769 / 808
VE
x.io.
Ephefians,Chap.
6.
789
Anfm. The inefficiencie
of
the word
is
twofold.
Simple, when
it
hath
no
faving
worke
:
or preparative, when
it
is
Paid
co
worke nothing
as
it
fhould,
as
we dcfire,
as
we fometime have
felt
it.
Now
the
firft
ftandeth not
with faith,the
latter doth
:
as
for exam-
ple, put
Aquavitx
into
a
dead
mans
mouth,
and
all the
reftoratives
that may be,they doe nothing with him
:
but
give
food,or
reftoratives
to
a
man in
a
dropfie, or confumption, though
he
ftill walk
weakly,
and have no appetite before, and hath
(lathing
after, and qualmes
ri-
ding
over the ftomach,yet
he
is
preferved
by them
:
now we fay,things
do
no
good, when they donor
fo
healthfomely
nourifh,
as
they
ufe in
found bodies.
Now
this latter
is
the
eftate
of
a
Chriftian
foul,
not the
former
:
lie
may anfwer therefore
by
denying the fecond part
of the
reafon
q
It
is
effeduall, though it do work nothing with him,
as
he
path known
it.
6.4
The
Devill
will thus fuggeft to
thy confcience:
If
ever
thou
ObjelII.6.
didit truly
beleeve,
God
would hear thy prayer
:
but thou
askeft, and
receiveft nor.
Anf.
The
forme
of
the reafon
is
naught,
as
which
runneth from
hearingto receiving.
The
anfwer is,
We
mutt
diftinguifh
betwixt hea-
ring,
and
fignifying,that we
are
heard by the
effea. The
firft
(in law
-
full things
askedin
the name
of
Jefus,
a
6.
Zohn
23.)
is
alwayes: the
fecondnot
alwayes. For God when he heareth, often maketh
as
if
he
heard nor,
nay
as
if
he
were contrarily minded. Lam.3.44.
Thou
haft
covered
thy
felfe as
with
a
cloud,
that
our
prayer
fhould
not
pafi'e
through, that
is,
thou
feemeft fo
in effeét.
David. How
long wilt
thou
fmoake againft
prayer,
&c. open
thy
cares.
Daniel
to.
God
made him
fee,
he heard him
a
good (pace after
:
yet
he
did
heart him
from
the
firft
requeft. This then
is
the
flare
of
Gods people.
But
God
when he heares
doth
make
as
though he did
not heare,yea were turned from them
and
their
prayers
in
difplea-
fure.
Seaventhly,
true faith faileth not
:
thine
doth
often faile, and
thou
ObjeFá.7â
art fo weake,
thou
feeft
thou canft not hold out. And the
truth
is
the
belt
faith tried
long,
will limpe
a
little,
Pfal.
116. to.
s
r.
I
faid
in
iin
fv
Imy
tcare,
all men
arelycrs,
&c. t
Sam.
27.
r.
And
Davie! faid in his
heart,
I
(hall
one day perifh
by the hand
of
Saul, &c.
Is
it
not
better
forme
that
I fave
my
felfe in
the land of
the
Philiftines, &c
e
And
we by experience
finde,that
often
through
unbeleefe and
impatiencie,
we yeeld
the buckler,
and leave
awhile
clafping
that promife which
onely
can releeve us. But
the anfwere
is,
by
learning
what
it
is
to
have
true
faith
faile:
there
is
a
double
failing, one
of
the grace, another
of
theworke
:
now this
latter, the work,may
ceafe while
faith doth
not
faile
:
as Luke 22.
3
a. But
I
have
prayed
for
thee
that thy
faith
falle
not. Yet compared with the end,
Peters
confeion,
which
was
the
worke
of
faith,
failed
in
his
mouth,
and
yet the
grace was fate
in
his
heart:
for
Chrift
was
heard
in
that
h
e
prayed for. So
that if
the rea-
fon be thus
framed,
That
faith which faileth
in
the worke
is a
falfe
Tu
faith,