The Profit of Godliness, Sermon 3
Serm. 3. Preached Novemb. 17. 1661.
CHAP. VI.
YOu have heard how Godliness is pr… fitable to all intenrs and purposes, ho… it turns all into gold; it makes good thin… better, and evil things good to us, and f… us. Now I shall shew you, whence it is th… Godliness hath this virtue and efficacy … work such wondrous things; the wor… that I am now to handle, tell us, it because
Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
To Godliness all divine promises are made; Consider what pertains to this life; promises of all such things are made to it: what pertaineth to eternal life; the promises of such things are made to Godliness. It hath the promises of food, of rayment, of health, of long life, of riches, of honours: it hath the promises of grace, of pardon, of the merits and Spirit of Christ, which purchase and fit us for the life to come; and it hath the promise of glory and immortality, and eternal life in the world to come; so that God hath provided for Godliness in this world, and in the world to come. Daneus on my Text gives this reason why God promises the things of this life,Daneus in loc. ut omnem excusationem Deus adimat, that he might take away all excuse from men: for, had God only promised life eternal, and the Kingdome of Heaven to Godliness, and had not promised a supply of necessaries in our earthly pass…ge to Heaven, men would have complained, and said, The promises of Heaven, and of life eternal, are most transcendently great rewards; but what shall we have in this life? what sh…ll we have in this waste howling wilderness of the world, till we come to this heavenly Canaan? Now to stop the mouths of such murmurers, to take away all excuse from us, and to quicken us to the pursuit of Godliness, he promiseth to godly men, that he will provide for them in this life, as he gave to Israel Manna from Heaven, Water out of a Rock, and gave them Quails in the wilderness, as they were travelling to Canaan.
CHAP. VII.
THe Point that I shall lay down next to be handled, is,
Obser.That Heaven and Earth, the things of this life, and of the life to come, are entailed upon Godliness by sure promise. A cloud of witnesses may be brought to prove the truth of this Point.
1. That the things of this life are promised, consider, Psal. 34 9 There is no want t… them that fear him, vers. 10. They that seek the Lord, shall not want any good thing; and vers. 13. What man desireth life, and many dayes, that he may see good? As who should say; If there be any man that desireth to live long, and to enjoy prosperity, let him keep his tongue from evil, and let him be godly. The 37. Psalm is full of promises of the life that now is, made to Godly men: you may find promises made to all, to the father, to the child, to the sick man, to the healthy man; there is the living mans promise, the dying mans promise: and 5. times this promise is made to Godliness: the Godly, the meek shall inherit the earth, verses. 9, 11, 22, 29, 34. they shall have earthly things for an inheritance, sure, setled to them and theirs after them; seek ye first the kingdom of God, &c. and all these things shall be added unto you, Matth. 6.33. make Godliness and salvation thy business, and Christ p…omiseth to all such, all other things, as food, raiment, and whatsoever is necessary for the life that now is: let men take care of getting heaven, then God will be careful to provide earthly things. 'Tis said all these things shall be added to you, all things whatsoever your Father knows you need.
2. That the things of the life to come are promised to Godliness, as justification, sanctification, adoption, and salvation; you are strangers in the Scriptures, if you perceive not promises of these things, He that believeth shall be saved, Mark 16.16. there is the promise of Salvation Fear not little flock, it is your Fathers wil… to give you a Kingdom, Luk. 12.32. the… is the promise of Heaven to the Godly To them who by patient continuance in we… doing seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, eternal life, Rom. 2.7. I shoul… tyre your patience, if I should bring part… cular promises for subduing your lusts, fo… conquering your tentations, for healin… your backslidings, for comfort, for perseverance in grace, for supply of your want for deliverance from dangers, for succe… in your callings: heaven and earth are f… of mercies: there are particular promis… of every mercy made to Godliness, as a… who studies the word of God may easi… observe. I shall give you but one pro… more, because in it is contained the pr… mise of the things of this life, and of th… which is to come: Psal. 84.11. The Lo… will give grace and glory, and no good thi… will he withhold from them that walk … rightly: here is the promise of spiritu… things in the word [grace] here is t… promise of eternal things in the wo… [glory:] here is the promise of the thin… of this life in these words, [And no g… thing will he withhold from them nhat walk uprightly:] what is good for us to have, he will not withhold: so that what Godly men have, it is good for them: and the things they want are withheld from them, because hurtful to them.
CHAP. VIII. The Reasons of the point.
I Shall now give you the reasons why all promises belong to the godly.
Reas. 1. Because they belong to Christ; wherefore all promises belong to the Godly: all things are yours, saith the Apostle, because ye are Christs, and Christ is Gods: for all promises are made to Christ, and in him to us: they were made to him as the common Head and root of the elect; to him as the Head, therefore to his members; the promises as Aarons oyntment run down from him to all his members: 2 Cor. 1.20. for all the promises of God are in him yea, and in him amen, because in the New covenant God neither makes nor fulfills any promise but in Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. The promises are in him yea for truth: they are in him Amen for performance; no Christ, no promises; withou… Christ, without all promises, interest i… promises is grounded on our union t… Christ, and communion with Christ Christless men must not expect the performance of any promise.
2. Because godly persons are in cov… nant with God; all the promises are th… particular branches of the covenant; the… are the rivulets and streams flowing out … the covenant; it is the Grand Charter comprehending within it all the particul… Grants: in it as in humane sales, to who… the lease is made, all the particulars co… tained therein are made to him also: tis between God and man; that man wi… whom God makes an everlasting covenan… to him all the particular grants in that c… venant are made The grand promise the covenant is, I will be thy God, whic… like the sea holds all in it, and like a ri… treasury containeth all things. I will … thy God, that is, I will be thy pardoni… God, reconciled God, sanctifying Go… and saving God; I will be thy God to pr… vide all necessaries: It is a notable observat… on which a good Divine made of the nam… of God, when Moses asked of God, If th… people ask me what is thy name, what shall I say unto them? God bade him tell them, I Am hath sent me to you. I am all things which you need, which you desire. I am houses, lands, honours, I am grace, glory, every good thing.
3. Because Godliness is the condition of the covenant, therefore all promises belong to it: for what is Godliness but faith, repentance, new obedience, the fear of God, holiness of life, which are the terms and conditions of all the promises in the whole Scripture? and all Godly men do in some measure come up to the conditions of the promises, and can claim the promises for their inheritance.
CHAP. IX.
I Shall now shew you what a promise is, and how many sorts of promises there are.
1. What a promise is.
A promise is the word of God given unto men, whereby he binds himself,Definit. of a Promise. and assureth them, that he will freely bestow good things upon them, and remove evil things from them: it is convenient to consider this description in some particulars.
1. I say, it is the word of God given to man; for as the civil promise of a man is his word given to another for the performance of some lawful thing; so a Divine promise is the word of God given for the performance of good things; it differs from a covenant or contract, because in them there is a mutual restipulation between both parties: as in the covenant of grace, God promiseth to be our God, and we again promise to be his people: but now a promise is Gods own act, requiring no restipulation from us, but only our faith in his promise; but yet whether we believe or not believe his word given to us, ye… God having given his word, it is a promise made to us, but shall not be made good t… us till we believe. Promises are nothing else but the outward manifestation o… Gods inward purposes towards us: promises are Gods good purposes revealed to us: his word declareth what his purpose… are towards us, what his thoughts, his wi… and mind are towards us; therefore th… Greeks call a promise foreign, as in m… text, because it is an emanation of the goo… will of God unto his people.
2. Whereby he binds himself.] A mans word once given, binds him; promise is due debt, we use to say: so God having out of his free pleasure plighted his word, hath engaged his truth, fidelity, and power to perform: hence it is said, it is just with God to forgive us our sins, because it is an act of justice to make good his word: herein we see the height and breadth and depth of his love to us, that seeing God might have required duty of us without promising any reward, yet he is gratiously pleased to lay an obligation on himself to reward us: in this promises differ from precepts, because promises lay an obligation on God, and precepts lay an obligation on men: promises declare what God will do for us, and precepts declare what God will have us to do;N. B. promises are manifestations of his love to us, precepts of his authority over us.
3. To assure us.] We take the promise of a man for security to assure us of his performance: it is the end why men pass their word to one another, to assure one another of their performances. So God hath given his word to assure us that he will give us all good things; no greater security then the word of a God who cannot lye, who will not deceive, who can and will effect what his mouth hath spoken, this sure word given to us is the ground of our faith, hope, expectation, confidence. A godly man may boldly say, I shall have the things of this life, God hath given his word that I shall have them: I shall have heaven for mine inheritance, I have the word of God for it; I shall want no good thing, I have Gods word for this; I am as confident of having them, as if I had them already in hand; the word of God given to us is as certain as actual performance.
4. That he will freely bestow all good things upon us, and remove evil things from us: here we have the matter of the promises.
1. That he will bestow all good things; as threatnings are of evil things, so promises are of good things: God will bestow the good things of this life on us, food and raiment, and whatsoever is good for us; the good things of spiritual and eternal life; there is not one thing which he knows to be good for us, but he will bestow in his appointed season: when his hour is come, he will turn all our water into wine, and stones into bread, Heb. 4. we shall obtain grace and mercy to help in time of need; but the words are foreign, in opportunum auxilium, fit help, opportune help, when mercy is a furtherance to our salvation.
2. But God hath promised also the removal of all evil from us: privative, as well as positive mercies are the matter of divine promises: it is a question which of them are the greater; I will not now examine. To be kept from evil, to be delivered out of evil, to be redeemed from all wrath to come, to be saved from everlasting damnation, to have all tears wiped from our eyes, that destruction shall not come nigh us, are desirable mercies which God hath promised, Rev. 21.4. God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: to be in a perfect state of happiness as also freed from all fears of future misery, is the promise of the life to come.
5. It is said freely bestow.] For albeit God hath bound himself by his word to bestow good things, yet all we receive from him is freely given: his word of promise is freely given to us: the mercies promised are free gifts: there is nothing in us to move God to make such promises to us: there is no merit in us deserving either promise or mercy; our disobedience forfeited all; restitution of any thing is an act of free grace; all temporal as well as eternal mercies flow from the grace of God; when we receive any mercy, even the least of them, we ought to cry out as they in Zachary, at the laying of the cornerstone of the Temple, grace, grace: that we have food and rayment, it is grace, grace; that we have health and strength, tis grace, grace.
CHAP. X. Sheweth how many sorts of Promises there are.
HAving seen what a promise is, in the next place let us see how many sorts of promises there are: let us therefore observe these several distinctions.
1. There are promises
Legal,
Evangelical.
1. Legal promises which God in the Law makes to men upon condition of obedience, as in Deut. 28. All these blessings shall come upon thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God: blessed shalt thou be in the City, blessed in the field, in thy children, in thy ground, in thy cattle, &c. St. Paul saith of the fifth Commandment, This is the first Commandment with promise, Eph. 6. and we may observe, that in the Old Testament the promises of temporal mercies are more common then in the New, where promises of spiritual mercies are more common: The reason why God made so many temporal promises to them under the Law, was because that service did most consist in the observation of outward things, and carnal Ordinances, as the Apostle ca…ls them. God that he might win them to a cheerful observation of them, did therefore m…ke many temporal promises. Yet remember this rule, that though they are called legal promises, yet they are appendants to the Covenant of grace; in this respect they may be termed Evangelical.
2. Evangelical promises are the word of God given for the giving of Christ and all his benefits, upon condition of believing the Gospel; hence it is called the word of faith, because it is made with condition of faith, which is the only instrument of receiving and applying them.
2. There are promises
Ʋniversal.
Special.
1. Promises universal, which belong to Jew and Gentile, and to every Believer, as that promise, Gen. 12. In thee shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed: the promises of pardon, grace, glory, are universal, belonging to every godly man: so likewise the promises of the necessaries of this life are universal, Heb. 13.5.
2. There are special promises, because they belong to the Jews only, or to some particular persons, and not to all the godly: as the promise of the Land of Canaa… flowing with milk and honey, did belon… only to the Israelites: so there were special promises made to David, to Abra… which belong not to us, in that Christ shoul… be of their loins.
1. Here remember this rule, that whe… it is said, godliness hath all promises ma… to it, it is to be meant of the univers… promises.
2. That even these special promises ma… to particulars, yet are under the general promises made to all. As the promise made to David, that Christ should come out of his loins, belongs to the general promise of giving Christ to be the Redeemer of mankind; so the special promise of giving Canaan to Israel for an inheritance, belongs to the universal promise of the life that now is.
3. There are promises
Absolute.
Conditional.
1. There are promises absolute without a condition: the promises absolute are, that the feed of the woman should break the Serpents head; all the promises of giving and sending Christ to be a Saviour are absolute: there was no condition required on mans part: all mankind were under the dreadful curse and condemnation: so also are the promises of giving a new heart, a new spirit, of writing his Law in our hearts. I know it is a Controversie, whether these be promises; they run in the nature of promises, they are within the Covenant of Promise:N. B. some think they are rather Prophecies then promises: others, that they are a declaration of Gods will, what he will work i… his people, for the enabling them to perform the conditions of the Covenant. … like that answer, that they are promises o… grace to the elect whom God takes into Covenant with him: and they are not promises made to godliness, because we bring not faith to accept them.
2. There are conditional promises; so are all the promises of this life and tha… to come, made with condition: the promise of pardon is made with condition o… repentance, the promise of life eternal an… salvation, is made with condition of faith▪ He that believeth hath life: so the promises of this life are made with condition▪ If ye observe my commands, then blesse… shall ye be in the basket, in the store… where there is no performance of the condition, there the promise of God stan… firm; yet to him that performs not th… condition, no promise is made good: Go… will not be a Sun, and a shield, give gra… and glory, and every good thing to an… that do not walk uprightly. God hath tie… us to duty, as well as himself to performance; he that severs duty from the promise, puts a barr to his own happiness; we look for the performance of the promises, let us have respect to obey Gods precepts, God will walk in a way of performance, when we walk in wayes of obedience.
4. There are promises
Temporal,
Spiritual,
Eternal.
There are the things of this life, and of that which is come, saith the Apostle in my Text; the fatness of the earth, the dew of heaven; the blessing of the labour of our hands, and blessings out of Sion: the one exceeds the other as high as heaven is above the earth: a mite of spirituals is more then the vast treasures of the earth: promises of heaven without earthly promises are sufficient to make a man perfectly happy, as pearls can make a man rich, when pebbles cannot: and spiritual and eternal promises are they which faith more principally look… at; it doth but glance its eye to the promises of this life.
5. The p…omises of spiritual things necess…ry to the esse, and the bene esse of a godly man.
1. The promises of spiritual mercies necessary to the being of godliness and salvation, are performed to every godly man; they are all pardoned, sanctified, adopted, regenerated; they all partake of the merit and spirit of Christ.
2. The promises of mercies pertaining to the well being of godly men in this vale of misery pertain to all the godly; they that have an interest in them can urge God with them, and may expect the performance of them.
3. Yet these promises are not made good to all godly men in this life, nor to any at all times; many have the graces of the spirit, who yet go mourning without the joy and peace of the Holy Ghost: he sanctifieth all, but gives not like comforts to all: Comforts do ebb and flow like the Sea.
4. Yet every godly man having grace, and having the promises of joy and peace, hath the foundation of joy, though he doth not rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
5. These promises are but begun in this life, consummated in the life to come; that measure of grace and holiness which Saints have in this life, are but earnests of their perfection of holiness in heaven; those joys which now they feel, are but foretasts of heaven, like the bunches of grapes which the spies brought from Canaan, shewing what the joy of the Lord is in heaven: It is said, Enter thou into thy Masters joy; we must enter into it, it cannot enter into us.