Book H. t im:gfm of me? Yes: faith God, J ~no"" t!K tbought.rthat !thin~(. ]er. z9. 1 I; towc~rds you, thought"s of'peace , and not of evil, and before the worldwas, my ~hougim, and my de!~ghts were with the fonnes l'rov. 8. 3'· of men. 2. Thou fa yeft, I h,:tve no th,Pughrs, no care of my fe i- ./ow- creatures , a; of the duft , w jand, or atomes? and what then ? my thoughts ·are not as your thoughts , neither .tre your wayes my wayes, f aith the L wd; for M the heavms are l1igher Ifa. H . S, then the earth , fo t~re my way es higher then your w.IJes , and my thoughts then y our thoughts. What if th o~ haft no·thoughts or cat•e otthe fmaller creatures? yet God ex-tends hi~ thoughts, and care, and providence not oneiy to thee, hut even to them;. neither can a fparrow fall to the ground, nor an haire from thy head, nor a leafe from the tree, .withouuhe providence of our .Mm. 1o.1_ 9 , 30 heavenly father ? 3. thou faifi, I dare not beleeve,l am afl:onifh- - ed at, confounded in thefe thoughts ofGods eternal! love . it is too high for me, I cannot beleeve it. I anfwer , herein tho~ laift fomething : I know it is an hard thing to beleeve thefe great things in reference to thy felfe : But fee now how God and Chl.'ift fioope and condefcend to make thee beleeve : God fiands much upon this, that the hearts of his Saints fhould confide in him : he accounts not himfelf honoured, except they beleeve; and therefore marke 0 my foul, how Chr1!l: fuits himfelf to thy weaknefs; what is it that may beget this faith, thi~confidence in thy foul ? what is it (faith God ) that you poor creatures do one to another when you would make things fure between your felves? Why: thus; - - - _ 1. We engage our felves by promife one to another.And fo will I,fai th God : poor foul,'thou hall: my promiie; my faithful promife ; -I have made a promife both to Jews and Gentiles, and thou art the one of thefe two forts; the promif e i1 to~you,and to your chilA&s :, 39.; dren ,and to all that are afar off,even M m471) M the L ord our God. fba/! call. Be onely fatisfied' in that ground of thy hope, that thou art called of God, and then every promife of eternal life is thine even thine. Thou mayeft fi ndea thoufand promifes fcatterect'here and there in the book ofGod ; and all thefe promifes are a draught of that pr6m1 fe which was made from all eternity~ and theretore it is fo mulh die more fure ; it is as ifChnfi fhould fay, wilt thou have engagement by promife ? thi& is p...tft long' llgo; my Father hath eng-1ged himfi!f to me before the wo~ld be- • · gan~
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