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A40632
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A treatise of faith and repentance by Francis Fuller ...
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Fuller, Francis, 1637?-1701.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing F2386; ESTC R7233
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53,021
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156
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undone for ever 3. A Willingness viz. To give what he has for the relief of Sinners if they come unto him all that will Mat. 11. 28. come may if they are willing Christ is willing if they to come he to welcome If Christ was able to help and not willing it would be all one as if he was not able and tho' willing yet if not able all one as if not willing therefore a discovery is made both of his Will and Power equally alike Duo principia motionis ad Christum 1. Cognitio 2. Appetitus great that they may and without which none ever will believe in him III. It is the Work of the Spirit whereby sensible Sinners are enabled to receive Christ as offer'd in the Gospel trusting to and relying upon him for Salvation The Parties concern'd are Christ Heb. 5. â—… and Sinners He as the Author of Salvation and They as the Subjects of it He as a Saviour and They as Sinners He as the Brazen Serpent lift up and They as stung with the fiery Serpent looking up unto him He as dying to save and They as undone without him 1. Christ as dying to save The Object of Faith according to the Schools is something above Reason not seen yet true and revealed by God Something above Reason Quid supra rationem 1 Cor. 2. 4. Above it tho' not contrary to it Something not seen Quid non visum Heb. 11. 1. It is no contradiction in terms to say We may see by Faith what we cannot see by Sense Something true and in its own Nature Quid credibile credible That which is false cannot be the Object of Faith Something revealed Quid Revelatum A thing may be credible in its own Nature yet not so to us until reveal'd but when reveal'd it is tho' never so seemingly impossible The Doctrine of the Scripture the Inititur divinae veritatit anquam Medio Aquin. Things revealed in it are the Object of Faith general which is no more than a bare Assent to the things reveal'd there as true They that have no more Faith are no Jam. 2. 19. better than Devils they that have not so much are worse But the Object of Justifying Faith viz. of that formal Act of Faith by which we stand justified before God is It is called the Faith of Christ viz. of which he is the Object as well as the Author Christ only He who was prefigured in all the Types foretold in all the Prophecies and design'd in all the Promises He as consider'd in his Person God-Man He as dying expiating Sin by his meritorious death making a suitable and sufficient Satisfaction to Divine Gal. 2. 16 20. Justice suitable as he was Man and sufficient as he was God by one satisfying the Equity and by the other the Infiniteness of it The Promises may be a ground of Circumferentia Fidei Verbum Dei Centrum Fidei Verbum Deus Mat. 11. 28. Faith but Christ only is the Object of it to whom we are to come and in whom we are to believe they are a Warrant of Encouragement to us in our coming but he only from whom our help comes if we do in them our encouragement to it in him alone our safety by it Nothing could heal the Israelites Numb 21. 9. John 3. 14 15. 12. 32. when stung in the Wilderness by fiery Serpents but the Brazen Serpent lift up by Moses on a Pole nor that unless they look'd up unto it None but Christ can save for there is no other Saviour nor is there any other way to be saved by him but by Faith looking up to him as lifted up Rom. 4. ult upon the Cross who died to justify and arose from death to declare it to him we are to look and to him as dying we are to look that we may be justified and by looking up we are not for it but by it not for it nor yet without it nor from any intrinsecal Virtue in Faith but from the Vertue in Christ the Object apprehended by it If Faith does but declare Justification What difference is there betwixt Faith and Works 2. Sinners as undone without Christ He as a Saviour they as Sinners not simply consider'd but so qualified viz. sensible Sinners It is to such only that he does look and none but such will look to him He is not offer'd to any until they are so nor would they receive him if he was nor can they have any Benefit by him tho' they are so until they receive him for Christ until receiv'd is but a Tender and not a Gift nor receive him aright unless upon Gospel-Terms his Terms and not theirs viz. 1. Freely 2. Sincerely 3. Wholly 4. Only 1. Freely It is not barely a Consent not in case of Exigency or Extremity only but an Act of Choice It is not enough that Christ is willing unless they are so too for he will save none invito genio 2. Sincerely They take Christ for himself whatever for the present they may suffer or lose by it they do not with the Scribes refuse to believe unless he will come down from the Cross nor make haste with Joseph of Arimathea to take him down and leave the Cross Mat. 27. 42. 57 58. behind but take him when on the Cross as well as when on the Throne when suffering as well as when reigning with the Reed in his Hand as well as the Scepter and follow him to Mount Calvary as well as to Mount Tabor when to be Crucified as well as Transfigured as content to abide with him in the shame of his Sufferings as well as in the Glory of his Triumph They are as willing to drink of his Cup as to eat of his Loaves 3. Wholly Christ's Person is not separated from his Offices nor his Offices separated from one another Is Christ divided No he is not divided to one as a Prophet 2 Cor. 1. 13. to another as a King and to a third as a Priest but all or none not a Bone of his Body was broken nor is any one Office of his sever'd from another but as he was anointed to all so he is offer'd in all viz. as a King to Reign to rule where he lives as a Prophet to teach to instruct where he rules as well as a Priest to save and they take him as so offer'd not only as Jesus but as Lord a Priest upon the Throne as a Zeeh. 6. 12 13. Sanctifier and Instructer as well as a Saviour and as saving from Sin as well as from Hell viz. from the Power of Sin as well as from the Punishment of it They that will not take Christ as a Lord to rule to them instead of a Jesus to save he will be a Judg to condemn 4. Only and for ever Him they chuse accept and receive and none but him whole Christ with their whole Heart and not for a
and on Earth the Wonder of Angels and the Center of Excellencies but not so to us until we believe They that do not know Christ cannot love him for as we apprehend so we affect they that believe not in him do not know him the God of this World has blinded 2 Cor. 4 4. the Eyes of them that believe not to them therefore he is a disallowed Stone 1 Pet. 2. 7. not worth the owning This Beloved Isa 53. 23. no more than nor so much as any other Beloved without Form and Comeliness or any thing to attract their Quantum credimus tantum ditigimus Love but to them that believe he is the Head of the Corner the chiefest of Ten thousands altogether lovely so in himself and so to them as loved by them above their Souls and Happiness they see not only a need of him but an excellency in him Excellency and nothing but Excellency a Superlative Excellency eclipsing the Glory of all created Excellency more than the Sun does the Light of the Stars enough to beget wonder and astonishment as one that is as far above their Praise as Love as appears by their sincere Amor lex sive severissima Obedience to him the effect of Divine Power constraining to it and their uncessant desires after him the sparks of that Holy Flame that are ever-ascending Animus est ubi amat to him Knowledg precedes Faith Faith produces Love Love evidences Faith it shews it to be true it is not the cause of Faith but the 2 Cor. 6. 6. 2 Tim. 1. 5. sign of it as Breath is of Life and a full Tide of a full Moon Vnfeigned Love to Christ shews unfeigned Faith in him for to them that believe he is precious 1 Pet. 2. 7. 3. It is fruitful in good Works By Faith our Persons are justified Rom. 5. 1. and by Works our Faith is justified by that our Persons before God by these our Faith before Men by that our Persons are acquitted from Sin by these our Faith is acquitted from Hypocrisy by that our Persons are made Righteous by these our Faith is made Jam. 2. 22. 2 Cor. 12. 9. 1 John 5. 12. Fides foeta operibus ubi bona opera non ad extra fides non ad intra Faith produces Works Per modum causae efficientis motivi impetrationis quod lex operum minando imperat lex fidei credendo impetrat perfect i. e. made manifest as God's strength is said to be made perfect that is made manifest in our weakness by that we are in a state of Life he that has the Son has Life by these our Faith appears to be alive Christ prov'd his Deity by his Works and Faith proves her Divine Original viz. the Faith of God by Works too There is no Love without the labour of Love nor any Faith without the Work of Faith For As Works are dead without Faith so Jam. 2. 17. Faith without Works is dead also 4. It is accompanied with Holiness Justification and Sanctification are as one saith always distinguish'd but never separated Distinguish'd The Righteousness of Justification is in Christ the Righteousness of Sanctification flows from him that is Relative and without this is Real and within in that there is a change in our State in this a change in our Na-Nature that is perfect and alike in all but this is imperfect in all as to Degrees though not as to Parts by that we are acquitted from the Guilt of Sin by this we are cleansed from the filth of it in that we have Peace with God in this we are made like to him one by the Merit the other by the Spirit of Christ Not Separated They that are justified by the Grace of God are sanctified by the Spirit of God for the justifying Vertue of Christ's Blood is ever accompanied with the purifying Vertue of it moral Vertues are as the Philosopher Indiâ—iduus virtutum comitatus says inseparably connected and so are Divine Graces too the Fruits of the Spirit are of a Cluster the Spirit infuses the Habits and Faith quickens the Acts it is as the Sun to the World and the Soul to the Body that influences all the radical Grace that maintains the Life of them the Leader and Commander in chief as the Brain is the facultas mandans as it is the Seat of Sense as the Heart is of Life by whose Conduct they are guided according to whose motion as the Primum Mobile they all move and proportionably to the strength or weakness of it they are strong or weak rise or fall as some Fish as is said wax and wane with the Moon Our Justification was merited by Christ is applied by Faith and by these as concomitant with it assured without which we can never make out our Title to it for as Life of any kind is known by the Actions of Life a Tree by its Acts 15. 9 Fruits and a Fountain by its Streams so a pure Faith is known only by pure Acts if it has not Virtue to sanctify it has none to justify nor can it be Fiducial unless Obediential An obediential Faith justifies it self Abraham believ'd and obey'd A DISCOURSE OF Self-denial Being an APPENDIX TO THE Treatise of FAITH OUR first Parents fell by Infidelity and Self-seeking and we rise by Faith and Self-denial Self-denial is of the Essence of Christianity it is founded in the Nature of it and we have no more of one than we have of the other it does not abound as the Stoical Philosophy did with Improbable Opinions Contradictions and Irreconcile-Paradoxes yet with many things above Reason though with none contrary to it things harsh and difficult to Flesh and Blood And that 's the Reason Christ has so many idle Retainers and so few true Servants so many that follow him as Peter once did afar Mat. 26. 58. off and so few that keep close to him that will not like Politick Souldiers stir an inch upon disadvantage nor venture like wary Merchants all in one Bottom nor sail so far into the Sea like those that go thither for Pleasure only but that they may return when the Storm arises They study more the Doctrine of Self-preservation than of Self-denial how they may keep all from Christ rather than forsake any thing for him and therefore will not venture their whole stock with him lest they should as they think be undone by him Many such followed Christ for a time when he was here in the days of his flesh thinking it an easy pleasant and gainful Life but when told what they were like to meet with the good things they must forsake the evil things they must endure and after all follow him they took their leaves of him and went no more after him A bare profession of Christ will not entitle us to him for all that outwardly profess him must be Followers of him nor a bare following of