2. Faith takes possession, and gives a being to the things hoped for — ■promissis, in the promises. There is not only the union of hope, but a clear right and title ; God hath passed over all those things to us in the covenant of grace. When we take hold of the promises, we take hold of the blessing promised by the root of it, until it flows up to full satisfaction. Hence those expressions, believers are said ' to lay hold of eternal life,' 1 Tim. vi. 12-19, by which their right is secured to them ; ' And he that heareth my words, and believeth in me, hath eternal life,' John v. 24. Christ doth not only say, He shall have eternal life, but, jus liabet. he hath a clear right and title to it, which is as sure as sense, though not as sweet. Faith gives us heaven, because in the promise it gives us a title to heaven ; we are sure to have that to which we have a title ; a right is enough, though there be not always an actual feeling ; he hath a grant, God's word to assure him of it. He is said to have an estate that hath the conveyance of it, but it is not necessary he should carry his land upon his back. The fee of heaven is made over to us in law though not in deed ; it is ours before we possess it, because God hath passed his word that we shall have it. And we hold it by covenant right, though we have it not by actual possession. It is not only prepared for us in the desigument of God, but given in respect of the indefeasableness of our right and property : Luke xxii. 29, ' I appoint unto you a kingdom.' iSTow faith receives the kingdom. We take hold of the thing promised by the root of it, and then we are sure of it ; the promise is not a dry root, and the hand of faith is not a barren soil ; but when once the hand of
328 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XL [SeR. I.
faith takes hold of the promise, your interest will grow up into stalk and bud, and flower, and bring forth the fruit of full contentment. Now this contents a believer for the present, because faith considers what the promises are, and whose they are.
[1.] What are the promises ?
(1.) Partly thus : They are the eruptions and overflows of God's grace and love. God's heart is so big with love to the saints that he cannot stay till the accomplishment of things, but he must acquaint us beforehand what he means to do ior us : ' Before they spring forth,' saith God, ' I tell you of them,' Isa. xlii. 9. God's purposes of grace are like a sealed fountain, but his promises like a fountain broken open , before his purposes be brought to pass, he will tell us of them. The Lord might have done us good, and given us never a promise ; but love concealed would not have been so much for our comfort. Now faith, seeing the testimony of God's love, counts itself bound to rest on the promise, and doth in effect say to the soul, as Naomi to Ruth, ' Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall ; for the man will not be in rest, until he have finislied the thing,' Ruth iii. 18. So faith saith to the soul, Sit still, until thou know how the matter will be ; for God will not be at rest till he hath accomplished all that he hath spoken to thee. God accounts our purposes to be obedience, because they are the first issues of our love : Ps. xxxii. 5, ' I said I will confess my sin unto the Lord, and thou forgavest mine iniquity ; ' and Heb. xi. 17, ' By faith Abraham offered Isaac,' because he did it in vow and purpose ; much more should we accept promises which are the declarations of God's purposes as performances : it will in time come to pass.
(2.) Faith looks upon them as the rule and warrant of our certainty. They show how far God is to be trusted, even so far as he is engaged ; promittendo sefacit dehitorem, God hath entered into bonds, and made himself a debtor to his creatures by his ])romises. The purposes of God are unchangeable ; but now when his purposes are declared in his promises, you have a further holdfast upon him. God will try our faith, and see what credit he hath with men, whether they will depend upon him when there is security put into our hands. Well then, faith takes hold of the blessing, the promise; why? God hath passed his word, the word is gone out of his lips, and he cannot in honour recall it,' Ps. Ixxxix. 34 ; we may challenge him by his promise. Saith Austin of his mother, ' Lord, she was wont to throw thee in thy hand- writing ; ' ' she was wont to plead promises. God hath entered into bonds, and you may come and plead, and put those bonds in suit l Ps. cxix. 49, ' Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.' An usurer thinks himself rich, though he hath little money in the house, because he hath bonds and good security. He that hath a thousand pounds in good security is in a better case than he that hath only a hundred pounds in ready money. A christian accounts God's promises to be his estate and patrimony, to be his sub- stance and inheritance.