Page images
PDF
EPUB

1

ences and operations, graces and fruits; the Spirit of faith, the Spirit of love, the Spirit of repentance, the Spirit of grace and fupplication, the Spirit of glory and fanétification, the Spirit of conviction and confolation, the Spirit of light, the Spirit of life, the Spirit of liberty, the Spirit of power and a found mind: whatever be the hopelefs and helplefs, the dead, drooping, and defperate-like cafe that the foul can be in, there is a promife of the Spirit fuitable thereto, if I might enlarge. And, indeed, the promife of the Spirit is the firft promife that is accomplished in begetting children to God; all the children of promife are made fo by the promise of the Spirit taking effect upon them, as a Spirit of wifdom and revelation in the knowledge of Chrift, teftifying of Chrift, and giving the foul Paul's experiences, "He revealed his Son in me." It is not the promised bleffing of the Spirit, that quickens dead fouls, and begets children unto God; "The wind blows where it lifteth, and thou heareft the found thereof, but canft not tell whence it comes, nor whither it goes; fo is every one that is born of the Spirit, John iii. 8. Awake, Onorth wind; come thou fouth; blow upon my garden, that the fpices thereof may flow out," Song iv. 16. It is the promifed flowing of the Spirit, that alone can make happy communion-days. O for that flood promifed! I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; even my Spirit upon thy feed, and my blefling on thine offspring," Ifa. xliv. 3. Yea, he is promifed, not only as an overflowing flood, but as an overflowing fpring; "The water that I fhall give him, fhall be in him a well of water, fpringing up to everlafting life," John iv. 14.

[ocr errors]

4. All things elfe, in and with these three, are matter of the promife; "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how fhall he not with him alfo freely give us all things :" Rom. viii. 32. And, indeed, where there is a promife of God, a promise of Christ, a promife of the Spirit, there must be a promife of all things; "All things are yours, for ye are Christ's, and Chrift is God's." She that hath the husband, hath all

things that are the hufband's; and feeing Chrift is the Heir of all things, his bride cannot but inherit all things, Rev. xxi. 7. I have read of an ancient deed of gift made by one of the first kings of England, giving all that is from heaven to the centre of the earth; fo that if there be minerals in the bowels of the earth, they are comprehended in the gift: fo God, in promifing and giving himself, and his Son, and his Spirit, does in and with him give all that he hath, and all that he is worth; all the mines in the bowels of God, all the mines in the bowels of Chrift, and all the mines of the bowels of the Spirit, are promifed: and, O consider with yourfelf, what unfearchable riches, what unfathomable treasures of grace and glory, are in thefe mines! and what fweet and bleffed fruits grow upon this tree of the new-covenant promife! and what a bleffed thing it is to be the children of promife! And here the matter of the promise might be enlarged into innumerable particulars. Why, they are the children of that promife, "A new heart will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the ftony heart out of your flefh, and I will give you an heart of flefh." They are the children of that promife, They fhall be all taught of God. They are the children of these promifes, I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean; from all your filthinefs, and from all your idols, will I cleanfe you. Children of that promife," I will be merciful to your unrighteoufnefs, your fins and your iniquities will I remember no more. I will fubdue your iniquities: and, Sin fhall not have dominion over you, fər you are not under the law, but under grace. I will never leave thee nor forfake thee. Fear not, for I am with thee; be not difmayed, for I am thy God. When thou paffeft thro' the fire, I will be with thee, that the flames kindle not upon thee: and when thou paffeft thro' the waters, will be with thee, that the floods do not overflow thee.". There is a promife of peace with God, they are children of; This Man fhall be the Peace. There is a promife of pardon they are the children of; " I, even I, am he that blotteth out thine iniquity, for mine own name's fake, and will remember thy fins no more." There is a promife of

I

pro

[ocr errors]

protection they are children of; "A man fhall be a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the ftorm; as the fhadow of a great rock in a weary land." There is a promife of provifion they are children of; "Bread fhall be given thee, and thy water fhall be made fure." There is a promife of healing they are children of; "I will heal your backflidings, and love you freely." There is a promife of knowledge and illumination they are children of; They fhall all know me, from the leaft to the greateft. There is a promife of faith they are children of; "I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they fhall truft in the name of the Lord," Zeph. iii. 12. There is a promife of love they are children of; "I will circumcife their heart to love." There is a promise of repentance they are children of; "They fhall look on him whom they have pierced, and they fhall mourn." There is a promife of holinefs; "Sanctify them thro' thy truth, thy Word is truth." It is true, that it is a part of Christ's prayer to his Father, John xvii. 17.; but his prayer is as good as any promise in all the Bible. There is a promise of perfeverance that they are the children of: "I will make an everlasting covenant with thee; Iwill not depart from thee to do thee good; yea, I will put my fear in thy heart, and thou fhalt not depart from me." In a word, there is the promife of victory over death; "Death fhall be fwallowed up in victory. Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, thro' our Lord Jefus Chrift." There is a promife of everlafting enjoyment of him; So fhall we be ever with the Lord.-It were endless to tell of all the promises they are the children of; not that all and every one of the promifes are in the fame manner clearly applied to every believer; but if they be the children of one newcovenant promife, they are the children of all: even as all the curfes of the law are linked together like an iron chain, infomuch that when a man is under one curfe, he is under all the curfes of the Bible; fo all the promifes of the gofpel are linked together like a golden chain, infomuch that he that gets one promife, gets all: though perhaps it is but one link of the chain that he finds his heart faftened to, or one promife that is applied, yet the application of that infers an intereft in all the reft.

Thus

Thus you fee what is the matter of the promife, and furely you may fee much matter here for faith to feed and work upon.

3dly, Let us confider the nature and quality of the promife. And,

pro

1. It is a great and precious promife: "Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promifes, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature," 2 Pet. i. 4. And, indeed, the matter of the mife, as already defcribed, declares that it is exceeding great and precious; and the effect of it, as here defcribed, making the believer a partaker of the divine nature, O how does it difcover the greatnefs and precioufnefs thereof! And the relation of the promife to God as the author, to Chrift as the purchafer, and to the Spirit as the applier thereof; the relation of it, I fay, to this great God, fhews what a great promife it is: befides that, it is the price of precious blood, and the object of precious faith, and the channel of the communication of great and precious bleffings. But of thefe, perhaps, more afterwards.

2. It is a new promife; hence fo frequently called the New Covenant, as Heb. viii. 8. It is a new promife, in oppofition to the old promise of life to man's perfect perfonal obedience in the covenant of works. The old promife was a promise of life, upon condition of perfect obedience of our own; but there was no promise of grace to do but the new promife is a promife upon the perfect obedience of another, and of grace to do alfo; not to obtain life and falvation again by our doing, but to glorify the God of our life, by whom we have obtained falvation, Thef. v. 9. The old promife of life ftood upon the changeable righteousness of man; and fo was forfeited: the new promife ftands upon the unchangeable righteousnefs of a God-man; and fo cannot be forfeited by thefe that, through grace, take hold of it; or rather on whom it takes hold. Therefore,

3. It is a fure promife, fure to all the feed; "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be fure to all the feed," Rom. iv. 16. Hence it is called, The fure mercies of David, Ifa. Iv. 3.

Heaven

Heaven and earth fhall pafs away, but not one jot nor title of God's word, nor of God's promife. See Ifa. liv. 18. "For the mountains fhall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindnefs fhall not depart from thee, neither fhall the covenant of my peace be removed, faith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee.-It is an everlafling covenant, well ordered in all things and fure," 2 Sam. xxxiii. 5. Indeed, the better ordered it is, the more fare and unchangeable it is: and fo well is it ordered of infinite wisdom, that there is nothing in it, that should be out; and nothing out of it, that fhould be in; nothing wanting for God's glory, and the finner's welfare.-What can be wanting therein, when he, who is All in all, is in it? And fo well is it ordered, that both the firft grace, the laft grace, and all grace, is promifed therein; beginning grace, advancing grace, and crowning grace, is promifed in it; therefore it must be fure. O may faith be fet a work, when we are fpeaking of thefe things!

4. It was a dear-bought and conditional promife to Chrift; to Chrift, I fay, the Mediator of the covenant, it was a dear-bought and conditional promife; it was upon the condition of his obedience unto death and here is the great ground and foundation of the promise, next to the fovereign, grace and good-will of God to poor miferable finners; it is Chrift coming under the law, to redeem them that were under it, Gal. iv. 4, 5. Hence the covenant of promife is called, the new teftament in his blood; his blood is called, the blood of the covenant: this is what makes all fure, that Chrift's obedience and fatisfaction was the condition of the promife; and the condition is fulfilled by his bringing in everlasting righteoufnefs, and giving his life a ranfom for many. All the promifes here are dipt in his blood; and the great condition of all the promises of the gofpel, is, Chrift fulfilling, in our room and ftead, the condition of the violated covenant of works; that is, perfect obedience to the precept of it, which we had broken; and complete fatisfaction to the penalty, threatening, and curfe of it, which we had incurred. Though Chrift, indeed, hath not believed, repented, VOL, IV.

and

« PreviousContinue »