Imatges de pàgina
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1. How faith may be gotten.

Herein we must needs obferve two things, S. The Author,

r. The Author.

2. The Means.

We must go to him from whom every good and perfect gift doth proceed,to feek faith.

Here I must admonish you that faith is given without feeking at first; for it is a free gift, and it is the glory of God; I am found of them that fought me not.

Do not think that the gift of faith is acquired; that is freely given; but the encrease of our faith is acquired by means, I prove

it thus.

The fpirit of God is given in the wombe, it is given to infants; therefore faith is alfo given; for the fpirit is never unfruitful, and faith is one of the fruits of the fpirit.

And the Apostles faid unto the Lord, encrease our faith. The grace of God which moveth in the generation of them that fear the Lord, is the feed of all vertues, and firft of faith the mother vertue which iffueth all the reft; that is given early. And the gift of faith doth fo lie hid in the Elect of God, that themselves know not of it, till God be pleafed not to put his fonne into them, but to reveal his Sonne in them.

This magnifieth the free grace of God, and teacheth us to fay, It is fo father because thy good pleasure is fuch.

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And this excludeth all boafting on our part, feeing we have it of meer and free gift. And it afcribeth the glory of all to God. 2. The means to get faith.

These as I have faid do not lay the foundation of faith in us, that is the free gift of God but thefe means do advance the building, they do help to encreale our faith.

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I will referre you to one place to declare to you the acquifition of more faith.

A&.16.14. And a certain woman named Lydia, a Seller of Purple of the city of Thyatyra, which worshipped God, heard us, whole heart Godopened that the attended unto the things that were spoken of Paul.

Verf. 15.

And when he was baptized and her houshold the befought us, faya ing, if ye have judged me faithful to the Lord, &c.

Obferve the whole paffage.

Here

f1. Here was a woman living in an honeft and lawful vocation. She was a feller of Purple.

2. Here were fome beginnings of faith in her; For the wor< Shipped God.

13.

4.

The outward means to increase her faith. She heard us.

The inward means: The Lord opened her heart, after
which followeth.

1. More attention to Paul.

2. Baptism.

3. A Defire to be esteemed faithful.

4. Hofpitality: fhe welcomed her teachers.

So that for the encreafing of faith she heard the word;and the more the believed, the more attentively fhe heard, and for confirming of faith she was baptized. Faith cometh by hearing; for how fhall they believe on him of whom they have not heard? Here let me admonish you;

1.But when I fay by the word with the Apostle,I do understand, and would be understood to speak of the Word, not as it is the voice of a mortal man, nor as it is a dead letter, but as the spirit doth speak to us in the Word.

For this the Apostle biddeth us, Be swift to hear it concerns us much but that you may fee that faith is not begotten in us by hearing bearing doth us no good without faith, and we must have a grain of faith to season our hearing, or else our hearing will adde nothing to our faith.

J.

The word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith Hebr.4 2.

in them that heard it.

So do we fee fome at first poure water into a Pumpe, to fet it a work, that it may yield water plenteously; for faith poured into our hearing doch make our hearing bring forth more faith.. And fo in Prayer, Fulgentius faith of faith,

Incipit infundi ut incipiat pofci.

A man cannot have faith without asking, neither can he aske it without faith.

2. When I name the word for a means to beget an increase of faith, I mean the written word, to exclude all unwritten traditions and all written legends which the tel-tale Church of Rome, hath coyned to gull the fwallowing credulity of the mif

jed.

led ignorants; that is, the books of Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Teftament of which the Apostle faith, They are able to make a man wile to falvation, and perfect, throughly perfect to every good work.

3. When I name the word 2 means of faith, I must mean the Word understood by us; for the Eunuch learns nothing of IJaiah the Prophet by reading him without understanding

And I wonder that ever the Church of Rome could fo befool and infatuate the judgements of men, to believe that either hearing a forme of fervice, or praying in a ftrange tongue, could carry any validity in them, except they did conceive, or do believe that fuch hearing and praying have power of incantation. Therefore thereis required

A translation of the word into our natural language, or fome other that we understand, if we understand not the ori ginal.

And herein I must stirre you up to a thankful confideration of their profitable labours, who have taken pains to translate che Bible to English for the common benefit of you all,that you may read the Scriptures,and exercise your felves in the study of them, and examine the doctrines that you hear by them.

Bleffed be the Lord God of our fathers, who put fuch a thing as this into the heart of our Kings Majefty, to fet this work afoot and to fee it finished.

Herein alfo I must commend unto you the cafineffe and per fpicuity of Scripture; for if God had not left the way of falvati. on open, but had fhut it up in fuch clouds of obfcurity, that we muft needs have a guide to light us the way to the lanthorn,why would David have called the Word it felfe & Lantborne to our feet?

Therefore let no man be difcouraged from his own private ftudying of Scriptures, for feare of their hardneffe. It is nobet ter then idlenefle and fhuffling to lay the Scriptures are too deep for me, I will not meddle with them.

Chrift commandech, Search the Scriptures: is he not Antichrift that faith, do not, thou shalt not fearch?

I fay and believe that the Word only read over by us or cous, without the help of any Comment, or Sermon, or Expofition of

it is a Lanthorne, and giveth light to the fimple.

Much more the Word with good Commentaries and written Expofitions.

Much more the Word preached by learned and judicious Preachers, which know how to divide the fame aright; thofe be called fellow-labourers with God, Angels of God, the falt of the earth, the light of the world, and even Saviours of men, and because of their labour in the Word, and oversight of the People, honour, double honour is allowed to them by the Apostle Saint Paul.

This point is of great use..

1. To us that are Miniftets of the Word; for it layeth a neceffity upon us, and wo be to us if we preach not the Gospel.

I am fure the Apostle putteth it home to Timothy ;.

I charge thee before God and the Lord Jefus Chrift, who shall 2 Tim.4.1 judge the quick and dead at his appearing and his kingdome:

Preach the word, be inftant in season and out of feafon, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-Juffering and doctrines.

God hath given and committed to us the Miniftry of the Word of faith, by which we must live; and if we be not found faithful in the difpenfation thereof, our fouls fhall answer for the fins of the People, which are committed by our negligence, and for want of our giving warning.

2. To you it is a provocation of you to be swift to hear, to take heed how you heare, to heare with meekneffe, to hear willingly, to hear attentively, to meditate in the Word that you hear, to fearch the Scriptures, to believe the word fpoken, to be obedient to the forme of doctrine delivered, not to despise him that speaketh in our miniftry; it is faid of Lydia that she heard us.

This was the outward means of her faith. This had never done: good alone; for he that planteth is nothing, and he (that watereth is nothing, but God that giveth the increase.

He is nothing, faith the Apostle, that planteth, that is,the Minifter of the Word is nothing.

There were two things much amiffe amongst the Corinthians at that time.

1. One was. they did too much depend upon their Ministers,

and.

and afcribe too much to them, wherein he that fent them had wrong..

2. They were partial in their estimation of their Minifters, fome affecting and preferring one, fome another, that it came to a fchifme.

To remove which double disease in the Church, the Apostle telleth them, that the Minifter is not any thing: his meaning is not to difgrace the Ordinance of God, to defile his own neft, to difhonour his own high-calling, but to bring them to true judgment of it, and to let them understand that the Miniftry of men is outward, that God hath no need of it,he can convert and esta-blifh fouls without it.

And further, whatsoever the Minister doth, it is by the fuggeftion and help and efficacy of the Holy Ghost.

The purpose of the Apostle is to withdraw us from dependance on outward means, he doth not seek to difcourage the ufe or to disparage the honour of them, or to queftion their ne ceffity: but to fhew that as planting and watering of a tree are to the bearing of fruit, fo is our preaching to your good life: except God do give the encrease, the means in it felfe is not any thing,

1. Therefore let us fearch deeper for the power of God in the increase of our faith, and we shall find it a fpecial work of the 2 Cor. 4. Holy Ghoft: and fo Saint Paul Speaking of the spirit of faith,doth give us to understand,that faith is wrought in us by that Spirit of God which bloweth where he lifteth.

31.

So it is faid of Lydia, that the Lord opered her heart.

The manner of the operation of this Spirit in the work of faith, is thus.

1. It worketh upon the fupreme part of the foul,that is, the un derstanding.

2. Vpon the inferior part, that is, the Will and affections. 1. Upon the understanding, and there it openeth to us three things.

1. The Excellency of our Creation,

2. The milery of our fall draga.
3. The remedy thereof.

1. The Excellency of our Creation.

For

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