A29372:783
Seasonable truths in evil-times in several sermons / lately preached in and about London
Seasonable truths in evil-times in several sermons / lately preached in and about London by William Bridge, late preacher of the word of God at Yarmouth.Seasonable truths in evil-times in several sermons / lately preached in and about London by Willam Bridge, late preacher of the word of God at Yarmouth.
London: printed for Nath. Crouch, 1668
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
If a man be tempted with the good things of this life: Yet if he have Faith, he will not depart from God, for by Faith we live upon God in the use of the good things.
And if a man be tempted to depart from God by the evil things of this life, yet if he have but Faith, he will not depart from God; for by Faith we live upon God, and live above losses, and above crosses; so that Faith doth preserve us from both: and therefore unbelief is the root and ground of all our Apostasy, or declining from God: And we know how it was with the three Children, what it was that kept them in that evil day; there was the Music on the one hand, and the fiery Furnace on the other; but between both, they were kept and preserved, for they believed: It was their Faith kept them from departing.
And if a man be tempted to depart from God by the evil things of this life, yet if he have but Faith, he will not depart from God; for by Faith we live upon God, and live above losses, and above crosses; so that Faith doth preserve us from both: and therefore unbelief is the root and ground of all our Apostasie, or declining from God: And we know how it was with the three Children, what it was that kept them in that evil day; there was the Musick on the one hand, and the fiery Furnace on the other; but between both, they were kept and preserved, for they believed: It was their Faith kept them from departing.
But further, If that Unbelief be a Mother Sin, a Parent Sin, a breeding Sin, the root and cause of other sins: Why then Unbelief must needs be the root, and ground, and cause of Apostasy. Why now, what is the cause of all our sins but our unbelief? People do not think so: What's the reason that men are so covetous and worldly, but because of their unbelief? What's the reason when people are in trouble that they use indirect means to get out of trouble, but because of their unbelief? What's the Reason that a Servant or a Child will tell lies?