which he beares the image of the second Adam the Lord from heaven as in the other he did beare the similitude of the first Adam who was of the earth earthy 1 Cor. 15. 47. The promises they have in them a vim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a formative vertue and power to mould and fashion the heart to holinesse and to introduce the Image of Christ into it in regard of that native purity which dwels in them and is above gold that hath been seven times tried in the fire Psal 12. 6. therefore our Saviour tells his Disciples that they were cleane through the Word that he had spoken unto them John 15. 3. and when he prayed unto God to sanctifie them his prayer is Sanctifie them through thy truth thy Word is truth Joh. 17. 17. Secondly beleevers may be said to be partakers of the divine nature by the promises as they are the Objects of Faith and Hope Both which are graces that have in them a wonderful aptitude to cleanse and purifie the Subjects in which they dwell and to introduce true holinesse in which the lively image and resemblance of God doth chiefly consist First Faith it believes the truth of those things which God hath promised and apprehends also the worth and excellency of them to be such as that thereby it is made firme and constant in its adherence vigorous and active in its endeavours to use all means for the obtaining a conformity to God and Christ and the escaping of the corruption that is in the world through lust For till a man come to be a believer he is by the temptations of Satan and the specious promises with which they usually come attended drawn aside to the commission of the worst of sinnes in which though he weary himself to finde what first was seemingly promised yet he meets with nothing but delusions and disappointments of his expectation Balaam hath an edge set upon his spirit to curse the people of God by a promise of preferment made unto him and he tires himself in going from place to place to effect it but God hinders him from doing of the one and Balack denies the giving unto him the other So Judas by a baite that suits his covetousnesse undertakes to sell his Lord but when he hath accomplished his wickednesse and received his wages he throws it away and dares not keep what before he so earnestly thirsted after the blood of his Master makes every piece of the silver look gastly so that now he sees another image upon it then Cesars and cries out that he had sinned in betraying innocent blood Now faith it enables a beleever to discern a snare a defilement under all the gilded aldurements of Satan and the world And therefore he rejects with scorne those temptations with which others are miserably captivated resists with resolution all the courtings and solicitations of the flesh to which others yield beholding onely a stability and preciousnesse in those promises which have the oath of God to make them sure and his love to make them sweet And these only have a prevailing power with him to cause him so to order his conversation in all manner of holinesse that he may walk as it becomes an heire of heaven and an adopted sonne of the most high God to walk Secondly as Faith by beleeving the promises doth purifie the heart so also doth hope which expects the performance of what faith beleeveth work and produce the same effects He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as God is pure 1 Joh. 3. 3. The expectation which beleevers have by the promises is not a supine oscitancy whereby they look to be possessed of life and glory without any care or endeavours of theirs for to obtaine it like to callow and unfeathered birds that lie in the nest and have all their food brought to them gaping onely for to receive it But it is an expectation accompanied with diligence and industry for the fruition of what they do expect The grace of God saith Paul teacheth us to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2. 11 12. And the ground of this he subjoyneth Vers 13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ He that truly expects glory earnestly pursues grace Heb. 12. 14. He that hopes to be with God in heaven useth all meanes to be like God on earth An heavenly conversation is the natural fruit of an heavenly expectation Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ The Heathen could say that labour was the husband of hope There is hope the harlot and hope the wife Hope the married woman is known from hope the harlot by this that she alwayes accompanieth with her husbands labour True hope looks to enjoy nothing but what is gotten by travel and paines and therefore useth all meanes to obtaine that good which faith apprehendeth in the promise It seekes glory by grace it endeavours after communion with God in heaven by working a conformity to God in a beleever while he is on earth Thirdly beleevers are made partakers of the divine nature by the promises as they are the irreversible obsignations and declarations of God which he hath freely made unto them of his taking them unto himself in an everlasting communion of life and glory Heaven is as Prosper calls it Regio beatitudinis the onely climate where blessednesse dwells in its perfection While we are here below we are but as Kings in the cradle the throne on which we must sit the robes with which we must be clothed the crown which must be set upon our heads are all reserved for heaven In this life there is onely a taste of celestial delights and in the other there is a perpetual feast Here we see through a glasse darkly but then face to face 1 Cor. 13. 12. Grace doth as Cameron expresseth it adsignificare infirmitatem connotate a weaknesse and imperfection and glory that signifies an abolition and doing away whatsoever is weak or imperfect But all this absolute perfection of happinesse which is laid up in heaven for beleevers is ratified and made sure unto them in the promises and therefore they are said to be heires of the promise Heb. 6. 17. Yea by the promises they have the pledges and first-fruits of all that happinesse which they shall enjoy in heaven given unto them in this life We are now the sonnes of God saith the Apostle though it doth not yet appeare what we shall be 1 John 3. 2. That is we now beare his image and likenesse though in a more dark and imperfect character Our knowledge our grace our comforts are all incompleat But when he shall appeare we shall be like him That is when Christ shall come to receive us unto himself we shall beare upon us his
To expect to dye comfortably and not to live holily is as vaine as for a man to look for stars on earth and trees in heaven To waste the oile of grace and yet to think to be anointed with the oile of gladnesse is the fruit of presumption and not of faith When servants idle out the light that their Masters give them to work by they may well conclude that they must go to bed in the dark And so when Christians do neglect in the day of their life to work out their salvation with fear and trembling it is no wonder if in the night of death they want the light of comfort and have a dark exit out of the world The third Proposition is that the improvement of the promises and the diligent use of all meanes to make our calling and election sure is not onely the ordinary and regular way but doth usually procure comfort in death unlesse it be in foure particular cases First when sicknesses and distempers are violent so as to interrupt and suspend the use of reason it must needs be that thereby also the comforts of grace be so farre eclipsed as to be like starres in a cloudy night which though they be not blotted out of their orbe yet do not shine Who can expect that an untuned instrument should ever make a melodious harmony no more can any man rationally conceive that when the frame of nature is out of order and the organs of the body wholly indisposed to the acts of reason that then the comforts of the Spirit should appeare in their beauty and lustre Now that God oft-times puts a period unto the lives of his dearest children by such diseases cannot be denied For Solomon tells us that All things come alike unto all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not Eccles 9. 2. Secondly when temptations and assaults from Satan are like vehement windes which shake the tree though they do not overturn it A man who hath a fair estate of lands may by vexatious suites be so put to try his title as that he may take little pleasure in the revenues and profits issuing from them and so a believer in his combating and wrestling with temptations may so far be disquieted as that though he question not his condition he may yet enjoy lesse satisfaction and present delight in his evidences and assurance then formerly he had Thus Paul after his rapture into the third heaven 1 Cor. 12. 2. was buffeted by a messenger of Satan whereby he was not onely kept from being exalted above measure but also interrupted in the enjoyment of those choice comforts and contemplations which such revelations might minister unto him as may appear by his frequency and importunity in prayer to God to be delivered from this sad conflict ver 8. Thirdly when Christians have intermitted that wonted care and circumspection to preserve their peace and communion with God which formerly they used When they have been more forgetful of God and lesse delighted with his presence then before they were When they have suffered the world to steal away their thoughts and affections from heaven and through a distempered appetite relish more their daily bread then the spiritual Manna When they grow regardlesse of Christs voice and open not their hearts to him who seeks and entreates an admittance then it is no wonder if their Sun set in a cloud and that the horrour of a sad darknesse do take hold upon them that then like the Spouse in the Canticles they complaine that their Beloved hath withdrawn himself and is gone that they seek him but cannot finde him that they call him by all his blessed and gracious names and yet he answereth not Cant. 5. 8. Fourthly When their graces and also their comforts have been already fully manifested both to themselves and others in the time of their life God may in the approaches of death for sundry reasons best known unto himself withdraw his comfortable presence and not fill their souls with those exultations of joy and peace which others might expect to be mingled with their last agonies and expirations in death so as that they should be carried up to heaven in the light of a glorious Plerophory like to the. Angel which ascended in the flame of Manâ—ahs sacrifice Judges 13. 20. God may do it First to trie and manifest the strength of their faith that though their feelings are not strong yet their faith is not weak that though they see not the crown of blisse and immortality hovering as it were over them and ready to fall upon their heads they yet beleeve that it is laid up for them and that they shall ere long see it and enjoy it together Such faith highly glorifies God and in some respects gives more honour unto him then Assurance which hath a kinde of sense joyned with it That like Thomas sees and beleeves but this sees not and yet beleeves that what God hath promised he will perform Secondly God may do it that others may learn that comforts and manifestations of love in death are not so necessary as grace and therefore not to be dismaied and dejected in their thoughts concerning themselves if they finde not such overflowings of joy and prelibations of heaven it self as some others have had in the time of death All believers though they are heires of the same Kingdome yet have not the same abundant entrance ministred unto them To some the passage is like the going upon a clear and chrystal stream which hath flowery and aromatical bancks on each side of it to others it is like a calme and quiet sea on which as the fluctuations and tossings are few or none so the gales that carry them to the Port are not strong and quick As their temptations are not great so neither are their comforts glorious Thirdly God may do it in judgement to others that such who have known and seen the light of holinesse shining in their lives and yet have not in the least been advantaged by it should not get the least good by their deaths As they have not profited by their graces so neither will he let them be edified by their comforts Carnal men are oft-times more ready to observe the dying of holy persons then their lives because that then they conceive it may be seen what reality there is in that profession which they have made of having communion with God of enjoying his peculiar presence in a differing manner from the world Now they think it will appear whether their faith be any thing beyond a phancy whether their joyes be such as death will not cast a dampe upon as well as upon the delights and pleasures of the world And when their curiosity is unsatisfied in what they expected then they spare not to censure them as deceivers both of themselves and
answerable promise that assures comfort the one holding forth the good to be done the other the good to be received Fourthly it is of particular good things And this may serve to hint and point out one considerable difference between the Covenant of grace and the promises The Covenant that is as the entire Vintage of the heavenly Canaan And the promises they are as the severall clusters of blessing that is as a glorious constellation of many celestial bodies in the firmament of the Scriptures and they are as so many single stars shining in their proper orbes that is as the totall summe in the Inventory of a beleevers estate and they are as the distinct particulars which make it up All the sweetnesse beauty worth that are diffused throughout the promises are collected in the Covenant as the scattered light in the creation was into the body of the Sun Gods Stipulation of becoming ours and of making us to be his Jer. 31. 33. comprizeth every thing that is desirable from the first of goods to the last and is both the basis and the spire the corner-stone and the top-stone of every Christians happinesse Fifthly and lastly is added the evils that he will remove And this takes in all the privative mercies and blessings which the promises of the Gospel do hold forth to beleevers which though they be not the resplendent part of their happinesse are yet of so necessary a concurrence unto it as that without them it can never be absolute or entire True happinesse consists of a double branch of an immunity or freedome from evils and the enjoyment of good both which are tacitly couched in every promise but in many most expresly and fully set down Psal 84. 11. to them that walk uprightly the Lord God is a Sun and a shield c. A Sun to give life and a shield to preserve life given A Sun to make fruitful in all good and a shield to protect from all danger Isa 25. 6 7 8. the felicity of the Church is described by a feast of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well refined that the Lord will make unto his people in mount Zion but to render these dainties the more pleasing he promiseth also To take away the face of the covering to swallow up death in victory to wipe away all tears from their eyes Blindnesse that may hinder the clear knowledge death that may interrupt the perpetuity sorrow that may diminish the sweetnesse of this blessed estate shall all by a powerful hand be removed and done away CHAP. III. In which the excellency and preciousnesse of the promises is demonstrated in three particulars HAving shew'd what a promise is the second thing that falls under consideration is The great worth and excellency of the promises which in divers respects will appear to be such as if compared with the choicest of earthly comforts the one will be as a sovereigne elixir full of spirits and the other as the unactive and saplesse dregs Or if with the richest treasures of the world the one will be as so much refined gold and the other as so much impure drosse What Job saith concerning the power of God If I speak of strength lo he is strong may truly also be said of the riches of the promises if ye speak of worth lo they are precious indeed SECT 1. Christ the root of the promises First the promises do derive a preciousness from the root and principle from whence they spring They are as so many beames of Christ the Sun of righteousnesse and do impart a light which discovers his excellency evidenceth our propriety and effecteth in us a blessed purity They are the desirable fruit of the tree of life not of that tree of life in the beginning of the Bible which stood in Adams Paradise on earth but of that in the end of the Bible in Saint Johns Paradise in heaven not of that which was guarded with Cherubims and a flaming sword that it might not be touched but of that in the midst of the City of God free for every beleever to put forth the hand of faith and to take and eat of the fruit of it both as food and medicine They are the crystal streams of that river of life which proceeded out of the Throne of God and the Lamb Revel 22. 1. Whose waters in time of drought never fail but with their overflowing plenty satisfie the thirsty with their cooling vertue allay the heat of the wearied and with their sweetnesse cheere and revive the drooping and dejected spirits And now methinks I cannot but make a pause and stand a while admiring both a beleevers happinesse and Christs bounty each of which are of such transcendency as that they better suit with an holy wonderment then with the most lively and full expressions Oh! how happy is every beleever whose light is the love of Christ shining in the raies of the promises whose food is the tree of life that continually yields fruit both new and various whose cordials are the waters of life not sparingly given to a bare sustentation but freely flowing to a delightful satiety Well might David in a rapture say Lord What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him for thou hast made him a little lower then the Angels Psal 8 4 5. And well also might Paul as one standing upon the shoare and fathoming the sea of Gods mercy cry out O the depth of the riches of God! Rom. 11. 35. And most joyfully may every heire of the promise say My lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage Psal 16. 6. to whom such precious promises are given as exceed both in glory and certainty all earthly performances whatever being in Christ from whom they all come Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. SECT 2. The promises the root of Faith Secondly the promises may be said to be great and precious in respect of that proximity and peculiar relation which they have to the most excellent and noble grace of faith above all other graces whatsoever They are the precious objects of precious faith as the Apostle stiles it 2 Pet. 1. 1. True it is that the quickening influence and vertue of the promises doth reach every grace of the Spirit whereby they are both facilitated and strengthened in their several motions and operations by them hope is kept alive in its expectation of Good patience is supported under difficulties holinesse is perfected love is inflamed and a blessed feare of God is preserved But yet all this is not done by the immediate intercourse which these graces have with the promises but by the intervention of faith which first feeds upon them as the Manna of the Gospel and then communicates the sweetness and vertue that it draws and receives from them in a suitable manner to every other grace As the root first sucks the juyce and sap from the
of blotting out iniquities belongs not unto him He is naked and gladly would that Christ might spread the skirt of his righteousnesse over him to hide his deformities But alas what hath a leper to do with a royal robe He is sick and diseased but the Physick that must cure him the least drop of it is more worth then a world and he is more vile then the dust How then can he expect that he should ever be the patient of such a Physician who will be both at the cost to buy the Physick and at the paines to administer it If he had an heart to love God as David if talents to glorifie God as Paul if he were but an Israelite without guile as Nathanael then he might have hopes together with them to have his person accepted his services rewarded and his imperfections pardoned But his heart with which he should love God is carnal and not spiritual his talents and abilities with which he should glorifie God are few or none his sincerity which should be the Evangelical perfection of all his duties hath more then an ordinary tincture of hypocrisie and self-ends mixed with it With what confidence therefore can such an one draw neer to Christ or ever expect to be welcomed by him Now to put to silence these reasonings and to allay these feares which unless checkt and bounded do oftentimes terminate in the blacknesse of despaire there is not a more effectual remedy then the consideration of the freenesse of the grace of God and Christ in the promises which are not made to such as deserve mercy but to such as want it not to righteous persons but to sinners not to the whole but to the sick And therefore such who through the weaknesse of faith or the violence of temptations finde it difficult to lay hold on the promises of God touching the pardon of sin and the obtaining of life and salvation let them resolve the promises into the first root and principle from whence they spring which is not from any good within us but wholly from grace without us and they will readily finde that by eying the ground and original of the promise they will sooner be encouraged and drawn to believe and to lay hold upon it then by looking onely to the promise it selfe Of all the wayes and experiments to beare up a sinking spirit there is no consideration like this that from the beginning to the end of our salvation nothing is primarily active but free grace This is a firme bottome of comfort against the guilt of the most bloody and crimson sins because free grace is not tied to any rules it may do what it pleaseth Some body that goes to heaven must be the greatest sinner and what if thou beest he whom God will make the everlasting monument of the riches of his love and mercy in Christ This is an impenetrable shield against the constant accusations of Satan drawn from unworthinesse unprofitablenesse backwardnesse to holy duties and distractions in them 'T is true may a beleever say I am unworthy and that which Satan makes the matter of his accusation is the daily matter of my confessions and self-judgings before God the sinnes which he pleads against me with delight I bemoane with tears of bitternesse And were the way which leads to heaven a ladder of duties and not a golden chaine of free grace I could not but fear that the higher I climbe the greater would my fall prove to be every service being like a brittle round that can beare no weight the whole frame and series of duties at the best far short of the ladder in Jacobs vision which had its foot standing upon the earth and its top reaching to heaven But the whole way of salvation from first to last is all of meere grace that the promise might be sure Rom. 4. 16. Every link of the golden chaine is made up of free mercy Election is free Eph. 1. 5. Vocation free 2 Tim. 1. 9. Justification free Rom. 5. 24. Sanctification free 1 Cor. 6. 11. Glorification free Rom. 6. 23. And therefore though I can challenge nothing of right yet I may ask every thing of mercy especially being invited by him who seedes not his people with empty promises but gives liberally unto every one that asketh and upbraides not either with former sinnes or present failings Jam. 1. 5. SECT 3. Eye Gods Power Secondly in the applying of every promise look with the eye of faith upon the greatnesse of Gods power which is able to fulfill to the least iota whatever he hath spoken and to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can aske or think Eph. 3. 20. The confining of Gods power according to the narrow apprehensions and dwarfish thoughts that men naturally have of him in their hearts the Scripture points out as the chief root of all that unbelief and distrust which is put forth in their lives Thus the Israelites in the wildernesse were seldome in any exigency which they looked upon beyond the possibility of second causes to deliver them from but they straightways called also into question the power of God Psalme 78. 19 20. They spake against God they said Can God furnish a table in the Wildernesse Behold he smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streames overflowed but can he give bread also can he provide flesh for his people So when they were in the long captivity of Babylon they had many cleare and expresse promises of being restored and brought back again into their own inheritance yet measuring the truth of Gods Word not by the strength of his power but by the improbabilities and impossibilities which did appeare to their reason they look upon themselves not as prisoners of hope but as free among the dead and as far from any expectation of deliverance as dead and drie bones are from reviving Our bones say they are dried up and our hopes are lost and we are cut off for our parts Ezek. 37. 11. Thus the Sadduces denied and deuided the great doctrine of the resurrection as being full of irreconcileable difficulties and inconsistencies How a body and a soul separated should be reunited how a body not only separated from the soul but dissolved into dust should be recompacted how dust scattered and blown up and down should be recollected was altogether beyond the line of their reason for to fathome or compasse Our Saviour therefore points out the ground of their errour to arise not onely from their ignorance of the Scripture which had foretold it but also of the power of God which was able to effect it Ye do erre not knowing the Scrptures nor the power of God Mat. 22. 29. Necessary therefore it is in the making use of any promise that a beleever have such conceptions of the power of God as that whatever lets and impediments do arise between the promise and the fulfilling of it though as high as mountaines and as strong as
the like mercies which we seek and beg for our selves As the promises are useful to strengthen faith so are examples to confirme and assure sense which is continually apt to implead what faith beleeves and to question what God hath spoken God hath promised that though our sinnes be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be white as wooll Isa 1. 18. But sense suggesteth What possibility is there that ever such a change should be can sope nitre water make scarlet to be as white as undipped wool no more can it be that the ingrained spots and staines of sinnes so often reiterated so long persisted in should be done away and the sinner be cloathed with the white robe of innocency God saith He will heale backslidings and love freely Hos 14. 4. He will love freely without respect of persons he will pardon freely without respect of sinnes but sense that shutteth the doore of hope which he hath opened Sometimes calleth in question his power Can he work wonders among the dead Can he raise from the rottennesse of the grave such as have laine long putrefying in it Sometimes disputeth his mercy Will he ever remember the chiefe of sinners Will he be gracious to the rebellious that have both neglected and refused the tenders of salvation which have been often made Now when a beleever beholds the pregnant examples both of his power and love set forth in the Scriptures in his converting a stubborne Maâ—asseh in his translating into Paradise a bloody robber in his casting forth of devils out of Mary Magdalen a notorious harlot in his changing Paul a persecutor into an Apostle in his compassionating and healing Peter that sealed his backsliding with a curse in his bringing salvation to Zaccheus a hateful extortioner then the expostulations of sense and carnal reasonings are put to silence then he concludes with confidence that the promises are a sanctuary for the penitent and lifts up his feet with chearfulnesse to runne unto them then he pleads the bounty and faithfulnesse of God in the performance of his promises unto others as a strong argument to shew the like mercy unto him Thus David in his low condition strengthens his faith and hope in God from this ground Our Fathers trusted in thee and were not confounded Psal 22. 6 7. This direction is alwayes of use to beleevers in the ordinary and daily application which they make of the Promises because examples as they are powerful in perswading obedience to every precept which commands it so are they also efficacious to strengthen confirm faith when exercised on any promise But it is chiefly useful in extremities when dangers which are insuperable do at any time inviron us Besides the promises which faith useth as a support it is good to have in our eye some such example as Daniel whom God preserved in the lions den sealing up their mouthes by his power that they should not hurt him before the King had sealed the mouth of the den with his signet that he might not come forth When sad desertions and temptations do afflict us it is usefull to call to our remembrance some such instance as Heman who complaines that he was laid in the lowest pit that he was afflicted with all Gods waves that he was ready to die from his youth up that he was distracted while he suffered his terrors Psal 88. And yet afterwards he becomes the Kings Seer in the words of God to lift up the horne 1 Chron. 25. 5. That is he as a Prophet is especially employed to set forth the mighty acts of Gods power in Psalmes and Songs of praise and thanksgiving When sore afflictions are multiplied upon us which for their weight are more heavie then lead for their bitternesse more bitter then gall and wormewood it is good to have in our thoughts some such example as Job that we be not wearied and faint in our minds Take my brethren the Prophets who have spoken unto us in the Name of the Lord as examples of suffering affliction and of patience saith the Apostle James 5. 10 What a mappe and spectacle of myserie is Job made above others How various and how great were the afflictions with which he was exercised Sabeans Chaldeans destroy his substance fire from heaven consumes his servants a great winde smites the foure corners of the house and destroyes all his children ulcers boyles break forth upon his body keen and unjust censures from his friends vex his soul And yet the happy close and end that the Lord makes with him is as famous as his miseries were His riches and substance are doubled his number in children equalled his body healed and his name cleared by God himself These and such like instances when suited with a beleevers condition do contribute much to the suppressing and keeping of that despondency and dejection of minde which the extremity of trials in any kinde is apt to subject the best of Christians unto and cause them to renew their confidence in the promises and in hope to expect the performance of them because that others in the same or not unlike case with themselves have found the faithfulnesse and goodnesse of God in his supporting them under their burthens and giving perfect deliverance from them according to his promise SECT 4. Rule 9. Preserve communion with the holy Spirit entire The ninth rule or directions is To keep and preserve entire our communion with the holy Spirit The dependency which every beleever hath on the Spirit is very great he being unto the soul as the soul is unto the body the originall and principle of all spirituall life and motion What are any untill he quicken them and by his power fashion them unto holinesse but as so many livelesse lumps of undigested clay And what are the best without his continual breathings upon them but as so many disjoynted and weak members which have neither constancy nor uniformity in their motions or actions Grace in its vigour and strength abides in the heart as light in the house by way of emanation and effusion rather then by inherency An instrument when it hath an edge set upon it doth not at all cut any thing till it be guided and moved by the hand of an artificer no more doth a Christian when he hath an habituall aptitude through grace to work yet do or performe any service without the concurrence and assistance of the Spirit of Christ quickning exciting and applying the habitual power unto particular duties Necessary therefore it is that beleevers be circumspect in maintaining their communion with him and not to provoke him to stand at a distance from them who is the fountain both of their grace and comfort But the necessity of it will more particularly appear if we consider in how much need we daily stand of the constant assistance and powerful operations of the holy Spirit to make the applications of all
the visions of God and of the raptures of the Spirit How often doth Satan by transforming himself into an Angel of light endeavor the seducement and ruine of many Christians against whom as an Angel of darknesse he could not prevaile being in every thing Gods Ape to imitate those extraordinary wayes by which God hath sometimes made known himself unto his people Gerson in his book de probatione spirituum of the triall of spirits tells a remarkable story of Satans appearing to an holy man in a most glorious and beautifull manner professing himself to be Christ and because he for his exemplary holinesse was worthy to be honoured above others therefore he appeared unto him but the old man readily answered him that he desired not to see his Saviour in this wildernesse it should suffice him to see him hereafter in heaven and with all added this pithy prayer Sit in alio seculo non in hoc visio tua merces mea O let thy sight be my reward Lord in another life and not in this life This direction therefore is of no little importance unto beleevers that would not loose and wilder themselves in uncertainties both in regard of duty and comfort to take heed how they leave the precept of the Word and betake themselves unto revelations for rhe guidance of their wayes or how they neglect the application of the promises by faith for the establishing of their hearts in the peace and love of God and expect their assurance to flow from an immediate voice or dictate of the Spirit as if the Word and promises had no activity and light in them to evidence and declare the certainty and truth of these things unto their souls Such wayes though the novelty of them may render them pleasing to many yet it cannot as we see make them safe to any that tread or walk in them And therefore let that of Austin be every Christians practice and prayer Sint sacrae Scripturae tu◠deliciae meae in quibus nec possim fallere nec falli Lord let thy holy Scriptures be my pure delights in which I can neither deceive or ever be deceived SECT 2. Cau. 7. Let not thy heart out on earthly Objects The seventh and last Cautionary direction is To take beed of having the heart let out to earthly objects either in earnest desires after them or in long and frequent musings of the minde upon them The application of the promises is then most powerful and operative when they lie nearest and closest unto the soul and the comforts that distill from them are then most sweet when they are received into the most inward parts of the hidden man The softest garments men usually weare next their skin and the best Jewels they lay up in the most inward cells of their Cabinets And of such a nature are the promises and invitations of mercy in the Gospel they are things of the greatest delicacy and therefore should be applied next unto the heart which is of all parts the most tender they are of the highest worth and value and therefore should highest be lodged in the most retired and inward receptacles of the minde as their most due and proper seate All interposition of earthly things doth not onely hinder the conveyance both of grace and comfort from the promises but doth also according to the measure predominancy of it make the heart as an unmeet vessel to receive such heavenly treasure in diverse respects First earthly things do fill the heart thereby put it into an incapacity of receiving either divine counsel or comfort from the Word or promises They fill the heart with crouds of businesses so that Christ and his Word finde no more place in it then he and his mother did roome in the Inne where the manger was fain to be his cradle Luk. 2. 7. They fill the heart with diversity of cares and solicitudes so that it cānot have any freedom to attend heavenly duties Martha who was troubled about many things did not with Mary her sister sit at Christs feet to hear the Word her cumber about much serving made her to neglect the one thing that was needfull Luke 10. 41. They many times fill the heart with pride and scorne so as that the choicest things of the Gospel are no better then foolishnesse The Pharisees heard Christ preach against earthly affections but they derided him Luke 16. 14. The full soul loatheth the honey-combe Pro. 27. 7. and so doth an earthly minde reject the Word which is more sweet then the dropping honey Secondly earthly things defile the heart with many vile and corrupt affections which do unqualifie it for the reception of holy and precious promises They stain the heart with an adulterous and impure love which is enmity unto God James 4. 4. and make it apt to prefer carnall satisfactions before communion with Christ They defile the heart with a false and unsound confidence turning it from God who is the sole object of trust unto the mutable and unstable creature and therefore Paul enjoynes Timothy to charge them that are rich in this world that they trust not in uncertain riches but in the living God 1 Tim. 6. 17. They pollute the heart with sensuall joyes with unhallowed pleasures and delights so that the joy of the corne wine and oile increasing doth extinguish that complacency and tranquillity of mind that flowes from the presence and fruition of spirituall objects as in luxurious persons strange love doth eate out and obliterate that which is conjugall How then can any man expect that the holy Spirit of promise should be both a Counsellor and Comforter unto such an one whose love confidence joys are adulterate and sinfull Surely he who hath the purity of a dove will never take up the lodging of a crow he who dwells in the soule when it is a temple of holinesse will never afforde his presence when it is turned into a cage of uncleane birds Thirdly earthly objects divide the heart Hosea 2. 10. and make it uncertain in its motions towards God As the balance hath no stedfastnesse in it self but doth by every breath and touch fluctuate sometimes to the one hand sometimes to the other so the earthly mind is various and inconstant in its desires to heavenly things sometimes for a short and sudden fit it seemes to affect them and by and by growes cold and heartless again Like to the grasse-hoppers which as Gregory observes give a flirt up and make a faint essay of flying towards heaven and then presently fall on the earth againe Thus the young man Marke 10. 17. comes running to Christ to shew his fervour and zeal kneels to him to testifie his observance prayes to him to direct him in the way to eternall life to evidence his care and solicitude about it but when Christ bids him to sell whatsoever he had and give to the poor that so he might have treasure in heaven how soon doth he who
to him by the grand Sophies of the Epicureans and Stoicks then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sower of words a babler Act. 17. 18. Would it not seem a strange opinion if one should assert that he who lackies it before the chariot is a better man then he that rides in it that he who lives in a Wildernesse meanly clad and faring hardly is more happy then they that are in Kings houses and weare soft raiment that he who is poore and is bid to sit at the footstoole is more worthy then he that hath the chiefest place given unto him in the Assembly And can it sound lesse strange in the eares of the world that the most despicable condition of a believer is far above the happiness of him that hath all the honors and delights that the earth can yield flowing in upon him and meeting in him as so many lines in one point I shall therfore endeavour to clear the truth of this inference so fully as that it may serve to support and comfort afflicted Christians under all their pressures so as not to complain because they are in their extremities more happy then the best worlding in his delights And that it may likewise provoke those who have made it their designe to be rather great then good to bethink themselves of their folly and to acknowledge that there is no tenure like an interest in the Covenant and promises and that there is no happinesse like to the happinesse of a beleever which hath its foundation laid in grace and not in greatnesse To this end let us in a few particulars compare or weigh as in a balance the worst of a beleevers estate with the best of a worldly but yet a wicked mans estate and we shall quickly see that the advantage will lie on that part of the skale in which the beleever stands and not on the other SECT 1. First a believer haply is in the world in no better condition then a stranger that hath little or no interest in its enfranchisements priviledges and immunities which others daily finde the sweet of in the many benefits that they enjoy He is frowned upon when others are courted and smiled upon by those that have honour s and preferments in their power to bestow He lives like Israel in Egypt under hard pressures when others rule and reigne as Lords He is friendlesse and findes none either to pity his wrongs or to do him the least right To his words to his sighs he finds a deaf and regardlesse ear continually turned when others have the Law open where they may implead their adversaries and have friends that are willing to countenance them and ready to help them Can he then that wants all these things be more happy then he who enjoyes them Yes for though a believer be a stranger here below yet he is a Citizen of the new Jerusalem which is above to which every worldly man is a forreigner Ephes 2. 12. And from thence he that bends his brow upon the wicked beholds him with love Ps 11. 7. Though he be the worlds bond-man yet he is the Lords free-man 1 Cor. 7. 22. Though here he be friendlesse yet what near and familiar relations have the whole blessed Trinity been pleased to take upon them and to make known themselves by unto him God as a Father Christ as a Brother and the holy Spirit as a Comforter All whom the men of the world can call by no such titles Though here his supplications and his tears avail not yet in heaven his prayers are registred and his teares are botled SECT 2. Secondly a Believer as he is a stranger so also may he be afflicted with want having little or nothing in possession to relieve his necessities He may want cloathing for his back and food for his belly He may have onely torum itr amineum cibos graminoes straw for his bed grasse and herbs for his meat when others sleep upon soft down and â—are doliciously every day He haply hath scarce water to quench his thirst when others have variety of choice wines to please and delight their palates All this and much more is acknowledged to be the lot and portion of many Christians such of whom the world is not worthy But yet let us view their condition so as to compare it with the men of the world whose bellies are filled with hid treasure and we shall quickly see that a true judgement and estimate being made of both that the thornes of the one will smell sweeter then the roses of the other his necessities will be more desirable then their fulnesse because wants sanctified are better then unsanctified enjoyments All their morsels are rolled up in the filth of their sin and in the bitternesse of Gods malediction and all his wants are both sweetened and supplied with the comforts of Gods promises Though he hath nothing for the present yet he is rich in hopes Though he have nothing in possession yet he hath an inheritance a Kingdome a Crown in reversion They have all their good things in this life and he hath his reserved for the other Though he have no food for his body yet he hath Manna for his soul He hath an hungry body and they a starved soul Though he have here scarce a place to lay his head on yet is there roome reserved for him in Abraham's bosome where he shall for ever dwell in joy when others lie down in sorrow Isa 50. 10. Though his body be as a parched wildernesse for thirst yet his soul is as a watred garden Out of his belly flow rivers of living water John 7. 38. We may truly say of a beleever what Paul speaks of himself though he was poor yet he had enough to make many rich though he had nothing yet he possessed all things Fideli homini totus mundus divitiarum est infideli autem nec obolus To a Christian all the world is his riches to an unbeliever not a doit of it saith Prosper There is no creature which doth not owe an homage unto him and shall certainly pay it if his necessities do require it The heavens shall heare the earth and the earth shall hear the corne and the wine and the oyle in answer to Jezreel ' s prayers Hos 2. 21 22. What is at further distance then the heavens and so more unlikely to hear then heavens What creature more dull then earth and so more unmeet to be affected and moved with a cry And yet both the heavens and the earth shall not be deaf to Jezreel's prayers but shall fulfill their desires and supply their wants SECT 3. Thirdly a beleever is not onely exercised with the pressing evils of want poverty but he oftentimes lies under the sore burthen of reproach and obloquie which to an ingenuous spirit is more bitter then death itself He is the common mark to which all the sharp arrows of mens tongues are directed He is the onely person
that is taken up in the lips of talkers and is the infamy of the people Ezek. 36. 3. When others are in their name as beautiful as Absalom who from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head had no blemish in him he is as Job on the dunghill overspread with defamations that are as so many putrid ulcers When others are cried up as the glory of their times he is decried as the filth and off-scouring of the world 1 Cor. 4. 13. When the actions of others are blazoned as their vertues his that are in themselves commendable are censured as full of pride hypocrisy affectation and singularity Where is then the blessednesse of his condition that you spake of How can his estate that is overcast with a more pitchy darknesse then that of the night be better then the best of theirs that hath not the least shadow of any such evil stretching out it self upon it True it is that none are more evil spoken of and blasted in their names then beleevers but the ground of it springs not from their just deservings but from the worlds malice and enmity to God which is derived to them for his sake Let Nehemiah and the Jews set upon the rebuilding of the Temple and the repairing of the waste place of Jerusalem and Sanbullat upbraids them with intentions of rebellion Neh. 6. 6. Let Paul make known the Gospel of Christ and the Jews that beleeve not cry out that he is one of them that turn the world upside-down Act. 17. 6. Let the primitive Christians that cannot safely meet in the day take the opportunity of the night to worship God and the Heathens asperse their Assemblies to be full of uncleannesse and cruelty and that they have suppers not much unlike that of Thiestes as Tertullian shews in his Apology Now in these sufferings for God there are such promises from God made and fulfilled to them as that there is more sweetness to be found in the reproaches that they undergo for him from the world then there can be contentment in its smiles or favour And therefore Moses chose rather to suffer reproaches with Israel then to enjoy treasures in Egypt Heb. 11. 26. The contumelies slanders which they undergo on Christs behalf serve both to make the present comforts more sweet and their reward hereafter more glorious Blessed are ye saith our Saviour when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall speak all manner of evil against you falsely for my Names sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven Mat. 10. 11. And now speak O ye worldlings that judge happinesse by as false a rule as they do that measure their height by their shadow Who is in a true estimate the better man Elijah that runs before the chariot or Ahab that sits in it John the Baptist that is cloathed with camels haire or Herod his Courtiers that are arrayed with robes and costly garments the poor whom God hath chosen to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdome James 2. 5. or the man that hath the gold ring and hath the chief place in Assemblies given unto him Which condition is now more desirable to be a stranger to the world and to be the Lords freeman or to be an Alien to God and the Covenant of promise and to be a Denizon onely of the world To be rich to God and poor to men or to be rich to men and poore to God To be the favorite of heaven and to be contemned on earth or to be the darling of earth and the enemy of heaven O therefore learn to judge of happinesse not by the light of sense but by the lamp of the Sanctuary and in time bethink your selves that nothing can be a foundation of happinesse unto you that hath not its stability from the promise of God CHAP. XX. Grounds of thankfulnesse for precious promises A Fourth application is to exhort beleevers that are made partakers of such great and precious promises to abound in all thankfulnesse to God and Christ who are the sole fountain from whence these streams of living waters do flow When old Isaac had eaten of his sonnes venison he blessed him that had prepared it for him how much more should they that have tasted how good God is have their mouthes filled with the blessing and praising of his Name that hath poured forth his love and mercy in such rich promises as are to the soul more sweet then marrow and fatnesse To this duty holy David doth quicken and stirre up himself Psal 103. when he summons all the faculties of his soul to praise the Lord Let all that is within me blesse his holy Name Vers 1. And that he may make the deeper impressions of Gods goodnesse upon his own heart he frames a short but yet a pithy compendium of his love towards him in his pardoning and healing grace Vers 3. He forgiveth all thine iniquities and healeth all thy diseases In his redeeming and saving grace Vers 4. He redeemeth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with loving kindnesse and tender mercies In his supporting and renuing mercies Vers 5. He satisfieth thy mouth with good things thy youth is renued as the eagles And of all these blessings are beleevers made partakers in the promises it therefore becomes them to pay unto God a tribute of thankfulnesse and that upon these grounds First the end of Gods goodnesse to his creatures is his glory and that which he chiefly delights in Trumpeters love to sound where there is an echo and God loves to bestow his mercies where he may hear of them again For man to make the end of his actions in any kinde to be his own praise doth not onely taint and flie-blow his services with hypocrisie and pride so as to marre the beauty of them but also transformes them into vices that are hateful unto God and man For it is not meet that he who derives his being from another should have his actions to terminate in himself He that gives the being gives also the rule and end of its working by both which the goodnesse of its actions are denominated The rule of its working is the law and will of him who gave it a being and the end of all its actions is his glory But God who is the fountain of his own being can have in all his works no other end then his own praise and glory This is his end in all his works of creation Prov. 16. 4. The Lord made all things for himself And this is the great end of all his works of grace in Christ Ephes 1. 6. That we should be to the praise of the glory of his grace All the eternal purposes of God concerning mans salvation from the first to the last do ultimately resolve themselves into his glory Secondly to give unto God praise and thankful acknowledgements for his great and precious promises is all the return that
we can make David as a man truly sensible of his many and deep obligations unto God hath a great consultation with himself which way he should expresse his thankfulnesse unto him What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me Psalm 116. 12. But after all musings and studyings with himself he can finde no other way but this I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord Vers 13. An Eucharistical sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving is all that David though a King can finde to give unto God And this kinde of payment the poor may make as well as the rich the young as well as the old The children in the Gospel can cry Hosanna and say Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord Mat. 21. 15. as well as others It is a good observation of Nazianzen that God hath equalized all men in that ability which most recommends or discommends them unto him and that is the ability of the will to love him and to give him praise This is that which all may do who have tasted how good God is and this is all that the best can do who have been most filled with the riches of his mercy Seeing therefore that a thankful recognition of Gods love and bounty in his promises is the onely recompence that we can make it is most meet that we should abound in it and make it not only the duty of our lips but of our hearts breathing forth our very souls in the continual praises of him who hath manifested the gracious purposes of his heart unto us in many rich promises of life and salvation More then this God in his mercy doth not desire and lesse then this in all reason we cannot give Thirdly the giving of God praise and glory in endlesse songs of thanksgiving is the onely work of the Saints in heaven when fully made partakers of all the blessings that the promises do hold forth It is now the continual blessed exercise of all the inhabitants of those everlasting Mansions in the highest heavens and it shall be ours when we shall be translated thither and have our faith turned into vision and our hope into enjoyment Requisite therefore it is that what we know must be our eternal exercise in heaven to make that our frequent practice on earth Those persons that intend to travel into remote and forreign countreys with an advantage unto themselves do before-hand acquaint themselves with the customes manners and fashions of the place to which they go and from others whose experience may give the best light do inquire what is the ingenie and disposition of the natives that so they may the better comply with their formes and civilities yea they endeavour to get some smattering of the language that they may not be altogether strangers to what is done and spoken there So should Christians who expect to dwell with the Lord for ever with all diligence inure themselves to the work and services of that innumerable company of Angels and spirits of just men made perfect and to get some rudiments of their heavenly language while they are below that so they may the better bear a part in that celestial quire singing with a loud voice Blessing and glory and wisdome and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever Rev. 7. 12. Now that this duty of thankfulnesse may run in a right channel I shall in some few particulars shew how it may and ought to be expressed First let thankfulnesse appear in the fulfilling of that exhortation of the Apostle 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the fear of God The promises as they are causes working holinesse so also are they Arguments inciting to it being for the most part propounded as rewards unto the obedience of faith which is a purifying and cleansing grace Acts 15. 9. In what more genuine fruits therefore can thankfulnesse manifest it self then in holinesse Or how can a beleever better evidence his high esteeme of the promises then by his continual pressing forward to the perfection of sanctity Now as Aristotle tells us in the first book of his Rhetoricks that there are two wayes by which men grow rich either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by adding to their present store or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by substracting and taking away from their expenses So also holinesse is perfected by a double meanes either by the addition of one grace unto another which is the duty that Saint Peter calls for 2 Pet. 1. 5. Adde to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godlinesse c. Or else by not making provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof which is the counsel that Saint Paul gives to beleevers Rom. 13. 14. And he that doth not both these wayes endeavour the increase of holinesse starving the boundlesse desires of the flesh and strengthening the graces of the Spirit by renuing acts of godlinesse can never be rich either in grace or comfort Secondly let thankfulnesse for the promises be expressed in proclaiming that mercy salvation and assured peace which you have received from them If so be you have tasted that God is good do as the birds which when they come to a full heap chirp and invite their fellows Tell the hungry soul what satisfying and blessed food the promises are the dejected what reviving cordials the poor what enduring riches the broken and wounded what healing balsoms they are that so they may be encouraged to take hold of these promises by an hand of faith Criples that returne with health from the Bathe hang up their crutches on the trees and their rags on the hedges that are near that thereby they may win credit and esteeme to the waters And so to honour the Wells of salvation should Christians make known the great things that God hath done for them and leave in every place where they come some testimony of their thankfulnesse and Gods goodnesse Come saith David all ye that feare the Lord and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul Psal 66. 16. He doth not call them as Austin observes to acquaint them with speculations how wide the earth is how farre the heavens are stretched out what the number of the starres is or what is the course of the Sunne but come and I will tell you the wonders of his grace the faithfulnesse of his promises the riches of his mercy to my soul Oh! that Believers would be perswaded to declare thus the experiences that they have any time had of Gods truth and power in his Word and in a way of gratitude to communicate them unto others How instrumental might they thereby become in the comforting and establishing of others Experiences are
like milk in the breast of the Nurse that hath received a concoction and is thereby made a more facil and pure nourishment to the childe that partakes of it Thirdly let thankfulnesse for the precious promises be expressed in a most affectionate blessing of God for the Lord Jesus Christ by whom all that is wrapt up in them is given unto us He is the first matter as it were out of which God hath framed all our good He is the receptacle in which all blessings are laid up and the Well-head from whence they all flow By his blood the promises are purchased for us and by his most powerful intercession they are made good unto us Alas how little efficacy would all our prayers have if they were not presented to God the Father by his hand How small acceptance would our persons finde if God did not look upon us in him How uncertaine would all our comforts be if the root of them were not in him if he were not as the tree of life upon which they grow Yea how quickly should we spie an hell that might amaze us between heaven and any other ground of confidence that could possibly be imagined by us out of Christ When therefore we do at any time make a thankful recognition of Gods goodnesse to us in the particular mercies of the promises of the Gospel let us be sure to put the Name of Christ to all When we blesse God for blotting out our iniquities for pardoning freely all our sins let us set this crown upon the head of the mercy that he hath done it in Christ When we blesse him for sanctifying of us let us ever adde for his sanctifying us in Christ When we praise him for our Adoption and Sonship let us blesse him for doing of it in Christ When we honour him for the assured hopes of life and glory in heaven let us say as the Apostle doth Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Ephes 1. 3. Fourthly Let thankfulnesse for the promises appear in strong desires and vehement pantings after the plenary possession and perfect enjoyment of all that felicity of which they are the earnests and pledges given us by God In this life we are but as Kings in the Cradle the setting of the crowne upon our heads is reserved till we come to heaven Here we are but as espoused persons and not as the Bride in her best clothes in the other life we put on the robes of glory which shall make our bodies shine ten thousand times brighter then the Sun and our souls ten thousand times brighter then our bodies Here we are but as invited guests to the feast and supper of the great King we sit not down at his table till we come to heaven and then Christ bids us eate O friends and drink abundantly O beloved While therefore we are absent from the Lord and do by the eye of faith only peep into the things that are within the vaile and enjoy a few foretasts of glory and immortality we should shew how highly we prize the promises by longing after and wishing for the final accomplishment of all Oh! when will it be that I shall see him in whose blood I was washed by whose stripes I was healed by whose Spirit I was sanctified by whose merits such great things are prepared for me How long Lord holy and true will it be ere death shall be swallowed up in victory and mortality put on immortality Thus Bernard upon those words of our Saviour John 16. 16. A little while and ye shall not see me and again a little while and ye shall see me passionately expresseth himself Pie Domine modicum illud vocas in quo te non videam O modicum modicum longum Good Lord dost thou call that a little while in which I shall not see thee O long long little Such desires as these are true evidences of a thankful heart CHAP. XXI Motives to act fath in the Promises THE fifth and last application is to stir up Believers to act precious faith as the Apostle calls it 2 Pet. 1. 1. upon the precious promises without which what are the promises in the Word but as sugar in the wine that lying unstired doth not sweeten but as full breasts undrawn that do not nourish but as beds of spices that being unblown upon do not lend forth their fragrant and delightful odours It is the exercise and skill of faith that fetcheth out the vertue and sweetnesse which lies hâ—d in them as it is the industry of the Bee that extracts the honey from the flowers The Bee would starve notwithstanding all the flowery meadows if it did not labour and so would a Christian languish and pine away notwithstanding all the precious promises if faith should be idle and unactive O then that I might prevaile with Believers to cast aside every weight that hindereth and to set on work this noble and divine grace of faith whose glory and worth is not to be seene in the habit but in the acts of it What doth Samson differ from another man while he sleeps in the lap of Dalilah But when he awakes out of his sleep and breaks the wit hs and cords that bound him as a thread of towe when it toucheth the fire and carries away the beam and the web in which his locks are fastened then his strength appears in its greatnesse to be matchlesse And so in what is a Believer distinguished from another man while the habit of faith lies asleep in his bosome and is not actuated on the promises But when it stirs and rouseth up it self to take hold of God and Christ in his Word how apparent is the strength of the one and the weaknesse of the other made to every eye What burthens doth the one stand under and carry away upon his shoulders under which the other sinks what temptations doth the one overcome unto which the other without resistance yields What viper doth the one shake off his hand into the fire without the least hurt which fasten upon the other and sting him unto death It is faith which makes us to rejoyce in tribulations Rom. 5. 3. It is faith which maketh us to possesse our souls in patience infiery trials Heb. 10. 36. It is faith which makes us resolute in desertions Ionah 2. 4. It is faith which makes every condition of life comfortable Hab. 2. 4. But that I may yet more fully prosecute this exhortation which hitherto is as a vessel upon the wheel of the Potter that hath not received it perfect shape I shall propound some particular arguments and considerations that may animat Believers to live the life of faith which stands chiefly in two things First in a knowledge of and a familiar acquaintance with the Word so as to have it in readinesse for direction Secondly in a right improvement and exercise of faith
whole discourse concerning the excellency and the use of the promises of the Gospel which hath hitherto been dilated and insisted on in the several particulars And yet methinks I had need to wish new sides new lungs and an hour new turned up that I might begin all again or else to sit down and complaine with the Prophet Isay 49 4. I have laboured in vaine I have spent my strength for nought O where are those affectionate expressions acclamations and rejoycings of heart which I expected would have echoed from every mouth and have appeared in every face that had heard and been acquainted with such glad tydings of peace and mercy as the promises do declare and testifie from heaven towards sinners I had thought that some as full of heavenly admiration would have stood like the Cherubims with bowed heads and faces looking towards the mercy-seat as being desirous to pry and search more into these divine mysteries which are the delightful study of Angels That others like Peter in the mount of transfiguration having had some glimpses of the glory of heaven would have cried out It is good being here Or wish as David Psal 27. 4. O that I might all the dayes of my life behold the beauty of the Lord I had thought that others at the opening of these Wells of salvation and a free invitation to drink of these waters which whosoever drinketh of shall never thirst againe would like the woman of Samaria John 4. 15. have said Lord give me this water that I thirst not neither come hither to draw That others at the gathering of this Manna which hath been plentifully rained downe upon them and gives life beyond death would with most sincere hearts have made that prayer which the Jewes did in hypocrisie John 6. 34. Lord evermore give us this bread But alas Who hath beleeved our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed Methinks still men stand altogether unaffected as if this day salvation had not been brought either to their houses or to their hearts as if nothing had been spoken that concerned their everlasting happinesse They are like Pauls auditory that heard him preach of the resurrection of Christ Acts 17. Some scorne others doubt and few beleeve Brethren from whence is it I beseech you that there is so little change and alteration made either in your countenances or in your affections Is it because I have shewed you the glory and preciousnesse of the promises only through a crevice which you would willingly have beheld with open face Alas who is it that can see these things in their lustre and live You can never understand their worth till you come to enjoy them in heaven Or is it because this treasure is brought unto you in an earthen vessel that you set so low a value upon it God it is who hath so ordered the dispensation that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us 2 Cor. 4. 7. Or do you expect that I should heap up more arguments that might farther commend the promises unto you O how easily as well as gladly could I undertake this taske if that I might be but sure to endeare the promises to you thereby Diodorus tells of a Citie in Sicilia that was called Triocala because it had springs of water of a superlative sweetnesse Vine-yards of the choysest wines and rocks of most impregnable strength But how much more truly may the Promises of the Gospel be stiled not Triocala but Pancala which are not only as overflowing well-springs of living water nor as pleasant Vineyards that abound with wine that makes glad the heart nor as insuperable rocks against which the gates of hell are never able to prevaile but are also a celestial Eden in which as Bernard pithily there is totum quod velis nihil quod nolis every thing that you would desire and nothing that you would dislike But I may not forget my self and instead of casting anchor in the haven spread the canvase and put forth to sea again I shall therefore cease from speaking to you and shall turne all my expostulations with you into prayers to God for you Beseeching him who in Paul's planting and Apollo's watering doth alone give the increase that he would by the mighty working of his holy Spirit make what hath been spoken to be a word of effectual grace unto you that have heard it that it may build you up and give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified And that he would vouchsafe the same blessing to all those that by his providence may now read what others have heard that so his Name to whom alone all is due may have the whole praise and the glory FINIS Books newly printed by Ralph Smith Viz. Mr. Dicksons Exposition on the whole Book of the Psalmes in three Books The Christans Charter shewing the priviledge of Believers in this life and in the life to come by Mr. Watson Minister of Stephen Walbroke the third Edition much enlarged Also Mr. Watsons Art of Divine contentment the second Edition Mr. Hutchinsons Exposition on the six small Prophets viz. Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk and Zephaniah Second Edition Corrected Mr. Hutchinsons Exposition on â—he three last Prophets viz Haggai Zechariah Malachi An Exposition on the whole Book of Ecclesiastes by that late learned and pious Divine Mr. John Cotton Pastor of Bostock in New-England