“It must be matter of instruction for us all, that when we come unto God we must promise ourselves to have good speed, since God is most true of his promises, and we must labour by all means to remember and apply them, and so to turn them into prayers.
Thus reasoning the matter, What! I am in this and this necessity, God he hath promised to help; since He is true, it must needs be that He will have a care to fulfill His truth.
O beloved, it is easy for us to speak, but in the evil day to put on our armour, to fly unto prayer, to hang upon God, to fight against temptations, to give unto God the praise of His attributes, that as He is true, loving, just, merciful, all-sufficiency, infinite, omnipotent, so to expect infinite love, infinite truth, infinite mercy from Him,—this is no small matter, yea, it is true Christian fortitude, in temptation and affliction thus to reason the matter, to rely upon God, and as it were to bind His help near unto us with the chains of His loving promises.
If a promise bind us, much more it bindeth God; for all our truth is but a small spark of that ocean of truth in Him.
And therefore to conclude all with this promise, worthy to be engraven in everlasting remembrance upon the palms of our hands, God hath promised that all the afflictions of His children they shall work for the best (Rom. 8:28).
This is as true as God’s truth, I shall one day see and confess so much if I wait in patience; why, therefore, I will wait.
God is infinite in wisdom and power, to bring light out of darkness; so also He is true, and He will do it.
Therefore because I believe ‘I will not make haste;’ I will walk in the perfect way until he show deliverance.
This must be our resolution, and then it shall be unto us according to our faith; which God, for His Christ’s sake, grant unto us all!”
–Richard Sibbes, “The Matchless Mercy,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 7 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 164.
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