Faith may be more readily and easily knowne by the * A Posteriori Fruits and Effects following then by * A Priori the Causes and things foregoing though this be the surer but both together do best as life by motion fire by heat the Sun by its Reflection on the wall or in the water a Seale by the print on wax may be as verily known as if you looke upon the things themselves Now then besides those immediate effects of true Beleeving mentioned CHAP. 11. it may be discerned by divers other in time and afterward as thus 1. It is a Living Faith both because it hath Life and Operation in it Gal. 5.6 It will * Si malè non benè operatur mortua est Aug. Enchir. cap. 67. worke for God and against sin as also because it makes us alive to God Rom. 6.13 2. It loves and desires the Word Gods Ordinances and holy meanes Psal 84.2 because first it 's begotten thereby as a Childe or young thing beares love to the breeders secondly they are nourishment to it as we being hungry love our food 3. It makes a new Creature purifying the heart Act. 15.9 and playning the life Rom. 6.4 It makes them vertuous knowing Gods will temperate patient godly which before were contrarie 2 Pet. 1.5 they therefore that joyne not to their Faith vertue but vice not knowledge but ignorance not Temperance but intemperance not Patience but impatience not Godlinesse but ungodlinesse their Faith is vaine and they not being new Creatures are not true Beleevers For Christ will draw all those his way in conformitie after him that partake of him as the Loadstone will draw the iron after it that comes within the reach of its vertue 4. It works repentance and abandoning of sin for a true hold of Christ will make us let goe our hold of sinne Obj. There is sin in the best Ans Sinne in the faithfull is like an harlot beaten out of doores which yet lies lingring in corners and out-roomes of the house though detested and not endured in sight but sin in unbeleevers is like an harlot harboured and maintained in the best roomes and delighted in Faith makes us grudge sinne any roome in this house of Christ whose honse are we Heb. 3.6 and this is Repentance 5. It will make one not content with thinking he hath it but to be very desirous and take paines to be sure and certaine he hath it 2 Cor. 13.5 6. It will worke selfe-deniall in us because we have given our selves away to Christ now as the wife to her husband Rom. 7.4 1 Pet. 4.2 3. Selfe-deniall First in regard of God for having doing suffering as he will and not as we would our selves so Christ Not as I will but as thou wilt Matt. 26.39 Secondly in regard of our neighbour in and for God Rom. 15.2 in * Col. 3.13 forgiving for bearing not doing them the least wrong to doe our selves the greatest benefit seeking and heartily desiring their good as if it were our own 1 Cor. 13.5 well requiting though they ill-deserving 7. A true Touch of Christ by Faith will draw vertue from him as Luk. 8.46 Matt. 14.36 as to the health of their Bodies so will it for the Soul much more and for the working of a Cure thereon it drawes from Christ the vertue of Holinesse and the closer we stick to him the more shall we draw from him as a plaister the closer it sticks the more it drawes 8. It makes us complaine of much want in our Faith and weaknesse in our Beleeving out of a sense of unbeliefe in us as a burden to us as Mark 9.24 Lord help my unbeliefe 9. It desires more and more earnestly the Favour of God and still better Assurance of it and therefore will make us 1. Not to favour our selves so much in sinne which stands not with Gods Favour 2. Not to be contented in any prosperitie without it 10. To long more after the Sweetnesse of Christ as Lovers that are agreed and contracted long for the Marriage day and the perfecting of their loves and as a Child that hath once tasted the sweetnesse of the bigg hunts more earnestly after it Faith longs therfore for Christs comming 2 Cor. 5.28 Cant. 8.14 Rev. 22.20 11. It expels worldlinesse from ruling in us 1 Ioh. 5.4 with 2.16 Heb. 11.26 So as a true Beleever cannot be a worldling that is to love worldly things more then Grace and Godlinesse no more then he can be a Iudas because Faith findes All-sufficiencie in Christ as Iacob for his Ioseph Gen. 45.28 so the true Beleever for his Iesus he can be content to want all so he have him 12. It exchades boasting of our gifts good parts good deeds Rom. 3.27 For first the more we perceive Gods mercie and love to us the more his Excellency and bountifulnesse appeares which will make us adore and reverence him in the more humilitie as a great personage the better he is knowne the more he is honoured Secondly the more we comprehend his mercie and Favour the more we apprehend our miserie standing in need thereof which will make us the more humble 13. It workes in us inward Spirituall Life now Christ liveth in us Gal. 2.20 and we in him which may be knowne as the naturall life 1. By the * Palpitatio cordis working of the heart panting after God Psal 42.1 and by beating of the pulses in our regular motions of constant endeavours and Holy Obedience Psal 50.23 2. By the Operation of the Senses Discerning good and evill effectually Heb. 5.14 3. By breathing a spirituall and a sweet breath of Grace Eccl. 10.12 Col. 4.6 4. By the motion of hand and foot which move to God and for God in all holy Actions contrary to the wicked mans speaking with his feet and instructing with his fingers Prov. 6.13 14. It cannot abide but driveth out Hypocrisie which serves not God for love but for by-ends for hypocrisie is all in feigning but Faith is unfained 2 Tim. 1.5 as contrarie as light and darknesse 15. It will not let us make haste to use ill or forbidden meanes to help our selves Isai 28.16 Psa 40.1 as it kept David from killing of Saul to hasten into the Throne for beleeving in God will not make us goe away from God as to hasten by evill meanes is to run away from him and we must be faine to come backe againe by Repentance 16. True beleeving obtaines what it beleeves viz. things for present in present Mat. 8.13 Things to come in their due time Matth. 21.22 so the benefits of Christ as deliverance from the raigning power of sinne Rom. 6.14 Sanctification and Grace as well as Salvation dependance on God sufficiencie in him patience contentedness c. which if it obtaine it 's true else false for how shalt thou thinke thy beleeving thy Salvation shall bring thee that when as thy beleeving thy Sanctification doth not bring
in him and seeking of him c. yet the Earnest makes the Bargaine if in good Truth of heart you consent begin these things 7. Then take up your bargaine and carry it away with you rejoycing as did the Eunuch Act. 8.39 now you may be sure that Christ is yours having thus made the Bargaine unlesse you thinke God will fly from his bargain and not performe which farre be it from your thoughts Num. 23.19 He is not as man that he should repent 6. It is an especiall help to beleeving to observe well the right grounds thereof shewed before CHAP. 6. and to take heed of the wrong grounds which is when the humbled sinner lookes to find something in himselfe to perswade him to it as the fruits of Sanctification and Evangelicall Repentance to forsake his sins out of love to God c. and is afraid and dares not be perswaded he shall be saved by Christ unlesse he finde these first which as they appeare more or lesse so he beleeves accordingly but when this humbled Soule longing truly after Christ findes not for that followes upon our apprehension of Gods love to us by Christ though faith be conceived in him yet hath he no power to bring forth in a setled perswasion nay he is so stumbled that in stead of drawing on to the perswasion of Faith he is further set off from it So then there are two wayes in use with those that are honestly minded thirsting after Christ whereby they labour to bring forth Faith in getting a true perswasion The first is by pitching on the right grounds mentioned CHA. 6. wherto I referre you not looking to any thing in themselves any more then Preparation by sound Humiliation The other way is when they looke to finde first some fruits of sound Grace before they be perswaded of their Salvation by Christ else think they should presume but that 's a great mistake this is a further way about and more uncōfortable wherin also when they have wheel'd about perhaps a great part of their life it must fall into the other way at last to 1. These the Temptor playes upon exceedingly as if a man should let a young Tree lie above ground and not set it in the Soyle till he first see what fruit it will beare or as if one should be afraid and refuse to eat till he first feele some working and Effect of food in him 2. They that take the former way shall thrive and grow more in a moneth then the other shall doe in a yeare as a Science skilfully put into the Stocke growes more in one yeare then another in three that is not well set in and besides often cropt to though some sap in it 3. The latter way is full of continuall uncertaintie perplexed with more cares feares and doubtings for as they finde abatings and coolings ebbes and flowes so doth their perswasion ebbe and flow If one be set forward in it one day he will be set back again two for it he is so cloyed and tired with thoughts of his own unworthinesse with fruitless fears and doubts that he cannot apply himselfe to goe on cheerfully in godly practice 4. They that take this latter way hang longer in the Birth with paine and discomfort yea they put themselves to a great deal more pain then they need Paine which shall not profit Jer. 12.13 whereas the former with more comfort are more speedily delivered and to their great Joy bring forth Faiths true perswasion Obj. To what use then serve sanctifying Graces and Fruits the signes of our Salvation are they needlesse Ans No they are of excellent use for they serve 1. To discover to men their Estate that they beleeve for all that truly beleeve have these things undoubtedly upon their beleeving but not before they serve not to put the Sience into the Stocke that is to set us into Christ but to declare that we are in him 2. They serve comfortably to confirme us in Beleeving not to bring us to beleeve as love-tokens betweene friends which are not the Ground of their first good-will but lively Demonstrations thereof and so serve to confirme it further as to this use serve the holy Sacraments 3. They are Faiths sun-beames as the Sun-beames are to the Sunne whereby it hath its working and operation in us and by us to the glorifying of God 2 Object Doth not the Scripture say The unrighteous shall not inherite the Kingdome of God Were it not folly then for me to beleeve I should be saved before I find my self such an one Ans Beleeve and thou art righteous for first thy Faith is accounted to thee for Righteousnesse and Christs Righteousnesse becomes thine and secondly by Faith thou partakest of inherent personall Righteousnesse 3 Obj. None shall be saved but they that are sanctified Gods Word tels us How can it then be safe or true for me to beleeve I shall be saved till I see my Sanctification Ans It is true you cannot be saved unlesse you first be sanctified but it 's as true you cannot be sanctified unlesse you first * Immundi omnes quos non mundat sides Christi Aug. Enclir c. 75. beleeve and unlesse it be by this meanes you shall never be sanctified Sanctification comes by Beleeving 2. You are as soon sanctified as justified and you might as well object Should I beleeve that I unjustified shall be saved No for in beleeving thou art justified and so it is for Sanctification But remember I have spoken all this while of the broken-hearted sinner sufficiently humbled and prepared at least for beleeving whatever more he hath attained I speake of no other so understand me and then you take me right CHAP. 10. The seat or subject of saving Beliefe THis is of some use for one may the better finde a good thing if he once know the very right place where it lieth the Seat and proper place of its abode and residence I take to be the Soule rather then any one particular facultie of it alone for Faith shewes it selfe and its vertue in the severall faculties of the Soule as in the Will by accepting of Christ in the Heart by trusting and relying on him in the Understanding by perswasion in the Conscience by Assurance And I conceive it to be after this order thus after that the understanding of a distressed Soule is enlightned to see a sufficient meanes Christ offered freely to him then first the heart if one belong to God is affected therewith and earnestly desires it viz. whole Christ here Faith begins for this in the humbled Soule drawes with it inseparably secondly an act of the Will to wit the accepting of it for whatsoever is desired the will chooseth and accepteth of it accepteth of it in making choice of Christ above all and in Resolution to hold fast to him and never to forgoe him then the work runs back again to the heart to rest and trust on him
against sinne and the flesh They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5.24 against men Heb. 11.33 34. c. It made David not afraid of ten thousands of people Psal 3.6 against the Creatures the very Lions could doe Daniel no manner of hurt because he beleeved in his God Dan. 6.23 Object But sometimes they both hurt and kill the faithfull A. It is no hurt though it seemes so Rom. 8.28 what hurt doth the Chirurgion in lancing the flesh to cure an Imposthume and save the life nay they hurt not the faithfull though they kill them for what hurt is death to a good man so that Faith is a Coat of Male and Armour of proofe against all evill yea spirituall also as death of Soul He that beleeveth in me shall never dye saith Christ Ioh. 11.26 the curse Christ hath redeemed such from the curse of the Law Gal. 3.13 Condemnation there is none to such Rom. 8.1 2. It is as all the five Senses to the Soule It tastes and sees that the Lord is good Psal 34.8 It heares the Lord speake peace Psal 85.8 It smels the savour of Christs good Oyntments Cant. 1.3 It toucheth Christ and feeles his vertue Luke 8.46 47 any one Sense is of much esteeme but all in one is of most excellent worth such a thing is Faith to the Soule and that Soule that wants it may be said to want its Senses 3. As the Soule is to the Body that which keeps it alive so is Faith to the Soule nay more for it keeps it alive for ever that it shall never die more What would men give for such a thing as would keep the body ever alive how much better is this It is as Salt that keeps the Soule from corruption nay which is more it fetcheth it againe when before it was most odiously corrupted 4. It is a deare Friend indeed unto us that will stand us more in stead and doe more for us then all our friends then all the world yea then our own father and mother wife or husband c. It doth us many excellent Offices It 's as the hand to receive Christ Ioh. 1.12 to helpe the hungry soule to food and the thirstie Soule to drink Isai 55.1 to clothe the naked soule with the best Rayment it puts the Lord Jesus on us Rom. 13.14 It puls out sin as a Thorne in the heart Act. 15.9 and applies Christ as a plaister to the wound All these offices it doth as a blessed hand 5. It helps us to every good thing Whatsoever you shall aske in Prayer beleeving ye shall receive Matth. 21.22 so that if we want not faith we cannot want any good thing 6. It is of that excellent vertue that it turnes all our Crosses and Losses into gaine unto us Rom. 8.28 if not one way yet another if not in one yeere yet in another that our losses shall be but as the letting out or losse of superfluous bloud for the gaining of more health and saving of life 7. It prevents time and makes things future to be present as an Optick Glasse that drawes things neere and presents them to the sense that were a great way off before Heb. 11.13 8. It is our Ballast in the dangerous Seas and waves of Temptations that keepes us well setled and from perishing by an unballast lightnesse tottering and reeling every way 1 Cor. 15.58 9. This of all things is that for which God respecteth us our wealth beautie wit learning honour may make us accepted of men but it is our Faith onely that maketh God in love with us 10. It is like the Loadstone for as that pointeth ever at the North and hath power attractive so Faith pointeth ever at Christ for any thing the Soule needs yea drawes him to the Soule 11. It is such an admirable thing as Christ himselfe wonders at it as we see in the Centurion Mat. 8.10 we never finde him wondering at Silver or Gold or costly apparell or goodly sights no not at the Frame of Heaven and earth but at this he doth Oh then how good how great a thing is true Faith how rich a Jewell 12. It is our Credit and good report Heb. 11.2 3 13. it payes all our soules debts that none can claime any thing Rom. 8.33 CHAP. 13. The Necessitie of it SAving Faith is of absolute Necessitie not such a Thing as is convenient and usefull as a good helpe yet so as that a man may make shift without like a Staffe to a Travellor this is not so but as Legs and Eyes to a Travellor without which is no travelling in the way to Heaven possibly 1. Without this we are destitute of all Friends we have never a friend to help us being forsaken of all of God of Christ and the Creatures for they take part with the Creator and are Friends to none but his Friends 2. Without this all * such only materialitèr good works are lost unto us as 1. Hearing Gods Word The Word preached profited not them being not mixed with faith Heb. 4.2 yea though we goe never so farre or heare never so often with great paines and no lesse cost 2. The Use of the Sacraments as the Israelites that did eat the same spirituall meat and dranke the same spirituall drinke sacramentally as we doe yet With many of them God was not well pleased 1 Cor. 10.4 5. for want of Faith 3. Even Prayer is but prating and lying without this Psal 78.34 36. and for all other works either of pietie towards God or Charitie toward men they are all but meerly lost unto us if we have not saving Beliefe within us as it was with them that took pains in helping to build Noahs Arke but perished themselves at last in the floud or as they which take paines in digging setting planting seere boughes of Trees doe but loose their labour and shew their follie 3. Nay one cannot possibly doe a * viz. Formalitèr good worke without this for without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 It being a Christians chiefest instrument as the work-man can doe no worke if he want his principall Toole as Axe or Hammer c. or if he doe any thing it will be but a Botch that will give no good liking therefore this we must have and that of Necessitie whatsoever shift we make for it whatsoever it cost to get or else it had been better for us if we had never been born Which seeing it is of such absolute necessitie it behoves every one to make as much speed to get it as may be Quest But may not one make too much haste to beleeve Ans Yes if they over-run sound Humiliation they make more haste then good speed but if one have been soundly humbled as was shewed CHAP. 3. then let him make as much hast as he can to beleeve for these Reasons 1. We cannot beleeve too soone if we beleeve