The Triumph of Faith A VERY GODLY fruitfull and comfortable Treatise on ROM 8. verse 37. Penned by Daniel Ienkinson Master in Arts late of EMMANVEL Coll. in Cambridge and found in his Studie at the time of his death 1. IOHN 5.4 This is that victory that hath ouercome this world euen our faith LONDON Printed by Edw. Griffin for Sam. Macham and are to be solde at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Bull-head 1613. TO THE CHRISTIAN Reader GEntle Reader as it was bountifull loue to his louely Ionathan that moued the sweet Singer of Israel King Dauid to show such kindnesse to Mephibosheth Ionathans sonne as to cause him to eat continually at the Kings Table 2. Sam. 9.13 so it is Christian loue to my deceased loue worthie Ionathan that hath mooued me to giue this his obscured fatherlesse Orphan falling into my hands the best preferment I was able vz. to liue as I hope continually in the houses and somtimes hands and if God blesse my wish euen in the harts of true Christians as yeelding a liuely sent and fragrant smel of those great Graces which abounded plentifully in the godly Parent and which too soone were nipped in the bud and by vntimely death restrained from the vse of the Church if it may so be sayd without offence to the highest Prouidence vnder correction and condition of his most righteous will If this poore Orphan Infant the legitimate issue of a childe in yeeres but of a man for gifts and an olde Christian may chance to please and grow acceptable for his fathers sake or his owne sake where hee may conuerse there is some hope that in due time the Lord permitting some of his Germane brothers may beare him companie on this fashion as good companions for all true Christians in this wearie pilgrimage towards the celestiall Canaan wherevnto both this and the rest do giue true aime if I take not my aime amisse And so hoping that after the reading heereof thou wilt confesse thy selfe the abundant reaper of my Loues fruit I leaue thee in his watchfull protection who alone sanctifieth all meanes of sauing knowledge and graces vnto his children crauing but thy prayers for my paines and resting one that desires thy true good vnfainedly I. A. THE TRIVMPH of Faith Rom. Chap. 8. Ver. 37. Neuerthelesse in all these things we are more then conquerours through him that loued vs. THese words may not vnfitly be termed The triumph of Faith and the glorious vaunt of a resolued Christian grounded vpon the liuely apprehension of Grace and the infallible expectance of Glory Both which the Apo. hauing euinced in the foregoing Treatise by instances and reasons aboue exception he steps in in the thirty and one verse with an holy challenge daring defiance to any encounter disdaine to any Combatant or resolued Champion that dare enter the lists with him and accept his challenge What then shall we say to these things if God be on our side who can be against vs yea Paule indeed t is somewhat that yee say if God be on our side who can be against vs or if they be against vs what hurt can they doe vs what skills their prowes and opposition though it were the plotting of Achitophel or Rabshekahs resolution when as God playes our part the Lord himselfe maintaines our quarell against whome there is neither wisdome nor counsell neither bodily puissance nor courage in the day of battel But how can ye make vs beleeue that God is on our side how may we be perswaded that we haue such an approued Captaine of so tried a strength for prowesse so puissant how says the Apostle why I will tell you he spared not his only Sonne but how shall he not with him giue vs all things also yea euen himselfe which is all in all he that hath giuen vs his Sonne the heyre of all things is it likely that he will deny vs matters of any value of any consequence he that hath giuen vs his Sonne his ioy and delight how is it possible that he should denie vs himselfe nay in that he hath giuen vs his Sonne which is his delight he hath giuen vs himselfe For where a mans treasure is there his heart is and where his heart is there himselfe is Now Christ being Gods treasure and this treasure giuen to vs we may well with Dauid challenge the Lord as our owne possession especially sith our Christ is the tresure-house of diuine benediction of whose fulnes we haue al receiued the worker of attonement and reconciliation that hath made God to be on our side that to fore was auerted from vs. We may well therefore exult and chaunt out those chearefull notes of Israels sweet singer that diuine Musitian The Lord is our light and our saluation whom shall we feare the Lord is the strength of our life of whom shall we be afraid Heereupon the Apostle throwes downe his gauntlet with a challenge to our spirituall enemies to see if any of them dare appeare in their likenes or admit of his proffer But when it will not be he prouokes them to iudgment Then who saith he shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect no body answers T is God that Iustifieth who shal condemne who dare appeare in iudgement against vs If they wil go that way to worke all is husht no body peeps out And why I pray you because we haue such a Captain as none dare meete in the feild such an Aduocate as none dare oppose such a friend in the court as none dare looke in the face Christ Iesus who was dead but is risen againe with Triumph ouer the powers of death of damnation who now sitting at the right hand of God makes request for vs Yea saith the Apostle will none of them apeare shall we haue none answere in this kind wee le euen to our former challenge call them out by their names and see what they will say to vs. Ho saith he who shall seperate vs from the loue of Christ who dare bee so bold as to vndertake that encounter what tribulation or anguish or persecution c. Will you say any thing to vs dare you put in a foot here yea I promise you Paule now you haue met with your match these fellowes will say somwhat to you they will put you to your shifts I tell you for heere we go to the wall These will not greeue and annoy and pursue vs but depriue vs also of life and spirits and leaue vs breathlesse and liuelesse and soulelesse and yet this perill is so ineuitable that besides wofull experience t is the verdict and doome of the diuine spirit that for thy sake are we killed all the day long wee are euen counted as sheep to the slaughter What say you to this Paul Do not these coole your courage doe not these make you to pull in the head Do you not thinke that these will abalienate you from Christ
may see by his manner of ordering them how that he leaues the sorest till the last euen the sword to diuide asunder the life and the spirits that if all the former tribulation anguish c. will not bring vs on our knees yet that may be sure to speed and rather than loose that we will vndergoe hard conditions I but may some man say vnto vs how is it that Satan himselfe is not heere set against vs seeing he is that great Muster-master the commander of so many Legions he it is that owes vs all the spite and sets all these a work but for him all their blowes were but fleabytings easily awarded all their plots but like Sampsons bonds easily broken The answer is that Satan is not heere excluded Hee is not like those carelesse Kings that will lie at home and send their Leiuetenants not like Dauid gazing vppon his Pallace when as Ioab is in the brunt of the battell nor like Senacherib in his Temple at home when his Captaines be marching abroad he is alwaies at hand in the forefront in the rereward in the midst and at either wing but the reason as I take it why he is not here expressed is because his warfare is spiritual and not so easily discerned in it selfe but is manifest vnto vs in these his soldiers and 2. in regard of our meannesse and foolish disposition who do vsually stand in more dread of these his attendants then of Satan himselfe Whereas on the contrary we should learne this spirituall wisdome a speciall point of military discipline not so much to looke at these things as punishments of sin for so the sting of them is taken away in Christ but especially as they are Satans Ianizaries his accomplices in whom he seeks to worke our ruine to depriue vs of the hope that we haue here in God and of the happinesse that hereafter we expect in heauen And thus you see beloued what fellowes they be that we are to grapple withall we had need to be no children that must go to this geare if these be they whom we must conquer Why but you will say is it possible that euer we should deale with such as these is ther any hope that euer we should get the victory of such aduersaries who cannot be hurt themselus they are impenetrable all the dāger lights vpon vs if any body go to the wall t is we if any body catch the foile it must needs be we yea indeed are ye at that point nay but by your leaue S. Paule telleh vs an other tale the diuine spirit will giue vs better hartning for he saith heere that we are conquerors already Conquerors yea more then conquerors through him that loued vs. yea will you say and you can proue vs that point it is some thing it is a matter worth the talking of if you could assure vs of the victorie before we goe into the field you would put some life and and spirit into vs. Well beloued me thinkes you may easily bee persuaded of this if wee had no more suretie but the promise of the diuine Spirit the warrant of this Scripture t is sufficient to giue vs encouragement Suppose that two men were going into the field to reuenge their priuat wrongs and a third man that had the mastry and commaund of them both in so much that he could bid them giue ouer when hee will hold their hands at his owne pleasure so that neither of them could strike a stroke beyond his designement and this man should say to one of them be not dismayd but haue a good heart for I will stand by thee and hee shall not giue thee a blow to do thee hurt nor strike a stroke but as I think good but as for thee I wil giue thee thy free scope to doe thy best thou shalt assuredly giue him the foyle would this man now doubt of the victorie would hee be afraid to meet his foe in the very face O fy no he would goe with courage and resolution and why why because the victorie is promised him Why beloued the Lord hath Satan in his power he is at his becke all these his follwers are at the Lords command Further then he permits they can neither strike nor stirre but as he sayes to the Sea stay thy proud waues and to the deuouring Angell hold thine hand t is enough so if he but speak the word these haue done not a word nor a blow Now this Lord heere of this power and commandement hee promiseth he will stand by vs hee assures vs we shall haue the conquest hee sends vs word so from heauen by his spirit speaking in the Apostle Why shall wee doubt now shal we distrust the issue and euent vndoubtedly if we beleeue not we doe for as he that beleeueth hath sealed that God is true so hee that denyeth credence to the promise denyeth credit to God O then let our faith embrace this promise and we are sure All things are possible to him that belieueth When the people of God were to wage warre with their enemies and came to God for counsell if he said but once goe vp they were presently all in armes yea so resolute were they vpon this assurance that when they were to fight against their brethren of Beniamin for the reuenge of a notorious villanie Iud. 20.28 and two daies before had had the foile throw their owne rashnesse in ill handling a good cause yet the third day when the Lord bad them go vp with hope of victorie they readily obeyed and sutably ouercame them Would they put their affiance in God for bodily victorie and shall not we rely vpon him for a spirituall conquest Was hee then a God of his word in meaner affaires and shall he not now be trusted in greater employments Far be it from vs beloued the Lord being the same in power in loue in fidelitie being able by his power willing by his loue and faithfull in his promise that wee should either deny his power disclaime his loue or call his fidelitie into question seeing he hath heere affirmed we shall bee conquerors else where assured that hel gates shal not preuaile against vs and daily giues vs experiment of his speciall aide and assistance and of the victorie of faith which bringeth vnderfoot all worldly encumbrances But that we may giue more euidence to this truth let vs take a view of it in the experiment of Gods Saints and let vs see how in closing with these our enemies wee get the victorie and all the Apostle heere tels vs we do more than conquer It were well if we might but ouercome and that we are sure of for our faith ouercomes the world and it quencheth all the fierie darts of the deuil giues them a recoyle and him a retraite For if we stand to it he runs away if we resist him he flies from vs and when the Captaine is gone these fellowes are like the Philistims they will
wisest for the feare of the Lord is true wisdom and to flee from euill the chiefe vnderstanding They be the basest as being deemed the very refuse and off-scouring of the world and yet the noblest being the sonnes of God the heyrs of heauen They are the weakest as being continually exercised with tribulation anguish persecution perill and sword and yet the strongest for in all these we are more than conquerors through him that loued vs. So that me thinks if it were for nothing else then this the wicked should cease to persecute Gods children namely because by this means they greatly aduance them they make them most glorious victors I know there is neuer a wicked persecuting man but he would be loth to do any good to Gods children if he knew any thing that would further their preferment he would be sure to reape it from them if it lay in his power why then what a foole art thou to persecute them thou dost by this means make the graces of Gods spirit to shine more eminent in them thou giuest them occasions to master their corruptions so that they are conquerors both ouer thee themselues and get more strength and puissance daily fight more couragiously vnder the banner of Christ shall haue more garlands wreaths of renowme set vpon their heads then if they had not gone through those brunts So that in steed of doing them hurt thou doest them a great pleasure making them heere to grow in grace like the Palme which the more it is pressed the faster it riseth heereafter to expect a greater glory for he that ouercomes with courage shall be crowned with Triumph and haue those speciall preheminences that ensue such a conquest What hurt therefore canst thou doe vnto vs who euer thou art that delights to be doing with the Saints of God What hurt nay thou dost vs much good for thy curses are turned into blessings there is neither sorcerie nor witchcraft against Iacob and as Salomon sayes the very mercies of the wicked are cruelty so we may well inuert the speech and say that the crueltie of the wicked is mercy through his mercy who hath loued vs for wee are onely conquerors through him that loued vs. A word of which and so an end The power of this victorie is from Christ all our sufficiencie is from him by faith it is that we receiue it his spirit infusing that courage into vs that makes vs play the men and winne the field His loue was the cause of all this good for his loue to vs made him leaue heauen the seat of his glory to descend to the earth the footstool of miserie and there to fight that same first bloudy field and to giue Satan the foyle since which time Satan could neuer finally ouercome any of his chosen Well then beloued did Christ come into the world to make vs conquerors Did he descend from heauen that hee might giue vs the victorie ouer all these enemies Tribulation Persecution c. I that he did our text sayes so And doe wee now celebrate the memoriall of that comming the remēbrance of his Natiuitie I that wee do for now is the time of that solemnitie Why then my beloued wee must remember so to keep this time of solemnitie that we still retayn our victorie that we still keepe the conquest that Christ hath purchased for else it were a right mock-holy-day indeed to celebrate the time of Chr comming into the world and to bereaue our selues of the end wherfore he came of the benefit we reap by his comming His end was sayes my text to make vs conquerors of all these our enemies Tribul Anguish c. this was his end We must then take heed that we do not againe beslaue our selues to the commission to the entertainment of such sins as may bring all these enemies in vpon vs againe iustly for our sinne and subiect vs vnto them If a Towne or a Citie should keep a festiuall day in the memorie of some great victorie their King had got in the ouerthrow of their enemies and should in the meane time send for those enemies that the King had put to flight bring them into the City and not only so but vrge thē to the banquet reioyce with them in them and bid them welcome and make them good cheere and let them take possession of it againe would the King take this well thinke ye would hee thinke it were a good remembrance of his venturing of his life for the safetie of that city well quoth he why it would so incense and enrage his spirits against them that hee could not hold his hands but presently as it is in the Gospell hee would send forth his warriours to slay those traitours and burne vp their city Why thus the case stands with vs beloued Christ our King the King of peace and glory came downe from heauen to deliuer vs from the power of hell from all our enemies hee got the victory with valour we now celebrate the time of his comming to conquer if wee shall now celebrate it in passing the time and solacing our selues with those sins that he hath conquered as intemperance idlenesse wanton pastims if we send for the enemies that he hath subdued and giue them possession againe why what do we els but lose the victory cashiere Christs conquest and mock his bloudshed And what may we then look for but the fearful doome before named that as we haue equalled those traitors in sinne so we may drinke as deepe of the punishment O therefore beloued let vs be wise let our reioycing be such as we may fit the time spirituall reioycing let our mirth be such as may stand with our victory spirituall mirth not foolish laughter which is madnesse or worse not iesting and iybing which becomes not Saints not vnclean speeches which should not once be named among Christians not winter tales and foolish stories the diuels chronicles which neuer need printing we can so well remember them Wherefore let vs rather beloued cheere vp our soules in the spirituall memory of Christs victory of the victory of faith that ouercomes the world In the prerogatiues of Christianity which are most singular yet so that we alwaies refer them to him that loued vs for we only enioy them through him that loued vs. Let vs pray c. FINIS