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i. 12. O how blessedly these two words answer one another, Faithful is he that promised, and I know, &c. There is God's name, and there is the faith of the Christian concerning this God: It is he whom I have trusted, he that promises, is he whom I have believed; whereas a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, James i. 8.

3. The warrant of this trust is single; it is upheld by the word of promise, and that alone, that separate from all things else. All our hopes are founded barely upon the word of God; and the more we strive (as you have heard already) to add supports to the word, for the imaginary strengthening of our faith, the more we weaken our faith, and the more we dishonour the word. If God's word of promise cannot bear thee up, though all the shoulders of all the angels in heaven should prop thee up, thou wouldst sink under them.

4. The influence and power that is needful for the drawing forth this trust, makes it remarkable also. When God causes us to hope, as David speaks, Psalm cxix. 49. this makes the matter yet more remarkable. If faith and trust in God were a plant that could grow up in our hearts daily, it might spring up unobserved, as a great many other things do. There are a great many seeds of knowledge and understanding, that do naturally grow up in children, as they grow in years, from the stock of natural parts that God gave them in their first frame; but faith is none of these things. This trusting is never without a causing, a causing to approach to him; it is never without a drawing. Therefore believers are more sensible of the power that works faith, than of that faith working in themselves, they are more sensible of the pains God hath been at to draw forth faith, than of the living acts of faith in themselves.

5. The fight of faith is to be taken notice of; as in Gen. Xxv. 22, 23.

6. Lastly, The grand expectation of faith is of that nature, that we cannot tell how it can be acted, though it may be known after it hath been acted. What do we take Christ's word for, and set our seal to it, but for everlasting salvation, for a glory to be revealed at the appearing of Jesus Christ, beyond what our ear hath heard, or tongue can tell, or heart can

conceive? And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee, Psalm xxxix. 7. We are not of them who draw back into perdition, but of them that believe, to the saving of the soul, Heb. x. 39. We are looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life, Jude, ver. 21. Now, may not one know these things, think ye? Nay, there is a special weakness in faith, a special cunning of our adversary the devil, that makes this believing not more frequently known by believers, that we do not know that we trust, when we trust. The matter is so considerable, the acts so formally and deliberately put forth, that a man may believe, and yet not be sensible of it, but by the fruits and effects of believing, which are the ordinary ways by which we come to know it. Therefore, now, unto such of you as can with some confidence avow it before God, that the gospel-promise of salvation by Christ Jesus hath been so warm upon your hearts, that you have built your everlasting hopes upon it, only three words, and I proceed.

1st, Bless the Lord, the great promiser, for the work of faith, and that on his promises. Praise is due upon both accounts. His grace made the promises, and his grace works upon the heart, which is always needful to embrace the promise; and the heart that partakes of the blessing, should entertain a due sense of its great debt to God, and pay it in praise that is all the payment we can give, though praising is rather owning a debt than paying it.

2dly, You that have built your salvation and eternal hopes upon the promise of the gospel, rest yourselves on him. Whatever your state and condition in the world be, you are blessed by God, and should own it: Blessed is she that believ ed, for there shall be a performance, Luke i. 45. How many blessednesses are ascribed unto believing and trusting in God? Blessed are all they that put their trust in him, Psalm ii. 12. Here now is a fault that is very frequent with the godly; they are ready to be sensible of mercy, and to bless God for mercy; they are sensible of promises, they bless God for making of them; and when God makes a performance of a promise, they bless him for that too. This is the thing I find fault with, that few Christians are heartily thankful to God for trusting, for believing. A poor child of God can look upon

the

promise, and say, Here is a full promise, but no performance, no appearance in the world for performance; yet God be thanked, I can trust it, and believe his faithful word, and wait till his ume comes.

Lastly, You that have built your salvation and eternal hopes upon the promise of the gospel, never recal that trust, but re-act it every day. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, and believers should go on believing the promise of salvation that we believed at first believing. We are to believe still more and more, growing in faith; for faith is a grace to be grown in as well as knowledge, and repentance, and holiness. How many believers are there that are sensible of the one, and insensible of the other? They are easily convinced that they can never be holy enough, but they are not easily convinced, that they cannot believe strongly enough, that there is something still lacking in their faith, that they should labour to build up and to advance in more and more. If I may so speak, faith is something like a believer, believing is like a believer, a believer is never perfect till he is dead, and faith is never perfect till it is done. I mean, there is always some failing in our believing till believing is ended, and seeing comes in its room: As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving, Col. ii. 6, 7. Wherein observe the variety of expressions concerning faith. is Receiving. 2. Walking. 3. Rooting. 4. Building. 5. Stablishing. 6. Abounding. To which is added, 7. Thanksgiving.

1. There

This leads me to the second exhortation, and that is, that we should answer the faithfulness of God by believing, that all promised good things shall be given unto you by the way. This is a needful answering the faithfulness of God, to believe all good by the way, and to believe nothing but good. This is believing, to expect all good by the way from God, and nothing but good. So his promise runs; and Oh! That our faith could fasten upon it, and kindle with that gracious premise a flame of love. If fire from heaven would fill the altar and kindle the sacrifice, to wit, our faith, what a blessed

meeting would it be? And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that 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, Jer. xxxii. 40. Pray observe, we are not only to expect all good from God, but are to expect from God that all good shall be with us; we are not only to believe he will do us always good, but we are to believe, we shall believe, we are to believe our faith shall never fail, for that is a part of the promise: I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. God's faithfulness is equally engaged in keeping his people from departing from him, as it is engaged in his not departing from them. He that says, I will not turn away from them to do them good, has also said, they shall not depart from me. Now, what follows, ver. 41.. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land (that is a part of the Old Testament type from the body of the new covenant), assuredly, with my whole heart, and with my whole soul. Were ever such words spoken by God, with my whole heart, and with my wholesoul? Now, who can understand what is in this? God's whole heart, God's whole soul is in this promising; and should not the believer's whole heart and whole soul be in the believing of it? Why, this is but reasonable, that we should give God a meeting. "This way has he "promised to do me good, with his whole heart and his "whole soul, and shall not I trust him with my whole heart " and with my whole soul?" Psal. cxix. 58. Prov. iii. 6. this is soon said, but is not so soon done.

I shall therefore upon this exhortation speak a little to these two particulars :—

1. The grounds of this faith that I am calling for.

2. The cases wherein this is especially to be acted.

First, As to the grounds of this faith that I am calling for, the answering God's faithfulness in the promise, in expecting good from him; they are two.

1st, From the state of the believer. 2dly, From the nature, and order, and condition of the covenant.

1st, From the state of the believer, what sort of a man is a believer? He is one that is brought within the chariot paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem, Cant iii. 10. Every

one that is brought to heaven, is carried in that chariot, love all over, bottom and top, and all the sides of it; every be liever is a prisoner of love, he is guarded by love, till he come to heaven. Every believer is an heir of promise; the promises are his, he may count them in his estate; all the charter we have, is the promise. God is our father, Christ is our redeemer, the Holy Ghost is our sanctifier, heaven is our inheritance, promises are our charter: Such a man as this, that is an heir of promise, surely he should expect the fulfilling of the promises, the estate his father has given him, and may expect to be dealt with accordingly.

2dly, The nature of the covenant calls for the answering of our faith unto God's faithfulness, as to all good by the way.

1. All good, and nothing but good is in the covenant; all blessings are in it; and every thing that is in it, is a blessing, because it is in it. If the rod be in the covenant, as it is, it is good, because it is there; and it will be found to be good. when we meet it. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me, thou hast kept thy promise to me, Psalm cxix. 75. and ver. 65. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according unto thy word.

2. There is this in the covenant, that trust is God's appointed way for the getting the performance. The Lord hath given many great promises to us in the covenant, and he expects to be trusted when he promises, if we would have the accomplishment of what we want. Besides all the great promises of the new covenant, observe those mentioned in Ezek. xxxvi. 25,-37. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you, &c. After all which is added, Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Is rael, to do it for them. It was for Israel's sake that the promise was made, yet he will have Israel's faith and prayers called upon and brought forth, in order to the accomplishment of them. As the brazen serpent healed those that beheld it, Numb. xxi. 9. and as Jordan healed Naaman, after he had dipped himself seven times, 2 Kings v. 14. or as Elisha's

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