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

Now if you would know what the Faith of Abraham, and if all good men in ancient times was; ¹the Apostle to the Hebrews gives us a full account of it, Heb. 11. that he discourses there of a justifying Faith; that is, such a Faith as renders men approved of God, and which he will count for Highteousness, appears from the tenor of this Chapter, in the second ⟨p. 335⟩verse he tells us, That by this the elders obtained a good report; that is, the Fathers were approved and rewarded by God for the sake of this Faith, as he shows particularly, That Abel obtained witness, that he was righteous, ver. 4. That Enoch had the testimony, that he pleased God, ver. 5. That Noah became heir of righteousness, which is by Faith, ver. 7. Now this justifying Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, [Greek or Hebrew], A firm and confident expectation of those things hoped for, and [Greek or Hebrew], an argument of the being of those things, which we do not see; Faith is such a firm and steadfast persuasion of the truth of those things, which are not evident to sense, as makes us confidently hope for them: the object of Faith must be unseen things, and the nature of it consists in such a firm assent to those unseen things, as produces some answerable effects in our lives: This is the general notion of Faith, by which the elders obtained a good report.

Now if you would know what the Faith of Abraham, and if all good men in ancient times was; ¹the Apostle to the Hebrews gives us a full account of it, Heb. 11. that he discourses there of a justifying Faith; that is, such a Faith as renders men approved of God, and which he will count for Highteousness, appears from the tenour of this Chapter, in the second ⟨p. 335⟩verse he tells us, That by this the elders obtained a good report; that is, the Fathers were approved and rewarded by God for the sake of this Faith, as he shews particularly, That Abel obtained witness, that he was righteous, ver. 4. That Enoch had the testimony, that he pleased God, ver. 5. That Noah became heir of righteousness, which is by Faith, ver. 7. Now this justifying Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, , A firm and confident expectation of those things hoped for, and , an argument of the being of those things, which we do not see; Faith is such a firm and stedfast perswasion of the truth of those things, which are not evident to sense, as makes us confidently hope for them: the object of Faith must be unseen things, and the nature of it consists in such a firm assent to those unseen things, as produces some answerable effects in our lives: This is the general notion of Faith, by which the elders obtained a good report.