FAITH! Peter saith, faith, in the very trial of it, is much more
precious than gold that perisheth. If so, what is the worth or value
that is in the grace itself?
Faith is so great an artist in arguing and reasoning with the soul,
that it will bring over the hardest heart that it hath to deal with.
It will bring to my remembrance at once, both my vileness against
God, and his goodness towards me; it will show me, that though I
deserve not to breathe in the air, yet God will have me an heir of
glory.
Faith is the mother-grace, the root-grace, the grace that has all
others in the bowels of it, and that from which all others flow.
Faith will suck sweetness out of God's rod; but unbelief can find no
comfort in his greatest mercies.
Faith makes great burdens light; but unbelief maketh light ones
intolerably heavy.
Faith helpeth us when we are down; but unbelief throws us down when
we are up.
Unbelief may be called the WHITE DEVIL; for it often-times, in its
mischievous doing in the soul, shows as if it was an angel of light;
yea, it acteth like a counsellor of heaven.
It is that sin above all others that most suiteth the wisdom of our
flesh. The wisdom of our flesh thinks it prudent to question a
while, to stand back a while, to hearken to both sides a while; and
not to be rash, sudden, or unadvised in too bold a presuming upon
Jesus Christ.
There is nothing like faith to help at a pinch; faith dissolves
doubts, as the sun drives away the mists. And that you may not be
put out, know your time of believing is always. There are times when
some graces may be out of use; but there is no time wherein faith
can be said to be so. Faith is the eye, the mouth, the hand, and one
of these is of use all day long. Faith is to see, to receive, to
work, or to eat; and a Christian should be seeing, or receiving, or
working, or feeding, all day long. Let it rain, let it blow, let it
thunder, let it lighten, a Christian must still believe.
"Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able
to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked:" to quench them, though
they come from him as kindled with the very fire of hell. None
knows, save he that feels it, how burning hot the fiery darts of
Satan are; and how, when darted, they kindle upon our flesh and
unbelief; neither can any know the power and worth of faith to
quench them, but he that hath it and hath power to act it.
There are three things in faith, that directly tend to make a man
depart from iniquity.
1. It apprehendeth the truth of the being and great ness of God, and
so it aweth the spirit of a man.
2. It apprehendeth the love of this God in Christ, and so it
conquereth and overcometh the spirit of a man.
3. It apprehendeth the sweetness and blessedness of the nature of
the godhead, and thence persuadeth the soul to desire here communion
with him, that it may be holy, and the enjoyment of him when this
world is ended, that it may be happy in and by him for ever.
There is a man sows his field with wheat, but as he sows, some is
covered with great clods: now, that grows as well as the rest,
though it runs not upright as yet; it grows, and yet is kept down.
So do thy desires--when one shall remove the clod, the blade will
soon point upward I know thy mind; that which keeps thee that thou
canst not yet arrive to this, to desire to depart and to be with
Christ, is because some strong douht or clod of unbelief as to thy
eternal welfare lies hard upon thy desiring spirit. Now let but
Jesus Christ remove this clod, and thy desires will quickly start up
to be gone.