An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ,…

Now to make all clear, ¹we may give a Philosophical Account why God chose Faith to be the Instrument of our Justification: Because it is an humble Grace, and gives the Glory of all to Free Grace: If Repentance should fetch Justification from Christ, a man would be ready to say, This was for my Tears: (strange deserving Creatures these, who can dream of meriting Heaven with a few tears!) But Faith is humble, it is an empty Hand, and what merit can there be in that? Doth the poor man's reaching out his hand merit an Alms? (yes, just as much as a few tears merit Heaven.) Faith is only a golden Bucket, that draws water out of the Well of Salvation. But why may not those, who are so apt to be conceited of Merit, grow as ⟨p. 141⟩proud of a golden Bucket, as if the Well were their own? They are civil to Faith, to make it a golden Bucket; but at other times they tell us, That Faith may be a sore and blear-eyed Leah, a shaking and a palsy hand, weak and bending Legs, and have all the infirmities that may be, and be never the worse neither as to the purpose of Justification; so that Faith had need be a very humble Grace, else it would take such language very ill from them.

Now to make all clear, ¹we may give a Philosophical Account why God chose Faith to be the Instrument of our Justification: Because it is an humble Grace, and gives the Glory of all to Free Grace: If Repentance should fetch Justification from Christ, a man would be ready to say, This was for my Tears: (strange deserving Creatures these, who can dream of meriting Heaven with a few tears!) But Faith is humble, it is an empty Hand, and what merit can there be in that? Doth the poor man's reaching out his hand merit an Alms? (yes, just as much as a few tears merit Heaven.) Faith is only a golden Bucket, that draws water out of the Well of Salvation. But why may not those, who are so apt to be conceited of Merit, grow as ⟨p. 141⟩proud of a golden Bucket, as if the Well were their own? They are civil to Faith, to make it a golden Bucket; but at other times they tell us, That Faith may be a sore and blear-eyed Leah, a shaking and a palsie hand, weak and bending Legs, and have all the infirmities that may be, and be never the worse neither as to the purpose of Justification; so that Faith had need be a very humble Grace, else it would take such language very ill from them.