This, I say, was the promise whereof we spake : that he should have a seed of his own, ' like the stars that cannot be numbered ;' Gen. xv. 4, 5. And herein are contained three things.
1. The purely spiritual part of it, that concerned his own soul in Christ. God engaging about his seed minds him of his own interest in that seed which brings the blessing. Jesus Christ, with his whole mediation, and his whole work of redemption, is in this promise, with the enjoyment of
264 THE STEADFASTNESS OF PROMISES,
God in covenant, ' as a shield, and as an exceeding great reward.'
2. The kingdom of Christ, in respect of the propagation and establishment of it, with the multitude of his subjects, that also is in this promise.
3. The temporal part of it, multitudes of children to a childless man, and an heir from his own bowels.
Now this promise, in these three branches, takes up your whole interest, comprises all you are to believe for : be you considered either as believers, or as rulers. As be- lievers: so your interest lies in these two things : That your own souls have a share and portion in the Lord Christ ; and that the kingdom of the Lord Jesus be exalted and esta- blished. As rulers : That peace and prosperity may be the inheritance of the nation, is in your desires. Look upon this in subordination to the kingdom of Christ, and so all these are in this promise.
To make this more plain, these being the three main things that you aim at, I shall lay before you three promises, suited to these several things, which, or the like, you are to view in all your actings, all staggering at them, being from unbelief.
The first thing you are to believe for, is the interest of your own souls in the covenant of grace, by Christ. As to this I shall only point unto that promise of the covenant, Heb. viii. 12. ' I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins, and their iniquities I will remember no more.'
The second is the establishment of the kingdom of Christ, in despite of all opposition. And for this amongst innumerable, take that of Isa. Ix. 11. 'Therefore thy gates shall be open continually, they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gen- tiles, and that their kings may be brought ; for the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish.'
The quiet and peace of the nation, which ye regard as rulers, as it stands in subordination to the kingdom of Christ, comes also under the promise, for which take that of Jer. XXX. 20, 21.
These being your three main aims, let your eye be fixed on these three, or the like promises; for in the deraonstra-
AND SINFULNESS OF STAGGERING. 265
lion and the use of the point, I shall carry along all three together, desiring that what is instanced in any one, may be always extended to both the other.
II. What is it to stagger at the promise. 'He staggered not,' ou §i£Kpi^7j, ' he disputed not:' Siaicpivojuat is properly to make use of our own judgment and reason, in discerning of things, of what sort they be. It is sometimes rendered, 'to doubt;' Matt. xxi. 21. 'If you have faith,' koi /uj) dia- Kpi!^iJTe, '' and doubt not :' that is, not use arguings and rea- sonings in yourselves concerning the promise and things promised. Sometimes it simply denotes to discern a thing as it is : so the word is used 1 Cor. xi. 29. StoKptvwv to aCjfia, 'discerning the body.' In the sense wherein it is here used, as also Matt. xxi. 21. it holds out, as I said, a self-con- sultation and dispute, concerning those contrary things that are proposed to us. So also Acts x. 20. Peter is com- manded to obey the vision, jutjSly Saicptvojutvoc, * nothing doubting.' What is that? Why, a not continuing to do, what he is said to have done, ver. 17. 'He doubted in him- self what the vision he had seen should mean :' he rolled and disputed it in his own thoughts ; he staggered at it.
To stagger then at the promise, is to take into consider- ation the promise itself, and withal, all the difficulties that lie in the way for the accomplishment of it, as to a man's own particular, and there so to dispute it in his thoughts, as not fully to cast it off, nor fully to close with it. For instance, the soul considers the promise of free grace in the blood of Jesus, looks upon it, weighs, as well as it is able, the truth of God, who make the promise, with those other considerations, which might lead the heart to rest firmly upon it; but withal, takes into his thoughts his own un- worthiness, sinfulness, unbelief, hypocrisy, and the like; which as he supposes, powerfully stave off the efficacy of the promise from him. Hence he knows not what to con- clude : if he add a grain of faith, the scale turns on the side of the promise; the like quantity of unbelief makes it turn upon him; and what to do he knows not: let go the pro- mise he cannot, take fast hold he dares not ; but here he staggers, and wavers to and fro.