The Life of Faith, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. The vse of Faith to young men in Christianity.
PVT off now thy sackcloth and ashes, put on the garments of ioy and gladnesse. Let not white raiment be wanting, nor oyle to thy head. Liue I say, liue to day, liue to morrow, liue oh Christian for euer. Not for one or a fewe dayes, But all the dayes of thy life.
This thou mayst doe, if thou wilt learne to vse thy Faith, not as men vse Wedding apparell, for a weeke or two after Marriage, and then lay it vp for high and solemne dayes onelyonly. This indeed is the fashion of beleeuers at their first conuersion: beeing iustified, to hauehave peace and ioy in beleeuing the remission of their sinnes, and for a while to bee glad of their estate; but then to neglect and determinate the vse of Faith, as if it had now done all it should or could doe: except till they relapse againe into some foule sinne, then to recouer life againe, vsing it as Vsquebath and strong Waters for swones and heart qualmes onelyonly, not being acquainted with a dayly and quotidian improuement of it: which ought to bee as constant and continuate as is the vse of Fire and Water, of Salt, of Bread, or Wine, or whateuer is more ordinary and necessary then other: such as no part of our liues may well be without. Serues Faith for entrance and beginnings, and not for proceedings and encreasings. Are we not nourished by the same Elements of which wee consist?
Is Faith the Midwife and breeder of ioy and peace, and not the Nurse and Foster-mother of them. Cherishing and feeding thee till thou come to a full and perfect age in Christ? Is not the fruit of it sweeter in the eare then in the blade?
Hearken therefore to mee, oh thou of little Faith, and lesse vse of it. Doest thou desire to hauehave a continuall feast, to reioyce alwaies in the Lord? I know thou desirest it with all thy soule.
Let me prescribe a Dyet, a daily dyet without omission, strictly to bee kept, (The Lord giuegive thee and mee grace to obserue it) Looke how duly thou refreshest thy bodyly spirites by vse of repast, or recreations; so often at the least bee sure to cheere vp thy Soule by the vse of thy Faith.
Let thy soule hauehave two or three walkes a day vp to Mount Tabor, that is, into some retyred place of Meditation and Prayer, such as Isaaks Field, Gornelius his Leaded, Dauids Closet, &c.
But what is there to be done? I answere, Still make vse of thy Faith.
But what is that you call vsing of Faith? I now come to the point, to the chiefe misterie of Spirituall life. Shore vp thy soule in this Mount to conuerse with Christ. Looke what promises and priuiledges thou doest habitually beleeue, now actually think of them, rowle them vnderunder thy tongue, Chew on them till thou feele some sweetnesse in the palate of thy soule. View them ioyusly, seuerally: Sometimes muse of one, sometimes of another more deepely, and lest (as Patients oft doe in Physicions Billes) thou still complaine of obscurity: thus doe, thinke with thy selfe how excellent a thing it is to hauehave all thy debts cancelled, how sweet a thing to hauehave God appeased, how glorious a thing to bee the sonne of God, how happy and safe a condition for thee to bee sure thy perseuerance and saluation, how pleasant a state to bee … of the fiere of death …, how … of glory.
Feastmakers in ancient time had speciall officers that cheered vp their guests, they thought it not enough to set store of meate beefore them, but one must come in and say, Fall too and be merry, Let vsus eate and drinke, It is a good time, &c.
Thus say thou to thy selfe, as Paul to the Corinths (foreign) Let us feast and bee merry. Christ hath made vsus Holy-dayes, our Paschall Lambe is slaine, HaueHave any more cause to bee merry? With these Soliloquies mingle some Eiaculations to heauen, for grace and ayde: And leaue not, descend not this Mount till thou findest and feelest thy soule in some cheerely plight, reuiued and warmed with these spirituall Flagons of Wine, in the strength whereof thou mayest walke all the day following.
This is that which the Sp…se calles, Walking into the Gardens and eating of the fruits, &c. which in plaine termes, I call, vsing of Faith, and liuing by Faith. Which if thou wilt duely inure thy selfe vntounto, thou wilt not maruell why I called it, Ascending Mount Tabor: thou wilt say thy selfe, vponupon good proofe, It is good to be here, dayly to be here, often to come hither. This is that exercise of Faith, which paul inioynes Timothy, and calles stirring vp, or in kindling.
Fire in the Embers vnstirred, glowes not, heats not the house; Sugar in the cup vnstirred sweetens not the Wine. And in such it is all one not to hauehave Faith, and not to vse it. It may well bee said of Money-hoorders, they hauehave no quicksiluer, no currant money, they hauehave no more that which they hauehave, then that which they hauehave not. And so of such beleeuers as doe not thus vse their Faith, they hauehave no liuely Faith, They were almost (for matter of feeling, and for present benefit and comfort) be without Faith. A man is little the better for a sleeping habit. It is a rare portion, saith Salomon, and that which GOD giues onelyonly to such as are good in his eyes, to make vse of wealth, to eate, drinke, and bee merry: it is a much rarer to vse Faith. What is a man the better for a Locke if he hauehave not the Key to vse it withall? It is not a Trade, but a Trade well followed. It is not Land, but Land well tilled that maintaines men.
Oh that this did as clearely appeare to the world in the matter of Faith, as it doth in all other habits, graces, giftes, vertues and good things whatsoeuer, that the principall beauty and benefit of them consists in vse, fruition and action, not the bare profession, yea the very increase and perfection of them. Vse limbes and hauehave limbes, the more thou doest, the more thou mayest. The oftner the liberall man giues Almes and does good turnes, the more his liberality growes, and shines. Vse will breed perfectnesse, and through disuse things perish, and come to nothing; as the Plowsheare laid vp, rusts and consumes; imployed, glisters, doth good and lasts the longer. Let any man diligently and throughly improue, and great will be his faith and great the ioy it will bring in.