The Life of Faith, Part 2 · Chapter 1
CHAP. I. Directions how to live by Faith: And firſt how to ſtrengthen Faith: And ſecondly, the natural Truths preſuppoſed to be conſidered.
THe Directions which I ſhall give you, as helps to live by Faith, are of two ranks. 1. Such as tend to the ſtrengthening of your Faith. 2. Such as tell you how to uſe it.
The firſt is the greateſt part of our task: for no man can uſe that faith which he hath not; nor can uſe more of it than he hath. And the commoneſt reaſon why we uſe but little, is becauſe we have but little to uſe.
But on this ſubject (ſuppoſing it moſt weighty) I have written many Treatiſes already (The ſecond part of the Saints Reſt: The Unreaſonableneſs of Infidelity: And laſt of all, The Reaſons of the Chriſtian Religion: Beſides others which handle it on the by.) And ſomewhat is ſaid in the beginning of this diſcourſe. But yet becauſe in ſo great a matter I am more afraid of doing too little than too much; I will here give you an Index of ſome of the chief Helps, to be cloſe together before you for your memories, to be the conſtant fuel of your Faith.
In the work of Faith, it is firſt needful that you get all the prerequiſite Helps of Natural Light, and be well acquainted with their Order and Evidence, and their Ʋſefulneſs to befriend the ſupernatural revelations: For it is ſuppoſed that we are men before we are Chriſtians: We were created before we were redeemed: And we muſt know that there is a God, before we can know that we have offended him, or that we need a Saviour to reconcile us to him: And we muſt know that we have reaſonable ſouls, before we can know that ſin hath corrupted them, or that grace muſt ſanctifie them: And we muſt know, that whatſo…ver God ſaith is true, before we can believe that the Scripture is true, as being his revelation. Faith is an act of Reaſon; and Believing is a kind of knowing; even a knowing by the teſtim…ny of him whom we believe; becauſe we have ſufficient reaſon to believe him.
2. And next we muſt be well acquainted with the evidence of ſupernatural Truth, which preſuppoſeth the foreſaid Natural Verities. I ſhall ſet both b…fore you briefly in their order.
1. Think well …f the nature of your ſouls, of their faculties or p…wers, their excellency, and their proper uſe: And then you will find, that you are not meer brutes, who know not their Creat…ur, nor live no… by a Law, nor think not of another world; nor …ar any …fferings after death: But that you have reaſ…n, free-will, and executive power to kn…w your Maker, and to live by …ule, a…d to hope for a Reward in another life, and to fear a p…n…ſhme…t hereafter. And that as no wiſe Artificer maketh any thing in vain; ſo God is m…ch leſs to be thought to hav… given you ſuch ſouls and faculties in vain.
2. Co…ſid…r next how all the world declareth to you, that there is a G…d, wh… is infinite…y p…werful, wiſe and good. And tha… it is not poſſible that all things which we ſee ſhould have no cauſe, or that the derived Power, and Wiſdom, and Goodneſ… of the creature, ſhould not proceed from that which is more excellent in the firſt and total cauſe: Or that God ſhould give more than he had to give.
3. Conſider nex…, in wh…t Relation ſuch a creature muſt needs ſtand to ſuch a Creatour: If he made us of N…hing ▪ … is not p…ſſible, but that he muſt be … Owner, and w… a…d all things abſolutely his Own: And if he be our Maker and Owner, and be infinitely powerful, wiſe and good; and we be Reaſonable-free-agents, made to be guided by Laws or Moral Means unto our end; it is not poſſible but that we ſhould ſtand related to him, as ſubjects to their rightful Governour. And if he be our Creatour, Owner and Ruler, and alſo infinitely Good, and the grand Benefactor of the world: and if the nature of our ſouls be, to Love Good as Good; it cannot be poſſible, that he ſhould not be our End, who is our Creatour; and that we ſhould not be related to him as to the Chiefeſt Good, both originally as our Benefactor, and finally as our End.
4. And then it is eaſie for you next to ſee, what duty you owe to that God to whom you are thus related. That if you are abſolutely his Own, you ſhould willingly be at his abſolute diſpoſe: And i… he b… your Soveraign Ruler, you ſhould labour moſt diligently to know his Laws, and abſolutely to obey them. And if he be infinitely Good, and your Benefactor and your End, you are abſolutely bound to Love him moſt devotedly, and to place your own felicity in his Love. All this is ſo evidently the duty of man to God by nature, that nothing but madneſs can deny it. And this is it which we call Sanctification, or Holineſs to the Lord. And our cohabitation and relation to men, will tell us, that Juſtice and Charity are our duty as to them. And when a man is fully ſatisfied that Holineſs, Juſtice and Charity, are our duty, he hath a great advantage for his progreſs towards the Chriſtian Faith.
To which let me add, that as to our ſelves alſo, it is undeniably our duty to take more care for our ſouls, than for our bodies, and to rule our ſenſes and paſſions by our Reaſon, and to ſubject our lower faculties to the higher, and ſo to uſe all ſenſible and preſent things, as conduceth to the publick good, and to the advancement of our nobler part, and to our greateſt benefit, though it croſs our ſenſual appetites.
All this being unqueſtionably our natural duty, we ſee that man was made to live in Holineſs, Juſtice, Charity, Temperance, and rational regularity in the world.
5. When you have gone thus far, conſider next how far men are generally from the performance of this duty: And how backward humane nature is to it, even while they cannot deny it to be their duty: And you will ſoon perceive that God who made it their duty, did never put in them this enmity thereto: nor ever made them without ſome aptitude to perform it. And if any would infer that their indiſpoſedn…ſs proveth it to be none of their duty, the nature of man will fully confute him; and the conſcience and confeſſion of all the ſober part of the world. What wretch ſo blind (if he believe a Deity) who will not confeſs that he ſhould love God with all his heart, and that Juſtice, Charity and Sobriety are his duty; and that his ſenſe ſhould be ruled by his reaſon, &c? The evidence before given is not to be denyed. And therefore ſomething is marr'd in nature. Some enemy hath ſeduced man. And ſome deplorable change hath befallen him.
6. Yea, if you had no great backwardneſs to this duty your ſelf, conſider what it muſt coſt you faithfully to perform it, in ſuch a malignant world as we now live in? what envy and wrath, what malice and perſecution, what oppoſition and diſcouragements on every ſide we muſt expect? Univerſal experience is too full a proof of this. (Beſides what it coſteth our reſtrained fleſh)
7. Proceed then to think further, that certainly God hath never appointed us ſo much duty, without convenient Motives to perform it. It cannot be that he ſhould make us more noble than the brutes, to be more miſerable: Or that he ſhould make Holineſs our duty, that it might be our loſs, or our calamity. If there were no other life but this, and men had no hopes of future happineſs, nor any fears of puniſhment, what a Hell would this world be? Heart-wickedneſs would be but little feared; nor heart-duty regarded: Secret ſin againſt Princes, States, and all degrees, would be boldly committed, and go unpuniſhed (for the moſt part.) The ſins of Princes, and of all that have power to defeat the Law, would have little or no reſtraint: Every mans intereſt would oblige him, rather to offend God, who ſo ſeldom puniſheth here, than to offend a Prince, or any man in power, who ſeldom lets offences againſt himſelf go unrevenged: And ſo man, more than God, would be the Ruler of the world, that is, our God.
Nay actually the hopes and fears of another life, among moſt Hea…hens, Infidels and Hereticks, is the principle of Divine Government, by which God keepeth up moſt of the order and virtue which is in the world.
Yea, think what you ſhould be and do your ſelf; as to enemies, and as to ſecret faults, and as to ſenſual vices, if you thought there were no life but this: And is it poſſible that the infinitely powerful, wiſe and good Creatour, can be put to govern all mankind, by meer deceit, and a courſe of lyes? as if he wanted better means?
By how much the better any man is, by ſo much the more regardful is he of the life to come, and the hopes and fears of another life, are ſo much the more prevalent with him: And is it poſſible that God ſhould make men good, to make them the moſt deceived, and moſt miſerable? Hath he commanded all theſe cares to be our needleſs torments, which brutes, and fools, and ſottiſh ſinners do all ſcape? Is the greateſt obedience to God, become a ſign of the greateſt folly, or the way to the greateſt loſs or diſappointment?
We are all ſure that this life is ſhort and vain: No Infidel can ſay that he is ſure that there is no other life for us: And if this be ſo, reaſon commandeth us to prefer the p…ſſibilities of ſuch a life to come, before the certain vanities of this life: So that even the Infidels uncertainty will unavoidably infer, that the preferring of the world to come is our duty: And if it be our duty, then the thing in it ſelf is true: For God will not make it all mens duties in the frame of their nature, to ſeek an Ʋtopia, and purſue a ſhadow; and to ſpend their daies and chiefeſt cares for that which is not; Godlineſs is not ſuch a dreaming night-walk.
Conſcience will not ſuffer dying men to believe that they have more cauſe to repent of their Godlineſs, than of their ſin, and of their ſeeking Heaven, than of wallowing in their luſts.
Nay then, theſe h…avenly deſires would be themſelves our ſins, as being the following of a lye, the aſpiring after a ſtate which is above us, and the abuſe and loſs of our faculties and time: And ſenſuality would be liker to be our virtue, as being natural to us, and a ſeeking of our moſt real felicity.
The common conſcience of mankind doth juſtifie the wiſdom and virtue of a temperate, holy, heavenly perſon; and acknowledgeth that our heavenly deſires are of God: And doth God give men both natural faculties, which ſhall never come to the perfection which is their End? and alſo gracious deſires, which ſhall but deceive us, and never be ſatisfied? If God had made us for the enjoyments of brutes, he would have given us but the knowledge and deſires of brutes.
Every King and mortal Judge can puniſh faults againſt Man with death: And hath God no greater or further puniſhment, for ſins as committed againſt himſelf? And are his rewards no greater than a mans?
Theſe, and many more ſuch Evidences may aſſure you, that there is another life of Rewards and puniſhments; and that this life is not our final ſtate, but only a …ime of preparation thereunto. Settle this deeply and fixedly in your minds.
8. And look up to the heavenly Regions, and think, Is this world ſo repleniſhed with inhabitants, both Sea, and Land, and Air it ſelf? And can I dream that the vaſt and glorious Orbs and Regions, are all uninhabited? O… that they have not more numerous and glorious poſſeſſors, than this ſmall opacous ſpot of earth.
And then think, that thoſe higher creatures are intellectual ſpirits: (This is many waies apparent) and alſo of the communion which they have with man: And when we find alſo an intellectual nature in our ſelves, why ſhould we not believe, that our likeneſs of nature, doth infer our likeneſs in our future duration and abode.
9. And mark well but the inward and outward temptations, which ſolicite all the world to ſin; and what notable Evidences there be in many of them, of an inviſible power; and you will eaſily believe that man hath a ſoul to ſave or loſe, which is of longer duration than the body.
10. Laſtly, If yet there be any doubt, conſider but of the ſenſible Evidences of Apparitions, Witchcraft and Poſſeſſions, and it cannot chuſe but much confirm you: Though much be feigned in hiſtories of ſuch things, yet the world hath abundant evidence of that which was certainly unfeigned. See the Devil of Maſcon, Mr. Mompeſſons ſtory lately acted and publiſhed: Remigius, Bodins, Danaeus, &c. of Witches, Lavater de Spectris; and what I have written elſewhere.