Chapter IV
How ive are in prayer to act faith upon temporal promises.
The next object of faith, on which it acts in praying, is the promises. Faith in prayer treats with God by his promises ; and though it treats with God, and with God only through Christ, yet it deals with promises. Prayer is a putting promises into suit, as you do bonds and bills, which
are your specialties. I reckoned up five attributes before, which did not bind you up to believe you should have the particular thing which you ask. I add two more, the will of God and the faithfulness of God; and when you come to promises, you have to do with these: 1, you have to do with the will of God for promises and declarations of his will ; and, 2, with the faithfulness of God, that he will perform that which he hath pro mised. Now, mark it, put but these five things together ; in appearance they would seem to answer any distrust which you may have concerning
receiving the particular mercy requested.
1. Promises are a declaration of God s will.
2. When I am in present need of anything, I find a promise, and then
it is faith s duty to lay hold on that promise, and to put it in suit, and to
urge it to God.
8. When I come to pray, I am moved hugely to urge that promise, and
this by the Spirit of God.
4. God s faithfulness lies at stake to perform it; for you will say, he cannot deny himself.
5. I come and pray in Christ s name, which hath great efficacy with God. Now, put these things together, and what should hinder but that I
should obtain ? But though you put other things together, and put all
these things together, yet it will be found that faith may not rise up to an
assurance, nor is it bound so to do. To assoil this particular, the main thing to be done is to shew what
latitude God s will in his promises do allow to faith, that it shall not bind
it up, that I must be necessitated to believe that I shall have the particu lar thing. If we will know the true meaning and intent of God in his
promises, we must search into the nature, and kind, and tenure of the pro mises ; and thereby we shall find that God, in making these promises, hath
not bound us up to any particular persuasion, that I must believe I shall
receive the very particular mercy which I ask. This must be granted, that look what God promiseth, so faith ought to believe. This we must
stick to, and bide by. Look what is the true intent and meaning of God
in making promises, that faith must be persuaded of ; but take any pro
mises, and there is not such a declaration of the will of God in them, as
shall bind me up to such a persuasion of assurance, that I shall receive the
particular blessing. The promises are of three sorts :
444 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK III.
1. Personal promises, made to particular persons; as the promise of a son Isaac made to Abraham, which in itself was a temporal promise, but there was added Abraham s salvation in the seed of Isaac, of whom Christ should come. David likewise had the temporal promise of a kingdom, and he had the promise of salvation through his seed, namely, Christ. Now, this must be said, that they were bound up to a special faith, and to a persuasion that God would do this thing for them, for the promises were made to them personally, and to both of them with an oath. But these cannot be drawn to an example to us, to bind us to believe we shall have the like.
2. The second sort of promises are promiscuous promises, promises im common, as it is called the common salvation, and therein is not put inj me, or thee, or you, but they are made in common and at large. Now,] take the promises that are in common and promiscuously, and they arei distinguished according to the subject-matter of them, and also the tenure of them. The matter of them varies with the kind of them, and so will I vary our case in hand to speak to it; and the tenure of them depends
i upon what is the matter of them.
(1.) Some promises are of temporal things, that is the matter of them.
(2.) Other promises are about things eternal. The apostle hath made this distinction to our hand : 1 Tim. iv. 8, Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Now, you see, there are differing matters promised, either temporal things, or things belonging to salvation. This makes a very great variation in the promise; and accordingly they differ in their tenure, or manner of promulging. God hath framed the tenure and form of promulging them according to the matter of them ; and as we say that he works contingently in contingent things, necessarily in necessary, so he hath delivered promises of temporal things one way, and promises of eternal things another way.
(1.) 1 begin with temporal promises to God s people, and concerning them I have this maxim or assertion.
[1,] For the tenure of them; they are but indefinite, not universal to all the people of God. The people of God have indeed all the promises before them ; but take any temporal particular promise, and it is not universal to all the people of God, but is in God s intention indefinite, and designed but to some of them. God s intent in making them was never to perform them to all godly men in all things. There is no good thing temporal (be it deliverance, riches, honours, &c.) but God hath given a promise of it; for whatever good he doth any of his children, he doth it by a word, a promise, and there is no distress or want any of us are in but there is a promise suitable for it, if we could find it. But yet I affirm that God never intended to give all these outward things to all his saints ; for not many of them are rich, not many noble, &c. : from this is clear that he did not mean such promises for them all. But the case stands thus : God had the whole body of the elect afore him, and ho gives all among them, and disperseth all among them ; and whatever good thing any man hath, he hath
it by a promise, and through prayer on that promise. Hence it necessarily ariseth, that it is impossible that every man that prays should have every temporal promise for which he prays performed to him, for God never intended it. I seek such a mercy which God hath promised, and God takes liberty to answer my prayer another way, and yet still performs the
design of his promise.
Obj. But have not I right to all the promises, as I am a Christian ? and thereifore doth not God intend them all to me ?
CHAP. IV.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 445
Ans. Had Jesus Christ right to all the promises? You will say, Yes; and you say rightly, for in him were all the promises, both of this life and that other, amen. Yet you know and find that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ had but few of them fulfilled to him in specie, or in
kind; he that was the founder of all the promises, and for our sakes became* poor, had not the promise of riches fulfilled. For our sakes he was despised, and his face more marred than any man s, and so he had not the honours of this world, though he had the right to all. How then were the promises fulfilled ? Virtually he had all ; and now he hath all
riches and honour, and all to dispose of, as the angels song in the Revela
tion shews. Now, it is said, Rom. viii. 32, if God gives Christ, how
shall he not with him give all things ? What saint in the world ever had
all things in kind ? None. How is it then he hath all things virtually ? How is it that he hath as good as all things ? I give you Paul s instance : 2 Cor. vi. 10,
* As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing ; as poor, yet making many rich ; as having nothing, yet possessing all things. In solido,
virtually, eminently he had all, while he had God and Christ ; as Christ had all while he was in the world, when yet he had nothing, for he had not a hole to hide his head in. That the promises must needs be indefinite, and not universal, is evident also by this, that in the Old Testament they were not universal, for they were never performed universally (this very point was the quarrel between Job and his friends ; they insisted on it, that all godly men had outward prosperity, and Job says the contrary) ;
yet in the Old Testament they were in their prime, in their auge,* in their
dominion, for there was a constellation of outward promises then, yet not
performed to all saints. Why else doth Jeremiah complain, saying, Thou art an enemy to me ? And why doth David make such com
plaints, Ps. Ixxiii. ? When thou comest to pray for such a good particular temporal thing, and hast it not, thou rnayest as well say thou hast not Christ, as say that God doth not answer thee. Why ? Because with Christ thou shouldst have
all things (as the apostle tells us), but not all things in specie, in the kind ;
! no, God never meant it. Now then what kind of faith ought we to have about temporal promises ? The promises are not made universal to all godly men, for they are but
indefinite ; hence your faith that applies to God must be suitable to the
promise, and so if the promise be indefinite, your faith must be indefinite. And what is that ? the Scripture prompts it everywhere, and it is this
thought of thy heart, It may be God will be gracious to me in this thing ; and this, it may be, makes me pray, and urge this promise, being in need, to put in for it ; but whether I shall receive it or no, I am not certain, but I throw myself entirely upon God.
[2.] Temporal promises for the tenure of them are conditional, that is, they are made to such and such qualifications in men, which if they do
fall short of, God is not obliged to bestow them, or to perform them, though they pray for them ; though they are declarations of his will, yet they are declarations of his will upon condition, viz., to them that fear God and pray to God. I make an argument from threatenings, which are
declarations of God s will as well as promises. You shall have some
threatenings uttered, which seem very peremptory declarations of God s
will, yet there seems to be a condition of God s will, why God does not
perform them. Such was that threatening denounced to Hezekiah, for God came upon him by a prophet, with the same assurance by which God * That is, avyn, splendour, brightness. ED.
446 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK III.
* Hezekiah was sick unto death, and Isaiah the prophet said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thy house in order : for thou shalt die, and not live. Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, and said, Remember now, Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a
: Isa. xxxviii. 13,
inspired Scripture
: and Hezekiah
perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight
wept sore. Here is no condition mentioned, but it is with the same light spoken by the prophet with which he wrote his prophecy ; yet notwith
standing there was a tacit condition, it being but about a temporal thing, and Hezekiah understood this, and therefore he turned his face to the wall and prayed. Here he did set himself to perform that condition which
might prevent this threatening, for the threatening was upon such a con
dition, if he did not pray and thus humble himself. On the other hand, that you may see God s liberty, we find, 2 Sam. xii., that the prophet
expressly tells David, that the child which he had by his wife Bathsheba
shall surely die. What doth David do ? Thought he, This is but a condi
* David
tional threatening, I may get it off if I humble myself: ver. 16,
therefore besought God for the child ; and David fasted, and went in and
lay all night upon the earth. Here he performed that condition upon which threatenings used to be diverted, but God took his liberty for all
that, and the child died ; yet, says David, ver. 22, While the child was
: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be
yet alive, I fasted and wept
gracious to me, that the child may live ? He had reason to do as he did,
to fast and pray ; for who could tell ? &c. Here are clear instances on
both hands : David prayed against the prophet s words on the one hand, and Hezekiah prayed, and God reversed his threatening. Now promises are conditional as threatenings are, and being so, consider what an uncer
tainty (let me say it) there is in point of conditional promises, such as
temporal promises are, and therefore ordinarily there is not required a
certain persuasion that they shall be granted.
Obj. But I have, saith the believer, some evidence I am a godly man, and here is a promise to them that are righteous and fear God, I put this
in suit, and shall not I have it ?
Ans. 1. Let me first tell thee, that God doth not always perform the
promise to him that hath the qualification, for God takes a great liberty, as by comparing these instances in David and Hezekiah plainly doth appear,
Ans. 2. I would say this to thee, the promises of temporal things to
conditions, are made yet to particular conditions of righteousness and fear
ing God, and they are not made to every righteons man fearing God ; for
example, take Ps. xli. 1-3, Blessed is he that considers the poor
: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him, and
keep him alive ; and he shall be blessed upon the earth : and thou wilt not
deliver him to the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing
: thou wilt make all his beds in his sickness. These promises are not made to all sorts of righteousness, but they are made to that part of righteousness which any man is eminent in, viz., the
laying to heart the miseries of others, and considering the poor, whicl
many a saint dear to God doth not do. Thus take also what David says I have been young, and now am old ; yet have I not seen the righteoi
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread, Ps. xxxvii. 25. Is this made 1
righteous men in general ? No ; it is limited : ver. 26, He is ev<
merciful, and lendeth ; and his seed is blessed. A man that abounds
that kind of righteousness of doing good, and being liberal, says he, Go(
will remember it, and his seed shall be blessed.
CHAP. IV.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 447
Am. 3. I answer again concerning conditional promises, that the truth
is, it is at the pleasure of God, upon what degree of that qualification he will be pleased to bestow and perform the thing promised. It is evident that promises temporal in every kind, nay, in any kind, are not performed to all that are righteous, or fear God ; no, he does not do it to them that are qualified in the highest degree for the promise, not to them who in the highest degree have been merciful ; lesser saints that truly fear God will have more of such promises, and saints that are more exactly holy shall be most afflicted ; and truly the nature of communion with God calls for
j this. I will hold communion with that soul, says God, and that soul
i shall have much communion with me, and therefore I will afflict that soul for every little going aside ; God will take that at the hand of a lesser
| saint, which he will not take at the hands of a higher saint.
Am. 4. God takes advantage to put off or not perform a temporal pro mise, which a man hath prayed for. He takes a small occasion, according to his liberty, to put it off and not to perform it. It is a strange thing to consider the liberty God takes in performing promises. You shall have a man break the conditions over and over, and yet notwithstanding the Lord fulfils the thing to him. So in Hezekiah s case, fifteen years was
j granted him, and notwithstanding the pride of his heart, still God goes
| on to perform his promise, for he lived his fifteen years. Now that God
I takes occasion, on the other hand, for a small matter in comparison to put
j off a temporal promise, the instance of Moses and Aaron is a very great
j proof. When Moses and all the people of God came out of Egypt, truly the promise was without any clog, to carry him and the people into Canaan ; and of all men Moses had the most reason to expect that he should carry them into Canaan, for he was their leader, and had brought them out of Egypt, and had endured that people in their murmurmgs, and suffered more than ever any man did in governing them. Moses understood this promise,
I and it was that which made him pray so hardly about it, and God did deny him upon the most
1 small occasion that could be : Deut. iii. 22-25, I
| besought the Lord, saying, Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy ser vant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand : and I pray thee, let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. But in the 26th he says, The Lord was wroth with me for
| your sakes, and would not hear me : and said, Let it suffice thee ; speak
j no more unto me of this matter. Now consider with yourselves this instance : this poor man was the meekest man in the world, and had never
| been angry but in God s cause, unless in this business, and then he was rash with his mouth, and did not sanctify God afore them, as God chal lenged him for it, Num. xxvii. 14. Would not God pardon such a man as
j this, that had been humble, and sought God ? Nay, there was more than
; all this, that made the denial of the going into Canaan the harder to him, because it was a privilege the patriarchs had, to be buried in Canaan, Deut.
I xxxiv. Therefore, you that think to have promises temporal upon condi tions, you depend upon very great uncertainties, for God upon the least
I trip may take occasion to cut you short of them. It was the case of God s
j people, Num. xiv. 34 ; he had promised they should go into Canaan, but you fail first, and break your word with me, says God, I will justify myself that I did not perform the promise to you ; But you shall know my breach
| of promise, i. e., you shall know that I do not fail in my word, but you are
I wanting in your performance.
Am. 5. If you take temporal promises, they that live by free grace are
! heartless to urge the condition of the promises. They are loath to say, I
448 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK III.
have such a condition, Lord, therefore do such a thing for me. The people of God that live upon free grace under the gospel, run rather out to self-
humblings ; and if it be truly examined, it will be found that David s
pleading his righteousness up and down, was his pleading against his ene
mies. There is, indeed, one passage which appears otherwise, Ps. Ixxxvi., where he desires God to be merciful to him ; for, says he, I am holy. In truth the meaning is, I am thy favourite, I am an ingratiated saint with
thee (and you have it so in the margin), I am one whom thou favourest
(as in the salutation of the angel it is, Hail, Mary, thou art full of grace
so the papists make it, but it is, Whom God hath grace unto ) ; and the
frame of David s spirit was to plead free grace thereupon, ver. 5.
Obj. But would you have us to leave off eyeing all conditions, and make no use of them that way ?
Ans. 1. God often doth perform the promises according to the conditions
performed.
Ans. 2. God made them to this end, that all that plead the promise should look to it, that they have performed the condition ; and though
saints under the New Testament are heartless to plead such things, yet they should make sure to have the condition, not as that for which, nor as that
unto which, but as that without which God will not fulfil such things, for he
doth not fulfil them to his children without them. Now suppose thou
followest such a promise, and seest such a condition in it, and thou dealest
with thine own heart, and the power of God, to have the thing promised, and God disappoints thee after all, what then ? Thou art made more holy,
there is the answer ; and if thou art made more holy by seeking the con
dition, there is no hurt done thee.
Ans. 3. Temporal promises, in the performances of them, are to be under
stood disjunctively ; that is, God will either give thee this blessing or a
better, either the one or the other. God promised Abraham, that he would
give him the land of Canaan for a possession ; the promise was made per
sonally to himself, Acts vii. 5, though he gave him no inheritance in it ;
no, not so much as a spot of ground to set his foot on, and yet God had
promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after
him. Here is a promise made, and truly the Lord comes off in it, Heb.
xi. 14, 15, 16. God gave him a better country; and, indeed, all the
patriarchs lived as strangers in the land God gave them, expecting a better
country. Abraham had no hurt done him, that he had not the land in
possession which was promised to him, for he was taken to a better country. Thus God also dealt with Aaron, when he said to him, Go up that moun
^ God
tain and die ; Aaron was shrewdly hurt, for he was carried to heaven.
does commute promises (as the law word is), doth transfer them, inter
change them one for another. Moses looked for that promise of Canaan, and as you heard, he died and went to heaven so much the sooner. Nay,
you heard how his body must not go into Canaan, it went to heaven. For who appeared in the transfiguration but Moses and Elias ? Insomuch as
Moses hath been in heaven so many thousand years before other saints
shall have it. Well, then, if thou dost ask riches, and repairs in thy estate, and God gives self-sufficiency, that is, content, here whilst thou seekest a
temporal blessing, God recompensed thee with a spiritual blessing. As
one said to another, What shall I give to take thee a box on the ear ? Says
he, Give me an helmet, and strike as hard as thou wilt ; so God brings thee
into afflictions, and gives thee patience and consolations to bear them, and
this is security and defence enough for thee. James pronounceth it a
blessed thing to endure, and that we should count it all joy to undergo
CHAP. IV.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 449
trials, if they bring forth patience, James i. 2, 3. To the same purpose the psalmist speaks, Ps. cxxxviii. This psalm was made upon occas in of
his having been in the midst of troubles (as ver. 7 shews), hazards, and
dangers from enemies ; now what doth he say ? Ver. 3, In the day when I cried, thou answeredst me ; and how did he answer him ? He was in
distress, and God strengthened him with strength in his soul, in his inward man, and therein performed his promise much better.
Ans. 4. That which makes a further uncertainty yet to faith, and a
greater latitude on God s part to perform these temporal promises, is the
alteration made concerning them under the New Testament, in comparison of what was under the Old. The largeness of performance of temporal promises was predominant under the Old Testament, when that constella
tion reigned conspicuously ; for they were helps to their faith, as pledges of spiritual things ; nay, their degrees of holiness had signs from their
prospering in outward things ; thus I understand that Ps. cxii. 1-3, Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shdl be mighty upon the earth : the generation of the upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in his house ; and his righteousness endureth for ever. It speaks not only of a man that fears God, and delights in him, but of one who doth so greatly, that man according to the dispensation of those times should be blessed, so as that his seed should be mighty upon earth, &c. But Jesus Christ being become an high priest of good things yet to come in the other world, Heb.
ix. 11, And he having obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much
also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises, (Heb. viii, G), as his coming wrought alteration in the law (Heb. vii. 12); so it wrought an alteration in the dispensation of pro mises, and in the performance of them. Good things yet to come began to be the eminent promises, because Jesus Christ is now come, who is the
heavenly man, 1 Cor. xv. Eead the Old Testament, and there you find, Blessed shall you be in your basket and store, blessed in the field, &c. ; but read Eph. i., you shall find, that when Christ is come, who hath
1 blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things, the blessing now is communion with God, increase of faith, larger measure of the Spirit. These are the blessings above board, and promises of temporal things are subservient to carry us through the world, and for our living in the world
to get more grace. What did they serve Jesus Christ for, but to carry him
through the world ? To this end do the promises of outward things serve, and it is enough if we have meat, and drink, and raiment ; let us be there with content, saith the apostle. They are not now so much as pledges to our faith, as they were to believers under the Old Testament. No ; the best use of them is, that they are means to raise our hearts to serve God more cheerfully, 2 Cor. iv. Now, then, you see the dispensation is plainly altered, and therefore now temporal promises are mightily diminished, and
impaired, and abated, and checked.
2. But yet, secondly, they are further checked by the promise of the
cross and persecution. What is the meaning of that saying, Mark x. 29, 30,
* With persecution. Instead of promising temporal things, he proposeth leaving all, and instead
You shall have an hundredfold in this life ? How ?
of all you shall have persecution. You shall have an hundredfold, not of the things, for they are taken from them. How then is it ? In having
spirituals, which God makes up to them.
3. Yet further, under the gospel it falls usually out, that to whom God means to do most good in a gospel way, he brings things clearly and perVOL. VIII. F f
450 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK III.
fectly contrary"to temporal promises upon them ; this you shall find in the
: You are
apostle Paul, 1 Cor. iv. 8. The Corinthians had less grace
full, says he ; ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us : we, that are the leaders of you, the eminent Christians to this present hour, are both hungry and thirsty, and are naked, and buffeted, and have no
certain dwelling-place ; and labour, working with our own hands, &c., ver.
11, 12. How many temporal promises was poor Paul s faith deprived of ? Under the Old Testament, as a man was more righteous, God ordinarily prospered him ; but now, according as a man is more holy, God ordinarily
afflicts him. Therefore, now as to praying in faith about temporal things, and with a certainty, you see how many ways it is cut oif.
I shall make two conclusions, from what hath been said about this
alteration under the New Testament.
1. God on his part finds, and thinks himself in greater liberty, and takes
greater latitude for performing temporal promises now, than he did under the law, and he indeed herein deals with us as he pleaseth. If he took such a liberty in the Old Testament (as Ps. xxxvii. expresseth he did), that when the wicked prospered, the godly went down the wind ; if he took such a liberty in Jeremiah s time, that Jeremiah complains of it, much more may we think that he will do it under gospel-dispensations. Only a little to
relieve you, consider that God seems more peremptory to undertake for
necessaries in this life ; it is a thing he hath declared, 1 Tim. vi. 8 :
Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. He propounds no other terms but so ; and the reason is, because we cannot live without them, we cannot serve him without them, and so he does undertake for these things. That promise which is enforced by five affirmations, and
indigitated by four negatives, Heb. xiii. 5, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, that promise absolutely comes in about providing for fami
lies, for such as are married, and have children, as the coherence shews. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ seems, Mat. vi., to put us off from any vehement seeking for these things. No, not by prayer ; for he tells us, Your Father knows you need these things, therefore do not spend thoughts on them, do not seek them vehemently, for you have one who takes care of
you, and knows your needs (if one should say so to a child, it would make him careless) ; he knows you need all these things. All these things; that
is a good word, but consider it is not all you wish for that you need, ver. 81. If we live, God will provide necessaries, and if we die, if we should die for him, for the Lord, that is a privilege and advantage beyond all tem
poral promises, beyond all advantages of living in the world, and enjoying all promised temporal blessings.
I might shew you how precious our lives are to him, and that he will not cast us away. The world lives upon meat and drink, but we live upon God s love and care. What saith the apostle, 2 Cor. iv. 11, 13, For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh ; we having the same
spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I
spoken ; we also believe, and therefore speak. What a long while did Peter and Paul live ! A man would wonder that men that lived in continual
jeopardy, should live forty years preaching, as they did (for they died within
two years of the destruction of Jerusalem), and they lived by the power of the resurrection of Christ. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Who knows how he disposeth of their lives ? Now, as on God s part he takes a liberty about performing temporal promises to us, yet with that caution to give necessaries, so our faith, touching outward things,
CHAP. V.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 451
should be answerable ; our faith should be at less certainty to obtain out ward things than they had in the Old Testament, yet our prayers should be earnestly and vehemently for our lives, that we may live to serve God. The alteration of God s dispensation on God s part must needs alter our
faith.