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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=575422" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Believer's Principles : Chap. IV.</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Faith and Sense Natural, compared and distinguished.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>When Abram's body, Sarah's womb,<br>Were ripe for nothing but the tomb,<br>Exceeding old, and wholly dead,<br>Unlike to bear the promis'd seed:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Faith said, 'I shall an Isaac see;'<br>'No, no,' said Sense, 'it cannot be;'<br>Blind Reason, to augment the strife,<br>Adds, 'How can death engender life?'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">My heart is like a rotten tomb,<br>More dead than ever Sarah's womb;<br>O! can the promis'd seed of grace<br>Spring forth from such a barren place?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sense gazing but on flinty rocks,<br>My hope and expectation chokes:<br>But could I, skill'd in Abram's art,<br>O'erlook my dead and barren heart;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And build my hope on nothing less<br>That divine pow'r and faithfulness;<br>Soon would I find him raise up sons<br>To Abram, out of rocks and stones.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Faith acts as busy boatmen do,<br>Who backward look and forward row;<br>It looks intent to things unseen,<br>Thinks objects visible too mean.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sense thinks it madness thus to steer,<br>And only trusts its eye and ear;<br>Into faith's boat dare thrust its oar,<br>And put it further from the shore.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Faith does alone the promise eye;<br>Sense won't believe unless it see;<br>Nor can it trust the divine guide,<br>Unless it have both wind and tide.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Faith thinks the promise sure and good;<br>Sense doth depend on likelihood;<br>Faith ev'n in storms believes the seers;<br>Sense calls all men, ev'n prophets, liars.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Faith uses means, but rests on none;<br>Sense sails when outward means are gone:<br>Trusts more on probabilities,<br>Than all the divine promises.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">It rests upon the rusty beam<br>Of outward things that hopeful seem;<br>Let these its supports sink or cease,<br>No promise then can yield it peace.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">True faith that's of a divine brood,<br>Consults not with base flesh and blood;<br>But carnal sense which ever errs,<br>With carnal reason still confers.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">What! my disciples won't believe<br>That I am risen from the grave?<br>Why will they pore on dust and death,<br>And overlook my quick'ning breath?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Why do they slight the word I spake?<br>And rather sorry counsel take<br>With death, and with a pow'rful grave, <br>If they their captive can relieve?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sense does inquire if tombs of clay<br>Can send their guests alive away;<br>But faith will hear Jehovah's word,<br>Of life and death the sov'reign Lord.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Should I give ear to rotten dust,<br>Or to the tombs confine my trust;<br>No resurrection can I see,<br>For dust that flies into mine eye.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">What! Thomas, can't thou trust so much<br>To me as to thy sight and touch?<br>Won't thou believe till Sense be guide,<br>And thrust its hand into my side?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Where is thy faith, if it depends<br>On nothing but thy finger-ends?<br>But bless'd are they the truth who seal<br>By faith, yet neither see nor feel.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Sect. II.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Faith and Sense Spiritual, compared and distinguished. Where also the difference between the Assurance of Faith, and the Assurance of Sense.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>The certainty of faith and sense<br>Wide differ in experience:<br>Faith builds upon, - Thus saith the Lord;<br>Sense the views his work and not his word.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">God's word without is faith's resort,<br>His work within doth sense support,<br>By faith we trust him without pawns,<br>By sense we handle with our hands.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith the word of truth's receiv'd,<br>By sense we know we have believ'd.<br>Faith's certain by fiducial acts,<br>Sense by its evidential facts.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Faith credits the divine report,<br>Sense to his breathings makes resort:<br>That on his word of grace will hing,<br>This on his Spirit witnessing.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I take the Lord for mine,<br>By sense I feel his love divine:<br>By that I touch his garment's hem,<br>By this find virtue thence to stream.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I have mine all on band,<br>By sense I have some stock in hand;<br>By that some vision is begun,<br>By this I some fruition win.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">My faith can fend ev'n in exile,<br>Sense cannot live without a smile.<br>By faith I to his promise fly,<br>By sense I in his bosom lie.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Faith builds upon the truth of God,<br>That lies within the promise broad;<br>But sense upon the truth of grace<br>His hand within my heart did place.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thus Christ's the object faith will eye,<br>And faith's the object sense may see:<br>Faith keeps the truth of God in view,<br>While sense the truth of faith may shew.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hence faith's assurance firm can stand,<br>When sense's in the deep may strand;<br>And faith's persuasion full prevail,<br>When comfortable sense may sail.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I am assur'd when faith's in act,<br>Though sense and feeling both I lack;<br>And thus mysterious is my lot,<br>I'm oft assur'd when I am not;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oft pierc'd with racking doubts and fears:<br>Yet faith these brambles never bears;<br>But unbelief that cuts my breath,<br>And stops the language of my faith.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Clamours of unbelieving fears,<br>So frequently disturb mine ears,<br>I cannot hear what faith would say,<br>Till once the noisy clamours stay.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And then will fresh experience find,<br>When faith gets leave to speak its mind,<br>The native language whereof is,<br>My Lord is mine, and I am his.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sad doubtings compass me about,<br>Yet faith itself could never doubt;<br>For, as the sacred volume saith,<br>Much doubting argues little faith.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The doubts and fears that work my grief,<br>Flow not from faith, but unbelief;<br>For faith, whene'er it acteth, cures<br>The plague of doubts, and me assures.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But when mine eye of faith's asleep,<br>I dream of drowning in the deep:<br>But as befals the sleeping eye,<br>Though in sight remain, it cannot see;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The seeing faculty abides,<br>Though sleep from active seeing hides;<br>So faith's assuring pow'rs endure<br>Ev'n when it ceases to assure.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There still persuasion in my faith,<br>Ev'n when I'm fill'd with fears of wrath;<br>The trusting habit still remains,<br>Though slumbers hold the act in chains.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The assuring faculty it keeps,<br>Ev'n when its eye in darkness sleeps,<br>Wrapt up in doubts; but when it wakes,<br>It rouses up assuring acts.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Sect. III.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>The Harmony and Discord between Faith and Sense; how they help, and how they mar each other.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Though gallant Faith can keep the field<br>When cow'rdly Sense will fly or yield;<br>Yet while I view their unusual path,<br>Sense often stands and falls with Faith.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Faith ushers in sweet Peace and Joy,<br>Which further heartens Faith's employ:<br>Faith like the head, and Sense the heart,<br>Do mutual vigour fresh impart.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When lively Faith and Feeling sweet,<br>Like dearest darlings, kindly meet,<br>They straight each other help and hug<br>In loving friendship close and snug.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Faith gives to Sense both life and breath,<br>And Sense gives joy and strength to Faith;<br>'O now,' says Faith, 'how fond do I<br>In Sense's glowing bosom lie!'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Their mutual kindness then is such,<br>That oft they doting too too much,<br>Embrace each other out of breath;<br>As AEsop hugg'd his child to death.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Faith leaping into Sense's arms,<br>Allur'd with her bewitching charms,<br>In hugging these, lets rashly slip<br>The proper object of its grip:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Which being lost, behold the thrall!<br>Anon Faith loses Sense and all;<br>Thus unawares cuts Sense's breath,<br>While Sense trips up the heels of Faith.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Her charms assuming Jesus' place,<br>While Faith's lull'd in her soft embrace;<br>Lo! soon in dying pleasures wrapt,<br>Its living joy away is snapt.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Sect. IV.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>The Valour and Victories of Faith.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>By Faith I unseen Being see<br>Forth lower beings call,<br>And say to nothing, Let it be,<br>And nothing hatches all.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I know the worlds were made<br>By God's great word of might;<br>How soon, Let there be light, he said,<br>That moment there was light.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I soar and force my flight,<br>Through all the clouds of sense;<br>I see the glories out of sight,<br>With brightest evidence.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I mount the azure sky,<br>And from the lofty sphere, <br>The earth a little mote espy,<br>Unworthy of my care.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I see the unseen things,<br>Hid from all mortal eyes;<br>Proud Reason stretching all its wings,<br>Beneath me flutt'ring lies.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I build my lasting hope<br>On righteousness divine,<br>Nor can I sink with such a prop,<br>Whatever storms combine.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith my works, my righteousness,<br>And duties all I own<br>But loss and dung; and lay my stress<br>On what my Lord has done.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I overcome the world,<br>And all its hurtful charms;<br>I'm in the heav'nly chariot hurl'd <br>Through all opposing harms. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I have a conqu'ring pow'r,<br>To tread upon my foes,<br>To triumph in a dying hour, <br>And banish all my woes.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith in midst of wrongs I'm right,<br>In sad decays I thrive;<br>In weakness I am strong in might,<br>In death I am alive.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I stand when deep I fall,<br>In darkness I have light;<br>Nor dare I doubt and question all<br>When all is out of sight.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I trust a pardon free<br>Which puzzles flesh and blood;<br>To think that God can justify,<br>Where yet he sees no good.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I keep my Lord's commands,<br>To verify my trust;<br>I purify my heart and hands,<br>And mortify my lust.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith my melting soul repents,<br>When pierced Christ appears;<br>My heart in grateful praises vents,<br>Mine eyes in joyful tears.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I can the mountains vast<br>Of sin and guilt remove;<br>And them into the ocean cast,<br>The sea of blood and love.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I see Jehovah high<br>Upon a throne of grace;<br>I see him lay his vengeance by,<br>And smile in Jesus' face.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I hope to see the Sun,<br>The light of grace that lent;<br>His everlasting circles run,<br>In glory's firmament.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I'm more than conqueror,<br>Ev'n though I nothing can;<br>Because I set Jehovah's pow'r<br>Before me in the van. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I counterplot my foes,<br>Nor need their ambush fear;<br>Because my life-guard also goes<br>Behind me in the rear.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By faith I walk, I run, I fly,<br>By faith I suffer thrall;<br>By faith I'm fit to live and die,<br>By faith I can do all.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Sect. V.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>The Heights and Depths of Sense.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>When Heav'n me grants, at certain times,<br>Amidst a pow'rful gale,<br>Sweet liberty to moan my crimes,<br>And wand'rings to bewail;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then do I dream my sinful brood,<br>Drown'd in the ocean main<br>Of crystal tears and crimson blood,<br>Will never lie again.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I get my foes beneath my feet,<br>I bruise the serpent's head;<br>I hope the vict'ry is complete,<br>And all my lusts are dead.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">How gladly do I think and say,<br>When thus it is with me,<br>Sin to my sense is clean away,<br>And so shall ever be?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But, ah! alas! th' ensuing hour<br>My lusts arise and swell,<br>They rage and re-inforce their pow'r, <br>With new recruits from hell,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Though I resolv'd and swore, through grace,<br>In very solemn terms,<br>I never should my lusts embrace,<br>Nor yield unto their charms;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet such deceitful friends they are,<br>While I no danger dream,<br>I'm snar'd before I am aware,<br>And hurry'd down the stream.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Into the gulph of sin anon, <br>I'm plunged head and ears;<br>Grace to my sense is wholly gone, <br>And I am chain'd in fears;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Till straight, my Lord, with sweet surprise,<br>Returns to loose my bands,<br>With kind compassion in his eyes,<br>And pardon in his hands.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet thus my life is nothing else,<br>But heav'n and hell by turns;<br>My soul that now in Goshen dwells,<br>Anon in Egypt mourns.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Sect. VI.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Faith and Frames compared; or, Faith building upon Sense discovered.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Faith has for its foundation broad<br>A stable rock on which I stand,<br>The truth and faithfulness of God,<br>All other grounds are sinking sand,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">My frames and feelings ebb and flow; <br>And when my faith depends on them,<br>It fleets and staggers to and fro, <br>And dies amidst the dying frame.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">That faith is surely most unstay'd,<br>Its stagg'ring can't be counted strange,<br>That builds its hope of lasting aid<br>On things that ev'ry moment change.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But could my faith lay all its load<br>On Jesus' everlasting name,<br>Upon the righteousness of God, <br>And divine truth that's still the same:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Could I believe what God has spoke,<br>Rely on his unchanging love,<br>And cease to grasp at fleeting smoke,<br>No changes would my mountain move,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But when, how soon the frame's away,<br>And comfortable feelings fail;<br>So soon my faith falls in decay,<br>And unbelieving doubts prevail:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">This proves the charge of latent vice,<br>And plain my faith's defects may show;<br>I built the house on thawing ice,<br>That tumbles with the melting snow,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When divine smiles in sight appear,<br>And I enjoy the heav'nly gale;<br>When wind and tide and all is fair,<br>I dream my faith shall never fail:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">My heart will false conclusions draw,<br>That strong my mountain shall remain;<br>That in my faith there is no flaw,<br>I'll never never doubt again.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I think the only rest I take,<br>Is God's unfading word and name;<br>And fancy not my faith so weak,<br>As e'er to trust a fading frame.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But, ah! by sudden turns I see<br>My lying heart's fallacious guilt,<br>And that my faith, not firm in me,<br>On sinking sand was partly built;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For, lo! when warming beams are gone, <br>And shadows fall; alas, 'tis odd,<br>I cannot wait the rising Sun,<br>I cannot trust a hiding God.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So much my faith's affiance seems<br>Its life from fading joys to bring,<br>That when I loose the dying streams,<br>I cannot trust the living spring.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When drops of comfort quickly dry'd,<br>And sensible enjoyments fail;<br>When cheering apples are deny'd,<br>Then doubts instead of faith prevail.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But why, though fruit be snatch'd from me,<br>Should I distrust the glorious Root;<br>And still affront the standing tree,<br>By trusting more to falling fruit?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The smallest trials may evince<br>My faith unfit to stand the shock,<br>That more depends on fleeting sense,<br>Than on the fix'd eternal Rock.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The safest ark when floods arise,<br>Is stable truth that changes not;<br>How weak's my faith, that more relies<br>On feeble sense's floating boat?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For when the fleeting frame is gone,<br>I straight my state in question call;<br>I droop and sink in deeps anon,<br>As if my frame were all in all.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But though I miss the pleasing gale,<br>And Heav'n withdraw the charming glance;<br>Unless Jehovah's oath can fail, <br>My faith may keep its countenance.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The frame of nature shall decay,<br>Time-changes break her rusty chains;<br>Yea, heav'n and earth shall pass away; <br>But faith's foundation firm remains.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Heav'n's promises so fix'dly stand,<br>Ingrav'd with an immortal pen,<br>In great Immanuel's mighty hand,<br>All hell's attempts to raze are vain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Did Faith with none but Truth advise,<br>My steady soul would move no more<br>Than stable hills when tempests rise,<br>Or solid rocks when billows roar.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But when my faith the counsel hears<br>Of present sense and reason blind,<br>My wav'ring spirit then appears<br>A feather toss'd with ev'ry wind. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Lame legs of faith unequal, crook;<br>Thus mine, alas! unev'nly stand,<br>Else I would trust my stable Rock, <br>Not fading frames and feeble sand.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I would, when dying comforts fly,<br>As much as when they present were,<br>Upon my living joy rely.<br>Help, Lord, for here I daily err.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Ralph+Erskine">Ralph Erskine</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=575422" data-title="The Believer's Principles : Chap. IV. de Ralph Erskine" data-description="Faith and Sense Natural, compared and distinguished.


When Abram's body, Sarah's womb,
Were ripe for nothing but the tomb,
Exceeding old, and wholly dead,
Unlike to bear the promis'd seed:

Faith said, 'I shall an Isaac see;'
'No, no,' said Sense..."></div>
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