6.]

the serpent's head is bruised, his power, and all his wicked designs upon mankind are broken, for God is now reconciled and at peace with them; and being "the God of peace, Rom.16.20. He will bruise Satan under their feet." He is now become gracious and merciful to them, long suffering, and abundant [Exod. 34. in goodness and truth; and that He might manifest the abundance of His truth as well as goodness to them, He hath promised them all the good things they can desire to make them happy, but He hath promised them only for the sake of His beloved Son Jesus Christ, and upon account of that meritorious death which He suffered in their nature, and in their stead, and therefore it is in Him, as the Apostle here saith, that "all the promises of God are yea."

66

And as in Him they are "yea," so in Him also they are Amen;" that is, as the word signifies in Hebrew, firm and steadfast, as certainly fulfilled, as they were established in Him: He is the " Alpha" and "Omega," the beginning and [Rev. 1. 8.] the end of all the promises; they are all begun, continued and finished in Him, so as to be fulfilled exactly according to the nature and purport of each of them; for the understanding of which it will be necessary to consider, first, how the promises of God are always fulfilled; and then, how they are fulfilled always in Christ.

As for the first, we must distinguish between the absolute and conditional promises; they which are made absolute, are always as absolutely performed. This God's faithful people have observed in all ages, and have taken particular notice of it; how notwithstanding all the difficulties that have intervened, such as might seem to make it impossible, yet such promises were always fulfilled to a tittle, as we see in the promise that God made to Abraham, that his posterity should be delivered from the bondage of the Egyp- [Gen. 15. tians after 430 years; for notwithstanding all the strength and policy that was used to prevent it, yet "it came to pass Exod.12.41. at the end of 430 years, even the self-same day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." The same, King Solomon takes notice of in the promise which God hath made to give the children of Israel quiet possession of the land of Canaan, saying, "Blessed be 1 Kings 8. the Lord that hath given rest unto His people Israel, ac

13.]

56.

XLV.

SERM. cording to all that He promised: there hath not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant." So it is in all such promises; there never fails one word of what He hath once said shall be, how great, how hard, how impossible soever it may seem to be.

[Matt. 11.

28;

ch. 6. 33.]

[Matt. 24. 35.]

The same may be said also of the promises which He hath made upon certain conditions, or to persons so and so qualified, as that He will pardon those who repent; that He will give "rest to those who labour and are heavy laden," that He will add all "things needful for this life to those who first seek His kingdom;" there is never any failure on God's part; if the promise is not fulfilled, it is only because the condition is not performed; the persons are not such to which the promise is made, and therefore it cannot be fulfilled to them; but all who do what is required on their part, and are such to whom God hath promised any kindness, they are as sure of it as God is true. "Heaven and earth may pass away, but His Word can never fail."

But then we must observe withal in the next place, that as the promises are made, so they are fulfilled also in Christ: it was by means of His death, as we have shewn, that they were at first made and confirmed, and it is by means of His intercession that they are fulfilled, as we see in the great John 7. 39. promise of the Spirit, of which St. John observes, that "the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." And Christ Himself, after His resurrection being assembled with His Apostles, commanded them, that Acts 1. 4. "they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which," saith He, "ye have heard of Me." They must wait for it till He was got to Heaven; though the promise was made before, it could not be fulfilled it seems till then; but He being soon after by "the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He shed it forth upon them." From whence it appears, that the fulfilling of the said promise depended upon His exaltation at the right hand of God, and the intercession which He is there continually making for His faithful people; and whereas God hath promised

ch. 2. 33.

2.

both to give them grace to repent of all their sins, and also to pardon their sins when they have repented of them, the Apostle shews how these promises are fulfilled, where speaking of Christ, he saith, "Him hath God exalted with His Acts 5. 31. right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." For here we see that these great blessings which are promised by God, they are given by Jesus Christ, and they are given by Him as He is exalted by the right hand of God to be a Prince and Saviour, and so vested with absolute power to give His people all things necessary to eternal life; yea, and eternal life itself, that also is in His gift, as He Himself hath taught us, saying to His Father, "Father, glorify Thy Son, that John 17. 1, Thy Son also may glorify Thee; as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him." It is He therefore that gives eternal life, the greatest blessing that God ever promised, and that to which all the other promises tend; and He gives it, as He is glorified by the Father, for that end and purpose that the Father may be glorified by His giving of it: thus, all the blessings that God hath graciously promised, are effectually conferred upon us by our blessed Saviour, as He is now sitting at the right hand of God, and there appearing in His presence for us, our only Mediator [Heb. 9. 24.] and Advocate; and therefore it is written, "That grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Because it is only in Him that God hath promised us any grace or favour, and it is in Him only that the truth of God appears in the performance of His said promises, or as the Apostle here expresseth it; All the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen."

John 1. 17.

Some perhaps may think, this is a matter only of theory or notion, not of practice or use; but none can harbour such a thought, but such as are without Christ, "being aliens Eph. 2. 12. from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." They having no interest in the promises, cannot make any use of them themselves, and therefore may imagine that no use can be made of them; whereas, "they who are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow- ver. 19.

XLV.

Heb. 6. 5.

SERM. citizens with the Saints and of the household of God." "These having tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come," they find by their own experience, that the promises of God are the main support of their spiritual life; that without them, they could never live the life of faith, for they could have no foundation for it; that without them they could never practise any duty aright, for they could never receive any strength or power to do it; and therefore, that the doctrine of the promises, as it is delivered in Holy Writ, is of universal use and advantage to them, for instruction, advice, and comfort; as it is to God for glory by us, as the Apostle observes in the last words of my text. By us, that is by those whom God is pleased to send and empower to publish and make known His promises to the world: by these, His glory is set forth and displayed in the world, the glory of His grace in making, and the glory of His truth in fulfilling His said promises in His Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, without whom his grace and truth had never appeared; whereas, in Him they shine forth as gloriously in the world, as His wisdom, power, and goodness do in the creation and government of it.

And as this doctrine advanceth the glory of God, so it conduceth very much to our good and benefit; for first, there are many useful and most comfortable lessons to be learned from it, I shall instance only in two or three: first therefore, from what we have heard out of God's Holy Word, concerning His promises being made and confirmed to us only in Jesus Christ, we may learn what infinite cause we have to love and honour Him, as the great foundation of all our hopes and expectations from Almighty God, for being conscious to ourselves of our manifold sins and offences against His Divine Majesty, we cannot but be sensible withal, that we deserve not the least favour at His hands, but rather all the punishments which His offended justice can inflict upon us; how then can we hope for mercy? No way certainly, but only because He hath promised it: but how comes He to make any such promises to us, more than to the fallen Angels? Only because His Only-begotten Son is a propitiation for our sins, and not for theirs; without

which we could have had no more ground to expect any mercy from Him, than they have; that is, none at all; for God had never promised any to us, His promises being all made in Christ, and upon the account of what He was pleased to suffer for us. But in Him He hath promised all the good things that we are capable of, and is always ready to bestow them upon us; "For He that spared not His own Son, but Rom. 8. 32. delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" It is with Him, and in Him only that He gives them. What cause have we then to value and prefer Him above all things we have, seeing it is by Him only, that we have them! "Therefore if any man love not 1Cor.16.22. the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha."

20.

From hence we may learn also what firm ground we have to believe and trust in the promises of God, seeing they were not only made by Him who cannot lie, but are likewise confirmed in His Only-begotten Son, who ever liveth to see [Tit. 1. 2.] them fulfilled. So that although either of them be enough, we have both the immutability of God the Father, and the all-sufficient merits and Mediation of God the Son, whereupon to build our faith and confidence in them; that as the Apostle argues in the like case," By two immutable things, Heb. 6. 18in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an High-Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." And being an High-Priest for ever at the right hand of God, He is ever making atonement and reconciliation for those who believe in Him, that all the blessings which He hath purchased for them with the price of His own blood, and which the Father therefore in Him hath promised, may be accordingly conferred upon them, by which means, though in themselves they have none, yet in Christ they have the firmest ground that could be made, wherein to fix the anchor of their hope, and to put their confidence in the promises of God. To which I shall only add, that the promises being all made and fulfilled in Christ, we are thereby instructed in the great use and necessity of