In Prayer, we may chal'nge God of his promife, as the Pfal mift, Dowell O Lord unto thy fervant according to thy Word. Remember thy Word unto thy fervant,upon which thou baft cau- Pf. 119. fed me to hope. Faith and feeling are not always joyned together; therefore in the want and expectation of Gods promises we pray, building 49. upon the Word of God, because we know, For ever O Lord thy Verf. 89. Word is fetled in heaven. Saint Augustine faith of Prayer, it is oranti fubfidium, an help to him that prayeth ; deo facrificium, a facrifice to God; demonibus flagellum, a scourge to the devils. 1.It helpeth us,for it fetteth us in the face of God, and bringeth us into his conference; and the time can never feem long to us, that is spent in that company. 2. It is a facrifice to God; for it is the performance of a duty by him commanded. 3. It is a scourge to the devils, and to all his agents; for when we pray against the evil, our God heareth us and delivereth us from evil. Verf. 4. Behold his foule which is lifted up is not upright in him : Od having directed the Prophet concerning the Vifion in the expectation thereof; He cometh now to the Vifion it felfe, which containeth ADeclaration of his holy Will in his general Administration of Justice, and fo doth not only ferve thofe times and perfons prefent, but may be extended to all times and perfons fo long as the world endureth, And Gods fhewing hereof maketh it a Vifion to his Prophet, and fo to his Church, and fo it begins at Behold.a Now the answer of God doth first prevent an objection which might arife out of Gods former words for when he faith of the vifion,that the time is appointed for it and though it tarry, the Church must wait as implying that it might be long before it were fullfilled; the Prophet might enquire; but what fhall the A a 2 People People do in the mean time? how fhall the afflicted hold out till that time appointed? Therefore in the rest of the chapter, 1. He cleareth that objection, vers. 4: 2. He revealeth the Proceedings of his Juftice, against fundry fins in all the reft of the chapter.s ८ For the first let us examine the words,o:77 Behold. Here he openeth the eyes and cleareth the fight of the Prophet, and of the Church to fee the Vifion, requiring us to take the matter into ferious confideration, as the Apoftle faith; Confider what I fay. Let him that bath ears to heare, hear what the Spirit fpeaketh unto the Churches; fo is this word often used in Scripture to move attention is bar pour ton edi chai el His foule which is lifted up in him is not upright.ge's V Interpreters do two ways understand these words, either thus, He that is not upright, his foul is lifted up;or by Conversion, He that is lifted up is not upright. This last we fol ow, and this I take to be Gods meaning. o give a 2. It is true in the first fenfe that the ungodly man feeketh truft elsewhere then in God, and doth ftrengthen himselfe in the malice or pride of his heart. <But God would fhew here that whofoever is thus big.fwoln in the pride of his heart, hath not rectam animam, some read quietam or tranquillam animam, a right or a quiet foule. It agreeth well with the Prophets complaint of the infolency of the Chaldæans, that they being now lifted up with the glory of their many victories, their fouls are not upright; wherein he declareth them horrible offenders, and therefore obnoxious to his high difpleasure. Mr. Calv.doth understand this place thus,that God declareth his juft judgment against the Chaldæans, that because they have tru fted in themselves, they shall have no peace in their fouls, but fome new fufpicions Chall ftill atife to difquiet them, or new hopes to put them on upon fresh adventures, or fome new fears to difcrefiate them, fo that they shall never reft in their fouls. Arias Montanus and Ribera a Jefuit do both foliow a corrupt Tranflation. Ecce qui incredulus eft non erit recta anima ejus. Whereas he fpeak speaketh not of unbelief, but of pride of heart which yet doth include infidelity, because fuch do tranflate the truft that they ought to place in God alone unto themselves, and their owne means of accomplishing their intendments: but our reading doth much better agree with our copy. It followeth in the fecond part of the Antithefis, But the juft fhall live by his faith. And here let me firft tell you that this fentence is cited in the New Teftament often. 1. Rom. 2, 17. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. 2. Galat. 3. 11. But that no man is justified by the law in the fight of God, it is evident; for the just shall live by faith. 3. Heb. 1o. 37. For yet a little while, and he yet fhall come, will come and will not tarry. 38. Now the just shall live by faith, and if any man fball dram back, my foule shall have no pleasure in him In all chefe foure places the words have one and the fame fenfe. The juft man, that is, he who is juftified by a faving faith, fhall be fupported by that faith; fo as whatfoever either outward or inward calamities fhall affault him, his faith fhall carry him: through all becaufe putting his truft only in God, in the confidence of the Mediation of Jefus Chrift,he fhal have peace of confcience, and fhall take all that befals him in good part. So then, 1. By the juft, we do understand not any legal righteouineffe, fuch as ftandeth in the performance of obedience to the whole law; which no man but Chrift, God and man could perform: but an Evangelical righteoufneffe, which doth confift in a godly zeal, and holy endeavour of obedience to the law, according to the measure of that grace which God hath given to men,and whereunto is joyned both repentance of all fins, and an holy forrow that we do come fo fhort of that full obedience, which in duty we do owe to God. And where he faith vivet he fhall live, he doth mean both a natural, a ipiritual and an eternal life. 1. A natural life for faith doth make that to be a life which elfe were a death; for the wicked are dead in trefpaffes and fins; fo Chrift faith, let the deadbury their dead, and the wanton widdows Gal.2.10. dows are faid to be dead even whileft they live. But by faith our natural life hath life put into it, as the Apostle faith, And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. And furely this comfort muft be applied in my text, fo, though not fo only, to cheer the natural life of the diftreffed Jews, against the many oppreffions of the Chaldæans, that their faith in the promife of God must be their life, as David faith, I had verily fainted, but that I believed to fee the goodneffe of God in the land of the living. There faith preferved the natural life of David. 2. This includeth alfo a fpiritual life, which is the conjunction of our foule with God by Jefus Chrift; for what doth quicken us but our faith? for by faith Chrift dwelleth in us, and by faith Eph. 3.17 we are rooted and grounded in him. Col. 2, 7. 3. This includeth an eternal life: for how do we come to be where Chrift is, but by faith? Chrift firft teftifieth of the faith of his Church, then he prayeth: Father, I will that they which thou haft given me,may be with me, that they may behold the glory that I had with thee, &c. : They that overcome this world do overcome it by faith,and fuch as have this faith do grow boyfterous and violent, They take the Kingdome of God perforce. And this perchance gave occafion to the various lection, fome reading in the present vivit doth live, fome in the future vivet, fhall live; fome understanding the natural and spiritual only, others only the eternal life. But I understand the promise extended as the Apostle faith, to both; for godlineffe hath the promises of this life, and thạt which is to come. This fheweth what is meant here by faith, not the historical faith, by which we understand what the Will of God is. Not a temporary faith, which trufteth in God for a time, and after falleth off from him. Not the faith of miracles which even fome Iwicked Perfons whom Chrift will not know at the day of judgement had. Not the faith of hypocrites which feemeth and is not; but a juftifying and faving faith. For we muft live by the fame faith here here by which we must be faved hereafter. And this faith is called the ground of things hoped for, Cicero defineth the Latine word fides of fiat; for it implieth performance. Saint Auguftine of the word fides faith, Dux fyllaba fonant : Fides, prima à fatto, fecunda à dicta, which may have a double conftruction. 1. With reference to God: for his dictum doth allure factum; and that is our fides. 2. With reference tons; for as Augustine faith, fac quod dicis & credis, do what thou fayft and thou beleeveft. I will not conceal from you the diffection of this word Fides, as a witty Ancient bath anatomized it into five feveral letters, by which he collectech the ingredients which must meet in a faving faith. 1. Fimplyeth facere, to do, as the Apoftle faith, Not the Rom. 2.) bearers, but the doers of the law shall be juftified And Christ faith, Not every one that faith unto me Lord, Lord, fball enter into the Mat. 7. Kingdome of heaven, but he that doth the will of my father which is in heaven. For a man must not be of the number of them who confeffe God with their mouths and deny him in their works. 2. 4, this importeth Integritatem, Integrity, which doth expreffe it felfe in believing all the Articles of Chriftian faith, for that faith which is not entire doth not hold faft, and there is no trusting to it. 3. D, that implyeth Dile&tionem, love; for our faith must work Gal. 5. through love; And Saint Bernard faith, Mors fidei eft feparatiocharitatis, faith without love is dead.. And again he faith, at vivat fides tua, fidem tuam dilectio animet. And in the schoole, that faith which is not joyned with love, is called fides informis, an unformed faith. It is St. Augustines, faying. Cum dilectione fides eft Chriftiani, fine dilectione fides eft demonis. For we find that the devils confeft Chrift. Confitebantur (faith Saint Augustine) Damones Chriftum credendo,non diligendo; fidem babebant,charitatem non habebant, 4. E, implyeth Expreffè, expreffedly; for it is not fufficient to |
