A57982:466
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.
SERMON XXIII.
The Woman had no apparent evidences of believing; yet did she hang by one single thread of the word, of the mercies of the Son of David. Antonaclasis, [Greek or Hebrew] The more that the word of promise hath influence in believing, and the less of convincing reason ⟨p. 362⟩and appearances,1 the greater Faith, Rom. 4. Abraham had a promise of a Son in whom the Nations of the world should be blessed: But 1. there was no appearance of this in nature. Abraham and Sarah at this time were between them: two hundred years old lacking one, and so no natural hope of a child. 2. He had but one promise for his Faith; we have twenty, an hundred, yet Rom. 4.18. He against hope, believed in hope. Its an elegant figure having a form of a contradiction, there was no hope, yet he had hope, 2. ver. 19. Not being weak in the Faith: then he was strong in the Faith, and gave glory to God, as it is, ver. 20.3. He staggered not through unbelief, [Greek or Hebrew] then its an Argument of a weak Faith, to dispute according to the principles of natural Logic with God, to go on upon Gods naked word without reasoning is a strong Faith, especially when the course of Providence saith the contrary. The word of promise is the mother and seed of faith, 1 Pet. 1.23. the more of the seed, the more of the birth: Wine that is separated from the mother doth sooner corrupt: that is strongest Faith that hath most of its seed and mother, that is, of the word of promise in it. Abraham had nothing on earth to sustain his Faith in killing his son, but only a naked Commandment of God, all other things were contrary to the Fact; yet is Faith strongest, when it standeth on its own bases and legs, and that is ⟨p. 363⟩