A treatise of faith divided into two parts. The first showing the nature, the…A treatise of faith diuided into two parts. The first shewing the nature, the…

Thus the Apostle dissuading from covetousness, applieth that promise to all the faithful, which in special was spoken unto Joshua, I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee. ¹Whensoever we find that any of Gods people have prayed for any good thing, and have bin heard, if it were not by special prerogative peculiar to them, we may take it as a promise ⟨p. 206⟩to us. I sought the Lord, and he heard me: and delivered me from all my fears. ²They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. Wh t favour God hath showed unto any of his children, according to promise and covenant of grace, the same m•y •ll that be in covenant with him, expect and look for. For all the faithful have the same God to be their God, live under the same covenant, and have in•erest in the same promises of mercy. Thus James exhorting to patience in trouble, allegeth the example of Job, Ye have heard of the patience of Job,³ and have s•ene the end of the Lord. As for extraordinary favours or deliverances granted unto some persons by special privilege, and not by ver•ue of common covenant: we cannot promise our selves the same in particular from their example, nor did the Lord vouchsafe the same to the same persons at all times: but as such peculiar mercies imply a common ground or reason, they are unto us arguments of comfort and encouragement. God doth not ordinarily send his Angels to open the prison doors, nor stop the mouths of Lions, nor quench the force of the fire for the preservation of his people: but from such extraordinary examples, we may conclude, that God will be with us in the fire and in the water to deliver or comfort us,⁴ to succour or support us, that we shall not be forsaken, much less overcome. Also in the practice of the servants of God, we may learn our duty: for whatsoever they did upon common grounds and reasons pertaining to us, no less then unto them, that duty belongeth unto us as well as unto them, and their example is for our imitation.