A57982:516
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.
as if we were, before we believe, blessed and freed from the curse of the Law, because ever the Elect before they believe are under the ⟨p. 417⟩curse, and are not blessed: 1. Because they are, before they believe, the children of wrath, Eph. 2.2. Ergo, They are under the curse: 2. Because Paul and the Elect, before they be under grace and belief, were under the Law, and so under wrath, Rom. 6.14, 15, 16, 17. Rom. 7.4. Wherefore my brethren, ye also are become dead to the Law, by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another. 5. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the Law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death: 6. But now we are delivered from the Law, that being dead wherein we were held, we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the Letter: Hence it is clear that there was a time in which Paul and the Elect at Rome were servants of sin, Rom. 6.20, 21. Under the lusts and motions of sin, which work in their Members to bring forth fruit, that is sins to death eternal, Ro. 7.5. Ergo, They were then under the curse of the Law, and so far from blessedness, and the servants of sin, Rom. 6.20. and persons in the flesh: But the case is changed, they are now not the servants of sin, but servants of righteousness, Rom. 6.22. Married to a new husband Jesus Christ, Rom. 7.4. Whence came this change of two contrary states; yea, and before God contrary? (for before God, it cannot be one state to be servants of sin, under the Law, and servants of God, and under Grace:) Certainly from Faith on our part, or some ⟨p. 418⟩other grace in us; at least there must be something of grace, by which the alteration from a cursed estate, to a blessed estate is made; then faith is not a naked manifestation of the blessedness of justification, to the which we was entitled before we believed, for before we believed, we was in a cursed estate: This also may be added, that if Faith be but a Declaration or manifestation, that we are justified before we believe; Paul had no reason to deny that we are justified; that is, that we know to our comfort, by works of holiness that we are justified, for works of sanctification are evident witnesses that we are in Christ, and are justified,