A55299:340
An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ,…
An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ, and our union and communion with him by Edward Polhill ..., Esquire.
London: printed for Ben. Foster, 1675
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.
That is, that he came from God with full Power and Authority to declare his Will, and confirm the Covenant: Abraham's faith was founded on the immediate Inspirations of God, or the Revelations of Angels; But a Faith in Christ is founded on the Authority of Christ, which is the first Object of the Christian Faith; and the reason and foundation of all other acts of Faith: Abraham had only some particular Revelations, as the Object of his Faith; but Christ hath made a perfect Revelation of the whole Will of God, which is the Object of our Faith: Thus the Christian Faith excels all other kinds of Faith, as much as the Gospel excels all other revelations made to Abraham and other good men: but still the end of all Faith is the same to govern our lives, ⟨p. 354⟩and make us obedient in all things to God, as Abraham's was, without which no Faith can justify.
That is, that he came from God with full Power and Authority to declare his Will, and confirm the Covenant: Abraham's faith was founded on the immediate Inspirations of God, or the Revelations of Angels; But a Faith in Christ is founded on the Authority of Christ, which is the first Object of the Christian Faith; and the reason and foundation of all other acts of Faith: Abraham had only some particular Revelations, as the Object of his Faith; but Christ hath made a perfect Revelation of the whole Will of God, which is the Object of our Faith: Thus the Christian Faith excels all other kinds of Faith, as much as the Gospel excels all other revelations made to Abraham and other good men: but still the end of all Faith is the same to govern our lives, ⟨p. 354⟩and make us obedient in all things to God, as Abraham's was, without which no Faith can justifie.
The stress of this discourse lies upon two or three supposals:1 One is this, that the very act of Faith is properly, and in it self, our Righteousness, or the matter of our Justification: Another is this, that the whole nature of Faith consists in an assent to Divine Revelation: A third is this, that Abraham had only a Faith of particular Revelations; but no Faith in Christ: Now, not to repeat things over and over, I have before proved, that Faith, as it is an Act, and absolutely in it self considered, is not our Righteousness, or the matter of our Justification; that there is in the nature of Faith, over and above a mere assent, a fiducial recumbency also; and that the Faith of Abraham was not only a Faith of particular promises, but a Faith in the Messiah: These things being before asserted; the answer is very easy; Our Faith in Christ very well answers to the Faith of Abraham: Abraham trusted in Christ, and so do we: These Faiths answer one another, and that much more harmoniously, than if we say, Abraham believed particular