as they are given; if they are given absolutely, we must expect them absolutely; if conditionally, conditionally. Our faith in each must be equally assured : we must as fully expect the accomplishment of a conditional promise on the performance of the condition, as of any promises to which no condition is annexed. But we must be careful not to construe the con- ditional as absolute, or the absolute as conditional : if we take the absolute promises, and make them to depend on the per- formance of conditions, we deny to God the exercise of his sovereign grace : if, on the other hand, we make the con- ditional promises absolute, and expect their accomplishment merely from the circumstance of their fixing themselves strongly on our minds, we shall, on the occurrence of a disappointment, be led to doubt the veracity of God, and to reject all his pro- mises as unworthy of belief.
We will explain ourselves more fully.
There are many promises which we call absolute; such as those which relate to Christ as the Author of salvation to a ruined world b; such as relate also to the increase and establish- ment of his Church0; and such also as afford the broad grounds of hope to all who shall believe in Christ d. We are to believe these as true and certain, independent of any title to them, or interest in them, possessed by us. As applied to ourselves indeed, they may be considered as conditional ; but as indefi- nitely taken, they may be called absolute.
There are other promises which we call conditional ; because they are made to persons of certain characters, or upon our performance of certain conditions e : and these we are to believe as infallibly certain to all who attain the qualifications or per- form the conditions. Yet we must not imagine that the qualification or the action forms the proper ground on which God bestows the blessing : the blessing is God's free gift, as well when it is conditionally granted, as when it is uncon- ditional : the bestowment of Canaan on the descendants of Abraham was free, notwithstanding the final possession of it was suspended on their obedience to his commandments ; and so it is in all cases : the performance of conditions may be appointed of God as means to an end ; and the end may be inseparable from the means; but still the end is God's free gift ; and from his free grace alone do we derive our title to it: the use of the means is no more than the beggar's stretching out his hand to receive a preferred donation.
Amongst these may be classed all temporal promises, such as those which relate to health, or riches, or honour: for these
b Gen. iii. 15. and xii. 3. c Isai. ii. 2. and xi. C — 9.
d Isai. lv. 7. John vi. 37. Acts xiii. 39. 1 John i. 7. e Matt. v. 3—10. vii. 7, 8. and xi. 28, 29. Acts xvi. 31.