Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_500.lzh/D_538.TXT

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.538                                     OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST.                                                        Book I.

least of all saints, these are the least of all believers;
the little ones, as Christ calls them, who believe in him;
the lambs he carries in his arms; the smoking flax and
bruised reed, the day of small things he does not
despise.-----4. Iu these it seems to be next to none,
and as if there was none at all; hence these words of
Christ to his apostles, How is it that you have no faith ?
and again, Where is your faith ? Mark iv. 40. Luke
viii. 25. that is, in act and exercise; otherwise they
had faith as a principle of grace iu them, though so
little exercised by them as scarcely to be discerned;
yet little faith, even that which is the least, differs
from no faith. Where there is no faith there is no de-
sire after God, nor after Christ, nor after salvation by
him, and communion with him; such neither desire
him nor the knowledge of his ways; but where there
is ever so small a degree of faith there is a panling after
God, a desire to see Jesus, and to have fellowship with
him, and a view of interest in him: where there is no
faith there is no sense of the want of it, nor complaint
of it, nor desire of it, and an increase; but where there
is faith, though of the least degree, the soul is sensible
of the deficiency of it, and complains of its unbelief,
and prays for an increase of faith; as the poor man did,
Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief, Mark ix. 24.
------5. In some faith is weak; in others strong: of
Abraham it is said, that he was strong in faith, and
staggered not at the promise through unbelief; but
believed in hope against hope; these circumstances
showed the strength of his faith. But of others it is
said, him that is weak in the faith receive ye ; but not to
doubtful disputations, Rom. iv. 18, 20. and xiv. 1. See
an instance of strong faith in Hab. iii. 17, 18, 19..
6. Faith, as to its exercise, differs irr the same indi-
viduals at different times; as in Abraham, the father
of all them that believe, and who was so eminent for
his faith; and yet what unbelief and distrust of the
power and providence of God did he discover, as to
the preservation of him in Egypt and in Gerar, which
put him on undue methods for his security? and in
David, who sometimes in the strongest manner ex-
presses his faith of interest in God, and in his fayour,
and at other times was strangely disquieted iu his soul,
and ready to imagine that he was cut off from the sight
of God: and in Peter, who not only strongly asserted
his faith in Christ as the Son of God, but so confident
was he, that though all men forsook him he would not;
and yet, that night denied him thrice, intimidated by
a servant-maid and others !----7. In some it arises to
a plerophory, a fu11 assurance of faith; as it is exprtssed
in Heb. x. 22. which signifies going with a f, di sail, iu
allusion to ships when they sail with a prosperous gale;
so souls, when they are full of faith, as Stephen was,
move on towards God and Christ in the exercise of it
with great spirit and rigour, bearing all before them
that stand in the way; being fully persuaded of the
love of God to them, and that nothing can separate
them from it, and of their interest in Christ, as hav-
ing loved them and given himself for them; and
therefore can say with Thomas, My Lord and my
God/and with the church, My beloved is mine and
Iam his; but this is not to be found in all believers;
and where it is, it is not always in the same plero-

phory, without any doubt, hesitation, and mixture of
unbelief.
Fourthly, The seat of this grace, in the subjects of
it, is the whole soul of man; it is with the heart man
believes in Christ for righteousness, life, and salvation;
says Philip to the eunuch, If thou believest with all thine
heart, &c. It has been a dispute among divines, whe-
ther faith has its seat in the understanding, or iu the
will, or in the affections; it seems to possess the whole
soul, or the whole soul is in the possession of it, and ac-
cording to its various actings faith has a concern in
each faculty; as it lies in the knowledge of divine
things, and presents truth to the mind, and is the evi-
dence of things unseen, it has to do with the under-
standing; and the apostle says of it as such, by faith
we understand, &c. Heb. xi. i. 3. and sometimes the
strongest acts of faith, even assurance of interest in
Christ as the Redeemer and Saviour, is expressed by
knowledge of hitn; ] know that my Redeemer liveth,
.lob xix. 25. as it is an act of choice, preferring Christ,
as a Saviour, to all others; and of affiance, trust, and
dependance on him, it is an act of the will; though he
slay me, yet will I trust in him :--he also shall be
salvation, Job xiii. 15, 16. and neither of these acts
can be without love to Christ, and a strong motion of
the affections towards him, saying, Whom have
heaven but thee ? &c. Faith works by love.
IV. The causes of faith, from whence it springs,
and how it comes to pass that any who are naturally' in
a state of nnbelief, and shut up in it, should be pos-
sessed of this grace.
First, the efficient cause is God; hence it is called
the work of God, John vi. 29. which he works by his
power and grace in the hearts of men; it is expressly
said to be of the operation of God, Col. ii. 12. it is a
very considerable part of the good work of grace, which
is begun, carried on, and performed, by the Spirit of'
Christ; and from it the whole is denominated the
work of faith, which is wrought and finished with the
power of God, 2 Thess. i. 1 l. and it is also c,dled
the gift of God, who deals forth to every man the mea-
sure of faith as he pleases, Eph. ii. 8. Rom. xii.
All the Three divine Persons, Father, Son, and Spirit,
are concerned in it.----l. God the Father; as he is
the God of all grace, so of this: No man, says Christ,
can come unto me, that is, believe on him, as it is ex-
plained v 35, except the Father, which hath sent me,
draw him; and c.rcept 'it were given unto him of
Father, John vi. 44, 45, 65. see Matt. xvi. 16,
2. The Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, has a con-
tern in it, it is prayed and wished for, as fi'om God
the Father, so from the Lord jesus Christ; and is ob-
tained through the righteousness of Gocl and our Sa-
viour Jesus Christ; nay, Christ is expressly called, the
Author and Finisher of faith, Eph. vi. 23. 2 Pet. i. 1.
Heb. xii. 2.-----3. The Holy Spirit is, with the Father
and the Son, the co-efficient cause of faith; not only
faith is ,riven by the Spirit, as it intencls the faith of
miracles, but the special grace of faith is reckoned
among the fruits of the Spirit; and from hence he is
called the Spirit of faith, because it is his gift, and of
his operation, I Cot. xii. 9. Gal. v. 22. 2 Cot. iv. 13.
Secondly, The moving cause of faith is, the fi'ec