A treatise of faith divided into two parts. The first showing the nature, the…A treatise of faith diuided into two parts. The first shewing the nature, the…

And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgement, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt ⟨p. 282⟩know the Lord. The external betrothing by outward covenant, so as God betroths himself to all professing the true faith,¹ may be broken, for though God offer them mercy if they will believe, yet he gives not faith to them, but the internal by effectual disposition, of which the Prophet speaketh in this place, is indissoluble. Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, & doth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. But all the faithful are built upon the rock, not upon the rock now, and anon upon the sand,² but once built upon the rock, they remain unmoveable. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it: assail it they may, prevail against it they shall not.³ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand: My Father which gave them me, is greater then all: and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation; or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ⁴Nay, in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance incorruptible, ⁵and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.