The Joy of Faith, Preface
The Preface.
HAving Obſerved, that many Chriſtians ſpend their Dayes in the Valley of Sorrow, and walking up and down very penſive, being full of Fears and Doubts about their eternal Eſtate, can perform no chearful Service to God, bring lit…le honour to their Profeſſion, or comfort to their Relations, or any ſweet quiet to their own ſpirit: I often pondered what ſhould be the 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 li…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, overreaching 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 tis 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 Christ] Then may we ſafely and comfortably proceed to the main ſubject of this Diſcourſe, the nature of true ſaving Faith: which I have divided into ten Chapters, but ſhall inlarge principally on three or four, being the drift and ſcope of my writing to help the Joy of FAITH in thoſe poor hearts; who tho truly gracious, yet like young Samuel, cannot well diſcern the voice and preſence of Chriſt. And this my undertaking I beg the divine help and Grace to aſſiſt and proſper, extending my time and health after my late ſickneſs, according to his bleſſed will, affording the ſavourable influence of his loving countenance.
This Tract divides into two parts. The firſt containing the Foundation; the ſecond the more viſible ſuperſtructure about the nature of Faith. The firſt concluding with two Chapters, and the ſecond with ten.
But whereas ſome may queſtion, what need any further on this Subject, wherein ſeveral have already travelled. I may rejoyne that Holy Luke thought meet (in his pure Greek) as to his handling that heavenly Subject of our Lords Life, (Luk. 1.1.) that though many had taken it in hand before, yet he would ſet forth ſome things not mentioned by other Evangeliſts. Yea, how many in almoſt all ages have proſecuted the ſame points in Divinity with benefit and uſe to the Church, both in Commentaries and Controverſies? This conſideration incouraged theſe Lines to appear: having obſerved ſome further need of theſe Chapters, on which I mainly inſiſt, and were the great motive of my writing, and are but little toucht heretofore, and yet are very uſeful to choſen Veſſels; yea, the far greater number of the truly gracious Servants of God. To whom if you draw near, and can have the happineſs to come within them for their good (for they are ſhy & aware of every approach) you may find their lives to hang in an anxious ſuſpence between fear and hope, and feed only upon ſome few gracious glimpſes, like the Beams from between April Clouds let down out of Heaven into their hearts to ſuſtain their Spirits from ſinking, and to preſerve from dying under grievous Fits of the palpitation of their hearts.
To theſe I chiefly bend my Souls deſire and humbly beg the dewes of Zion upon theſe Meditations and Labours, that neither they nor I may ſaint under loſt expectations of Mercy.
And ſo I finiſh the Preface, and come to the Treatiſe it ſelf.
S. L.