We believe that (A)there are various degrees of faith, as little faith and great faith; that (B)when a man is quickened by the blessed Spirit, he has faith given to him to know and feel he is a sinner against God, and that without a Saviour he must sink in black despair. And we further believe that (C)such a man will be made to cry for mercy, to mourn over and on account of his sins, and, (D)being made to feel that he has no righteousness of his own, (E)to hunger and thirst after Christ’s righteousness being led on by the Spirit until, in the full assurance of faith, he has the Spirit’s witness in his heart that his sins are for ever put away; but that the faith is the same in nature as is imparted in his first awakenings, though now grown to the full assurance thereof.
A: Mt 6:30, Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Mt 15:28, Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
B: Lu 18:13, And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
C: Mt 5:4, Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
D: Isa 64:6, But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Php 3:9, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
E: Ro 8:16, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. Eph 4:30, And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Heb 7:27, Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. Heb 9:12, Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Heb 9:26, For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Heb 10:14, For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
