1st. For the first, let us take a taste oi the pj^omises, which are, as it were, the very life and beauty of the covenant of grace, and the glory of the ministry committed unto men ; and they are of two sorts, both of which have their effectual influence into the obedience of saints: —
(1st.) There are promises which express only the work of God's grace, and what he will freely do in and upon the hearts of his thereby, as to the working holiness and obedience in them, as also of liis pardoning mercy in his free acceptance of them in Jesus Christ; and these are in a peculiar manner those "better promises"
VOL. XI. 26
402 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
of tlic covenant of grace, upon the account whereof it is so exceed- ingly exalted above that of works, which by sin w£is broken and dis- annulled, Heb. viii. 6-12.
{2dly.) There are promises of what good and great things God will farther do unto and for them who obey him ; as, that he will keep them and preserve them that they shall not be lost, that their labour and obedience shall end in the enjoyment of God himself, with an immortal crown of glory which shall never fade away, Heb. xi. 9, 10.
Now, the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, and the stability of the love of God unto them, closeth with the promises of both these sorts, as to the end of carrying on and increasing obedience and holi- ness in them. Take an instance in the first. The promises of the work of God's grace in us and towards us are effectual as appointed to this end: so in that great word, Gen. xvii. 1, (which the apostle calls "The promise," Gal. iii. 17,) "I am the Almighty God;"—" I am so, and will be so to thee, and that for and to all ends and pur- poses of the covenant whatsoever." The inference is, " Walk before me, and be thou perfect." Walking with God in uprightness and sincerity is the projDcr fruit in us of his promise to be oirr all-sufficient God in covenant; as, Jer. xxxi. 33, our becoming the "people of God" in walking with him in all ways of obedience is the effect of his pro- mise " to be our God, and to write his law in our hearts," not only because by the grace of the promise we are brought into a state of acceptance, and made the people of God, but also upon the account of the engagement that is put upon us by that gracious promise to live unto him ; whence in the close it is affirmed " v/e shall be his people." Tlie word of the gospel, or the word of faith, doth mainly consist in this; and what the aim of that is the apostle declares. Tit. ii. 11, 12, " The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." Wiiich general purport of the promises in this way is farther a-sserted, 2 Cor. vii. 1, " Having," saith he, " these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." And most eminently is this assigned to the promises of that sort which we now peculiarly insist upon, 2 Pet. i. 3, 4. To know the way wlicrel)y these or any other promises are effectual to the end and purpose intimated, two things are considerable: — First, What is required to make them so effectual; Secondly, Wherein and how they do exert that efficacy that is in them. For the first, the apostle acquaints us on what account alone it is that they come to be useful in this or any other kind : Heb. iv. 2, " The word of the gospel," tlic promise preached to them of old, " did not profit them," did them no good at all. And the reason of this sad success in the |)reaching of the gospel and declaration of the promises he gives
X.J . THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE DOCTRINE, 4U3
you in the same verse ; it is that the word was " not mixed with faith in them that heard it." It is the mixiug of the promises with faith that renders them useful and profitable. Now, to whatever faith is required, the more firm, strong, and stable it is, the more effectual and useful it is. That, then, which is apt to establish faith, to support and strengthen it, to preserve it from staggering, that renders the promise most useful and effectual for the accomplish- ment of any work whereunto it is designed, E.om. iv. 20. Now, faith in the promises respects the accomplishment of the things promised, as the apostle tells us in that commended and never- enough-imitated example of the faith of Abraham: Rom. iv. 19-21, " Being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb : he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God ; and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform." Laying aside all considerations that might tend to the impairing of his confidence, he firmly believed that it should be to him as God had pi'omised. That the doctrine we insist on is clearly conducing to the establishing of faith in the promises cannot tolerably be called into question. Whatsoever is in those promises, whatsoever considerations or concernments of Him Avhose they are, as his faithfulness, unchangeableness, and omnipotency, that are apt to strengthen faith in them, it preserves entire and exalteth. It is a wild assertion, which men scarce sea,rch their own hearts (if, in- deed, men know what belongs to believing in sincerity) when they make, that the efficacy of the promises unto our obedience should arise from hence, that the things promised may not be fulfilled, and that the weakness of faith (and every such supposal doth at least weaken it, yea, and tends to its subversion) should render the pro- mise useful, which hath no use at all but as it is "mixed with faith." For instance, the promise that God will be an all-sufficient God unto us, that he will " circumcise our hearts and write his law in them, that we shall fear him," is, as was manifested before, a useful meditation for the ingenerating and quickening of obedience and holiness in us. That it may be such a means, it is required that it be " mixed with faith in them that hear it," as was declared. Ac- cording as faith is strong or weak, so will its usefulness be. I ask, then, whether this be a proper way to set this promise on work for the end proposed, namely, to persuade them that should believe it that all this may be otherwise, — God may cease to be their God, their hearts may not be circumcised, nor the law mentioned written in them? Is this the way to strengthen their faith and to keep them from staggering? or rather, to subvert and cast down all their confidence to the ofround? The doctrine v/e have under considera-