Two Books, Treatise 1 · Chapter 18
CHAP. XVIII.
Receiving denotes a meanneſs and lowneſs of Condition in the Receiver. And in this ſenſe Faith is a Receiving, whether you conſider it acting in the Ʋnderſtanding, or the Will.
Thirdly: There is a meanneſs in Receiving. Receiving doth imply a meaneſs and lowneſs of condition, a want, or emptineſs, or being beholden to another. God therefore makes it his Glory, that he can challenge al the world to ſay, that they have given unto him any thing. Who hath given unto him, and inſtructed him? and it ſhall be recompenced. It is an honor only belonging unto God, not to receive. In Acts 20.35. the Apoſtle doth adviſe them rather than they would hinder the Courſe of the Goſpel (who were Miniſters) to preach for nothing from the People; for ſaith he, Remember the words of our Lord Jeſus, how he ſaid, It is more bleſſed to give, than to receive. There is at leaſt-wiſe a leſs bleſſedneſs in Receiving, than there is in giving; if I ſay not that there is an unhappineſs in it. Let that thing be never ſo excellent that a man hath, yet if he hath received it, he hath no cauſe to be proud or boaſt; the praiſe muſt not be given to him that receives, but to him that gives. 1 Cor. 4.7. If thou haſt received it, why doſt thou boaſt? Theſe ſeveral Inſtances proves that there is a meanneſs in receiving, that receiving ſuppoſeth a meanneſs of condition. A Condition, that a man is not able to ſubſiſt of himſelf without taking in ſupplies from others without him. And thus Faith is called Receiving: becauſe where ever Faith is, who ever did, or doth, or ſhall receive Jeſus Chriſt, he doth receive him with the ſence of his own vile condition. There is not only ſuch an apprehenſion in him as this, that his ſtate is low, (That apprehenſion is true, and hath a real foundation, and there is no error in ſuch an imagination: therefore I am poor, and therefore I am unable to do my ſelf good, or to do good, becauſe there is no way of Salvation to be had, but only by receiving, is a moſt certain and good way of Reaſoning: As he is a poor man that hath no way to live, but by taking the charitable Alms, and good will of others: So he is in a poor condition, and in a loſt condition that hath no means to ſave him, but what he can get by receiving.)
Neither is a Beleevers condition vile only, becauſe of ſin and of puniſhment (wherof he is guilty before he doth beleeve) but this very act of Faith whereby a man doth receive, doth make a mans condition mean, though not miſerable. Through ſin and puniſhment, a mans condition is mean and miſerable: through beleeving a mans condition is not miſerable, but it is mean. It is a mean and low condition you know to live upon another; to go on truſt for every thing, to be beholden, and to beg Credit for whatever a man ſtands in need of. Conſider the ſtate of Faith with the certain Glory that comes by it (for therefore it is of Faith that the Promiſe may be ſure) conſider Faith as it is a relation, Rom. 4.16.and a receiving from ſo glorious and excellent ones as God and Chriſt are: and ſo it is the moſt excellent condition in the World. A man lives better that way, than if he had all that in Innocency continued to him, wherein he was made. But now conſider this Receiving in and by its ſelf, and ſo it is a mean condition, becauſe it is a dependant one: he lives at the will of another. To eat ones own Bread (we uſe to ſay) is better a great deal, and far more honorable, than to live upon the Dainties of another mans Table. In the verſe before my Text, it is ſaid, John 1.11.That Chriſt came to his own (that is, to the Jews) and they received him not. Now therefore they did not receive him, becauſe of tht meaneſs of the life of Faith. He truſted in God (ſaid they) to deliver him; Matth. 27.43.Let him deliver him, if he will have him. As if they ſhould have ſaid: He is not a fit way for a man to truſt his Soul in; or he is not a fit perſon for a man to beleeve on for the ſaving of his Soul who cannot ſave himſelf. In Rom. 10.3. They went about to eſtabliſh their own righteouſneſs, and ſubmitted not to the righteouſneſs of Faith. They ſubmitted not, that is, they thought the way of beleeving to obtain Salvation by, to be too poor and mean a condition. Now the Evangeliſt takes away this offence: To as many as received him, to them he gave this dignity to become the Sons of God. His meaning is, Though the life of Faith be mean in it ſelf, yet its glorious in its relation, for it makes you to be the Sons of God: Though the life be ſuch as is beneath, and lower than you could or would imagine ſhould make you happy, yet there is a greater freedom in it of converſe and communion with God than can be imagined: You ſhall live with God, as if you were in Glory already. That therefore which I would inſiſt upon in this, is this:
Where ever true Faith is, there is a ſence of meaneſs. The heart is humbled, and brought into the accompt of it ſelf as nothing. And as Faith grows, ſo doth this accompt of it ſelf grow alſo.
Take Faith now as it acts on the Underſtanding, and there it makes a man to lay aſide what Reaſon ſaith. As Paul you know ſaith, He did not conſult with fleſh and blood, but immediately follows the voyce he had received from Jeſus Chriſt. Prov. 3.5. Truſt in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not to thy own Ʋnderſtanding. 2 Cor. 10.5. Every thought and imagination muſt be captivated (he ſaith) to the obedience of Faith. Take Faith as it acts in the Will.
And ſo it takes away all Glory in a mans ſelf. How can ye beleeve, ſeeing ye receive Honor one of another (ſaith Chriſt) and ſeek the praiſe of men more than the praſe of God? Iohn 5.44. By what Law is boaſting taken away (ſaith the Apoſtle in Rom. 3.27.) but by the Law of Faith? And therefore you ſhall find that when ever any of the Saints of Jeſus Chriſt have through Faith attained unto any thing, they correct themſelves, and uſe al kind of diminutive and leſſening expreſſions that may be concerning themſelves. I live (ſaith Paul) yet not I: in Gal. 2.20. I live, but not I. I live by the Faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himſelf for me. As if he ſhould have ſaid, The root of my life lies in his love. He loved me, and revealed that to me, and my Faith laid hold of it, and that quickned me. As Faith cannot aſſent unto any Error; no man can with a Divine Faith beleeve any thing that is falſe, becauſe the object of Divine Faith takes the infallible Teſtimony and Truth of God. So Faith, as it is in the Will, makes a man that he cannot but be humbled, he cannot be lifted up; Why? Becauſe it leads a man out of himſelf unto another for all he hath. As infallible Truths and Errors are contra-diſtinct, and cannot conſiſt together; ſo is going out of a mans ſelf to receive, and being lifted up. Faith may be compared to a Golden Hammer: as it is Gold, it is excellent; but as it is a Hammer, it ſubdues and beats down, and keeps down every thought and imagination. As there is ſome Phyſick that doth at the ſame working both purge and ſtrengthen. Such a thing is Faith, it empties a man of himſelf, and fills him with Chriſt: it takes a man off his own bottom, and ſets him on Chriſt: it deſtroyes in him the confidence he had, and gives him a ſpirit above al his danger, or to conteſt with all his danger through Jeſus Chriſt: it makes him to do all things, and yet makes him ſee that he is able to do nothing: Lord encreaſe our Faith, ſaid the Diſciples unto Chriſt, Luke 17.5. As if they ſhould have ſaid, We are not able to add one degree; we are not able to improve the Faith we have, one degree, not the leaſt circumſtance. In 1 Cor. 15.10. I have labored more than them all, yet not I, yet not I. True Faith makes a man as earneſt for every thing as if it were his own, and due by merit; and it makes a man as humble when he hath any thing, as if he had nothing at all, but aſcribes all unto Jeſus Chriſt, and the Love of God the Father in him. There is not a motion of Faith; mark it, but if ſo be that you did attend unto it, and underſtand it, you would find it to be of this ſenſe. As God ſaid unto the People of Iſrael, That he had delivered them, but not for your ſakes do I do this, but for my own Names ſake. So ſaith Faith, All this that is done for you, it is not for any thing that you have done, but for the ſake of him who hath fulfilled all Righteouſneſs. Peter, James, and John, in Acts 4.10. cried unto the People, Be it known unto you that by the Power of Jeſus of Nazareth, and by the Name of him whom you have crucified, this man doth ſtand among you. So when Faith hath received all from Chriſt. it ſaith unto the Soul, Be it known unto you, that you may thank the Lord for this; it is not your good deſires, or performances, or good diſpoſition, and this leaves the Soul exceeding humble; As you have ſomtimes writ upon ſomthing that is done for publick uſe, This is the gift of ſuch a one and ſuch a one. And as poor men do weare the armes of thoſe that give them cloaths and food in the Almes-houſes: ſo faith doth put forth ſuch a work in the ſoul, that it leaves behind it this ſence, That it is done for us of Gods free grace and not for any thing in us. Doſt thou find therefore that thy affections grow leſſer and leſſer to thy ſelf? Thou art leſs and leſs conſiderable in thy own eyes every day; When thou lookeſt upon what thou haſt received thou wondereſt wherefore God ſhould do it, That upon ſuch a one as thou art his hand ſhould be ſtretched forth, and unto ſuch a one as thou art he ſhould give ſo much? Art thou when thou getteſt any refreſhing from Chriſt, art more aſhamed of thy ſelf? doſt thou magnify Chriſt more, and vilify thy ſelf more, Thou mayſt then think it to be true becauſe faith is a receiving.
So that the Sum of the point is this: The life of faith is meane, not in regard of the things received by faith: (For we receive him ſaith the text, that is Jeſus Chriſt, and ſuch things with him which eye hath not ſeen, nor eare heard, nor hath entred into the heart of man, as the Apoſtle ſpeaks in 1 Cor. 2.9.) nor is the life of faith meane in regard of him from whom we receive, for in that reſpect it is a living at the wel head, it is the ſervice of a King. I know ſaith Paul whom I have truſted, 2. Tim. 1.12 One that is able. Nor thirdly is the life of faith in its ſelf, ſimply conſidered meane. For the happineſs of a creature doth lie in its dependance upon God, even as the being of the ſtreame lyes in the flowing of the water from the fountain.