4. And then the promises they do settle the soul, because they be * yea and amen :' they make the soul quiet. If a man believe an honest man on
414 COMMENTARY ON
liis word, he will bo quiot ; if ho bo not quiet, he (loth not believe. So nmch i'liith, so niucli (iiiiet, ' Ik'iiif,' justiliod by faitli, wo have peace with (iotl tUi-ouj^'h Jesus Christ our Ijord,' lloin. v. 1. So much faith, so much peace. ' In ii()tliin<,' bo careful, but let your desires be known to God in prayer, supplication, and thanksj^'ivin^',' Philip, iv. (i ; and when you have done this, ' The peace of (iod which passeth all undorstandinfT, shall pro- servo vour hearts and minds in Christ Jesus,' vor. 7. So where there is prayer, and tiianks^'iviu},', and doin<^ of duty, the peace of God which passeth all understandiiif;, will keep the mind in Christ ; and where there is not quiet and peace to preserve the heart and mind, there is neglect of duty before, not committing ourselves to God's promises to build on them.
5. Again, where there is a belie%'ing the promises, there is not only a staying of the soul in general, hut when nil tliiufia are gone, when all thiuffs are cnntian/. That is the nature of faith in the promises. Put the case, that a Christian that is of the right stamp, have nothing in the world to take to, only God's word and promises ; surely he knows they are ' yea and amen.' It is the word of God all-sufficient; he is Jehovah; he gives a being to his word, and to all things else ; therefore he hath the name Jehovah. Therefore thinks the soul, though I have nothing, yet I have him that is the substance of all things. All other things are but shadows ; God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are the substance that give all things a being ; and therefore I will cast myself on God. Here now is the triumph of faith. When there is nothing else to trust to, nay, when all things else are contrary, when it is faith against faith, and ' hope against hope ; ' when there is such a conflict in a man, that he sees nothing but the contrary ; here faith will shut the eye of sense, and not look to present things "too much. Though I see all things contrary, though I see rather signs of anger than otherwise, yet I will hope and believe in God, for this or that. Here is the wisdom of a believing Christian that believes the promises — he will shut his eyes, and not look on the waves, on the troubles. They will carry him away, and dazzle him. But he looks to the constant love of God in Christ, and to the constant promises of God. His nature is constant, and his truth is as his nature. He cannot deny himself and his own word, when he , hath made himself a debtor by his promise, and bound himself by his word.
Therefore in contraries say as Job, ' Though he kill me, yet will I trust in him,' Job xiii. 15. True faith when it is in strength will uphold a man when all fails ; nay, it will hold a man when all is contrary. This our Saviour Christ, in whom ' all the promises are yea and amen,' did excel- lently teach us by his own example. For when all was contrary, and our blessed Saviour felt the wrath of God, which made him sweat drops of blood, and made him cry out, ' My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ' Mark xv. 34 ; yet here faith wrestled with ' My God, my God,' still, even under the wrath of God. He brake through the seeming wrath of God, into the heart of God.
Faith hath a piercing eye. It will strive through the clouds, though they be never so thick, through all the clouds of temptation. Christ had so piercing a faith, it brake through all. He saw a Father's heart under an angry semblance. So a Christian triumphs by faith in oppositions to faith. When all is contrary to faith, yet notwithstanding he can say ' My God' still. This is an evidence of a strong faith in the promises.
6. Again, an evidence of faith in the promises is faithfulness in ourselves, in our promises to God; for surely the soul that expects anything of God,
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VEE. 20. 415
that he should be fiiithful, it studies to be faithful in the covenant, Ps. xxv. 10, ' All the ways of God are mercy, and truth.' All his dealings to his children are mercy and truth, ' to them that keep his covenant.' For you know, the promises have conditions annexed ; and where God fulfils his promise, he gives grace to perform the condition, to walk before him, to allow ourselves in no sin. For if we allow ourselves in any sin, we perform not the covenant on our part. Now God will give grace to perform the covenant where he will perform his own. Therefore those that are unfoithful in their covenant, and yet think God will be faithful to them, it is presumption.