Remains of that reverend and learned divine, John Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplain in…Remaines of that reverend and learned divine, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in…

the natural man will never do this, this is the only property of faith, a supernatural work, and change in the soul, and therefore the holy Ghost saith, they suffered with patience the spoiling of their goods, that is, they let them willingly go; life and liberty and all shall go ere Christ shall go. A noble Roman may do something for his country, and for himself but there is a by-end in it, he doth it not in a right manner unto a right end, but the spiritual strong man doth all things in a spiritual manner unto a saving end, the one doth it for vain glory, but the other in uprightness of heart: for there is a double work of faith. First, it empties a man, as a man that hath ¹his handful cannot take another thing till he let his handful fall, so when faith enters into the heart of a man, it empties the heart of self love, of self will: it purgeth out the old rubbish, that is naturally in every mans heart, and lets all go to get hold on Christ, all shall go then, life, and honour, and profit, and pleasure, and he is the truly spiritual man that can thus loose the world to cleave to Christ, and miserable are they that cannot. Secondly, as it empties the heart of that which may keep Christ out of the soul: so in ²the second place he seeks all things in God, and from God, that is, he first seeks Gods love, and Gods blessing upon what he doth enjoy, and then ⟨p. 88⟩he goes unto secondary means, and uses them as helps: but a man that wanteth faith, he will not let all go for Christ, he will not seek first unto God in any thing, but unto secondary means, and then if he fail, that is, want power to supply, then it may be he will seek unto God: and hence it is, that he will not loose his life, or liberty, or honour for Christ; because he sees more power and good in the creature then in God. Again, this makes the difference between Christian and Christian, namely faith, and hence it is, that some are weak, and others are strong; hence it is that some are more able then others for the greatest duties of Religion: as for example, Caleb and Joshua can do more then the rest of the people, and what is the reason, but because they were stronger in the faith then others, and so Paul said of himself, that he could do more then they all, because Paul had a stronger faith: