A81131:39
The arraignment of unbelief, as the grand cause of our nationall non-establishment
The arraignment of unbelief, as the grand cause of our nationall non-establishment: cleared in a sermon to the Honourable House of Commons in Parliament, at Margarets Westminster, upon the 28th. of May, 1645. being the day of their public fast. / By Joseph Caryl, late preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolns-Inn, now pastor at Magnus near the bridge, London.The arraignment of unbelief, as the grand cause of our nationall non-establishment: cleared in a sermon to the Honourable House of Commons in Parliament, at Margarets Westminster, upon the 28th. of May, 1645. being the day of their publike fast. / By Joseph Caryl, late preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolnes-Inne, now pastor at Magnus neer the bridge, London.
London: printed by G. Miller for Giles Calvert, 1645
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
where then is the word and promise of thy God, upon which thou didst even now so confidently pronounce safety to us all? If we run out of the way of God, we run out of the word of God: To rely upon the word, and then go out of the way of God, is not faith, but presumption: Providence will not serve our negligence, neither will the promise keep us, except we keep the condition of the promise: If ye believe not, surely ye shall not be established. Observe secondly;
where then is the word and promise of thy God, upon which thou didst even now so confidently pronounce safety to us all? If we run out of the way of God, we run out of the word of God: To rely upon the word, and then go out of the way of God, is not faith, but presumption: Providence will not serve our negligence, neither will the promise keep us, except we keep the condition of the promise: If ye beleeve not, surely ye shall not be established. Observe secondly;
Without believing there is no establishing: Unbelief is a bar in the way of promised blessings.
Without beleeving there is no establishing: Vnbelief is a barre in the way of promised blessings.
I (saith the Prophet) have made you large promises, but take heed ye do not straiten the hand of God, in giving out the mercy promised. As faith stops the severest threatenings of destruction, so unbelief stops the sweetest promises of deliverance. Jonah prophesies (chap. 3. 4.) Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown; but the faith of Nineveh overthrew that prophecy; the City stood, and the prophecy fell; Why? The people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, &c. ver. 5. What faith can do to a prophecy of judgement, the same can unbelief to a promise of mercy, overthrow it.