Precious Faith Considered, Chapter 1
CHAP. I.
Some general acceptions of the word Faith in Scripture, premiſed. Precious Faith deſcribed, and conſidered in the general nature of it, as it is a grace of the Holy Spirit.
THE word [Faith] hath many acceptions in Scripture, among which I ſhall touch upon ſome.
Sometimes it imports the Goſpel or object of Faith; thus St. Paul preached the faith, Gal. 1.23. that is, the Goſpel, which is worthy to be ſo called, becauſe it is the great Engine, which lets down Gods faith to men, and catches up mens faith to God.
Sometimes it imports a dogmatical or hiſtorical Faith, which is an aſſent to the word of God as true and infallible: thus the very devils believe a God, and (which is more then many ſinful worms do) they tremble, Jam. 2.19.
Sometimes it imports a temporary Faith, which is but a dogmatical faith, budding and bloſſoming with ſome taſts and joys in the things of God: thus the ſtony ground received the word with joy, Mat. 13.20.
Sometimes it imports a miraculous Faith, which by a ſpecial inſtinct gives ſuch a touch upon the power of God, as to produce wonderful effects in nature; a grain of this is enough to remove mountains, Mat. 17.20.
Sometimes it imports ſaving Faith, called by the Apoſtle precious Faith, 2 Pet. 1.1.
Omitting the reſt, I ſhall fix my Diſcourſe upon this, and that upon a double account.
Firſt, This precious faith virtually includes the reſt. In Faith in the firſt notion, there is only the Goſpel or object ſtanding alone by it ſelf, but in this faith the act and the object are in ſweet conjunction; the ſoul is Goſpellized, and the Goſpel, which outwardly runs in the letter, is inwardly glorified in the believers heart. In dogmatical faith there is an aſſent to the truths of God, and ſo there is in precious faith, but in a more eminent manner; the firſt embracing the Goſpel only in its naked truth, and hiſtory is but a dead and a cold notion, but the ſecond embracing the ſame in its goodneſs and ſpiritual myſtery, carries life and warmth in it: temporary faith hath ſome joys in the things of God, but precious faith hath the ſame in a more excellent way; the former is but a flaſh and away, a flower without a root, the Goſpel is not radicated in him, but lies as it were upon the ſurface of his heart: Jeſus Chriſt is not entirely received by him, but by parcels only; hence a little ſtorm of perſecution blows off all the bloſſoms of his joy, but the latter is a thing of a higher excellency and permanency. In the true believer the Goſpel is intimately rooted, and Chriſt impartially received, even croſs and all: Hence ſuch an one can joy in tribultions, and under afflictions wait for conſolations. Miraculous faith can work wonders, and ſo can precious too: the firſt works wonders in the body of nature, by a touch upon Almighty power, and the ſecond works wonders in the ſouls of men, by a touch upon Almighty grace. A grain of this can remove ſpiritual mountains, mountains of guiltineſs off from the Conſcience, mountains of hardneſs off from the Will, and mountains of earthineſs off from the Affections: outward miracles in the Churches infancy followed believers for a while, Mark 16.17. but inward miracles are ever found in them; and no wonder, for the exceeding greatneſs of Gods power is unto them that believe, Eph. 1.19.
Secondly, This precious faith doth compleat the nobleſt inſtinct in man; I mean, that natural pulſe which he hath after happineſs. All men would be happy, but none ever hit upon it till faith came. The Pagans by natural light have ſome knowledge of God, the ſupream good, but the only acceſs to him is by faith. The Philoſophers, whoſe profeſſion was the ſtudy of wiſdom, and whoſe lamp of reaſon burned brighter then others, were no better then the blind Sodomites, unable to find the door of happineſs.De civitat. Dei. l. 19. c. 1. Hence, as St. Auſtin relates out of Varro, the Philoſophers might be divided into two hundred eighty eight Sects about the chief good, which faith can indubitably immediately point at. Some Philoſophers placed mans happineſs in pleaſures, which yet are but the ſad transformations of men into bruits. Some in honours, which yet are but great ſervitudes, which made the Noble Charles the fift weep over his Son, upon whoſe ſhoulders, at his retire out of the world, he left the burden of a Crown. Some in riches, which yet are but thorns choaking that precious ſeed of the word, which would grow up (if embraced) into life eternal. Others, which were better marks-men, in moral virtues, yet even theſe (as a learned man obſerves) are but circa res humanas, their ſphear is but humane converſe; and they do not (as faith) elevate the ſoul into a conjunction with God, which is the only true happineſs. When the Apoſtle in his Catalogue of graces (which miniſter an entrance into the everlaſting kingdom) puts in temperance and patience, 2 Pet. 1.6. he ſpeaks of them as Graces, not as meer moral virtues, but as Chriſtianized by Faith, which in that place is ſet in the van. But waving the Pagan world, let us come to the Chriſtian. There the way of life is clearly manifeſted; yet none, void of faith, ever trod a right ſtep in it, nay, nor ſpiritually diſcerned it, unto them that are without all things are in parables, Mark 4.11. to the unbeliever, though never ſo great a Scholar, Chriſt and grace and heaven are but as it were in parables. The Kohathites (whoſe name, as a learned man obſerves, is derived from ſtupidity) carried the holy things covered, and ſo do all the unregenerate Rabbies in the Church, till faith waken them out of the ſtupor of the fall: they diſcern not ſpiritually the beatitude objectively expoſed to view in the Goſpel, till faith draw off the vail from their hearts, but as ſoon as that is done, the way into the holy of Holies is manifeſt, and paſſable, and ſo the … inſtinct after happineſs receives a compleature. Now this precious faith, being precious in the leaſt minim of it, may be conſidered either in its firſt and loweſt meaſure, or in its fruits and glorious progreſſes. In its firſt and loweſt meaſure, it is the very condition of the Goſpel, and puts a man by virtue thereof into a ſtate of ſalvation; whoſoever believeth, even with the leaſt degree of precious faith, ſhall be ſaved. I ſhall therefore firſt treat of it according to the loweſt meaſure, which hath ſalvation entailed on it, and then proceed to the progreſſes and fruits thereof; and according to the loweſt meaſure, it may be thus deſcribed. Precious Faith is a grace of the holy Spirit, whereby the heart ſupernaturally illuminated, doth ſo believe the teſtimony of God in the ſacred Scriptures, as in a way of truſt or dependance to reſign and yield up it ſelf unto Jeſus Chriſt as Mediator, and in and through him unto God, according to his word. In general, it is a grace of the holy Spirit: in ſpecial, there is in it, firſt a ſupernatural illumination, which is as the womb of the morning, in which this child of light is conceived, and then (which is the firſt-born of that light) there is a belief of the teſtimony of God: and laſtly (which makes up the total ſum of this grace) there is a dependant yielding or reſignation of the ſoul unto the Mediator, and through him to God, according to the word. I ſhall in order treat of all theſe, and ſo unſold the deſcription at large.
The firſt thing is, in generall faith is a grace of the holy Spirit. The famous St. Auſtin once let drop a ſtrange word: It is ſaid (ſaith he) God worketh all in all, but not, he believeth all in all; therefore, that we believe, is our own, but that we work good, it is Gods, who giveth the holy Spirit to believers; but the good man ſoon called it back again,Aug. Retract. l. 1. c. 23. Profec…o non dicerem, truly I ſhould not have ſaid it, if I had then known faith to be the gift of God. The Pelagians of old underſtood by grace only, their own freewill, and the Goſpel-doctrine; hence that impious ſaying of theirs refuted by St. Auſtin, à Deo habemus, quòd homines ſumus, à nobis ipſis, quòd juſti ſumus: faith with them was but the iſſue of their own free-will, and it is no other with the Socinians. Peccatum originis (ſaith the Racovian Catechiſm) nullum p…orſus eſt, quare nec liberum arbitrium vitiare potuit, there was not ſo much as a bruiſe of free-will in the fall; we have a free power of our own to believe, but what ſaith the Scripture? Ʋnto you foreign it is gratuitouſly given to believe, Phil. 1.29. and faith is called the Spirit of Faith, 2 Cor. 4.13. becauſe it is not from our own ſpirit; and in expreſs terms, the grace of God, Acts 11.23. it lodges in mans heart, as a beam of that eternal grace which is in Gods: and to make this clear I ſhall offer three things.
Firſt, This precious faith is a thing above the natural faculty of man. There is in man a natural faith or believing faculty, and the very Phioſophers would call for it from their Scholars; but as it is in the fall of a houſe, not this or that beam falls, but all comes down at once: ſo it was in the fall of man, not this or that natural faculty fell, but all together, and among the reſt, the believing faculty fell alſo: hence as it lyes in the duſt and rubbiſh of the fall, it centers in the creature, and without the elevation of grace, it can in no wiſe lift up it ſelf to God and Chriſt. We are begotten again to a lively hope by the reſurrection of Jeſus Chriſt, ſaith the Apoſtle, 1 Pet. 1.3. Obſerve, there muſt be a touch from Chriſt in glory, or elſe there will be no elevation; Chriſt muſt firſt apprehend us, Phil. 3.12. or elſe our believing faculty is but as a dead hand, unable to apprehend him.
Secondly, This precious faith is a thing above moral virtue. There is a v…ſt difference between moral virtues and ſpiritual graces: the ſeeds of moral virtues are found in lapſed nature, but of ſpiritual graces there are none at all in it, nothing but a naked capacity. Moral virtues do from thoſe natural ſeeds bud and ſpring forth into being under the common influence of the ſpirit, but ſpiritual graces, not being ſeeded in nature, are meer infuſions or creations; the ſeed of God muſt drop down from heaven into the heart, or elſe theſe cannot exiſt: hence the Apoſtle in contradiſtinction to the virtues of men calls them the virtues of God, 1 Pet. 2.9. ſuch a thing is faith, of a nobler extraction then all the moral virtues in the world.
Thirdly, This precious Faith advances both our natural faculties and our moral virtues. It advances our natural faculties, and ſo ſhews it ſelf what it is: grace is nature elevated above it ſelf, a reaſon with an heavenly light in it, a will with an holy law in it, and affections as it were upon the wings of Angels, ſoaring into the upper world. After ſuch ſort doth faith elevate the humane faculties: when faith comes, God ſhines into the heart, and then the Reaſon, which before had a cloud on it, ſparkles out as a pearl in the Sun-beams; the day-ſtar is up in the heart and whileſt others live by candlelight, the believer hath the Sun; then the will which lay in its luſts as a ſlave in its chains, is ſet upon the wheel and made free indeed; then the affections, which converſed among the tombs of the creatures, are no longer here, but are riſen with Chriſt to ſeek the things above. Moreover it advances moral virtues alſo, it grafts them upon a nobler ſtock, they are no longer meer bloſſoms of reaſon, but fruits of the ſpirit. Joſephus relating the patience of the Maccabees under the torments of the bloody Antiochus, cryes up, Reaſon, Reaſon, as if that were the rock upon which they ſtood; but ſure, he ſpeaks below them, a greater then reaſon was there, even faith, as the Apoſtle aſſerts, Heb. 11.35. a higher ſpirit then their own acted in their patience, and elevated it above meer morality. Again, meer moral virtues, iſſuing meerly out of our own reaſon, are apt to breed a moth of pride and vain ſelf-reflection: here we find the Moraliſt crowing after a ſtrange rate, Beatae vitae cauſa & firmamentum eſt, ſibi ſidere, turpe eſt Deos fatigare, Sence. Epiſt. 31.quid votis apus eſt? fac te felicem, exurge & te dignum ſinge Deo, as if he would have no other happineſs but what was of his own making; but when Faith comes, off go the plumes of pride, and humility is as a vail over all the moral virtues. I live in temperance and juſtice (ſaith the believing Moraliſt) yet not I, but Chriſt liveth in me. Add hereunto meer moral virtues in their intention, riſe no higher then their own level of humanity; but when faith comes, there is a pearl in the head, a pure intention in each of them towards the glory of God: he that before was temperate to himſelf, juſt to others, and patient to neceſſity, is now all theſe to God; Feci Deo, is the Motto of every moral act. To conclude, what ſweet and ſtrong motives Faith adds unto moral virtues, may appear in the famous inſtance of Juſtus Lipſius, Melch. Adam. Vit. Philoſoph.that great humaniſt and admirer of Morality, who in his laſt ſickneſs, being told by one preſent, that he might now fetch much comfort from the Stoical Philoſophers, made this anſwer, Illa ſunt vana, Domine Jeſu, da mihi patientiam Chriſtianam, thoſe are but vain things, Lord Jeſus, give me a Chriſtian patience. Thus much touching Faith in general.