place, being faithful and just to himself, in attending to his main

concernments.

2. Faith implieth a compliance with the providence and grace of God; with his providence framing the economy of things to be believed, discovering it to the world by special revelation, furnishing motives apt to work faith, dispensing opportunities of knowlege leading thereto; with his grace operating in our souls, by illustration of our minds to discern, attraction of our wills to embrace, inclination of our affections to relish and like the heavenly truths exhibited to us.

There is no man to whom means are not administered, sufficient to produce in him that measure of faith, which is requisite toward the good management of his life, and his rendering an account for it at God's tribunal; there is no man also, to whom such means are afforded, whom the grace of God, who ‘desireth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowlege of the truth,' doth not in some degree excite to the due improvement of them; but in effect the case is varied, because some men do embrace those means, and comply with that grace, while others do reject or neglect them.

Our Lord saith, that every one, who hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, doth come unto him:' but some there are, to whom the Father speaketh, yet they stop their ears, and refuse to hear;' some do hear in a sort, but do not learn, ill prejudices or depraved affections barring instruction from their mind; being like those of whom the Apostle saith, The word heard did not profit them, being not mingled with faith in those which heard it.'

" can come unto me ex

'No man,' saith our Lord again, cept the Father draw him:' but this attraction is not compulsory; we may hold back; we may withstand it, and not follow.

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and a favor

Faith,' saith St. Paul, 'is a gift of God,' granted to us;' vμìv éxapioon, To you,' saith he, it hath been graciously vouchsafed not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him;' and, To you,' saith our Lord, it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven:' but this gift is not always accepted, this favor is not always entertained; God

doth not so obtrude it on us, but that we may reject or decline it.

Faith is a fruit of God's Spirit;' but such as will not grow in a bad soil, not purged from weeds of corrupt prejudice, of vicious affection, of worldly care; which will not thrive without good care and culture.

God inviteth us to believe by the promulgation of his gospel, and exhortation of his ministers; he declareth abundant reason to persuade us; he representeth to our minds the beauty of Christian truth and virtue; he speaketh from without unto us by manifold arguments, able, if we are not very stupid, to convince us; he speaketh within by strong impressions on our consciences, apt, if we are not very stubborn, to subdue us; 'Behold,' saith he, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man will hear my voice, and will open the door, I will come in unto him' such is the case; God standeth at the door of our heart by the ministry of his word, he knocketh at it by the impulse of his grace; but to hear is the work of our vigilance, to open is an act of our voluntary compliance.

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God,' saith St. Paul, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowlege of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ;' God shineth on us by revelation of his truth, God shineth into us by illumination of his Spirit; the which through the ear doth convey the light of truth unto the heart: but we may by wilful obstruction exclude that light, shutting the windows of our heart against it; we may there quench it by foul affections, we may smother it in fogs of evil prejudice; we may dissipate it by troublesome cares; we may, by affected blindness, or drowsy negligence, render it indiscernible, or ineffectual to us; like those, of whom the Apostle there saith, that the god of this world had blinded the minds of those which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.'

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A man may ἀπωθεῖσθαι τὸν λόγον, thrust away the word, as it is said of the Jews; he may, as others of the same stamp did, resist the Spirit;' he may, as those worldlings in the gospel, let the seed fall beside him, or not fall deep into him,

or fall into thorns, which may choke it; he may hate the light, and therefore not come unto it; or rebel against it, as those did in Job; he may, as the Pharisees did, 'defeat the counsels,' and ' cross the desires of God.'

And as to deal thus with God's word and providence, thus to treat his Spirit and grace, is heinously criminal, so to use them well is very acceptable to God's goodness: if we yield due regard to his providence, and an obsequious ear to his word; if we cheerfully do accept his gifts, and close with his overtures of mercy; if we concur with his motions, and farther his gracious designs, he will take it kindly of us; as therein acting becomingly toward him, and gratifying him in that wherein he most delighteth, which is the procurement of our good.

3. Faith doth imply good opinion of God, and good actions toward him.

God our parent hath stamped on our nature some lineaments of himself, whereby we resemble him; he hath implanted in our soul some roots of piety toward him; into our frame he hath inserted some propensions to acknowlege him, and to affect him; the which are excited and improved by observing the manifest footsteps of divine power, wisdom, and goodness, which occur in the works of nature and providence; to preserve and cherish these is very commendable; a man thereby keeping the precious relics of the divine image from utter defacement, retaining somewhat of his primitive worth and integrity; declaring that by ill usage he hath not quite shattered or spoiled his best faculties and inclinations.

Now that he who believeth hath thus managed himself, so as to have preserved in his soul those seeds of piety, apt to conspire with the influences of grace drawing to belief, doth appear from hence, that faith doth include an assent to divers points, so thwarting our carnal sense and gust, that without a good esteem of God, and good affection toward him, we hardly could admit them; 'the carnal mind,' or brutish part within us, being, as St. Paul saith, enmity to God,' and 'uncapable of submission to his law;' the sensual man being not able to receive the things of God, for they are foolishness to him;' to balance which repugnance and indisposition there must be some

good notions and good affections in the mind, disposing it to comply with the revelation of truth and operation of grace.

There can hardly be any greater instance of respect and love toward any person, than a ready yielding of assent to his words, when he doth aver things to our conceit absurd or incredible; than resting on his promise, when he seemeth to offer things impossible, or strangely difficult; than embracing his advice, when he recommendeth things very cross to our interest, humor, and pleasure; whence Abraham's faith (expressed in hoping for a son in his decrepit age, and in offering up that son, who was so dear to him, who was the heir of promise,' the prop of his family and hope) is so magnified, as an argument of exceeding respect and affection toward God: Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God;' it was a great evidence of his friendship, that against hope he believed in hope, being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able to perform;' and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness;' or accepted by God, as a signal act of goodness, whereby he did testify his immovable opinion concerning the power, fidelity, and benignity of God, together with answerable goodwill toward him.

And many things doth the Christian doctrine propose, apt to try such a friendship; many a hard saying doth it assert, which a profane mind can hardly swallow or digest; there is indeed scarce any article of faith, at which we shall not boggle; any matter of duty, which we shall not start at, any promise of God, whereat we shall not stagger, if we be not seasoned with favorable apprehensions and inclinations toward him, who recommendeth them to us, as endued with those attributes which secure their credibility.

That God Almighty should erect this stately fabric of heaven and earth, decked with so rich and goodly furniture, with especial regard to man, so puny and mean a creature, whom he foresaw so ready to offend and wrong him; that on his foul misdemeanor God should not withdraw his gracious protection and care from him, but thence should take occasion of designing and capacitating him for a state far more happy than that whence he had lapsed, making his punishment a benefit, and

his deserved death a gate of immortality; that for the redemption of him, continuing in apostasy and rebellious enmity, God should please to send down out of his bosom, from the height of glory and blessedness, his own dearest Son, to partake the baseness and infirmity of our flesh, to endure the inconveniences and troubles incident to our condition, to undergo a most painful and ignominious death for the expiation of our offences; these are mysteries to which we should not easily give credence, did we not conceive God immensely good and gracious. That God could not pitch on more compendious and commodious ways of expressing his goodness and mercy, we hardly should admit, if we did not take him to be transcendently wise, far beyond our reach and comprehension.

That Jesus, a man in appearance like to ourselves; of mean parentage, of poor estate, who lived as a beggar and a vagrant, who died as a malefactor and a slave, in semblance forlorn to God and man, should be the Lord of life and glory, the general Author of salvation, the Judge of all men, the King of all the world, is a point which cannot but appear very strange, very scandalous to minds not imbued with special reverence of the divine power and wisdom.

That God, who is so perfectly holy, so exactly just, so extremely displeased with iniquity, should yet bear so patiently, and so easily pardon enormous transgressions against himself; that he should accept so mean services, and to so slight performances should dispense so precious rewards, who would believe, that is not possessed with conceptions of his admirable clemency and bounty?

That God one day will raise the dead, re-collecting our scattered dust, and rearing our dissolved frame, we should not easily grant, had we not a strong opinion of God's power, and that nothing is too hard for him to accomplish.

That to deny ourselves in all ways, to hate our own souls,' to take up a cross, to forsake kindred and friends, to quit houses and lands, 'to renounce all that we have,' to reject the profits, the honors, the delights of the world, to cut off our right hands, to pluck out our right eyes, to mortify our members, and crucify our flesh, to be dead to the world, to expose our lives unto