FAITH.
Faith is the hand of the soul which layeth hold of the promises of
Christ in the mercy of the Almighty. She hath a bright eye and a holy
ear, a clear heart and sure foot: she is the strength of hope, the trust
of truth, the honour of amity, and the joy of love. She is rare among
the sons of men and hardly found among the daughters of women; but among
the sons of God she is a conveyance of their inheritance, and among the
daughters of grace she is the assurance of their portions. Her dwelling
is in the Church of God, her conversation with the saints of God, her
delight with the beloved of God, and her life is in the love of God. She
knows no falsehood, distrusts no truth, breaks no promise, and coins no
excuse; but as bright as the sun, as swift as the wind, as sure as the
rock, and as pure as the gold, she looks toward heaven but lives in the
world, in the souls of the elect to the glory of election. She was
wounded in Paradise by a dart of the devil, and healed of her hurt by
the death of Christ Jesus. She is the poor man's credit and the rich
man's praise, the wise man's care and the good man's cognisance. In sum,
finding her worth in words hardly to be expressed, I will in these few
words only deliver my opinion of her:--She is God's blessing and man's
bliss, reason's comfort and virtue's glory.
FEAR.
Fear is a fruit of sin, which drove the first father of our flesh from
the presence of God, and hath bred an imperfection in a number of the
worse part of his posterity.
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