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FAITH
BUILT,
ON
KNOWLEDGE,
25ß
"
the
weary"
and
"
the heavy
laden
sinners
to come
to
him
;»
Mat.
xi.
28.
And this
is
accompanied with
a
good
hope
and expectation
of
,
all
this salvation from
Christ, for which
the sinner trusts
in him
;
and
this ex
-.
cites his
love
and thankfulness
to Christ, and awakens
all his
endeavours
to
a
warm
pursuit
of
heaven, in
the
path
of
holiness, in which
God hath appointed
us
to
walk
to
the kingdom.
Thus
every divine promise,
every
threatening, and every
cornmmand,
obtains
a
due
autho-
rity
over the
heart, under
the
vital
inflhence
of
such
a
faith.
This
is
not
a lazy
and
a
slothfukconfidence,'
that
casts
away all
care
by
throwing
it on
Christ,' and walks
in a secure and
bold
neglect
of
duty:
for
a believer
well
knows
that
he
is
bound to
take
the
utmost care
of
his
own
soul, to
work
out
his
salvation, with
holy fear,
to
watch against temptation,
to resist every
_rising
sin,
and
to persevere unto
death;
though
from
a
senseof
his
own
insufficiency, he
builds
his
safety and
hope on
,theall-
sufficiency
of
Christ.
Let
it be observed here,
that
it
is
not
necessary
that
all
these several workings
of
the
heart
should
be
plain,
and
distinct, and
sensible,
in every
act of
faith,
nor in
every
true
believer
:
For
the actions
of
the soul,
and es-
pecially
the springs, and the motives,
and
the designs
of
those
actions, are so hidden,
and
so
mingled with
each
other,
that
they
are not
all
distinctly perceived even in
the
soul,
where they
are transacted. When the
jailor
cried
out,
IT
hat
shall
I
do
to
be
saved
?
Acts
xvi. 30.
or
when the
poor
man in
the
gospel,
Mark
ix.
24.
said,
_Lord,
I
believe
;
help my
unbelief
;
there
were a
mul-
titude of
crowding
thoughts and passions
that
produced
and
mingled with those
ideas and expressions
of
fear
and
faith, which could never
be
distinctly
apprehended
and recounted
by
the persons
that
felt them.
But
this
I
say,
that
most,
or
all-
the
particulars
I
have mentioned,
seem
to
be
necessary in the
very
nature of a true
and
saving,
faith in
Christ,
where the gospel
is
known
and
preached
so
clearly
as
it
is
in
our
times,
and must
be
.pre supposed or
involved, and
secretly included,
in
the
very
act of
believing
unto eternal
life.
It
is
a commit-
ting the soul to the
care
of Christ,
from such motives,
and
with such
designs as
I
have described.
This account
of
saving faith
guards
it
against
all
the
s2