after we have made it. When a believer hath made a true profession of his faith, and a true confession of his hope, and made it often, it is very hard to hold it fast. The greatest believers have failed here. I do not say failed quite, but they have stumbled shamefully. Who was a greater believer and confessor of his hope than Abraham? yet he stumbled by unbelief grievously, again and again; Isaac did so, Jacob did so. David, that great believer and confessor of his faith, says, All men are liars; nay, it were well if his unbelief spake no worse; it was, in effect, God is a liar. Samuel, and Gad, and Nathan, and the other prophets, spake to him in the name of the Lord: And yet, says he, I said in my haste, All men are liars; and said, I shall one day fall by the hands of Saul; for all the promises God had made, and for all the faith David had avowed. But above all poor Peter, who is commended above all men for his confession, Matth. xvi. how does he fall from it? Thou art Christ, says he to our Lord, the Son of the living God, ver. 16. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. This great confessor, what a strange confession does he make to the maid! Art thou one of his disciples? says she. I know not the man, says he. It is impossible, that a believer can keep the profession of his faith stedfast, unless he keep the exercise of his faith constant; if faith decay in its exercise within, the beauty and stedfastness of profession will be marred abroad.

I come now to the second thing in the words, and that is, the apostle's argument by which he enforceth this exhortation: For he is faithful that hath promised; so we read it. Three things I would take notice of, in the consideration of the reading of the words as they lie here, before I take them up in themselves; three things I note in general.

1. The apostle names no person promising, only speaks in general of one that promises.

2. He speaks of no sort of promise, but only, that there is a promise.

3. This I note also, that the word which we have rendered, He hath promised, in the original is in the present time, He is

faithful that is promising. The promise here is not spoken of as an act past and gone, but of that which was present.

(1.) We find here the apostle does not speak of any person that promises, but only says, He is faithful that hath promised. Who then is the promiser? You may be persuaded that it is a divine person; and it is no great matter which of the three we confine it to; for I know it is generally applied to Christ's promising. But we find, 1st, That the promises that are the ground of the Christian's faith, are the promises of the Father, as the author, as the grand contriver and original fountain of the covenant. So the apostle calls him, Titus i. 1. In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised be fore the world began. 2dly, We find the promises ascribed unto Jesus Christ, and he is the promiser. So when he left his people and went out of this world, he left them with the opening of his heart to them in abundance of promises. And in his last prayer, that is as good as any promise in the word; Christ's prayer is as good as any promise in the Bible. The promises are also given by the Holy Ghost: He is called the Spirit of promise; both because he is promised, and because he is a promiser and performer too; for promising and performing are ascribed still to the same person, Heb. x. 15. (2.) The apostle doth not tell us what is promised, but only says, He is faithful that hath promised. What then must we understand to be the meaning of this dark expression, when a promise is spoken of, and no particular blessing spe cified? It is easily gathered from the scope: for the apostle is bidding Christians hold fast the profession of their faith; the confession of their hope; for, says he, He is faithful that prohe plainly implies, that what he means by the promise is as large and broad, as all the foundation of the faith and hope that a Christian has. God's promises and our faith are to be commensurate; we are to make our faith as large and wide as the promise; it is to be shapen as the promise.

mises ;

(3.) The third thing that I note in general is, That the apostle's word in the original is, He is faithful that is promising, that is, in the act of promising; so it is in the original; he is faithful that is now, and presently promising; the same word, as in Heb. xi. 11. The promises of God are not, as people

imagine, things that are over and past, as soon as the word is out of his mouth; but they are continued, constant current streams that will carry on his people that are in them still, till they be accomplished fully. A promise never ends till there be performance; a promise is in act and motion still, till it be accomplished. The like word the apostle hath, 1 Thess. v. 24. and ii. 12. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it, as we translate it: there had been as good reason to translate it, Faithful is he that is now calling you: he called you at first, by the effectual working of his grace with the gospel; and that calling continues still, and it will never leave you, till it bring you to heaven. Just so it is with the promise. There are five places to God's promise, and we must have our eye distinctly upon them. 1st, God's promise, is in God's heart; and there it is, but a purpose un known and unsearchable to all creatures whatsoever. This is called a promise; for it is said, He promised before the world began, Titus i. 2. 2dly, A promise is next considered, as it is in the word. There it is recorded, it is entered, and will never be repealed. 3dly, The promise of God is in Christ; that is another place for the promise: All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, 2 Cor. i. 20. The covenant is confirmed of God in Christ, Gal. iii. 17. There is no change here; a promise in God's heart will surely have effect from the word; performance of a promise in Christ's hand can never miscarry. 4thly, A promise comes to be in the hand of a believer's faith; and this is a shaking, trembling hand. As it is in God's hands, Christ's hands, or in the word, heaven, and earth, and hell cannot shake it; but as it is in a believer's hand, the least blast from either will shake it. A poor believer grasps the promise of God frequently very weakly; yet if he take it, it is well, if he lay hold on it any manner of way. There would none of us ever come to heaven, if the promise of God did not keep us better by its grace and power, than we can keep it by our faith; for this is the order of God, his promise is a mean that catches a believer, and a believer catches the promise by faith. Our hold of the promise many times fails, but the promise to us never fails. If the promise of Christ's grace come and take hold of your hearts, it will

hook you, and pull you, and keep you, and draw you certainly to glory; but our faith is off and on. Lastly, Believers sometimes have the promise of God in their hand; not only in the hand of faith, but, if I may so speak, in the hand of performance; then they think it is well. If I may use the expression, there was never a good man that had a more blessed armful and heartful than old Simeon; he had all the promises of the Old Testament, and all the blessings of the New Testament, and all grace on earth, and all the glory in heaven, at one time in his arms. When he took the child Jesus in his arms, Lord, says he, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Lake ii. 29, 30. He had the covenant in his hand, he had all the blessings in possession. He might have said as Hannah, 1 Sam. i. 27. For this child I prayed: and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him. Something like this believers sometimes have; the promise of God brings forth, and they have the birth in their arms; but this is not that we must live by.

The apostle says here, that God is promising: Faithful is he that is promising. I would warn believers of this common fault and failing, they look upon the promise of God as that which is past and over; they are many times saying, I had once a promise of God, I do not know what is become of it now. What, is it out of God's heart? out of the Bible? out of thy faith's hand? The Lord is still promising the promise of eternal life that thou didst lay hold upon in thy first venturing thy soul upon Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus. God is making that promise every day to you, and you should be believing it every day. We live by faith, and God keeps us in life by promising. His promise runs down through all states and conditions, and so should our faith do. So much now for the general things from the words.

There are several doctrines from it, that I intend, if the Lord will, to speak from.

1. The first note that I raise from the words, is, (understand it well and wisely, it may be you will think it an odd observation), The Christian's God is a promising God. The apostle describes him by this: "What is the God that I Paul

"depend upon? He that promises; I will and can have no"thing to do with any God, but he that is promising." 2. God is faithful in all his promises.

3. The faith of his people in a promising God, should some way answer the faithfulness of God in his promises.

4. A bold avoring of our faith, is not bragging of ourselves, but a magnifying the faithfulness of the speaker. This is plainly the scope of, Hold fast the profession of your faith without wavering: for he is a faithful God you lean upon,

Of the first of these a little at this time, The Christian's Gad is a promising God; a God made known to us by promises, who comes to us in the mask, and under the veil of promises. Let us see a little how this comes about, and how the world is changed to our great advantage, and his great praise. This promising God was from eternity blessed in himself, and in the mutual communication of love and delight, and converse betwixt the blessed Three. He is also called a purposing God, Eph. iii. 11. 2 Tim. i. 9. In the fulness of time he makes a world. He makes himself known in this world three ways. 1. He makes known himself to some creatures by their creation. There are some creatures that God made on purpose that they might know him. He made the greatest part of creatures in a manner only that God might be known by others, not by themselves. The heavens and earth, and all the host of them; this world, and all the creatures that are therein, save one sort, are all incapable of knowing God; but God is made known by them. The only creatures we know that are made capable of knowing God, are angels and men. The one sort, the glorious spirits, were made the first day of the creation; the other is man, half spirit, and half flesh, that was made on the last day of the creation. Now, as soon as these rational creatures start out of nothing, by the commanding word of their Maker; as soon as ever they come into being, immediately the Lord's glory, as a Creator, is staring them in the face. Adam is no sooner a man, than he is a knower of God, as his God Creator. 2. We find God making himself known. to man (for it is about man we will keep ourselves confined) as a Lord Commander; and as he has made this creature, he