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
which he beares the image of the second Adam the Lord from heaven as in the other he did beare the similitude of the first Adam who was of the earth earthy 1 Cor. 15. 47. The promises they have in them a vim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a formative vertue and power to mould and fashion the heart to holinesse and to introduce the Image of Christ into it in regard of that native purity which dwels in them and is above gold that hath been seven times tried in the fire Psal 12. 6. therefore our Saviour tells his Disciples that they were cleane through the Word that he had spoken unto them John 15. 3. and when he prayed unto God to sanctifie them his prayer is Sanctifie them through thy truth thy Word is truth Joh. 17. 17. Secondly beleevers may be said to be partakers of the divine nature by the promises as they are the Objects of Faith and Hope Both which are graces that have in them a wonderful aptitude to cleanse and purifie the Subjects in which they dwell and to introduce true holinesse in which the lively image and resemblance of God doth chiefly consist First Faith it believes the truth of those things which God hath promised and apprehends also the worth and excellency of them to be such as that thereby it is made firme and constant in its adherence vigorous and active in its endeavours to use all means for the obtaining a conformity to God and Christ and the escaping of the corruption that is in the world through lust For till a man come to be a believer he is by the temptations of Satan and the specious promises with which they usually come attended drawn aside to the commission of the worst of sinnes in which though he weary himself to finde what first was seemingly promised yet he meets with nothing but delusions and disappointments of his expectation Balaam hath an edge set upon his spirit to curse the people of God by a promise of preferment made unto him and he tires himself in going from place to place to effect it but God hinders him from doing of the one and Balack denies the giving unto him the other So Judas by a baite that suits his covetousnesse undertakes to sell his Lord but when he hath accomplished his wickednesse and received his wages he throws it away and dares not keep what before he so earnestly thirsted after the blood of his Master makes every piece of the silver look gastly so that now he sees another image upon it then Cesars and cries out that he had sinned in betraying innocent blood Now faith it enables a beleever to discern a snare a defilement under all the gilded aldurements of Satan and the world And therefore he rejects with scorne those temptations with which others are miserably captivated resists with resolution all the courtings and solicitations of the flesh to which others yield beholding onely a stability and preciousnesse in those promises which have the oath of God to make them sure and his love to make them sweet And these only have a prevailing power with him to cause him so to order his conversation in all manner of holinesse that he may walk as it becomes an heire of heaven and an adopted sonne of the most high God to walk Secondly as Faith by beleeving the promises doth purifie the heart so also doth hope which expects the performance of what faith beleeveth work and produce the same effects He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as God is pure 1 Joh. 3. 3. The expectation which beleevers have by the promises is not a supine oscitancy whereby they look to be possessed of life and glory without any care or endeavours of theirs for to obtaine it like to callow and unfeathered birds that lie in the nest and have all their food brought to them gaping onely for to receive it But it is an expectation accompanied with diligence and industry for the fruition of what they do expect The grace of God saith Paul teacheth us to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2. 11 12. And the ground of this he subjoyneth Vers 13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ He that truly expects glory earnestly pursues grace Heb. 12. 14. He that hopes to be with God in heaven useth all meanes to be like God on earth An heavenly conversation is the natural fruit of an heavenly expectation Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ The Heathen could say that labour was the husband of hope There is hope the harlot and hope the wife Hope the married woman is known from hope the harlot by this that she alwayes accompanieth with her husbands labour True hope looks to enjoy nothing but what is gotten by travel and paines and therefore useth all meanes to obtaine that good which faith apprehendeth in the promise It seekes glory by grace it endeavours after communion with God in heaven by working a conformity to God in a beleever while he is on earth Thirdly beleevers are made partakers of the divine nature by the promises as they are the irreversible obsignations and declarations of God which he hath freely made unto them of his taking them unto himself in an everlasting communion of life and glory Heaven is as Prosper calls it Regio beatitudinis the onely climate where blessednesse dwells in its perfection While we are here below we are but as Kings in the cradle the throne on which we must sit the robes with which we must be clothed the crown which must be set upon our heads are all reserved for heaven In this life there is onely a taste of celestial delights and in the other there is a perpetual feast Here we see through a glasse darkly but then face to face 1 Cor. 13. 12. Grace doth as Cameron expresseth it adsignificare infirmitatem connotate a weaknesse and imperfection and glory that signifies an abolition and doing away whatsoever is weak or imperfect But all this absolute perfection of happinesse which is laid up in heaven for beleevers is ratified and made sure unto them in the promises and therefore they are said to be heires of the promise Heb. 6. 17. Yea by the promises they have the pledges and first-fruits of all that happinesse which they shall enjoy in heaven given unto them in this life We are now the sonnes of God saith the Apostle though it doth not yet appeare what we shall be 1 John 3. 2. That is we now beare his image and likenesse though in a more dark and imperfect character Our knowledge our grace our comforts are all incompleat But when he shall appeare we shall be like him That is when Christ shall come to receive us unto himself we shall beare upon us his
thankfull for a spark for a beame of light thou shalt be satisfied and filled with the fountaine of light it self Doest thou blesse God for crumbs that fall from his table thou shalt be feasted with the marrow and fat things of life and salvation Ingrato nihil augetur sed quod acceperat vertitur ei in perniciem Fidelis autem in modico censetur dignus munere ampliori saith Bernard The ungrateful person receives no increase but what he hath formerly received turnes to his ruine But the grateful person is alwayes thought worthy of more ample rewards This direction I gladly would that those Christians should often have in their thoughts who are so much in complaining what they want as that they never blesse God for what they enjoy When any come into their company their eares are continually afflicted with their mournful notes how few their comforts are how little the benefit is which they reap by the promises but their hearts are never quickened to bless God on their behalfe by their thankful acknowledgement of the least mercy that God hath vouchsafed them when as indeed it is a temper most befitting a Christian not to let the smallest of his favours to passe unobserved or unacknowledged The swine eats the fruit that falls from the tree but never looks up from whence it comes but the Dove picks not up a graine without casting up its eye to heaven it eats and then looks up then picks again and then looks up againe And so should a beleever lift up an eye of thankfulnesse unto God for every beame of light and hope which he beholds in his Word though it shine only through a narrow cranny I thank God in Christ saith holy Baines sustentation I have but spiritual suavities I taste none When we do not lie rejoycing in the armes and bosome of God as a Father it is a mercy worthy of our thankfulnesse that we may lodge safely in his house when we do not behold the smiles of his face it is a mercy that we may hear his voice in his Word when we have not the ring put on as an ornament it is a favour that we have any piece of a broken ring left with us as a pledge and token that in our extremity he will not forsake us To encrease the number of these positive rules were a task not in it self difficult nor yet happily to many weak ones altogether unnecessary but because it is farre easier for a Physician to write Recipes then for a Patient to take the many repeated and continued potions I shall forbeare to adde more as fearing I have been already too burthensome and prolix in these and shall onely recommend what hath been spoken to the serious practice of beleevers without the least infringing of their liberty to use others which either their own or others experience may suggest as profitable And so I passe on to the second sort of rules which are Cautionary The end of which chiefly serves to discover sundry errours and mistakes which in the application and use of the promises are as dangerous to beleevers as unseen rocks and unfounded shallows are to mariners and therefore are to be carefully heeded and to be avoided by them CHAP. IX Cautionary Rules for the application of the Promises SECT 1. Rest not in a general faith THe first cautionary Rule is to Take heed of resting in a general faith which goeth no further then to give a naked assent unto the promises of the Gospel as true but doth not put forth it self to receive and imbrace them as good True faith is not an act of the understanding only but a work of the heart also Rom. 10. 10. With the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse As it yields an assent unto the truth of the promise so it exerciseth fiducial application of it unto its self and thereby drawing neer unto Christ wholly throwes and casts it self upon him for life and happinesse not at all looking after any other help Maldonate is pleased to make himself and his reader merry with that usual distinction of our Divines by which faith is distinguished into an historical miraculous temporary and saving faith And playing upon the word Fides saith that the Protestants have Tot fides quot in Lyrâ As many faiths as there be strings upon a fiddle But it is not his scoffe and sarcasme that can elude either the truth or the necessity of the distinction when as the Scripture tells us of many that beleeved and yet did never imbrace Christ with their hearts as their onely Saviour or confidently rely upon the promises of his mercy Simon Magus is said to be a beleever Act. 8. 13. And yet Saint Peter tells him that he is in the gall of bitternesse and the bond of iniquity ver 23. The multitude beleeve in Christs name but yet he would not commit himself unto them for he knew what was in man John 2. 23. He did not own them as those to whom he would impart the saving mysteries of his Gospel or joyne himselfe unto them in the same bond of love and friendship as he did with those who with an entire and sincere heart beleeved on him The five foolish Virgins went farre in their waiting for the bridegroome they took lamps with them to meet him and kept their lights for a season burning but yet at his coming the doore was shut against them Mat. 25. 11. And shall the faith of Gods lect and sanctified ones be of no better alloy then the faith of hypocrites and other wicked and impenitent sinners Yea shall the confession of Peter concerning Christ Mat. 16. 16. Thou art the Sonne of the living God be no whit better then that of the devils Mat. 8. 29. who with a loud voice cry out Jesus thou Sonne of God c. Shall it be distinguished from it no more in its worth then it is in its words But as the palest Gold doth much exceed the most glittering Alchimy which though it seeme to out-vie the gold in its lustre yet hath it not the least affinity with it in its reall vertue and worth so the smallest grain of saving faith by which a beleever closeth with Christ in the promises is more precious and excellent then a meere assent unto the truth of the Word which resteth in the understanding but hath no quickening influence upon the will and desires the one being onely a bare credence and the other a divine affiance This was it which put a wide difference between Peters confession of Christ and the Devils acknowledgement of him as Austin well observes Hoc dicebat Petrus ut Christum fide amplecteretur hoc dicebant Daemones ut Christus ab cis recederet This spake Peter that he might imbrace Christ this said the devils that Christ might depart from them And this fiducial application is the distinguishing character which the Scripture makes between the faith of true beleevers and others it being sometimes described
the gates of hell be yet by faith looked upon as difficulties which cannot check the power of God but onely magnifie it For else if once we come to have jealous thoughts of the divine arme in which we trust or to fear that it might be incountred by some insuperable opposition the hopes and expectations that we have of any good from the promise must needs be weak and uncertaine When God had promised to make Abraham the father of a seed as numerous as the Stars of heaven or the dust of the earth though reason could not but suggest unto him how unlikely he was to be a father and Sarah to be a mother when age had dried up his body and deaded the womb of Sarah yet saith the Apostle Against hope he beleeved in hope that he might become the father of many Nations Rom. 4. 18. That is when nature afforded no ground of hope or encouragement to confirme his expectation in the fulfilling of the promise but suggested many posing arguments to impleade and gainsay the truth of it and to make his faith as feeble as his body yet then he exercised the fulnesse of assurance in believing and of hope in expecting the accomplishment of all that God had spoken He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to performe verse 21 22. So when afterwards God called him to that signal triall of his faith and obedience in the offering up of his only sonne and appointed himself to be the Priest as well as Isaac to be the sacrifice and though the stroake which Abrahams hand was stretched forth to give would not onely have ended the life of his sonne but have cut off also the promise at the very root because in Isaac his seed was to be called yet by the same eye of faith by which before he looked through a dead womb he now looks through a bleeding sword unto the power of God accounting that he was able to raise him up even from the dead Heb. 11. 19. That is he believed that rather then the promise of God should not be certaine the resurrection of Isaac should be more miraculous then his birth and that God would magnifie his power in raising him out of the ashes of a consumed sacrifice to be the heire of the promise rather then let one tittle of his Word fall to the ground unfulfilled And thus should every beleever as a true childe of Abraham endeavour to do in looking from themselves unto the power of God for the making good of any promise which they in prayer do earnestly seek in faith do really beleeve in hope do patiently wait for and expect And though difficulties and temptations should arise which their reason cannot answer their strength cannot repell yet not to cast away their confidence but to cast themselves upon him who is both the strength and wisdom of his people with whom things that are utterly impossible with men are not only possible but easie for him to bring to passe and to effect Oh the happy peace and serenity that a beleever enjoyes in every estate and condition which befalls him that can thus rest and stay himselfe upon the promise and power of God! No valley of trouble will be to him without a doore of hope no barren wildernesse without Manna no drie rock without water no dungeon without light no fiery trial without comfort because be hath the same Word and the same God to trust unto whose power open'd the sea as a doore to be a passage from Egypt to Canaan who fed Israel in the desart with bread from heaven and water from the rock who filled Peters prison with a shining light who made the three children to walk to and fro amidst the fiery furnace with joy and safety SECT 4. The unchangeablenesse of the promiser confirmes Faith Thirdly to sweeten the application of every promise exercise your thoughts and faith on the unchangeablenesse of the purpose and counsel of God to fulfill whatever his promises do declare The promises of men though they be the expressions of an intended and resolved good unto that person to whom they are made yet they are subject to a deficiency from a double principle sometimes through a want of power to give a being and existency unto what they have spoken they prove rather the fruitlesse wishes of a friend that meanes well then the performances of one that hath ability to turne his words into deeds But that which most frequently makes the promises of men to be as abortive conceptions and not as full births is the mutability and inconstancy of their wills whereby they are not only apt to recall and suspend the fulfilling of what they promised but also to change their love into hatred and their promises into menaces The tree that in the summer is much esteemed and set by for the grateful shade which it affordeth in the cold winter is oft cut down for fuel and so the same person which in the heat of affection is made the object of many favours in the keene blasts of jealousie becomes the subject of revenge and ruine But it is far otherwise with the promises of God whose power no lets or impediments can arise to hinder whose will no contingencies or emergencies can fall out to alter All his promises are in Christ not yea and nay but in him Yea and in him Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. He is not a man that he should repent 1 Sam. 15. 29. He is the Lord that changeth not Mal. 3. 6. The Father of lights with whom there is no variablenesse or shadow of change Jam. 1. 17. And that the heires of promise might yet be more abundantly confirmed in the immutability of Gods counsel he hath added to his Word his oath wherein he pawnes his being life righteousnesse truth mercy power to performe all that he hath spoken that so by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation Heb. 6. 17. This consideration therefore of looking unto the unchangeablenesse of God in the constant use and application of his promises as it serves to point out the wide difference between the promises of God and the promises of men the one being as fraile and uncertaine as bubbles no sooner made then broken like breath on steel as soon off as on the other like firme rocks of adamant which can neither be broken or moved So also is it exceeding useful to preserve and keep beleevers from being injurious to their own comforts or Gods honour who from the frequent changes which they finde in themselves are apt to apprehend the like to be in God they recedefrom God and then complaine that God departs and withdrawes his presence from them not unlike to those who in a constant motion upon the waters move from the land and then phancy the land
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
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