the promises to be effectual unto us both for support and comfort He alone it is who is the mighty worker of that noble and divine grace of saving faith by which beleevers are enabled to lay hold of the promises and by them of Christ in whom they all meet as so many lines in their common centre He it is who opens the eyes of the understanding and fills the heart with an heavenly light by which the worth and preciousnesse of those things which are given of God in the promises are judged and discerned He it is who brings to our remembrance the faithful sayings of the Gospel and makes them to be as words spoken in season to him that is weary He it is who teacheth beleevers to plead the promises in their supplications unto God and when they know not what to pray for as they ought maketh request for them with groanings that cannot be uttered He it is who by way of obsignation doth seal and ratifie the promises unto the faithful and that in a peculiar and transcendent manner In the assurance and security which is given for outward things we only have the wax sealed with the impression and sculpture of the seale the signet sealing is not at all looked after if the one be safe it matters not though the other be lost But in the confirmation of the promises beleevers do possesse both they have the holy Spirit who is as the seale sealing and the graces of the Spirit which are as the seal sealed and printed upon their hearts The Spirit by his special testimony doth assure them of the certainty of their salvation and seale them up unto it acording to that of Paul Rom. 8. 16. The Spirit it self beareth witnesse with our spirits that we are the children of God and heires with Christ The graces of the Spirit which are his lively image and impresse upon their soules do also evidence and confirme the same thing according to that of the Apostle Hereby we know that we are passed from death unto life because we love the brethren 1 Joh. 3. 14. It is therefore a direction of great importance unto all who would gladly reap profit and advantage from the promises to keep firme and to strengthen their communion with the Spirit who is the only Counsellour to instruct them how to manage the promises to the best improvement of them the most powerful Advocate to furnish them with arguments to plead at the throne of grace their right unto them and their interest in them the most effectual Comforter to support their hearts with confidence to fill them with joy while they waite upon God for the performance of his promises unto them If he be grieved by our carelesse demeanour towards him it is not any promise that can make us glad if he be provoked to withdraw and suspend his light there are no irradiations from the promises that can free us from the darknesse of desertion if he be made to turne our enemy by voluntary defections from him none of the promises can speak peace unto us How vaine and ungrounded then are the presumptions of those who build their hopes of heaven and salvation upon the promises of mercy yet neglect all communion with the Spirit of holinesse Who rest in the testimony of their own spirit misguided by false rules and cheated by Satans subtilties look not at all after the testimony and witnesse of the Spirit without whom all the promises of the Gospel are but as deeds and instruments with Labels hanging at them without seales to confirme them which do not operate or convey any thing of right unto those that are possessed of them SECT 5. Rule 10. Be truly thankful for the least dawnings of mercie The tenth direction in the right use of the promises no lesse weighty then any is To be truly thankful for the least dawnings of mercy for the smalest pledge and earnest of comfort which the promises at any time do afford unto us The Angel rebuked and reproached those who despised the day of small things Zach. 4. 10. who with mournfull eyes with unbeleeving and misgiving hearts did look upon the poor and meane beginnings of the rebuilding of the Temple as such which were altogether unlikely to terminate in a glorious structure and to have the top-stone thereof laid with shoutings and acclamations of joy And no lesse are those Christians to be reproved who esteem any of the consolations of God to be small who if they be not at first filled with the spiritual suavities of the promises take little or no notice of the support and sustentation which they receive daily from them who if they presently enjoy not what they hastily desire can neither thankfully accept of any pledges of mercy which God hath freely vouchsafed them nor patiently waite for the sure performance of the promises which he hath made them It is the usual method of God to fulfill his promises by certaine steps and degrees to make his salvation to break forth like the morning which begins in an imperfect twilight but ceaseth not till it grow up into a bright day The first glimmerings of peace and comfort which spring from the promises are accompanied with great mixtures of darknesse but yet they are of a growing and prevailing nature and therefore are not to be despised but to be thankfully acknowledged and rejoyced in as the happy earnests of an ensuing day in which the soul is as full of spiritual serenity and joy as the firmament is of light when the Sunne is in its verticall point In the bestowing of his favours God deales with beleevers as Boaz did with Ruth he first gave her a liberty to gleane in his fields then invited her to eat bread at his table and to dip her morsel in the vineger and lastly gave himself So God first in a sparing manner and at some distance makes a discovery of his love and good will unto them then in a more familiar and friendly way he encourageth them by his promises to draw neere unto him and to taste how good the Lord is to those that fear him And then as the complement of all he gives his Spirit into their bosomes to assure them of his love and their interest in whatever might make them perfectly happy After that ye beleeved ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise saith the Apostle Ephes 1. 13. But the ready and speedy way to obtaine all this is to be truly thankful for the least appearance of mercy that shines forth from the promises and to count it worthy of all acceptation to receive it with such joy as the morning was wont to be anciently saluted when the people went out and cried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Welcome such light To such God speakes as our Saviour did to Nathanael Joh. 1. 50. Because I said unto thee I saw thee under the fig-tree believest thou thou shalt see greater things then these Art thou
of the earth is the duty of every Christian But the ground of their making such prayers and of their confidence in obtaining them doth wholly arise from the promises that God hath made He it is who hath promised that Christ shall reigne till he hath put all his enemies under his feet 1 Cor. 15. 25. He it is who hath said that Zion shall suck the milk of the Gentiles and shall suck the breasts of Kings Isa 60. 16. That her Horne shall be iron and her hoofs brasse to break in peeces many people Micha 4. 13. And thereby are they encouraged to seek his face and to put him in minde of his gracious promises unto his people True it is that the times and seasons when these things shall be are unknown unto them neither are they to be curious and anxious about them God having put them in his own power Acts 1. 7. But yet knowing that he who hath promised is faithful they do with delight plead them in their prayers and with faith embrace them in their armes Thirdly such promises are usefull to try the sincerity of a believers affection and love to Gods glory and to the welfare of the Church Promises wherein mens present interests aâ—e concerned self-love may make them to put a value upon them and quicken an ardency both in their prayers and desires to begge the performance of them as judging themselves to be most happy in the enjoyment of those blessings which are held forth in them And surely from this very principle are many stirred up to plead with much earnestnesse the promises of protection when they are under some imminent danger the promises of provision when under some pinching want the promises of comfort when under some sore affliction But when a Christian can rejoyce in such promises which speak the future happinesse of the Church when he is dead and gone When it is sweet to him to thinke that Christs throne shall hereafter be more exalted his Name more known his Spirit more plentifully poured forth that the Church shall triumph over its enemies and be an habitation of peace of love It is an argument of a noble frame of heart and of a spirit that is truly affected with the love of Gods glory When a man can ruminate upon such promises with delight and can in prayer manifest that it is the desire of his soul that these things wherein God will be so highly honoured may be effected it is a comfortable evidence that the white at which he levells and the end which he propounds to himself do not terminate in his private interest but in the exaltation of the Name of God which by faith he is perswaded shall be magnified throughout all ages of the world Fourthly such promises are usefull to comfort believers in regard of their posterity It is oft-times a perplexing thought to tender parents especially in difficult times to think what will become of their children if they should be taken from them and their seed be deprived of the benefit of that care and counsel which while they live they constantly partake of And this very thing doth beget as much anxiety in their hearts as the departure of Christ did in his disciples it being an evil that though foreseen they scarce know how satisfactorily to provide against Now besides those generall considerations drawne from those compassions and bowels that are in God and his faithfulnesse in providing for the righteous and their seed according to his promise All which may help to allay such distrustful thoughts and cares There may also not a little support and comfort be taken from the exercising of faith on such eminent promises as declare the riches of Gods goodnesse to the ages and times that are to come All which God will according to their appointed seasons fulfill untill that grand and last promise of gathering all his elect unto himself in glory be accomplished So that believers may comfortably hope that what promises themselves do fall short of their posterity shall in one kind or other be partakers of And though through the dark dispensations of present providences the Church may seem to be in the midst of an howling wildernesse rather then near the borders of a Canaan yet surely the Land of rest is not afarre off though it may to us be out of sight CHAP. XV. Wherein the fourth Query is resolved viz. Whether believers alwayes enjoy the comfort of assurance in death THe fourth Query is Whether believers who are most diligent in the daily application of the promises and in the use of all means to make their calling and election sure do alwayes enjoy the comfort of assurance in death Or have as the Apostle expressed it an entrance abundantly ministred unto them into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2. Pet. 1. 11. The answer that I shall give unto this Question will consist of diverse branches which I shall lay downe in four Propositions The first is that a believer as he meets with many brunts and conflicts in his life so he may and often doth meet with worse at his death Christ his agonie and sufferings were sharpest towards the close and end of his life And then though he complains not of God yet in a most vehement expostulation he complains to God My God my God why hast thou for saken me Mat. 27. 46. Lamb-like and silent deaths are not alwayes the portion of Gods dearest Children The wicked may have no paines and bands in their death Psal 73. 4. when the best of Saints may be environed with terrors The one may be as a man in a sleep who may have pleasant and golden dreames and the other as a man awake that is afflicted and disquieted with grievous and sore paroxismes Thus good Hezekiah in that sicknesse in which he was by the Prophet summoned to prepare for death through the sad apprehensions of Gods displeasure poured forth his soule in bitter complaints Isay 38. he saith ver 13. I reckoned till morning that as a lion so will he break all my bones And. ver 14. Like a Crane or swallow so did I chatter Grief and paine had both so filled and wasted him as that he could onely make an indistinct and confused noise as those birds do when they are deprived of their young ones And therefore Christians are not to be discouraged as if some new thing had befallen them if in the close and shutting up of their lives instead of comfortable gales and breathings of the Spirit they finde contrary to their expectation Satan to assault them or God to withdraw himself from them who for a moment hides his face but with everlasting kindnesse will embrace them Isay 54. 8. The second Proposition is that our diligence to clear up our interest in the promises and the using of all meanes to make our calling and election sure is the ordinary and regular way to obtaine comfort and enlargement in death
well for common sores but their maladies are such that unlesse Christ touch them with his own hand the vertue that comes from these things as from his garments can never heale them unlesse God do from heaven confirme his promises by extraordinary signes and miracles their breaches and ruptures will never be healed their comforts and peace will never prevaile against their feares and darknesse It is not the Prophets staffe laid upon the face of the dead childe that will bring life again into it 2 King 4. 32. he must come and stretch himselfe upon the childe ere the flesh of it will wax warme This Caution is the more necessary to be heeded upon a double ground First because of the aptnesse that is in troubled Christians to affect new meanes above the right means and to build their confidence upon something that is without the compasse of the Word rather then upon the Word it self Secondly in regard of the great danger and deceit that is in those extraordinary ways by which many do pretend to have their comfort assurance to be confirmed unto them which in the use of all other means they could never find to be fully and satisfyingly evidenced unto them First there is a pronity in Christians especially when exercised with fears and doubts concerning their condition to grow weary of using such means in which they find not their expectations speedily answered through an over-hasty desire of comfort to trie the gaining of it in a new way rather then to persevere in the old Being in this not much unlike to many weak and crasie Patients that are more ready to fancy every new medicine they heare off and to tamper with it then to expect a recovery by going through a course of Physick prescribed by the Physician Gregory tells of a Religious Lady of the Emperesses bed-chamber whose name was Gregoria that being much troubled about her salvation did write unto him that she would never cease importuning him till he had sent her word that he had received a revelation from heaven that she was saved To whom he returned this answer Rem difficilem postulas inutilem c. That it was an hard and altogether uselesse matter which she required of him It was difficult for him to obtaine as being unworthy to have the secret counsels of God to be imparted unto him and it was unprofitable for her to know not onely for the reason which he assignes that such a revelation might make her too secure but also because it was impossible for him to demonstrate and make known unto her or any other the truth and infallibility of the revelation which he had received to be from God so that had she afterwards called into question the truth of it as well she might her troubles and doubtings concerning her salvation would have been as great as they were before O therefore let believers that would be confirmed in the peace and love of God take heed of relinquishing that more sure word of Prophecy which shines as a light in a darke place 2 Pet. 1. 19. and of flying unto visions revelations voices from heaven to assure and evidence unto them their salvation and to be the seales of the truth of those comforts and joys which they are filled with These are wayes that have more external glory and pomp in them but the acting of faith on the promises and the adhering of the soule unto those truths declared in them is the unquestionable way of obtaining a full establishment of heart in all sound joy and peace and therefore Luther though as he confesseth he was often tempted to aske for signes apparitions revelations from heaven to confirme him in his way yet tells how strongly he did withstand them Pactum feci cum Domino Deo meo ne mihi mittat vel visiones vel somnia vel eâ—iam Angelos Contentus enim sum hoc dono quòd habeo Scripturam sanctam quae abundè docet ac suppeditat omnia quae necessaria sunt tum ad hanc vitam tum ad futuram I have saith he indented with the Lord my God that he would never send me dreams visions Angels for I am well content with this gift that I have the holy Scripture which doth abundantly teach and supply all necessaries for this life and that also which is to come Secondly as there is an aptnesse in Christians to affect such extraordinary wayes and means of comfort so is there also no little danger and deceit in the wayes themselves First they are dangerous in regard that they make the Word and promises to be as things of little value and esteem which should be as the only sacred Oracles of truth for believers to have their recourse unto Such who cry up revelations make it their practice to cry down the Word and look upon those that adhere to the Scriptures and make them the touchstone to try every spirit by as Vocalistas et Literatistas Vowalists and Letterists having litle or no acquaintance with the deep things of God Such who affirme assurance to be the immediate voice of the Spirit speaking in them saying unto them that their sinnes are forgiven them how disdainfully do they speak of the certainty and perswasion which believers have from the gracious operations of the Spirit and the blessed fruits of holinesse wrought by him in their souls which by his enlightening they are enabled to discern thereby to be confidently perswaded of Gods love unto them and of their interest in all the promises This they dignify with no better or higher title then an humane faith then a conjectural knowledge though the testimonie be truly supernaturall both in regard of the efficient cause and also of the meanes whereby they come to be thus perswaded Yea though it be the only safe way which the Scripture holds out for believers to trie their estates by to look unto the effects and fruits of the Spirit of God in them and not to any immediate voices or revelations from heaven as the testimonie of Gods love unto them yet do such vilifie this kinde of evidence as low and carnall and altogether unmeet for Evangelical Christians to make use of What should they need to have a rush-light to see by when they may enjoy the sunne which is the light of lights Secondly as they are dangerous so are they full of deceit and illusion Young Samuel not acquainted with any extraordinary manifestations of the presence power of God took the voice of God from heaven to be the voice of old Eli 1 Sam 3. 5. And so do many take the irregular motions of their owne hearts to be the divine breathings and the powerfull impulses of the Spirit of God wherby they are stirred up to the undertaking of sundry actions which the Word in the least measure countenanceth not How frequently in these times do fanatick persons baptize the violent workings of their own distempered fancies with the name of
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
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
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
made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. Gen. 49. 23 24 Therefore when believers do at any time finde the dispensations of God to them in his providences to cross rather then to favor the fulfilling of such promises as he hath made to them in his Word and which they in their prayers do earnestly seek and expect yet are they not to cast away their confidence or to take up any such sad conclusions as that God hath forgotten his promise and that he beares no respect to them or their sacrifices because God doth not limit the accomplishment of his promises to the serenity and successe of his providences but doth many times use such dispensations which seeme rather to frustrate and make void his purpose then to establsh and effect it Jonah is set on shore by a whale when the mariners arive at their Port by the ship The blinde man in the Gospel John 9 6. Christ cures by clay and spittle and not by balsams And as they that go to sea do not obtain a firme and unmoved state of body by the steddiness of the vessel in a calme but by the accustoming and inuring of themselves to the rollings and tossings of it in several weathers So neither do beleevers gain a settled peace of minde by the calme equality of Gods providences towards them but by acquaintance with vicissitudes and adverse revolutions in the midst of which they still finde the promise to be as an anchor sure and firme and therefore are not perplexed or amazed at all other changes that befall them SECT 2. Cau. 4. Take heed of curiosity in selecting promises The fourth cautionary direction to beleevers is To take heed of a sinful and affected curiosity so as to esteeme onely those promises most precious which do stand in the Scripture like fruit ungathered and untouched by the hand of common Christians and are like flowers as they imagine not at all smelt and blown upon by any but themselves As there is a vaine affectation in some Ministers to decline and wave those Scriptures that have in them the greatest pregnancy to confirm their doctrines and to set their wits on work and the texts many times upon the rack to force them to speak to their purpose that so their notions and conceptions may be looked upon by their auditors as neither vulgar nor common So is there a lust of fancy in many Christians of pleasing and delighting themselves in the picking and selecting out such promises as have not come under the observation of others or have been least used by them in the constant daily recourse which they have had unto them Now this vanity and curiosity which thus prevailes in many Christians doth not only spring from pride which often begets an affectation of singularity but it ariseth also from a false conceit and opinion taken up by them that such promises are more sweet when ruminated upon and more full when sucked on being like unto breasts that have had little or none of their milk drawn and taken from them First they conceive them to be more sweet and to affect the soul with a greater of delight But there is a twofold sweetnesse and delight the one ariseth from the goodnesse of the object the other from the newnesse of the object The newnesse of the object is that with which fancy is chiefly delighted and by which it worketh upon the will to close with it as a convenient and suitable good But the understanding propounds the goodnes truth of the object to the will and thereby draws and wins iâ—â—o a liking and full embracing of it Now that which should endeare the promise unto beleevers is not any suggestion from fancy that none but themselves have either observed or used this or that particular promise upon that ground to hug it in their bosoms as Scholars do those notions and books which none are possessed of but themselves But the high estimation which they have of them should wholly arise from that transcendent goodnesse and truth which is in the promises and makes them deservedly to be of all desired and accepted Thus Paul commends the Gospel 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners They conceive though fondly them to be more full as well as more sweet But this is one of the peculiar excellencies of the promises that the emanations of comfort which flow from them are not in the least impaired or diminished by the common and daily use of them no more then light is wasted in the Sunne by the multitudes of generations that have enjoyed the use and benefit of it Still it hath as much light in the body of it as it had in its first creation And so the promises which Abraham Isaac and all the faithful descended from them have successively used and lived upon do still retaine the same vigour and abound with as great plenty of support and comfort unto present beleevers as ever they did unto them As the Bee doth with an innocent theft as Parisiensis calls it suck honey from the flowers without the least prejudice to their beautiful colours which delight the eye or to the fragrant sent which affects the smell of him that gathers them So do beleevers draw from the promises a grateful satiety both of delight and comfort without the least diminution either of their fulnesse or sweetnesse He that is last in the application of the same promise may finde it as rich in its plenty as effectuall in its vigor as he that came first unto it Wells saith Basil are the better and more pure the oftner they be drawne and so the promises which are the wells of salvation do receive an improvement by the frequent and common use of them The end of this Caution is no way to forbid any Christians valuing or esteem of one particular promise above others which God by the powerfull workings of his Spirit hath in a speciall manner made use of for the quieting of their soules in the time of their greatest perplexity and the filling of them with all joy peace in believing as if thereby they did derogate ought from the just worth of other promises For it being Gods manner not to seale and manifest his love unto believers by one and the same promise but to make use of this promise to one and of a differing promise to another who both lie under the same distress It is their duty to have in a peculiar remembrance that promise and Scripture above others by which God was pleased first to speak peace to their soules But the aime of the Caution is to keep believers from putting any disrespect upon the precious promises by their esteeming of them to be so much the lesse worth by how much the more common and ordinary they have been in their use Did Manna nourish the Israelites the lesse because
it was their usual food in the Wildernesse or Quailes the more because they were a new kinde of meat The one indeed pleased their appetite and palate more but the other supplied their necessities as well And so the promises which are most obvious and common in their use do yield to Christians as much reall and solid comfort when rightly applied though others which they conceive to have been lesse observed or by themselves onely taken notice of may more affect and please the curiosity of a lustful fancy SECT 3. Cau. 5. Take heed of carnal reasonings The fifth Cautionary direction is to take heed of carnal reasonings which are restlesse in their enmity to all matters that appertain to faith or at the best full of impotency and unable to yield any assistance to beleevers in them First carnal reason is unwearied in its opposing and contradicting of faith which of all graces hath the most immediate relation unto the promises and is of greatest use in the application of them It is an enemy to the first implantation of it and hinders men from submitting to the righteousnesse of God by possessing their mindes with unjust prejudices and cavils against his Word God saith that his words do good to them that walk uprightly Mich. 2. 7. But the Language of carnal men is It is vaine to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his Ordinances Mal. 3. 14. Christ saith that his yoke is easie and his burden light Mat. 11. 30. But his carnal disciples cry out It is an hard saying and who can heare it Joh. 6. 60. God saith his waves are just and equal But the carnal Israelites are not afraid to censure his as crooked and their own as strait Ezek 33. 17. And as by the disguises and artifices of carnal reason men are kept from an happy change of their natural estate by beleeving So when faith is wrought they are by the enmity of the same principle continually disquieted and interrupted in the comfortable enjoyment of those many blessed priviledges which they are interessed in by faith Sometimes it calls into question their title to what they possesse and suggests unto them that they are rather presumptuous intruders then just proprietaries that the evidences upon which they build their hopes are the delusions and self-flatteries of their own hearts and not the unerring testimony of Gods Spirit Sometimes it raiseth jealousies concerning the promises themselves that they are things as easily revoked as they are made which though they yield present comfort yet do not ascertaine any future security that though God turne not away from them nor repent him of his love yet they may turne from him and so nullifie the promises and the Covenant of his mercy unto themselves It is therefore of great concernment unto beleevers in the making use of the promises to be cautious in admitting the pleas and arguments of carnal reason which being never so often answered will never be silent But peremptorily to resolve to beleeve notwithstanding all that sense and reason can suggest to the contrary To wink and beleeve to shut their eyes against all difficulties and when they are so great as to pose their reason not to let them to pose their faith Excellent is that saying of Luther Aperuit nobis in Paradiso oculos Satan nunc omnis labor in eo nobis est ut eos iterum claudamus obturemus In Paradise Satan first opened our eyes and now it is our chiefe labour to shut and fast close them again that so we may no more be betrayed by them Sense and reason being in the things of faith noxiabestia an harmfull beast as he calls it to overturne and destroy whatever faith useth as a prop to rest it selfe upon Secondly as Carnall reason is an enemie unto faith so at the best it is full of impotency and unable to give the least assistance to believers in their making use of the promises or dijudication of spirituall objects as may appeare in three particulars First it is dimme-sighted and wants a perceptive faculty Busie and curious it is in prying looking into the mysteries of faith but altogether weak and unskilful in making any true judgement concerning them Reason is like the Crocodile which is reported to be of quick-sight on the land but of dull sight on the water It is sagacious in earthly things but hath no insight in spirituall objects Asaph attempted by the discussions of reason to have found out the ground of Gods differing administrations towards his people and the men of the world whose bellies were filled whith hid treasure but he was by his own confession soon at a losse When I thought to know this it was too painful for me Ps 73. 16. And when he did go that way to satisfie himselfe how opposite is the inference and conclusion to that which he makes upon a second view and lookes upon the same things by the light of the lamp of the Sanctuary When he beholds Gods dispensations with the eye of his reason onely what a wilde and erroneous conclusion doth he take up Verily I have cleansed my heart in vaine and washed my hands ininnocency ver 13. But when he comes to read them over again by the eye of faith then he draws a right inference from the premisses It is good for me to draw neer to God verse 28. And as reason is blinde in discerning spirituall objects so is it also unskilful in the use of those meanes by which faith is enabled to make a full perfect discovery of them Reason is like unto a man that takes the wrong end of the perspective glass to see with which lesseneth the magnitude of the object and increaseth the distance It looketh upon the promises by unapt mediums which do not make a just representation of them and therefore discernes little or nothing of their reality and existence but faith that looketh at the right end of the glasse which being more full of light doth multiply the species and thereby takes away the remotenesse of the objects and presents them as close unto the eye Thus Abraham saw Christs day and rejoyced to see it Joh. 8. 56. Great was the space of time between the making of that promise and the fulfilling of it unto Abraham that in him all the families of the earth should be blessed Gen. 12. 3. But yet his faith eying the power and truth of God that made it looks upon the long intervall of many ages that was between him and his promised seed as upon a very small and inconsiderable distance Thus the holy Patriarchs did not only see the promises afar off but they also saluted and embraced them as neare they were in regard of their own existence afarre off but in regard of their faith they were hard at hand Heb. 11. 13. 2ly Carnal reason as it is blinde so is it also full of impatience and therfore unmeet to be an assistance unto
particular perswasion that God will give the very thing it self that we begge of him but the faith of submission by which we resolve our prayers into his will and beleeve that he will do whatever is best for our good and his glory We then distrust God when either we are jealous of his willingnesse to performe his Word or of his power to accomplish his Word But when we acknowledge the alsufficiency of his power and resigne our desires to his will we do then pray in faith And this was the faith that our Lord Christ did put forth in his prayer when he said Not my will but thy will be done Luk. 22. 42. I do not deny but that God may sometimes assure and incline the hearts of his children that are importunate wrestlers in prayer to be confident of granting the temporal blessing that they seek but this is a confidence that is rather begotten by the Spirit in the height and vigour of prayer then brought with us unto the duty Sometimes I say such a confidence may be but it is neither ordinary nor usual Secondly temporal mercies must be asked for a right end James 4. 3. Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amisse that ye may consume it upon your lusts Carnal lusts may make men eager in prayer but not successeful Usually wrong ends in prayer are accompanied with disappointments Sinister Aimes turn duties of worship into acts of self-seeking they change the voice of prayer into a brutish howling Hos 7. 14. The execution of justice it selfe into murther Hos 1. 4. Finis in moralibus idem est quod forma in naturalibus The end in moral things is the same that the forme is in natural things The quality and goodnesse of them is not discerned but by the end It concernes therefore beleevers that would in prayer obtaine any outward blessing to look unto their ends in asking of it though the mercy be earthly yet their end in asking of it must be heavenly Gods glory must be in the end of all prayer as his Name must be in the beginning of it else it cannot be expected that it should be owned as a sacrifice by him The fifth Assertion is that the blessings of temporal promises are to be sought secondarily and not primarily Mat. 6. 33. They are neither to be the chief cares of our life or desires of our prayers because the soul may do well without the body but the body cannot do well without the soul And yet of this disorder the greatest part of men may be found guilty Their estates they carefully put into their deeds and evidences and their souls they onely put into their wills the last of instruments that are usually either made or sealed For the one they think it enough if with a few gilded expressions of piety it be given and bequeathed as a legacy unto God But for the other they conceive no paines or toile too great to encrease it or cost too much for to secure it The one they make the task of the morning and day of their lives the other the by-work of the evening and the approaching night of death So that it is no wonder if in these preposterous and irregular actings of men they do not finde the blessing of Gods promise upon their labours that they toil as in the fire and weary themselves for very vanity Hab. 2. 13. that they sowe much and bring in little Hag. 1. 6. For what benefit can they justly expect to reap from the promise who neglect to walk by the guidance of that rule to which the promise is made CHAP. XVII It is an horrible sinne to neglect or abuse the Promises Aggravated in five particulars HAving spoken enough if not too much to each of those foure heads that in the beginning were propounded and laid as so many corner-stones for this small structure to stand upon The last head which now remaines to be insisted on is the handling of such useful applications and inferences as do naturally flow and arise from this Doctrinal truth of the transcendent worth and preciousnesse of the promises which are given unto us by Jesus Christ And the first Application which I shall make is A sad and just complaint which sighes and tears may better expresse then words of the great injury and contempt that is done unto the blessed promises both by mens carelesse and overly seeking after them as things of no great worth and by their sinful perverting of them unto wrong ends and purposes while they turn grace into wantonnesse and sin the more freely because of the redundancy of divine mercy which is manifested in them God layes it as an heavy charge against Israel that he had written unto them the great things of his law but they were counted as a strange thing Hos 8. 12. How much more are they blame-worthy who are guilty of despising the Magnalia Evangelii and of setting light by the most choice and excellent things of the Gospel as if they were of little or no importance for the obtaining of life and salvation This complaint if it had no circumstances to aggravate it but were onely laid in the general against men that they have forsaken the fountain of living water and hewed them out cisternes broken cisternes that can hold no water Jer. 2. 13. It would quickly prove to be so black an indictment as could neither admit of an excuse to lessen the sin nor yet of pitty to mitigate the punishment that deserves to be inflicted upon such offenders But if we shall consider it in the several aggravations which heighten it we may then at this sinne justly crie out Be astonished O ye heavens at this and be horribly afraid be ye very desolate There are five particulars that make the complaint more sad and the injury which is done unto the promises the more exceeding sinful SECT 1. The first Aggravation is taken from the universality of this sin they who are transgressors in this matter are not a few Parisiensis speaking of Davids Psalmes cries out Eheu quot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habet sanctus David vel potiùs Spiritus sanctus ad suam Cytharam Oh! how many Dullards hath holy David or rather the holy Spirit to his harp who are little affected with the heavenly melody that it makes And may it not be as truly said concerning the precious promises of Christ Oh! how many are there that taste little or nothing of their sweetnesse What vast numbers of men are there who see no more worth and beauty in them then blinde persons do in the Sunne How many be there that spend and blaze away the lamp of their time in frothy studies and curious speculations but seldome or never look into the Bible to read and understand what their interest or right is to the blessings of heaven by the promises How ambitious are others to be thought to know much of the minde of God concerning his decrees which
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
its orbe doth then enlighten the earth farre more then multitudes of stars that shine bright in the clearest night and so one promise in armies of changes that befall beleevers fills their souls with more serenity and peace then the confluence of all outward contentments can produce under one small and petty crosse A Christian many times walkes more chearfully under sore fiery trials then others in the sun-shine of worldly prosperity The three children walkt to and fro with more joy in the furnace then Nebuchadnezzar in his stately Palace CHAP. VI. Containing positive rules directing to the right use of the promises HAving shew'd what a promise is and the sundry respects wherein the promises of the Gospel are precious by way of eminency and excesse I passe on to the third general head which is made up of several rules and directions that concern the due application of them which are by so much the more necessary by how much the promises above all other parts of the sacred Oracles of God are most apt to be deeply injured by the two sinful extremes of distrust and presumption The infirme beleever whose jealousies and misgivings are too strong for his faith puts away from him the consolations of the promises as small and looks upon them as cordials not strong enough to heale and remove his distempers The over-secure and self-confident person placeth his fond presumptions in the roome of Gods promise and thereby drawes as certaine a ruine upon himselfe as he who ventures to go over a deep river without any other bridge then what his shadow makes I shall therefore branch the rules which concerne the right use of them into rules positive and cautionary the one pointing out several duties which every one must exercise himselfe in that would willingly reape any real fruit and advantage from the promises the other forewarning the many errours and mistakes which are as stones of stumbling to weak Christians or as stones that lye upon the mouth of the wells of salvation which must be removed before the water of comfort can be drawn from them I shall begin with the positive rules which are many SECT 1. Eye God in the promises First in the applying of any promise fix the eye of your faith upon God and Christ in it Promises are not the primary object of faith but the secondary or they are rather the meanes by which we believe then the things on which we are to rest As in the Sacraments the elements of bread and wine serve as outward signes to bring Christ and a beleever together but that which faith closeth with and feedeth upon is Christ in the Ordinance and not the naked elements themselves So the promises are instrumental in the coming of Christ and the soul together they are the warrant by which faith is imboldned to come to him and to take hold of him but the union which faith makes is not between a beleever and the promise but between a beleever and Christ And therefore those Divines who in their Catechetical Systems have made the formal object of faith to be the promise rather then the person of Christ have failed in their expressions if not in their intentions and have spoken rather popularly then accurately For the object of faith is not ens complexum an Evangelical maxim or proposition but ens incomplexum the person of Christ as the whole current of Scripture-expressions do abundantly testifie wherein faith is described by receiving of Christ Joh. 1. 12. by beleeving on him Joh. 3. 16. by coming to him Joh. 6. 36. As we cannot come to Christ without the aide of a promise so may we not rest in the promise without closing with Christ The promises they are but as the field and Christ is the hidden pearle which is to be sought in them they are as the golden candlesticks and he is both as the Olive-tree which drops fatnesse into them and as the light which shines in them they are as the Alabaster-box and he is as the precious spicknard which sends forth the delightful savour they are as the the golden pot and he is the Mannah which is treasured and laid up in them they are as the glasse and he is the beautifull face which is to be seen in them We all beholding with open face as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. But in looking unto God and Christ in the promise let the eye of faith be directed especially to these foure attributes and perfections of God the freenesse of his grace in making them the absolutenesse of his power to effect them the unhangeablenesse of his counsel not to revoke or disannull the least iota of them the greatnesse of his wisdome to performe all which he hath spoken in the best season and joynt of time These are foure such pillars upon which faith may safely leane and which the strength of the most violent temptations can never shake much lesse overturne as Sampson did the pillars of the house against which he leaned Judg. 16. 30. SECT 2. Eye free grace First view with the eye of faith the freenesse of Gods grace in making so many rich promises they are all patents of grace not bills of debt expressions of love not rewards of services gifts not wages He that made many out of mercy might without the least umbrage of injustice have made none Though his truth do tie him to the performance of them yet his love and mercy onely did move him to the making of them his promise hath made him a debtour but free grace made him a promiser And here the assertion of the School may be judged sound Divina voluntas licèt simpiciter libera sit ad extra ex suppositione tamen unius actus liberi potest necessitari ad alterum Though the will of God be most entirely free in all his manifestations towards the creature yet upon the voluntary and free precedency of one supposed act we may justly conceive him to be necessarily obliged to a second Thus God was most absolutely free in the making of his promises but having made them he is necessitated to the fulfilling of them by his truth According to that of the Apostle Tit. 1. 2. God who cannot lie hath promised before the world began And that of the Prophet Thou wilt performe the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham Mich. 7. 20. The making of the promise unto Abraham was free mercy the fulfilling of it to Jacob was justice and truth This direction touching the freenesse of Gods grace in the promises is exceeding usefull to succour and relieve the perplexing fears of the weak and tempted Christian who though he have eyes to see the unspeakable worth and excellencie of the promises yet hath not the confidence to put forth the hand of faith and to apply them to his necessities He wants forgivenesse of sinnes but doubts the promise