be made out to thee. What canft thou be the better of a falve not applied to thy fore, or of a promise which is not applied by faith to thy own foul. It is by the faith of application, that these breasts of confolation are fucked, and that the water is drawn out of the wells of falvation. And what other way can we be partakers of the fap which flows from them, but by thus believing, as was before fhewn. And for this caufe it is neceffary to be well acquainted with the Bible, and to mark the promises, that, whatever be thy case, thou mayest have a word fuited to it to plead with God, for the word is that by which influences are conveyed. And, feeing much lies in believing and applying the promises, take thefe two notes to clear your way in this exercife.-I obferve,

(1.) That whofoever receives Chrift, and takes God for his God in him, has a right to all the promises of the covenant fuited to his cafe, and has a right to apply them. They meet all in Chrift, for "all the promifes of God in him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us. And fo all of them may be claimed in him, even as he who marries a wife may plead all that is promised with her in the contract. It is with him that God freely gives us all things, Rom. viii. 32. Take Chrift, then, and the promise is yours in him.-I observe,

(2.) That the promises are made primarily to Jefus Chrift: Gal. iii. 16. "Now, to Abraham and his feed were the promises made. He faith not, And to feeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy feed, which is Chrift." He is the fecond Adam, the great contractor with the Father in the covenant of grace, and through him to all who are his, even as the promise of the first covenant was to Adam, and his feed in him.

And

And they were made to him on condition of his fatisfying the demands of the law, which is now done; fo that, with respect to us, they are all abfolute and free; properly fpeaking, none of them are conditional. Some of them defcribe the qualification of these to whom they fhall be accomplished, as Matth. v. 3.-10. which qualification is, however, wrought in them, in accomplishment of the leading promises, the promises of grace, fuch as Ezek. xxxvi. 26. 27. " A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the ftony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an hear of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye fhall keep my judgements, and do them." But both the one and the other are pleadable only through Jesus Christ, being through him made abfolute to thofe who are his; so that in Christ you have a right to all that is fuited to your cafe. Hence it is that promifes, made to fome particular faints, may be confidently applied by others in their circumftances, as growing all upon one root, which is our common Lord. Thus, God faid to Joshua, chap. i. 5. "As I was with Mofes, fo I will be with thee; I will not fail thee, nor forfake thee." He fays to every believer, Heb. xiii. 5. " I will never leave thee, nor forfake thee."

Lastly, He fhould hang on about the Lord's hand till the fupply come, and that confidently. This is that which in the fcriptures is celebrated under the name of trufting, relying, ftaying on the Lord. The whole weight of all our wants is to be laid over on the Lord, and a confident expectation maintained, that he will supply them, according to his word. Truft repofed in a generous man is a strong tie on him to help and answer expectation.

expectation. Lot, Gen. xix. 8. would have any ill done to himself rather than to his guests, because, says he, "for this cause they came under the fhadow of my roof." And they that trust in the Lord according to his word, fhall never be afhamed. Thus, the believer fhould be familiar in the house over which Chrift is fet, and in this way draw near with full affurance.- Let us now,

II. SHEW why the believer fhould be fo familiar in this house, improving his claimed interest for his neceffities, without doubting of the fuccefs. He fhould be fo,

1. Because heaven is made home to him by the blood of the Son of God, and therefore no reason to doubt of welcome, Heb. x. 19. 20. That is a kindly word, which you have in John, xx. 17. "Touch me not, for I am not yet afcended unto my Father; but go to my brethren, and fay unto them, I afcend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." It is our Father's house, because it is Chrift's Father's house; and where may one be familiar, if not in their father's houfe? It is the house prepared for them firft by Chrift's fatisfaction, then by his interceffion: John, xiv. 2. "I go to prepare a place for you." It is the house their Lord and Hufband is fet over; it is the house they came of, for they are born from above; and it is the house they are to dwell in for ever, nay, the Lord himself is their home : Pfal. xc. 1. "Lord, thou haft been our dwellingplace in all generations." The Jewish Doctors called him place, because the only resting-place of the foul is in God, and to believers he is unqueftionably their rest.

2. It is a pleasure to have full breasts fucked. The breafts of grace and goodness in God to fin

ners

ners through Chrift, are full, there is nothing wanting, faith has only to fuck, and to be fatisfied. It is applied to the church, what you have in Ifa. lxvi. 11. "That ye may fuck, and be fatisfied with the breafts of her confolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory." The breafts are, as it were, held forth in the word of the gospel, which is our great privilege. There is all fulness in Chrift, the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him, that fo finners might have access to God through the vail of his flesh, and be filled with all the fulness of God. The fulness in him is not the fulness of a veffel, to serve itself only, but the fulness of a fountain to be communicated, which ftill gives, and yet has enough. Well may we, then, draw near to God with full affurance of faith.- -We fhould be thus familiar; for,

3. This is the great end for which finners are at all brought to God through Chrift, namely, that they may partake of his fulness. It is the great end of all the promifes: 2 Pet. i. 4. "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by thefe we might be partakers of the divine nature, having efcaped the corruption that is in the world through luft." The communication betwixt God and man was interrupted by Adam's fall; it is opened by Jefus Chrift, that influences from heaven may run freely, and that in him they may get all their wants made up. They may be affured of a cordial welcome when taking for their neceffities these things which are brought in for this very end, that they may be fupplied.

4. The Lord offers himself in the gospel for all, and the finner who takes him aright, takes him for all, and inftead of all, Matth. xiii. 45. 46. Now, if he offer himself for all, furely he intends

that

that his people fhould improve their intereft in him for all. He has taken them from all their former friends; furely, then, as an affectionate husband, he will allow his wife to be familiar in his house, and take it very ill if fhe hang on about others for a fupply of her wants. This familiarity our Maker, our Hufband, allows us, and approves of.

5. Our Lord (if I may fo speak) makes very familiar with his people, and this is a sign that he would have them to be fo with him. Lodge they ever fo meanly, he will lodge with them: Ifa. lvii. 15. "For thus faith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whofe name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place; with him alfo that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." He not only gives them, but he takes from them; what provifion from heaven is with them, he takes part of, though he needs nothing from them: Song, v. 1. "I am come into my garden, my fifter, my fpoufe; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved!" He fometimes even will take from them what they would not part with to any but himself, and they will make him welcome to it, as he did with Job, chap. i. His fheep, affes, children, were taken from him, and little at all was left him. And if they act like themselves, they will rejoice that they have any thing, liberty, life, &c. to part with to him. But fure I am, the best of the faints can never fo freely part with any thing to him, as he does to them.They fhould be familiar; for,

Laftly, They who use most familiarity with the Lord, improving their claimed intereft, with

greatest