scandalous and vile pollutions ought so farre to judge himselfe and to charge the guilt of them upon his soul as not to lay hold immediately upon the promises of forgivenesse untill he first renew his repentance and be throughly ashamed of the evil of his doings When Moses interceded for Miriam whom God had smitten with aleprosie If her father saith the Lord had but spit in her face should she not have been ashamed seven dayes Numb 12. 44. That is if her earthly father provoked to anger had expressed his displeasure by spitting upon her should she not for a season have been sorrowfull and pensive How much more then when her heavenly Father is displeased by her sinne should she for a time be ashamed and shut out from the priviledges and society of the Congregation To be guilty of great sinnes and at the same time without remorse and grief of heart to lay hold on the promises of mercy is not the acting of faith but of presumption because faith alwayes proceeds according to Gods method in the obtaining of peace and comfort Now the way by which God speakes peace and makes good the promises of forgivenesse is by repentance And therefore till that be renewed the comfort of pardon is suspended First God heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe Jer. 31. 18. And then he remembred him then he manifests the bowels of a tender Father and saith I will surely have mercy upon him vers 20. Fourthly a believer falling into grosse and peace-destroying sinnes is so farre to charge the guilt of them upon his soul as to acknowledge That all those temporal afflictions and chastisements which God as a Father provoked to anger doth lay upon him are by his sinnes justly deserved and by God righteously inflicted â—hat God doth make his own children to feel the smart of his displeasure in heavy and sore afflictions occasioned by their iniquities is a truth which the Scripture holds forth with so much evidence that he that runnes may reade it They rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them Isa 63. 10. So again For the iniquity of his covetousnesse was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth Isa 57. 17. What pregnant instances also were old Eli upon whose person and posterity God brings a most severe and dreadfull judgement I Sam. 2. 31 32 33. David who complaines that his sinnes are a burthen too heavy for him Psal 38. 4. that his wounds stink and are corrupted because of his foolishnesse ver 5. that he is feeble and sore broken v. 8. Jonah who cries out of the belly of the whale as out of the belly of hell that he is forsaken and cast out of Gods sight Jonah 2. 2 3. How easie were it by an addition of examples in this kinde to make the number to swell into a Catalogue But a taste is enough Now what their carriage and behaviour towards God is in this condition see it in their expressions Old Eli when he heard of the judgement of God denounced against him saith It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3. 18. David under all his pressures acknowledgeth that in faithfulnesse he had afflicted him Psal 119. 75. So Jonah who had fled from the presence of God in the prayer that he poureth out before him in his extremity confesseth the sinne and vanity of all other dependencies save on God alone They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercies Jonah 2. 8. But it may be objected How can it stand with the justice of God to punish sinne in his children with any such kinde of affliction Christ having made an absolute and plenary satisfaction for them To this the answer is easie that these temporal punishments though they have displeasure mixed with them yet they do not slow from the vindictive justice of God as an irreconciled enemy but are the corrections of a provoked Father and do wholly differ in the end from the vindictive which are not medicinal but destructive The Judge who sentenceth the hand of a malefactor to be cut off hath not the same end with the Physician that cuts of an hand when it is incurably festred the one commands it as a satisfaction due to justice the other enjoynes it as a meanes to preserve the safety of the other parts So when God afflicts the wicked and believers with the same temporal evils though the smart and paine may be in both alike yet he doth it not with the same mind nor to the same end the one he punisheth in order to the satisfaction of his justice the other as a Father he corrects in order to their amendment to the one therefore it is properly a punishment and to the other truly a medicine SECT 2. How farre a believer ought not to charge himselfe with atrocious sinnes The second head that I am to speake unto is to shew how farre believers are not to charge the guilt of their great and most hainous sinnes upon themselves And this also take in the foure following particulars First believers are not to charge the guilt of such sinnes upon themselves as from thence to conclude that there is an absolute fall from the state of justification and the grace of Adoption so as that now they are no longer sonnes nor have any right to the heavenly inheritance The love of God in Christ is an endlesse and unchangeable love John 13. 1. and hath its perpetuity founded not upon any thing in us but upon the firme rock of his Will and Counsel His Covenant is everlasting ordered in all things and sure although we be not so with God 1 Sam. 23. 5. True it is that the fall and lapses of a justified person do so farre make a breach upon his state of justification and adoption as that the comforts and priviledges of it are thereby withheld and suspended but his right thereunto is not made null or extinguished He is under the power of an interdiction but not under the power of an ejection He may not like Absalom see the Kings face 1 Sam. 14. 24. but he is not an exile And in this condition he doth abide untill he renew his repentance and thereby recover a fitnesse and aptitude to enjoy what before he had a right unto being like a cleansed leper who hath the liberty of returning unto his house from which his defilement had separated him and shut him out Now if any think the effects and consequences of this spiritual sequestration do import little and that they are not antidotes strong enough to check the presumption of the flesh which is in believers and to keep them from playing the wantons with the grace of God To such all that I shall say is that to me they seem to be as blinde men that understaud little or nothing the wide difference between the light of the Sunne and the darknesse of the night and to
part of man and by its creation fitted for communion with an infinite good When saith Plutarch did Epicurus cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have fed with so much joy and delight as Archimedes in his Mathematical contemplations did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have found And when did both they or the whole sect of Epicures and Philosophers in the enjoyment of their sensual and intellectual pleasures crie out with such strong ravishments of soul they had either fed or found as a beleever doth when he hath tasted and found the goodnesse of God in one promise Listen but a little and you shall heare in how loud and patheticall a tone David expresseth himself when he had but tasted these divine consolations Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Psal 73. 25 26. And Bellarmine tels of a pious old man that was wont to rise from prayer with these words alwayes in his mouth Claudimini oculi mei claudimini nihil enim pulchrius jam videbitis Be shut be shut O mine eyes for now ye shall never see any thing more desirable 3. Sure Thirdly the comforts of the promises are abiding and sure mercies Act. 13. 34. such which are the crystal streames of a living fountaine and not the impure overflowings of an unruly torrent which sometimes with its swellings puts the traveller in feare of his life and at other times shames his expectations of being refreshed by it Job 6. 15. Geographers in their description of America report that in Peru there is a river called the Diurnal or day-river because it runs with a great current in the day but is wholly drie at night which is occasioned as they say by the heat of the sun that in the day-time melts the snow that lies on the mountaines thereabouts but when the Sunne goes down and the cold night approacheth the snow congealeth which only fed it and the channel is quite dried up Not much unlike this river are all wordly contentments which are onely day-comforts but not night-comforts In the sun-shine of peace and prosperity they flow with some pleasing streames but in the night season of affliction they vanish and come to nothing Then the rich man as Cyprian saith vigilat in plumâ suspirat licèt bibat gemmas lyes restlesse upon a bed of downe and fetcheth deep groans though he drink pearles and Saphires But it is farre otherwise with the promises whose streames of comfort in the time of trouble do usually run most plentifully and refresh most powerfully the weary and afflicted soul so as to preserve it from dying and fainting away under the pressure of any evil This was it which made Hezekiah under a sentence of death to revive and to cry out O Lord by these things men live and in all these things is the life of my spirit Isa 38. 16. But if at any time these divine consolations do runne in a more shallow and spare channel and vary from their wonted fulnesse yet do they never prove like waters that faile or streames that are quite dried up A beleever may at sometime be drawn low but he can never be drawn drie while Christ is a full fountaine faith will never be an empty conduit-pipe His comforts may be like the Widows oyle in the cruse where onely a little remaines 1 King 17. 12. but never like the water in Hagars bottle that was quite spent Gen. 21. 15. The widow thought her store of meale and oyle to be brought to so low an ebbe as that it would serve but for one cake which two sticks would be fuel enough to bake and then both she and her son must expect to die but then the Lord did put forth his power though not in making the oile and meale to overflow to the feeding of others therewith but in keeping it from wasting so as to be a constant supply unto her and the Prophets necessities in the extremity of the famine The like apprehensions have the dear and beloved ones of God frequently in their afflictions and temptations which befall them they think they have scarce faith enough to last one day more scarce strength enough for one prayer more scarce courage enough for one conflict more and then they and their hopes must die and give up the ghost for ever But in the midst of all these feares and misgivings which arise from their hearts there issueth out such a measure of comfort from the promises which if it gives not deliverance from their temptations doth effect their preservation in them if it overflow not to make them glad it failes not to make them patient and to wait till God send forth judgement unto victory Mat. 12. 20. 4. Universal Fourthly the comforts of the promises are universal such as agree with every estate and suite every malady they are the strong mans meate and the sick mans cordial the condemned sinners pardon and the justified persons evidence but the best of the worlds comforts are only applicable to some particular conditions and serve as salves for some few sores Riches are a remedy against the pressing evils of want and poverty but they cannot purchase ease to the pained Armour of proof is a defence against the sword and bullet but can no way serve to keep off the stings of piercing cares oiles and balsames are useful for bruises and broken bones but they are needlesse to an hungry man that seeks not after medicines but food As the hurting power in creatures is stinted and bounded fire can burne but not drown water can drown but not wound serpents and vipers can put forth a poisonful sting but cannot like beasts of prey teare and rend in pieces so the faculty of doing good which is in any creature is confined to a narrow scantling and reacheth no further then the supply of some particular defect but the comforts and vertue of the promises are in their operations and efficacy of an unlimited extent they flow immediately from the Father of mercies and God of all comfort 2 Cor. 1. 3. and are therefore meet to revive and establish how disconsolate in any kinde whatsoever the condition of a beleever be In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul saith holy David Psal 94. 19. When disquieting thoughts did swarme within his breast as thick as motes in the Sun-beames and did continually ascend like sparkes from a flaming furnace which the Crown upon his head could not charme which the Scepter in his hand could not allay which the delights and pleasures of his Court could not sweeten then did the comforts of God in his promises as so many fresh springs in the midst of all his estuations both glad and calme his unquiet and perplexed spirit One sunne when overcast with thick clouds which threaten to blot it out of
not prescribe and limit any in their choise but leave them to the free use of such Scriptures and promises as themselves by experience have found to be full of life and sweetnesse yet it will not be amisse to recommend the use of some few eminent promises of divers kinds out of the full store-house of the Word which may serve as so many meet cordials to revive the spirit of drooping Christians amidst the several kindes of necessities that may afflict them Are any burthened with the guilt of sinne so as that their soule draweth nigh unto the pit of despaire What more joyful tidings can ever their eares heare then a proclamation of free mercy made by the Lord himselfe unto beleeving and repenting sinners What more glorious and blessed sight can their eyes ever behold then the Name of God written in sundry of his choice attributes as in so many golden letters for them to read The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sinne Exod. 34. 6 7. He is the Lord who only hath jus vitae necis the absolute power of life and death in his hands but he is the Lord God merciful who far more willingly scattereth his pardons in forgiving then executeth his justice in condemning like the Bee that gathers honey with delight but stings not once unless she be much provoked He is gracious not incited to mercy by deserts in the object but moved by goodnesse in himself his love springs not from delight in our beauty but from pitty to our deformity He is long-suffering bearing with patience renued and often repeated injuries which he might by power revenge upon him who is the doer He is abundant in goodnesse grace overfloweth more in him then sinne can do in any Sin in the creature is but a vicious quality but goodnesse in him is his nature He is abundant in truth as he is good in making the promises so is he true in performing them when men deale unfaithfully with him he breaks not his Covenant with them He keeps mercy for thousands former ages have not exhausted the treasures of his mercy so as that succeeding generations can finde none there are still fresh reserves of mercy and that not for a few but for thousands He forgives iniquity transgression and sinne not pence but talents are forgiven by him not sinnes of the least sise are onely pardoned but sinnes of the greatest dimensions And as this promise in which the Name of God is so richly described doth fully answer the hesitancies doubts and perplexities of such who fear their iniquities for number to be so many for aggravation to be so great as that sometimes they question Can God pardon sometimes Will he ever shew mercy to such a wretched Prodigal So likewise may that blessed promise made unto beleevers Hos 14. 5 6 7. exceedingly support such who mourne under their want of holinesse and complaine of the weaknesse of their grace fearing that the little which they have attained unto goes rather backwards then forwards God himself having promised that he will be as a dew unto them which shall make them to put forth in all kindes of growth They shall grow as the lilly and cast forth their roots as Lebanon their branches shall spread and their beauty shall be as the Olive-tree they shall revive as the corne and grow as the vine What more comprehensive summary can there be either of Gods goodnesse or of a beleevers desires then there is in this one promise wherin he hath promised to make them grow in beauty like the lilly in stability like the Cedar in usefulnesse like the Olive whose fruit serves both for light and nourishment in spreading like the vine and in their encrease like the corne God himselfe being both the planter and waterer of all their graces To them who are full of fears through the approach of dangers which they have no hope to avoid or power to overcome How full of encouragement and comfort is that promise of protection and safety When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee Isa 43. 2. Water and fire are two evils in which none can be with their nearest friends without perishing with them Who can save a Jonah when cast into a boisterous sea but God And who can walk in the fiery furnace with the three children and not be consumed but the Son of God In the prison one friend may be with another in banishment he may accompany him in the battel he may stand by him and assist him but in the swelling waters and in the devouring flames none can be a reliefe to any but God and he hath promised to beleevers to be with them in the midst of both these that so in the greatest extremities which can befall them they may fully rest assured that nothing can separate God from them but that he will either give them deliverance from troubles or support them under troubles Martyres non â—ripuit sed nunquid descruit saith Austin He did not take the Martyrs out of the flames but did he forsake them in the flames Lastly to them the meannesse of whose condition may seeme to expose them above others to hunger cold nakednesse evils that make life it self far more bitter then death how full of divine sweetnesse is that blessed promise of provision The young lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing Psal 34. 10. The Septuagint renders it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great wealthy men of the earth who like beasts of prey live upon spoile and rapine who think that in the hardest times that can come they shall be eaten up last they shall be bitten with hunger and perish by famine when they who fear the Lord shall be in want of nothing The widows little barrel of meale in the famine yielded a better supply then Ahab his storehouse and granary her cruse had oile in it when his Olive-yards had none Oh! how securely and contentedly then may a beleever who acts his faith in such promises lay himself down in the bosome of the Almighty in the worst of all his extremities not much unlike the infant that sleeps in the armes of his tender mother with the breast in his mouth from which as soon as ever it wakes it draws a fresh supply that satisfies its hunger and prevents its unquietnesse SECT 3. Rule 8. Consider of the examples to whom promises have been fulfilled The eighth direction is in the making use of any promise to parallel our condition with such examples which may be unto us as so many clear instances of the goodnesse and faithfulnesse of God in his giving unto others the same or
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
25 6 99 Psalme 34 10 95 37 16 134 66 16 273 73 16 147 94 19 42 103 1 266 105 19 136 Esay 1 18 96 7 3 200 25 6 7 8 14 38 13 14 207 43 2 94 44 22 192 Hosea 14 4 97 Â 5 6 7 93 Micah 7 19 192 Matth. 11 28 121 15 23 24 25 151 Marke 10 17 165 14 72 182 Luke 5 31 122 15 18 183 John 6 37 179 Romans 1 18 55 Hebrews 4 14 Â 5 7 229 9 10 218 11 19 56 1 John 3 2 30 THE Contents Chap. I. Page 1. IN which the words of the Text are opened and the chief particulars to be handled proposed Chap. II. Page 8. In which is declared what a Promise is and how it differeth both from a Precept and a Command Chap. III. Page 14. In which the excellency and preciousnesse of the promises is set forth in several particulars 1. Christ the root of them 2. The Promises are the root of Faith 3. The things promised are precious Chap. IV. Page 22. In which is discovered the noble effects of the Promises and in what sense by them we are made partakers of the divine nature Chap. V. Page 30. The Promises grounds of matchlesse consolation in four particulars Comforts from the Promises are 1. Pure 2. Full. 3. Sure 4. Vniversal Chap. VI. Page 43. Containing positive rules directing to the right use of the Promises 1. Eye God in the Promises 2. Eye the free grace of God in making them 3. Gods power in performing them 4. The unchangeablenesse of his purpose to effect them 5. His wisdome to fulfil them in the best time Chap. VII page 65. Containeth the 2 3 4 5. positive Rules for the right application of the Promises Rule 2. How the Promises are in their performance conditional p. 66 Rule 3. There is a dependency of one promise on another which must not be broken nor inverted p. 73 Rule 4. A serious and frequent meditation on the Promises p. 77 Rule 5. To be much in the application of the Promises p. 81 Chap. VIII Containing five other positive Rules Rule 6. Continue in holy waiting upon God p. 86 Rule 7. Make choice of some special Promise to resort unto in extremity p. 90 Rule 8. To eye such examples to whom promises have been fulfilled p. 96 Kule 9. To preserve our communion with the holy Spirit entire who is the great applier of promises p. 101 Rule 10. Be truly thankful for the least dawnings of mercy p. 105 Chap. IX Page 111. Cautionary Rules for the application of the Promises Rule 1. Rest not in general faith Rule 2. Pore not on the measure of humiliation which is in some more in some lesse p. 121 Chap. X. Containeth the 3 4 5. cautionary Rules Rule 3. Take heed of looking to Providence more then Promises which are more clear more certaine p. 129 Rule 4. Take heed of affectation and curiosity in selecting Promises p. 138 Rule 5. Take heed of carnal reasoning which is dangerous as may appear in several particulars p. 143. Chap. XI Containing seven cautionary Rules Rule 6. Take heed of groundlesse fancies concerning the manner of receiving comfort from the promises p. 153 Rule 7. Let not the heart out after worldly objects the danger shewed in several particulars p. 162 Chap. XII In which divers Queries are resolved Sect. 1. Faith is not Assurance proved by sundry demonstrations p. 170 Chap. XIII What use a Believer may make of the Promises of pardon after relapses p. 18 Sect. 1. How farre a Believer may charge upon himself Atrocious sins p. 181 Sect. 2. How farre a Believer ought not to charge upon himself Atrocious sinnes and backslidings p. 188 Chap. XIV Page 196. Shewing what use may be made of such Promises as we cannot expect to see the performance of 1. They are useful to support under present troubles of the Church p. 168 2. They are useful as a firme rock to bottome prayer upon 3. They are useful to try the sincerity of a Believers affection and love to Gods glory p. 202 4. They are useful to comfort Believers in regard of their posterity p. 204 Chap. XV. Page 205. Whether a Believer always enjoyes the comfort of assurance in death who is diligent in making use of the Promises In answer four conclusions set down 1. A Believer may meet with many conflicts in his death p. 206 2. That our diligence to clear up our interest in the Promises is the ordinary and regular way to obtaine comfort p. 207 3. That the improvement of Promises doth usually procure comfort in death unlesse in four cases First When siknesse and distempers are violent Secondly When temptations and assaults of Satan are vehement Thirdly When Christians have intermitted their wanted care and circumspection Fourthly When their graces and comforts have been manifested to themselves and others in their life God may withdraw 1. To manifest the strength of their Faith 2. To shew that comfort in death is not so necessary as Grace 3. In judgement to others who getting no good by their life shall not be gainers by their death Chap. XVI Page 216. Shewing what use is to be made of temporal Promises Sect. 1. Why God hath made such various Promimises of temporal mercies to his people under the Law p. 218 Sect. 2. Four benefits come to Believers by looking to temporal promises p. 220 Sect. 3. Five Assertions directing to the right understanding of temporal promises p. 226 1. Gods Declaration of giving temporal blessings is not absolute 2. The fulfilling of temporal promises is disjunctive 3. Temporal promises are to be expounded with the reservation of the Crosse 4. Temporal mercies in the Promises are only to be obtained by well regulated prayer 5. The blessing of temporary promises are to be sought secondarily and not primarily Chap. XVI Page 235. Sheweth it is a horrible sinne to neglect or abuse the Promises aggravated in five particulars Sect. 1. From the universality of the sin p. 237 Sect. 2. From the vanity and emptinesse of those things which most men set their hearts upon p. 239 Sect. 3. From the mutability and uncertainty of those things which do take off most men from valuing the Promises p. 242 Sect. 4. From the facility of being made partaker of the Promises p. 245 Sect. 5. From the command of God and Christ Chap. XVIII Page 246. Four differences betwixt the Promises of God and Satan 1. Difference is betwixt the persons that made them p. 248 2. Difference is in the matter of the Promises p. 249 3. Difference is in the ground of the Promises p. 251 4. Difference is in the accomplishment Chap XIX Page 255. Sheweth that the worst estate of a Believer is better then the best estate of an unbeliever Chap. 20. Page 265. Grounds of thankfulnesse to God for precious Promises to his people 1. The end of Gods goodnesse to his is his glory p. 267 2. It is all the return we can
worth do vie with each other everlasting life is as sweet as long heaven is as glorious in its beauty as vast in its dimensions the crown of righteousnesse that is laid up is as rich as weighty There is no one promise of the Gospel but is of that extent for its latitude and of that value for its preciousnesse that he deserves to be eternally poore who having that for his subsistence looks upon any man who hath an interest in none greater or richer then himself though the gravel of the river were turned into pearles and every showre of raine from the clouds into a showre of silver and gold for to supply his wants The fourth particular is The high and noble end of the donation of the promises That by them we might be partakers of the divine nature c. Painters when they picture Angels do not intend similitude but beauty Nor doth the Apostle in this expression aime at any essential change and conversion of our substance into the nature of God and Christ but only at the elevation and dignifying of our nature by Christ Our neer union with him doth restore us to an higher similitude and likenesse of God then ever we attained in our primitive perfection but it doth not introduce any reall transmutation either of our bodies or souls into the divine nature For if that stupendious union of the two natures in one person the Lord Christ doth not effect an essential change in either but that both natures do conserve and retaine their distinct properties without mixture or confusion much lesse can the Union between Christ and beleevers which is not a personal Union but an Union of persons made by the Spirit and by faith cause any such alteration as that our nature losing its own subsistence should wholly passe into the divine and be swallowed up in the Abysse of it as a drop when it falls into the wide Ocean Pithily doth Cyprian expresse this truth when he affirmes Nostra ipsius conjunctio nec miscet personas nec unit substantias sed affectus consociat confoedérat voluntates Our and Christs conjunction doth neither mingle persons nor unite substances but doth conjoyne our affections and bring into a league of amity our wills Suitable to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 6. 17. They that are joyned to the Lord are made one spirit CHAP. II. In which is declared what a promise is IT is not designed by me as the subject of my present task to undertake a distinct and full prosecution of all these foure particulars in the text every one of which like gold in the beating would easily diffuse and spread themselves into a large compasse but occasionally to glance at them as they conduce to the illustration of that head and branch which I shall single and cull out from the rest as the present subject upon which I shall pitch and fix my thoughts and that is the matchlesse worth and goodnesse of the promises of the Gospel A truth it is of much weight and sweetnesse to every beleever but yet as it lies contracted in a proposition discovers not so much of it as when drawn forth into a full explication like to colours that are lesse beautiful and pleasing while they lie on the palate of the painter then when placed and spread on the picture by the pencil of the artificer I shall therefore in the unfolding of it endeavour these five things First to shew what a promise is Secondly in what respects they are great and precious Thirdly give rules about the due application of them Fourthly resolve some usefull Queries and cases concerning them Fifthly close and shut up all with some practicall inferences and genuine applications such as flow from the doctrine of the promises The honey which drops from the combe is of all the best and sweetest First what a promise is It is a declaration of Gods will wherein he signifies what particular good things he will freely bestow and the evils that he will remove This description like the box of spiknard in the Gospel may be more usefull when it is broken then whole I shall therefore take it into pieces and give an account of it in the several parcels First a promise is a declaration of Gods will it being a kinde of middle thing between his purpose and performance his intendment of good and the execution of it upon those whom he loveth And as wicked Jezabel 1 King 19. 2. could not satisfie her hatred of Elijah the Prophet in intending evil unto him and effecting it upon him in time as she could but withal she lets fall an heavy threatning against him strengthened with a bitter imprecation upon her self as an obliging tie to put in execution the designed evil So let the gods do to me and more also if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time So much lesse can the love of God satisfie it self in a gracious decree and purpose of good towards his elect shut up in his own breast and the actual performance of it in the fulnesse of time unlesse withal he discover it unto them before-hand both as a ground of present comfort in the knowledge thereof and of hope and expectation in the certain enjoyment of the good things promised hereafter God also confirming the word of his truth by an oath not for any necessity or weaknesse in its selfe but out of superabundant love unto the heires of promise That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie they might have a strong consolation Heb. 6. 18. Secondly it is a declaration concerning good And thereby a promise is differenced from the threatnings of God which in divers respects have a neere affinity with his promises For they as things of a middle nature do intervene between the decree of his wrath and the execution of it they are let fall in the Word as so many discoveries of Gods anger against sinne and set as powerful stops to check and bound the lusts of sinners who are apt to dash themselves against the rock of divine displeasure they are sealed with the same oath of God with which the promises are ratified that so they might be as full of dread to sinners in the expectation of the fulfilling of them as the promises are of comfort to Beleevers Thirdly it is concerning good things freely bestowed And thereby it is distinguished from the commands which are also significations of Gods will concerning good but it is of the good of duty enjoyned to be done not of the good of mercy to be received The precepts of God and the promises of God they alwayes go together in the Word as the veines and the arteries do in the body wherever there goes a veine that carries blood there also accompanies it an artery that carries spirits so wherever there is a precept in the Word that enjoynes duty there also is an
earth of which it makes a concoction and then sends forth a digested nourishment unto the several branches and fruit that hangs upon the tree so doth the radical grace of faith distribute to other graces that strength and life which it is partaker of from Christ and his promises And as the concoction that faith makes is more or lesse perfect so are the operations of every grace the more or lesse vigorous Faith is a kinde of mediatour between Christ and all our graces as Christ is between us and God As we have nothing from God but we receive by and through Christ So no grace is partaker of any vertue and influence from Christ but by the mediation and intervention of faith SECT 3. The things promised precious Thirdly the promises are exceeding great and precious in respect of the remarkable worth and value of those things in which they interest beleevers and give them a right unto by an unquestionable claime and title It is a full and weighty observation of which Grotius hath afforded two parts that there are three things which do clearly demonstrate and highly also commend the doctrine of the Gospel above any other Religion whatever The certainty of principles of trust the sanctity of precepts and the transcendency of rewards What religion is there amongst that multiplicity which have found entertainment in the world wherein God is represented to the soul so meet and fit an object of trust as in the Gospel Majesty being there made accessible by the condescention of goodnesse and God and man who were at a distance so neerely united together in one as that it is impossible to be determined whether be the greater wonder the mystery or the mercy Where are there in any religion such exact precepts of holinesse enjoyned as in the Gospel which lay a law upon every motion of the soul and become either a rule to guide it or a Judge to censure it Or where by search do we finde such ample and full rewards as may match and parallel the rewards of the Gospel to beleevers There we read of the bread of life for food of the waters of life for pleasure and delight of a crown of life for honour of an inheritance in life for riches of a weight of glory for cloathing and beauty All which are not mentioned in the Word as in a bare and naked declaratory which conveighs nothing of title or interest and speaks rather the perfection of heaven then the happinesse of beleevers but are set down and specified in the promises which as they declare a goodnesse and excellency in things do also give a right and propriety unto persons in them they being in the matters of God as deeds and evidences are in the matters of men which when they are signed sealed witnessed and delivered do invest men in a just and legal right of whatever is mentioned and contained in them All that a beleever hath to plead or to shew for that estate of glory of which he is an heir is the promise Eternal life is by promise 1 John 2. 25. This is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life The crown is by promise Jam. 1. 12. He shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him The kingdome where for love all shall be sonnes for birthright heirs for dignity Kings is onely by promise Jam. 2. 5. God hath chosen the poore of this world rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdome which he hath promised to them that love him The bounty laid up and the bounty laid out the good that a beleever expects and the good that he enjoyes both flow from the promise without which no present thing could be sweet nor no future thing would be certain which by the stability of the promise are now made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gifts without repentance Rom. 11. 29. Or as Austin expoundeth it dona sine mutatione stabiliter fixa gifts firmly fixed without change Every promise being ratified by Gods oath then which nothing is more immutable sealed by the blood of Christ then which nothing is more precious testified by the Spirit then whom nothing is more true delivered by the hand of mercy then which nothing is more free and received by the hand of faith then which nothing is more sure CHAP. IV. In which is discovered the noble effect of the Promises FOurthly the promises of the Gospel are exceeding great and precious in regard of that high and noble effect which they work in beleevers who by the energie and powerful operation of the promises are raised to the utmost pitch both of perfection and blessednesse in their being and estate being by them made partakers of the divine nature as the Apostle tells us Not by having a share and partnership in the substance and essence of God and thereby to become drops beames particles of the Deity as some have most fondly dreamed But by a participation of divine qualities and excellencies whereby beleevers are made conformable unto God having those perfections which are in the holy nature of God and Christ by way of eminency to be formally or secundùm modum creaturae imprinted and stamped on their souls so farre as the image of his infinite holinesse is expressible in a limited and restrained being As the wax when it doth receive an impression from the seale doth not participate of the essence of the seale but only receives a signature and stamp made upon it so when God leaves a character and print of his holinesse or other excellencies upon the soule he doth not communicate any thing of his substance or essence but effecteth only a resemblance in the creature of those perfections that are truly in himselfe which being originally and totally derived from him may in some sort be said to be the divine nature In the Painters table that is called a face or hand which is onely the lively image or representation of such things to the eye and so those divine lineaments of beauty and holinesse which are drawn by the finger of God upon the soul of believers may be called the divine nature as they are shadowy representations of his own glorious being but not as they are any particles or traduction of it The highest honour that any creature can attaine unto is to be a living picture of God to shew forth as the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 2. 9. the vertues of God and Christ and he that raiseth it any higher must have swelling and lofty thoughts of the creature and low and dishonourable thoughts of God Now this likenesse to God or this Deiformitas Christiformitas as the pious Ancients were wont to style it is wrought by the promises SECT 1. The Promises the Word of life First as they are the words of Spirit and life John 6. 63. As they are the immortal seed 1 Pet. 1. 23. whereby a man is begotten again and made partaker of a second birth in
doth not use the same threshing instrument to beate out the more tender grain which he doth to the hard The cart-wheel is not turned about upon the cummin but the fitches are beaten out with a staffe and the cummin with a rod Isay 28. 27. Secondly to acquaint such whose former wickedness of life hath been full of notoreity in many reiterated backslidings from God and rebellions against him yet have passed through the pangs of the new birth without those extremities that usually are measured forth to great sinners to walk humbly with their God and to make up what hath been wanting in the intension of their sorrow in the extension and continuance of it often bringing to remembrance the foulnesse of those iniquities which might have made far greater rents and more gastly wounds in their consciences then ever they sustained had not God varied his wonted way and method in which he walketh towards refractorie and obstinate sinners making their agonie and paines to be proportionable to the hainousenesse of their pollutions They which pay small fines do commonly sit at the greater rent And those Christians who obtaine their peace reconciliation with God upon more easie and cheap termes then others do and must expect that it will cost them more to preserve it and to keep it from suspitions and doubts about the truth of it then usually it doth those the foundations of whose peace have been laid in a through and most deep work of humiliation Thirdly to antidote and relieve weak and tempted Christians against their own feares and Satans wilie suggestions which are oftentimes mingled with those complaints which they poure forth concerning their unmeetness to take hold of the promises of mercy and to apply the salvation of Christ unto themselves Gladly they would that their souls might be refreshed with the least drop of the comforts of the promises with which others are filled that they might but touch the garment of Christ into whose sides and wounds others do put their hands crying out with confidence My Lord and my God! But alas they dare not do it What is in others a duty would be in them a presumption for to do What others are invited to do they apprehend they are commanded to forbeare in regard they have not yet undergone such shakings and batterings by the law as they have heard read and knowne to be in others farre lesse sinners then themselves Now the ground of such feares and misgivings as keep off the soule from closing with Christ and his promises doth chiefly arise from their heeding more the measure of their humiliation then the truth of it and the ascribing of the saving property in it rather to the quantitie then to the quality But all humiliation for sinne is then saving when true and then true when it drives a sinner utterly out of himself and stirres up a vehement thirsting after Christ and a settled resolution to cleave wholly to him as his Lord and Saviour as his King to exercise his just soveraignty over him as his Priest to mediate unto God for him And for all other steps or degrees of humiliation which troubled souls too often look upon as necessary and due qualifications to fit them for their drawing neer unto and embracing of Christ and his promises expecting after such a number of throwes such a measure height and continuance of sorrow to finde themselves neerer unto him then before They are herein me-thinks not much unlike those foolish children who being deceived with the seeming sloaping of the heavens do strongly fancy that if they were but on the top of such an hill or such a tree then they might play with the sunne put out the starres with their sticks and discover what kinde of man he is that dwells in the moone but when they have throughly tired themselves in running thither they finde the heavens to be at as great a distance from them and as farre out of their reach as at first So after all their most bitter lamentations for sinne they will at length finde that a precise adequation between sinne and sorrow can never be attained unto it being absolutely impossible sufficiently to mourne for any one sinne according to its just merit Faciliùs invenies eos qui innocentiam servaverunt quà m qui congruam egerunt poenitentiam You may sooner saith Bernard out of Ambrose finde those who have kept their innocency unspotted then you can finde any that have bemoaned their sins with a meet repentance CHAP. X Containing the 3 4 5th Cautionary Rules for the application of the Promises SECT 1. Cau. 3. Eye not Providences more then Promises The third Cautionarie direction is To take heed of observing eying the providences of God above his promises so as to build the foundation of our confidence upon them when successeful or when cross and unpleasing to weaken the expectation of faith in the fulfilling of any good which the promise as a ground of hope doth hold forth unto us First believers are to be cautious of making the most successefull providences the ground of their faith or hope without looking unto the promises which are the only firme pillar upon which every believer may safely found his prayers in the seeking and his confidence in the obtaining of any good that he asketh at Gods hands This Caution is the more necessarie in regard that in these times multitudes of professors do highly magnifie the providence of God and use it as the onely argument to perswade both themselves and others that their wayes and persons are both most pleasing unto God who by a succession of many wonderfull providences doth effect their untertakings for them in the midst of many intervening difficulties But they seldom or never make any mention of the promises either as the light by which their wayes are directed or as the spring from whence their encouragments and comforts flow and arise Yea oftentimes when they are at a losse in the Word and cannot finde the least footstep in it which may allow or justifie the paths they walk in they then shelter themselves under the covert of providentiall successes as that which gives a faire testimonie unto the goodnesse and justice of their wayes But as the providences of God are not to be neglected or undervalued by Christians being full of deep and unsearchable wisdome so are they warily to be used as a single light and evidence for the putting of men upon great undertakings or to be the onely Cynosure for their direction and guidance in them The starre-light of one single promise is of more use to Christians then a constellation of many providences both to assure them in their wayes and to support them under any difficulties that they may meet with as may appeare in these three particulars First the light and evidence which ariseth from th◠promise is far more clear then the light of providence and therefore more meet both to direct and comfort
others Little considering that the just ground of Gods causing such bright starres to set in a cloud may be to hide from them what might benefit them in their death who have learned nothing from the holy example of their lives The obstinate Jewes opposed the Doctrine which Christ taught and rejected the salvation which he offered unto them whilst he was among them And then at his death insultingly ask for miracles that might declare him to be the Son of God whereby they might believe on him Mat. 26. 42. But God then made his death a stone of stumbling for them to fall at who had made his life and converse among them to be the object of scorne both to themselves and others The fourth Proposition is that the judgement and estimate which beleevers and others make concerning mens spiritual estates and conditions should chiefly be grounded upon their lives rather then their deaths There may many accidents fall out in their death which as they do not prejudice a beleevers salvation so neither should they his Christian reputation He may through a feaver become phrenetical through melancholy he may be lumpish and heavy through temptations he may be unsetled through desertions he may speak uncomfortable speeches be afflicted with despairing thoughts His darkness may be without the least glimmerings of light His agonies in death without sense of comfort And yet he may be a dear childe of God Because as holy Greenham saith we shall not be judged according to that particular instant of death but according to the general course of our life not according to our deeds in that present but according to the desires of our hearts ever before And therefore we are not to mistrust Gods mercy in death be it never so uncomfortable if so be it hath been before sealed in our vocation and sanctification It is sad indeed when the lives and dayes of those do in such a manner determine and expire who have wasted their time and strength in sinful exorbitancies and have been eaten up with the cares and thoughts of the world without the least minding of their eternal condition till arrested by the stroak of death and summoned to appear at the tribunal of a provoked God But else though the close of an holy life be most uncomfortable and full of darknesse it is no just ground to any to change their apprehension and perswasion concerning the welfare of their everlasting estate having before-hand seen and known such unblameablenesse of conversation such fruits of grace as might clearly evidence the uprightnesse and sincerity of their hearts towards God and men CHAP. XVI What use is to be made of temporal Promises THe fifth and last Query that I shall propound is What use is to be made of temporal promises such wherein preservation from outward evils the free and liberal donation of earthly blessings the removal of sad and heavy pressures are in particular promised and undertaken for by God in his Word After what manner are beleevers to act and exercise their faith upon them or to hope for the performance of them in regard that they oft-times who may best plead their title and interest in them do most of all want the fruition of such mercies They saith the Apostle of whom the world was not worthy wandred about in sheep-skins and goat-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented Heb. 11. 37 38. The answer to this Question I do not purpose to make as the cords of a tent stretched out to their utmost length or unnecessarily to enlarge as the Pharisees did with affectation their phylacteries but yet for the more full and just solution of it I conceive it will not be impertinent to speak to three particulars First to shew why God under the Old Testament did make the tenour of his promises to run so universally of his giving unto them the blessings and enjoyments of this life when as under the Gospel such kinde of promises are more sparingly recorded and not so distinctly set down Secondly to shew the various advantage and profit that believers may reape to their spirituall estate by looking unto such promises with an eye of faith and quietly waiting the good pleasure of God for the fulfilling of them Thirdly to give rules for the right understanding of the nature of temporall promises and the manner of due applying them unto our particular exigencies and conditions SECT 1. Why God hath made such various promises of temporall mercies to his people under the Law For the first viz. Gods making unto his people so many distinct and redoubled promises of temporall mercies sundry reasons might be assigned but I shall fix onely upon this that such away of bounty was most suitable to the winning of their observance unto such administrations and formes of worship as he then gave them in command and required their obedience unto For untill the time of reformation came as the Apostle expresseth it Heb. 9 10. That is untill the time of the New Testament when both the imperfection of the Law and Priesthood was to be done away by Christ who as a more excellent Priest offered up a most perfect sacrifice all things were transacted after an earthly and externall manner The Sanctuary was worldly Heb. 9. 1. The Ordinances imposed on them were carnall which stood in meates and drinkes and divers washings Heb. 9. 10. Now to this paedagogie of the Church the promises of such outward blessings were most agreeable As the duties and exercises of their religion were most conversant about the outward man so likewise the promises that were the encouragements to move and incite them to an observancy of those prescribed rites were such as did chiefly hold forth the prosperity and well-fare of their outward estate Not that the goodnesse of God to his people or his Covenant with them did extend onely to the care of their bodies or that this was the utmost drift of those many promises which he had made unto them This had been as Peter Martyr speaks to have made God to have had no more regard to his Church then shepherds have to their flock or Herdsmen to their cattel who look no further then to their thriving well liking in their pastures But as in their sacrifices and other ceremonies of their worship they were trained up and instructed in the knowledge of spirituall duties towards God in which their hearts and thoughts were to be imployed So also by the temporall promises were grounds laid of carrying on their faith and hope for the obtaining of more glorious mercies then those which at the present they enjoyed Their Manna was a kinde of Sacramentall food and the water from the rock a Sacramental drink the land of Canaan a type of the true and heavenly rest which Christ hath purchased which by him who was the substance of all shadowes they might expect True it is that both the precepts of their worship and the promises of their reward were more