by a rolling and staying of its selfe upon God Isa 50. 10. sometimes by a trusting in him Isa 26. 4. sometimes by receiving of Christ Colos 2. 6. sometimes by a coming unto him Joh. 6. 36. All which expressions do speak the spiritual motions and affections of the heart towards Christ in cleaving and adhering unto him which beleevers onely exercise and not hypocrites or castawayes And therefore they are said not to rely on God or to look towards him Isa 31. 1. Not to trust in him Psal 78. 22. not to receive Christ John 1. 11. not to come unto him John 5. 40. Their faith is a forme of faith but it wants the power and efficacy which accompanies saving faith This Cautionary Rule is with the more circumspection to be heeded in regard that multitude of professors do rest themselves contented in that general acknowledgement and assent which they yield to the truths of the Gospel though haply the chief enducement by which they are led unto it be no other then custome education or the authority of the Church They think that the believing there is a God that Christ is the Saviour of the world that he died for sinners is faith enough to carry them out of the wildernesse into Canaan out of the world into heaven But alas this and much more may be beleeved and yet no benefit at all accrue unto them who are perswaded of the certainty of these supernaturall verities Here the Logicians rule holds true Medicina curat Socratem non hominem Physick is not given to mans nature to cure the Species but to every man in individuâ— to heal his person Christ and his promises are not beneficial unto any but unto them who make a particular application of both unto themselves What comfort is it to an insolvent debtour to believe that there are rich mines of gold in that land into which he is fled to shelter himself from his creditors What relief is it to a thirsty man that there is a full vintage of cordiall and refreshing wines growing not farre from him if he have no hope that he shall taste the least drop of it What satisfaction is it to a condemned person to be assured that there is a pardon granted and sealed for many if there be no ground for him to conceive that his name is included in it No more can it advantage any man to believe that Christ died to reconcile sinners to God and that by a glorious resurrection from the grave he hath ascended the throne of Majesty and lives for ever to make intercession for them unlesse with the beliefe of these blessed truths there be conjoyned a particular reliance upon Christ for salvation and a casting of a mans selfe into the armes of his free mercy for the obtaining of the forgivenesse of sinnes and the justifying of his person at the tribunal of God Do not the devils beleeve a God and tremble James 1. 19. Do they not acknowledge Christ his Sonne Luk. 4. 34. And bow the knee unto him Phil. 2. 10. Do not they know and beleeve that Christ died in general for sinners and that they which fix their confidence in him shall be saved by him What article of the Creed is it which they yield not an assent unto And shall the faith whereby beleevers are justified not exceed the faith of these infernal spirits But if it be said That the assent which the devils yield is full of force and coaction and is commanded by the evidence and Majesty of those infallible truths which they do not at all love or affect but the general belief which Christians have of the revealed truths of the Gospel is altogether free and voluntary and is thereby distinguished from the faith of devils This difference though it may seeme at first blush somewhat specious yet is it both insufficient and impertinent for that end to which it is assigned in regard that the distinction which it makes of the one assent from the other is from what is meerly accidental and not from what is essential to the nature and being of faith For they who make faith to be an act of the understanding onely and to consist in an assent unto the truth of those things which God hath revealed cannot properly fetch the essential difference which is between the faith of devils and the faith of Christians from the voluntarinesse or involuntarinesse of the assent from the liking or disliking of the truths which they beleeve because those are acts of another faculty in which by them faith is not acknowledged to be seated Besides the assent which the good Angels give unto the glorious truths of the Gospel which with diligence they look into 1 Pet. 1. 12. is both voluntary and delightful and yet it is most distinct and differing from the credence and assent which beleevers do give unto the same truths it not being accompanied with a particular application and reliance for life and salvation as it alwayes is in beleevers who do with a justifying faith embrace and apply the promises of the Gospel unto themselves A man may be called to be a witness to a Will to averre the truth of it though he have no legacy given unto him in it so the Angels as so many heavenly witnesses do affirme and assent unto the truth of those things which Christ hath declared in his Gospel as in his last Will and Testament But beleevers are as so many Legatees which have particular blessings therein bequeathed unto them therefore must not rest in a general belief of the truth of the things but must claime their propriety and interest in them before they can ever have any benefit or comfort from them But if it be further objected that the Scripture doth in many places attribute salvation to a general faith and that the Centurions faith which our Saviour so much commended Mat. 8. 10. seemeth to imply no more then an historical belief of Christs power and divinity that Peters confession of Christ Mat. 16. 16. was but general that Martha's faith John 11. 27. was of the same stamp that Saint Johns character of the new birth is set forth by a general faith Whosoever beleeveth that Jesus is the Christ is borne of God 1. Joh. 5. To the solving of this doubt a double answer may be given First that in those times the difficulty lay rather upon the assent then upon the affiance and the question then was more about the person of Christ then the office of Christ Now because it was a great matter in the first dawnings of the Gospel to beleeve him to be the Messiah whose outward appearance was so meane and contemptible to the eye of the world therefore doth the Scripture much magnifie and heighten this act Secondly though the Scripture-expressions do lay much upon this one act of faith yet do they not exclude but suppose the other acts of faith to be joyned with it To a true beleeving
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
ran and kneeled and prayed to Christ turn his back upon him go from him How quickly are his desires turned into sorrow and his prayer into a fearful apostasie Now then if earthly things do make the heart thus unstedfast and unfaithful to God how exceedingly must they needs indispose it for the reception of grace and comfort from God in all his promises to the obtaining of which nothing is more requisite then an evenness and constancy of the desires in seeking after them and an entirenesse and onenesse of heart in laying hold on them For as all the promises are one in Christ and cannot be severed or parted no more then lines in their common centre so neither must the heart by which they are embraced be divided Whole Christ and all his promises are given to every believer and are no otherwise diversified then according to the exigence of mens present conditions which sometimes requires the application of one promise and sometimes of another and therefore must the whole heart be given unto him again or else we cannot ever expect to have any interest in him or his blessed promises True it is that in the best of Christians there is found an unstedfastnesse of heart and affections but it is not an unstedfastnesse in respect of the object but onely in degrees It is not such as distracts the heart and makes it to float between two different objects but onely makes it unequall in its motions towards one and the same thing As the bowle when it is first throwne out of the hand runs more swiftly towards the marke then it doth afterwards but yet the tendency of the motion is the same though the vigor and strength of it be not alike so believers when partakers of some fresh gales of the Spirit do then move towards Christ with more quick and lively affections then at other times but yet by that inward principle of holinesse that is within them they are alwayes carried towards him in their desires though not after one equall and uniforme manner This Caution therefore though it be the last yet is it not the least which believers are with much diligence and circumspection to observe that would gladly be partakers of the spirituall riches and treasures which are in the promises But the end of it is not that we should abandon all care and industry in our Callings or that we should affect a voluntary and Monkish poverty as if there were an absolute inconsistency between the having the blessings of this life and the enjoyments of the other life We may possesse earthly comforts but we must not be possessed by them We may use them as flowers to smell on but not as garlands to crowne our selves with them We may in our pilgrimage walk with them as staves in our hands seeking a countrey which is above but we may not load our selves with them and beare them as burthens upon our backs We may make them our encouragements but not our confidence We may minde them as our accessories but we may not love them as our principal happinesse As bees though they live in the midst of their cells of honey and wax yet have not their wings touched with any viscuous matter that may hinder their delightfull flight abroad and their nimble passing from one flower to another So should Christians that live in the abundance of earthly comforts as in an hive of sweetnesse be exceeding carefull that nothing of the world do cleave to their affections which are the wings of the soule that may hinder the lifting and raising up of their he arts towards heavenly objects or abate the activity of their thoughts in their frequent musings on the promises and other mysteries of the Gospell on which the minde above all other things ought to be most exercised and delighted I have now done with the third particular that in the entrance of this task was propounded to be handled and have insisted longer upon every direction both positue and cautionary then I first intended but my end was not to offend any by prolixity but to render them more useful and necessary unto all then otherwise they might have been if contracted into a lesse and narrower compasse and made like unto the description of a pitched field or battle wherein there are many heads and speares painted but few or no compleat and entire bodies CHAP. XII In which divers Queries are resolved I Come now to the fourth particular which doth consist of divers Queries together with their resolutions the clear answering of which will much facilitate the use and application of the promises And the first Quere is Whether the essence of saving and justifying faith doth lie in a prevailing Assurance so as that he who truly believes doth certainly know himself to have faith and to believe on Christ SECT 1. Faith is not a full assurauce This question I do the rather chuse to speak somewhat unto in regard that many of our Divines have in their writings not distinguished between Fides Fiducia and Certituda Faith Affiance and Assurance but have promiscuously treated of them as if they were one and the same thing Yea sundrie pious and learned men have defined faith to be a full perswasion of the heart grounded on the promises of God c. Now that which chiefly led them to give this definition of faith was their zeale to maintaine the certainty and evidence of faith against Popish doubtings But a good intention will no more make a truth then a faire marke will make a good shoote For while on the one hand they have endeavoured to vindicate faith from that languor and uncertainty unto which the Papists have subjected it they have on the other hand occasioned great feares and perplexities to arise in the hearts of many tender and weak Christians who are apt to use this as an argument against themselves that they have no faith at all because they have no Assurance at all To keep therefore such bruised reeds from being broken and the smoking flax from being quenched under the sense of their want of Assurance I shall by sundrie demonstrations clearly shew that the essence of saving faith doth not stand in a prevailing Assurance that a believer may have the one and yet want the other The first shall be taken from that estate and condition of men whom Christ the great Judge of all the world doth pronounce and declare to be blessed and they are such as are believers because all blessednesse under the Gospel cometh onely by faith And this blessednesse standeth in the forgivenesse of sinnes Rom. 4. 6 7. Yet their present condition speaketh nothing lesse then Assurance Blessed are the poore in spirit saith our Saviour Math. 5. 3. So again Blessed are they that mourne ver 4. And againe Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousnesse ver 6. But spirituall poverty mourning hunger though they be Gospel-graces which do arise from faith are all together
was honoured with the dispensation of the Gospel and had his labours crowned with the conversion of many thousand soules Let not therefore such who have fallen by their iniquities but yet return again by sincere repentance say that all their dayes shall end in darknesse that their names shall ever be unsavoury that themselves shall alwayes be as barren and dry trees but let them remember that comfortable promise that God made to repenting Israel Zeph. 3. 19 20. who tells them that he will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame CHAP. XIV In which the third Query is resolved viz. What use may be made of such promises as we cannot expect to see the performance of THe third Query which I shall propound and endeavour to satisfie is What use a believer may make of all those glorious and rich promises which he can never expect to see the performance of such as are the beauty and prosperity of the Church in peace and holinesse when all pricking briers and grieving thornes shall be removed out of the midst of it The calling and conversion of the Jewes The downefall and ruine of Antichrist All which seeme to be as blessings reserved for future ages and not to be hoped for in the present times To this I answer that true it is that the promises of God are as bonds of a different date and do successively take place in several ages and generations of the Church being so purposely ordered by the infinite wisdome of God that though he be continually accomplishing some one or other of his blessed promises unto his people there might yet be a most plentifull reserve of new mercies unto the last ages of the world that so it might appeare that former generations have not exhausted or diminished the treasure of his love and bounty to the prejudice of those that should succeed them But yet such promises which future times and not the present shall see to be fulfilled are of much use unto present believers and by the due application of them may yield much satisfaction and comfort unto those who like the Patriarchs can see them afarre off and being perswaded of the truth of them do joyfully imbrace them as Mariners do the desired port at a distance Heb. 11 13. It was a great comfort and contentment unto Moses that though God would not let him enter into the land of promise yet before his death he would from the top of Pisgah give him a full prospect of its glory and beauty Deut. 34. 1. And so to a believer it must needs be a matter of much joy and delight that though he cannot live to partake of the future mercies that God hath reserved for his Church yet he may by the eye of faith have a distinct view of them in the promises as in a lively map and may behold the glory of that portion of blessing and goodnesse which God will bestow upon his people in the ages that are to come But more particularly there may be a foure fold use made by a believer of all such promises whose accomplishment do seeme to be at a remote distance and period of times First they are usefull to support and beare up believers under present troubles and sore afflictions that the Church may be exercised with that it shall not be ruined and undone by them Navicula est quae turbari potest sed mergi non potest The Church is as a ship saith Austine which may be tossed with tempests but cannot be sunk and shipwrackt by them It being the onely heir of all the promises that God hath made it must live to enjoy them else they must become void and of no effect or be as Bona adespota Goods that have no person or Lord to lay claime unto them And if we consult the Scriptures we shall finde that in the times which were most dark and over-cast God did most frequently use such promises to confirme to his people their deliverance out of present straits that were not to take place till many ages after that from thence they might conclude their condition not to be hopelesse and desperate in regard of future blessings which God would performe to their succeeding generations Thus when Jacob was in Egypt where his seed were oppressed with a long and heavie bondage he prophesieth that the scepter should not depart from Judah till Shiloh came Gen. 49. 10. So when Rezin King of Syria and Pekah King of Israel joyned in a confederacy against Judah and that the hearts of the people through feare were as the trees of the wood when moved with the winde Isai 7. 3. the Lord to assure his people that they should be delivered and that their attempts against Jerusalem should not come to pass gives no other signe but this Behold a Virgin shall conceive and beare a son and ye shall call his name Immanuel vers 14. It was the land in which the Saviour of the world was to be borne and they the tribe from which he was to descend And therefore they might be fully confident that for that very promise sake ruine and extiâ—pation should not be fall them So again in Israels long captivity of seventy yeares though multitudes of them in that long tract of time could expect no other liberty then to be free among the dead yet the Lord in the beginning of it doth by the Prophecy of Jeremiah which was to be read unto them promise deliverance out of it and comforts them with the assurance of their freedom and their enemies ruine of both which he makes the casting of the Prophets book into the midst of Euphrates to be a signe unto them Jer. 51. 63 64. And why then may not we in these distracted and divided times both in regard of opinion and practice yet hope and believe that those blessed promises of Peace and Union with which God hath promised to beautifie his Church shall at length be performed and from thence gather so much present comfort as not to deeme our breaches incurable and past all healing True it is that Christians are like bees gone forth into so many swarmes as that to reason it seemes beyond possibility that ever they should by the sound of the Word as by a golden bell be brought under one hive But yet that one promise of Gods giving his people one heart and one way that they may feare him for ever for the good of them and their children after them Jer. 32. 39. is enough to support those that are peace-makers that their labour shall not be in vain and to comfort those that mourne for the sad rents that are made that there is hope in Israel concerning this thing Secondly such promises are useful to believers as a firme rock to bottome their prayers upon which they make on the behalfe of the Church To pray that Christs Kingdome may come and that it may spread it self unto the utmost ends
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
carry should refuse to do the one that they might thereby be enabled to do the other What is it else that God and Christ do require of men to the receiving of the promises but only that they would disburden themselves of earthly incumbrances which hinder the reception of spiritual mercies that so with hearts emptied of worldly affections and cares they may be qualified for the fulnesse of heavenly riches When Joseph invited his father and brethren to come down into Egypt he bids them not to regard their stuffe for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours Gen. 45. 20. So the true heavenly Joseph when he invited men to come unto him he bids them not to set their hearts on things on the earth because all the riches of his Kingdome are before them and by his promises made over to them How inexcuseable then must their neglect be who do not with answerable hearts and desires embrace such precious offers SECT 5. A fifth aggravation is taken from the command of God and Christ We are not onely invited to take hold of the promises but we are commanded to believe the excellency of them This saith the Apostle is his commandment that we should beleeve on the Name of his Sonne Jesus Christ Joh. 3. 23. That is we ought so to beleeve his promises his sayings as to count them worthy of all acceptation As we assent unto them for their truth so are we to embrace them for their preciousnesse and worth Our faith must work by love it must put forth it self in the strength of all affection by our esteeming and prizing of them above the most desirable things of the world Thus David did when he said Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoycings of my heart Psalm 119. 111. Gods promises he made as his lands as his goods as his all They were more dear to him then all his temporal things whatsoever When therefore they are not thus honoured both in the hearts and in the lives of beleevers the great Commandment of the Gospel is violated the disobedience of which will be recompenced with more heavy and sore judgements then the breaches of the Law CHAP. XVIII Foure differences between the promises of God and Satan THe second Application from this truth That the promises of the Gospel are precious shall be to acquaint us with the wide differences that are between the promises of God and the promises of the Devil who is the great deceiver of the whole world Rev. 12. 9. Sinne which Satan by all his arts endeavoureth to make men guilty of that so they may be as miserable as himself is in it self so full of deformity and uglinesse as that if it were but seen in its true shape there could not be a more effectual argument to keep men from the commission of it then it s own monstrosity There are three things say the School that cannot be defined Dei formositas materiae primae informitas peccati deformitas The Amiablenesse and beauty of God the informity of the first matter and the deformity of sin Now to hide and cover this misshapen monster Satan useth not a few devices Sometimes he makes it to appear in the habit and likenesse of a vertue and thus he tempts men to covetousnesse under the notion of frugality to riot and prodigality under the colour of liberality Sometimes he varnisheth it with the specious shews of profit and gaine and promiseth large rewards to them that will but comply with his suggestions and counsels And this is one of the most subtil artifices that he useth to withdraw a man from any good to entice and winne him to any sin Thus he tempted Balaam to venture upon the cursing of Gods people by the promise of honour and preferment Micha's Levite with a small augmentation of his stipend promised unto him he tempted both to theft and idolatry Judas upon the promise of thirty pieces of silver which the instruments of the devil make unto him he tempts to sell the life and blood of his blessed Master yea by a franke and large promise of all the kingdomes of the world he tempts our Lord and Saviour to the highest act of idolatry that is imaginable to fall down and worship him not despairing by the greatnesse of the offer to hide the foulnesse of the sinne though it be with scorne and indignation rejected by Christ Mat. 4. 10. Because therefore that the most of men are ready to be deceived by the speciousnesse of the devils promises and to give more heed to what he speaks then to the good Word of God I shall in four particulars set forth the difference between the promises of God and the promises of Satan The first is the difference between the persons that make them Promises are like bonds which depend altogether upon the sufficiency of the surety If a beggar seal to an instrument for the payment of ten thousand pounds who esteems it to be any better then a blank But if a man of estate and ability do bind himself to pay such a sum it is looked upon as so much real estate and men dovalue themselves by such bills and bonds as well as by what is in their own possession God who hath made rich promises to beleevers is able to performe what he hath spoken He is rich in mercy Eph. 2. 4. Abundant in goodnesse and truth Exod. 34. 6. He is the God of truth Psalm 31. 5. The Father of mercies 2 Cor. 1. 3. But the devil is a Beggar an outcast one that hath nothing in possession nothing in disposition He is a lyar and the father of it John 8. 44. A deceiver Revel 12. 9. A murtherer from the beginning who killed not one but all in one Joh. 8. 44. How then can his promises be a foundation of support to any that have no other word to build upon but his He hath never kept his promise and God hath never broke his promise There hath not failed one word of all his good promise which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant 1 Kings 56. A second difference is in the matter of the promises Let us weigh the promises of the one and of the other in the balance of truth and we shall finde that the promises of God are gold and the promises of the devil are Alchimy such which though they glitter much have no worth or excellency in them Or that they are as Aristotle calls the Rainbowe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an appearance only and not like the cloud which he stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a true and real substance God's are substantial realities and his vanishing and fleeting shadows windy and swollen bladders which but a little prickt do quickly fall and grow lank Stobaeus out of Herodotus tels a story of one Archetimus who had deposited moneys in the hand of Cydias his friend who afterwards requiring them again of
on the Word and promises of God For as faith is truly the life and guide of the soul so the Word is the ground life and guide of our faith Now the Arguments that I shall set down are briefly three First The life of faith is that life which above all others God would have Believers to live And this appears by the distance that God hath put between his promises and his performances making their whole life to be rather a life of hopes then of enjoyments and the good things that he gives to relate more to the future then to the present time God was graciously pleased to open a door of hope to fallen man in that first Gospel-promise which he himself proclaimed Gen. 3. 15. that the seed of the woman should break the Serpents head But how many generations passed away before the fulnesse of time came in which he sent forth his Sonne made of a woman He hath promised to Believers that they shall tread down the wicked and that they shall be ashes under the soles of their feet Mal. 4. 3. But yet he hath made their warfare to be as long as their life He hath promised a glorious resurrection of their bodies out of the grave And yet for how many thousand years have his Saints lain dissolved in their dust as if they did seeme to be altogether forgotten by him Now to what end hath God set such long periods of time between the making and the accomplishing of his promises but only that he would have the heirs of them to live by faith yea and to die in faith by resting on the truth of his Word for the fulfilling of every mercy which he hath undertaken for in his promises And indeed this glory which Believers give to God in the exercise of their faith upon his Word is farre greater and more noble then all that glory which the whole universe of creatures do yeeld unto him They give him the glory of his goodnesse in their being and in the comforts of it derived unto them by him But who gives him the glory of his faithfulnesse in his promises but a Believer Who is it that rejoyceth in hope of the glory of God Rom. 5. 2. but a Believer Who glories in tribulations but a Believer Who is it that lets not his confidence die when his life expires but a Believer My flesh and my heart faileth saith David but God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever Psal 73. 26. Secondly The life of faith is of all estates the most contented and of all lives the fullest of real sweetnesse and delight First It is the most contented life True contentment is the inseparable companion of true faith 1 Tim. 6. 6. A Believer is the onely person that is instructed in this sacred mystery Phil. 4. 13. The things that others want he desires not Riches which others covet with the straining of their consciences he throws away as snares Pleasures which others drink down with a thirst unsatisfied he out of choise sparingly sips of or else refuseth so much as to taste Honours that others value themselves by he looks upon as fancies and not realities As Plato told the Musicians that a Philosopher could dine and eate his meat without them So a Believer can live happily without the having of any of these things And the ground of all this is because by faith he lives above them and enjoyes more high and noble delights in the very expectation and hope of that blessednesse which God hath promised then any other can have from the fruition of an earthly Paradise or of the whole world it self if turned and changed into an Eden Secondly Of all lives the life of faith is the sweetest The delicacies that faith feeds upon doth not arise from any stagnant and impure pits or cisterns but from the fountain and well of life It sucks the breasts of consolation Isay 66. 11. It lives upon the free favour of God which is better then life it self Psal 63. 3. It hath Christ himself for nutriment whose flesh is meat indeed whose blood is drink indeed John 6. 55. All which are food the world knows not of it never understood their preciousnesse or tasted their sweetnesse There is a greater difference between the repasts of faith and the refreshments of the world then there is between the Physick of the Galenists Paracelsians the one giving it in the drug and the other as they boast in the quintessence and spirits extracted from that flegme and earthymatter that deads allaies their efficacy All the comforts of faith have in them a native purity and spiritualnesse and need not the help of Artists to refine them Such they are as that Angels themselves have neither better nor higher to live upon How injurious then are Believers to their own happinesse while they neglect the living by faith and gaze rather upon these dainties with their eyes then feed upon them with their mouths How greatly do they live below themselves while they take up with the things of this world and put not forth this divine grace of faith which can fetch every good thing out of heaven What dishonour do they cast on the precious promises while like the lustful Israelites they slight this Manna of the Gospel as dry food O therefore if there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any excellency in the promises be perswaded you that are the beloved ones of God to live the life of faith and to exercise it in an improvement of the promises the use of which makes you more rich and blessed then the having of them Thirdly to move Believers to act faith upon the promises I shall adde this Argument that their labour and expectation will not be in vaine Faith in the promise is like the bowe of Jonathan and the sword of Saul which never returned empty 2 Sam. 1. 22. It alwayes findes what it seeks and enjoyes what it desires He that beleeveth shall never be confounded 1 Pet. 2. 6. that is he shall not be disappointed or broken in his purposes or hopes If the promise be not good security to rest and build upon What is What bond can be so firme as his Word who cannot lie Tit. 1. 9. What pledge can be more certain then the earnest of the Spirit by which the inheritance of Believers is sealed unto them Ephes 1. 14. If these foundations fail then we may well say with the Prophet What can the righteous do But sooner shall the rocks be broken into bits and thrown as pibbles and cockle-shels upon the shoar by the violence of the waves sooner shall the mountains that God hath set fast by his strength Psal 65. 6. be over-turned by the breath of tempestuous windes then the promises which are founded upon the immutable power of God and the never-failing goodnesse of Christ be in the least iota made void
and of no effect For besides the infallibility of Gods Word which may abundantly confirme unto Believers the truth of the promises the goodnesse also and mercy of Christ are as another sacred anchor for their faith and confidence to rest upon if in relation to the promises it be seriously thought on in two particulars First That the promises are the real purchase of the precious blood of Christ and must therefore be certainly made good or else he must be a loser in all his sufferings If he like Jonathan 1 Sam. 18. 4. should strip himself not only of his robes but of his life that he might expresse his love to distressed and undone persons with whom God is angry and displeased and yet they receive no advantage or fruit by it would not all these condescensions of goodnesse and mercy be in vain If he should drink of that brook and torrent of curses that was in the way between salvation and sinners and yet the passage to the heavenly Canaan be no more open then it was before should not Christ be a greater loser then sinners themselves They it is true lose their soules each of which are of more value then so many worlds but Christ must lose the revenue of his glory which is farre more precious then the souls of all the men in the world How would sinne exult and triumph if it should ever be able to say there was a pardon covenanted for to be given such a person but I have hindred the execution of it How would Satan reproach the death of Christ if he could be able to say that he hath destroyed one soul for whom Christ died Yea how should Paul or any other believer be able to throw forth their gantlet and to challenge all the enemies of salvation to do their worst Rom. 8. 31. if any of them could make a separation between the love of Christ and them How quickly would tribulation persecution famine nakednesse say we will make you miserable How soone would perils and the sword reply we will conquer you How confidently would principalities and powers say we will pluck you out of Christs hand But for ever blessed be his Name there are none among the whole host of enemies that dare revile the confidence of a beleever or say as that uncircumcised Philistine to David 1 Sam. 17. 44. I will give thy flesh to the fowles of the aire or to the beasts of the field There are none that dare presume to say that they can make void the least mercy which the promise doth hold forth to be the gift of Christs love and the purchase of his blood Let therefore beleevers lift up the hands which hang down and put forth the strength of faith in renewed acts of confidence upon the promises being fully perswaded in themselves of this truth that they can no more be disappointed of their hopes then Christ can be disappointed of his purchase Secondly That the promises are the matter of the most prevailing intercession of Christ who now sits on the right hand of God in glory When he was on earth he purchased by the price of his blood all that masse of treasure and riches both of grace and glory that are inventoried in the promises and by his last Will and Testament on the crosse bequeathed them to beleevers But all this which was transacted here below was onely as Divines usually terme it medium impetrationis the meanes of procurement or obtaining it for beleevers the medium applicationis the meanes of applying all this unto them are as his resurrection and intercession his resurrection that declares his conquest over death his intercession that shews his favour and acceptance with God And they are both as necessary to make his satisfaction of force unto beleevers as the image or stamp of the Prince is to make the coin currant though it neither adde weight or value to the substance He saith the Apostle being made perfect became the Author of eternal salvation unto all that obey him Heb. 5. 9. Now the intercession of Christ is set forth in Scripture with all the advantages that may be that thereby beleevers may be secured of their interest and title to the things which he hath purchased We have a great high Priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Sonne of God let us therefore hold fast our profession Heb. 4. 14. First He is a great high Priest greater then all that were before him both in power and favour with God Secondly He is passed into the heavens a Sanctuary which no other Priest could ever enter into or sit down in all their sacrifices being imperfect and therefore to be daily renewed by them Thirdly He is Jesus the Sonne of God more near in alliance unto him then Angels or men and therefore most sure to prevaile for the obtaining of whatever he asks or requires of him When he therefore who is the only Favorite of heaven is the Believers Advocate and doth continually solicit God to fulfil his Covenant made with him and his peoples prayers made unto him What ground can therebe for jealousies and distrust in a Believers heart What rational impediment can there be imagined to hinder or weaken the confidence of faith which the intercession of Christ doth not fully remove and take away Are your prayers tainted with the corruption and infirmities of the flesh he perfumes them with the sweet odours of his intercession Rev. 8. 3. Are your sins multiplyed and renewed daily So are the intercessions of Christ It is his only work in heaven to intercede for sinners Heb. 7. 25. Are your persons vile and such which you fear God will not accept Christ who is your high Priest is holy harmlesse and separate from sinners Heb. 7. 26. He hath in his person a fulnesse of all perfections which may assure every Believer that the promises which he pleads that the requests which he makes to God in Christs Name shall not be like arrowes shot at the Sunne which never reach it or come near to it but that they shall pierce the heavens and be of such power and prevalency with God as that what they seek he will grant and the promises which they plead in faith he will performe and make good in truth Wherefore let me again commend unto Believers the great duty of exercising faith on he promises of Christ which cannot but fill the heart with strong and inseperable consolations when by the eye of faith they are looked upon as those great things which are both the purchase of his most precious blood and the matter of his most powerful intercession And now as Mariners who when they come nigh the port roll up their sails which were before spread they being not useful in the harbour that were before most necessary on the sea So must I being arrived at that point which was the utmost boundary of my thoughts and intentions draw towards a conclusion and winde up this