Two Books, Treatise 1 · Chapter 13
CHAP. XIII.
The temper of a man that hath Faith (as conſidered under the notion of Receiving) doth diſcover it ſelf in theſe particulars. 1. He is daily purging out corruptions, that there may be room to receive Jeſus Chriſt. Particularly. 1. Confidence in the Fleſh. 2. Living by ſenſe. II. He is much in prayer. III. He is not ſatisfied till he obtain all which the Promiſe is engaged for. IIII. He laies hold on every intimation that may give hope, and thereby is raiſed to great expectation.
THerefore, to diſcover to you a little whether you have Faith or no; I ſhall in a few particulars ſet forth to you the temper of a man that hath Faith; and I ſhal keep to this notion of it, as it is a Receiving.
Firſt of all; He that hath this Faith is daily purging and emptying of himſelf of every corruption of fleſh and ſpirit that there may be room to entertain and receive Jeſus Chriſt. The ground of it is this. Naturally we are ful of al unrighteouſneſs; (as a Veſſel is ful of water that can hold no more) there is no place for Grace. So far as corruption is in us ſo far it naturally works to take off the heart from ſeeking after Chriſt; Even as a Diſeaſe takes off the Stomach from meat that is wholſom: That therefore Jeſus Chriſt may be received it is neceſſary that the heart be daily emptied that there may be room made for him. But beſides that, Faith doth breed a hope and expectation in the Soul of great things; and therefore Faith ſets the Soul on purging that ſo it may be capacious of thoſe things.
Faith is called a Holy Faith. And we are ſaid to be ſanctified through Faith. In Acts 26.8. As the things that were ſanctified were ſeparated from common uſe to a holy one: So now the Soul that before was common; Common for the thoughts of the World, and for the luſts of the fleſh, Now is dedicated (if I may ſo expreſs it) to God. It is like a room that is lock'd up and kept only to lay the things of Jeſus Chriſt in. Grace does come into us, not as into a Subject for that is free and fit the receiving of it; but it comes into us as life comes into a dead body; Or as light comes into the dark Air. There muſt be firſt of all a putting out of the ſtrong man and of ſin, before there can be a putting in of Jeſus Chriſt. It's one thing to purge ſin out of us and to mortifie it becauſe it does keep good things from us; and another thing to purge it out that we may receive Chriſt in the room of it. A Hypocrite may purge out ſin becauſe it keeps out good from him; but not to this end, that he may receive Jeſus Chriſt; for naturally he hath no knowledg of him, 1 Cor. 2.14. The naturall man perceives not the things of God, neither does he 'count them ſo good; for they are not ſo ſuitable to him as the waies of ſin. As a man to be eaſed of a bad and toubleſom neighbor, wil turn him out of doors and let the houſe ſtand empty: So, (rather than periſh) an unregenerate man will turn ſin out of doors, but he will not let Chriſt dwell there, for he will trouble more a great deal. A Beleever mortifies corruption that there may be a place, and room for Jeſus Chriſt and all that he brings with him. Therefore, as both the Underſtanding and the Will (as you hear) are active in beleeving: So, a Beleever purges both; the prejudices and falſe reaſonings that are in his mind, and the diſtaſt and carnalneſs of affection that is in his Will. An unregenerate man he hath a combate within him but the combate is not between Grace & Sin, but it is one faculty combating againſt another. The whol Soul does not ſtrive againſt ſin; but the Underſtanding would hate, but the Will (for reaſons) will not let him hate. So in like manner in mortification; An unregenerate man does not purge all the parts and faculties of his Soul, but ſome: and therefore his affections are bad though he have light: and if his affections be hot, yet he hath not light in his Underſtanding. Therefore, Do you endeavor to cleanſe your ſelves from all corruptions? Does the hope you have of receiving Chriſt purifie your hearts, or put you upon the endeavor of purging your hearts daily?
There are two particular ſins upon which the Grace of Faith (as it is receiving) does work to the ejecting of them: and the one is, Confidence in the Fleſh: and the other is Living by ſenſe.
1. Confidence in the fleſh or in any thing a man can do: Therefore ſomtimes the Saints of God are afraid to lok back upon the actions that hath been brought forth by them in any beautifull manner leaſt their hearts ſhould be enſnared by them and they are abhorring themſelves even when their waies are pure, he abhors himſelf as to juſtification when he does the beſt duties in the beſt manner he can. We have no Confidence in the fleſh; that is, we would have none, we cannot endure that. Other ſins we fain would have mortified, but this above all other.
2. And again, They live not by ſenſe. 1 Cor. 5.7. We walk (ſaies the Apoſtle) by Faith, and not by fence. And we look not upon the things that are ſeen, but the things that are not ſeen, &c. 2 Cor. 4. and the laſt. Of Abraham it's ſaid, Rom. 4.19. That he believed, and did not ſo much as conſider the barrenneſs of Sarahs Womb, &c. The reaſon is this (my Beloved) Becauſe there is nothing can judg worſe of the things of God than fence; and nothing hinders more. When a man looks a little upon fence and reaſon, he is like a man that hath been in a dark room, that when he comes out, the light of noon day is a trouble to him, and he can not diſcern the things that are before him.
Secondly: He that hath this Receiving Faith, he is a man that is much in prayer: Prayer demands and ſues for what the Promiſe obliges and makes due to a man… In Pſal. 109.4. David ſaies thus; I Pray, or, I give my ſelf unto Prayer. As we uſe to ſay, a man is of this or that Trade which he follows for the moſt part; and other things are but by the by which he does: So David was ſo much in Prayer, that he ſaies he was Prayer. And ſo Paul, Acts, 9. as ſoon as ever he began to beleeve, he began to pray. And as a Believer does pray, ſo he praies upon the ſame tearms of Grace that he is a Receiver; that is thus; He is a Receiver for another, he receives nothing as his own primarily, and originally, but as it is a gift and truſt put into his hands by Jeſus Chriſt to uſe for the ſervices to which he hath appointed him. He goes therefore to God, not as one that is the Principal, but as one that is a Receiver for another: He goes with a Spirit that ſpeaks after this manner to the Lord; It is not for my ſelf alone, I am but the Meſſenger of Jeſus Chriſt, he ſent me; Jeſus Chriſt hath undertaken for me, and will ſee it made good to me, and I ſhal have it.
Thirdly: He that hath this Faith as it is a Receiving, is unſatisfied with whatever he gets at any one time till he hath come to get all which the Promiſe is engaged for and to him: And the reaſon of it is this: Therefore he is unſatisfied, becauſe he hath much to receive, and that which he hath received does but enlarge his capacity for more, and encourages him that he ſhal have it, as it is due: Even as meat gets a ſtomach to meat, ſo receiving gets an appetite to receiving. As preſumptuous perſons wil find ſomthing or other to encourage themſelves by; ſo, Faith (upon one reſpect or other) will ever be looking for, and after ſomthing from Jeſus Chriſt; upon one account or other it wil be ſtil demanding. Art thou therefore applying to thy ſelf the things that are promiſed? Art thou challenging from God more than thou haſt? urging him upon his Word that thou haſt not ſo much as thou doſt hope in him for? Is what thou haſt received as a taſt that makes thy affections run out after more? Then know, that thy Faith is indeed a receiving Faith, a Faith of the Son of God.
Fourthly: This Faith as it is Receiving, will take hold of every inſinuation and intimation, lay up every word that does give hope; and works up it ſelf by ſmal grounds (as one would think) to great expectations from Jeſus Chriſt. As a man that is trading takes notice of every thing that is ſaid or ſpoken hopefully of getting more than he hath. As there are ſome ſpirits that are ever growing upon one; give them once, and they wil come again. Or, as ſome Children, that when they have received ſomthing from their Parents, they have their Eyes continually upon them looking for more. Such is the frame of the Spirit of one that beleeves, as it is a receiving; Faith makes a man to do ſo. And therefore you ſhal find by experience, that words ſpoken by the by, often times in a Sermon, yet are the great encouragements, and hearteners, and ſupporters of the hearts of Godly People. Faith is of that having, craving, growing nature, that if it can but get a word, it will make a great matter of it, ſin makes us greedy of occaſions to it; As a word or a ſillable hath great provocation in it unto ſin, ſo hath a word that is ſpoken but by the by, a great efficacy upon the hearts of them that beleeve: Thou complaineſt thou haſt not what thou didſt look for, becauſe thou doſt complain it is a ſign of thy Faith. Thou wouldeſt have that which thou haſt not; and Faith is a receiving.
Then ſeeing both Underſtanding and Wil, ſtretch forth their hands to receive the things of Jeſus Chriſt; Beleevers they have a rich, and plentifull Condition. Their hands it's true are full of work they have much to do; but they have much to get in too. What they have a mind to, they ſhal have; and what they know or is revealed to be in the hand of God to do, ſhall be done for them. Their Underſtandings and Wills (let them be extended and enlarged) they ſhall both of them be filled full. Pſal. 145.19. He will fulfill the deſires of them that truſt in him.