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When we think of some of which have

He is the author and finisher of our faith. the many names and offices of our Lord, a great deal of visible glory in them, how shall we conceive of this, that our Lord Jesus should be denominated the author and frisher of our faith! that Christ should get a name, as it were, in the word, from the begetting and cherishing, and preserving, and perfecting of faith in a poor creature!

3. We find the Holy Ghost called the Spirit of faith, 2 Cor. iv. 13. We having the same Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak. We find farther in the word a work of faith spoken of, a work of God's working, 2 Thess. i. 11. The work of faith with power. We find also a good fight of faith spoken of.

Now, from all these things you may plainly see, that people do not know what pertains to the gospel; they know not Jesus Christ, they know not the promise; they know not the Holy Spirit; they know nothing of a work of God upon their hearts, unless they know something of a work of faith. Alas! many poor creatures are wofully deceived about their souls. Some have had experience of this, and they think it a great experience, that whereas they were ungodly, and carnal, and secure, and walked loosely; strong convictions of sin came upon them, and some reformation from sin followed after; they immediately think they are good Christians, (many such good Christians are in hell), but in the mean time have no sense of this Spirit of faith. What have you found of the Spirit of God as a Spirit of faith, carrying on a work of faith in your souls, and drawing forth your hearts, that are naturally unbelieving, unto a trusting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ?

We find farther a door of faith spoken of, Acts xiv. 27.— And how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. See Heb. iv. 1, 2, 3, 11. A poor unbeliever is a prisoner under the law, a prisoner under the chain of God's curse, and he can do nothing but stay there; for remove he cannot, until the devil come to drag him out to hell. In this miserable state, the Lord opens a door of faith, that the poor prisoner may get out, and get into the open air, and come to partake

of the glorious liberty of the sons of God: Gal. iii. 23. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, and shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed; that is, we were prisoners till that faith came, then we had our liberty.

We find likewise the footsteps of faith spoken of. There are no true Christians, but must know something of this :— And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised, Rom. iv. 12, He had the blessing of the covenant before he had the seal of it. Now, Abraham's footsteps were strong ones, steady ones, and, if I may so speak, they were wide steps that he took in the way of faith. It is a hard matter for you and me to follow him; ay, but though we cannot walk so fast, nor so strongly as he did, yet we must walk in the footsteps of the same faith. When our faith and his are compared, our steps and his compared, it is a shame to think what a great difference there is betwixt them; but this way we must walk in; a child may follow the footsteps of a strong man.

Lastly, There is an end of faith spoken of: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, 1 Peter i. 9. The end of faith is that which faith aims at, that which faith attains, and that with which faith hath no more to do, when it hath got it; for there is no proper believing in heaven; and there is no true believer, but he believes till then. There is also, (1.) The mystery of faith, 1 Tim. iii. 9. (2.) The law of faith, Rom. iii. 27. (3.) The work of faith, 1 Tim. i. 11. (4.) Household of faith, Gal. vi. 10. (5.) Fight of faith, 1 Tim. vi. 12.

So much now is said concerning faith in the word, and of its great influence on all things that pertain to this life, and that to come, that sure no true Christian can possibly be unconcerned about this affair.

In speaking to this word, as I have done several times, Faithful is he that promises, I have spoken, 1. To the promising God, as the name of our God. 2. Unto the faithfulness of this promising God. 3. That the faith of believers should answer the faithfulness of God, that as all our faith is built upon his promises, so our faith should be built firm, because

the promise is firm. I did propose, in the application of these truths, some doctrinal inferences to be drawn therefrom, then an exhortation unto believing inferred from all.

Of the doctrinal inferences, I named four last day, and entered a little upon the fifth, which I would now speak farther to.

1. Hence we may see the true nature of faith, that it is an answering God's faithfulness. I shewed then, 2. The reasonableness of believing, that though corrupt reason be a great enemy to faith, yet there is nothing more reasonable, that a reasonable creature can do, than trust the infallible God. 3. I shewed you, that hence you may see how faith glorifies God. 4. How it is that it conduces so much to the saving of the soul; it is called therefore frequently by Christians saving faith; we are saved by faith, kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation; and believe to the saving of the soul.

5. The fifth thing was, to speak a little of the easiness of faith. If so be, that true faith be an answering of God's faithfulness, and trusting of God's word, it seems then to be a very easy act. I told you, that it is not easy to come by it, neither is it easy to act it, but it is easy in the acting. To prevent mistakes about this on either hand, I would give you but these few things:-

1st, Believing is hard and utterly impossible to every unre newed, ungodly man: No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him, says our Lord, John vi. 44. This word did break the necks of a great many of Christ's hearers and in ver. 65. it is repeated, Therefore said I unto you, says he, when they began to murmur, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. A little now of this. Believing, as hath been said, is but a trusting God's faithfulness in a promise of salvation by Christ; it seems to be marvellous, that this should be impossible to a natural man; naturally men think it is very easy, all the ungodly think they can believe when they will. But how grossly are they mistaken about it! I would therefore shew a little whence it comes that it is impossible for a natural man to believe. That he cannot believe, is frequently spoken of in the scriptare, John v. 44. How can ye believe? John xii. 39. Therefore

they could not believe; the same truth is held forth in both places, they could not believe.

(1.) All natural men are unconcerned about those great things, which trusting in God is concerned about. Trusting in God, that is, true faith, is trusting in him through Christ Jesus, for the great concernment of our eternal salvation, which is the pardoning of our guilty souls, and washing of them from all their defilements, with the subduing of all their corruptions. Now, do you not see plainly, that it is impossible, that a man should trust God for those things, when he has no heart-concern about them? The matters that faith is employed about, and which trusting in God hath in its eye, are altogether remote from the thought and mind of a natural man; therefore they do but lie against God and themselves, that say they trust God with their eternal salvation upon his word, when their consciences tell them that their eternal salvation was never so weighty with them, as the concerns of this poor frail life; and that they never were in so much earnest in saying, What shall I do to be saved? as they are daily in saying, What shall I eat? and what shall I drink? and wherewithal shall I be clothed?

(2.) The natural man is ignorant of God, and trusting in God is impossible to all that do not know him. There is no trusting of an unknown God. Poor Pagans may worship an unknown God, but it is unacceptable worship, Acts xvii. 23. Formal hypocrites perform several duties of worship to God, though unknown; they may obey a commanding God, though unknown; all these are but sinful practices: but trusting in an unknown God is impossible: They that know thy name, will put their trust in thee, says the Psalmist, Psal. ix. 10. The reverse of it is very plain: They that know not thy name, will not put their trust in thee. When Paul gives an account of his faith, I know, says he, whom I have believed, 2 Tim.

i. 12.

(3.) All natural men are possessed with that which is inconsistent with believing in God, with believing his word, or the truths contained in it. Hence is that great word of our Lord, John v. 44. How can ye believe, says he, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from VOL. III.

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God only? Pray observe, that there is a greater depth of spirituality in these words of our Lord, than ordinary readers do perceive. It hath but a very bare and harsh sound, for to make it to be this, How can you believe that seek honour and applause from men? The meaning principally of it is this, How can you believe as long as this is in your frame, that the honour that comes from God to you, and the honour given to God by faith, is not more dear to you than any thing else? A natural man can never give God the honour due to the name of his truth, and he cannot set all his rest and confidence upon that honour and reputation that the free grace of God in the gospel brings to him. How can ye believe, then, says Christ, &c.? Nay, a natural man hath not only unbelief in him, but the nature of the natural man is unbelief. The apostle cautions all of this, Heb. iii. 12. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. The apostle speaks of unbelief now, not only as a heart-sin, but as if the heart of the unbeliever were made up of unbelief, as if there were nothing in it but unbelief. In such there is no disposition to trust God upon his word; all the trust of the heart is lodged on creatures, it is lodged upon things of nought. This is the first thing, though I say believing is easy, you must not think that it is easy to a natural man, for to him it is impossible.

2dly, Neither is believing easy to a believer; otherwise what need is there of the fight of faith, as I named but just now? The fight of faith, and the warfare of faith, do not only stand in faith's fighting against all the impediments that are in its way, but in faith's fighting against the unbelief that is lodged in the same heart with it. The believer is not perfectly renewed; there are remnants of the heart of unbelief in him; and from these remnants it comes, that he neither can believe when he would, nor can he at any time believe as he would. I believe, says the good man, Lord, help my unbelief. He speaks like a man that knew this point well: "I "believe, and I have unbelief for all that; I will not deny "my faith, because of my unbelief; I will not conceal my "unbelief, because of my faith; I will acknowledge the one to thy praise, and the other to my own shame; Lord, help

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