300 / 504
C.
X.§.
Do6tof
Sts
Perfev
-its
ufefulneffe
to promote
Gofpell-
Obedience.
244
how
they
doe exert
that
efficacy
that
is
in
them; For
the
Firfi the
Apoftle
acquaints us, on
what accountalone it
is,
that
they come
to
be
ufefull
in this
or
any
other kind:
Heb:
4
2.
the word
of
the
Gofpell
,
the Promife Preached
to
them
of
old, didñot
profit them,
did them no good at
all
And
the
reafon
of
this fad
fucceffe
in
the
Preaching
of
the Gofpell, and Declaration
of
the
Pro
-
miles, he
gives you in
the
fame
words;
It
is,
that
the word
was
not
mixed
with
Faith in
them
that
heard
it; It
is
the
mixing
of
the
Promifes with Faith
tha
t
renders them
ufefull
and profitable;
Now
to
what ever Faith
is
required, the
more
firme,
ftrong,
and (table it
is,
the more
effe&uall
and ufefull it
is
Than
then,
which
is
apt
to
eftablifh
Faith, to fupport
and
ftrengthen
it
,
to
preferve
ltom.4.20.
it
from
ftaggering,
that
renders
the
Promife moft
ufefull
and
effe
&call
for
the
Accomplifhment
of
any
worke, whereunto it
Is
defigned.
Now
Faith
in
the
Promifes,
refpe
&s
the Accomplifhment
of
the
things promifed;
as
the
A-
poftle tells
us
in
that
commended,
and
never
enough
imitated Example
of
the
Faith
ofAbraham.
Rom
j.t9,2o,21.
Being
not
weake
in
Faith,
he
conjideree-i
not
his
'own
body, now
dead,
when he was about
an hundred
years
old,
neither
yet
the
-deadneffe
ofSarahs
wombe he
ftaggerednot
at
the Promife
of
God through
:tube.-
,
liefe,
but
was
gong
in Faith,giving
glory to God, being
fully
perrwaded
that
what
he
had
promifed,
he
was able alfo to
performe;
Laying afide
all confederations
that
might tend
to
the
impairing
of
his
confidence, he firmely believed
,
that
it
fhould be
to
him,
as
God had
promifed.
That
the
Dottrine
we infifted
on,
is
clearly
conducing
to
the
eftablifhing
of
Faith
in
the Promifes, cannot tole-
rably be
called
into
Queftion.
Whatfoever
is
in thofe Promifes, whatfoever
Confiderations,
or
concernements
of
him whofe
they are,
as
his
Faithfulneffe,
Llnchangeablene
ffe,
&Omnipotency,thafare apt
tooftrengthen Faith in
them,
it
preferves
entire and exalteth
;
It
is
a
wild Affertion
,
which
men
fcarce
fearch
their
own hearts,
(if
indeed men know what belongs
to
believing
in
fincerity)
when they
make:
that
the
efficacy
of
the
Promifes
unto our
Obe
-'
dience,fhould
arife from hence,
that the
things promifed may
not be
fulfilled:
and that the
weaknefie
of
Faith,
(as
every
fuch
fuppofall
loth
at
lea(t
wea-
ken
it,
yea
and
tends
to
its
fubverfion)
fhould
render the Promife
ufefull,
which
bath
noufe
at
all
,
but
as
it
is
mixed
with
Faith ; For in(tance, thofe
Promifes,that God will be
an All
fuficient
God unto us,that hé
will
circumcifi
our Hearts,
and write
hisLaw
in
them,
that
we
(hallfeare him,
is, as
was
manife-
íted
before,. an ufefull
Meditation,for the ingenerating
and
quickning
ofObe-
dience and
Holineflè
in
us;
That
it
may be
fuch a
meanes,
it
is
required, that
it
be mixt
with
Faith
in
them
that
heare it
,
as was
declared. According
as,
Faith
is
ftrong
or
weake,
fo
will its úfefulneflè
be; I
aske
then, whether
this
be
a
way
proper
to
let
this Promife on worke,
for the
end
propofed,
namely
to
perfwade
them
that
fhould believe
it,
that
all
this
may
be otherwife
;
God
mayceafe
to
be their
God, their
hearts
maynot
be circumcifed, nor the
Law
mentioned written
in them?
Is
this
the
way
to
ftrengthen their Faith,
and
to
keepe them from ftaggering
?
Or
rather to
fubvert,
and calf downe
all
their
confidence
to the ground? The Dofirine
we have
under
confideration conti-
coru.9.
ntially founds
in
the
eares
of
Believers,
that
God
is
faithfull
in
all his
Promifes,
that
he
can,
that
he
will
make them good,
that
his
own Excellencies,
his
own
Perfe
&ions
require no
leffe
at
his
hands; And
this
it
doth,not
on any Grounds
that
carry any thing with
them,
that
may feeme
to
incline
to the
leaf}
negleít
of
God,
or contempt
of
any
Property,
Excellency,
or
word
of
his,
and
fo
be
apt to breed prefumption, and not Faith:
But
on
fuch
only,
as
give
him
the
Glory
of
all,
that
he
hath
revealed ofhitnfelfe
unto
us:
and therefore
its
ge-
nuine
tendency
muff
be, to beget
and increafe precious & laving Faith inthe
hearts
of
men,
which we conceive
to
lye in
a
more
dire*
way
of
efficacy
to-
wards