N00357:303
The safety of appearing at the day of judgement, in the righteousness of Christ
The safety of appearing at the day of judgement, in the righteousness of Christ: opened and applied. By Solomon Stoddard Pastor to the church of North-Hampton in New-England. ; [Nine lines from Philippians]The safety of appearing at the day of judgement, in the righteousness of Christ: opened and applied. By Solomon Stoddard Pastor to the church of North-Hampton in New-England. ; [Nine lines from Phillipians]
Boston: printed by Samuel Green for Samuel Phillips, 1687
Title page typeset from the transcription.
The Safety of Appearing in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ. › Chapter 6: CHAP. VI▪
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.
2. Natural reason will not make men believe Gods testimony; natural reason will not beget faith: natural men are in Scripture described to be unbelievers, John. 5, 46. natural reason will not lay weight on the testimony of God: no man will receive Gods testimony, and act faith thereupon, until he knows God, Paul says, I know him whom I have believed, 2 Tim. 1.12. and every man must know God before he will believe him: many men do entertain some of the things that God says; so the Devils believe and tremble: but those persuasions rise from the convictions, and not from faith in Gods Word. No man will receive any thing merely on Gods testimony, until he know him: and therefore will not be assured of that which he can know no other way but by faith, and which carnal reason has many objections against.
2. Natural reason will not make men believe Gods testimony; natural reason will not beget faith: natural men are in Scripture described to be unbelievers, John. 5, 46. natural reason will not lay weight on the testimony of God: no man will receive Gods testimony, and act faith thereupon, until he knows God, Paul says, I know him whom I have believed, 2 Tim. 1.12. and every man must know God before he will believe him: many men do entertain some of the things that God says; so the Devils believe and tremble: but those perswasions rise from the convictions, and not from faith in Gods Word. No man will receive any thing meerly on Gods testimony, until he know him: and therefore will not be assured of that which he can know no other way but by faith, and which carnal reason has many objections against.
3. The conviction of this Truth is by the Spirit of God: it is the work of Gods Spirit to satisfy the heart in this, that it is safe appearing in the righteousness of Christ: God does create light in the mind to discover this: the outward call of the Gospel presents the object before men, and the work of the Spirit is to give men eyes to see the truth of it: mens natural reason makes them understand the sense of the Proposition: and the Spirit of God puts a new light in them, whereby they understand the truth of the Proposition: their persuasion about this is the fruit of Divine Instruction.