A51839:404
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing…
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostasy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostacy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...
London: printed by J.D. for J. Robinson, 1679
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.
3. It is not enough to receive the truth in the light of it, but we must also receive it in the love of it, or it will do us no good. To make the truth operative, (1.) Knowledge is necessary, and also Faith; and then Love. Knowledge, for without knowledge the heart is not good, Prov. 19.2. Nothing can come to the heart but by the mind; the will is [Greek or Hebrew], a choice, or desire guided by reason, and the Gospel doth not work as a charm, whether it be or be not understood: No, the purport or drift of it must be known, or how can it have any effect upon us? Next to knowledge, to make it work, there must be Faith: when we apprehend a thing, we must judge of it, whether it be true or false, how else can it make any challenge, or lay claim to our respect? 1 Thess. 2.13. Ye received it not as the word of men, but (as it is truth) the ⟨p. 190⟩word of God, which worketh effectually in you, as it doth in all them that believe. Faith doth enliven our actions about Religion; to hear of God, and Christ, and Heaven, doth not stir us unless we believe these things. Well, next to Faith there must be Love, for apprehension and dijudication are acts of the understanding only, but love belongeth to the will, and we must believe with all the heart, Acts 8.37. There may be knowledge without Faith as an Heathen may understand the Christian Religion, though he believe it not, profess it not: And there may be Faith without love, for there is a dead faith, James 2.20. which rests in cold opinions, without any affection to the truth believed. Love pierceth deeper into the truth, and maketh it pierce deeper into us. As a red hot Iron though never so blunt, will run farther into an inch board, than a cold Tool, though never so sharp. And love maketh it more operative; there is notitia per visum, & notitia per gustum, A knowledge by sight, and a knowledge by tas•: A man may guess at the goodness of Wine by the Colour, but more by the taste, that is a more refreshing apprehension. And Augustine prayeth, Fac me Domine gustare per amoren quod gusto per cognitionem. Lord make me taste hat by love which I taste by knowledge. Surely we are never sound in Christianity, till all the light that we receive, be turned into love. These