every godly person may taste witli him : ver. 7, 8, ' Let Israel hope in the Lord ; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption : and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities ;' as if he had said, That which is a ground of hope to nie, notwithstanding the clamour of my sins, aifords as solid and firm a bottom to any sincere soul in the world, did he but rightly understand himself, and the mind of God in his promise ; yea, 1 have as strong a faith for such as for my own soul, and durst pledge the eternity of its happi- ness upon this principle, that God shall redeem every sincere Israelite from all his iniquities. This, this is the way to knock down our sins indeed, and Satan, when he comes to reproach us with them, and by their batteries to dismount our hope. Sometimes a qualm comes over the Christian's heart merely from the greatness of the things hoped for. What! saith the poor soul, seems it a small thing for me to hope that of an enemy I should become a son and heir to the great God ? What, a rebel ! and not only hope to be pardoned, but prove afavoiu-ite, yea, such an one as to have robes of glory in heaven, where I shall stand among those that minister about the throne of God in his heavenly court? O, it is too good news to prove true ! Thus the poor soul stands amazed, as the disciples when the first tidings of the Lord's resurrection surprised them, and is ready to think its hope but an idle tale with which Satan deceived him, that he may presume to hope, and perish with his presimiption.
Now, Christian, that thou mayest be able to step over this stumbling-block, be sure to observe those prints of God's greatness and infinitude that are stamped upon the promise : sometimes you have them expressed, on purpose to case our hearts of this scruple. When God promised what great things he would do for Abraham, to make them more credible, he adds, ' I am the Almighty God,' Gen. xvii. 1 ; so Isaiah Iv. 7 : ' Let the wicked forsake his way, and the mi- righteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and unto our God, for he will abundantly pardon.' But how can this possibly be done, that in the turn of a hand, as it were, such a great favour can be obtained, which among men could hardly be done in a lifetime ? O, that is easily answered. lie tells you he is not a sorry man, but a God, and hath a way by himself in pardoning wrongs, which none can follow him in ; for it is as far above our ways as the heavens are above the earth. This, Christian, observe, and it will be a key to unlock all promises, and let you in to the untold treasures which are in them, yea, make the greatest promise in the Bible easy to be believed. Whenever you read any promise, remember whose bond it is, — the word of no other than God ; and when you think on God, be sure you do not confine him within the little compass of your finite apprehensions, but con- ceive of him always as an infinite being, whose centre is everywhere and cir- cumference nowhere. When you have raised your thoughts to the highest, then know you are as far, yea, infinitely farther from reaching his glory and immensity than a man is from touching the body of the sun with his hand, when got upon a mountain. This is to ascribe greatness to God, as we are commanded, Deut. xxxii. 3; and it will admirably facilitate the work of believ- ing. Suppose a poor cripple should be sent for by a prince to court, with a promise to adopt him for his son, and make him heir to his crown ; this might well seem incredible to the poor man, when he considers what a leap it is from his beggar's cottage to the state of a prince. No doubt, if the promise had been to prefer him to a place in a hospital, or some ordinary pension for his main- tenance, it would be easier credited, as more proportionable to his low condi- tion; yet the greatness of the prince, and the delight that such take to be like God himself, by showing a kind of creating power to raise some, as it were, from nothing unto the highest honom- a subject is capable of, thereby to oblige them, as their creatures, to their service ; this might lielj) such a one to tliink this strange accident not altogether impossible. Thus, should a poor soul spend all his thoughts on his own unmectness and unworthiness to have heaven and eternal life conferred on him, it were not possible he should ever think so well of himself as tliat he should be one of those glorious creatures that were to enjoy it ; but when the greatness of God is believed and the infinite pleasure he takes to demonstrate that greatness by making miserable creatures happy, rather than by perpetuating their miseries in an eternal state of damnation, and vhat cost he hath been at to clear a way for his mercy freely to act in ; and, in a word,
552 AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION.