nation but as wrapt up in Idumea a little parcel of the Province of Judea under the Romans which contained the Philistim Country and a little southward Nay there be many other Kingdoms fell under the same prophetical doom that are now lurking in their ruines and ravenous beasts preying upon the bones of the ancient Cities Of all other that of Egypt is remarkable that it should be a base Kingdom nay the basest of Kingdoms and should exalt it self no more Ezek. 29.15 and so it has been ever since the Persians conquered it under whom it groaned and then turned to the Grecians under one of Alexanders Captains till Cleopatra the nâ—a provincial to the Romans and after them to the Saracens the Mamalukes and Turks by whom it is dreadfully pillaged and plunged by every new Basla to this day But above all we should mind and diligently observe that most famous prophecy of the font great Monarchies in Daniel Dan. 2. 7 whose truâ—h almost every History of the civil Nations demonstrates age by age from Nebuchadnezzar to the end of the world Which as it is twice exemplified under two visions so the fourth or Roman is much more amplified by holy John in his Patmus Revelations By both which as by two great torches every man in his proper age beholds the verity of scripture prophecies to shine forth most illustriously and we may be as certain of what remains yet unfulfilled to receive its accomplishment as of that we have read and heard and seen performed before our eyes There is one Prophecy I would not let slip and that is in the Prophet Zephaniah which declares that God will famish all the Gods of the earth Eph 3â— 11. and men shall worship him every one from his place even all the Isles of the Heathen I the rather mention it because Plutarch that learned Gentile hath writ a tract as if on purpose to verifie this prophecy which he enstiles peri ekleloipoton Chresterion of the Eclipse or silence of Oracles Plut Suidas de Augusto Lactantius Boeth de distiol schoastirs hâ—lâ— 12 c 41 Orosius me puer Hebraeus jubet hinc ad tartara adire Heb 13 20 where he mentions the death of the great God pan o megas tethneke which some apply to our blessed Lord the great Shepherd of the sheep It is related also that the Temple of Apollo at Delphos in Phocis of the Grecians where afterwards true Religion was set up was overthrown by Earthquakes and Thunder and at the same time when Jerusalems Temple was destroyed and neither of them rebuilt to this day to intimate that Pagan worship of the Heathens and the ceremonious worship of the Jews should be removed and give place to the Christian Worship in Spirit and Truth The last thing that I shall mention is the noble Prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles so often set forth in many Chapters the fulfilling whereof is attested by multitudes of Authors of all Countries how Thomas in the East converted the Indians and that the posterity of them that resisted him are markt at this day with one leg much bigger than the other as I received by eye-witnesses for a truth Capt. Prout but the account is only a child of tradition In the Northwest the Scythians were converted by Andrew and thence their Posterity the Scots own him for their Tutelars Saint The Britains as many assert were converted by Joseph of Arimathea â—udolph hist Abyss the Egyptians and Abyssines by Mark and his Disciples But I proceed no further it may be observed by every ones experience to this very day These things require just Treatises to inlarge upon and to display in their full and lovely colours But yet that I may set before all a method to convince every candid person of the truth of Scripture upon this score and hence their divine original I would desire them to do but two things 1. To observe and study what Prophecies the cardo saeculi the present state and scene of things determine us to be under the fulfilling at this present day 2. I recommend to their continued studious observation what things remain yet to be fulfilled that they may thereby be daily satisfied and fully convinced For if the great God have thought fit in love and mercy to reveal such great things to his Church we ought to lay aside our trifles and vanities of contradiction and observe the workings of his Providence which continually rowle upon the wheels of Prophecy And therefore I shall name some Prophecies yet to be fulfilled The second coming of Christ was prophecied of by Enoch before the Flood Jude 14. Numb 24 17 19.24 Rev 8 2 and by some part of Baalams Prophecy But the New Testament blows many Trumpets over Prophecies as if challenging the whole World to observe this issue and among others let us touch these following 1. The final period of the Metalline Image set forth by Visions in the Book of Daniel 2. The downfall of Antichrist after the expiration of his 1260 years now at the doors 3. The ruine of the Turk after the end of 391 years from the establishlishment of his Ottoman Empire Ezek. 38.10 and the great thoughts that shall come into the heart of that God in these latter dayes 4. The Conversion of all Israel to our Lord Christ and their restauration to their own Land never to be removed more 5. The glorious state of the united Church both of Israel and Gentiles from the River Indus to the Atlantick Ocean wherever the four mettals have obtained yea and the spreading of it wherever the ten toes have set the prints of their dominion and that this blessed state shall endure in all manner of spiritual Holiness and temporal felicity under a perpetuum ver â—rudentius ae continual spring when the seasâ—ns shall be most happy Heavens influences most benign unity and concord and interminable peace among all Nations and the deliverance of all the creatures which now groan under the cruel oppression of the wicked into the Festival liberty of the Sons of God Rom 8 21 22 this happy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or restauration of all things shall continue to the close of the World when those of the outsides about the Holy City attempting mischief shall be destroyed by fire from Heaven which enters us upon the sixth viz. 6. The Conflagration of the World and all the wicked in it by fire 2 pet 3 7 Mal 4 1 mentioned by Peter and crept into Ovid in his Metamorphosis Esse quoque in fatis c. It s written in Fatidical Books that the Heavens and Earth shall perish by fire 7. The return of our Lord to take up his People into Heaven 8 Then comes the great Resurrection and 9 The tremendous day of Judgment After which 10 He proceeds to deliver up his Mediatorian Kingdom to the Father Joh 14 3 Rev 20 12 13 1 cor 15 24
bitter root of all this Wormwood and Gall and being very desirous to deal in compassion as having been under some tentations I spake with several and found upon conference these following to be the principal causes of this Bondage of Spirit The 1. Was great ignorance of the true nature of Faith and of the main fundamental Truths of the Gospel which did amaze me to find upon search in so many glittering talking but indeed shallow Professors 2. Another was the great Levity Vanity and Laxness of their lives trifling out their precious time in fidling querks tales and jests to please some whose Trenchers they hang upon like the Parasites in Theophrastus not liâ—e the blessed People of the former age who far outshined us in the purity of Conversation and therefore in the brightness of their assurance 3. Others I observed to be of a froward perverse ill-natur'd ill-conditioned sower humor full of prate and unprofitable multiplicity of words censures backbitings hollowness of true friendship often murmuring at God and quarrelling with their Superiors 4. Others I perceived to be naturally of a fearful timorous wavering inconstant suspitious spirit ever learning and never coming to the knowledg of the Truth 5. And to end most people extream worldly couvetous full of sordid over-reaching tricks and cunning cheats in dealing and unless for a show basely backward to any excellent works of charity and strict in examining the poor to find an evasion which Jerom so complains of in some of his age Such as these eat out the very power of godliness and rob themselves of the season of meditation Periclitatur religio in negotiis Piety is lost in a crowd of worldly business with these and the rest I must declare that the holy Spirit of God delights not to hold communion as being fiery or miry Spirits Hereupon in my retirements I hope by the Grace of God I pitcht my thoughts when I could not be so publickly useful as formerly upon the composing a small Treatise of the genuine nature of Faith and in a peculiar Chapter to shew the individual connexion of Sanctification of heart and life in every gracious Believer In the management whereof I thought it might not be inexpedient to lay its foundation upon the Doctrine of the verity of the Scriptures in one Chapter and of the Deity of our blessed Lord in a second after the Preface the former being the Doctrinal object of Faith the latter the personal Now forasmuch that in all Sciences there be certain Principles on which their Theoremes and Maximes are built we may consider of the like in Divinity that the Holy Scriptures 2 Tim. 3.15 16. being able to make us wise to Salvation are the only true Basis and Foundation on which all the great Doctrines of Holiness and Happiness do most firmly insist In particular that great point of Faith which bears it self on the new Covenant of Grace revealed in those sacred Pages I thought meet therefore briefly to endeavour the proof of this high point that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the undoubted Word of the living God and thereby to be received with all veneration imaginable as the solid fundamental of true Christianity in special of the weighty Doctrine of Faith And this I have the more willingly performed at the entrance of this Tract that good Christians may not I hope need to go otherwhere to draw but have sufficient to settle their Faith on this Foundation tho it be more amply enlarged upon abroad Now whereas it may be said that Principles are indemonstrable as in Mathematicks and other Sciences Suarez 5 to Mettaph L. C. we must understand that Maxim of the Principles of Essence and not of cognition or knowledg It is so as to the verity of Holy Scriptures we cannot demonstrate them any further and t is enough than that they are founded on the glorious Authority of the infinitely wise true and most holy God as consentanious to the verity and excellency of his nature and published by his injunction as the rule of life and means of communion with himself in eternal happiness The Lord hath spoken and who shall not tremble Amos 3.8 Oh that Majestick stile Ezek 14.4 c. Thus saith the LORD makes Men and Devils to quake and rottenness to enter into their Spirits when God sets it home upon their Consciences My Design then is to shew that at the Revelation and Exhibition of the holy volumes that I may both satisfie and confirm weak Believers and convince if possible scoffing Atheists that there were such mighty Testimonies of their divine original attending the dispensing of them to the Church and the World that may convince all of their Heavenly Off-spring if persons put not on the veil of wilful ignorance 2 Cor. 3.15 detaining the truth in unrighteousness And in the close it will appear that Hystorical Faith well grounded is useful to true and saving Faith. There are then two principal points which did await their sliding down from Heaven into the hearts of the illuminated Pen-men inspired by the Holy Ghost and the uttering of them to the People in their distinct Ages which may be comprehended in the first Chapter 1. The wonderful Oracles and Prophecies mentioned in those sacred leaves which have been punctually fulfilled in the several Generations of the Church 2. The Divine Miracles above and beyond the power of nature exhibited at those two great junctures the delivery of the Law by Moses and the promulgation of the Gospel at Mount Zion In the conclusion of this first Chapter I intend God willing to treat somewhat of the consignation of the Canon of Holy Scripture a Point much desired by some and may be of use to others In the second Chapter let us speak to the Deity of our blessed Lord which indeed is the grand point of Christian Religion the very Foundation of the Church of God as Nicephorus Callistus reports a Story of a deep Cave discovered at Jerusalem under the ruines of the old Temple when the Jews by the permission and instigation of Julian to contradict the Prophecy of our Lord would needs attempt to build it again but were beaten off by Thunder and Lightning where they found within it upon a Stone Pillar the Gospel of the Apostle John fairly laid and preserved Let the Patriarch protect the truth of the story I mention it allusively to this great Truth that lies at the Foundation of the true Church that the Deity of Christ the principal design of John's Gospel is the only Rock laid by the Father in Zion Isai 28.16 without which our Faith sinks and all our hopes vanish If that be a nullity all is gone Christianity is a vain Profession and our Bibles as to Christ and the new Covenant of Grace of no value Wherefore O Professors of this true Religion hold these two points inviolable as your lives The verity of the Scriptures and the Deity of
the writing of his Gospel and not the consigning the Canon For indeed the Apostle did compile his Gospel Rogatus ab Asiâ— Episcopis at the desire Euseb l. 4. c. 18 l. 5. c. 6 Irenaeus l. 0. c. 1 l. 5. justin warâ— heronim in catalogo ut magdeb lent 1. l 2. c 10. p 569. l 2. c. 4. p. 67. of the Bishops of â—â—sia as Eusebius and Jerom and others relate that 's very true Now tho some hence would deem that his Gospel was the last book of Scripture written by any Apostle yet I rather understand it as I said before that he was the last that wrote any Gospel of the life and acts of our blessed Lord. For so the words of Jerom imports novissimus omnium c. â—he was the last of all that wrote any Gospel History not that he novissimum librum novi Testamâ—nti conscripsit wrote the last book of the Testament that cannot be fetcht out of these words of Jerom but is a force put upon them From whence they would seem to draw that if his Gospel were the last book written then he thereby consigned the Canon of the whole Scripture But the former not being clear from thâ—se words that because he was the last that writ a Gospel that therefore the Gospel was the last book of Scripture that was written by any Apostle that 's not consequent But if we can clear that the Gospel of John was the last book of holy Scripture that ever was written by the appointment of God it were to purpose indeed that the Canon were sealed up by it But if the Revelations should prove to be the last book written by command of the Spirit and pen'd at the desire of the Asian Churches according to his visions in Patmus then it must be Sigillum Canonis the finisher of the holy canon But this as yet I cannot certainly find and therefore at present must acquiesce Yet as to this Revelation book there being of old much debate it was at last determined among the Heresies to question its Authority now its being so late received it seems to imply that it was the latest penned Whatsoever hath been hitherto said I rather incline to think that this great work was not concredited to Angels or any holy men or Primitive Churches at first but performed by the Majestical Authority the Lord and King of his Church and that he himself in his own person commanded the sealing of the Canon to his Servant John from heaven in the close of the Revelation-book however it comes to pass that we have not as yet this testimony of John formally set down by any Ecclesiastick Writer of the Primitive Times that I have had the happiness to peruse happy they that shall produce it authentick just and true Eut it seems to me that our Lord himself performed this work when he added those direful and fearful curses to fall upon any that dare to add or diminish from it which looks like a sanction of heavenly Majesty Pro. 22 18 19 not only pronouncing that particular Prophecy but as extensive to the whole Bible since it was foretold by Daniel that the Messiah should not only suffer for transgression Dan 9 24 Grasserus but also seal up vision and Prophecy Which I well know may be construed in reference to all the ancient visions concentring in him but the phrase may comprehend also his sealing and determining and putting an end to all visions and prophecies after which there should come no more he being the great Prophet of his Church and his holy Spirit the great dictator of Scripture This I humbly take to be the full final and utmost period of all Scriptures according to the foretelling of Daniel and the practical consignation by our Lord himself and therefore needs no further authority Whether then this or the Gospel were written last it matters not so much as to the signing of the Canon but since the Apostles in their times did attest it and the primitive churches worshipped and walked by its light and that ever since by some notable providence it hath stood in the rear of the Canon in all ages we have received it in connexion with the other holy Scriptures as the complex or body of Divine Truths let down from heaven and therein as Tertullian expresses it we adore the fullness of the Scriptures Rom 3 2 1 Tim 3 16 2 Pet 1.21 To draw toward an upshot since we find the Scriptures of the Old Testament cited in the New as the Oracles of God-and thereby made authentical by the Spirit of God assuring us that the Prophets of old time spake as moved by the Holy Ghost and what they wrote was received by the Jewish Church which is dignified with that honour to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the keepers of the divine law since also that the New Testament is confirmed by divine miracles and oracles and the attestation of our Lord himself in the close of the Revelations what remains but to conclude that they are of heavenly original and have supremacy in and over the Church and over the whole world as the rule of life and are as a star shining in a dark place directing us in the path to eternal life Whatever the Romanists talk of their Church or any other of the Patriarchal Seats especially Jerusalem and Antioch where we are sure that Peter sat yet the Church can give no Authority to Scriptures Eph. 2. 2â— but commendatory and all else is but Sophism For the Church is built upon the doctrine of the holy Apostles and Prophets So that altho at first we receive the scriptures in and from the ministry of Christ in his church Yet as Austins saâ—ing to this point may be glossâ—d The whole Autâ—ority both for Ministers to preach and churches to act is deduced only from thâ— holy scriptures so that the Churches of Christ ought to do nothing in doctrine worship or manners but as the holy scriptures are their best their unerring and most authentick guide There rests yet a small objection before I conclude this chapter which is that if citations in the new as I said above do ratifie the Old then the Septuagint translation should receive a higher character than the Hebrew because in some places it s cited when differing from the Hebrew Then Aratus being cited in the Acts and Menander in the Corinths acts 17.28 1 Cor 15 22. T it 1â— 12 and Epimenides in Titus are all authorized by the Apostles I answer That the Septuagint Greek is cited only as a Translation which by wonderful providence was composed at the command of Ptolomy to prepate the Grecian Gentiles for receiving the Gospel But I must not enlarge As to the heathen authors Aratus and Epimenides are urged ad hominem as arguments from their own Prophets to convince theâ— of some heathenish follies and impieties As for Menander he is cited as
vigorous resistance against the more spiritual operations of the holy Spirit of God. 2. I proceed now to the second point premised which is to shew that Faith and Holiness are inseparable companions like Jonathan and David native twins coming up from the washing of regeneration both together which may be evident as follows 1. Because Faith is a part of holiness or the new creature in the renovation of the image of God whom to believe on his Word was the duty of Adam in Innocency and is indeed a branch of the first Commandment and part of that blessed pourtraicture is restored again by Christ under the new Covnant By nature since the fall 't is true we incline to distrust God and believe Satan before him and in not obeying him in trusting to his Son upon his Word we give God the un truth as to the method of salvation by anothers righteousness But indeed Faith is a prime part of our holiness whereby we trust God as to his promise of eternal life by his blessed Son Jer 17 7 Act. 26.18.15.19 and is the very critical and discerning character between a true convert and a carnal man We are said therefore to be sanctified by Faith in Christ and the heart to be purified by Faith not from it self as an efficient cause of holiness but as it daily fetches and derives holiness from him as head of the Church Gal. 5.6 So that Faith in sanctifying us after the first infusion of grace is a power or vertue co-operating with the spirit of God and enjoys a constant concourse of the same holy Spirit in all our spiritual actions 2. Another ground may be taken from the conjunct work of the spirit John 3. who in his very first impulse and motion to true and saving conversion at his coming down into our hearts for that purpose works both Faith and Holiness at the same moment 3. Because our blessed Lord came into the World 't is the end of his advent to us not only to be the object of our Faith but to save us from our sins Mat. 1.21 Tit. 2.14 1 John 3. â— and Faith must act upon him for that end to purifie and deliver us from our iniquities not only for salvation from hell or wrath to come but also from the guilt and filth of sin For we are chosen in him to be holy and created in Christ unto good works Christ gave himself to redeem us from all iniquity Eph. 1.4 2.10 Tit 2.14 to purifie us for a peculiar people zealous of good works I where we may observe justification and sancttification riding together in the same Chariot If then all gracious habits be wrought at once the too much nicety of arguing about the precedency of this or that grace is to be rejected as not agreeing to the uniform work of the new nature nor the inward experience of saints whose graces work according to influence opportunity of providence 1 Cor. 12 11 the good pleasure of the spirit in his assistances who divideth to every one severally as he will. We may admit somewhat as to congruity of the seeming order of nature or time but not press such conceptions over strictly for various experiences will contradict the curiosity of such notions But we may firmly determine that the understanding cannot spiritually discern the excellencies of Christ 1 Cor 2 14 nor the will of man stedfastly believe in him nor the affections savingly embrace him till we are first regenerated by Gods most holy Spirit who is powred out into every faculty and power of the soul at the very first initials of Conversion 4. Because the Commandments of holiness are part of the object of our Faith in its doctrinal foundation Rom. 7.12 Therefore Paul in his conflict sets down this as a maxim that the Law is holy and the Commandment holy just and good 5. Besides the truth of our Faith is demonstrable by holiness as its genuine effect It s vain for persons to pretend to Faith where this is wanting tho' it may not appear so evidently at the first Jam. 2.17 The Apostle James spends a large discourse upon this Argument to prove that Faith without the works of holiness is but a dead Faith. Indeed our holiness being imperfect does not justifie the person before God but it justifies the faith of the person to be true and the Apostle Paul conjoynes Faith and Holiness together and thence proves our eternal life 2 Thess 2.13 Blessing God for having chosen the Thessalonians to glory and proves it because they were sanctified by the Spirit and did believe the truth of the Gospel 6. Lastly Because the application of Faith or the working or actuating of our Faith upon Christ in the promise doth not only sweetly and clearly manifest our being justified but assists us also in the obtaining and increasing of holiness 2 Cor. 7.1 They walk and work together For how do the precious promises of the covenant purge us from sin and all filthiness of flesh and spirit but by the acting faith in Christ and so do embrace Christ for our sanctification 1 Cor. â— 30. and in his name and power derive holiness from those precious promises which are the golden Pipes or nerves that convey it from our glorious head Whence it comes that our belief of the inheritance promised and of Heavens aimiableness revealed by the Word and ratified on and by the verity of God helps us daily to walk more holily and to be made more meet for that Kingdom with the Saints in light And thus it is Act. 15.7 Lev. 4 20 33. that Faith purifies both the heart and life for glory Even as under the Levitical Law the action of the Priest in his offering the Bullock and sprinkling the blood before the Lord is said to purge away sin Rainold praelect vol. 1. p. 123. or make attonement for their sins that is instrumentally So may Faith be an instrument in deriving the sense of our justification and the sweet influences of our sanctification from our blessed Lord in believing the sanctifying promises made in his Name and actuated by virtue of his holy Spirit Now then according to that common and useful sentiment there be two works that attend Sanctity the first is to mortifie sin and the second to vivifie and quicken Grace Pet. 3.11 that we may be holy in all manner of conversation and this not of our own power either to begin carry on or finish but wholly by the work of the Spirit at first and then by his gracious concourse with every holy action of the new creature to the last being carried on by the power of God thru ' Faith to Salvation This is so great a Scripture truth that t is to be admired that the impugners of it who stand upon their own power so much both as to conversion and as to perseverance should be so noted for looseness
precepts and the promises being the rule of asking We have a most free access to plead the promises both of this and the life to come Eph. 3.12 Heb. 4.16 1 Tim. 4 8. so that by holy degrees and steps we may arrive to further humble confidence of divine mercy 4. When we feel some gracious risings of love to God as pardoning our iniquities for Christs sake and tho we do not so fully and sweetly feel it as we would yet our hearts do pant and long after it This is a true sign of Love. But yet to clear it a little the humble soul will ask Quest How shall I know that I love God Ans I answer Of all the affections that spring and bubble out of the will this is most easily to bediscerned and known Do you know the Sun when you see him walk in brightness do you know that you live by the actings of the senses and the pulsation of your arteries or do you know that you walk when you move your feet and feel your motions from place to place you may as certainly know your affections and the workings of your Soul This distinguishes men from Bruits in the acting of their reason upon all they do and in managing ends and means The affections spiritually beating are the pulsations of the regenerate heart Observe then your Objects if you love the things above better than all below Col. 3.2 Isal 73.25 in your choice and preference tho sometimes under some ebbs and eclipses yet still you find an inward regard to God and his glory and that you perform every action in ordine ad Deum and love all as to the inward sincerity of your heart 1 Cor. 10.31 and enjoy every relation with some desire to work up your mercies towards God in thankfulness and usefulness These are good tokens that you are risen with Christ by Faith and that your life is hid with God in him and that by continued degrees of Sanctification you shall at last arrive to this even to appear with him in Glory 4. But that I may at length wind out of this delightful Labyrinth in discoursing about Assurance Let us hearken to the second Question wherein the Soul being somewhat revived does now start the fourth Particular at the beginning and that is Quest 2. How may I preserve and retain Assurance when it is gained Ans The reason of this Question arises not only from hence because the sweet sense of divine love is a most desirable frame of Spirit and fills the soul to the brim with joy and peace in the Holy Ghost and besides renders persons very serviceable and greatly honours Religion But also because 1. Many gracious persons that have true Faith yet labour under deep fears of Hypocrisie arising from their pious Education not answered by proportionable holiness It puts great jealousies in their hearts that all they have done is but a forced work and a habit of formality attracted from the precepts of godly Ministers and Parents instilling into an inlightned conscience the frightful form of an outward conversation consonant and therefore fear at a strange rate that their diamonds are but as it were from the soft Rock of St. Vincent their Gold but Alchymy their Faith but fained and temporary But be not discouraged For that Faith is true and unfeigned which proceeds from a pure heart 1 Tim. 1.5 19. and a good conscience that is without fraud and guile in setting it naked and open before God Act. 24.16 in labouring and exercising to keep a good conscience in sight of God and Men. You may then rejoyce in the testimony of such a conscience having been upright before him in the main bent of the soul Psal 18.23 and in keeping from your own iniquity What tho thou didst not come in with such remarkable pangs no more did Zacheus nor Lydia T is not the manner but the truth of our coming in to Christ is the great point if thou constantly adhere to the Lord with full purpose of heart Nay what if there were some errors at first Act. 11.23 this puts no bar if the root of the matter be in thee The Apostles followed our Lord at first in some hopes of preferment in the temporal Kingdom of the Messiah but at length understood the Doctrine of the Crosse better which God in great tenderness is pleased to vail from young converts at first or at least preserve them from suffering till they are strengthened and then like the Apostles they still cleave to and continue with the Lord under all trials by the exceeding power of his might And thus as I remember Dr. Crakenthorp in defending of Cyprian and Jerom against some pontificians imputing some errors to them Crakenthorp of the sixth Council P. the better to vindicate their Liberius answers that if they did erre they did it not willingly but were ready to reform upon the first approach of Scripture light and conviction T is so in our case they are ready with that holy man to pray what I see not teach thou me Job 34.32 The mind and will of God is the perfect square rule canon and compass of all their actions and tho they may fail threu ' weakness yet never thru ' wilfulness Wherefore be not out of heart O tender and trembling soul let not go your hope and confidence because you have not had so long and such bitter pangs in the new birth that makes the work the harder but not the truer A child may be born sometimes with greater ease and speed Great horrors may attend great sinners and yet after all their heavy convictions may stick in the birth and never be truly converted till they are truly and perseveringly reformed which indeed cuts the work short and makes the evidence clear If thou hast been under a gentler hand from God bless him with louder Songs of praise For the shorter and sweeter the method the greater is the mercy and as one said A young Saint may make as old Angel. 2. This question begs a full answer because though want of Assurance does not denote an unbeliever yet it keeps a true believer under the dark shades of fear and sorrow Assurance besides in the best of Saints is but an imperfect work because our Faith it self is but imperfect we see but in part because we do but trust in part If our Faith do at any time waver and stagger â—ol 2.2 assurance must needs qviver and shake It 's true there 's mention made of the riches of full Assurance but that 's comparative in respect to some Saints and mentioned as attainnable with full sweetness and may possibly for the main continue pretty constant especially in very active and suffering Saints yet 't is not without ebbs and buâ—â—etings in the best There are but few that walk in the mountain of Sun-shine all their lives as 't is said of Zabarel the Philosopher when one day
of wounded Spirits and their consolation under the darkest clouds and deepest confusions while we are in this valley of Dragons which is the reason why truly gracious persons wade and dive through Sicknesses Troubles and strong anxieties when wicked and ungodly men languish and perish a thousand times over and over because the former enjoy the sweet influences of the Spirit of God in the promises of the Gospel to cool their consciences and calm their spirits into a halcyon serenity and sometimes tread upon the Asp and Dragon without any fear By these and the like meanes the Scriptures confirm and ascertain themselves like self-evident principles when the Spirit of God strikes aside the Curtains and Vailes of Ignorance and purges the Corruptions out of the minds of men Let all the world rage in Storms of contradiction and like him in Laertius affirm Snow to be black or another that there is no sense in pain or boldly assert the Sun shines not when I see it or a cordial comforts not when I feel it Job 6.4 Psal 38 2. or that a troubled conscience is but a melancholly fancy when the Terrors of the Lord drink up the spirits of men These should be sent to Anticyrae to purge with Hellebor for madness Pray what Energy or power can he in a printed paper in the reading of a Chapter wherewith Austin and Junius were converted from sin to God or what powerful charm in hearing a mean Preacher perhaps none of the Learnedest like the blessed Fishermen of Galilee to change the heart if so many proud haughty and rebellious sinners who of direful Persecutors have sometimes turned tender cherishers and protectors of the Church of God Jer. 22.29 Psal 19.11 Heb. 4.12 Ezek. 2.4.3 11 17. were it not for the fire of the Word of the Lord of Hosts that melts the Stone of the heart and the hammer of that Word that breaks the rocks of the sturdy Zanzummims all to powder insomuch that bitter scoffers have been changed into witty Tertullians and turned their Satyrs into Panegyricks Some morese Philosophers have proved quick and acute disputants in the primitive times to defend the Christian Religion What can that be imagined to be that works so strange effects upon whole Nations from the East to the Western-Indies whitened the Black-Moores civilized the hearts of Scythians more ferine ragged and bruitish than the Rocks and Hyrcanian Tygers that gâ—ve them suck and beautified the barbariously painted Britains far beyond the Oratory of the Gaules It could be no other power than the awful dread of the Divine Majesly and the melting sweetness of his mercy concomitant with his heavenly Word Wherefore such are justly to be suspected for strangers to the work of grace like Nicodemus at first tho a great Doctor in Israel yet a great dunce in the excellenc point of the New-Birth Or like that Doctor at Oxford sometime since that searcht his Dictionary for the word Regeneration and could not tell what to make of it because he found it not there I say we may greatly fear that they never felt this mighty power of the Spirit of God to change their hearts Rom. 1.16 that dare talk so proudly and irreverently against the self-evidencing power of the holy Scriptures on the consciences of men when the Majesty of God shines ten thousand times brighrer in the Meridian of that Book than the Sun without clouds at noon-day in the Zenith of Africa I shall intreat my ingenuous and pious Readers kind leave to descend into the bowels of two arguments to give evidence to the truth of the Holy Scriptures and so conclude this present chapter Which are drawn from the Oracles and Miracles mentioned in this sacred Book The fulfilling of the one and performing of the other to the consternation and amazement of such as had the happiness to be spectators of either are in some part attested and confirmed by Heathens themselves and cleared off by several Writers of unquestionable authority confessing the matters of fact which were accomplisht in the successions of several ages with great exactness and punctuality SECT I. Of Scripture Oracles FOr this purpose it must be laid down for a standing rule that the certain and determinate foreknowledge and prediction of future events long before they come to pass is an undeniable evidence of infinite Wisdom and Power and compatible to no created being Hence the Lord challenges this glory to his own name that former things foretold by him did issue in the time predicted Yea further Isai 42.9 to lift up the people into the mount of observation tells them He would declare new things before they should spring forth of the Womb of Providence Nay Isa 43 9 10 calls to the Heathen to bring out their Witnesses if they had any to justifie their Idols as to the verity of their predictions and then appeals to the Jews as his own Witnesses that they might know believe and understand that he was God and before him there was no God formed nor shall be after him Which argument is amplified and prosecuted in the forty fixth and forty eighth chapters asserting the Divinity of his Essence and the verity of his declarations and prophecies Citations might multiply in which the silver Trumpets of the holy Prophets sound harmoniously in the ears of all Nations 1 Pet. 1.25 proclaiming this mark and character of his eternal Deity and that his words endure for ever and are filled up to the brim with veracity and run over the banks of all ages in chrystalline streams of accomplishments while in the mean time their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the Delphian and Dodâ—nean Oracles have filled the Heathen World with crooked serpentine lies and cheats Mat. 5 16. Whereas the very Ordinances of heaven shall sooner be involved into their ancient dismal Chaos then any of these blessed sayings shall in the least tittle be dissolved or made void I shall now enter upon some of the famous Oracles of Scripture which have bin so plainly verified before the eyes of many Nations that several Philosophers and Historians of the Gentiles have confessed this truth and born witness to their eventual fulfillings and doubtless honoured and embraced those Divine Parchments with great veneration when many of them travelled into Syria and had the great happiness by the leave of some Rulers of Synagogues prece pretio using gifts and intreaties to behold and read those heavenly prophecies and 't is more than likely that many notions among the ancient Platonists are corruptions of and Compositions with the matter of those profound Writings But before further procedure I must premise that for want of my Library at hand since my sad recess from my most desired services I am forced to make the best use I can of my memory and therefore cannot make my Citations so perfect and exact as I else would and partly from the defect of Historians in barbarous ages we
have by the conduct of providence strangely ratified it niceph as the Patriarch of Jerusalem said of Julians attempt to rebuild the Temple Mat. it happened that not a stone was left upon a stone there the anger of God sending Thunder and Lightning and Ebullitions of fire out of the bowels of the Earth so violent that all the foundations of the old Temple were flung out to the destruction of many of the old Jewish Builders at that time There be several of the Learned primitive Fathers have taken great pains to good purpose on such like points as Clemens Alexandrinus Origen Justin Martyr Lactantius Arnobius Eusebius c. who have distinctly writtâ—n against the Gentiles with the Pen of a Diamond and abundantly refellâ—d their Errors and Sophistâ—ies sâ—tting forth the great and mighty acts of holy men of old attesting the sacred Doctrines Yea so great was the conviction of the stupendious works of our blessed Messiah the Wonderful the Counsellor upon the Spirit of the Emperour Tiberius Isai 9 6 â—useb ex Terâ—eul l 2. c. 2. that he strongly urged the Senate of Rome to recognize him for God. But the counsel being horrible Idolaters would not admit it Because said he he would have no other God besides himself which indeed is but his just and magnificent right nor will he give up his glory to dumb Idols But yet these mighty works forespoken of tho they doe not nor can of themselves directly cause true Faith in the heart Isai 6.10 without the Almighty power of God else why did not the gross-hearted Jews believe yet are they a strong Foundation for Faith to insist upon and to induce the belief of the Divinity of that person who is the original Revealer and Deliverer of these Scriptures of truth to the World. Dan. 10.21 However it be plain that Miracles work no Faith without a divine concurrence but persons as Pharach and his Associates might stand amazed a while yet quickly return to their late stupidity Job 2.23 And our blessed Lord we see would not trust the unbelieving Jews though he had exhibited great Miracles among them because he knew what was in the corrupt and false heart of man. But now let us step into the third and last Section of this Chapter SECT III. The Consignation of the Canon HAving by many Arguments I hope demonstrated the Sacred Authority of those inestimable volumes of Scripture There yet remains an enquiry about the finishing of the Canon or the compass of all the Books that are of Divine stamp and original Those two great Luminaries of the English Nation Dr. John Rainolds of Oxford and Dr. William Whitaker of Cambridge have largely and solidly handled this Point against the Romanists which the Learned know better than I But since that somewhat on this Subject may not be ungrateful or unuseful to many give leave to treat a little upon it in this Section and so conclude this first Chapter It is then the Sentiment of several of the Antients in the primitive times that the holy Apostles of the Lord did consign or state the Canon of Scripture and it hath obtained among many of the Learned for an indubitable truth of which Testimonies I shall recite some to that purpose The first whereof is Melito Bishop of Sardis about the Year 170. so sayes Eusebius A. 170 Euseb l. 4. c. 25 attesting that he set out the Canon of the Old Testament just as we do omitting the Apocrypha for which purpose he Travelled into the East to gain full intelligence Athanasius of Alexandria sets down the same Catalogue A. 340 as Rainold de Apocryphis Vol. 1. p. 361. Cyril of Jerusalem A. 360 the same in his Catechis l. 4. and expresly asserts the Apostles to be the declarers of that Canon and that it was received from them Rain p. 328. 361 in these words Qui hos nobis libros tradiderunt that delivered these Books over unto us The Council of Laodicea met in an Apostolical Church and composed of Asian Bishops A. 394. or 8. Magd. cont 4. P. 833. A. 385 mentions no other as to the Old Testament Amphilochius of Iconium recites the same Rain p. 332. Jerom in his Catalogue of ancient Writers expresses it thus of John Novissimus omnium Scripsit Evangellum rogatus ab Asiae Episcopis that he being intreated by the Bishops of Asia of all the Evangelists was the last that wrote a Gospel as we may gloss upon the words we find also that Justin Martyr affirms that John did see the Visions and compose the Book of the Revelations of what he saw in Patmos now Patina in the Egaean Sea. And to the same purpose it is attested by Irenaeus lib. 5. towards the end and by Eusebius l. 4. c. 18. Furthermore Austin who a little survived Jerom in his Book against Faustus Excellentia canonicae autoritatis veteris novi Testamenti c Apostolorum confirmata temperibus c. and again Nemo dare potest authoritatem cuiquam libro August contra Faustum l. 11. c. 5. L. 13. c. 4. quam per Ecclesias Christi ab ipsis Apostolis consts utas non accipit ut inde ad posteros firmata commendatione transcurreret None can give authority to any Book that is of Scripture which he hath not received from the Churches of Christ constituted by the Apostles themselves that so they might be transmitted with a firm recommendation to posterity De Doct. Christ l. 2. c. 8. Again when treating of the Canon he sayes we should follow the authority of those Churches Quae Apostolicas sedes habere Epistolas accipere meruerunt which were dignified by the presence of the Apostles and received Epistles from them And such was the Church of Laodicea whose Canon is above-cited There is moreover a famous quotation out of Eusebius mentioned by Dr. Couzins in his History of the Canon where he brings the ancients asserting Page 32 edit Lond 4 to 1657 that the Apostle John rogatu at the request of the Asian Churches did fix the genuine canon of Scripture and adds Eusebius to it This is in the margin but in teâ—t of his discourse c. 4.647 thus Before Saint John dved wâ—o dyed last of all the Apostles the Canon of Scripture was made perfect and dâ—livered over to the Christian Church What a happy pâ—n had he usâ—d and blest the Church with an excellent discovery had he quoted the chapter and book out of Eusebius if the words cited were really there But upon most diligent search I could never yet find it in that Author tho I have read him over but pardon my saying so in some places but especially the recited over and over If there be any mistake in my search how glad to see it rectified and how thankful But I fear otherwise and rather suppose either he had some other Copy or Manuscript or else the mistaken citation must refer to
the learned judg in answer to Anacreon in the 32 verse of his atheistical rhyme much like Horace and other Epicurean Ballad makers who often push at one another with scoffs and jeers Nay far better men then they some of the good fathers of the primitive times in the Apologies made in defence of the christian-church bring in multitudes of Testimonies out of Heathen writers against their Pagan Idolatries Superstitions Atheisms Persecutions and the vain boasts of the antiquity of their shamefull dunghil Deities which matter is obvious in the writings of Origen against Celsus Clemens Alexandrinus in his stromata Minutius Faelix Arnokius against the Gentiles Austin in his book of the city of God and Learned Jerâ—m in many of his Epistles and commentaries Let us then determine this point from what proceeds in the arguments assâ—meâ— from Oracles and Miracles Gelas Cizenes hist Niceâ— council nnd many other grounds briefly touched above that they are the very Word of God but particularly by their converting power upon the Soul commanding reverence and trembling and horror into the conscience both of men and Devils as they did upon the Spirit of that Petulant Philosopher in the council of Nice Nay so terrible is the weight of these Truths upon the Souls of some fleering atheists that they are forced sometimes to Hobbianize that is tremble to be in the darkâ— as he did at the Lord of Devonshires being afraid to walk abroad without Mastiffs or Pistols and how much more was he appaled at the approach of death Whereas on the other side how often have we seen with joy and delight this blessed Word of God to have comforted many a soul in the greatest conflicts and agonies of death whence it follows that these effects must be the issue of divine power that these writings are indeed the very Word of the holy God since no other books or preachings do or can so rouze and startle the proud conscience of man. Insomuch that else we might justly wonder what the man ails that is so tormented his heart raging like the troubled Sea till the Allablaster box of fragrant oyntment be opened out of the promises and the balsome when poured into a scalded and wounded spirit immediately asswages its pain and sinks the blisters which all the Divines and holy Orators in the world could never do till the presence of God stampt idea's of mercy and comfort speaking peace to the Soul. Whence we may sweetly infer that no other books can be received with any powerful convictive authority but where in they agree with the tenor and canon of holy Scriptures so that whoever walks according to this rule Gal. 6.16 peace shall be on him mercy as on the Israel of God. I shall then finish this first Chapter with that inference for which those mediums were brought That since Faith in Christ Jesus is the very scope and design the very sum and substance of the whole Scripture it follows that the acting of Faith upon them as the Doctrinal Object of such divine original is grounded on the holiness and truth of the omnipotent and eternal God. Wherein it is impossible for him to deceive us in not fulfilling his gracious promises Heb. 6.18 to humble contrite and broken spirits that â—rust in his mercy In like manner Eph. 2.20 the acting of our Faith on the Lord Jesus as its personal object for our Justification is built on the foundation of the holy Apostles and Prophets Christ himself being the chief corner-stone Psal 87.1 laid by the Father in the holy mountains Whoever then believes not God on his Word and Promise makes him a Lyar as far as in his power which every one should Tremble to think on 1 Ioh. 5.10 because they believe not the record that God hath given of his Son. Which pertinently leads me into the second chapter about the Deity of our blessed Lord the natural and eternal Son of God. Which Doctrine being evicted and manifested layes a most sure ground for Faith to erect the Temple of Glory and will secure our tenure of Salvation inviolable like a House built upon the Rock of Ages that will endure to all Eternity CHAP. II. Of the Deity of Christ TO Prove the Doctrines of Christ to be true and perfect we must demonstrate his person to be infallible and to prove his sufferings to be satisfactory to Divine Justice there must be an infinite value in that glorious person who was graciously pleased to suffer for the sins of the Elect. If this be clear then Faith builds upon a Foundation as firm as the Being Fidelity and Constancy of a holy and gracious God This can't be better fixed but by manifesting the Deity of Christ in the glorious Messiah who appeared upon Earth in the dayes of Augustus Caesar Now if Christ be God even the natural Son of God then the most precious Blood of his sufferings by communication of idioms or properties between the two natures may be called the blood of God Acts 20.28 Heb 1.3 9 12 Rev. 1. â— 8 Hornbeck Mareius Calovius c. as it is in the Holy Scriptures For the Proof of the Deity of Christ I intend no great Enlargement but refer to those who write directly against the Socinian Heresie it concerns us only to argue a little upon this point and deduce some intermixed consequencies As to this great Subject having already accounted for the Divinity of the Scriptures we may now take leave to use them as Testimonies sent from heaven and left upon Record in the Church to prove this Truth On which very score it s commonly received from the Antients that the Apostle John wrote his Gospel against Cerinthus and other primitive Hereticks by the instigation of the Asian Churches But most certainly by the inspiration of the spirit of God. After him Athanasius of Egypt Hillary of France and Fulgentius of Africa and several others have largly and nervously handled the sword of the spirit against the Arians Let us however touch a few arguments in the case 1. The first argument may be taken from the Eternity of Christ no Being can be eternal but must be God. Our Lord was in Being from all Eternity and therefore must needs be God he had a glory with the Father before the world was Ioh. 17 5â— but let us joyn it with eternal sonship and infer that if he were the eternal son of God then he must be true God in Essence Heb. 1.3 for he must be every way the character of his Hypostasis or as we translate it the express image of his Person This Argument of Christs being God because he was the eternal son of God. The Jews very well understood its force and therefore presently argued against him of Blasphemy in assuming the honour of being God. Iohn 5.18 For to be the eternal Son of God he must be coessential with God which confession that Christ was the
own divine power Whereby he manifested his own Glory that is of his Deity As in turning Water into Wine at Cana and in raising of Lazarus he was glorified to be the Son of God Therefore the Apostle John from that and many other cases of raising the dead Joh 5 17 15 24 10 18. c. might well affirm that he had seen his glory even in the transfiguration as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Till the incarnation or rather the beginning of his Ministry the Father wrought But now sayes he I Work. He laid down the life of his Humanity Heb 1 Rom 1 4 c. rose from the dead ascended into Heaven and sat down at the right hand of God by his own Divine Power Tho t is true that some of these things being sometimes ascribed to God essential and otherwhere predicated or affirmed of Christ personal do therein unite in the confirmation of his Deity who performed all these great signs that we should believe him to be the Son of God. 1 Joh. 5.13 8. Another Testimony of his glorious Deity is the pardon of sin The Pharisees saw the force of this Argument Mat. 9.3 Luk. 5.21 and blasphemously catcht at it as a great crime for arrogating to himself the honour which is alone due to the Majesty of God. But our Lord sufficiently knew the dignity of his own person tho somewhat vailed yet to the comfort of many a poor sinner and to their inestimable joy often as a God pronounced the forgiveness of their sins Nay to shew the union of his humanity with the Deity declares that the Son of Man hath power upon Earth Mat. 9.2 3. Act 5 31 Heb 1.3 as well as in Heaven to forgive sins So the Apostle to the Hebrews confirming his Godhead over and over in the same Chapter asserts that having purged away our sins by himself i. e. by his blood he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high 9. Again since contrite sinners do humbly supplicate to God for the pardon of sin we find him recorded sometimes as the direct and immediate object of Worship both from men and angels Joh 14.13 How often do we find him prayed to and worshipt by his Disciples and himself accepting all as his due Now he that receives prayer and answers it to the people of God and takes into his custody the spirits of dying Saints as he did Stephen's this person must needs be God. Nay all the Angels of God are commanded to Worship him Act 7 59 Heb 1 6 Mat 8 27 Job 38 9 at whose word the raging seas hush into their swadling bands and are quiet like a child sleeping in its cradle the boisterous winds delight to be still that they may without noise hear his delicious and heavenly voice with all silence and subjection and make a halcyon calm from Pole to Pole. 10 But to end He that is declared to be Judg of the World and to raise all persons out of their Graves by hâ—s own Imperial command to appear at his righteous Bar must not that person be God If he knew not the hearts and thoughts of all and every secret thing from his own Omniscience Eccl. 12 14 which thing is an incommunicable attribute of God he could not be Judg of quick and dead at his appearance and Kingdom To Judge the World was by the Pharisees acknowledged to be the character of a God. 2 Tim. 4 8 The high Priest therefore hearing this rents his clothes and calls it Blasphemy But why the second person having admitted the humanity into union and being head of the Church should perform this glorious work Mat 26 65 Mark 17 64 depends only upon the Oeconomy of the sacred Trinity a secret not to be irreverently peered into but adored Let 's be wise to Sobriety according to what is written and not transcend the limits at the foot of the Mount. Rom 12 3 But to draw to an issue He is also constituted Judg of Angels at that great day they must bow their coelestial knees at his Name and the evil Spirits acknowledg this while our Lord was here below Isa 45 23 Rom 14 10 11 Mat 8.29 beseeching him not to torment them before the time Now it is a work competent alone to a God to torment Spirits All the powers in heaven and earth besides cannot do it of their own vigor and force unless permitted influenced directed and managed by God in it and blessed be God for it that hath reserved the dominion of our spirits to himself alone as well as of Angels But this supremacy was acted by Christ at his pleasure from the innate power of his Deity when he cast them out as evil and unclean spirits sore against their wills and at their supplication gave them leave to go hither or thither For they are in adamantine chains and those chains in his own hand 2 Pet 2 4. and casts them into hell and looses them when he pleases There fore he who by his own power and authority in communion with the essential Godhead doth these great things Rev 20 1 2 7 must be God blessed for ever Amen I know the Socinians talk of their created God and so would sain evade the dint of Scriptures but that 's most perfect nonsence to assert two Gods and one a created God. For Infinite can be but one or else hold one to be titular as Angels and Magistrates tho in a higher Orb and Order which yet is inconsistent with the precedent Scriptural Arguments that prove our blessed Lord to be God in essence coequal with the Father and Holy Spirit to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever Now then since this most excellent person by vertue of his sufferings in communion with his infinite Deity tho in it self impassible hath given full satisfaction to his Father for all the sins of Believers and by whom we receive the attonement Rom 3 21 5 21 Act 20 2 even through the merit of his precious blood and that hereby he is become a personal particular and immediate Object of our Faith and that by him we do believe in God the justifier of the ungodly through his righteousness and his alone Rev 22 17 Heb 9 12 Eph 5 26 Tit 2 14 1 Joh 1 7 1 Pet 1 2 Rev 8 5 Heb 9 16 and that this glorious person so graciously invites all thirsty sinners to take the water of life freely and to believe in his Name for the remission of Sins let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need Now let this suffice to have written about the two great Foundations of Faith. In the first Chapter concerning the Divinity of the Scriptures And in the second in reference to the Deity of our blessed Lord which I hope
of my own deficiency and intreat a candid Reader to pardon what is here done out of a great thirst and desire to cast in some mites for initiated believers as may help I hope and add to their faith or the joy of faith and supply something of what is yet lacking in the faith of some weaker christians with whom we converse in Ordinances Divinity is an Ocean that hath neither shoares nor bottom there is room enough without envy for every one to spread new Sails and in continual travelling we may still see more wonders of God in these Deeps But yet not to prescind and cut off all proper method and genuine handling of this subject I shall first set down the true nature and essence of this grace of saving faith and then proceed to the rest of the chapters in their prescribed order Now since it hath pleased the goodness of God to give spiritual life to many thousands in these British Isles that have and do believe by the instrumentality of several burning and shining lights ever since the latter end of the Reign of Tiberius Gildas deexciâ— Britan. when the Gospel began first to shine among our praecessors whom God hath raised from age to age out of his infinite mercy as serviceable under his divine commission to open and apply the holy Scriptures from Joseph of Arimathea and his companions at Glastenbury as our Ancestors do generally determine it and have handed it through dark and gloomy times Spelman concil Tom. 1. till its brightness recovered again by the industry of German of Auxere and Lupus of Troyes their disputation at Vepulam against Pelagius his errors and heresies Nay through his divine goodness there never wanted some worthy patrons of the truth under British Saxon and Nerman Governments till the days of Wicklif that great Luminary whose rayes shone into Bohemia Helvâ—tia and thence into Poland as a late worthy Rector of Lesna an university in that Kingdom sometimes since did acquaint me that they own it And after him still sprang up more and more illustrious persons till the restauration from Popery Since which the doctrines of holy â—aith derived from Scripture have been set forth by the Reformed in several Nations and called a Body of confessions printed in quarto But to let them pass I shall for the maine follow that Type of truth which our own teachers have gather out of those sacred pages In the first place then the church of England having exhibited the main doctrines consonant to the holy Scriptures in their Articles Catechism and Homilies I shall name some particulars to our purpose about Faith. In the eleventh Article we have this clause That we are justified by faith only is a most wholsome doctrine and very full of comfort See Nowels Catechism Homilies edit Lond. 1635. Fol. p. 22. Homily of â—alvation or justification part 1. p. 14. as is more largly expressed in the homily of Justification of which more fully in the confession of Faith and the defence of it by Bishop Jewel some hints see in the Catechism but especially the Homilies In the fourteenth Homily thus Lively Faith is a true trust and confidence of the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ and farther that this true and lively faith is not ours but by Gods working in us and again p. 17. 'T is not the act of faith that justifies that were by some act or vertue that is within our selves c and again p. 18. By Faith given us of God we embrace the promise of Gods mercy and of the remission of our sins and yet still more fully in the third part p. 20. True christian faith is c to have a sure trust and confidence in Gods merciful promises to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ whereof doth follow a loving heart to obey his Commandments In the little Catechism there are hints to the same purpose as that in the answer about Baptism there is required Faith Whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God. But le ts proceed to others The Assembly of Divines in their Confession of Faith after some previous Discourse about it expresly thus The principal act of saving Faith are accepting receiving and resting upon Christ alone for Justification Sanctification and eternal life by vertue of the covenant of Grace There 's also much to the same effect amplified in the larger and contracted in the shorter Catethism The Declaration of the Faith and Order of the Congregational Churches in England met at the Savoy in London by the Elders and Messengers Octob. 12. 1658. express it in the very same words Chap. 14. Sect. 2. Page 24. which are before rehearsed out of the confession of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster All these Societies then for substance do most harmoniously agree in the same Doctrine of Faith exclusive of works in the point of Justification And oh that they would also once agree to live quietly and peaceably by each other as becomes Professors of the same holy Faith washt in the same holy Baptism and called in one hope of the same calling and as becomes the worshippers of one Lord and one God and Father of all Eph. 4.5 who is above all and through all and in all that truly believe We agree in Judgment as to the great points of Salvation and why not affection and brotherly love and peace forbearing one another in little matters not introduced into the primitive Churches before the declension and apostacy began I am sure the Church of England teaches other Doctrine in the second and third part of the ☞ Sermon of Faith. Well then we are at amity in this great particular That Faith is the gracious acting of the whole soul or heart of a sincere Christian whereby he rests and relies upon a crucified Saviour for remission of sins and eternal life grounded on the precious promises of God which is infused and wrought there by the holy Spirit at our new birth and convertion from sin to holiness In this Declaration of the nature of Faith we may for distinction sake take more especial notice of the succeeding particulars in peculiar Sections SECT I. 1. FIrst We may enquire where this Grace of Faith is subjected and that 's exprest to be in the whole man. The Subject of its inherence is not this or that particular faculty but the whole Soul or heart of Man as the Scripture often expresses it and we may observe that some times the Heart is put for the a 1 King. 3.9 understanding sometimes for the b Act. 7.39 will other times for c 1 Cor. 7.37 purpose for the affection of d Mat. 6.21 love for inordinate e Rom. 1.24 lusts in their seat for f Eccl 6.7 desire and for the g Luk. 1.16 21.14 Acts 8 37 Luk. 24 Rom. 10.9 Prov 3 5 memory Now that Faith is scituate first in geral in the heart and then in