granted thee; yea, God himself hath engaged himself even to fulfil this thy desire. "He will fulfil the desires of them that fear him; he will hear their cry, and will save them." O this desire, when it cometh, what "a tree of life" will it be to thee! Thou desirest to be rid of thy present trouble; the Lord shall rid thee out of trouble. Thou desirest to be delivered from temptation; the Lord shall deliver thee out of temptation. Thou desirest to be delivered from thy body of death; and the Lord shall change this thy vile body, that it may be like to his glorious body. Thou desirest to be in the presence of God, and among the angels in heaven; this thy desire also shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt be made equal to the angels. Exod. 6:6; 2 Peter, 2:9; Phil. 3:20, 21; Luke 16:22; 26:35, 36. 'Oh, but it is long first." Well, learn first to live upon thy portion in the promise of it, and that will make thy expectation of it sweet. God will fulfil thy desires; God will do it, though it tarry long: "Wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry."

XVII. THE PROMISES.

GOD hath strewed all the way from the gate of hell where thou wast, coming sinner, to the gate of heaven whither thou art going, with flowers out of his own garden. Behold how the promises, invitations, calls, and encouragements, like lilies, lie about thee. Take heed thou dost not tread them under foot.

You say you believe the Scriptures to be the word of God. I say, Wert thou ever quickened from a dead state by the power of the Spirit of Christ through the covenant of promise? I tell thee from the Lord, if thou hast been, thou hast felt such a quickening power in the words of Christ, that thou hast been lifted out of the dead condition

thou before wert in; and that when thou wast under the guilt of sin, the curse of the law, the power of the devil, and the justice of the great God, thou hast been enabled by the power of God in Christ, revealed to thee by the Spirit through and by the Scripture, to look sin, death, hell, the devil, and the law, and all things that are at enmity with thee, with boldness and comfort in the face, through the blood, death, resurrection, and intercession of Christ, made mention of in the Scriptures.

On this account, O how excellent are the Scriptures to thy soul! O how much virtue dost thou see in such a promise, in such an invitation! They are so large as to say, Christ will in nowise cast me out. My crimson sins shall be as white as snow.

I tell thee, friend, there are some promises through and by which the Lord has helped me to lay hold of Jesus Christ, that I would not have out of the Bible for as much gold and silver as can lie between York and London piled up to the stars; because through them Christ is pleased by his Spirit to convey comfort to my soul. I say, when the law curses, when the devil tempts, when hell-fire flames in my conscience, my sins with the guilt of them tearing of me, then is Christ revealed so sweetly to my poor soul through the promises, that all is forced to fly and leave off to accuse my soul. So also when the world frowns, when the enemies rage and threaten to kill me, then also the precious promises do weigh down all, and comfort the soul against all.

The grace of God and the Spirit of grace are called or compared to a river, to answer those unsatiable desires, and to wash away those mountainous doubts, that attend those who indeed do thirst for that drink. The man that thirsteth with spiritual thirst, fears nothing more than that there is not enough to quench his thirst: all the promises and sayings of God's ministers to such a man, seem but as thim

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bles instead of bowls: I mean, so long as his thirst and doubts walk hand in hand together. There is not enough in this promise, I find not enough in that promise, to quench the drought of my thirsting soul. He that thirsteth aright, nothing but God can quench his thirst. 'My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God." Psalm 43:2; 63:1; 143:6. Well, what shall be done for this man? Will his God humor him, and answer his desires? Mark what follows: "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none "-when all the promises seem to be dry, and like clouds that return after the rain-" and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them." Aye, but, Lord, what wilt thou do to quench their thirst? I will open rivers," saith he, "in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water." Behold, here are rivers and fountains, a pool and springs, and all to quench the thirst of them that thirst for God.

What greater argument to holiness, than to see the scriptures so furnished with promises of grace and salvation by Christ, that a man can hardly cast his eye into the Bible but he espies one or another of them? Who would not live in such a house, or be a servant to such a prince; who, besides his exceeding in good conditions, has gold and silver as common in his palace as stones are by the highway side?

It sometimes so falleth out, that the very promise we have thought could not reach us to comfort us by any means, has at another time swallowed us up with joy unspeakable: Christ the true prophet has the right understanding of the word as an Advocate, has pleaded it before God against Satan; and having overcome him at the common law, he has sent to let us know it by his good Spirit, to our comfort and the confusion of our enemies.

XVIII. CHRISTIAN GRACES.

FAITH.

FAITH! Peter saith, faith, in the very trial of it, is much more precious than gold that perisheth. If so, what is the worth or value that is in the grace itself?

Faith is so great an artist in arguing and reasoning with the soul, that it will bring over the hardest heart that it hath to deal with. It will bring to my remembrance at once, both my vileness against God, and his goodness towards me; it will show me, that though I deserve not to breathe in the air, yet God will have me an heir of glory.

Faith is the mother-grace, the root-grace, the grace that has all others in the bowels of it, and that from which all others flow.

Faith will suck sweetness out of God's rod; but unbe lief can find no comfort in his greatest mercies.

Faith makes great burdens light; but unbelief maketh light ones intolerably heavy.

Faith helpeth us when we are down; but unbelief throws us down when we are up.

Unbelief may be called the white devil; for it oftentimes, in its mischievous doing in the soul, shows as if it was an angel of light; yea, it acteth like a counsellor of heaven.

It is that sin above all others that most suiteth the wisdom of our flesh. The wisdom of our flesh thinks it prudent to question a while, to stand back a while, to hearken to both sides a while; and not to be rash, sudden, or unadvised in too bold a presuming upon Jesus Christ.

There is nothing like faith to help at a pinch; faith dissolves doubts, as the sun drives away the mists. And

that you may not be put out, know your time of believing is always. There are times when some graces may be out of use; but there is no time wherein faith can be said to be so. Faith is the eye, the mouth, the hand, and one of these is of use all day long. Faith is to see, to receive, to work, or to eat; and a Christian should be seeing, or receiving, or working, or feeding, all day long. Let it rain, let it blow, let it thunder, let it lighten, a Christian must still believe.

“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked :" to quench them, though they come from him as kindled with the very fire of hell. None knows, save he that feels it, how burning hot the fiery darts of Satan are; and how, when darted, they kindle upon our flesh and unbelief; neither can any know the power and worth of faith to quench them, but he that hath it and hath power to act it.

There are three things in faith, that directly tend to make a man depart from iniquity.

1. It apprehendeth the truth of the being and greatness of God, and so it aweth the spirit of a man.

2. It apprehendeth the love of this God in Christ, and so it conquereth and overcometh the spirit of a man.

3. It apprehendeth the sweetness and blessedness of the nature of the godhead, and thence persuadeth the soul to desire here communion with him, that it may be holy, and the enjoyment of him when this world is ended, that it may be happy in and by him for ever.

There is a man sows his field with wheat, but as he sows, some is covered with great clods: now, that grows as well as the rest, though it runs not upright as yet; it grows, and yet is kept down. So do thy desires-when one shall remove the clod, the blade will soon point upward.