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
thimbles 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 he 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 he 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.