but that which does thus consent The strongest assent to the Truth without this is but the Faith of Devils so likewise the most confident reliance on God and Christ and the Promise without this is meer and gross Presumption But after what manner does a true Believer consent and accept of Gods terms 1. He consents fully not partially He consents to the whole New-Covenant not to a part only That cannot be Saving-Faith which consents not to all that God hath made of indispensible necessity to Salvation without which God hath declared that we cannot be saved Therefore the fore-cited Author as I remember somewhere calleth Faith The great summary Duty of the Gospel and the summary Condition of the Covenant implying including or inferring all the rest and to which they are reducible Thus If the Gospel require as necessary to Salvation that we take God for our chief ultimate End and Happiness and take Christ for our only Redeemer as Prophet Priest and King and take the Holy Spirit for our Sanctifier as certainly it doth and our Covenant with God in Baptism obligeth to all this to all this Faith consents If we take that description of Faith in the shorter Catechism scil That it is A receiving Jesus Christ as he is offered to us in the Gospel it implieth as much He is offered not only as a Priest but as a Prophet to teach us the Will of God and as a King to rule us by his Laws and by his Grace and Spirit This is certain there can be no receiving of Christ but as he is offered No thinking to have Christ whether he will or no whether God will or no. He that is called the Gift of God must be received as God offers him or we have nothing to do with him we have no Title to him And Christ was never offered to any as a Saviour only Indeed he is held forth in the Word as the only Saviour there is Salvation in no other but not as a Saviour only Him hath God exalted to be a Prince as well as a Saviour Act. 5.31 and Chap. 2.36 And to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord Rom. 14.9 And he is the Author of Salvation only to them that obey him Heb. 5.9 So we read of Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ Act. 16.31 and 20.21 So true Faith does not only eye his Cross but also boweth to his Scepter acknowledgeth his Sovereignty as well as his Satisfaction As Dr. Preston well We must take heed of disjoyning those things Of Faith p. 42. that God hath joyned together We must take Christ as well for a Lord as a Saviour Mark it diligently If thou wilt take Christ as a Saviour only that will not serve the turn Christ giveth not himself to any upon that condition only to save him but we must take him as a Lord too to be subject to him to obey him And as another that I have somewhere met with To receive Christ only as a Prophet is but a speculative Faith to receive him only as a King is but a legal kind of Faith to receive him only as a Priest is but a carnal Faith but to receive him in all his Offices together this is a true Evangelical and Saving-Faith Here I am upon a point of grand concern indeed not to be hastily passed over As a partial Assent so a partial Consent will prove ones Faith not to be sound Saving-Faith willingly accepts of whole Christ accepts of Christ in all his Offices and not only of some particular benefit by him Christ will not be divided We must have all or none Who would not but be pardoned and saved But we cannot have Remission and Salvation alone Christ will not be their Priest and Saviour who will not accept of him for their Prophet and King their Teacher and Ruler Indeed we cannot receive Christ as a perfect Saviour if we receive him not in all his Offices He is Prophet Priest and King that so he may be a compleat Redeemer that he may save his People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the uttermost Heb. 7.25 So he hath his name Jesus because he saves his People from their Sins Mar. 1.21 and not only from misery and Wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 Therefore if you are not for Christ himself but only for some of his Benefits if you are for some of his benefits but not for others for Remission Justification but not for Sanctification for Salvation in the end but not for the way leading to it if you would be saved in your Sins not from your Sins if you are willing to hear of a Christians Priviledges by Christ but have no such mind to hear of Christian Duties if you
1. I say how dark are such a ones apprehensions of the Sun compared with ours who enjoy its Light Spiritual Minds are for such an experimental Knowledg of God and Jesus Christ Yea they are for an appropriating Knowledg The more they know of God the more earnestly they desire and endeavour to discover their special propriety in God They cannot be satisfyed till they know him to be their God The more they know of Jesus Christ the more they long to know that he is their Jesus and their Lord. 2. Spiritual Minds are for knowing more of themselves There can be no Sound Knowledg without Self-Knowledg Nil prosunt lecta nec intellecta nisi teipsum legas intelligas Let a Man Read Study Understand never-so-much all his Knowledg is vain and unprofitable without an application of it to himself Job 5.27 Hear and know thou it for thy good In the Hebrew it is know thou for thy self or with thy self Many hear as for others are more ready to apply the Word to others than to themselves Such are not likely to get good by what they hear are no better for what they know The Word is compared to a Glass And it concerneth every one to look his Face in this Glass Yea it is not enough to look with a sudden Glance and so away again but we must continue therein to know what manner of Persons we are and ought to be Jam. 1.23 24 25. And Spiritual Minds are for Self-Acquaintance Spiritual Knowledg will put Souls upon and help in examining and proving themselves that they may know themselves 3. Spiritual Minds would know all the Counsel of God so far as concerneth them and especially they are for knowing what most nearly concerneth them Knowledg without Wisdom as one says is usually curious Dr. Manton on Jam. 3.13 p. 384. and censorious Sound Minds would be acquainted with the Word of God pro or con They are ready to receive it whether it make for them or against them And so The Ear that heareth the reproof of Life abideth among the Wise He that heareth reproof getteth Vnderstanding Prov. 15.31 32. See also Prov. 19.25 What a strict charge did Eli lay on Samuel not to hide any thing from him that the Lord had told him 1 Sam. 3.17 And when he was told of the evil determined against his House he did not fret and fume but said It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good So Hezekiah 2 King 20.19 But how few that would like to hear of their Sins or are willing to hear of the Judgments God has denounced against them in his Word Such Knowledg is too painful for the most They had rather sleep on in their Sins than be so disquieted God's Messengers are accounted their Enemies and Tormentors when they tell them the Truth Alas we can meet with but few in comparison that are for right things that will endure sharp reproof though needful to set them Sound But few that would have their Sores touch'd But a Sound Mind would hear and know the worst of it self It is the Prayer of such a one Make me to know my Transgression and my Sin What I see not teach thou me and wherein I have done Iniquity I would do so no more Search me O God and prove me and see if there be any way of Wickedness in me and lead me in the Way Everlasting Such would know their Sins to be humbled for them and to turn from them So likewise Sound Minds would know more of their Duty to discharge it These would be more knowing not only in matters of Faith but as well in matters of Practice Prov. 10.8 The Wise in Heart will receive Commandments The Wisdom of the Prudent is to understand his way In the point of his Duty here he would not be to seek Such have little time to spend have little Heart to spend time about such Notions though true that have little or no influence on the Heart and Life Others study those things most that do least concern them And are taken up with by-matters neglecting the main But wholsom words and the Doctrine of Godliness agree best with Sound Minds As the Psalmist says Psal 119.104 Through thy Precepts I get Vnderstanding And prayeth ver 27. Make me to understand the way of thy Precepts And again ver 73. Give me Vnderstanding that I may learn thy Commandments As John's hearers came and asked What shall we do What shall we do Luk. 3.10 12 14. Serious Minds make little account of that Knowledg which hath no influence on is not reducible to practice Now the Lord grant that we may be filled with the Knowledg of his will in all Wisdom and Spiritual Vnderstanding that we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and encreasing in the Knowledg of God HEB. 10.39 But of them that believe to the Saving of the Soul SAving Faith is omnium virtutum radix Fundamentum as the Foundation in the Spiritual Building as the root of other Graces What Glorious things are spoken of Faith in Scripture Where is the Christian that will not acknowledg that doth not in some measure understand the usefulness excellency and the necessity of Faith A Christian could not live without it nor can he perish with it But the Question is How Saving-Faith may be known And wherein it is differenced from other Faith that is not Saving Indeed there is an Historical or Dogmatical Faith and there is a practical Faith there is a dead Faith and a living Faith there is a temporary Faith and a grounded and permanent Faith there is a counterfeit Faith and unfeigned Faith It ought to be our great care that we take not Leah for Rachel that we take not up with a Fancy instead of Faith Here first I shall shew what it is not 1. True Faith is not a blind implicite Assent to one knows not what Not a believing as the Church believes I grant as there is a general Repentance and humiliation so a general Faith As there is an Humiliation for unknown Sins when a Man is humbled and heartily grieved to think that he is more vile and sinful than he sees himself to be and to think that he is guilty of a multitude of Sins more than he is able to find out and discover in his Heart and Life whereby he is disposed to a particular Repentance for any of those unknown Sins as he cometh to a knowledg of them so there is a general and implicite Faith or Assent to Divine Truths contained in God's Word such as one hath not yet attained to the knowledg of when a Man believeth that whatsoever God saith in his Word is most certainly true and would yeild his Assent readily to any Truth which at present he has no knowledg of as soon as he sees the Scripture for it But this general implicite Faith and credence of the Word of God is
quite different from that implicite Faith and credence of the Churches Testimony which some Popish Doctors so much commend And that this is not true Faith is very plain and evident For 1. The Popish implicite Faith is but the belief of an humane Testimony And can that be a Divine Faith which resteth on an humane Testimony 2. It prepares Men for receiving and drinking in abundance of Errors contrary to the Word contrary to Sound Faith They must believe as the Church believeth and therefore may not question much less deny any thing the Church holdeth how contrary soever to the word of Truth 3. It fostereth a Multitude of their poor deluded People in most lamentable Ignorance Yea indeed it seemeth to have been devised to put out Mens Eyes that so they might lead them even which way they please Notwithstanding many of their Writers cannot but grant that this implicite Faith hath no place about the necessary Articles of Faith but that these must be explicitely believed Only they say it is sufficient for the common People to believe with an implicite Faith those points which are besides the necessary Articles of Faith yet it is famously known that the Ruling part of their Church have even denied the common People the use of the Holy Scriptures in their own Tongue where they well could and have been also for imposing on them Service in an unknown Tongue whereby People commonly understand not either what is said by the Priest or what themselves say Of which Sr. Europae Speculum Quarto p. 8. Edwyn Sandys sayes well Their Service is no other than as a Lamp put out which bringeth no Light at all to the Understanding nor can bring any due warmth to the Affection And thus notwithstanding the fair Comment that some of their Doctors School-men and Casuists put upon their implicite Faith their common practice would teach us to take it in a worse sense scil as an Engine contrived to keep People in Ignorance and in blind Obedience and fast subjection to their Prelates 4. It is a great Absurdity Their Implicite Faith is no Faith but a meer Cloak for Ignorance As * Arch-Bishop of 〈…〉 on 〈…〉 p. 39. One that had been well acquainted with them Verily for any Man to say I believe that which another Man believeth is as much as if he said I see that which another Man seeth though my own Eyes be shut What rare learned Doctrine was that of Altenstaig That an implicite Faith availeth so much Dictionar in verbo credere that if any one having it should think falsly moved with his natural reason that the Father was greater than or before the Son or that the three Persons were locally distant from one another or the like yet he is not an Heretick he sinneth not whilst that he doth not pertinaciously defend his errour and believeth this because he believeth the Church doth so believe What a rare device is this that would keep an Arrian a Nestorian an Audian or Anthropomorphite from being an Heretick But how absurd is it to hold that a Man believeth Non tantum qui actu ut loquuntur non assentit Panstr tom 3. p. 377. §. 13. sed etiam qui actu dissentit as learned Chamier notes who not only doth not actually assent but also actually dissenteth But enough of that 2. True Saving-Faith is not a bare Historical or Dogmatical Faith The Papists quarrel with the term Historical But by Historical Faith our Divines do not mean a Faith confined to the Historical part of the Scriptures but such a Faith which though it taketh in the whole Word of God for its object yet assenteth no otherwise unto it than as a Man may give credit to an History of things that nothing concerneth him This Historical or Dogmatical Faith which is their Fides informis formless Faith they hold to be one and the same with the Faith which is Justifying and Saving That Faith whether it be joyned with or separated from Charity hath all that is essential to Faith only the conjunction of Charity with Faith makes it Living and Saving But if Historical Faith was the same with Justifying Faith Thes Theol. in Folio p. 3. §. 11. vid. §. 12. then whosoever had Historical Faith hoc ipso he should have Justifying Faith as Le Blanc argues And then all that have Historical Faith having all that is essential to Faith should be saved For he that believeth shall be saved The Scripture cannot be broken which hath entailed Salvation upon all true Believers Either Faith necessarily includeth more than a bare Assent to the Truth or all that assent to the Truth are saved Indeed we have some that hold Faith to be only an Assent of the understanding a giving credit to the Word of God as true As to believe a thing is to assent to the truth of a Proposition for the Authority and Testimony of him that speaks it And this they would confirm by Scripture As that Text is urged Joh. 11.26 27. In which words says one we see Hobs Philosoph Rudiments c. 18 p. 349. that the Question Believest thou in me is expounded by the Answer Thou art the Christ To believe in Christ therefore is nothing else but to believe Jesus himself saying that he is the Christ So Mat. 16.16 and 1 Joh. 4.2 is likewise alledged here But it is certain the Scripture doth not take the words Faith and Believing in so strict a sense as a Philosopher would take them but more largely And so as others have noted the expressions alledged are not to be taken exclusive Vid. Ames Medul c. 3. §. 20. Shepherd Sound Believer p. 159 160. but inclusive not as excluding other Acts of Faith which other Texts of Scripture expressively attribute unto it but as including and supposing them And there was a special reason why Faith should be described then as a believing that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the Living God and a believing that Jesus Christ was come in the Flesh Because this was a new Article of Faith necessary to be believed and was in those times a main point in question and by the Men of the times strongly I mean violently opposed Thus it was a greater matter to believe and confess Jesus to be the Christ at that time than for us to assent to this Truth when it is generally owned and professed As one well noteth We must distinguish times Dr. Manton on Jam. 2.19 p. 305. The Truths of God then Suffering under so many prejudices c. The Wind that bloweth on our Backs blew in their Faces and that which draweth on many to assent to the Gospel was their discouragement But to prove that a bare intellectual Assent is not true Saving-Faith we need look no further than that Text Jam. 2.19 Thou believest that there is one God thou dost well the Devils also believe and tremble The Apostle instanceth in this
hold on by consent and affiance Or thus there is the primary and principal Object of Faith and the secondary and less principal Object The primary and principal Object of Faith are the fundamentals essentials and most necessary points of the Christian Religion Such Divine Doctrines Promises and Precepts without assent and consent unto which we cannot believe unto Salvation or be sound Christians Yet I shall not contend with those that make Christ the only Mediator and Saviour the principal Object of Faith forasmuch as I doubt not but we are agreed that the belief of all that is necessary to be known and believed of Christ doth suppose and include the belief of all other points that are absolutely necessary to Salvation And as he is the Chief and principal Means of bringing us to God the Scriptures have a chief reference and respect to Christ Luk. 24.44 Joh. 5.39 The secondary and less principal Object of Faith takes in other things contained in the Word that are of good use indeed Rom. 15.4 2 Tim. 3.16 But though all Scripture be of use and profitable yet all that is there written is not absolutely necessary to be distinctly known and explicitely believed And yet you may not hence infer that if you know and believe so much as is absolutely necessary to Salvation there needeth no more None are to stand at a stay in Religion All that are in the School of Christ must be making proficiency growin Faith and Knowledg We should diligently improve the means that the Word of Christ may dwell in us richly that we may be filled with the knowledg of his Will And further as a late Writer noteth there are points of Faith secondarily fundamental Fowler Design of Christianity p. 235. the disbelief of which cannot consist with true Holiness in those to whom the Gospel is sufficiently made known And all such Doctrines as are with indisputable clearness revealed to us the belief of these is absolutely necessary from an external cause though not from the nature of the points themselves viz. in regard of their perspicuity that nothing can cause Men to refuse to admit them but that which argueth them to be stark naught and to have some unworthy and base end in so doing or in the phrase of Scripture 2 Tim. 3.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reprobate concerning the Faith Note one thing more touching the Object of Faith scil That more is taken into the necessary Object of Faith now under the Gospel than was necessary before The Mystery of our Redemption by Christ being more fully unfolded in the Gospel a more distinct explicite Faith in Christ is required of us than was required of those to whom less was revealed Revelatio est mensura Fidei Le Blanc Though Noah Abraham and all the faithful before Christ were justified and saved by Faith yet not by that special kind of Faith that such as live under the Gospel are saved by I mean there are new Articles of Faith relating to Christ his Office and Undertaking as Mediator essential to a Gospel-Faith that were not essential to Faith before the promulgation of the Gospel Nor did the Apostles themselves believe some of them till after Christ's Resurrection concerning whom excepting Judas we have no doubt but they were true Believers Next to shew you the special and proper Acts of Faith They speak much in a little that call Faith a practical Assent and a fiducial Consent I cannot exclude any of these three Acts Assent Consent and Affiance The two last are plainly expressed in the shorter Catechism and all three fully in the Confession of Faith forecited And so the learned and holy Bishop Vsher Body of Divinity p. 197. Edit 1648. to the Question What is true Saving-Faith Answereth It is such a firm Assent of the Mind to the Truth of the Word as flows into the Heart and causeth the Soul to embrace it as good and to build its eternal Happiness on it And it should not seem strange that so much is taken into the nature of true Faith As Divines now generally place it not in the Vnderstanding only or in the Will only but in both faculties conjunct if they be distinct faculties and not the very essence of the Soul disposed and acting differently towards the Object considered in a different notion and respect And methinks it is plain in Scripture that the Faith to which Salvation is promised doth not consist in one single Act for there are these diverse Acts even now mentioned attributed to it 1. It is an Assent An Assent to the Truth of the Word in general and particularly to the Promise of Salvation by Christ Though I shewed before that Faith consists not barely in Assent that this is not the whole of Faith yet we cannot deny but this is part of it We find Faith thus described again and again that we must acknowledg it one Act of Faith It would be strange indeed if a belief of the Truth be no part of Faith Then Martha answered nothing to the Question Joh. 11.26 27. when she said yea Lord I believe that thou art the Christ So see Rom. 10.9 But how does Faith assent to Divine Truth 1. Faith assenteth really not feignedly A true Believer doth not only profess or confess with his Mouth but believes in his Heart as he professeth to believe 2. Faith assents firmly not waveringly It riseth higher than opinion It is more than a Semi-perswasion of the Truth As they said We believe and are sure Not as Agrippa almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian I grant that as all Christians have not the same measure of Spiritual-Knowledg and as there are different degrees of Faith so all Believers have not the same degree of firmness of Assent And Faith does not wholly exclude all doubtings but overcometh them Indeed sometimes very horrid thoughts arise or are injected that would put the Soul upon questioning all but they are not entertained but ordinarily abhorred and rejected as they come As one says Herb. Palmer Paradoxes p. 64. §. 72. He is sometimes so troubled that he thinks nothing is true in Religion and yet if he did think so he could not be at all troubled It is true thus a Believer sometimes is sore shaken yet not quite taken off from all but rather put upon earnest Prayer and indeavours to be more rooted and grounded in Faith So these shakings are wont to end in his more firm establishment And take the weakest Believer out of such a swounding-fit and he has ordinarily a deeper sense of Divine Truths and a stronger assent to them than others whose Faith is unsound though these may have a far greater measure of Notional Knowledg even such an Assent that he dare venture his Soul and all his hopes and concerns deliberately upon them 3. Faith assents freely In this sense it is true that with the Heart Man believeth Some are convinced of the Truth but sore
against their Wills There Assent is a forced not a free Assent As some are willingly Ignorant so some again are knowing unwillingly As Light is troublesome to sore Eyes so Knowledg and Convictions to unsound Minds And they put off convictions as long as they can Though they may take some delight in speculative Truths though they may not be offended at some practical Truths yet those Soul-searching and practical Truths that would come nearest and that most concern them they are strongly prejudiced against A true Believer would not resist the Truth would not shut it out He willingly yields to and takes part with God's Truth when he knows it even against any Errour or sinful practice he had been for before And so 4. Faith assents impartially A Believer assents to the whole Word of God in general and to every thing which he sees held forth in God's Word as true And we receive no Truth upon the Testimony and Authority of God in his Word if we receive not every thing for Truth which we see his Word for A quatenus ad omne valet consequentia A partial Assent or yielding to some Truths with a rejection of others which we see as clearly laid down in the Word will not stand with true Faith Certainly I cannot have the Faith of a Christian without believing the Trinity in Unity the Incarnation Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the way of Mans Redemption and Salvation by him But now when carnal reasonings are subdued and a Man is come to assent to those great Mysteries and chief Articles of Faith where the greatest difficulty lay he will more easily assent to other points of less difficulty seeing them confirmed by the same Divine Testimony upon which he rests assured of the Truth of those higher Mysteries Thus though good Men and true Believers may err and differ in controvertible points in points not fundamental or essential to true Christianity yet they are agreed in this common Principle That whatsoever the Lord saith in his Word is true And therefore when they see the Scripture against any opinion they have held it immediately puts an end to the Controversy They dare not hold any opinion contrary to known Scripture As for those that are for bringing Scripture to their opinions and not for bringing their opinions to Scripture and such as obstinately maintain their errours against clear evidence of God's Word which they see and will not see they must needs be of corrupt Minds and reprobate concerning the Faith Yet further to shew the impartiality of Faith's assent to Divine Truth 1. Hereby a Believer assents to the Truth of any thing he sees God's Word for without any other reason As indeed it is most unreasonable not to believe that God who cannot Lye who cannot be deceived or deceive Heb. 11.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith is the evidence of things not seen Faith takes it for sufficient proof and good demonstration that a thing is so because God saith it when it doth not otherwise at all appear to a Man's Sence or Reason 2. Where the same thing may be proved both by Scripture and by humane Reason e.g. that the World was created and had a beginning as we are taught in the Scripture we may also prove it by Reason yet a Believer more chearfully acquiesceth in the Testimony of God in his Word is better satisfied with that than with any Arguments a Philosopher could bring for it To a Believer there is more weight in one single Scripture-Testimony to ballast his Judgment than in a multitude of Philosophical Reasons besides the Scripture 3. A Believer assents to the Truth of the Word in things that are quite above Mans Reason Fides nostra super ratione quidem est non tamen temerarie irrationabiliter ad sumitur Junilius Ep. Afri As that there are three Persons yet but one God that the Son of God took Mans nature that there are two natures in Christ yet but one Person that there shall be a resurrection of the Body the same numerical Body though resolved into Dust shall be raised again and re-united to the Soul Such points as quite non-plus humane reason Faith takes for great and certain Verities Where natural Reason would say How can these things be Faith will readily conclude they must certainly be true being attested by the God of Truth And yet by the way here is nothing for the Popish Monster of Transubstantiation for where hath God said that upon the words of Consecration the Bread is turned into Christs Body Or from what Word of God is so much necessarily inferred 4. A Believer assents to the Word in things that are purely contrary to the Wisdom of the Flesh and carnal Reason That which was to the Jews a stumbling-Block and to the Greeks foolishness a Believer admires as the Wisdom of God It is marvellous in the Eye of Faith That Godliness is great gain this passeth with Believers for currant Truth and an unquestionable principle though carnal Reason judgeth otherwise even that it bids Men loss Faith concludes with the Word that he that walketh uprightly walketh surely that Integrity is the best Policy when carnal Reason says that nothing sooner or more surely runs Men upon Rocks of danger Faith will give us to see that the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour even when such are commonly esteemed as the filth of the World and off-scouring of all things Thus Faith assents to divine Truth impartially 5. The Assent of true Faith is an holding Assent Men have not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato said a stable belief touching the Idea of Good The lusts of Mens Hearts are ever and anon streaming up and casting a Mist over their Minds Thus it is with the most They have a glimpse of their Truth sometimes but they soon shut it out There is great fickleness and inconstancy in their assent to the Truth A temporary Faith and a temporary Assent that comes and goes but stays not But Saving-Faith is such a Faith as is never lost And so its assent is holding and abiding They have damnation that cast off their first Faith 6. The Assent of true Faith is practical and efficacious It is an operative Assent According to that before-cited It acteth * Putásne Filium Dei repurat Jesum quisquis ille est homo qui ipsius nec terretur comminationibus nec attrahitur promissionibus nec praeceptis obtemperat nec consiliis acquiescit Nonne is etiam si fateatur se nosse Deum factis tamen negat Bern. in octav pasch Ser. 1. differently upon the belief of the Commands Threatnings and Promises of the Word That is it acteth suitably to the nature of each A belief of the Promises working Consent and Affiance a belief of the Threatnings Fear a belief of the Commands Obedience A dead Man is not a Man so neither is a dead Faith true Faith A sound Assent produceth a real
such conditions but his Grace worketh by means and a conditional Promise is his stablished means to draw Mans Heart to the performance of the Condition which well considered is a sufficient answer to the Arguments that are commonly urged against the conditionality of the Promises As the Spirit worketh powerfully within so he useth that word from without Direct to sound Convers p. 289 290. as his Instrument which worketh sapientially and powerfully to the same work And the like observation we may take concerning the Threatnings in the Word Therein ordinarily some such evil as we naturally abhor and dread is threatned either to excite us to our duty which our corrupt hearts and natures are exceeding backward to or to deter us from Sin to which we are naturally prone and strongly inclined Now to apply these things to the point in hand The Believer is made sensible what a Sinner he has been and what woe and wrath is due to Sin and Sinners that indeed he has deserved Hell for his Portion yet withal he believes according to the Word that God is in Christ reconciling Sinners unto himself that he so loved the World as to give his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have Everlasting Life that Jesus Christ is the only and an all-sufficient Saviour that he is willing as well as able to save those that come to God by him But withal that there is no coming to him only as a Saviour so as to find welcome but he must come to him also as a Leader and Commander resolving sincerely to obey and follow him that without taking his Yoak upon us we cannot find rest for our Souls To these things a Believer cannot but subscribe These things are set home and kept close to his Heart and such Truths as these being mixed with Faith firmly assented to they work effectually Thus he deliberately makes choice of Christ as the only meet help for his Soul in all the World Now go to Hypocrites and Unbelievers and it appears they have but some faint and weak Assent to the foresaid Truths Did they really believe Heaven and Hell and that without an interest in Christ there is no hope of Heaven but to Hell they must go all the World cannot save them how is it possible they should make so light of Christ as they do preferring a momentary pleasure or a little worldly pelf before him which a true Believer accounts but dung and trash If you tell a Man there is a Lyon in the way behind him with open mouth ready to devour him and he flees not as for his Life does it not plainly shew that he believes not what you say So that Sinners do not flee to Christ it shews they do not believe their misery and danger out of Christ Or if sometimes they have strong Convictions that startle and terrify them they have Arts and Devices to put them off They will not suffer them to stay Their corrupt Wills and Affections call off their thoughts from such things as most nearly concern them As we read Mat. 13.15 Their Eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see with their Eyes and hear with their Ears and should understand with their Heart and should be converted and I should heal them Their Eyes they have closed Thus poor Sinners wink hard shut the Windows to keep out the Light that they may still sleep on in Sin Or when they can be no longer quiet as they are then they bribe their Consciences and deceive themselves with a seeming Faith a seeming Conversion a seeming Reformation which they take up with as sufficient as poor Laodicea thought her self rich Thus by one means or other they are kept off from a serious and deliberate closing with the Lord Jesus But then come to a sound Believer and he is as sure that the Word of God will prove true as that there is a God which is as sure as that there are any Creatures in the World and so that Heaven and Hell are not Fancies which have a being only in Mens imaginations but unquestionable realities that all Miseries and Sufferings in this life are case and pleasure compared with the Torments of Hell and Miseries of the Damned and all the Pleasures and enjoyments of this Life but pain and loss compared with the Joys of Heaven that if ever he be saved he must be saved by Christ and that he cannot hope to be saved by Christ but in his own way Thus he sees it unquestionably his grand concern to accept of Christ as he is offered And such Truths being set home by the Spirit with Power and Evidence they have a mighty force to pull down strong-holds and carnal reasonings in the Heart against them to bring into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ And thus the Will and Affections are wrought upon And what sorrow then See Dr. Preston of Effectual Faith p. 204. to think of ones former natural and sinful State and what Fear O what will become of me if I get not a Part and Interest in Christ If I fall short of Heaven at last then where am I how miserable shall I be to Eternity And what vehement desire after Christ Give me Christ or I die And what resolution in the Will I will go to Christ and give up my self to him and cast my self upon him If I perish I perish Lord whither should I go Thou hast the words of Eternal Life Thus a Believer consents and closeth with Christ deliberately upon clear conviction that he has no other way to take 3. A true Believer consents unfeignedly and heartily True Faith is Faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1.5 A Sound Believer does not take up with a profession of Faith in Christ and of subjection to him does not think it enough to say Lord Lord to speak honourably of him but hath his heart opened to receive the King of Glory The Lord Jesus Christ is his desire and choice indeed And as he had rather have Christ alone for his Portion than the whole World without him so he had rather be subject to the Laws of Christ than freed from them Though the Flesh is still lusting in him against the Spirit and the Law in his Members rebelling against the Law of his Mind yet he can truly say his Will is more to Christ and to his Service than to please and gratify the Flesh and to serve Sin And he repents not of any thing he does for Christ but is grieved and ashamed that he does no more and that what he hath done has been done in no better manner but he heartily repents of his serving Sin heretofore and of what he hath done displeasing unto Christ And in the ordinary habitual and prevailing bent of his will he is for taking part with Christ and his Laws against the lustings of the Flesh against the motions and workings of remaining corruption in him He is so
sense emulate them We should strive at least to overtake those that are foremost Yea true Zeal for God and Godliness will not set it self any bounds or limits You cannot call them zealous that stint themselves and count it an high point of prudence and discretion not to be too forward in Religion But as Love so Zeal is like Fire that cannot be hid it will break forth Quis enim celaverit ignem Lumine qui semper proditur ipse suo Such as are afraid of being counted zealous as if it was a matter of disgrace are far from such a spirit as David had who when he was mocked and despised of Michal spake resolvedly I will yet be more vile than thus if this be to be vile Fire is one of those things which say not It is enough Prov. 30.16 So true Zeal never says It is enough A zealous Christian would have more Grace more Zeal for God They that are zealous of good works desire to abound more and more in good works 18. True Zeal is not for a spurt for a flash it is constant a Fire that never goes out Like that Fire upon the Altar Lev. 6.13 Though I must grant the Zeal of a true Christian doth not flame up at all times alike yet it is never totally extinguished It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing Gal. 4.18 And this is a good sign thy Zeal is right if it be constant There are some whose Zeal is but a flash scarce any sooner in than out again Some have a burning fit of Zeal for a while that is quickly over Their praeter-natural heat stays not But true Zeal is like the natural heat of the Body that continues as long as one lives Yea though it is like Fire in green wood subject to go out if it be not blown up yet that Spirit which first kindled this spark in Believers is given to dwell in them and to abide with them for ever And therefore though there may be some decays of Holy Zeal for a time yet it is stirred up again in the Faithful and usually burneth clearer after it is recovered As we sometimes see Fire blaze up more after a dash of water cast on it Yea ordinarily as we may observe a flame mount highest before it goes out ordinarily I say a Christians Zeal is most raised the nearer he is to his end But such as once seemed very forward for that which is good but are quite fallen off again have quite out-lived their Zeal they even give others cause enough to suspect that they were never sound OF A Lively Hope ROM 12.12 Rejoycing in Hope TO go on to the Trial of all other Christian Vertues might upon some accounts cross my design in what is Written which is to help and direct ordinary Christians in the Trial and exercise of Grace even such as cannot purchase or have not time to peruse large Volums I have spoken of the chief Cardinal Graces and shewed how they work how they may be known Prove these in your selves and there is no question but you have the whole Train of those better things that necessarily accompany Salvation As without these any other Vertues you may seem to have as Temperance Patience Meekness c. are but Shadows and Counterfeits So that I might make a Full-stop at what is Written Yet because many are kept off from any serious examination of their Estates satisfying themselves with this That they have Hopes and some That they have Joys too never enquiring How they came by them or of what kind they are Therefore before I conclude this Treatise I shall shew you how you may know whether your Hope and Joy be sound or no. And first of Hope But let me premise these Three Things 1. It is unquestionable that there is a false a deceiving Hope as well as a true and certain Hope There is a dead Hope as well as a lively Hope There is a confounding Hope as well as an Hope that maketh not ashamed There is the Hope of the Hypocrite Job 8.13 as well as the Hope of the Righteous Prov. 10.28 2. Better no Hopes than false Hopes As we may allude to that Prov. 26.12 Seest thou a Man wise in his own conceit There is more hope of a Fool than of him So there is more Hope of Sinners that are most despondent in one sense without Hope than of such as are very confident high in their Hopes but without any ground And how sad is it as I remember one says to sail on smoothly to Hell having Heaven all the while in view Hope that is like to end in horrour and utter desperation is not worth having 3. It is justly to be suspected that their Hopes are groundless and false who are unwilling to bring them to the Test and Trial. That part of a Man's Body which he could not endure to have touched we would conclude not right or sound But if your Hope be right it would not suffer any injury or damage by a fair impartial Trial but be more confirmed Now if you ask What is Christian Hope I answer It is a longing and fiducial expectation of Good promised to come in God's Time and Way Faith and Hope are very near akin Yet thus they differ 1. In Order Faith in order of nature is before Hope Hope is the Daughter at least the youngest Sister of Faith 2. In the Object Faith has respect to the whole Word of God Hope to the Word of Promise Good only is the object of Hope And Future Good Quod speratur non possidetur good to be received and enjoyed Rom. 8.24 Or if I may be said to hope that I am in a state of Grace that my Sins are pardoned which is hope of a present Good if my Hope be sound or if I say I hope God heard my prayer at such a time and gave in such a Mercy in answer to it here seems to be Hope of a thing past Here the word Hope seems to be used more improperly or taken more largely It is more properly a Perswasion though short of full Perswasion or Assurance But properly Hope looks at Good to come Whereas what is past may be the object of Faith as well as what is to come As we believe the Creation of the World a thing past as well as the Resurrection of the Body which is future 3. In their proper formal Acts. Faith apprehends and assents to the truth of the Promises Hope expects and looks for the Good promised An expectation of Good is the formal Act of Hope And herein also it is differenced from or contrary to Fear which is an expectation of Evil not of Good But that which I mainly intend is to shew wherein sound Hope differs from Presumption or from a false Hope Or how we may know whether our Hope be sound 1. True hope is not ordinarily obtained but after sad doubts and fears As it is Hos
That Joy which is born down with any Affliction that comes is not like the Joy of the Spirit which is called strong Consolation Heb. 6.18 15. Spiritual Joy is not swelling But is accompanied with an humble frame of Spirit Heart-humbling Grace is a necessary preparative unto and a necessary preservative of Heart-raising and elevating Joys Isa 29.19 The meek or humble shall encrease their Joy in the Lord and the poor among Men shall rejoyce in the holy One of Israel Such as are lifted up in themselves are not so fit for Comfort as for a Casting down And one way or other they shall have a Casting down If not in Mercy and by Grace then by force and in fury When a Child of God is growing proud of his Comforts and Enlargements he is in the ready way to lose them As I may say Humility is the Save-all and Prolonger and Pride the Extinguisher If you can keep your Joy and Pride together it is more than a Child of God can do 16. Spiritual Joy is not intoxicating but a sober serious thing joyned with an holy Fear Care and Watchfulness Psal 2.11 Rejoyce with trembling When Daniel heard from God that he was a Man greatly beloved yet he stood trembling Dan. 10.11 That is not right rejoycing in the Lord which excludes Reverence towards him And when he speaks Peace yet he expects better carriage of his People than that they should grow secure and careless He expects that they should have a care not to return again to Folly Psal 85.8 Where he says Be of good chear thy Sins are forgiven thee He withal says Sin no more stand in in awe and sin not Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption And by sinning presumptuously the Lord would be provoked to hide his Face again to write bitter things against us Thus new storms of Trouble would be raised 17. Spiritual Joy would not put one upon a contemptuous carriage towards others But rather make him full of Charity and pity towards those that want and are strangers to what he enjoys Though a stranger doth not intermeddle with his Joy Prov. 14.10 yet he cannot but desire that others were partakers of the like Psal 51.12 13. Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation Then will I teach Transgressors thy Wayes I shall encourage Sinners to come in by thy merciful dealing with me who have been so great a Sinner As Christ chargeth Peter when he was converted and restored to strengthen his Brethren Luke 22.32 And the Apostle Paul lays this down as one end the Father of Mercies hath in comforting us that we may be able to comfort them which are in any Trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God 2 Cor. 1.4 And if we have not a tender pity towards poor troubled Spirits and such as have broken Bones if we have no Wine and Oyl to pour into wounded Consciences if we are not at all concerned for others under Spiritual Troubles we may justly fear our Joy is not right 18. Spiritual Joy will set Souls more on longing after the Joys of Heaven That Joy which comes from Heaven will be raising the Heart up towards Heaven Souls that have tasted that the Lord is Gracious will thirst after more and long for the fulness of Joy in his Presence will breath after the full Enjoyment of God in Glory 2 Cor. 5.5 8. God hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit Therefore We are willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. If we have found any consolation in Christ beholding him through the Lattices how shall we desire to see the King in his Beauty and to see him Face to Face Spiritual Joy will make Souls more spiritually-minded will very much take off the affections from things on the Earth and set them upon things Above A BRIEF REHEARSAL 2 COR. 13.5 Examine your selves whether you be in the Faith prove your own selves TO write the same things here shall not be grievous to me if for you it may be safe and profitable To try and examine your selves whether you are in a state of Grace you cannot deny to be your Duty And to direct and assist you therein is the principal design of this Treatise Now of the things which we have spoken this is the Sum. 1. What Knowledg have you And of what kind 1. Have you more than a natural Knowledg of God 2. More than a notional Knowledg Are you come to a discerning of Spiritual things and to a Spiritual discerning of them Have you other thoughts of Sin and other thoughts of God and Christ and Holiness and Heaven than formerly you had 3. How come you by your Knowledg Whether in an humble diligent waiting on God in the use of the means he hath appointed 4. Have you not a bare Knowledg but are you also come to the acknowledgment of the Truth Not only a Verbal but a Real acknowledgment To know the certainty of those things wherein you have been instructed 5. Does your Knowledg reach your Hearts Has it a powerful influence on your Wills Are you not only resolved in your Judgments but also in your Choice 6. Is your Knowledg not only informing but reforming and renewing 7. Is your Knowledg humbling Or does it puff up 8. Is it nourishing as Food and Fuel to Grace and Spiritual Affections 9. Is it Fructifying Is it reduced to Practice 10. Is it Communicative 11. Is it growing And especially are you thriving 1. In the sound and experimental Knowledg of God and Christ 2. And getting more inward acquaintance with your own selves and the state of your own Souls 3. And in learning more of your own Duty and of the Counsel of God concerning you 2. Try your Faith And what can you say to those three principal acts of Faith scil Assent Consent and Affiance 1. How do you assent to Divine Truth 1. Do you assent Impartially 2. Do you assent freely Do you yield willingly to Divine Truth as it is discovered to you 3. Do you assent really Have you more than an half-perswasion of the Truth 4. Have you an holding Assent to the Truth 5. Is it a Practical Assent Does it draw on Consent 2. How do you consent to God's Terms 1. Do you consent entirely not partially 2. Do you consent deliberately 3. Do you consent heartily unfeignedly 4. Do you consent firmly and resolvedly 3. What trust and affiance have you in God and Christ I ask not what Assurance you have Yet is your Dependence on God in Christ And 1. Is it such as is accompanied with Self-distrust and Self-despair 2. And with an hearty acceptance of Christ and sincere subjection to him 3. And with a dependence on the Lord for Temporal Mercies and Deliverance as he sees fit for you Further Do those Scripture-notes given of Faith agree to you 1. Is Christ precious to you
Article as Estius says because in it especially the Jews differed from Pagans or because it is the first Article of our Faith But he might questionless have added other Articles which the Devils as well believe and are convinced to be certain Truths They believed Jesus to be the Son of God Mat. 8.29 And that he was the Christ Luk. 4.41 The Devil that puts others upon questioning whether there be a God Or whether the Scriptures be the Word of God hath no doubt of these things himself He that would have Men Atheists or Infidels is far from being either himself Atheism and Infidelity are Sins which the Devil cannot be guilty of An Atheist or an Infidel is in that respect worse than the Devil himself Now certainly that Faith which the Devils have cannot be true Saving-Faith But the Devils have such a Faith as this they are clearly convinced that the Scriptures are the Word of God and that what God's Word holds forth is certainly true How absurd and irrational is it to suppose that the Devils that are Damned have that same Faith for the nature of it which the Scripture calls precious Faith and which it maketh the condition of Salvation And yet mistake me not I grant a Dogmatical Faith is included in Saving Faith As the Vegetative Soul is included in the Sensitive or as both these are included in the Rational Soul So a believing that there is a Christ that he is come in the Flesh and a believing the Word of Christ is included in our believing in him And indeed they that believe not what is spoken of him in the Gospel that believe not the Son of God his taking Mans Nature on him uniting it to his Person that there was such a one as Jesus Christ that was born of a Virgin that suffered was crucified at Jerusalem and rose again from the dead and ascended up to Heaven according to the Scriptures they that allegorize the true Christ out of Doors and only acknowledg a Christ within them they do not believe in that Jesus whom Paul preached whom all the Apostles preached whom the Father sealed I further grant that to believe with a Dogmatical Faith is part of Man's duty It is a setting to our Seal that God is true Joh. 3.33 And he that believeth not God hath made him a Lyer 1 Joh. 5.10 Think what an heinous Sin it is to give God the Lye If you deny his Truth you deny him to be God If he were not the God of Truth he were not the true God And further we must grant that the Word is a great gift of God that it is a wonderful favour that he is pleased thus to reveal his Mind and Will and make himself known to the Sons of Men. And that it is a work of the Spirit though but a common work which such may have as shall not be saved to bring Men to assent to the Truth All this is granted But yet though we know the Truth and cannot but assent to it in our Judgments if we do not embrace it with suituble Affections if we do not heartily cleave to it and sincerely submit to it our simple belief of the Truth is so far from being a Saving work that it will increase our Condemnation as our guilt is increased by it 3. True Saving-Faith is not a meer perswasion that my Sins are pardoned that I shall be Saved Some have gone this way Believe that your Sins are pardoned for Christ's sake and they are pardoned and you justifyed Believe that you shall be saved by Christ and you shall be saved A short cut to Heaven But how little need is there to teach Men Presumption or to encourage it But to shew you the Vanity of this conceit 1. All that hear the Gospel are bound to believe in Jesus Christ But all such are not bound to believe that they are pardoned justifyed and shall be saved 1 Joh. 3.23 This is his Commandment that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ And what Duty is more pressed in the Gospel But where doth the Gospel command all to believe that they shall be saved How many alas that are in their Sins that are such as the Word of God condemneth Know ye not that the Vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Such as the Apostle speaketh of 1 Cor. 6.9 10. believe contrary to the Gospel if while such they believe that they are pardoned and shall be saved The Gospel calleth us to repent that our Sins may be blotted out And we have no ground to believe or hope that our Sins are pardoned till we repent When we find unbelief spoken of as the great condemning Sin we must not take it so as if Sinners were condemned because they would not believe that their Sins were pardoned Nor is it the sense of that Article in our Creed I believe the Remission of Sins that I believe my Sins are remitted Too many lay down this Conclusion that yet stand condemned by the Sentence of God's Word All impenitent Sinners are bound to believe that at present they are in a state of Wrath Heirs apparent of Hell that except they repent they shall perish they cannot be saved 2. Are we not justifyed by Faith Deny that and you deny plain Scripture Now we cannot be justifyed by Faith if we are first of all to believe that we are pardoned and justified Le Blanc Thes Theol. p. 212. §. 103. Quomodo enim possemus justificari per actum qui justificationem jam factam praesupponit Must we believe our Sins are pardoned that they may be pardoned Must we believe we are Justifyed that we may be Justifyed What can be more absurd Then we must believe what is not that it may be as we believe If the first Act of Faith be to believe that I am pardoned and justifyed then Remission and Justification must needs go before Faith The Act supposeth the Object In order of Nature Faith is before Justification otherwise we are not justified by Faith and in order of Nature at least we must be justified before we can truly believe that we are justified Therefore we cannot be justified by believing we are so It is a plain contradiction to say that we believe before we are justified and yet are justified before we believe 3. It cannot be the first Act of Faith to believe I shall be saved except instead of the Word some special Revelation besides the Word be the Ground of my Faith This is plain because it is not at all credible to me according to the Word that I shall be saved till I know I have Faith such a Faith as hath Salvation annexed to it by promise such a Faith as purifieth the Heart worketh by Love c. According to the Word only he that believeth with such a Faith shall be saved That I cannot believe according to the Word that I shall be saved till I find such a Faith
perswasion that their Sins were pardoned for Christ's sake Which is a quite different thing from Faith as I have before shewed And yet Alas how many poor Souls that are still under the same mistake Many that complain they cannot believe when their meaning is they cannot but fear that they are not such unto whom God hath promised the benefits of Remission and Salvation And yet if they be asked Do you not believe the truth of whatsoever God hath spoken or promised And are you not willing to have Christ as he is offered to sanctify as well as justify you to rule as well as redeem and save you And do you not believe both his Power and Willingness to save all that heartily accept of him on his own terms and that Salvation can be no other way obtained And therefore notwithstanding all your doubts and fears about the sincerity of your acceptance of him yet do you not resolve to cast your selves on him and do you not look to him alone for Salvation This they could not deny without bearing false Witness against themselves Now this is Faith though all that have it cannot see it in themselves and therefore many true Believers doubt whether they are pardoned and shall be saved In Faith there is a believing application of Christ and the Promises As those Believers spoken of Heb. 11.13 were perswaded of the Promises and embraced them They did not only assent to them as true but embraced them as good not only as good in themselves but as good and proper for them they clave to them Indeed the holy Angels assent to the truth of the Gospel fully and are marvellously taken with admire and delight in the glorious Mysteries of Divine Grace therein contained but it is not their duty and concern to apply these things to themselves But Believers apply these things as most nearly concerning them Though there be not always a sensible application of Christ and the Promise with Faith which one calleth an Axiomatical Application so as to say and conclude that Christ is mine and the Promise or promised benefits are mine yet there is a real application a willing acceptance of Christ and resolved adherence recumbency and dependance on him And yet I grant that this Affiance and Recumbency on Christ though it is certainly in the habit and in Truth where Souls truly accept of Christ on his own terms it is but weak yea sadly clouded with doubts and fears in many true Believers As Cruciger on his Death-Bed Invoco te quanquam languidâ imbecillâ fide sed fide tamen c. When a Soul hath let go its hold elsewhere to take hold on Christ yet many times it takes hold on him but with a trembling hand That it is with a Believer as with the four Lepers 2 King 7.3 4. Why sit we here till we dye Let us go to the Syrians if they save us we shall live As with Esther Chap. 4.16 I will go to the King If I perish I perish As with the poor Prodigal Luk. 15.18 I will arise and go to my Father Though he knew not whether his Father would look on him and bid him welcome when he came As one says There is a Faith that is called a coming to Christ Vines is a motion a strugling to the Rock as well as a Faith resting and setling upon him Nec qui Serpentis aenei aspectu sanabantur pariter erant perspicaces P. Molin They that were cured with looking up to the Brazen Serpent were not all alike quick-sighted Aliud est luctarifiduciam cum dubitatione Chamier Panstrat tom 3. l. 13. c. 8. §. 11. p. 416. aliud nullam esse fiduciam True Faith may be with many doubtings And when one doubteth not of the truth of God's Word and Promises but only whether he be such an one to whom the promised benefits belong this is not the Sin of unbelief And commonly the doubtings of Believers are of this sort viz. not a distrust of God but a mistrusting themselves a suspition of themselves a jealousy of their own hearts that they are not right Surely most Believers are troubled with doubtings of this kind And indeed they have great cause to doubt of the truth of their Faith that as they say never doubted of their Salvation in all their Lives Yet further to lay down a few notes whereby you may judg of your Affiance and trust in Christ whether it be sound or no. 1. A Sound Affiance in Christ is not without a self-distrust and self-despair Haec vera hominis fiducia à se deficientis innitentis Domino suo Bern. Have we received the Sentence of Death in our selves not to trust in our selves Do we let go all broken Reeds and forsake all false props are we taken off our own bottoms that we put no confidence in the Flesh Indeed Sinners are not so well inclined towards Christ as to come to him before a sense of their necessity drive them They come not till they see they have none else to go unto that all other refuge fails them And so long as any are for establishing their own Righteousness they are it's true like Paul while he was a Pharisee as the Pharisees were Men that trusted in themselves that they were Righteous Luk. 18.9 but contrary to Paul after he was a Convert a Christian who then would be found in Christ not having his own Righteousness c. Phil. 3.9 In Hab. 2.4 A Soul that is lifted up is opposed to one that lives by Faith And I remember One observes a more direct opposition betwixt self and Christ than betwixt Sin and Christ for says he Sin does accidentally drive us unto Christ but Self does altogether draw us from Christ It is indeed a fatal mistake for Men to ascribe and attribute that to their own works or to any thing in themselves which is proper to God's Grace or to Christ's Righteousness Satisfaction and Merits If ever we be saved we must see our selves lost and undone in our selves and that we cannot be saved but by Grace in and through Jesus Christ that there is Salvation in no other It is true most certain and unquestionable that without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 The unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 So we cannot be saved without an inherent Righteousness yet we are not saved for it This is a necessary qualification unto not the procuring cause of Salvation It was the carnal Jews overthrow as we see Rom. 10.3 that they set up their own Righteousness confronting God's free Grace and Christ's Merits Mr. A. Disc of the two Covenants p. 124 125 126. gives a threefold account why it might be called their own Righteousness in opposition to the Righteousness of God 1. Because they sought the pardon of their Sins by that only which was their own their own Sacrifices 2. Because they did not think Regeneration or