I am not unacquainted with the usual exception that lieth against the demonstration of the truth in hand from the promises of God, to wit, that they are conditional, depending on some things in the persons themselves to whom they are made, upon whose change or alteration they also may be frustrated, and not receive their accom- plishment. Whether this plea may be admitted against the particu- lar promi.ses that we shall insist upon will be put upon the trial, when we come to the particular handling of them. For the present, being resolved, by God's assistance, to pursue the demonstration proposed from them, it may not be amiss, yea, rather it may be very useful, to insist a little upon the promises themselves, their nature ' llcb. vi. 18; Tit. i. 2.
v.] THE PROMISES OF GOD. 227
and excellency, that we may be the more stirred up to inquire after every truth and sweetness of the love, grace, and kindness (they being the peculiar way chosen of God for the manifestation of his good-will to sinners) that is in them ; and I shall do it briefly, that I may pro- ceed with the business of my present intendment. ^ Gospel promises, then, are,— 1. The free and gracious dispensa- tions, and, 2. discoveries of God's good-will and love, to, 3. sin- ners, 4. through Christ, 5. in a covenant of grace ; 6. wherein, upon his truth and faithfulness, he engageth himself to be their God, to give his Son unto them and for them, and his Holy Spirit to abide with them, with all things that are either required in them or are necessary for them to make them accepted before him, and to bring them t-o an enjoyment of him.
I call them gospel promises, not as though they were only con- tained in the books of the New Testament, or given only by Christ after his coming in the flesh,— for they were given from the begin- ning of the world, or first entrance of sin,^ and the Lord made plen- tiful provision of them and by them for his people under the old testament, — but only to distinguish them from the promises of the law, which hold out a word of truth and faithfulness, engaged for a reward of life to them that yield obedience thereunto (there being an indissolvable connection "between entering into life and keeping the commandments), and so to manifest that they all belong to the gospel properly so called, or the tidings of that peace for sinners which was wrought out and manifested by Jesus Christ.^
Farther; I do not give this for the description of any one single individual promise as it lieth in any place of Scripture, as though it expressly contained all the things mentioned herein (though virtu- ally it doth so), but rather to show what is the design, aim, and good- will of God in them all; which he discovers and manifests in them by several parcels, according as they may be suited to the advance- ment of his glory, in reference to the persons to whom they are made. Upon the matter, all the promises of the gospel are but one, and every one of them comprehends and tenders the same love, the same Christ, the same Spirit, which are in them all. None can have an interest in any one but he hath an interest in the good of them all, that being only represented variously for the advantage of them that believe. My design is to describe the general intention of God in all gospel promises, whereby they, being equally spirited, become as one.^ And concerning these, I say, —
1. That they are free and gracious as to the rise and fountain of them. They are given unto us merely through the good-will and
» Gen. iii. 14, 15; Gal. iii. 17; Tit. i. 2.
5 Gal. iii. 12; Luke ii. 10; Eph. ii. 15; Isa. Iii. 7.
» Gal. iii. 16, 17; Eph. ii. 12; Heb. vi. 17, 18.
228 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
pleasure of God.^ That which is of promise is everywhere opposed to that which is of doubt, or that which is any way deserved or pro- cured by us: Gal. iii. 18, " If the inheritance be of the law" (which includes all that in us is desirable, acceptable, and deserving), " it is no more of promise," — that is, free, and of mere grace. He that can find out any reason or cause without God himself why he should promise any good thing whatever to sinners (as all are, and are sb-ut up under sin, till the promise come, Gal. iii. 22), may be al- lowed to glory in the invention which he hath found out, Matt. xx. 15. A well-conditioned nature, necessitating him to a velleity of doing good, and yielding relief to them that are in misery (though justly receiving the due reward of their deeds, which even among the sons of men is a virtue dwelling upon the confines of vice), for their re- covery, is by some imposed on him. But that this is not the foun- tain and rise of his promises needs no other evidence but the light of this consideration : That which is natural is necessary and uni- versal; promises are distinguishing as to them in misery, at least they are given to men, and not to fallen angels. But may not God do what he will with his own?