He ftaggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was firing in faith, giving glory to God: beget children, when he was young and. of a ftrong body, and fo much lefs now, when his body was almost spent and gone. And being fully perfuaded, that what heIt is true, he begat children after this up had promifed, he was able aljo to perform. THat it may yet be clearer, how Abraham is the father of us all, after he has fhewn how it was upon God's part, by virtue of his promife; faying, that he hould be a father of many nations; he next thews, how it came to pafs upon Abraham's part, viz. by faith, therefore it is added, in whom he believed; and this faith of his is commended from feveral particulars: 1. In that he fixed his eyes on God's truth and omnipotence fet forth in two particular expreffions, fuitable to his prefent cafe. God promifed,. that he fhould be the father of many nations, and it was a thing altogether unlikely to look to God's ordinary way of nature, and therefore he takes up God as one that raifeth the dead, and fo can put ftrength in him to beget, who was as good as dead; and as one which calleth thofe things which be not as though they were, who can give a being to fuch things as have no being; he can give a being to nations that in all probability fhall have no being, and that most eafily, with a word. 2. It is commended from the feveral difficulties that made the Accomplishment of the promife feem altogether impoffible: and first in general, It was against hope; all the hope that he would have founded upon carnal reafon was gone and become blind: and fecondly more particularly. (1.) His own body was now dead, and fo unapt for generation, being an hundred years old. It is true, this is not altogether fo prodigious a thing, that one of a hundred years fhould beget children; yet, confidering how all his lifetime he was much exercifed with labour, troubles and travels, and fo near exhausted and spent, it would feem fo much the more incredible, efpecially when he might have confidered, how he could not on Keturah, but all that was by virtue of God's bleffing, renewing him as the eagle at this time. (2.) The deadness of Sarah's womb, who now being about ninety years old, was altogether unfit for conception, according to the ordinary course of nature. 3. It is commended, in that notwithstanding of these difficulties ftanding in the way of the accomplishment of the promife, yet he ftuck to the promife, and hoped for the performance: And (.) he believed, in hope that he bould become the father of many nations, and his only ground was the promife of the Almighty, according to that: which was faid, so shall thy jeed be, Gen. xv. 5... (2.) He was not weak in the faith; thefe feen difficulties did no ways diminish his faith and confidence, but the more they appeared,, the more he firmly believed. (3.) He confulered not his own body, &c. he would not once confult fenfe in the matter, nor fee what carnal reafon would fay, he laid no weight on any thing of that kind: it is true, we find him reafoning thus, Gen. xvii. 17. Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old, and shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear? and this was the carnal reafoning of fenfe; but he did not yield unto thefe reafonings, nor did he fpeak fo thro' unbelief, but rather, as admiring the greatnefs of the promise; he would not hearken unto the language of fenfe and reafon. (4.) He staggered not at the promife of God through unbelief; he doth not hesitate at the matter, as not knowing whether to believe or not; he is not at an uncertainty or variance with himfelf, as being fometimes of one mind, fometimes of another; he is not dubious, like one meeting with two ways, not knowing which to take; he ftaggers not fo thro' unbelief. But (5.) he was frong in the faith; he fet himself ftoutly against these objections, and oppofed them manfully, and and gathered courage and ftrength to himfelf for that effect. (6.) He gave glory to God; he would not queftion God's truth for all that could be faid, but trufted to his word, and believed his power, and fo gave glory to God. (7.) He was fully perfuaded, that what he had promifed, be was fully able to perform: As he believed God's good-will in making the promife, and made no queftion of that, fo neither did he of his power, but was moft perfuaded of his power, there being no doubt left. 1 OBSERVATIONS.. I. It is beyond the power of any created being to raise the dead, whatever witches and forcerers may make blind people believe they do in that kind, as the witch at Endor made Saul believe that the raised up Samuel, 1 Sam xxviii:11.&c. it being alone God's prerogative royal, who is the Lord of life and death; and however his prophets and apoftles have raifed the dead, yet it was only in and through him, as Acts iii 12. For here God is defcribed by this, that he raiseth the dead. II. As Jehovah hath all being in and of himself, fo is he the author of being to all other things; fo that beings, and no beings, are all at his command: he calleth thofe things which be not as though they were. he believed in God; that raiseth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as. tho' they were. IV. As a promife may be a promise. which will have accomplishment in God's own time, tho' there be many things in-terveening which may darken the accomplishment, and put it out of fight, fo as fenfe and reafon would fay, that fuch a promife fhould never be made good, God thinking it fit to fuffer a cloud to rife betwist the promise and the performance, for the farther exercife of faith; fo faith must refolve to have difficulties in its way, and to have carnal hope, founded on fenfe and reafon, on its top: for Abraham believed against hope. V. Faith, with an eagle's eye, can pierce through the thickest cloud of improbabilities, yea, and impoffibilities to flesh and t blood, and fee the promises taking effect in their own time, when it has a promife from the Lord to reft on: Abraham believed against hope, when he heard it faid, ---So. hall thy feed be... VI. Tho' fenfe and carnal reafon would think faith a fool to look for that which. is fo far from being but probable, that it is altogether improbable; yet faith is no fancy, whatever ignorant men, whofe minds are altogether carnal, think of it; but it has a fure ground to rest on, even the word of promife; and fo Abraham believed that he should be the father of ma-ny nations, and was no lofer, when it was: according to that which was faid, So fhall thy feed be." III. As all perfection is centered in the Lord, and excellencies tranfcendently fuperabound in him, fo as there is fuitable help in him to our neceffities; so faith VII. As true faith believeth to be true: fhould go forth, and pitch on these ex- whatever is revealed, because of the au- cellencies which fuit our cafe, and take thority of the Lord who fpeaks, and fo up God under thofe; as the apoftle doth yieldeth obedience to the commands, and here fhew, how Abraham did; he had a trembles at the threatenings; fo doth it in promife, and there were many things fay-a fpecial manner clafp about the promises: ing it fhould never be made good, and Abraham believed according as it was faid, therefore his faith takes up, and refts up- So fhall thy feed be.. on God, as able to give a being to all his promises, and so fasteneth its eye upon his almighty power, as able to bring it about: VIII. Albeit faith be feldom accompa nied with carnal hope, or has it on its fide; yet being faftened on a promife, it hath hath a hope with it of another kind; and fpiritual hope arifeth from faith fetled on the ground of a clear promife; and where hope is not founded on faith gripping a promise, it is but a hope that will evanifh; for Abraham believed in hope, when his faith was according to that which was fpoken, So ball thy feed be. ficulty feem the greater, and yet he be lieved. IX. Howbeit true and faving faith be one and the fame effentially, in all believers, Eph. iv. 5. yet doth it admit of feveral degrees, though it be alike precious faith in all, 2 Pet. i. 1. yet there is fome who are weak in faith, Matth. vi. 30. viii. 26. xiv. 31. and xvi. 8. Luke xii. 28. like him who cried out, I believe, help my unbelief, Mark ix. 24. and fome who are ftrong in the faith, and have won to the affurance of faith, Heb. x. 22. God diftributing the measure of faith as he thinketh fit for his own glory: for here Abraham is faid to be strong in faith; and this fuppofes that fome are weak in it, for he was not weak in the faith. X. Tho' ftrong faith will not difpel the clouds of difficulties, fo as there fhall be no contradiction made unto the promife; yet faith will fo blow by the mifts of difficulties as not to hefitate becaufe of them: yea, the greater, and more infuperable like the difficulties be that ftand in the way of the accomplishment of the promises, the more will faith hereby be evidenced to be ftrong in wrestling over them: Abraham was flrong in the faith, and fo confidered not his own body now dead. XI. Believers must expect to meet, not with one difficulty in their way of clofing with a promise, but to have many muftered up against them, and every one heightening another; and yet muft they not loofe their grips of the promife, but rather grip it the fafter the more difficulties they have to wrestle with: Abraham had not only his own dead body, being an hundred years old to wrestle with, but alfo the deadness of Sarah's womb, which made the former dif XII. Albeit the only wife God hath placed in living creatures a power of generation and conception, and ordinarily hath limited the fame to fuch a period, which feldom is tranfgreffed, except in an extraordinary manner; yet the Lord hath not hereby limited himself, but he may and doth work beyond, and contrary unto this fet ordinary way, when he fees it will contribute to his own honour and glory; and fo will give a numerous iffue to Abraham when an hundred years old, and that by Sarah when he was ninety years of age. XIII. Albeit carnal reafon will be fuggefting plaufible grounds, whereupon to fcare and diffuade us from clofing with the promife, and expect confidently the accomplishment; yet it is not our safest courfe to be hearkening to the language of fenfe, in fuch a ftormy and dark day; but our best is to be deaf to all that carnal reafonings would obtrude, and to lay no weight on any thing which fense alledgeth, how plaufible foever it be: it is moft dangerous to be confulting flesh and blood, which are ftill biaffed, in a gloomy day; it is beft to do as Abraham did, who did not confider his own body now dead,--nor the deadnefs of Sarah's womb. . XIV. As unbelief is a moft unfetled thing, making people unconftant as the waters of the fea, fo as they know not where to ftand, but are made to turn with every tide, and fail with every ftream; fo the best way to be delivered from the anxiety that attends a dubious mind, and the perplexity that ftill accompanieth uncertainty, is to get faith rooted on the promife: Abraham Staggered not at the promife through unbelief. XV. It ferves highly to commend faith, when, however difficulties which appear infuperable, flow in, and rufh upon faith, to make it loofe its grips of the promife; yet it abides conftant, and flicks the clofer by by the word of promife; and when the more and the greater the difficulties be, it waxeth more courageous and valiant, and fo is far from being beaten off its ground, that it keeps it with greater zeal and valour; for it is fpoken to the commendation of Abraham's faith, that he staggered not at the promife of God through unbelief, but was rather the more strong in the faith. XVI. Faith, depending fingly upon the promife of God, when all things would fay, that fuch a promife fhould never be accomplished, and hanging upon a bare threed of the promife, when many contrary blafts of temptation, and thorturing difpenfations, yea, and reafons, from an eltablished order of nature, are labouring to loofe its grips, and fhake it loofe, tendeth much to fhew forth the glory of God's faithfulness and power: and fo to quite the promise because fenfe is not fatisfied, and cannot fee thro' matters, (which here is wholly blind) nor will not vote with the promife, is a great difhonour done to God, in believing reafonless reason, and blind fenfe better than God: Abraham was Strong in the faith, giving glory to God. XVII. Though poor fouls, mifcarried through misbelief, and under a tempta tion, will rather queftion God's good-will, in their expreffions, than his power; yet in very deed most of their misbelief lieth here in questioning his power and ability; fo that were this out of queftion with them, much of their perplexed and ftag. gering condition would be helped: Abraham was ftrong in the faith, being fully perfuaded, that what he had promifed, he was alfo able to perform. XVIII. It ferves much to the commendation of faith, that it has hushed all the murmurings of flesh, and fet its foot upon all the arguings of reafon; and, having the promife in the chalk of its eye, can, without any farther hefitation, or doubt, perfuade itfelf of God's ability to perform whatever is contained within the circum ference of the promise: Abraham was fully perfuaded, that what he had promifed, he was able fully to perform; and this was no fmall matter of commendation to him and fo though it would feem but a fmall bufinefs to believe God to be omnipotent, yet in a time of temptation, when fenfe and carnal reafon are bufy objecting to the contrary, it is much. VERSE 22. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. A Fter the apoftle has been fully clear ing the inftance of Abraham, in feveral particulars, before he come, in the following verfes, to apply this to the purpofe in hand, and to hew, that howfo ever Abraham was a fingular example in many things, and his faith was fo ftrong as every one cannot reach; yet his example is of fingular ufe, to prove the way of juftification of all believers: he feteth down that which was the affumption of the main argument, brought from the teftimony of fcripture, As Abraham was juftified, fo are we; this is made good before: But Abraham was juftified by faith, or faith was imputed to him for righteoufnefs; this hath been confirmed alfo, and is here repeated; for the understanding of which much hath been faid, upon verfes 3.4.5. yet because several parties draw it in to favour their own intereft, we shall add a little here, and lay down thefe conclufions. I. Faith is not faid to be imputed to us for righteoufnefs, because it is part of our inherent righteoutnefs, by which we are formally and meritorioufly justified; for to fay that we are justified by our inherent righteoufnefs, is to croís all that the apoftle hath been proving, viz. That we are juftified by faith, and not by works. 2. Nor is faith imputed to us for righteoufnefs, as being alone our perfect righteoufnefs, thro' Gel's gracious acceptilation an condefcenfion, inftead of the perfect righteoufnefs of the law; and fo we Louk : fhould be juftified by works, not indeed of the law, (which, fay they, only is excluded by the apoftle) that is to fay, by works every way exact and perfect, but by works of grace, esteemed and accepted for a perfected righteoufnefs, through God's gracious condefcendency: For, 1, This would exclude the merits of Christ Jefus If faith be our perfect righteoufnefs, we need not Chrift's righteoufnefs, at all; but this croffeth many of the apoftle's arguments here, and deftroyeth the merits and fatisfaction of his death, contrary to the whole gofpel. 2dly, The apostle excludes all works that ftand in oppofition to Chrift's merits and fatisfaction. 3dly, He excludes all works that make the reward of debt and faith, in this fenfe, tho' it be not perfect obedience to the law, but one particular, yet, being fo accounted by God thro' his condefcendence, and fo meriting life, it will make the reward of debt, for fuch an one would be still a mercenary hireling, be the duty required lefs or more, as the reward is a due debt him that wrought one hour, no lefs than to him that wrought twelve hours. 4thly, He excludes all righteoufnefs in ourfelves, as, Phil. iii. 9. 5thly, The apostle fays we are juftified by a righteoufuefs, which is fometimes called, the righteouf nefs of faith, verfes 11. 13. a righteoufnefs by faith, Rom. iii. 22. Phil. iii. 9. and a righteoufnefs through faith, Phil. iii. 9. and fo this cannot be faith itfelf, for these expreffions fhew, that faith is a mean whereby this righteousness is attained, and nothing can be a mean for the attain ing of itself. 3. We fay, faith cannot be faid to be imputed in this fenfe, that Chrift by his merits hath procured of the Father, that in the new covenant faith alone fhall be taken as the condition, inftead of perfect obedience, which was required as the condition in the covenant of works. For, ft, Then faith fhould be taken as an act, without any respect had to Christ's righteouf nefs as its object, on which it layeth hold, and fo we should be justified by our work; fo that the apoftle fhould fpeak amifs in excluding all works, and in oppofing faith to works. 2dly, Then this new covenant fhould be of the fame kind with the old covenant, for works fhould be the condi tion of both, only with this difference, 'that the one should be more eafy than the other, and a gradual difference makes not a fpecifical difference. 3dly, Then the reward fhould ftill be of debt, no less than in the old covenant; for, majus et minus non variant fpeciem. 4thly, And fo heaven and happiness fhould not be immediately procured by Christ, but by our act of faith; as under the old covenant. life would have been the immediate purchase of perfect obedience. 5thly, Then we should be juftified without a perfect righteousness, or elfe faith fhould be accounted by God as a perfect righteoufnefs, when it is not; but fo we fhould fay, God judgeth of things not as they are, but as they are not, which is a miftaking judgment: for true it is, that faith is not a perfect righteousnets, being both imperfect in itself, feeing we all know but in part, and fo believe but in part, and may daily cry out, Lord, help our unbelief; and only a part of our duty. 6thly, We no where find it written, that Chrift died for this end, that faith fhould be accepted of God as our complete righteoufnefs, and to put us in part, in ftatu quo prius; that is to fay, that having broken the former tack, and fo being caften to the door, we should be brought home again, and through his means and moyen our rent fhould be eafed, and a penny taken for a pound; as if all that Chrit did was only the paying of fo much for entry, that the yearly rent might be leffened; yea, the contrary of this is every where afferted. 7thly, Chrift and his righteoufnefs is not the object of this faith which is faid to be imputed after this manner, (for then faith fhould not be confidered as a work of ours, but as terminating on fuch an object, and fo |