which shall devoure the adversaries Heb. 10.27 4. Lastly in the meane time this want of Faith in the promises leaves the heart of a man full of distractions and unquietnesse thereby so that one becomes uneven in all his wayes unsettled in all his thoughts raised up and cast down with contrary hopes and feares as the outward things of this life subject to continuall changes ebbe and flow from day to day whereof we have too many evidences in these times of trouble wherein men fall on and off as their vaine hopes and feares carry them on to one party or drive to the other to the shipwrack of their owne consciences and as much as in them lyes the betraying of the cause of Christ and of his Church and to their shame discovering to the world that they were never yet setled upon any firme foundation whereas one that hath built his Faith upon Gods promise is like a Ship moared by her anchors in a safe harbour from whence the ebbs and flouds of the sea cannot remove her 2. Vse Let me therefore earnestly beseech you right honourable and beloved by the mercies of God to labour above all things to strengthen Faith having such a firme foundation to build it on not cunningly devised fables as the Apostle cals them 2 Pet. 12.16 not the word of men who may deceive and be deceived but a faithfull word Tit. 1.29 A sure word 2. Pet. 1.29 The word of the God of truth who cannot lye a word more firme then the foundation of the earth setled for ever in heaven Psal 119.89 We have great reason to be earnest and serious in labouring with all our power to attain to this firmnesse of Faith not only because otherwise we despise this great mercy and compassion of God towards us in condescending to our weaknesse and abasing himselfe to be ingaged to us by his word his oath and his seales but more especially upon these sore weighty and important considerations 1. Of all other graces Faith is most necessary and usefull unto us every way 1. We thereby bring unto God the greatest glory by it setting to our seale that God is true Ioh. 3.33 As Abraham is said to give glory to God when he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in Faith Rom. 4.20 Indeed there is no more mentioned in that place but that he beleeved and thereby Sealed to the power of God being fully perswaded that he which had promised was able to doe it ver 21. But without beleeving his faithfulnesse and truth with all neither had hee any sound comfort nor God his due honour by beleeving wherefore it expresly testified of Sarah that she beleeved that he was faithfull that had promised Heb. 11.11 2. ly To us is Faith of such necessity that without it wee were dead spiritually it is that which unites us unto Christ the fountaine of life in whom we live as the Apostle testifieth of himself I live saith he yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by Faith of the Sonne of God Gal. 2.20 So that without Faith we are without Christ who is our life Col. 3.4 Again it is Faith that quickens all our endeavours and sweetens all our labours in Gods service knowing that in due season we shall reape if we faint not Gal 6.9 Thirdly it is Faith by which both our persons and services are accepted By Faith Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice then Cain by which he obtained witnesse that he was righteous Heb. 12.4 Fourthly it is Faith that holds up our spirits in afflictions I had fainted saith David unlesse I had beleeved to see the goodnesse of God in the land of the living Psal 27.13 Whence he professeth that Gods word the ground of our Faith was all the comfort which he had in his afflictions Psal 119.50 Fifthly Faith only enables us to withstand all terrours By Faith Moses his parents feared not the Kings commandement Heb. 11.23 And by the same power of Faith the three Children feared neither King Nebuchadnezzars angry countenance nor his threatning words nor his preparations of the flames of fire to torment them no not so farre as to take time to consider what to answer in so dangerous a case Dan. 3.17 Lastly it is Faith that supplies us with strong consolations Heb. 6.18 So that the Apostle tels us that being justified by Faith as we have peace with God so we not only bear tribulations patiently but in the midst of them rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Rom. 5.3 Secondly as Faith of all Graces is most necessary and usefull so is it of all others the hardest to be obtained and that in divers respects For first there is nothing in Nature that can help us to the attaining of Faith Sense cannot help us for the objects of Faith are things that are not seene Heb. 11.1 That is things that are above Sense things that are in the nature of them spirituall 2. Cor. 4.18 Whereas Sense apprehends only things that are grosse and earthly and things whereof many have no present being but are in hope and expectation only Much lesse can Reason help Faith seeing that takes all her grounds from Sense Wherefore Abraham that he might waxe strong in Faith silenced Reason which would have furnished him with arguments against the promise of having a sonne by Sarah for the Apostle tels us that he considered not that is did not so much admit into debate reasons drawn from the deadnesse of his own body and of Sarah's wombe Rom. 4.19 No Sense and Reason are so farre from helping Faith that they are the most dangerous of all other meares to hinder it or overthrow it where it is When David judged by Sense of Gods wayes and dispensations which represented unto him the prosperous condition of the wicked and his owne afflictions every morning it so shooke his Faith that he had almost slipt and was upon the point of condemning his owne wayes and the state of the Godly too as himself acknowledgeth Psal 73.2.13.15 And when Sarah began by Reason to examine the promise of having a Child at 90. yeers old she was so farre from beleeving it that she laughed at it Gen. 18.11 And as long as Moses makes use of his reason to weigh Gods promise of feeding six hundred thousand men besides women and children with flesh in the Wildernesse for a moneth together we see how hardly he is brought to beleeve it Num. 11.21 22 23. It must therefore be concluded that seeing neither Sense nor Reason nor consequently any thing in Nature can bring any help to Faith nay rather are the strongest meanes to oppose and hinder it it must needs be a difficult worke as being both above and contrary to Nature to obtain it A second difficulty in obtaining Faith is the consideration of those great and wonderfull things which it apprehends and beleeves
liberall things Isa 32.8 And yet these are not the words of men but the Promises of the God of truth more firme then the earth it self The Apostle tels us that Godlinesse hath the promises of this life and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Now seeing wee are so greedy of gaine why doe we not follow after this gainfull way of godlinesse which brings so large and lasting a reward assured by the word of God himself Nay why upon the same assurance doewe not lay hold of Eternall life What doe we grasping after the world when we have assurance of heaven a Kingdome that cannot be moved by the firmest of all Gods promises in which it is impossible for him to lye Consider I beseech you and let us weigh well what we doe and take notice First of the great wrong and dishonour wee offer to God himself Secondly of the evils that we bring and that deservedly upon our own soules We dishonour God 1. In that we receive not his Testimony for what we beleeve not that in effect we deny and by consequence make him a lyar 1 Ioh. 5.10 He that beleeveth not God hath made him a lyar as he that beleeves on the contrary sets to his seale that God is true Ioh. 13.33 Herein we doe in effect crosse the maine end for which we came into the world and for which God hath indued us with wisdome and understanding above the beasts of the field that being true of every man which our Saviour affirmes of himself for this cause came I into the world that I should beare witnesse to the Truth Ioh. 18.36 Men will indeed beapt to beguile themselves and others too in professing that they receive Gods testimony in all that he speakes but the Apostle tels us that there is a deniall in Workes as well as in Words Tit. 1.16 And to speake truth deniall in Deeds is the strongest deniall and manifests our affirming in words to be meere Hypocrisie as the Psalmist justifies it against the Israelites in the Wildernesse that though they remembred that God was their rock and the high God their Redeemer yet they flattered him with their mouth and lyed unto him with their tongue Psal 78.35 36. and proves by their workes because they still went on in tempting and provoking God and limiting the Holy one of Israel ver 40.41 2. It is the greater wrong and dishonour to God not to receive his Testimony First because God hath so farre condescended to our weaknesse as to engage himselfe unto us so many wayes being notwithstanding debtor to no man bestowing whatsoever he gives freely out of meere Grace We accompt it a wrong to a friend to require a bond of him for the assuring of a free gift But God hath bin content to abase himselfe so farre to us as to engage himselfe unto us by his Word to confirme his Word by an Oath and to ratify both by the seales of his Covenant That after the manifesting of so much tender respect to us and condiscending so farre to our weakenesse and affording such firme footing for our Faith God should not have so much credit with us as to bee beleeved upon his Word his Oath his Seale is such a dishonour to the God of Truth as we would be ashamed to offer to a mortall man Especially if we consider in the next place that God hath never given us cause to distrust him he never failed us in any one Promise wherein he hath ingaged himselfe unto us Thirdly it is yet the greater wrong to God if we consider by whom it is offered Nothing so farre kindled Gods wrath as the provoking of his sonnes and daughters Deut. 32.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What thou my sonne said Iulius Cesar to Brutus when he saw him amongst the rest of the conspirators come to stabbe him There cannot be a greater wrong to a master then not to be trusted by his owne servants much greater is the injury when a Father can have no credit from his owne children How is it possible then that God should beare it at the hands of those that call him Father and desire to be known by the name of his children that great dishonour of slighting his Promises and in their lives and conversations declaring to the world that they make more accompt of mens assurance then they doe of them Secondly as the Lord for whose glory we are created is wronged by our unbeliefe in not resting upon his Promises so it fals out as usually it doth in all like cases that we infinitely thereby prejudice our selves many wayes 1. By this meanes we deprive our selves of all true grounds of comfort which might support us in time of tryall It was Gods Word which quickened David in time of his affliction Psal 119.50 It was Gods Word on which he depended Psal 130.5 When he powred out his complaint before God out of the depths that is in floods of distresses that overwhelmed him For as for any other meanes to establish our hearts and beare up our spirits in times of inward distresses or outward afflictions wee shall find our selves forced to take up Davids complaint I looked for comforters but J found none Psal 69.20 and Psal 142.4 I looked on my right hand and there was no man would know me refuge failed me And as for Gods promises whence only the ground of true comfort ariseth with what cold hearts must we needs either apply them to our own soules or urge them and presse them upon God in our prayers when our own consciences tell us that these are the truths of God which we have cast by as matters of which we never made any great accompt Surely God can returne us no other answer to such suits then he gives his people Iudg. 10.14 Go cry unto the gods whom you have chosen let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation Cry to your Lands to your Treasures to your Friends in whom you have confided what have you to doe with my promises which you never beleeved nor regarded This is and will be a sad condition into which our unbelief will cast us when it will be too late to help it 2. ly This want of staying on Gods promises wonderfully deads our hearts unto all duties of Gods service unto which we are in an especiall manner encouraged because we know that our labour is not in vaine in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 And the Psalmist professeth the hope of Salvation from God was it that encouraged him to doe Gods commandments Psal 119.166 As on the other-side those that exported nothing from God desire to have nothing to doe with his service Iob 21.15 3. ly The want of this Faith by which we embrace Gods promises utterly cuts off all hope of eternall life which nothing but Faith in Gods promises can lay hold off And to be shut of that hope leaves unto a man nothing but a certaine looking for of judgement and fiery indignation
when they meet together Esau instead of killing salls to kissing and embracing and weeping over his Brother Gen. 33.4 In this Balaam tels us God is not like man Numb 23.19 God is not as man that he should lie neither the sonne of man that he should repent that is he neither speakes that which hedoth not intend or purpose nor puposeth that at present what he meanes to alter afterward No God is alwayes of one mind Job 23 13. and the thoughts of his heart stand throughout all ages Psal 33.11 Vpon both these grounds the Lord concludes the safe condition of his people I the Lord change not he meanes neither in nature nor in purpose I am still the same God and of the same mind therefore yee sonnes of Iacob are not consumed Mal. 3.6 3. Men who have no power in their hand but what they receive from God have many times by him such impediments cast in their way as they are not able to remove or consequently to effect what they intended Pharoah may in his owne heart resolve I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoile my lust shall be satisfied upon them Exod. 15.9 But God puts a cloud betweene the Army of the Israelites and the Egiptians and takes of their chariot wheeles that they drive them with much adoe so that the Israelites recovered the further shore before their Enemies could overtake them who perished in the waters before their eyes No such impediments can stand in Gods way who having all power in his owne hand doth whatsoever he pleaseth in Heaven and in Earth in the Seas and in all deepe places Psal 135.6 And none can stay his hand Dan. 4.35 No even the mountaines shall become plaines before him Zech. 8.7 Hence it is that seeing Gods purposes and Acts are all one he may speak of what he will doe as if it were already done for his will gives a being to those things that do not yet subsist which the Schoolemen call Esse Volitum otherwise God should speak falsely when he calls things that are not as if they were But men can speak no farther then of their intentions because they have already a being in their hearts so that they may truly say this I intend or purpose to doe but if they speak of the event or effect they must read St. Iames his limitation If the Lord will Iam. 4.14 Because they know not what shall be no not to morrow 2ly As God may speak certainly and infallibly of whatsoever he means to do though in appearance in maus eye it seeme never so improbable or impossible so it beseemes him to speake so in point of honour he must speak like a God as well as doe like a God I will open rivers in high places saith God Isa 41.18 19. and make the Wildernesse a standing poole and fruitfull in pleasant and usefull plants that they may know that the hand of the Lord hath done this ver 20. And as the Lord manifests himselfe to be God by doing things beyond beleefe and above the power of any second cause so doth hee by speaking of impossible things to be done afterward I will say unto the North give and to the South keepe not back Isa 43.6 and ver 9. He challengeth all the world to speak as he speaks that is to foretell certainly things to come to say Unto the deepe be dry and I will dry up thy Rivers to say of Cyrus he shall performe all my pleasure c. Isa 44.27 28. There is no question but the history of the Creation manifesteth the Lord to be God wherein we have him described speaking first and doing afterwards let there be light a Firmament Seas Earth c. And it was so 3. In respect of us it was in a sort necessary that God should thus deliver hsi promises in expresse and peremptory termes because they are the foundation of our faith which must rest upon certaine and immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lye that so we might have strong consolation Heb. 6.18 How easily our Faith in the apprehension of Gods promises may be staggered especially in times of tryall appeares in the example of the Prophet David who finding himselfe compassed with the sorrowes of death so that the paines of hell gat hold upon him acknowledgeth that in that perplexed condition he was ready to conclude that all men were lyars Psal 116.3.11 He meanes perhaps the Prophets who from Gods owne mouth had assured him of the Kingdome And the Psalmist Psal 77.8 in expresse termes questions not only the mercies of God but his promises also It is therefore necessary in respect of the weaknesse of our Faith in Gods Promises and our pronenesse to question the truth of them that they should be delivered by God in certain and full and cleere expressions Vse 1. If then Gods Promises be so certain and infallible in themselves and so represented and delivered unto us by God himself how is it that wee give so little credit to them That the words and engagements of men that deceive and are deceived are esteemed above them An Epigrammatist of our owne had rather take King Iames his word then St. IAMES the Apostles Qui petit accipiet Iacobus Apostolus inquit O si Jacobus Rex mihi dicat idem Whether that were his intention I know not but I am sure he there expresseth not only his owne thoughts but the opinion of men in generall For who sees not but that those who will be contented to trust men upon their bands with hundreds and thousands if need be are like the Ruler Luke 18.22 23. who when Christ himself tels him that if he will part with his estate for the relieving of his poore servants he shall have treasure in Heaven as he then so men now refuse the assurance and depart with sad countenances The best assurance that men can have for the enjoying of the Mannors or Lands which they purchase of other men is but an evidence under the hands and seales of mortall men and yet upon such assurance men lay out and part with large summes of Mony somtimes with all they have notwithstanding the possessions when they have them are of an uncertaine and changeable condition and often wrested our of their hands by fraud or violence But where are the men that will take our Saviours word Luke 18.29 30. that if they make losse of any thing for the Kingdome of God they shall receive manifold more in this present time and in the world to come life everlasting and upon that assurance adventure their whole estates Where are they that will take Salomons word that if they cast their bread upon the waters after many dayes they shall find it Eccles 11.1 Or that God will repay us whatsoever we lay out upon his poor servants Prov. 19.17 Or the Prophet Isaiah's promise that he that deviseth liberall things shall stand that is secure his estate by