Now these promises are, 1, for their spring from whence they proceed, free engagements of God, for if he had not bound himself, who could ? and 2, they are for their value precious ; and 3, for their extent large, even of aU things that conduce to happiness ; and 4, for their virtue quickening and strengthening the soul, as coming from the love of God, and conveying that love unto us by his Spirit in the best fniits thereof; and 5, for their certainty, they are as sm-e as the love of God in Christ is, upon which they are founded, and from which ' nothing can separate us,' Rom. viii. 39. For all promises are either Christ himself, the promised seed, or else they are of good things made to us in him and for him, and accomplished for hia sake. They are all made first to him as heir of the promise, as Angel of the Covenant, as head of his body, and as our elder brother, &c. For pro- mises being the fi'uits of God's love, and God's love being founded first on Christ, it must needs follow that all the promises are both made, and made good to us in and through him, who is * yesterday, and to-day, and for ever the same,' Heb. xiii. 8.
That we should not call God's love into question, he not only gives us, (1) his word, but a binding word, his promise ; and not only (2) a naked promise, but hath (8) entered into a covenant with us, founded upon fall satisfoction by the blood of Christ, and unto this covenant sealed by the blood of the Lord Jesus, he hath (4) added the seals of sacraments, and unto this he hath added (5) his oath, that there might be no place left of doubting to the distrustful heart of man. There is no way of secm-ing pro- mises amongst men, but God hath taken the same to himself, and all to this end that we might not only know his mind towards us, but be fully per- suaded of it, that as verily as he lives, he wiU make good whatever he hath promised for the comfort of his children. What greater assurance can
THE soul's conflict. 213
there be than for being itself to lay his being in pawn ? and for life it- self to lay life to pawn, and all to comfort a poor soul ?
The boundless and restless desire of man's spirit will never be stayed without some discovery of the chief good, and the way to attain the same. Men would have been in darkness about their final condition and the way to please God, and to pacify and purge their consciences, had not the word of God set down the spring and cause of all evil, together with the cure of it, and directed us how to have communion with God, and to raise our- selves above all the evil which we meet withal betwixt us and happiness, and to make us every way ' wise to salvation,' 2 Tim. iii. 15. Hence it is that the Psalmist prefers the manifestation of God by his word before the manifestation of him in his most glorious works, Ps. xix. 7.
And thus we see the necessity of a double principle for faith to rely on : 1, God ; and 2, the Word of God reveaUng his will unto us, and directing us to make use of all his attributes, relations, and providence for our good ; and this word hath its strength from him who gives a being and an accom- phshment unto it ; for words are as the authority of him that uttereth them is. When we look upon a grant in the word of a king, it stays our minds, because we know he is able to make it good ; and why should it not satisfy our souls to look upon promises in the word of God? whose words, as they come from his truth and express his goodness, so they are all made good by his power and wisdom.
By the bare word of God it is that the heavens continue, and the earth, without any other foundation, hangs in the midst of the world ; therefore well may the soul stay itself on that, even when it hath nothing else in sight to rely upon. By his word it is that the covenant of day and night, and the preservation of the world from any further overflowing of waters, 2 Peter iii. 7, continueth, which, if it should fail, yet his covenant with his people shall abide firm for ever, though the whole frame of nature were dissolved.
When we have thus gotten a fit foundation for the soul lu lay itself upon, our nest care must be, by trusting, to build on the same. All our misery is either in having a false foimdation, or else in loose building upon a tnie. Therefore, having so strong a ground as God's nature, his providence, his promise, &c., to build upon, the only way for estabUshing our souls is, by trust, to rely firmly on him.
Now the reason why trust is so much required, is because, 1, it emptieth the soul; and 2, by^emptying enlargeth it; and 3, seasoneth and fitteth the soul to join with so gracious an object ; and 4, filleth it by carrying it out of itself unto God, who presently, so soon as he is trusted in, conveys him- self and his goodness to the soul ; and thus we come to have the comfort, and God the glory of all his excellencies. Thus salvation comes to be sure unto us, whilst faith, looking to the promises, and to God freely ofiering grace therein, resigns up itself to God, making no further question from any unworthiness of its own.