Shall we have certain j)romises, and shall we u-arer and Rtafiger? There- fore let us complain, Lord, thy promises are sure and certain as thou hast said, what is the reason I cannot build on them ? Oh my unfaithful heart ! Let us condemn our unbelieving, our lying hearts, that call the truth of God into question, and make that which is ' yea and amen ' to be ' yea and nay.' We make truth a lie, and do rather believe our own lying hearts than God's immutable and unchangeable promises. Therefore let us see the fulness* of our hearts, and complain of them to God, and desire him to cure it and redress it, and he will do it.
This is to give f/Iortj to God indeed. We cannot honour God more than to believe his promises, and build on him. This will breed love, when we feel the comfort of the promises. Foolish men think to honour God by compliments, by dead performances. Silly men consider that the principal honour in the world. To God, [it] is to seal his truth, that thou shouldst not make him a liar. Hath he promised all things in the world ? Get faith. That will honour him, and he will honour thy faith.
What makes God honour faith so much ? He that believes he will bring him to heaven. Faith honours him. It gives him the glory of his truth, the glory of his goodness, of his mercy, of his truth, &c. As it honours him, he honours it.
The believer shall come to heaven, when the idle fashionable Christian shall vanish with his conceits, that thinks to serve God with empty vain shadows. Honour God with the obedience of faith, man. Cast thyself upon him, trust in him, in life and death, and then thou givest him the honour that he requireth at thy hands. For as the honour of his mercy is the greatest honour he will have in this world, more than that in the crea- tion, so thou honourest him more in the gospel, to cast thyself on him for forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting, and for the guidance of thy daily course of life ; thou honourest him more than by looking on the creature, or by doing him any service. He is honoured more by faith in Christ than by any other way. Let faith go to him ; as faith honours him, so he will honour it, ' Let it be according to thy faith,' Mat. xv. 28.
Let not all be lost, let us bring vessels for the precious promises, the vessel of a believing heart. Shall all this be lost for a vain heart that will not lodge up these promises ? Shall we have a rich portion, and neglect it ? Shall we have so many promises, and not improve them, and make use of them ?
• Cf. Ezek. xvi. 49.— G. Qu. ' foulness ? '—Ed.
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 20. 409
Therefore I beseech you, let it be our practice continually every day, of all portions of Scripture make the promises most familiar to us ; for duties follow promises. If we believe the promises with our heart, they are quickening promises. We will love God, and perform other duties. ' Faith works by love,' Gal. v. 6. If we believe, love will come kindly otf. There- fore he saith here, ' All the promises are yea and amen,' insinuating that all is included in the promises.
Let us empty our hearts of confidence in anj-thing, and fill them with the promises in Christ that are ' yea and amen.' Let us stablish our hearts with the promises, let us warm, and season, and refresh our hearts every day with these.
In these times of infection, what do we ? Those that are careful of them- selves, that go abroad in dangerous places, they have preservatives, they take something to preserve their spirits, and to strengthen them against the contagion abroad ; and it is wisdom so to do, it is folly to neglect it, and to tempt God, not to be careful in this kind : it is very well done. But what is this, if thou do not fence thy soul and thy spirit, and take a di*aught of the promises every day afresh ? Let us take out om- pardon of course every day, of the forgiveness of sins. We sin every day, let us go for our pardon. ' If we sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, and he is the propitiation for our sins. And the blood of Jesus Christ shall purge us fi'om all sin,' 1 John ii. 1. And he is in justifying us still every day, he is acquitting our souls ; and there is a pardon of course to be taken out every day. Let us renew and refresh our hearts with the promises of pardon and forgiveness of sins every day. Let us strengthen our souls with renewing the promises of grace for that day to walk comfortably before God, that he will keep us by his Spirit from sin, that he will be a shield and a sun to us, that he will give us wisdom to carry ourselves as we should; and he will give us his Holy Spirit if we beg it.