my soul, and shall I go over no mountains, and break through no difficulties to get to Jesus Christ? think what difficulties he broke through to come to you.

And, never speak with your difficulties or discouragements apart from the promise. If a man be travelling in the road, and a thief can sunder him from his company, draw him alone into the woods, a hundred to one but he takes his purse, if he save his life. And if the devil can part you from the promise, take you into the woods, where you shall see nothing but darkness, difficulties and discouragements; a hundred to one but he spoils you of all your comforts. Man or woman, does difficulty arise therefore; natural discouragements arise? Away to the promise, and say unto them when they come, I will never speak with you, unless it be in the presence of a promise.

Oh, but God's providence seems for to cross his promise. Be it so; yet thou mayest believe, though God's providence seems for to cross his promise, yet thou mayest rest on the promise.

Oh, but I have a threatening set on upon my heart.

Be it so; yet thou mayest believe the promise, although the threatening have taken hold upon thee, and filled thee with trouble; for God does therefore threaten, that he may make way to a promise. God's promises do not make way to his threatenings, but his threatenings make way to his promises. God does therefore threaten that he may not fulfil; but God does therefore promise that he may fulfil. And therefore, though the threatening have taken hold upon thine heart, and thou liest under the apprehension of God's displeasure; get away to the promise, rest upon the promise. Aye, but Jesus Christ hath withdrawn from me, and hid himself from me.

Be it so; yet thou mayest go to the promise. Christ doth therefore withdraw from thee, that he may draw thee to him. Jesus Christ does therefore hide himself, that he may shew thee his face more and more. Our brother Joseph, he cannot conceal himself long; his bowels and compassions will not let him.

Wherefore then, whensoever any difficulties or natural discouragements do arise upon you, come to this conclusion; now therefore will I trust in God, now therefore will Į ven

ture upon Jesus Christ: oh, my soul, now venture, now venture, and say, Lord, such and such difficulties are risen; thou hast called me to this work; difficulties arise upon me: surely thou hast called me to this work; they are not therefore to make a stoppage in my proceedings, but to draw out my faith: now, therefore, I do here lay the weight of my poor guilty soul upon thee, do with me what is good in thine eyes: ah, Lord, my prayers are dead, my affections dead, and my heart dead; but thou art a living God, and I bear myself upon thee. Beloved, "If ye can believe, all things are possible; if you cannot believe, all things are impossible." Faith will make a thing easy, though it be never so difficult; as unbelief doth make a thing difficult, though it be never so easy. This is a certain truth, no difficulty can stand before faith. True, saving, justifying faith, carries the soul through all difficulties, discouragements, and natural impossibilities, to Jesus Christ. Oh, therefore, as you desire to grapple with the difficulties that you do meet withal, stir up yourselves in a way of believing, for you have heard that nothing else can do it. The Lord teach us to believe at a higher rate than ever yet we have done.

SERMON IV.

THE GREAT THINGS FAITH CAN DO.

"And what shall I say more? For the time would fail me, to tell of Gideon, and of Barak; and of Samson, and of Jephthah; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword; out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, women received their dead raised to life again," &c.-Heb. xi. 32.

In this Heb. xi. you have a little book of Chronicles, wherein the believers of the Old Testament do stand upon record for their great work of faith. In the former part of the chapter, the apostle doth instance in several believers at

large; in the latter part he is more compendious, and draws up the instances into a narrower room: for, saith he, "The time would fail me to tell of Gideon, of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephtha," &c. Now these believers that he doth instance in, in the latter part of the chapter, are of two sorts: some famous and of good reports for their actions, and some for their sufferings; some did great things, and some suffered great things: and both by their faith. Those that suffered great things, are mentioned in the following words: "Others were tortured, not accepting of deliverance." Those that did great things by their faith, in these verses; their persons are mentioned, and the fruits and effects of their faith, for which they are mentioned in these verses. Their persons are mentioned in verse 32, ye have their names there; their state, condition, and their order: their names, Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and Jephtha, and David; their state and condition, some were kings, some were judges, some were prophets. Faith runs through all conditions and ranks of men; faith and true grace is able to make a plantation upon every condition of men. And as for their order here, Gideon is before Barak, and Samson is before Jephtha; yet if you look into the story in the Judges, you shall find Barak is before Gideon, and Jephtha before Samson. And here Gideon set first, and Samson first. Why? Because they excelled in faith; and those are most excellent in God's eyes, who are most eminent in faith; those are most excellent in God's eyes, who most excel in faith. But now as for the fruits and effects of their faith, they are many; here are no less than ten mentioned in these verses. They subdued kingdoms, verse 33: "Who through faith subdued kingdoms:" so the judges did, and so David also. And they wrought righteousness: so Samuel did, "Whose ox have I taken?" and so David did when he spared Saul. And they obtained promises; promises, that is the thing promised. God is so faithful, saith Beza, in fulfilling his promises, that the promise is put for the thing promised: they obtained the promises, that is, the thing promised. Now the promise they obtained, it was not the great promise of the Messiah, for that verse 39, "They received not the promise," that is, the great promise of the Messiah; but the promises they obtained, were particular

promises of deliverance, victories and kingdoms: so they obtained promises, and so Gideon, and Barak, David and others did. And then they stopped the mouths of lions; so David and Daniel did. And they quenched the violence of fire; so the three children did. And escaped the edge or mouth of the sword; so Elijah and Elisha did. And out of weakness were made strong; so Hezekiah was. And they waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens; so the judges and David did. And women received their dead raised to life again; so the woman of Sarepta and the Shunamite did. So that now here you may see, what great things the believers of the Old Testament did by faith. And so the doctrine that I shall pitch upon at this time, riseth from all the words, and not from any particular clause or passage, but from the whole :

That true, saving faith, will do very great things.

It is true faith that the apostle here speaks of, as appears by the whole chapter; and these things that they did, as appears to the reader at first view, were great things. So that I shall not need to spend any time, for clearing of the doctrine from the words that it doth arise from; and all these verses and words, they are witnesses to it, they cry out this doctrine with one voice: True, saving faith, will do very great things.

For the opening and clearing whereof, I shall labour to shew,

First, That true saving faith is a doing, working, stirring grace.

Secondly, That true saving faith will do great things. And, Thirdly, How faith comes to do such great things. First, True saving faith is a doing grace, an active, working, doing, operative grace. The more spirits any thing hath, the more active it is. Faith, true saving faith, hath the spirit of the gospel in it; the gospel is the ministration of the Spirit, and true saving faith, it hath the Spirit of this spiritual dispensation; and therefore it must needs be a very spiritual and working grace. It is called a work itself, in 1 Thess. i. 3, "Remembering without ceasing your work of faith;" and in 2 Thess. i. 2, "The work of faith with power." Our Lord and Saviour Christ saith, it is the work of God; "This is the work of God, that ye believe:" it is in itself a work.

And it is a friend to work: true saving faith, it is a work, and it is a great friend to work, it is not an idle housewife. What is our sanctification, but our faith incarnate; it works love, it works by love; and love is very inventive, active and expensive: it is a friend to work; a work in itself, and a friend to work.

And it is also the first worker in the soul. "Trust in the Lord and do good;" not first do good and then trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord first: trust in the Lord and do good. It is the work that sets other works on work, the wheel that sets all other wheels a going, without which a man is idle though he be at work. As a child may be very busy at his play, yet but play; and a servant may be very busy about his own employment, and yet his master counts it an idleness, because he is not about his work appointed him. So, now, a man may be very busy in regard of the world, and yet he may be idle God-ward. Nisi a Deo agendo, nil ages: faith must be the first worker, and if faith be not the first, all other works are as nothing.

Yea, as faith is a work, and a friend of work, and a first worker, so it is an universal work. Faith is that grace that can turn its hand to every work; some can work exactly at one thing, but they are bunglers at another; but faith, true saving faith, can turn its hand to every business. Possibly a man may be sick, and he cannot pray himself, but yet he may believe; though prayer cannot turn its hand to this condition, yet faith can. Possibly a man may be very poor, and is not able to help another; liberality cannot turn its hand to this condition, but faith can work in it.

And not only so, but faith works best when it works alone, when it works all alone. If comfort come, and sense and feeling come, faith knows how to use these; but though a man have no sense and no comfort, yet faith can work, and faith works best when it works alone; when it works all alone, without these auxiliaries.

Yea, faith works best sometimes when it works in the dark; as it works best when it works alone, so sometimes it works best in the dark. Men can work well in the light but not in the dark, but though a man's condition be very dark, yet faith can work then: faith works best when it works in the dark. Faith loves to work like Christ, and Christ's great