Book II
The difficulty offaith. That it is above all the powers and faculties in man. That all which is in man is so far from enabling him to believe, that it
doth withstand his believing. That faith is the work of the alone mighty power of God.
CHAPTER I.
Of the difficulty offaith ; how hard it is to attain to believe.
Now that I have shewn you the use and excellency of this grace of faith, I
will discover to you the difficulty to attain it- ; and this is useful to be done, both to make men the more to seek out for it, as also to get out of them
selves to God to work it. And it is indeed necessary, because else men
will rest in an easy, slight faith, which is always a false faith ; for naturally men do imagine it the easiest of all things else required in us to salvation,
that it is the easiest thing of all the rest to believe, and they wonder that
any should make any difficulty in it. Men think if they could but do other
things as well as believe, they should do well enough. To pray, and to
keep the Sabbath, and to part with lusts and beloved sins, these things indeed are hard and difficult, and to a man impossible ; but to believe in
Christ for salvation, this they make nothing of ; and whatever they do,
they will surely believe and never despair ; and if they come to a poor soul
that is any whit troubled, they rate him, and use to say, Thou art a fool
indeed, canst not believe ? And hence of all works else men mind this of
faith the least. They make a business of it to be humbled, and to have
strength to perform duties ; but to believe, they think that would easily follow if they could but do other things that God requires. And hence
also men do wonder so at such poor souls as are humbled and cut off from
carnal hopes, that they should keep such ado and such a toil to get Christ, who is the object of faith, and to lay hold upon Christ, which is the main
act of faith ; that they should run up and down from this ordinance to that
in such a restless manner, turmoil themselves about obtaining him, as if
there were any question to be made of having him at any time, or any
difficulty in it. What need then is there, say they, of so many complaints of the want of Christ ? of so many heart-breakings and pantings after him ?
of such troubling of ministers how to obtain him ? Men wonder at this, because they know not, and assent not to the power and greatness of the work of faith. Now this difficulty of the work of faith might in the general, by many ways, be made good. As,
1. From setting forth to you the excellency, and preciousness, and glory of this grace, which are two epithets Peter gives it, 1 Peter i. 7, and
difficilia pulchra, the most excellent things are difficult to compass.
2. From the wonderful effects of it, and privileges we obtain by it. It
CHAP. L] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 481
is that grace which God alone hath put in trust to give livery, and seisin, and possession of Christ, and heaven, and all things else. It is that elixir, the least dram whereof turns the heart of stone into a heart of flesh, brings Christ down from heaven into the heart, makes use of all the grace, power, virtue, that is in him ; which only can command it, and doth do it ; which can do all that God s attributes can do, having all God s attributes, wisdom, power, mercy, &c., to use, and manage, and set a-work for its own and the church s good. Faith of miracles did cast out devils, removed mountains, brought down fire from heaven, healed diseases ; but justifying faith doth more. It is the greatest wonder-worker in the world ; it resists Satan, quencheth all his darts, bears the stress of all temptations, overcomes the
world, and therefore itself must needs be difficult.
3. I might demonstrate this to you by comparing faith with all other works to be wrought as necessary to salvation. We will only set it by that which of all other is the easiest, and that is to humble men, and pull down their plumes and proud thoughts. When men think themselves to be rich, and to have need of nothing, then to see themselves poor, and
blind, and miserable, and naked, how hard is it ! What towers doth self-
righteousness erect! What high thoughts are elevated by self-flattery! and how strongly doth carnal reason fortify all these ! How many weapons of warfare hath God prepared, and doth he use to batter down these ! And how many shifts, and shelters, and burrows hath the heart to fly unto ! Until all these be stopped, the heart is not taken, and to stop all these is out of the power, wisdom, and foresight of any man, and it must be the Spirit must do it. Now, if this be so difficult, then to bring men to believe must be much more ; for besides, all this fore-mentioned is but to prepare for believing. And if all this must be done to prepare the way for Christ, what difficulty is it to bring Christ into the heart ! And indeed, if then it were easy, and Christ would come alone, yet inasmuch as the work that makes way for it is so difficult, in that respect if no other, faith might be said to be difficult also. Yet besides, all this is but destroying and pulling down ; and we see in the works of art which men are able to
do, it is easier to destroy than to build up, to wound than to heal, to cut and break off from the old stock than to engraft into the new, to slay than to make alive and bring a new soul in ; and yet such is the work of faith in comparison of the other. And moreover, thus to humble men, there is much assistance in a man s own heart to further it. There is a conscience in him, not capable only, but ready to convince him, if he would but hear
it speak. There is matter enough might be picked and alleged out of his heart and life to condemn him, and persuade him that his estate is miser able and damnable, if but produced ; and therefore at the day of death it is so easy to persuade men to such thoughts, and at the day of judgment they will be easily convinced. And this state of sin and wrath is the common condition of all men, and was surely every man s once, so as it is a wonder it should be so hard to convince men of it; for to pull down this house should seem to be a matter of no great difficulty, for it is ruinous, and apt to fall of itself; nay, would fall but for false supports put under
it to hold it up. But to bring men to believe, there is no principle in men that hath any power to give assistance to it, but it must be wrought anew; there is nothing to be raised out of what is in a man s self that can
give any ground for it, for it is founded upon nothing in a man s self. And it is the condition but of a few to obtain Christ and this precious
* all men have not faith, nor never had, nor never shall, because
faith; for
it is the faith of God s elect.
VOL. vin. H h
482 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART III. BOOK II.
4. To empty out of a man s heart his false faith, and to convince him he is an unbeliever, how hard is it ! The Spirit must convince the world of unbelief, John xvi. 9. The law, as it required not faith, so it discovers not unbelief ; as it is a sin against the gospel, so the gospel discovers it ; and it is a still sin, that lurks and makes no noise, for it shews not itself in positive acts, as envy, uncleanness, &c., but in a privative way, and so
goes stilly on, steals the heart away from God and Christ ; and by a bare
doing nothing doth all, and gives way to the reign and stirring of all lusts, which therefore are perceived, but not it. If therefore to convince the heart of unbelief be so difficult, which yet is in the heart already, then to
bring in faith, to make faith anew in the heart, must be much more diffi
cult; and if to cause the heart to see faith when it is wrought cost so many years search in many poor souls, what is it to work it ? But to let such as these and many other demonstrations go, we will reduce the main grounds that may demonstrate this difficulty of effecting faith in the heart to these two heads :
1. Let us consider what is done by God for a man in heaven without him, when faith is wrought.
2. What unability, yea, and obstacles, there are to the work of faith within a man.
1. If the difficulty lay only in regard of what was to be wrought in us,
it were enough, as the second head will abundantly discover ; but, besides
this, at the bestowing faith, and at the celebration of this great union by faith between Christ and us, there must be a special consent and concur
rence, and joint-meeting of all three persons in the Trinity, when this match
is made. As God called a council when he made man, Let us make man, says he, Gen. i., so there is as solemn a council called of all the three persons when this new man is made ; and especially at the work of
faith, for then Christ is bestowed. Conjunctions of sun and moon are not
every day, especially not in one climate, especially not great conjunctions of the planets. Now, it is at a great conjunction of the whole Trinity; and when their special consent is that Christ shall be bestowed upon such a soul, it is then only and at such a time that faith is wrought, and in such a soul only. Though Christ be offered at other times by us ministers with warrant from God, yet at that time when faith is wrought he must be
actually given to thee, and not for thee only. He was given for thee from the beginning of the world, and upon the cross ; but now he is actually given to thee, and thou to him. The Father as a Father stands by, and
says in heaven, Son, I give this soul to thee, to wed and betroth to thyself for ever; take him and own him as thy own from everlasting. And there fore says Christ, John vi. 87,
< All that the Father giveth "me shall come to me. A deed of gift, and a delivery, is passed, by God the Father, of the soul into Christ s hands, and of Christ to the soul by him also. Take
(says God) this Christ my Son for thine, with all that he and I am worth. There is a giving of Christ before the soul receives him, and a giving de
pmsenti, in the present time, as distinguishing it from that which was from everlasting. And Jesus Christ, as a loving husband, bestows him
self, and embraceth the poor soul as his, which he had formerly redeemed by his blood, but hitherto had lived without him. He apprehends or em braceth the soul first ere we apprehend him, Philip, iii. 12. As he loved us
first ere we loved him, so he must apprehend us first ere we can apprehend him, and therefore our apprehension of him by faith is to apprehend that for which we are apprehended; we give up ourselves to Christ, because he gives himself first to us. And then furthermore, Christ puts forth his
CHAP. I.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 483
arm from heaven, viz., the Holy Ghost, as the joiner together of both, and who is called the arm of God in working faith, Isa. liii. 1. He is sent into the heart, Gal. iv. 6; and he creates hands in us to comprehend Christ again, who apprehends us, and to embrace him in the promise who hath now embraced us, Heb. xi. 13; and gladly to embrace him, and not to let him go. And having him now hand in hand, we have manuduction, we are led by the hand by Christ to the Father through the Spirit, Eph.
ii. 18, who therefore joined our hands together. Now, to get all the three persons thus joined at once effectually and actually to bestow Christ and the Spirit of faith upon a man, is not within any "man s command. God indeed stands ready to do it at all times when the word is preached and Christ offered; but actually thus to do it, this is rare. It is not accom
plished to the elect at all times, not till the fulness of time of calling comes, nor to any other but them. Faith is a receiving Christ; and until the time comes that the Father actually bestows Christ on thee, thou canst not receive him ; yea, and he must put his hand into thy hands too : John
iii. 27, A man can receive nothing unless it be given him from heaven. And that thou dost receive him, and hast a heart to do it, that must be
given thee. And however men may think the least obstacle of faith to lie in this, because God is ready to do all this to every man when the gospel is preached; yet when Christ gives the reason why some believed not and others did, he resolves it into this, John vi. 36, 37, I said to you, that you have seen me, and believed not. Why ? All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and verse G4, giving the reason why Judas believed
not, therefore it was, saith he, I spake to you of this giving of the Father, both of you to me, and me to you, and of faith to you to come unto me. And this is the reason why the elect have not faith at all times wrought. There is a fulness of time for drawing and knitting a soul to Christ, as there was for Christ to take flesh. And canst thou appoint the time of this their meeting ? Canst thou send forth, and hast thou power of call
ing this great general council together when thou wilt ? Canst thou move God to give his Son at this time to thee, or Christ now to take possession of thee? No; all is a gift, and actually then bestowed, though given afore, when faith is wrought. This match must be concluded in heaven ere in thy heart, and the Father must say Amen to it, the Son Amen to
it, and the Holy Ghost Amen to it, ere thy heart can say Amen to it; and therefore think not that it is an easy matter to believe.
2. If you consider what inability, yea, what obstacles, are in the heart
itself savingly to believe, you will grant it is difficult.
(1.) There is nothing in the heart to help towards it.
(2.) There is all in the heart, and without the heart, against it.
(1.) There is nothing in the heart that induceth it to believe. There is no principle to promote it and help it forwards.
1st, To clear this, consider that it is true (as all grant) that we have a
posse remotum, a remote capability ; we have faculties wherein this faith may be engrafted, so that God shall not need to add a new faculty into the soul ; but this will and understanding of ours, which was apprehensive of and comformable to the law, is the same which is to apprehend Christ, and to be made conformable to the obedience of faith; and the same natural faculties are the subjects of both. There need not a new finger to be added to the hand to apprehend Christ withal; and there are no more faculties in the soul when it is regenerated than when it was in unbelief, only they are endued with new powers and abilities.
2dly, But yet some affirm, and those such as are godly and judicious,
484: OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART III. BOOK II.
great divines, that though new faculties are not added, yet the understand
ing and will of Adam, in the state even of pure nature, wanted that habit or principle whereby believers are enabled to believe in Christ. To believe and put trust in God as a faithful Creator he had power to do, but not in
Christ as a Mediator. So that as the way of salvation by Christ is new, and contrary to that whereby Adam was to attain to life ; so there must be a new principle to attain it, a new spring which might turn the stream of all the faculties from looking to be saved by doing, to which they natu
rally tend, and which might direct a man to glorify God by believing. It
is a new instinct to carry the soul of itself to Christ, as before it was carried out to works. As the law of faith and the law of works are different, Kom.
iii. 27, and this law of faith is a new law, so it was not written in Adam s
heart. This assertion, I confess, if it could be clearly proved, would argue faith to be exceeding difficult indeed, as being not only out of the reach and
power of corrupt nature, but of pure nature also. But this I list not now
to dispute.
3dly. However, whether it was in Adam s power to believe or not, yet sure I am, that the objects propounded to be believed are of a higher difficulty,
infinitely higher than any which that state was capable of. Adam in
innocency could not have been set so hard and sublime a task and exercise
as to believe in Christ is, and all his other lessons given him to learn were
easy in comparison of this. So that suppose we have no other principles than what we had afore in Adam, yet this faith is a difficulter piece of
service than he was set about ; for example, for Adam to believe that God made him and the world (which was a point of faith to him as well as to
us, though the world was not six days standing, for the making of it was not a thing to him seen, and therefore it is reckoned as an act of faith, Heb. xi. 3), this was easy in comparison of our believing God himself to be made man, and to come down into the world clothed with our frailties. This would have put all the faith in him to a stand, and made him stretch
his eye-strings, for the angels themselves put out their necks to behold it. So to believe that the soul that sins shall die, and that on that day he did
eat of the forbidden fruit he must die the death, was easy for him ; for if
by doing he lived, he might well believe that by transgressing he should
die ; and yet his faith was easily overturned in this, he believed it not long, and therefore fell. But to believe that God would give, or hath given his Son to death, and that God would
* make him sin who knew no sin, this would have staggered and amazed his faith. So for him to believe that whilst he pleased God in all things he should continue in his favour, and
live by doing so, and be justified by it, was easy ; for his own sense of God s love, brought into his heart and maintained by obedience, might persuade him to it, and he had a sacrament of the tree of life to confirm him in it, and God s remunerative justice might assure it to him. But to
7 an ungodly person, and account him
believe that God will and doth justif}
as righteous as the angels, would well nigh have posed, if not non-plussed his faith. And further, to believe that when that ungodly person to be
justified hath not one dram of power to please God with, yet he ought to
live in another, and to have a principle of life and grace out of himself, and
to have his life and abilities hid in another, fetched from another who lives
in him, and all to be fetched by believing, this would have been a paradox in Adam s divinity, and would well nigh have overthrown it, for it crossed and contradicted the faith which he had in that his estate, which was maintained by a stock of grace in himself committed to his own hands to
dispose of. As the psalmist said, I thought to understand this, and it
CHAP. I.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 485
was too high for me ; so may I say, when he should have attempted to
believe this, he would have found load enough to charge his faith with, if
it had not been too high for him. When our Saviour Christ, John iii., conferred with Nicodemus about the easy and most familiar things which concerned salvation, the truth of which even earthly light might convince him of, as that what is born of the flesh is flesh, and therefore corrupt man s nature is so ; nature and sense might have instructed him in all this, and in a farther truth also, viz., that therefore if ever this nature enters
heaven, it must be changed and born again, and that image which at first was lost must be restored. He that heard of the state of innocency would have easily assented unto this, that the same image must be renewed ere God accepts us, and yet this sets Nicodemus his mind in an uproar, John iii. 12, and yet these things Christ tells him were but earthly in
comparison, and if ye believe not these, saith he, how shall ye believe
if I tell you of heavenly things ? Now what were those heavenly things but the truths of the gospel which are necessary to be believed, which
Christ brought down from heaven, because they had never grown in Adam s garden, who was a man of the earth, earthly ? And he instanceth
in some of them in the following verses ; he instanceth in the human and
divine nature of Christ, and their union, and the doctrine of faith, and in
being cured by believing on him, as they in the wilderness were by the brazen serpent ; he instanceth in that amazing thing also, that God should
so love the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whoever believeth on him should not perish. Now to believe these and the like things, must be by a power derived from heaven.
4thly. But sure I am, that whether Adam had such a power, yea or no
then, yet now in corrupt nature it is utterly lost and gone ; for besides the
general reason that the whole image of God is lost, there was a special reason why he should lose this of faith above any other part, for he fell by
unbelief, and therefore all the ruins fell upon that arm, and broke it all to
pieces. The special guilt of that sin shattered that part of God s image
all to shivers. We are shut up under unbelief, Kom. xi. 32, and faith
is the way out of that miserable condition we are in, when the door is
locked and barred by unbelief, and we cannot open it, nor shoot nor break
open the lock. To believe but the law of Moses, how hard is it ! And
though men have a conscience, in which the law is written by nature, yet Christ tells the Pharisees, John v. 47, that they did not truly believe Moses. How hardly are men brought to believe the threatenings, espe
cially with application, when yet they are thundered out against all, and
there is a guilt tells us that we deserve death who do such things, Eom.
i. 32, much more hardly are men brought to believe the promises, which
* If ye believe not Moses s writings, says Christ, how shall ye believe my words ? John v. 47. He argues d minori ad
belong but to a few :
majus, from the less to the greater. Did I say to believe the law ? I may
say that to do the whole law exactly is as easy as to believe savingly in
Christ. This is a received maxim among all divines, and despairing Spira set his seal to it out of woeful experience, when he spoke these words, You command me to believe. I say I cannot ; your command is as impos
sible to me as to keep the moral law.
5thly. All the principles left in man will help nothing towards the attain
ing of it.
1. All the parts of wit and wisdom in the world will not help us to
* Faith stands not in the wisdom of men, but in the
believe : 1 Cor. ii. 5,
power of God ; the wisdom of other men cannot beget it, nor the wisdom
486 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART III. BOOK II.
of a man s own heart cannot attain it, or give the least inclination to it, but the alone power of God, for of that likewise he speaks, and therefore says he, ver. 6-8, The wisdom of the princes of this world, that are the
wisest, came to nought, and could not reach it. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
2. Natural conscience cannot arrive to faith, it will set you a-doing indeed, but not a-believing ; it will discover other sins to you, but not this; for the Spirit must convince of unbelief. The law of works is written in
conscience, but not the law of faith ; and therefore men that make con science of private prayer, and of keeping the Sabbath, and of avoiding uncleanness and adultery, and dare not omit or commit any of these, yet make no conscience of believing, nor are struck with a sense of unbelief. Nay, therefore believers themselves, that take thought about other things, are often careless of believing, look not at this as the main duty, the great command, the highest obedience.
3. All the duties thou canst perform cannot beget one jot of faith: Rom.
ix. 16, It is not in him that wills nor runs, but in God that sheweth mercy. Though Paul was as exact in keeping the law as ever man was,
yet, 1 Tim. i. 13, he was an unbeliever. If a man should go and make money (as I may so say) of all he is or hath, and put all into one stock, if he should call in all his strength which is put out, and is in the hands of
learning^, riches, honours, &c., and convert and turn every thought for every moment s time he is to live upon nothing but believing, and trade with all that he can make for nothing but for faith, he could not compass one dram. Let him take his flinty heart in one hand, and all the promises in the word of God in another, and strike his heart and them together to
eternity, he would not strike out so much as one spark of saving faith.
4. All external means cannot work faith. Christ preached, and preached as powerfully as ever man did, he spake as never no man spake, John
vi. 63, The words I speak to you are spirit and life, yet the Jews remained unbelievers ; and Judas, that heard all his sermons, and missed not one, yet remained an unbeliever ; for it follows, ver. 64, 65, There are some of you believe not. For Jesus knew who should betray him. And there fore I said to you, that no man can come to me except it be given him of my Father. And though he preached plainly as well as powerfully, John x. 24, 25, yet still they doubt, as they themselves say there ; nay, says Christ, My works bear witness of me, ver. 25, but yet ye believe not; there is something else in it ; it is because ye are not of my sheep, ver. 26 ; and ver. 37, If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not; yea, John
< he did works which none other did ; and if ye believe not me, yet believe the works. But though such works as were never done before were added to such words as were never spoken by any but him, yet these admirable works and words did not effect faith in their hearts : John xii. 37, Though he had done so many miracles, yet they believed not on him.
t xv. 24,
5. As there is nothing to help to work faith within or without a man, so
all in him is against it. As,
(1.) All thy sins, both the power of thy sins, and the guilt of thy sins, oppose thy believing.
^ 1st. The power of thy sins is opposite to faith ; for till the heart be divorced from every lust, thou canst not give Christ and faith entertain ment. It will forbid the banns of matrimony between Christ and thee. Thou canst no more take Christ for thy salvation and portion, and set him
CHAP. I.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 487
up in thy heart, than thou canst at once look up to heaven, and down upon
the earth : How can ye believe, says Christ, whilst ye receive honour
one from another ? John v. 44.
2dly. The guilt of thy sins causes thee to depart from God, and bids
Christ to depart from thee : Depart from me, says Peter, for I am a sinful
man, Luke v. 8. Guilt of wrong and enmity is always suspicious, and
makes a man look upon God as an enemy, and therefore he dares not
trust him. Men will rarely trust a reconciled enemy, nor will men be
brought to venture themselves upon a God reconciling himself through
Christ. Judas runs to the Pharisees when he had betrayed Christ, but he
durst not come at Christ, his guilt would not suffer him. Sins will tell
thee, and denied conscience will tell thee, that thou must look for no
mercy, and that there ismxhope, Jer. ii. 25, and when we would look for
salvation, yet it is far off ; for because our sins testify against us, and we
know them, therefore the guilt of them ariseth and puts off such thoughts
of mercy, and discourageth the heart. As presumptuous men think they
shall be saved because their sins are so small, so poor humbled souls, when
they see their sins once, surmise that they shall never have mercy, because
they are so great. What ! I ! a blasphemer, a contemner of mercy, shall
I obtain mercy? The soul cannot believe this. Though sin when slighted
furthers presumption, yet when discovered it hinders faith.
(2.) All the righteousness that is in a man for time past, and endeavours
for time to come, also hinder the work of faith.
1. Righteousness for time past is a hindrance to it, for men cannot have
any righteousness in and of themselves but self will be conceited of it ; and
a conceit of their own merit hinders them from seeing their need of, and
looking out for Christ s. The Pharisees, that thought themselves righteous, were so far from faith or coming to Christ, that Christ says he came not
to call such. The Jews going about to establish their own righteousness, submitted not to the righteousness of God by faith, Rom. ix. 31, 32, and
Rom. x. 3. As the law was not given for a righteous man, that is truly
such, so nor the gospel is not given for him that hath any conceited
righteousness of his own. Faith is that whereby we believe in him that
justifies the ungodly. As Laodicea, that thought herself rich, was thereby
_ the more
kept off from coming to Christ by faith, to buy gold of him, so
goods have been increased, and the richer a man hath thought himself, the
leather he is to break and become a bankrupt, and to suffer so much loss,
and to stand at the courtesy of free grace, and put off his robes and come
as a beggar, and lie naked at Christ s door. And,
2. Endeavours for the time to come also hinder and spoil faith. A man,
when he sees his former sinfulness and want of faith, and hath suffered the
wreck of all his former estate, is apt to begin of his own cost to build a
new ship to set to sea in, and lades it upon a new stock with new wares of
duties he never did afore, and launcheth it into profession, and thinks ^by his own rowing, and tugging, and hauling, in the end to arrive at Christ, who goes as fast from him as he makes after him, whilst he thus goes out
in his own strength. But if he would tie his cockboat to the ship of God s
free grace, and commit himself to sea with it, and suffer the stream of it,
and the gales of the Spirit, to carry him on in the use of means, he might
attain to faith, and to the righteousness of God. Rom. ix. 32, the Jews
sought it but as a by-faith, but as it were by the works of the law ^ and .
may in this case allude to it, a man must seek Christ and faith, but it must
be in a way of faith, else though the duties be evangelical which they
endeavour to perform, yet they are, as it were, the works of the law, as the
488 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART III. BOOK II.
apostle s phrase is, and will be accounted as legal. A man may seek the righteousness of faith, and yet not by faith, or in a way of faith and sense of a man s own inability, and so seek after the faith itself,
< as if it were a work of the law ; and then, as Paul says, as a man condemns himself in what he allows, so he undoes himself in what he endeavours, and goes to hell by striving to go to heaven. The people of Israel, if they would have gone into Canaan by the way of faith in God alone, who offered to cast out their enemies before them, they might have done it, but that way they rejected through unbelief, and then set to it by their own strength ; but they were beaten back by their enemies, and God commanded them to go back again even to the brink of the Red Sea ; so doth God deal with souls that have gone far into the wilderness, and are nigh believing and laying hold, yet subject not their souls to God s way of working faith, but attempt it by their own strength, and this casts them behind-hand, and they are to begin the work anew, and so they are brought thereby as far off as at first, and have need to be humbled of those their new endeavours, and then they are fit to enter. God hath said that no man shall prevail with his own strength, 1 Sam. ii. 6. And thus to endeavour after faith with our own strength is like the scrabbling and striving of one that cannot swim, which sinks him the sooner and the more, and is opposite to the way of faith; for faith fetcheth all strength from another, since that is essential to that grace, and is one rule in the law of faith, as the apostle calls it, and there fore strivings for faith out of our own strength are most opposite to the law of faith. A man s own strength prevents and supplants supply by faith, which is passive, and a receiving borrowing grace. And therefore Christ tells us plainly, that many shall strive to enter, and shall not be able, like a man that would open the flood-gate of a sluice ; one who attempts to break open the door of unbelief, which is shut against all the world, is like to a man who would open the flood-gate of a sluice, the more he pulls to open it, the more he keeps it shut, whilst he doth it out of his own strength whereas, if he would go on the other side of the stream, and commit him self to it, the stream would do it alone, and carry him through it. 3. All parts of natural wisdom and reason are against faith also. 1st, For besides that some rest in knowledge, Rom. ii. 17-20 know ledge and gifts also puff up, 1 Cor. viii. 1, but he whose heart is lift up believes not, Hab. ii. 4. They are opposed ; nothing opposeth faith more than pride, nothing makes proud more than knowledge ; and therefore, to confound the pride of the world, he chose out this grace of faith, which by making a man become a fool, saves him, 1 Cor. i. 19-21, and confounds all men s admired wisdom by
saving them that believe. 2dly, And again, carnal reason keeps men from faith, because that is the form of a man as a man, and will be listened to. The philosophers defined a man to be animal rationale, a rational animal ; now faith hath a reach beyond all this, and therefore when a man ties himself to reason, and con sults with it, he is kept from believing ; and when he would believe, he must not consider what reason says to the contrary. So Abraham, Rom. iv. 1J, being not weak in faith, considered not his own body, that whereas reason and consideration, out of wisdom and reason, would have raised many an objection up, he consults not with it. And therefore God hath chose this grace of faith as that which fools are as capable of as wise men; yea, and more, for they are apt to be credulous, and out of a sense of their want of wisdom to resolve their judgment into another s. Yea, and there fore God hath chosen the poor and foolish things of the world, because faith in them is more easily wrought. Have any of the rulers believed in
<
CHAP. I.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 489
him? John vii. 48, 49. But this people that know not the law are
accursed.
Sdly, The more reason a man hath, the stronger objections he will raise
up against believing; therefore, in temptations, the more knowledge a man
hath, the stronger he pleads against himself, and his wit serves to make his
indictment the more full, and to dispute against his own salvation the more
shrewdly, as Spira did, to the amazement of the standers by, invent such
objections as another would not have dreamt of. And thus it hinders
afore and in the working of faith. Afore, what is it keeps men from being humbled ? Their carnal reasonings, their strongholds. Now all that
reason, which, before a man was humbled, shewed its strength in main
taining the goodness of his estate, when he is humbled, turns head, and
pleads against a man s estate, and against his having any interest in mercy ; and indeed, whilst a man will go in a way of reasoning, and consider his
dead soul, he will never believe. A man must believe above and against
all reason; as Abraham considered not his dead body, so nor must he con
sider his dead soul. And hence it is that we have more ado with carnal
reason after men are humbled than before. Self-flattery, when that was
general, used and commanded all the reason in a man to fight for a good
opinion of his estate ; and when self-flattery is slain, and that good opinion of a man s self with it, then unbelief turns all the same force and weapons another way, and all the reason in a man is employed to fight to keep a man in it.
4thly, Self in a man is against it also, and the greatest enemy to it ; and
therefore in faith there is the greatest self-denial that is in any other grace. To deny a man s reason, and subject all his thoughts to the authority and wisdom of another, and to give God leave to take away all reason and wis dom from me, and to resolve my thoughts into his words, and to think as
he thinks, whatever my own thoughts are, all this is hard. And so to be
content to be nothing of myself for ever, and to do nothing of myself, to
throw myself away, to lose, to forget myself, to be lost to myself, dead to
myself (as Paul was, Gal. ii. 20 and 2 Cor. xii. 11, who, though he did more than all, yet says he was nothing, in those words, Not I, but
Christ, &c.), and to take Christ into my heart not only to rule all, but to
do all, to have the glory of all, both the grace and the glory I have, to have no reason, no will, no power, no life of my own in myself, but Christ to be
all, this is to believe, and this is a farther self-denial than was in pure nature in Adam. This self is brought to by losing and forfeiting itself, and
this only in point of faith. Adam, though he had grace from God, yet he had it in himself, and of himself could work, and could say, This have I
done, and this is my righteousness of my own weaving, and this is my
happiness of my own keeping ; and it was allowed him to say so. But now
cut off that same I, away with that self, make it a cypher to eternity ;
though it be something as a creature, and have a name in the catalogue of
beings, and is advanced to the highest state of happiness, yet let it be
nothing in doing, nothing in righteousness, nothing in glorifying or making
itself happy, and let Christ be all. Adam was as much in his aims and
designs to deny himself, as we now, in point of sanctification, he was herein
to aim at God as much as we, and to respect himself as little ; but in point of believing we fall lower, for that empties us, annihilates self, fetcheth
righteousness, power, life, all from another, as well as it works to another. And this is therefore difficult, because it is a higher strain of glorifying God
than Adam knew, or than the heart is either in pure or corrupt nature
acquainted with. Self rests in itself, and would not go out of itself ; this
490 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART III. BOOK II.
is natural to it, and it was used to do so when it was at the best, and therefore this way of believing is a way which self would never take, but it
will fall a-doing and performing duties, and keeping the law, and mourning for sin ; and if you have any work for it to do in itself within doors, it will fit to it, but to go abroad and beg all of Christ, to live upon alms, to stand to the courtesy of Christ and grace, and to do this for eternity, self was never
brought up to it. It would live of itself, of its own lands and revenues, though lesser and meaner, rather than be in dependence, though to enjoy a kingdom. And though going to Christ be a short cut, yet it had rather
go about, make a new way of works, than go to Christ, and by Christ, who
* Ye will not come to me, says Christ, John v. 40, that ye might have life ; no, they will undertake to fulfil the law rather. The Pharisees and the Jews did so ; they would rather appeal to it that was their condemner, to Moses who accused them (as Christ says, ver. 45), than come to Christ who offered to save them. They would rather go to the law, that was the ministry of condemnation. The Galatiaus, that
is the Way and the Life :
they might be eased a little in point of believing, would be in bondage to the ceremonial law, which they nor their fathers were able to bear. And
papists will rather give over kingdoms, and put themselves into monasteries,
lie in hair, live upon the alms of others, whip and rend their bodies, keep
strictly to their canonical hours, than go to Christ, than cast off works, and betake themselves to faith. And the same you may see in poor humbled
souls ; they run to every duty, but never dream of faith, that that must ease them. Thus Christ s sheep will hang upon every briar ere they come to him.
4. If there were nothing in us against it, yet the devil opposeth it more than any thing. He opposed not the moral virtues of the heathen, nor doth he oppose a deluded Christian in performance of duties ; but when he comes to lay hands on Christ, when he will go that way, then he musters up all the forces he can. The god of this world blinds the eyes of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine to them, 2 Cor. iv. 4. This is the point he would keep them blind in, viz., the
knowledge of Christ by faith ; and hither tend all his delusions and oppo
sitions, that our faith might fail.