Looking unto Jesus a view of the everlasting gospel, or, the souls eying of…

4. By Faith we seek God, and beg Performance of his Promises according to our need: Do we want Wisdom, Meekness, Patience, or any other Grace? Faith carries us by Prayer unto the Fountain, and in this way waits and expects to receive the Grace we want. As the Child by sucking the Breast, draws forth Milk for its own Nourishment, and thereby it grows in Strength; so do we by the Prayer of Faith, suck from Christ, and from the Promise of Grace, and by that means derive Strength to our inner Man, to fulfil the Covenant which we have made with God.

6. As Faith strengthens us; so if at any times, by occasion or temptation, we fail in our Covenant-keeping, Faith recovers us, and restores us again to our former Estate: I do not say, the Covenant can be broken betwixt God and Us; we may offend God, and fail in the Service of God; but till we refuse God, and leave God, and choose another Master, Lord, and Husband besides God, there is no Dissolution of the Covenant of Grace. Now, this a true Believer cannot do; He may fall, and fall often; yet he doth not fall, but he rises again: he may turn aside, but yet he returns again into the way of the Covenant. What a sweet Point is this? Christians, We may, and sometimes we do walk weakly, in keeping of Covenants; our feet slip, and we step aside out of God's Path; yet Faith brings us back again to God: It casts Shame on our Faces, that after all the Grace showed us, we should so ill requite God: It reminds us of those Promises, Return unto Me, and I will return unto you. —Ye have done all this Wickedness, ¹yet turn not aside from following the Lord: — For the Lord will not forsake his People, for his Great Names sake, because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his People. In the minding of these, and such other Promises, Faith doth encourage us to return unto God, to take words unto our selves, and to plead the Covenant of his Grace towards us: This Work of Faith brought Peter back to Christ; whereas Judas wanting this Faith, lies down in desperate Sorrow, never able to rise up, or to recover himself.