The life of faith in three parts, the first is a sermon on Heb.…

Divines commonly tell us that Faith is an Affiance or Trust in God: and some of them say that this is an act of the understanding, and some, that it is an act of the will, and others say, that Faith consisteth in Assent alone, and that Trust or Affiance is as Hope, a fruit of Faith, and not Faith it self: And what Affiance it self is, is no small controversy (And so it is what Faith and Christianity is, even among the Teachers of Christians.)

Divines commonly tell us that Faith is an Affiance or Trust in God: and some of them say that this is an act of the understanding, and some, that it is an act of the will, and others say, that Faith consisteth in Assent alone, and that Trust or Affiance is as Hope, a fruit of Faith, and not Faith it self: And what Affiance it self is, is no small controversie (And so it is what Faith and Christianity is, even among the Teachers of Christians.)

The plain truth is this: as to the name of Faith, it sometime signifieth a mere Intellectual Assent, when the object requireth no more: And sometime it signifieth a practical Trust or Affiance, in the Truth or Trustiness of the undertaker or promiser, that is, in his Power, Wisdom and Goodness, or honesty, conjunct as expressed in his word; and that is, when the matter is practical, requiring such a trust. The former is oft called, The Christian Faith; because it is the belief of the truth of the Christian Principles; and is the leading part of Faith in the full sense. But it is the latter which is the Christian Faith, ¹as it is taken, not secundum quid, but simply; not for a part ▪ but the whole; not for the opinion of men about Christ, but for Christianity it self, or that Faith which must be profest in Baptism, and which hath the promise of Justification and Salvation.

The plain truth is this: as to the name of Faith, it sometime signifieth a meer Intellectual Assent, when the object requireth no more: And sometime it signifieth a practical Trust or Affiance, in the Truth or Trustiness of the undertaker or promiser, that is, in his Power, Wisdom and Goodness, or honesty, conjunct as expressed in his word; and that is, when the matter is practical, requiring such a trust. The former is oft called, The Christian Faith; because it is the belief of the truth of the Christian Principles; and is the leading part of Faith in the full sense. But it is the latter which is the Christian Faith,