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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.

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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 unbelief 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.

I know thy mind; that which keeps thee that thou canst not yet arrive to this, to desire to depart and to be with Christ, is because some strong doubt or clod of unbelief as to thy eternal welfare lies hard upon thy desiring spirit. Now let but Jesus Christ remove this clod, and thy desires will quickly start up to be gone.

UPON THE SWALLOW.

This pretty bird, O how she flies and sings!
But could she do so if she had not wings?
Her wings bespeak my faith, her songs my peace:
When I believe and sing, my doubtings cease.

TRUST.

Why, this is the case, thou art bound for heaven, but tne way thither is dangerous. It is beset everywhere with evil angels, who would rob thee of thy soul. What now? Why, if thou wouldst go cheerfully on in thy dangerous journey, commit thy treasure, thy soul, to God to keep. And then thou mayest say with comfort, "Well, that care is over. For whatever I meet with in my way thither, my soul is safe enough; the thieves, if they meet me, cannot come at that; I know to whom I have committed my soul, and I am persuaded that he will keep that to my joy and everlasting comfort against the great day."

When a tyrant goes to dispossess a neighboring prince of what is lawfully his own, the men that he employeth at arms to overcome and get the land, fight for half-crowns and the like, and are content with the wages; but the tyrant is for the kingdom, nothing will serve him but the kingdom. This is the case: Men, when they persecute, are for the stuff; but the devil is for the soul, nor will any thing less than that satisfy him. Let him then that is a sufferer, commit the keeping of his soul to God, lest stuff and soul and all be lost at once.

Now, to commit this soul to God, is to carry it to him, to lift it to him upon bended knees, and to pray him for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, to take it into his holy care, and to let it be under his keeping. Also, that he will please to deliver it from all those snares that are laid for it between this and the next world, and that he will see that it be forthcoming, safe and sound, at the great and terrible judgment, notwithstanding so many have engaged themselves against it.

FAITH AND HOPE.

No faith, no hope. To hope without faith, is to see without eyes, or to expect without grounds; for "faith is the substance of things hoped for," as well with respect to the grace, as to the doctrine of faith

Faith has its excellency in this, hope in that, and love in another thing. Faith will do that which hope cannot do, hope can do that which faith cannot do, and love can do things distinct from both their doings. Faith goes in the van, hope in the body, and love brings.up the rear; and thus now abideth faith, hope, and charity.

Faith is the mother-grace, for hope is born of her, but charity floweth from them both.

Faith comes by hearing, hope by experience. Faith comes by hearing the word of God, hope by the credit that faith has given to it. Faith believes the truth of the word, hope waits for the fulfilling of it. Faith lays hold of that end of the promise that is next to us, to wit, as it is in the Bible; hope lays hold of that end of the promise that is fastened to the mercy-seat. For the promise is like a mighty cable that is fastened by one end to a ship, and by the other to the anchor. The soul is the ship where faith is, and to which the hither end of this cable is fastened; but hope is the anchor that is at the other end of this cable, and "which entereth into that within the veil."

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