Com t. Of Faith andit heJief. ChaN7, i 19 that ia, let us raife flanders againft him, that none may credit his words. In this cafe. God will give ear to the Prayerthat ÿeremy in the fubfequent Verfesmade a. gainit fuchmen. G. There is yet another fort of people that arenot in the right way, and that is of theft which are married. In refpc 1 of themfelves thefe men are confident, but when it comes to femen nofi'rum our feed, there their confidence falls off, and it is to be feared that many that might have been faved in the eftate of fingle life, have fallen fromGod, and hazarded their own falvation, by miftrufting that God will not provide for their Children, whereas God faith, Erg Dens tutu & feminis eta, I will Gen,i7,,; be a God to thee, and to thy Seedafter thee. In this Point Saint Ambrofefaith Plan. filnlis excufario ere liberis,fed dic mihi O homo,ananquam a Deopetiifiti at paterfreres,a,e ctiam id petüfli, da liberos at Demo amittam, da liberos at peccem propter liberos, it is a fair excuse for Children, but tell me, Oman,didft thou ever pray to God thou migh- teft be a father, or didft thoumake thy Petitions thus, Give me Children that I may lofeGod,give Children that I may fin for them. I am fure,faith he,thatyou never faid fo, and yet this is the common praCtífe. Gehani Paid not to Naaman that his Ma. tier needed the Talent, and two changesof Raiment, but that there were two chit- Men of the Prophets,&c.and they needed them. And Abrabam himfelf bath hisble. E Kin.(., mill in this kinde, in that he was fo careful for Ifhmael, O that Ifhmael might live in thyfmht. Therefore as we are to troll in God and his means for our felves, fo are Gen.t7.i8. we to Iely upon his Providence for our Children alto. 5. The fifth Rule of our Expofition direEts to fpeak of the lignesof Faith, it is not enoughthat a man can fay, Credo in Deum, I believe in God, we muff have mor, pa: ticular fgnes of it. For as the Apoftlefaith all men have not Faith; there Thef.;.2; fore that of Saint Peter mutt be added, the trial of Faith is much more precious i Pea c.r. than Gold. t. The frftSigne therefore of Faith, is according to Saint ChryJf ame,when a man is notingeniofusacicanfae, ready to pick Qarrels, and to make excufes for not be- G4 lieving. Howmany caufes might Aÿraham have foundout not to believe? and that at was impotfrhlefor him to have had a Son ? yet we fee that true faith overcame all difficulties, fo that he neither excepted againft the Promife in refped of Sara's bar- rennefs, or his own weaknefs, but Credidit, he believed. But among all the rat there was one exception whichmight have tried one that had beenvery faithful, and that was the long time he had been without a Childe before and in his younger days, and therefore there ,vas little hope for him in his old age. And therefore he might have concluded with them in the Prophet. It is in vain to ferve God, what Mal.;.iq, profit is it to truft in him ? I will believe no longer. But this is againft that rule of 6, Bfay, Dui crediderir ne Mine:, haft and impatiencie are no fit companions of faith;, Gen.;ss&, he that will fee the event in hafte, his faith is in vain. Therefore our faith muffnot waver, if we fee noqthc fruit of it fpeedily, but we piuft cvreftle as laeok did with the Angel, and not let God go, till we get a bleffing from him, as was faidbefore.We Mara g.53. fee that the woman of Canaan, weak by fex, and an alien from the Promife, though 1¢, the received three repulfes from our Saviour, yetnot by making hafte fhe confirmed 46 her faith to be true, and received the reward Of a true faith, by obtainingwhat the defired. a. The fecond ligne is onrfreedom from wordty cares and thoughts, the ground of this is taken out of the great Scripture of faith, whenwe run not a madding af- ter worldly preferment, the fcraping together of wealth, and feeking to have a portion in this life, is an argument that we are born Citizens of this world, not as the Saints and Godly men that (hewed themfelves Pilgrims in this world and that they fought another Country, a Heavenly Country, and fo God wasnot afhamed to to be called their God. But a more particular and cfpecial example is that there of .efes, who being inVer,a4, great poíübility to be a Prince ( for he should have been the onlySon toPbtraobt daughter)yet we feehis coldnefs tòthe world, and tothe preferment thereof Was fuch, that he waved it, and chafe rather to fuller afflif}ien with his Brethren, the people of God, then to enjoy the pleafures of fin fora time, for lb he accounted thepreferment of the world. 3. The third Sgne is taken out of the as to the Hebron, from the definitionof Iácb.is. faith
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