Chapter VII
That the truth of faith assenting unto the first general principles of .religion, u hich wicked men want, hath a great influence on practical godliness, where
they are sincerely and heartily believed.
That the truth of faith believing things in the" general hath the main
influence, may many ways be evidenced.
1. There is something in that which the papists urge, namely, that the
Scriptures usually express saving faith by that act of it whereby we believe but the generals ; though they make use of it to a wrong end, namely, to shew
that to believe things in the general, without application, is enough to salva
tion, which is most false. But yet thus much may be thence gathered, that
general faith hath a great influence in believing, and the workings of the
heart; so Peter s faith is expressed by a belief in the general that Jesus was
the Son of God, and Christ tells him that was the rock he would build his church upon: Mat. xvi. 16, 17,
l And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou
art Christ the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonas
: for flesh and blood hath not revealed
* And
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. So in Acts viii. 37,
Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So
: John xi. 26, And whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die. Believest thou
Christ catechiseth Mary in the belief of the generals
this ? and she expresseth her faith again in this : ver. 27, She saith unto
him, Yea, Lord : I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. For their firm, and strong, and full assent to
these generals was a great cause of coming and cleaving to him, and follow
ing of him ; as our best divines interpret these speeches. 2. We find by experience that when men come to make use of their faith
in any particular business, weakness of assent to the general, and doubting of the greatness of God s power and mercy in the general, is secretly the
thing as much stuck at as anything else. So David called the promise itself
into question, All men are liars, Samuel and all. Thus when they were
put to it for victuals, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness ? say they, Ps. Ixxviii. 19, Yea, they spake against God : they said, Can God furnish
a table inihe wilderness ? So also when that man did not believe that there should be such plenty of corn, why, says he, if God should make windows
246 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK V.
* Then a lord, on whose hand the
in heaven it could not be : 2 Kings vii. 2,
king leaned, answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windqwe in heaven, might this thing be ? And he said, Behold, thou
shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. And, on the contrary, we find that in difficulties, that which chiefly bore the stress, hath been belief in general, though not excluding the other. So
in Abraham s faith, after he believed God s willingness to make good the
promise of Isaac and of Christ in him, he considered God able to do it : Bom. iv. 1721, As itais written, I have made thee a father of many nations ; before him whom he believed, even God who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not, as though they were : who against hope believed
in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years
old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah s womb : he staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God ; and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able to
perform. A God that quickenetli the dead, that is especially noted. There
fore Christ also asketh the blind men, whether ihej believed his ability to heal them : Mat. ix. 28, And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him : and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this ? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. He put that question, because he knew it stuck most there, yea, and when men are afflicted with the greatness of their sins, that mercy which whilst they saw not the heinousness of sin
they presumed so much on, now they stick at, as thinking their sins greater.
So Cain did : Gen. iv. 13, 14, 16, And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out
this day from the face of the earth ; and from thy face shall I be hid ; and
I shall be a fugitive and vagabond in the earth : and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. And Cain went out from the
presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden/ We find that still as new convictions of things in the general come in, that
still as they are enlarged, and a man hath farther insight into them, accord
ingly a man s heart is affected and set on work. When a man comes to have
large apprehensions of the greatness of God (as Job had when God revealed
himself), of the day of judgment, of eternity, these mightily carry on the
heart, though I confess never without application, for I do not exclude it. When Moses saw God, and when Job saw him, and when Isaiah saw his
glory, this sight made great impressions, and as those apprehensions were
enlarged, so were their hearts also. Thus also the more convictions of God s mercy in pardoning a man hath, the more is special faith strengthened. So as I say belief in the general hath that great and strong influence upon our hearts and actions.
4. Hence it is certain that unregenerate men fail in their assent to the
general, whereby they believe the greatness of God s mercy and all-suffi
ciency, and of his wrath, and not only in applying these things to them
selves. Though therein I confess they mainly fail also, for self-love steps in and flatters them they shall escape, and with shifts of distinctions wards the
blow.
For, 1, if they believed there were a hell and another world, and the vast-
ness of eternity, and greatness of God s wrath, and of God himself, as they seem to do at least, they would not trust to such slender grounds why they think they shall escape ; it would make them willing to have their estates
searched to the bottom, it would make them wary, and fearful upon what
CHAP. VII.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 247
bridge they ventured to pass over that dreadful lake, whereinto if they fall,
they are plunged all over for eternity, and they would not venture on tbe
rotten grounds of civility and formal performances, which breaks and cracks
in the midst in the end under those that trust to them.
If they believed a world to come, which within few years they must enter
into, as Noah believed that within an hundred and twenty years the flood should come, it would make them fearful, as it did him, and move them to
prepare an ark, as he did, though so long before : Heb. xi. 7, By faith
Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, pre pared an ark to the saving of his house ; by the which he condemned the
world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. But as they believed not the flood, so nor do men now another world ; or if they believed there was a heaven (which if they so seriously thought they were not ordained for hell, they do withal believe was prepared for them), if, I say, they did know and believe in the general but the least part of what they
profess they know of it, what manner of men would they be in all holiness ? Which argues their belief fails in the general ; yet had they but the devil s faith, they would behave themselves otherwise, for they tremble when they think
of God, but these do not.
The second demonstration that they fail not in the application only, but the
general, is, that when the application is made as clear to them as the general, yea and more, yet they are not moved, but deny the conclusion. Come to drunkards or adulterers that live in their sins, ask them if they believe, that no such shall inherit the kingdom of God till they be washed and
sanctified, 1 Cor. vi. 9-11, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of God ? Be not deceived : neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extor
tioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you
: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, and ask them if such be not some of them, and you are not yet washed, but wallow in these sins as the sow in the mire, and this application is so evident as it cannot be
denied. Now the conclusion must necessarily follow, unless there be a
failing in the assent of the mind to one of those propositions. Now, the
application that they are so is undeniable, therefore the most fault and fail
ing is in not believing the general, viz. that all such shall go to hell, till
they be washed ; neither do they assent to the greatness of the misery of men there in hell.
But you will object, that James, describing the faith of the unregenerate, says they believe in the general. Thou believest that God is ; so do the
devils, and tremble : James ii. 19, Thou believest there is one God ; thou doest well : the devils also believe, and tremble. I answer, (1.) It is true
that men do ordinarily more easily give some kind of assent to the generals, than make application to them, for that is a further and a harder work to flesh and blood, as appears in all the threatenings, to which till they be applied they seem to assent, and therefore James chooseth to express to us the common faith of men, by general belief without application. Yet, (2.) That
general faith is not true, and such as it ought, for he tells them, it is a dead
faith when it works not. Were it a living, true, assent to the general, it would not lie in the brain, and not stir at all, but it would work some way. For even the faith of devils works trembling, which thine doth not : so ver.
20, know, says he, thy faith is a dead faith, it works not : ver. 20, But wilt thou know, vain man, that faith without works is dead ? The fault is
248 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK V.
not only that it is a general faith, but that it is but a dead faith. And
therefore, (3.) You must know, that those acts of belief in a regenerate man, whereby he believes there is a God, that the promises and threatenings are
true, though but in the general do spring from a new work of faith, from the same work and habit that justifying faith doth spring from, because that root that the other belief springs from is dead, therefore it brings forth no fruits, no works ; but in a godly man there is a living root and faith, therefore in the Heb. xi. 6, when he says, he that comes to God must believe that he is, what
faith speaks he of but that faith which is peculiar to God s elect, whereby the
just do live ? Which I prove by the coherence and scope of the apostle, from the 38th, 39th verses of the 10th chapter, where he had said the just do live
by faith, which faith those that draw back have not, and wanting do draw back, but we are of those that believe to the saving of the soul. He speaks then of living, saving faith, and then, after a general definition, wherein he shews you that all things to be believed are the object of it, he instances : (1.) In
believing that the world was made, ver. 3 ; (2.) that God is, ver. 6. So that the eye of faith stands us not in stead only to see Jesus Christ, and to
apply him and the promises of salvation, but even also to help us to believe as we ought the very general principles laid down in the word, to believe that there is a Jesus Christ, and a God, and such promises, for it is faith where by we live, and so whereby we perform all the acts of spiritual life.
And as it is an act of life to see and discern our meat, and to discern the
goodness of it as well as to eat and digest it, so it is an act of spiritual life
to believe in general that God is, and that his promises are true, as well as
to apply them : Heb. xi. 13, These all died in faith, not having received the
promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth. By faith they are said (1.) to have seen the promises ; and that is an
act of faith ; (2.) to have been persuaded of the truth of them, and both these are but general acts, whereby they believed that there were such pro mises, and that they were true ; and then, (3.) they embraced them, that
is, laid hold of them for themselves, joined their souls to them, which is
that special act of faith, yet so as the other two were branches of the same
root, acts of the same faith, and where the first two are in truth, they are
also.
But you may object against this truth, that there are common notions in the hearts of all men, apprehensions enough that there is a God, so as to assent to it, as by the hearing of the word, so by seeing his works, wherein the characters of his eternal godhead are clearly seen and evidently appear
: Rom. i. 20, For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his
eternal power and Godhead ; so that they are without excuse. What need
is there then of a new work of faith to convince men of it ? or how can it be the object of faith, seeing faith is of things not seen ?
For answer, Even the schoolmen* themselves do acknowledge, that though
it may by reason be proved there is a God, and though it is clearly seen,
yet that these must be apprehended by faith also.
1. Because those common notions implanted in man s minds, though these
sparks be much increased by addition of many reasons and arguments out of God s works and word, and made a great blaze, yet they are not of force to
expel the contrary darkness that is in the heart, and atheistical principles of
unbelief, which are engendered there. Now that they cannot expel it, is
evident, for unbelief is a corruption in nature, and therefore is rooted out by
* Aquinas sccunda secnndae. Qu. ii., Art. 4.
CHAP. VII.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 249
nothing but by its contrary faith ; till therefore that peculiar work and light of faith comes, the other prevails not. The other is but of force to make men inexcusable, as it did the Romans, Rom. i. 20, but to take away the
evil heart of unbelief, which causeth us to depart from God, this light of
nature, though never so advanced, cannot. But he that comes to God, and
is drawn to him, must believe that he is, by a new act of faith.
2. Though Adam saw God in his works and extraordinary revelations more fully than all mankind, by those common notions and all the helps added to it, can do, yet for all that he principally saw God by a spiritual light,
if not of faith, yet such as was over and besides the other. So as suppose there had been no creature made but himself, no vestigium or footstep of God to be seen in anything, yet by faith immediately he would have known and apprehended him, so as though Adam could have proved by reason
that the world was made by God, yet he first believed it above and beyond reason. For God intended faith to be, though not the sole, yet the great and principal light and means to apprehend these things by, and only added
the other as helps, to add some more weight to the balance, when faith had first cast it ; that faith might give a reason of things, he appointed the
other as starlight, to accompany the greater light of faith. Now then, though there be in the heart common notions put in by God, whereby to see and
argue out of his work and words that there is a God, yet the main light is
wanting; and till that light Adam lost arise in the heart again (as it doth, we
being no less complete, in the second, as in the first Adam), the natural
darkness of the heart is not expelled, but men stray and depart from God, and know not whither they go ; and all the light that is or can be added to
the common notions in a man s natural estate, all the arguments that are
brought into the mind out of God s word and works, are but as so many stars in a dark night. Though there be many of them, yet they dispel not
the darkness till the light of faith come. An evident instance of this we have in ecclesiastical story, where a whole
council of bishops laboured with a philosopher to convince him of the first
principles of religion, and they could not by arguing convince him of them ; but a poor man standing by, after all rehearsing them in a bare narration, God giving him a new principle of faith, he assented immediately.
And whereas it was in the second place objected, that faith is the evidence
of things not seen ; and therefore if the Godhead be clearly seen by the light of nature in his works, it is not the object of faith : I answer, 1, that God
is of himself invisible, and what the world was made of, the apostle tells
you, is not seen : Heb. xi. 3, Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that .things which are seen were not made of things which do appear, only God hath made himself visible two
ways.
1. The one more mediately in his works, and to the light of nature, which is more dim, and weak, and brokenty, and but by way of arguing by
consequence. So as there is yet a necessity of seeing him farther and more
clearly by faith, and immediately, as revealed in his word, whereby we see
ing him who is invisible (as it is said of Moses : Heb. xi. 27, By faith he
: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible ), we see by a farther light that there is a God, and how great and glorious, and thereby have that insight into him which
forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king
the light of nature, coming both to his word and works, could never have
attained.
2. I answer, that though the same God is evidenced by these common
principles, and further the word to them, yet the ratioformalis credendi, which
250 AN UNREGENERATE MAN*S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK V.
is the form and essence of faith, is not the same, i. e. the ground of believ
ing it and manner of representing it is not the same in the one and other. As those that never saw the king, but have read his proclamations and seen
his palace and attendants, believe there is a king, but yet not after that manner that courtiers do who stand before him, and see his face every day, such difference is there between the assent of the natural man out of the word and works, and of a believer, that there is a God. Believing Moses by faith saw God who is invisible.