A26951:224
The life of faith in three parts, the first is a sermon on Heb.…
The life of faith in three parts, the first is a sermon on Heb. 11, 1, formerly preached before His Majesty, and published by his command, with another added for the fuller application : the second is instructions for confirming believers in the Christian faith : the third is directions how to live by faith, or how to exercise it upon all occasions / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed by R.W. for Nevil Simmons, 1670
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Alas, the ordinary lowness of our Comforts doth tell us, that our Faith is very small! I say not so much [The sorrows of a doubting heart] as the little joy which we have in the fore-thoughts of Heaven, when our title seemeth not much doubtful to us: For those sorrows show, that such esteem it a joyful place, and would rejoice if their title were but cleared: But when we have neither the sorrow or solicitousness of the afflicted soul, nor yet the joy which is any whit suitable to the belief of such everlasting joys, we may know what to judge of such an uneffectual belief; at best, it is very low and feeble. It is a joy unspeakable, and full of glory, which unseen things should cause in a Believer, 1 Pet. 1.6, 7, 8. Because it is an exceeding eternal weight of glory, which he believeth, 2 Cor. • 17, 18.
Alas, the ordinary lowness of our Comforts doth tell us, that our Faith is very small! I say not so much [The sorrows of a doubting heart] as the little joy which we have in the fore-thoughts of Heaven, when our title seemeth not much doubtful to us: For those sorrows shew, that such esteem it a joyful place, and would rejoyce if their title were but cleared: But when we have neither the sorrow or solicitousness of the afflicted soul, nor yet the joy which is any whit suitable to the belief of such everlasting joyes, we may know what to judge of such an uneffectual belief; at best, it is very low and feeble. It is a joy unspeakable, and full of glory, which unseen things should cause in a Believer, 1 Pet. 1.6, 7, 8. Because it is an exceeding eternal weight of glory, which he believeth, 2 Cor. • 17, 18.
8. Finally, Learn to Die also as Believers. The life of Faith must bring you to the very entrance into glory: where one doth end, the other begins. As our dark life in the womb by nutriment from the Mother, continueth till our passage into the open world. You would die in the womb, if Faith should cease, before it bring you to full intuition and fruition,