lives of all the faithful; gather these together:
if all true believers have the same promises for the ground of their
faith; have one and the same spirit to work it; have' one and the same
power to draw out the abilities of faith, then certainly they can not
but have the very self-same actions, having the very self-same ground
of their actions.

Every particular believer (as the apostle Peter saith) "hath obtained
the like precious faith." Mark, that there is a great deal of copper
faith in the world--much counterfeit believing; but the saints do
all partake of "the like precious faith." As when a man hath but a
sixpence in silver, or a crown in gold, those small pieces, for the
nature, are as good as the greatest of the same metal; so it is with
the faith of God's elect. And look as it is in grafting; if there be
many scions of the same kind grafted into one stock, they all partake
alike of the virtue of the stock; just so it is here. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the stock, as it were, into which all the faithful are
grafted by the spirit of God and faith; therefore, whatsoever fruit
one beareth, another beareth also: howsoever, there may be degrees of
works, yet they are of the same nature. As a little apple is the same
in taste with a great one of the same tree, even so every faithful man
hath the same holiness of heart and life, because he hath the same
principle of holiness. The fruit indeed that one Christian bringeth
may be but poor and small in comparison with others, yet it is the
same in kind; the course of his life is not with so much power and
fulness of grace, it may be, as another's, yet there is the same true
grace, and the same practise, in the kind of it, for truth, however in
degree it differ.

Let us now come to see what benefit we may make to ourselves of this
point, thus proved and confirmed; and, certainly, the use of this
doctrine is of great consequence. In the first place, it is a just
ground of examination. For if it be true (as can not be denied, the
reasons being so strong, and arguments so plain) that every son of
Abraham followeth the steps of Abraham, then here you may clearly
perceive who it is that hath saving faith indeed, who they be that are
true saints and the sons of Abraham. By the light of this truth, by
the rule of this doctrine, if you would square your courses, and look
into your conversations, you can not but discern whether you have
faith or no. That man whose faith showeth i