YEA and AMEN OR PRETIOUS PROMISES AND PRIVILEDGES Spiritually unfolded in their Nature and Vse Driving at the assurance and establishing of weak Beleevers By R. SIBBS D. D. Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge and Preacher of Grayes Inne London Reviewed by himselfe in his life time and since perused by T. G. and P. N. LONDON Printed by R. Bishop for R Dawlman and are to be sold by Humphrey Mosley at the Princes Armes in Pauls Church-yard 1638. YEA and AMEN OR PRETIOVS PROMISES Layd open out of 2 COR. 1. 19 20 21 22 23. But as God is true our word towards you was not yea and nay for the Sonne of God Iesus Christ who was preached among you by us was not yea and nay but in him was yea For all the promises of God are in him yea and in him Amen unto the glory of God by us THE blessed Apostle that he might have the better place in the hearts of his hearers endeavours here with all diligence to wipe off any imputation which they might have against him that so his doctrine might come home to their soules and have the freer accesse to worke upon their consciences We have therefore in these words S. Pauls Apologie for not comming unto the Chorinthians according to his promise Wherein hee alledgeth that it was not from any inconstancy in him but indeed from corruption in manners among them verse 23. I call God to record that to spare you I came not The Apostle as a man and as a holy man might promise many things common to this life and might lawfully vary afterwards upon the appearance of reall impediments But the things which he promiseth and speakes of as an Apostle they admit of no such uncertainty Therefore his care is to decline all thoughts of wavering therein and to maintaine the credit of the Gospell which hee had taught to the uttermost knowing well how ready false teachers would be to perswade the people that Paul was as light in his preaching as he was in keeping his word with them therefore our Word is true as God is true saith he There is the same ground of the certainty of Evangelicall truths as there is of God himselfe Iesus Christ whom I preached among you was not yea and nay saith the Apostle but yesterday and to day and the same for ever Whence may bee observed That the object of preaching now in the time of the Gospell is especially Iesus Christ. This is the Rock upon which the Church is built Christ should be the subject matter of our teaching in his Nature Offices and Benefits in the duties which we owe to him and the instrument whereby we receive all from him which is faith If wee preach the Law and discover mens corruption it is but to make way for the Gospels freer passage into their soules And if we presse holy duties it is to make you walke worthy of the Lord Jesus All teaching is reductive to the Gospell of Christ either to make way as Iohn Baptist did to levell all proud thoughts and make us stoop to him or to make us walk worthy of the grace wee receive from him The Bread of life must be broken the Sacrifice must bee anatomized and layed open the riches of Christ even his unsearchable riches must bee unfolded The Sonne of God must be preached to all and therefore God who hath appointed us to bee saved by Christ hath also ordained preaching to lay open the Lord Iesus with the heavenly treasures of his grace and glory But to go forward Iesus Christ who was preached among you by me and Sylvanus and Tymotheus was not yea and nay Here observe That the consent of Preachers in the mysteries of salvation is an excellent meanes to strengthen faith in their hearers not in regard of the truth it selfe but in regard of men So it pleaseth God to condescend to our weaknesse in adding Sacraments and Oath unto his promises thereby to shew the more stablenesse of his counsell towards us By yea here is meant Certaine Constant Vnvariable The times vary but not the faith of the times The same fundamentall truth is in all ages Sometimes indeed it is more explicated and unfolded as we have in the the New Testament divers truths more cleerely revealed than in the Old There is not a new faith but a larger explication of the old faith Divine truth is alwayes the same If there hath beene a Church alwayes there hath ever beene a Divine truth Now it is an Article of our faith in all times to beleeve a Catholike Church certainly then there must bee a Catholike truth to be the seed of this Church Therfore we should search out what was that yea that positive Doctrine in those Apostolicall times of the Churches purity before it was corrupted The Church was not long a Virgin yet some there were that held the truth of Christ in all ages Our present Church holds the same positive truths with the Apostles before us Therefore we say Our Church was before Luther because our Doctrine is Apostolicall as also is our Church that is continued thereby because it is built upon Apostolicall doctrine Put the case we cannot shew the men as they rediculously urge what is that to the purpose From an ignorance of particular men will they conclude us to be ignorant of the Church of Christ which hath ever beene Hence the true Church may easily be discerned the points of Religion wherein our adversaries differ from us be but patcheries of their owne they were not yea In the Apostles times their Purgatory Invocation of Saints and Sacraments of divers kindes were devised by themselves afterwards And indeed for a thousand yeeres after Christ many of the differences betwixt us and the Papists were never heard of neither were they ever established by any Counsell till the Counsell of Trent Our positive points are grounded upon the holy Scriptures we seek the Old way and the best way as Ieremy adviseth us There was no popish trash in Abrahams time among the blessed Patriarches nor in Christs time No nor many hundred yeares after they came in by little and little by humane invention for their owne advantage a meere policy to get money and abuse the people Indeed they hold many of our truths but they adde something of their owne to them they adde necessity of tradition to the Scriptures merits to faith they adde Saints to Christ in Divine Worship they have seven Sacraments to our two They may safelier therefore come to us than we to them we hold all that they should hold onely their owne additions wee hold not we leave them to themselves So much for that To touch only another point that borders a little upon it Divine truth is of an inflexible nature this crosseth another rule of theirs for they hold they may give what sense of Scripture they will and that the current of the present Church must judge of all former
suffered Adam to have fallen but for his owne further glory in the manifestation of his justice and mercy and for the greater felicity of his servants in Christ their Mediatour The next spirituall evill is the corruption of nature remaining in all mankinde howsoever broken and subdued in the Lords deere ones this worketh for the best to them after this manner First it serveth to make us see and know we are kept by God how that we are not the keepers of our owne selves but are kept by his power through faith unto salvation For were it not that God upholds and sustaines us our corruptions would soone overturn us but the sight of corruption being sanctified to the soule causeth us to ground our comfort out of our selves in Christ and no whit to rely on any thing that is in us Our corruptions are also good to abase the pride of our natures and let us see the naughtinesse of our spirits that we may be humbled before GOD. And it is good we should have something within us to make us weary of the world else when wee have run out our race we shal be unwilling to depart hence Now our bondage to this naturall corruption serves exceedingly to make us mourne for our sinfull disposition and hunger after our God to be joyned with him as we see in S. Pauls exam ple Rom. 17. where finding the rebellion of his nature and the strise that was in him the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh he cryes out saying Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death and seeketh to God in Christ for mercy strait Sometimes God suffers corruption to break out of us that we mayknow our selves the better and because corruption is weakned not only by smothering but many times by having a vent whereupon grace stirs up in the soule a fresh hatred and revenge against it and lets us see a necessity of having whole Christ not only to pardon sinne but to purge and cleanse our defiled natures But yet that which is ill it selfe must not be done for the good that comes by it by accident this must be a comfort after our surprizals not an encouragement before It is our great consolation that our nature is perfect in Christ who hath taken our nature upon him and satisfied Divine justice not only for the sinne of our lives but for the sin of our natures who will finish his owne worke in us and never give over till by his Spirit he hath made our natures holy and pure as his owne till he hath taken away not only the reigne but the very life and being of sinne out of our hearts To which end he leaves his Spirit and truth in the Church to the end of the world that the seed of the Spirit may subdue the seed of the Serpent in us and that the Spirit may be a never failing spring of al holy thoughts desires and endeavours in us and dry up the contrary issue and spring of corrupt nature Lastly it is good that corruption should still remaine in us that the glory of God may the more appeare when as Satan that great and strong enemy of mankinde shall be foiled and overturned by a weak and poore Christian who is full of corruptions and that through the strength of faith though mixed with much distrust for a Christian in the state of sinne and corruption to overcome the great adversary of mankinde what a wonderment is it It tendeth much to the shame and dishonour of that fiery Dragon that weake and sinfull man should be his conquerour Oh how it confounds him to think that a graine of Mustardseed should bee stronger than the Gates of Hell that it should be able to remove Mountaines of oppositions and temptations cast up by Satan and our rebellious hearts betweene God and us Abi meleck could not endure that it should be said a Woman had slaine him and it must needs be a torment to Sathan that a weake Child a decrepid old man should by a spirit of faith put him to flight A third kinde of spirituall ill â—f sin are the things that issue out of this cursed stock and those are either inward or outward For inward sins they are eithers errours or doubt ings or pride or wrath or such like And first for doubtings of the truth this makes Gods servants often more resolute to seek and search out the same and to stand afterwards more firme and couragious for it For if wee doubted not of things we should not afterwards bee put out of doubt nor seek to be better grounded and instructed in them The Corinthians doubted once of the Resurrection but were ever after better resolved in that Doctrine the benefit whereof hath much redounded to the Churches good ever since Thomas had the like wavering disposition but this doubting more manifested the truth Luther being a Monk at the first and not fully grounded in the Doctrine of the Gospell did therefore suspect himselfe the more and wished all men after him to reade his writings warily The Doctrine of the Trinity hath formerly been much doubted of and therefore hath bin with the greater paines and study of worthy men then living in the Church more evidently prooved And when the Pelagians grew into Heresies they were by S. Augustine gainesayd and very strongly withstood So the doctrine of the Church of Rome being branched into divers erronious opinions and broached to the great hurt and prejudice of Christians hath occasioned the truth of God against them to bee the more excellently cleered and made knowne For when Religion is oppugned it is time then to hold fast as the Apostle S. Iude saith with both hands the Word and to fight for the faith that so wee may know both what to hold and upon what ground we oppose Heresie Now for inward sinnes as anger covetousnesse distrust and such like these often proove advantagious to the Saints their corruptions are a meanes of their humiliation Paul and Barnabas having a breach betweene them were so exasperated that they forsook each others company by which means it came to passe that the Church was more instructed than before And hence wee may see what the best men are in themselves If Luther had had no infirmities how would men have attributed to him above measure as we see they were ready to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas which shewes us that even the distempers and weaknesses of Gods servants are disposed by Divine Providence to their eternall welfare Yea God often suffereth his children to fall into some outward grosse sinnes that by meanes thereof they might bee humbled and abased and in the end be cured of that provoking sinne of being proud in spirit The falling of Gods children doth much deject them and bring them upon their knees with shame It makes them gentle and meek in the reprehension of their brethren for having
heathen could say that we are then best in soule when we are weakest in body for then we are most in heavenly resolutions and seeking after God Yea then it appeares what good proficients we have beene in time of health Oh how happy were our conditions if we were as good when wee are well and in health as we usually are when we are sick and ill Even death it self which is the end of all though it be fearefull and irksome to nature yet it is to Gods servants a bed of Downe easing them of all their miseries and putting them in possession of an heavenly kingdome therefore saith Solomon the day of death is better than the day of birth God will be the God of his not only unto death but in death Death is the death of it selfe and not of us it is a disarmed and conquered enemy to all the faithfull for which cause S. Paul desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Death albeit it seemes terrible and dreadfull yet the sting thereof being taken away by the death of Christ it brings everlasting joy along with it and is only as a Groom-Porter to let us in to a stately Pallace Whether tend all the troubles we meet with in this world but only to fit us for a better condition hereafter and to assure the soule that when earth can hold it no longer Heaven shall Yea when friends forsake us and are false unto us God is a sure helpe in time of need he is our refuge from one generation to another do we not see that in the decay of worldly comforts God then manifests himselfe most comfortably to his people doth he not stile himselfe the Comforter of the comfortlesse and the helpe of them that are in distresses and doe not with him the fatherlesse finde mercy if men were more fatherlesse they would find more mercy at Gods hands As Christ makes us al to him so should we make him all in all to our selves If all comforts in the world were dead we have them still in the living Lord. How many friends have we in him alone who rather than we shall want friends can make our enemies our friends Thus it appeares that all miseries are a triall of us to God and to the world what we are they are a cure of sin past and a preparation to endure further crosses they have many excellent uses and ends and all for the best to Gods servants It is good we should be exercised with present crosses to put us in minde of the evils we have done long agoe that so we may repent of them Iosephs brethren being afflicted and imprisoned called to minde how hardly they had dealt with their brother long before It should be our wisdome while we remaine here to consider our warfaring condition how we are daily invironed with enemies and therefore ought to stand continually upon our guard against Satan and the Powers of darknesse and as Pilgrims and Strangers go on in our journey to Heaven not starting at the barking of every Dog nor intangling our selves in worldly things whereby we should be stopped in our way It is for our best not to bee condemned with the world Afflictions serve for this very end to make us more prize God deny the creature with all its excellencies are our crosses great here let us not be daunted but beare them patiently our comfort shall be the greater afterwards It is not only good for us that wee should have crosses but that they should be continued upon us that wee may the better know our selves If all were well with a man wounded and the sore clean healed the plaister would fall off it selfe So were wee thorowly cured of our spirituall wants and in a continuall resistance of every evill way These afflictions which are the plaisters of our soules would soone cease and leave us Furthermore Sathan himselfe and all his instruments when they most set themselves against Gods people and seek their overthrow then are they working their chief good The Devill when hee thought to make an end of Christ by putting him to death even then by that very thing was vanquished himselfe and the Church of God fully ransomed from hell and damnation God suffers many heretiques to be in the world but why not that the truth should be held in darknesse but that it might thereby bee more manifested and knowne It is Sathans continuall trade to seeke his rest in our disquiet When hee sees men will to heaven and that they have good title to it then he followes them with all tentations and discomforts that hee can Hee cannot endure that a creature of meaner rank than himselfe should enjoy a happinesse beyond him but our comfort is that Christ was tempted that hee might succour all poore soules in the like case Wee are kept by his power through faith unto salvation Now the causes why all things doe work together for the best to them that love God are these viz. 1. It is Gods Decree 2. It is Gods manner of working 3. It is Gods blessed Covenant 4. It is the foundation of the covenant Christ Iesus Gods decree and purpose is of bringing all his Elect unto eternall salvation and therefore all things in heaven and earth must conduce to bring his servants unto glory The reason is this God is infinitely wise and infinitely strong provident and good therefore by his infinite wisedome power providence and mercie hee turneth all things to the best for his whatsoever is in heaven earth or hell is ordered by God neither is there any thing without him therefore nothing can hinder his Decree Sathan himselfe with all his instruments yea the worst of creatures all must serve Gods purpose contrary to their natures for the good of his children The Prophet saith God hath commanded salvation and he hath commanded deliverance to Iacob When God hath determined to save any man all things must needs serve him that over-rules all things As it was said of Christ when he stilled the Seas Who is this that the very wind and Seas obey him God commanded the Whale to serve at his beck to save Ionah and it obeyed All creatures in the earth are at his disposing and serve to accomplish his pleasure The second cause why all works together for the best to beleevers Is the manner of God working in things which is by contraries he bringeth light out of darknesse glory out of shame and life out of death Wee fell by pride to hell and destruction and must be restored by humiliation to life and salvation Christ humbled himselfe being God to become man for us and by his death restored us to life When our sinnes had brought us to greatest extremities even then were we nearest to eternal happinesse Therefore saith the Apostle When wee are weak then are we strong in the Lord. When wee are abased then are wee readiest
from doing us harme All the strength of the creature rests in the great Creator of all things who if hee denies concourse the arme of their power soon withereth It cannot but bring strong consolation to the soule to know that in all variety of changes and intercourse of good and bad things our loving God hath a disposing hand So as all blessings and crosses all ordinances and graces nay our very fals yea Satan himselfe with all his instruments being over mastred ruled by God have this injunction upon them to further Gods good intendment to us and in no wise hurt us which should move us to see his disposing hand in all that befals us We owe God this respect to observe his providence in the particular passages of our lives considering hee is our Soveraigne and his will is the rule and we are to be accountable to him as our Iudge We should question our hearts for questioning his care in the least kinde So long as God sits at the Sterne and rules all wee may bee sure no evill shall betyde us that hee can hinder Thirdly hence we may learne that there is not two but one Soveraigne head over the whole World which is plainly proved by this Text of Scripture For all things work together for the best to them that love God and things which in themselves are contraries agree together to procure their good therefore all things whatsoever are over ruled by the sole power of the Almighty The Devill himselfe although he be called the God of this World yet he is at Christs beck and could not enter into a few Swine without leave first obtained hee raiseth up hideous storms and tempests against the Saints but perisheth himselfe in the waves at last persecutions and perils may follow us but they are all limited in the doing of hurt which plainly demonstrates that there is but one main worker and wise disposer of all things Further hence observe that there is nothing in the world that to Gods servants is absolutely evill because nothing is so ill but some good may bee raised out of it not as it is an evill but as it is governed and mastred by a supreme cause Sinne is of all evils the greatest and yet sinfull actions may produce gratious effects through Gods ordering and guiding the same Againe observe that a childe of God is truly happy in the midst of all misery To prove this I reason thus In what estate soever the childe of God is it shall turn to his good therefore no affliction can make him truly miserable The proofe of this the Apostle sets downe in his owne example hee was poore yet made many rich he sorrowed yet alwayes rejoyeed he had nothing yet possessed all things he was chastned and yet not killed Gods children although to the world they may seeme to be miserable yet having communion and fellowship with him they are alwayes happy the very worst day of Gods childe â—is better than the very best day of the wicked The worst day of S. Paul was better to him than the best day of Nero was to him for the wicked in the midst of their happinesse are accursed whereas the godly in the midst of their miseries are blessed This Doctrine is a ground of understanding divers other places of Scripture as Psalme 91. The Lord promiseth that hee will deliver his from the snare of the Hunter and from the noisome pestilence and yet oft times his deere servants are in the hands of the wicked and taken away by the stroke of his judgements this truth neverthelesse remaining firme that all worketh together for their best So God teacheth us in his Word that he doth make a league betweene his servants and the creatures but all such expressions of his love we must bring to this Text and then they are true else they may seeme to bee false The plague shall not come neere thy dwelling place but only so far forth as it is for thy benefit The good Prophet was torne in pieces by a Lion and sundry holy men have received hurt by wilde Beasts whose eternall welfare were furthered thereby Therefore this phrase of Scripture that the creatures are in league is to bee understood not that they have put off their hostile nature But that they have the same issue as those that are at peace with us Here likewise is a direction for us how to pray for earthly blessings and the removall of temporall judgements often times worldly honours and riches are snares unto Gods children and temporall chastisements which wee so earnestly pray against work much good unto us And therefore it falleth out that when wee pray against temporall calamities wee pray against our owne good Being therfore afflicted we should desire not absolutely that God would remove our troubles but that hee would work his owne good pleasure upon us therby Our prayers for temporall blessings and removall of temporall crosses must alwayes be conditionall for what good will it bee for us to come out of the fire worse than we were when wee went into it If therefore God in his wisdome see it good for us to have affliction we should not desire him absolutely to remove the same till it have done us good And then Lord deale with us as seemes best in thine own eyes As for such as affect neither God nor goodnesse let them know that if all things work for the best to the Saints then they may forbeare their successesse endeavours which they daily enterprize against them in going about to hurt the godly they doe them most good for God will benefit them by their malice Their wicked practises shall not only bee made frustrate but dangerous to themselves after the chastisement of his servants for their good God will cast the rod into the fire Men may know whether they are vessells of mercy or no by the use they are put to The basest of people are fit enough to be executioners It is a miserable wisedome when men are wise to work their owne ruine Do not many spin a fine thred and weave a faire web when by their turnings and devices they turne themselves into hell What ever wee get by sinne for the present it will one day prove the heaviest businesse that ever wee undertook God is the onely Monarch of the world and makes all things and persons whatsoever service able to his owne end and his Churches good He is higher than the highest Sathan with all his instruments are but slaves to the Almighty executioners of his will Can we think that Gods children who are so neere deare to him shall alwayes bee trampled upon by the powers of darknesse No certainly hee is interessed in all their quarells and takes their injuries as don to himselfe When wee can bee more subtill than the Devill or more strong than God wee may think to thrive against them He is a wall of fire round about
faith In all cases of extremity we should have a double eye one to look upon our grievances and troubles and another to look upon the issue and event of them Why do men in time of dangerous sicknesse take bitter Physick which is almost death unto them Why doe they then undergo such things as they loath at other times Is it not because they rest upon the skill of the Physitian And shall we then in our distresses dist rust God for our souls when we will trust a weak and mortall man with our bodies If conceit be so strong in earthly things as indeed it is then faith is much stronger when it grounds it selfe upon the truth of the Word When God exercises us with poverty or other afflictions this should teach us submission to his providence in any condition saying Lord do with me what thou wilt only let this poore soule be pretious in thine eyes Thou hast promised that howsoever these afflictions lie heavie upon me yet in the end al shall turn to my good therefore dispose of thy servant at thine owne pleasure I resigne all to thee Here is the rejoycing of a Christian which makes him cheerefully passe through any affliction he knowes that good is intended in all that befals him with what alacrity did Ioseph say unto his brethren Ye sold me hither but God hath turned it to the best that I should preserve and nourish you all and save much people alive who otherwise were like to have perished with famine This made Iob so patiently to say The Lord giveth the Lord taketh blessed be the name of the Lord. This is the ground of all true contentation I have learned saith S. Paul in all estates to be content to be rich and to be poore to abound and to be in want and why so Whatsoever his estate and condition was God turned it to the best shall any man dare to mislike of Gods allowlowance Doth not hee know better what is good for us than we can possibly imagine what is good for our selves This likewise should teach us not to take offence at the reproach and disgrace which is cast upon Gods children for mark the righteous saith David and behold the upright the end of that man is peace The issue of their trouble is ever quietnesse take not one peece of a Christian mans life by it selfe but take it altogether and then thou shalt see the truth of this Doctrine To see Ioseph in the Dungeon and in his irons we haply may bee offended and call Gods providence in question but beholding him in his honour and advancement we cannot but conclude him a happy man So if we look on Iob sitting with sores on the Dunghill there is matter of offence but to see him restored againe and blessed with a greater estate than he had before this is matter of praising God If we consider of Christ abased hanging upon a Crosse so there will be scandall but looke on him exalted to glory far above all Dignities and Powers and then the scandall is soone taken away Let us theresore lay one thing to another when we eye Gods people and we shall see a blessing under their greatest curse Those things which are contrived by mans wit may argue great folly if one part be not annexed to the other therefore looke to the whole work towards his servants and then thou shalt never be offended at their condition This also is a ground of Christian boldnesse in holy courses when a man is fully resolved that come what will come God will turne all to his good it encourages him cheersully to go through any difficulty what is the reason of the fearesulnesse and dastardnesse of most men but only this that if wee doe this or that duty or abstaine not from this or that good action then this crosse and this displeasure by such and such a person will bee brought upon me The Wise man saith That the feare of man bringeth a snare but hee that trusteth in the Lord shall be exalted Let us not regarding the feare of man neglect our duty to God for he can turne the hearts of the Kings on the Earth to seek the welfare of his poorest creature and make thy very enemies to be thy friends He that for sinister ends will offend his Maker may well be excluded to the gods whom they have served Go to the Great men whose persons you have obeyed for advantage to your riches to your pleasures which you have loved more than God or goodnesse You would not lose a base custome a superfluity for me therefore I will not owne you now Such men are more impudent than the Devill himselfe that will claime acquaintance with God at last when they have carried themselves as his enemies all their dayes God wants not means to maintaine his without being beholding to the Devill He hath all helpe hid in himselfe and will then shew it when it shall make most for his owne glory He deserves not to live under the protection of a King that will displease him for feare of a Subject The three Children in Daniel said Know O King that our God can deliver us out of thy hands but if he will not yet neverthelesse we will not fall down and worship thine Image The righteous are bold as a Lion saith the Wise man the Lord is his strong Tower What need we feare any creature when wee have him on our side who hath both Men and Devils at his beck And if God turne all things whatsoever to our good should not wee through the whole carriage of our lives chiefly aime at his honour God writes our names in his Book he numbers our hairs and bottles up our teares he hath a speciall care of us every good deed wee doe he writeth downe to eternity yea if we give but a cup of cold water in his name he taketh notice of it and shall not wee then take speciall occasion to magnifie him in all things We pray daily Hallowed be thy name therfore ought accordingly to observe Gods dealing with us How is it possible that we should give him the glory of his mercies if we never observe them A wicked man considers this makes for my advantage and this for my profit this tends to my ease and wealth c. studying how to make friends and please persons in place above him not respecting Gods honour and glory in the least kind whereas the sincere Chri stian lookes on all things as they tend to his best happinesse and therfore fore-cast thus If I do this or that good then I shall grow in grace wisdom and knowledge but if I neglect it and be carelesse of well doing I shall hurt and wound my soule and break the peace of my conscience by this company and good acquaintance I shall be furthered in holinesse become wiser and better in heavenly understanding if I fall they may raise me
counsels What Doth the truth vary according to mens judgements must we bring the strait Rule to the crooked Timber for to be measured Shall the judgement of any man be the rule of Gods unerring truth Shall present men interpret it thus and say it is so now And shall others that succeed after say what ever it was then now it is thus and must we beleeve all God forbid This declareth That no man can dispence with Gods Law this written Word is alike in all truth is truth and errour errour whether men think it to be so or no. Reason is reason in Turkes as well as amongst us The light of nature is the light of nature in any Countrey as well as here Principles of nature vary not as Languages doe they are inbred things And if Principles of nature be inviolable and indispensable much more is Divinity Filth is filth wee all confesse opinion ought not to bee the rule of things but the nature of the thing it selfe Therefore what is against nature none can dispence withall God cannot deny himselfe What is naught in one age is naught in another and for ever naught There is no Monarch in the World can dispence with the Law of nature or with the Divine Law of God For the opinion of any man in the World is not the rule which hee may comfortably live by but the undoubted light of Christs written Word I speake this the rather to crosse their base practices who when God cals them to stand for his cause and truth they will bend and bow the sacred truth which is alwayes Yea and Amen to their owne by ends and base respects As if the opinion of any man in the world were the rule of their faith and obedience This is to make God no God Is not right right Is not the Law the Law Is not the Word of Christ a word that alters not but remaines stedfast to all eternity Assure your selves there is a truth of God that we must maintaine to the death not onely in opposing Heresie but resisting of impiety wheresoever we meet it Iohn Baptist was a Martyr when hee stood out against Herod and said Thou must not have thy Brother Philips Wife He would not be meale-mouth'd in reprooving his sinne but cried out against the unlawfulnesse of it though it cost him his life Men ought to suffer for the truth and not for base ends deny the least word of God because it is a divine sparkle from himselfe For all the promises of God in him are yea and in him are Amen This comes in after this manner the word that I preached saith Paul is unvariable because Christ himselfe is alwayes yea and I have preached nothing but Jesus Christ among you my preaching then must needs be a certain and immutable truth There are divers readings of the words but the most materiall is as this Translation and the best Expositors have it All the promises of God in Christ are yea that is they are certaine and constant in him And then they are Amen that is in Christ they are fulfilled In him they are made and in him they are accomplished The whole carriage of the promises are in Christ for his sake they were first given and in him they shall be performed As Christ himselfe was yesterday and to day and the same for ever so are all Gods promises made in him undoubtedly eternally and unchangably true to all posterities Here are divers truths which offer themselves to our consideration First take notice that since the fall of man it hath pleased our good God to establish a Covenant of grace in Jesus Christ and to make him a second Adam by whom we might be restored to a better estate than ever wee had in the first Adam In which happy condition there can be no intercourse betwixt God and man without some promise in his Christ so that God now deales all by promises with us The reason is this how can poore dust and ashes dare to challenge any thing of the great Majesty of Heaven without a warrant from himselfe How can the Conscience be satisfied Conscience you know is a knowledge together with God How can that rest quiet in any thing but in what it is assured comes from God And therefore for any good I hope for from God it behooves me to have some promise and word of his mouth for it this being his constant course of dispensation to his people While we live in this world we are alwayes under hope We rejoyce in hope of the glory of God Now hope lookes still to the promise whereof some part is unperformed How doth Heaven differ from Earth but in this Heaven is a place all for performances here we have some performances to encourage us but are alwayes under some promise not yet accomplished And therefore the manner of our apprehension of God in this world exceedingly differs from that in Heaven Here it is by faith and hope there it is by vision vision is fit for performance Faith and Hope looke alwayes to a word revealed God therefore rules his Church in this manner for their greater good Alas what can we have from God but by the manifestation of hiis own good will May we look for favour from God for any thing in our selves It is a fond conceit Againe God will have his Church ruled by promises in all ages to exercise the faithfull in prayer and dependance upon him God will see of what credit is amongst men whether they will rely upon his bare promise or no. He might doe us good and give us no promise but he will try his graces in us by arming us against all difficulties and discouragements till the thing promised be performed to us Promises are as it were the stay of the soule in an imperfect condition and so is faith in them untill our hopes shall end in full possession and wee must know that Divine Promises are better than earthly performances Let God give man never so much in the world if hee have not a promise of better things all will come to nothing at the last And therefore God supports the spirits of his servants against all temptations both on the right hand and on the left by sweet promises Hee will have them live by faith which alwayes hath relation to a Promise This is a generall ground then that God now in Christ Jesus hath appointed to governe his Church by way of promises But what is a Promise A Promise is nothing but a manifestation of love an intendment of bestowing some good and removing some evill from us A declaring of a mans free engagement in this kinde is a Promise it alwayes comes from love in the party promising and conveighs goodnesse to the beleeving soule Now what love can there be in God to us since the fall which must not be grounded on a better foundation than our selves If God love us it