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A90291
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The stedfastness of promises, and the sinfulness of staggering: opened in a sermon preached at Margarets in Westminster before the Parliament Febr. 28. 1649. Being a day set apart for solemn humiliation throughout the nation. By John Owen minister of the Gospel.
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Owen, John, 1616-1683.
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1650
(1650)
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Wing O808; Thomason E599_9; Thomason E618_7; ESTC R203108
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32,151
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58
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not Mal. 1. So that though every one to whom the Promise is held out hath not the fruit of the Promise yet this derogates not at all from the sincerity of God in his Promises for he doth not hold them forth to any such End and Purpose as to declare his Intentions concerning particular persons 2 There are some absolute Promises comprehensive of the Covenant of Grace which as to all those that belong to that Covenant do hold out thus much of the Mind of God That they shall certainly be Accomplished in and towards them all The Soul may freely be invited to venture on these Promises with Assurance of their Efficacy towards him 3 This God principally declares in all his Promises of his Mind and Purpose That every Soul to whom they shall come may freely rest on to wit That Faith in the Promises and the Accomplishment of the Promises are inseparable He that believeth shall enjoy This is most certain this God declares of his Mind his heart towards us That as for all the good Things he hath spoken of to us it shall be to us according to our Faith This I say the Promises of God do signifie of his Purpose That the Believer of them shall be the Enjoyer of them In them the Righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith Rom. 1. 17. From the Faith of God Revealing to the Faith of Man Receiving So that upon the making out of any Promise you may safely Conclude That upon Believing the Mercy the Christ the Deliverance of this Promise is mine It is true if a man stand disputing and staggering whether he have any share in a Promise and close not with it by Faith he may come short of it and yet without the least Impeachment of the Truth of the Promise or sincerity of the Promiser for God hath not signified by them That men shall enjoy the good Things of them whether they believe or not Thus far the Promises of Grace are General and carry a Truth to all that there is an inviolable Connexion between Believing and the Enjoyment of the Things in them contained And in this Truth is the Sincerity of the Promiser which can never be questioned without Sin and Folly And this wholly shuts up the Spirit from any occasion of staggering O ye of little Faith wherefore do ye doubt Ah! lest our share be not in this Promise lest we are not intended in it Poor Creatures there is but this one way of keeping you off from it that is Disputing it in your selves by Unbelief Here lyes the Sincerity of God towards thee That Believing thou shalt not come short of what thou aimest at Here then is no Room for staggering If Proclamation be made granting Pardon to all such Rebels as shall come in by such a season do men use to stand questioning whether the STATE bear them any good will or no No saith the poor Creature I will cast my self upon Their Faith Truth engaged in Their Proclamation whatever I have deserved in particular I know They will be Faithful in Their Promises The Gospel-Proclamation is of Pardon to all Comers in to all Believers it is not for thee poor staggerer to question what is the Intendment towards thee in particular but roll thy self on this There is an absolute Sincerity in the ENGAGEMENT which thou mayest freely rest upon But 4 Though all be present Truth Power Sincerity yet if he that makes the Promise should Forget this were a ground of staggering Pharaoh's Butler without doubt made large Promises to Joseph and probably spake the Truth according to his present Intention afterwards standing in the presence of Pharaoh restored to Favour he had doubtless Power enough to have procured the liberty of a poor Innocent Prisoner but yet this would not do it did not profit Joseph because as the Text sayes he did not remember Joseph but forgat him Gen. 39. 23. This forgetting made all other things useless But neither hath this the least Colour in Divine Promises It was Syons infirmity to say The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me Isa. 49. 14. For saith the Lord Can a woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb yea they may forget but I will not forget thee behold I have graven thee upon the palmes of my hands and thy walls are continually before me vers. 15 16. The Causes of forgetfulnes are 1 Want of Love The things that men Love not they care not for the matters of their Love are continually in their thoughts Now says God to Syon Why sayest thou I have forgotten thee Is it for want of Love Alass the Love of a most tender Mother to her sucking Child comes infinitly short of my Love to thee My Love to thee is more fixed than so and how shouldest thou be out of my mind How shouldest thou be forgotten Infinite Love will have infinite Thoughtfulness and Remembrance 2 Multiplicity of business This with men is a Cause of forgetting I had done sayes one as I Promised but multiplicity of Occasions thrust it out of my mind I pray excuse me Alass though I Rule all the World yet thou art graven upon the palms of my hands and therefore thy walls are continually before me See also Psal. 77. 9. Neither then is there as to this the least colour given us to stagger at the Promise of God 5 But lastly Where all other things concur yet if the person Promising be changable if he may alter his Resolution a man may justly doubt and debate in himself the Accomplishment of any Promise made to him It is true may he say He now speaks his heart and mind but who can say he will be of this mind to morrow May he not be turned and then what becomes of the Golden Mountains that I Promised my self upon his Engagement Wherefore in the last place the Lord carefully rejects all sinful surmises concerning the least change or alteration in him or any of his Engagements He is the Father of Lights with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning Jam. 1. 18. no shadow no appearance of any such thing I am the Lord saith he I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed Mal 3. 6. The Lord knows that if any thing in us might prevail with him to alter the Word that is gone out of his mouth we should surely perish We are poor provoking Creatures therefore he laies our not being consumed only on this even his Own unchangableness This we may rest upon he is of one mind and who can turn him And in these Observations have I given you the first Demonstration of the Point All staggering is from our own unbelief The Experience which we have of the mighty Workings of God for the Accomplishment of all his Promises gives light unto this thing We have found it true That where he is once engaged he will certainly go
will be merciful to your sins I pray believe me for I will pardon your iniquities yea it shall be so I will blot cut your Transgressions as a cloud There is not any want whereunto we are liable but thus he hath dealt concerning it As his Command is line upon line so is his Promise And this is one way whereby God causeth the Truth of his Promises to appear To take away all colour of staggering he speaks once yea twice if we will hear 2 The Second way of Confirming any Truth is by an Oath Though we fear the Truth of some men in their Assertions yet when once they come to Swear any thing in Justice and Judgement there are very few so knownly profligate and past all sense of God but that their Asseverations do gain Credit and passe for Truth Hence the Apostle tells us Heb. 6. 16. That an Oath for Confirmation is to men an end of all strife Though the Truth be before ambiguous and doubtful yet when any interposes with an Oath there is no more Contest amongst men That nothing may be wanting to win our Belief to the Promises of God he hath taken this Course also he hath sworn to their Truth Heb. 6 13. When God made Promises to Abraham because he could swear by no greater he sware by himself He confirms his Promise by an Oath O faelices nos quorum causa Deus jurat ô infaelices si nec juranti Deo credimus When Christ came in whom all the Promises of God are Yea and Amen to make sure work of the Truth of them he is confirmed in his Administrations by an Oath Heb. 7. 21. He was made a Priest by an Oath by him that said The Lord sware and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever Now I pray what is the cause of this great Condescention in the God of Heaven to confirm that word which in it self is Truth by an Oath The Apostle satisfies us as to the End aimed at Heb. 6. 17 18. This was saith he the Aim of God herein That his People seeing him ingaged by two such immutable things as his Promise and his Oath may be assured that there is an utter impossibility That any one word of his should come short of it's Truth or that they firmly resting upon it should be deceived thereby And this is a Second way 3 Another Course wherby men Confirm the Truth of what they speak is by entring into Covenant to accomplish what they have spoken A Covenant gives strength to the Truth of any ingagement When a man hath but told you he will do such and such things for you you are full of doubts and fears that he may break with you but when he hath indented in a Covenant and you can shew it under his Hand and Seal you look upon that consider that and are very secure Even this way also hath the Lord taken to confirm and establish his Truths and Promises that all doubtings and staggerings may be excluded he hath wrapped them all up in a Covenant and brought himself into a faederal Ingagement that upon every Occasion and at every Temptation we may draw out his Hand and Seal and say to Satan and our own false hearts see here behold God ingaged in Covenant to make good the word wherein he hath caused me to put my Trust and this is his property That he is a God keeping Covenant So that having his Promise redoubled and that confirmed by an Oath all Sealed and made sure by an unchangeable Covenant what can we require more to assure us of the Truth of these things But yet further 4 In things of very great weight and Concernment such as whereon Lives and the Peace of Nations does depend men use to give Hostages for the securing each other of the Faith and Truth of all their Ingagements that they may be mutual Pledges of their Truth and Fidelity Neither hath the Lord left this way unused to confirm his Promise He hath given us an Hostage to secure us of his Truth one exceedingly dear to him one alwayes in his bosome of whose Honor he is as Careful as of his Own Jesus Christ is the great Hostage of his Fathers Truth the Pledge of his Fidelity in his Promises God hath set him forth and given him to us for this end Behold the Lord himself shall give you a sign a sign that he will fulfil his word A virgin shall conceive and bare a Son and shall call his name Immanuel Isa 7. 14. That you may be assured of my Truth the Virgins Son shall be a Hostage of it In him are all the Promises of God Yea and Amen Thus also to his Saints he gives the further Hostage of his Spirit and the first fruits of Glory that the full accomplishment of all his Promises may be contracted in a little and presented to their view As the Israelites had the pleasures of Canaan in the Clusters of Grapes brought from thence Now from all this it is apparent not only that there is Truth in all the Promises of God but also that Truth so confirmed so made out established that not the least Occasion imaginable is thence administred to staggering or doubting He that disputes the Promise and knows not how to close with them must find out another Cause of his so doing as to the Truth of the Promise there is no doubt at all nor place for any 2 But Secondly though there be Truth in the Promise yet there may want Ability in the Promiser to accomplish the thing Promised because of it's manifold difficulties This may be a Second Cause of staggering if the thing it self ingaged for be not compassable by the Ability of the Ingager As if a skilful Physitian should Promise a sick man a Recovery from his Disease though he could rely upon the Truth and Sincerity of his Friend yet he cannot but question his Ability as to this knowing that to cure the least Distemper is not absolutly in his power but when he Promises who is able to performe then all doubting in this kind is removed See then whether it be so in respect of these Promises whereof we speak When God comes to Abraham to ingage himself in that Covenant of Grace from whence flow all the Promises whereof we Treat He laies this down as the Bottom of all I am saith he God Almighty Gen. 17. 1. or God Alsufficient very well able to go through with what ever I Promise When Difficulties Temptations and Troubles arise remember who it is that hath Promised not only he that is true and faithful but he that is God Almighty before whom nothing can stand when he will accomplish his Word And that this was a bottom of great Confidence to Abraham the Apostle tells you Rom. 4. 21. Being fully perswaded that he who had Promised was able also to performe When God is ingaged by his VVord his Ability is especially to be eyed The Soul is apt