[5.] Fifthly, If absolute py^omises, or precious promises of special grace and mercy ^ he made to sinners, as sinners, then sinners may in prayer plead out those promises, and urge God upon making good his promises; but absolute promises, or promises of special grace and favour, are made over to simiers, as sinners, ergo, that such promises are made over to poor sinners, as sinners, is evident by comparing these scriptures together, Isa. Ivii. 17-19. These words drop nothing but myrrh and mercy. If Ennius could pick gold out of a dunghill, oh, what gold, what comfort, may be picked out of these golden promises ! In these words, let us consider two things : first, the precious promises that are here made ; secondly, the persons to whom they are made. In the words you have four precious promises of special grace and favour ; they are as so many streams of grace flowing from the covenant of grace.
I. The precious promises that are here made.
First, You have here a promise of healing : ver. 18, * I have seen his ways, and will heal him,' or, as you may read the words, though I have seen his ways and courses, and well observed how unworthily, how untowardly, and how obstinately he has carried it, ' yet I will heal him,' — ' I will heal his backsliding nature.' Though his disease be dangerous, though it be very dangerous, yet to an almighty physi- cian no disease is incurable. I will heal his inside by pardoning his sin and purging his conscience, and I will heal his outside by remov- ing of judgments and calamities from him ; and all this I will do upon the account of my promise and covenant : Hosea xiv. 4 ; Jer. xxxii. 38, and xl. 2, compared ; Ps. ciii. 3 ; Jer. iii. 22 ; Mai. iv. 2.
Secondly, You have in the words a promise of leadiTig ; ' 1 will lead him also,' or, as the Hebrew hath it, ' and I will lead him, I will con- duct him in safety to his own country.' So some sense it, but you may understand it, doubtless, of a spiritual, as well as of a providen- tial leading. I will lead him by my word, and I will lead him by my Spirit, and I will lead him by my counsel, suitable unto many precious promises of grace that are scattered up and down in the Scripture.
Thirdly, In the words you have a promise of comfort; * I will restore comforts to him,' not comfort, but comforts ; that is, in the room of all those discomforts, sorrows, calamities, and miseries that he has been exercised with, I will, says God, lay in abundance of comfort, yea, I will store him with all sorts of comforts, both temporal, spiritual, and eternal, suitable to that word of grace that you have in Isa. xl. 1, 2.
Fourthly, In the words you have a promise of peace: ver. 19, ' I create the fruit of the lips ; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near,' saith the Lord. The gemination of the word Shalom, shalom, peace, peace, imports a large extent of peace ; it notes true peace, firm peace, sure peace, great peace, abundance of peace, yea, constant and lasting peace. Under the name of peace in the Hebrew is denoted all manner of prosperity, and the geminating of the word always notes a large measure of tranquillity, plenty, pros- perity, and felicity. 0 sirs, peace with God, and peace with con- science, and peace with the creatures, are all the products of God's creating power and grace, Eph. ii. 16-18, and so must be referred to the covenant of grace.
236 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [Heb. XII. 14.
II. The persons to whom these precious promises are made ; and here let us observe these three things.
First, Their sin ; and this you have in ver. 17, ' For the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth.' The sin that is charged upon him is a very great and grievous, it is a very vile and heinous sin ; it is called not only covetousness, but the iniquity of his covetousness, to shew the height and transcendency of this their wickedness ; for covetousness is a mother-sin, it is a breeding sin, it is a sin that has all sin in the womb of it ; it is a sin not only against the light and law of grace, but also against the light and law of nature, for it makes the soul terrene which should be celestial ; and therefore the Persians, though heathens, have a law that no man ought to covet what belongs to any other man ; and they have another law, that they ought not to be worldly-minded. No sin lays men under greater woes, 1 Tim. vi. 10. Woe to him that joineth house to house ; and woe to you Scribes, Pharisees, and hypo- crites. Mat. xxiii. It is an evil that subjects men to the basest and vilest evils ; it is the root of all evil — it makes a man a fool : Luke xii. 20, ' Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be taken from thee.' It robs a man of all true peace, comfort, content, and quiet ; it brings men into snares which drowns their souls in perdition ; it renders men unsatisfied under aU their outward enjoyments. Though a covetous wretch may have enough to sink him, yet he can never have enough to satisfy him ; first he wishes for a bag-fuU, and then a chest-full, and then a chamber-full, and then a church-full, &c. The plague of unsatisfiedness is none of the least of plagues that covetous men are under. Certainly you shall as soon fill a triangle with a circle, and a chest with grace, and the body with air, as you shall be able to fill and satisfy a covetous mind with money. In a word, covetousness is a sin that renders a man unserviceable in his generation. A covetous man is like a swine, that is good for nothing whilst he lives. The horse is good to bear and carry, the ox is good to draw, the sheep is good for cloth, the cow is good to give milk, and the dog is good to keep the house, but the hog is good for nothing whilst he lives ; so a covetous man is neither good for church nor state — he is nowise serviceable in his generation, only when he is dead. That scripture often proves true, viz., that 'the riches of a sinner are laid up for the just,' Job xxvii. 17. By all which you may see the greatness of this sin of covetousness that is so closely charged upon them. But,
Secondly, They grew worse under the afflicting hand of God; ' I was wroth, and smote him, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.' They were like peevish, fro ward, stubborn children, that grow more cross, crooked, and perverse under all the chastenings of their father ; and this was no small aggravation of their sin, that they grew worse under the rod. Plutarch writes i that it is the quality of tigers, that if the drums or tabors sound about them, they will grow mad, and rend and tear their own flesh in pieces ; and so it was with these sinners in the text. Oh, how did they fret and fume, and tear, and take on, when they were under the rebukes of God ! But,
Thirdly, They persevered and went on against all gainsayings ; ' I ^ Lib. de super*titione.
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 237