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
of blotting out iniquities belongs not unto him He is naked and gladly would that Christ might spread the skirt of his righteousnesse over him to hide his deformities But alas what hath a leper to do with a royal robe He is sick and diseased but the Physick that must cure him the least drop of it is more worth then a world and he is more vile then the dust How then can he expect that he should ever be the patient of such a Physician who will be both at the cost to buy the Physick and at the paines to administer it If he had an heart to love God as David if talents to glorifie God as Paul if he were but an Israelite without guile as Nathanael then he might have hopes together with them to have his person accepted his services rewarded and his imperfections pardoned But his heart with which he should love God is carnal and not spiritual his talents and abilities with which he should glorifie God are few or none his sincerity which should be the Evangelical perfection of all his duties hath more then an ordinary tincture of hypocrisie and self-ends mixed with it With what confidence therefore can such an one draw neer to Christ or ever expect to be welcomed by him Now to put to silence these reasonings and to allay these feares which unless checkt and bounded do oftentimes terminate in the blacknesse of despaire there is not a more effectual remedy then the consideration of the freenesse of the grace of God and Christ in the promises which are not made to such as deserve mercy but to such as want it not to righteous persons but to sinners not to the whole but to the sick And therefore such who through the weaknesse of faith or the violence of temptations finde it difficult to lay hold on the promises of God touching the pardon of sin and the obtaining of life and salvation let them resolve the promises into the first root and principle from whence they spring which is not from any good within us but wholly from grace without us and they will readily finde that by eying the ground and original of the promise they will sooner be encouraged and drawn to believe and to lay hold upon it then by looking onely to the promise it selfe Of all the wayes and experiments to beare up a sinking spirit there is no consideration like this that from the beginning to the end of our salvation nothing is primarily active but free grace This is a firme bottome of comfort against the guilt of the most bloody and crimson sins because free grace is not tied to any rules it may do what it pleaseth Some body that goes to heaven must be the greatest sinner and what if thou beest he whom God will make the everlasting monument of the riches of his love and mercy in Christ This is an impenetrable shield against the constant accusations of Satan drawn from unworthinesse unprofitablenesse backwardnesse to holy duties and distractions in them 'T is true may a beleever say I am unworthy and that which Satan makes the matter of his accusation is the daily matter of my confessions and self-judgings before God the sinnes which he pleads against me with delight I bemoane with tears of bitternesse And were the way which leads to heaven a ladder of duties and not a golden chaine of free grace I could not but fear that the higher I climbe the greater would my fall prove to be every service being like a brittle round that can beare no weight the whole frame and series of duties at the best far short of the ladder in Jacobs vision which had its foot standing upon the earth and its top reaching to heaven But the whole way of salvation from first to last is all of meere grace that the promise might be sure Rom. 4. 16. Every link of the golden chaine is made up of free mercy Election is free Eph. 1. 5. Vocation free 2 Tim. 1. 9. Justification free Rom. 5. 24. Sanctification free 1 Cor. 6. 11. Glorification free Rom. 6. 23. And therefore though I can challenge nothing of right yet I may ask every thing of mercy especially being invited by him who seedes not his people with empty promises but gives liberally unto every one that asketh and upbraides not either with former sinnes or present failings Jam. 1. 5. SECT 3. Eye Gods Power Secondly in the applying of every promise look with the eye of faith upon the greatnesse of Gods power which is able to fulfill to the least iota whatever he hath spoken and to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can aske or think Eph. 3. 20. The confining of Gods power according to the narrow apprehensions and dwarfish thoughts that men naturally have of him in their hearts the Scripture points out as the chief root of all that unbelief and distrust which is put forth in their lives Thus the Israelites in the wildernesse were seldome in any exigency which they looked upon beyond the possibility of second causes to deliver them from but they straightways called also into question the power of God Psalme 78. 19 20. They spake against God they said Can God furnish a table in the Wildernesse Behold he smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streames overflowed but can he give bread also can he provide flesh for his people So when they were in the long captivity of Babylon they had many cleare and expresse promises of being restored and brought back again into their own inheritance yet measuring the truth of Gods Word not by the strength of his power but by the improbabilities and impossibilities which did appeare to their reason they look upon themselves not as prisoners of hope but as free among the dead and as far from any expectation of deliverance as dead and drie bones are from reviving Our bones say they are dried up and our hopes are lost and we are cut off for our parts Ezek. 37. 11. Thus the Sadduces denied and deuided the great doctrine of the resurrection as being full of irreconcileable difficulties and inconsistencies How a body and a soul separated should be reunited how a body not only separated from the soul but dissolved into dust should be recompacted how dust scattered and blown up and down should be recollected was altogether beyond the line of their reason for to fathome or compasse Our Saviour therefore points out the ground of their errour to arise not onely from their ignorance of the Scripture which had foretold it but also of the power of God which was able to effect it Ye do erre not knowing the Scrptures nor the power of God Mat. 22. 29. Necessary therefore it is in the making use of any promise that a beleever have such conceptions of the power of God as that whatever lets and impediments do arise between the promise and the fulfilling of it though as high as mountaines and as strong as
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
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
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
to peep and with difficulty to put forth a feeble and disappearing light by and by he looks up again and then both their number and lustre are increased a while after he views the heavens again and then the whole firmament from every quarter with a numberlesse multitude of stars is richly enamelled as with so many golden studs So when a Christian first turnes his thoughts towards the promises the appearances of light and comfort which shine from them do oft-times seeme to be as weak and imperfect raies which neither scatter feares nor darknesse when again he sets himself to ripen and improve his thoughts upon them then the evidence and comfort which they yield to the soul is both more cleare and distinct but when the heart and affections are fully fixed in the meditation of a promise Oh! what a bright mirrour is the promise then to the eye of faith What legions of beauties do then appear from every part of it which both ravish and fill the soul of a beleever with delight How doth he sometimes admire free grace whereby God becomes a debtour not by taking any thing from us but by promising great things unto us How doth he triumph in the fulnesse of mercy which overflows in it as being enough to fill the widest capacity and to supply the greatest necessity How doth he stay himself upon the stability of the promise it being founded upon strength it self The strength of Israel who cannot lie One promise throughly ruminated and meditated upon is like to a morsel of meat well chew'd and digested which distributeth more nourishment and strength to the body then great quantities taken down whole Samson when he had made a great slaughter of his enemies and laid them heapes upon heapes yet he complaines that though God had given him so mighty a deliverance he was ready to die for thirst Judges 15. 18. So many Christians who make it their work to heap promise upon promise may yet be sorely distressed for want of comfort if by meditation they do not dive into the depths of the promise The water wherewith Samson was refreshed came forth out of an hollow place which the Lord clave in the jaw and the springs of comfort which beleevers drink of come out of the clifts of the promise which faith and meditation makes in it Let me therefore perswade such as are desirous and willing to make the utmost of every promise to put in practice this much neglected duty without which every Ordinance is of little fruit The Word as it must have preparation before it which like the plough fits the ground for the reception of the seed so must it have meditation to follow after which is as the harrow to cover and hide the new-sown seed or else the fowles of the aire will pick it up The Sacrament as it is food to be received with an appetite so is it to be digested with meditation else the nourishment will be little The promises as they must be read in the Scripture with diligence so must they be called to remembrance by many serious musings and actings of our thoughts upon them else they will never prove strengthening and reviving cordials Roses are sweeter in the still then on the stalke and promises are more fragrant in the heart then in the book The grapes hanging on the vine do not make the wine that cheares the heart of man but the grapes that are squeised and trodden in the wine-presse no more do the promises as they stand in the Bible work joy and gladnesse but as they are pondered in the minde and like pressed grapes have their juice and vertue drawn from them which by a percolation in the thoughts turnes into a most soveraigne and precious liquor SECT 4. Rule 5. Be much in the application of the Promises The fifth direction is to be much in the use and application of promises though we do not finde such visible effects either of grace or comfort issuing from them as we expect or desire Elijah when he went up to the top of mount Carmel and fell upon his face before the Lord to pray for raine he sent his servant seven times to look towards the sea before he saw so much as the appearance of a cloud of an hand-breadth yet was he not discouraged 1. King 18. 43. So beleevers though they have been much in musing upon the promises in their thoughts frequent in pleading and spreading them before the Lord in prayer and after all their lookings towards heaven say as the servant of Elijah when he looked towards the sea non est quicquam there is nothing yet must they not cast away their confidence in them or neglect the daily use of them because the promise and the word that goeth forth out of Gods mouth shall not returne unto him void but shall accomplish that which he pleaseth and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto he sent it Isa 55. 11. The manner of the fulfilling of it may be various but the performance of it is most certain The blessing of the promise descends sometimes like raine in visible showres producing the sensible effects of joy and peace in the soule sometimes it falls like dew in a silent and imperceptible way without making any discernable alteration in the heart of a beleever the vertue which it puts forth is real but yet withall hidden and secret As gold put and boyled in broth helps to make it strengthening and cordial which if weighed afterwards in the scale is found to lose little or nothing of its former weight or to suffer any dimiunition of its substance so the promise when much meditated on when frequently applied by a beleever to his present straits yields a secret influence and support though to his apprehension no vertue or quickening doth appear to have issued from it Then it is as the cork to the net to keep it floating in a sea of difficulties when every moment we look for nothing else but a dismal and irrecoverable perishing amidst those many rolling waves and billows that passe over us This direction I propound the rather because that Christians lying under fears darkness and temptations are not seldom like hasty patients under diseases and infirmities who if they finde not a present benefit in the use of Physick either in the removal or in the abatement of their distempers do straightways conclude that it were better for them to beare the paine of the disease then to trouble themselves with the daily applications of fruitless remedies prescripts not considering that Physick may be useful to prevent the danger of the disease when it doth not work the cure to keep them from growing worse though it do not make them better So beleevers when by the use of promises and other Ordinances they finde no sensible alteration for the better in respect of their present condition are apt to throw off the use of meanes as things that stand them in little
Prophet Their lines are fallen unto them in pleasant places yea they have a goodly heritage Psal 16. 6. SECT 3. Five assertions directing to the right understanding of temporall promises The third particular is the giving of rules for the right understanding of the nature of temporall promises and the manner of due applying them unto our selves which I shall set down in these five subsequent Assertions First that God declaration in his promises of giving temporall blessings is not absolute but carries with it a tacit condition and limitation of expediency The great and utmost end of all the promises is one and the same with that which is the chief end of man the fruition of God and communion with him in everlasting blessednesse Now the means that are subservient to this end are either such as are of absolute necessity and do immediately prepare and dispose the soul for the obtaining of it Or else such as are lesse requisite and have onely a remote and consequentiall tendency thereunto and that not of themselves but as they are over-ruled by God who makes Omnia cooperari in bonum all things to work together for good to them that love him And of this kinde are all temporall blessings prosperity riches health freedome and the like All which do as I conceive come no further under the verge of a promise then as they conduce to the happinesse of the other life this life being onely a way and passage unto it As the wildernesse was to Israel to bring them to Canaan Because therefore none can know what is that measure of these outward comforts which most tends to the furtherance of their eternall happinesse which in and above all things ought to be eyed by them It being haply more for their spirituall good to have many advantages of this life in a lesse degree rather then in a greater to want them rather then to enjoy them They cannot then in their supplications to God seeke the absolute performance of his promises in temporall blessings but must refer themselves to his wisdome and faithfulnesse so to order and measure out the comforts of this life unto them as may best stand with the welfare of their everlasting condition without which all earthly happinesse is no other then a splendid misery But it is much otherwise in the blessings of grace and holinesse which are things so essential to a beleevers fruition of God as that without faith he cannot please God Heb. 11. 6. without holinesse he cannot see God Heb. 12. 14. without being born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3. 3. And being therefore so intrinsecally good in themselves so absolutely also necessary unto salvation they are in prayer to be most absolutely sought as considered in their essence but their degrees are arbitrary God giving to some a lesse to others a greater measure of grace according to his pleasure The second Assertion is that the fulfilling of temporal promises is disjunctive God either giving the blessing it self or that which is equivalent unto it The promises of God are all made in Christ and derive their certainty and stability from him in whom they are made not from us to whom they are made they are all ratified with the same oath and purchased by the same blood And though they are not equally precious in regard of the things promised yet they are equally true in regard of the certainty of their performance onely the manner of their fulfilling is different In the spiritual promises God gives the things in kinde for how can they be otherwise made good What is answerable in worth or excellency to grace the least drop of which is of more value then the whole creation In temporals God gives the things themselves or makes a compensation some other way If riches be asked of him in prayer and yet denied he makes it up in contentation which brings that satisfaction with it that riches cannot yield If health be prayed for and not granted he gives strength to beare the crosse by putting under his everlasting armes If deliverance in trouble be desired and not obtained he gives the divine consolations of Martyrs which that Noble Landgrave of Hessia said he found in his long and tedious imprisonment And in thus doing God doth not break his promise but change it to the better It is said of our Saviour Heb. 5. 7. That in the dayes of his flesh he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared That which Christ prayed for was deliverance O'Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me Mat. 26. 39. Was there then any defect in Christs faith in that he did not obtain the thing prayed sor Or how was his prayer heard did he not die the death of the crosse was he not buried in the grave Yes but yet he had from God an answer of supportation though not of deliverance He was strengthened in his agonie by the appearance of an Angel Luke 22. 43. He was assured by Gods promise of victorie over death though not of freedome from it He under-went the darknesse of the grave but not the corruption of it Psal 16. 10. The third assertion is that temporal promises are to be expounded with the reservation and exception of the Crosse God in the Covenant of Grace which is the adequate measure of his obligation to believers hath kept to himself this prerogative of chastening the delinquencies of his children with rods Psal 89. 33. of withdrawing his favours from them when they with-hold their obedience to him of exercising the severity of a Father as well as the indulgency of a Mother And therefore beleevers when they want the staffe of many outward comforts in their hand and feel the smart of the rod of affliction upon their back they are not to suspect Gods fidelity in his promise but to reflect upon themselves and by a serious disquisition to consider from whence the suspension of any good things that he hath promised doth arise And if Christians under Gods reâ—ukes did make this their chief task they would be so farre from charging him with unfaithfulnesse as that they would more wonder that God is pleased to vouchsafe them any thing that are Prodigals that justly deserve nothing In the midst of their deepest trials they would say as the Church did in her extremities It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed Great is thy faithfulnesse O Lord Lam. 3. 22 23. The fourth Assertion is that temporal mercies in the promises are onely to be obtained by a well regulated prayer in which God is sought after a right manner and the mercies begged for a right end First the manner of seeking God must be in faith James 1. 6. Let him ask in faith nothing wavering But the faith here required is not the faith of a
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