and his servants, and provoked him by their unbelief of his mighty power, which they had had so frequently experience of; "How long will this people provoke me? how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed amongst them ?" They provoked him again by infidelity in the wilderness, when they asked meat for their lust; and that was by calling the power of God in question: "They spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; but can he give bread also, can he provide flesh for his people d?" They measured God by their own reason, and charged God with that impotency which they found in themselves. This was the sin of that nobleman, who attended upon the king of Israel, in the great famine at Samaria: when the prophet foretold a marvellous plenty, which should suddenly come to the place, he measured God's power by his own conceits of possibility in the thing; "If the Lord would make windows in Heaven, this thing could not be." There was a promise made unto Israel, to restore them out of that great captivity of Babylon; and this seemed to them as incredible, as for men to be raised out of their graves after so many years' consumption; "Therefore they said, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we are cut off for our parts:" We have no more reason to believe any promise, or to rest upon any expectations of deliverance, than dead bones have to revive again. Therefore the Lord acquainteth them with his power, together with his promises: "O my people, ye shall know that I am the Lord,"-that is, that my ways and thoughts are infinitely above your shallow apprehensions, "when I shall have brought you out of your graves." Though there should be famine and mountains between God's people and his promises;-famine to weaken their feet, that they could not crawl away,—and mountains to stop their passage, which they could not climb over, nor overpass; yet when there was no might nor power left in them, the Spirit of the Lord should be their strength, their feet should be like hinds' feet, to skip over the mountains, and the moun

c Numb. xiv. 1, 11.

d Psal. lxxviii. 19, 20. f Ezek. xxxvii. 11, 13.

e 2 Kings vii. 2.

tains should be as a plain before them. All doubts and distrusts arise from this,-that men make their own thoughts the measure of God's strength, and have low and unworthy conceits of his power. This, therefore, in all difficulties we must frame our hearts unto,-to look off from second causes, from the probabilities or possibilities which are obvious to our reason,-and admire the unsearchableness of God's power and wisdom, which is above all the thoughts of man. If a rich man should promise a beggar a great sum of money, and he should discomfort himself with such plodding scruples as these: Alas, these are but the words of a man who means well, and takes compassion on my poverty; but how can he possibly make good his promise? If I should engage myself thus to another poor man, I should be sure to fail his expectations, and flatter him with wind;" what quiet or comfort could he have?-but he would have more wisdom than to measure rich men by his own poverty and baseness. So should we do in any difficulties and distresses, either from sins, afflictions, or temptations. As Abraham did; "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded, that what he had promised, he was able to perform". And after; "He offered up his son in faith, because he knew that God was able to raise him even from the dead; from whence he had before in a figure received him;" namely, from a dead and barren womb. This was Job's only comfort upon the dunghill, that "that God who would, after worms had consumed his flesh, raise him up at the last day, and make him with those very eyes to see his Redeemer," had power enough in his due time to deliver him from that woful calamity, into which he had cast him, and to revive his strength and estate again. A man, haply, is haunted and pursued with such or such an unclean affection, is wearied in wrestling with it, and cannot prevail; as indeed there is nothing that cleaves more pertinaciously, or is more inexpugnable, than a strong and importunate lust. What must he now do? sink under the weight? is there nor emedy, nor way of escape? God forbid.-When his own strength

Hab. iii. 17, 18, 19. Zach. iv. 6, 7. h Rom. iv. 19, 20. i Heb. xi. 29. k Job. xix. 25. 26, 27.

and wisdom fails him, let him look off from himself unto the power and promises of that God, who is all-sufficient to save to the uttermost, those that come unto him by Christ. He is a 'refiner,' 'a sun of righteousness,' that can cure the barrenness of our hearts, by the healing virtue of his wings, and purge away our dross and corruptions from us. That promise which God made to Paul, in the stirrings and conflicts of his concupiscence, is made unto all of his temper, "My grace is sufficient for thee: " and there are two things in that promise; grace, to make it,—and sufficiency, to fulfil it. "Lay aside,” saith the apostle, "every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset you."-Alas, may the soul answer, "If it be a weight, how shall I move it? if it be a besieging and encompassing sin, that doth so easily occupate and invade all my faculties, how shall I repel or drive it off?""Well," saith the apostle, "if you cannot quit yourselves of your clog and burden, yet 'run with patience the race which is set before you;' be content to draw your chain, and to lug your lusts after you."-But how can the soul be patient under such heavy and such close corruptions? under the motions, importunities, and immodest solicitations of so many and so adulterous lusts? "Look," saith he, "unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith: consider him lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." He doth not any of his works by halves; "He is a perfect Saviour, he finisheth all the works which are given him to do:" If he have begun a good work in you, he is able to perfect it; if he be now the author, he will in due time be the accomplisher, of your faith.

We must note, All the promises are made in Christ, being purchased by his merits; and they are all performed in Christ, being administered by his power and office. And in Christ we must note, there is, First, A will that we should be holy, expressed in his prayer to his Father: "Sanctify them by thy truth." Secondly, A power to execute that will; "he is able to save those that come unto God by him";" and "he quickeneth whom he will."" Thirdly, Both will and power are backed and strengthened with authority and an office so to do; for he was sanctified and

1 John xvii. 17. m Heb. vii. 25.

n John v. 21. • John x. 36.

r

sealed by his Father unto this purpose. Fourthly, He is furnished with abundance of wisdom to contrive, and of fidelity to employ both his will, power, and office for fulfilling all God's promises of grace and mercy. In him there were treasures of wisdom 9, and he is a merciful and faithful high priest. Fifthly, To all this he is further engaged by his consanguinity with us; he is our brothers, by his sympathy and compassion towards us; he hath felt the weight of sin in the punishment thereof, and the contradiction of sinners." And lastly, By his propriety unto us, he should defraud himself, if he should not fulfil all his promises to the church; for the church is his own house."x_ "All the promises are made to him," in aggregato, with his church: "To the seed of Abraham," that is, to Christ, namely, to the head and members together. As when any evil befalls the church, he is afflicted,'-so, in all the advancements of the church, he is honoured; and, in a sort, further filled; for the church is his fulness." Though as God, as man, as mediator, he be full by himself; yet as head, he accounteth himself maimed and incomplete without his members. So that when Christ pleads and prays for the church, he is an Advocate and Intercessor in his own business; for the affairs of the church are his.

Thirdly, Promises are, many times, subordinate to one another, and are performed in an order, succession, and dependency therefore we must not anticipate, nor perturb the order which God hath put in his promises, but wait upon him in his own way. "Grace" and glory will he give," but first, grace before glory; no man must snatch at this promise, till he have interest in that. Godliness hath the promises of this life, and of that to come; but we must note the order which our Saviour puts, "First seek the kingdom and righteousness of God, and then all these things shall be added unto you."-The Lord promiseth to call men unto Christ; "Nations that knew thee not, shall run unto thee."b The apostle tells us whereunto he calls: "God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." Therefore

g

in the next place, he promiseth to sanctify and cleanse his church: "I will put my law in their hearts, and in their inward parts." The qualification of this holiness is, that it be whole and constant: "The very God of peace sanctify you, and preserve you blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," is the apostle's prayer for the Thessalonians. Therefore in the next place, God promiseth perseverance: "I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." But this perseverance is not so certain, but that it admits of falls, slips, and miscarriages: therefore in that case, he promiseth healing and restoring: "I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely."- "I will bind up that which is broken, and will strengthen that which was sick." "h And after all this, comes the promise of glory and salvation. Now then we must wait upon the promises in their own order. When God hath called us to the knowledge of Christ, we must not skip over all the intermediate links, and look presently for the accomplishment of God's promise of salvation, or perseverance by God's sole power, and, in the mean time, omit all care of holiness in our conversation. When we are sanctified, we must not resolve then to sit still, as if all our works were at an end, and expect salvation to drop into our laps. But we must make it our care, and esteem it our own duty, "to continue faithful unto the end, that so we may receive a crown of life:" For God doth not fulfil his promises in us only, but by us too: and those things which, in regard of his word, are his promises, are also, in regard of his command, our duties. And therefore we must take the promises in that connexion and dependency, which they have amongst themselves.

Fourthly, Promises, though always necessary, are yet most useful in extremities; and therefore it is best for us to store up of all sorts. Though we see no present use of some particulars, yet we know not what time may bring forth, what ways God may please to try us by. Secondly, It is best to acquaint our hearts with those which are most general, precious, fundamental, wherein God's power and

d Jer. xxxi. 33. xi. 3. and xiv. 4. VOL. 1.

e 1 Thess. v. 23. h Ezek. xxxiv. 16. Y

f Jer. xxxii. 40.

& Hos.