god's faithfulness to his promises.
Josh, xxiii. 14. Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth : and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which th"
259.1 god's faithfulness to his promises. G19
Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.
IT has been common in all ages to pay peculiar attention to the words of dying men : and the more eminent their characters were, the more regard has been shewn to their last instructions or advice. The person speaking in the text, was, in some points of view, distinguished even above Moses himself: for though Moses was the appointed instrument of bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, he was forced to leave them to the care of Joshua, who alone was commissioned to settle them in Canaan ; and who was therefore a more illustrious type of Jesus, whose name he bore, and whose character he prefigured. The dying words of such a person, when speaking under the dictates of inspiration, may well be considered as calling for more than ordinary attention ; especially when the scope of them was to vindicate the honour of God, and they were delivered in a way of solemn appeal to the whole nation of the Jews. But they have yet a further claim to our regard, because, though primarily applicable to those to whom they were immediately addressed, they are equally applicable to the Lord's people, in every place, and every age.
To illustrate them in this view, we shall,
I. Notice some of those good things which the Lord our God has spoken concerning us —
In order to mark, what we are principally to insist upon, the faithfulness of God in performing his pro- mises, we will specify some that were made,
1. To the Church at large —
[God promised to the Church the gift of his dear Sona
the abiding presence of his Spirit b — ■ and a final
triumph over all our enemies0 ]
a Gen. iii. 15. Gen. xxii. 18. Deut. xviii. 18. Isai. vii. 14. and ix. 6. and liii. 6. Dan. ix. 24. Jer. xxiii. 6.
b Prov. i. 23. Isai. xxxii. 15. Ezek. xxxvi. 25— 27. John xv. 26. John xvi. 14. Johnxvi. 8. Zech. xii. 10. Rom. v. 5. 2 Cor. i. 22.
c Isai. xxvii. 2. and xxxiii. 20. and liv. 17. Jer. xxxi. 35 — 37. Matt* xvi. 18.