A57982:259
The trial & triumph of faithThe tryal & triumph of faith
The trial & triumph of faith: or, An exposition of the history of Christs dispossessing of the daughter of the woman of Canaan Delivered in sermons; in which are opened, the victory of faith; the condition of those that are tempted; the excellency of Jesus Christ and free-grace; and some special grounds and principles of libertinism and antinomian errors, discovered by Samuel Rutherfurd, professor of divinity in the University of St. Andrews. Published by authority.The tryal & triumph of faith: or, An exposition of the history of Christs dispossessing of the daughter of the woman of Canaan Delivered in sermons; in which are opened, the victory of faith; the condition of those that are tempted; the excellency of Jesus Christ and free-grace; and some speciall grounds and principles of libertinisme and antinomian errors, discovered by Samuel Rutherfurd, professor of divinity in the University of St. Andrews. Published by authority.
London: printed by John Field, 1652
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.
its like Judas, Cain, reputed themselves sinners, and had some law-work in their heart, and yet were never converted. But Gods ordinary way, is to bring men into Christ being first self lost, and self-condemned, and that upon these grounds that proveth Gods way of working to be successive: 1. Because conversion is a rational work,1 and the Gospel is a moral instrument of conversion, therefore Christ here openeth a vein ere he give Physic; he first cutteth and then cureth, for though in the moment of formal conversion, men be patients, and can neither prevent Christ, nor co-operate with Christ, yet the whole work about conversion is not done in a moment; for men are not converted as the Lilies grow, which do not labour nor spin; there be some pangs in the new birth; nor are men converted as Simon carried Christs cross, altogether against their will; they do hear and read the word freely: nor are men converted beside their knowledge, as Caiaphas prophesied: nor are we to think with Enthusiasts, that God doth all with one immediate rapt, as the Sun in its rise enlighteneth the air. The Gospel worketh morally as doth the Law; Reasons work not in a moment, as fire flaughts in the air: Christ putteth souls to weigh the bargain, to consider the field and the pearl, and then buy it: 2. Christs saving and calling the lost, is a new creation as well as a generation: ⟨p. 153⟩A child is not born in one day; saving Grace is not Physic that worketh the cure while the sick man is sleeping: Christ casteth the metal in the fire ere he form the Vessel of mercy; he must cast down old work, ere he lay the new foundation: 3. Conversion is a Gospel blessing,2 and so must be wrought in a way suitable to the scope of the Gospel: Now the special intent of the Gospel is to bring men to put a high and rich price upon Christ, and this is one Gospel-offer: What thinkest thou of so excellent a one as Christ? What wouldst thou part with? What wouldst thou do or suffer for Christ? Now men cannot prize Christ, who have not found the terrors of the Law: So Paul finding himself the chief of sinners, and in that case saved, 1 Tim. 1.15. Must hug and embrace Christ, and burst out in a Psalm, v. 17. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever, & ever: Amen.