and
earth seem to meet together in a contradiction, care not what man or
what devil saith in this case, but what God will have done, do it;
this is the courage and obedience of faith. See how Saint Paul, in the
place before named, flung his ancient friends from him, when they came
to cross him in the work of his ministry. They all came about him, and
because they thought they should see his face no more, they besought
him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, "What, mean ye to
weep, and to break my heart?" as who should say, It is a grief and a
vexation to my soul, that ye would burden me, that I can not go with
readiness to perform the service that God requireth at my hands. The
like Christian courage was in Luther when his friends dissuaded him to
go to Worms: "If all the tiles in 'Worms' were so many devils (said he)
yet would I go thither in the name of my Lord Jesus." This is the last
step.

Now gather up a little what I have delivered. He that is resolved to
stoop to the call of God; to prize the promises, and breathe after
them; to rest upon the Lord, and to wait His time for bestowing mercy
upon him; to break through all impediments and difficulties, and to
count nothing too dear for God; to be content to perform ready and
cheerful obedience; he that walketh thus, and treadeth in these steps,
peace be upon him; heaven is hard by; he is as sure of salvation as
the angels are; it is as certain as the Lord liveth that he shall be
saved with faithful Abraham, for he walketh in the steps of Abraham,
and therefore he is sure to be where he is. The case, you see, is
clear, and the point evident, that every faithful man may, and must,
imitate faithful Abraham.

It may be here imagined, that we draw men up to too high a pitch; and
certainly, if this be the sense of the words, and the meaning of the
Holy Ghost in this place, what will become of many that live in the
bosom of the Church? Will you therefore see the point confirmed by
reason? The ground of this doctrine stands thus: every faithful man
hath the same faith, for nature and for work, that Abraham had;
therefore, look what nature his faith was of, and what power it had;
of the same nature and power every true believer's faith is. Briefly
thus: the promises of God are the ground upon which all true faith
resteth; the Spirit of God it is that worketh this faith in all
believers; the power of the Spirit is that that putteth forth itself
in the hearts and