he likes their company no better tlian a pack of thieves tliat breaks into his house. Neither saith he that lie fully kept the law, but he loved the lawr, even when he failed of exact obedience to it. Now from this testimony which his conscience brought in for his love to the law, his faith acts clearly and strongly on the promise in the next words, ' Thou art my hiding-place, and my shield, I hope in thy word,' ver. 114.
Section IV. — If thou questionest thy right to one promise, inquire whether thou canst not discern thy interest in a second, which, if thou canst, thou mayest conclude thou hast a right to the other thou didst doubt of, yea, and to all the rest. For as there is a concatenation of graces, he that finds one, hath all ; so of promises, he that is heir to one, hath a right to all. May be when thou readest that promise, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,' Matt. V. 8, the remainder of corruption being not yet fully mortified in thy heart, prevents thee from applying it to thyself as thy portion : but as for that, ver. 6, ' Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled,' haply thou feelest such a pinching sense of thy guilt, and want of holi- ness, as will enforce thee to acknowledge, that if ever man in a burning fever thirsteth for drink, or one half-starved desireth food, then thou dost crave and cry for the righteousness of Christ to justify thy person, and grace from Christ to sanctify thy nature : so that thou canst not but see this promise spoken to thee. And if this belongs to thee, then the former, and all the other with it ; for they are branches in the same covenant, which God doth not dismember, but gives it entire with all the branches growing on it to be the believer's por- tion : hence it is, they are called 'heirs of the promise.' Not heirs of this ])romise or that, but of promise ; that is, of the covenant, which comprehends all the promises of the gospel : so that, as he hath hold of the man's v.'hole body, that hath fast hold of his hand, though it be but one member of it, because it is knit to the rest, and by it he may draw the rest to him : so, if thou hast hold of any one promise, thou hast hold of all. And, as one may draw out the wine of a whole hogshead at one tap, so may a poor soul derive the comfort of the whole covenant to himself through one promise, which he is able to apply. ' We know,' saith John, 'that we have passed from death imto life, because we love the brethren,' 1 John iii. 14. Eternal life is the cream and top of all covenant blessings. Now a poor Christian may, upon the inward feeling of this one grace of love in his heart, (being the condition annexed to this promise,) know that lie is in a state of life and happiness. And v/hy ? Because, wherever this grace is in trulh, there are all other saving graces; Christ is not divided in these, and consequently, he that can apply this promise, hath a right to all.
CHAPTER XXIX.
FIVE DIRECTIONS MORE UPON THE SAME ACCOUNT.
Section I. — Take pains to sort the promises, as thou readest the Scriptures, and reduce them to their proper heads. There is great midtiplicity of trials and temptations which God is pleased to exercise his own saints with : ' Many are tlie afflictions of the righteous,' Psa. xxxiv. 19. And there is variety of pro- mises provided to administer suitable comfort to their sorrows. The Scriptures are a spiritual physic-garden, where grows an herb for the cure of every malady. Now it were of admirable use to the Christian, if he would gather some of every sort, such especially as he hath found most to affect his heart, of which he can say, this portion of Scriptui-e is mine ; and then to write such down, as the phy- sician doth his prescriptions for this and that disease by themselves. May it not shame the Christian, to see a scholar know every book in his great library, and what it treats on, so that he can presently go to any one of them, and make use of their notions as he hath occasion ; and he who hath but one book to advise with, and that none of the greatest bulk, but sufficient as to make him wise unto salvation, and make him comfortable in every condition that can befall him, should not be acquainted with some choice promises of every sort, to which he may be able to resort for counsel and comfort in the day of his distress ? Now the best time for this work is, when thou art yet at case in the lap of health and prosperity. The apothecary gathers his simples in the spring,
AND THE SWORD OF THE SPUUT. (317