Bills of Exchange

When a rich merchant who dwells in a foreign land afar commits his treasure to the hands of a banker, it is to be drawn out in smaller sums by his servants or his friends at home as their necessities shall require; and he furnishes them with bills of exchange drawn upon his banker or treasurer, which are paid honorably to the person who offers the bill according to the time when the words of the bill appoint the payment.

Is it not possible to draw a beautiful allegory hence to represent the conduct of the blessed God in his promises of grace, without debasing so divine a subject?

God the Father, the spring and fountain of all grace, dwells in regions of light and holiness inaccessible, too far oflf for us to converse with him or receive supplies from him in an immediate way; but he has sent the Son to dwell in human nature, and constituted him Treasurer of all his blessings, that we might derive perpetual supplies from his hand: He has intrusted him with all the riches of grace and glory; he has laid up infinite stores of love, wisdom, strength, pardon, peace and consolation in the hands of his Son for this very purpose, to be drawn out thence as fast as the necessities of his saints require. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. He has received gifts for men.” Col, i. 19. Psalm lxviii. 18.

Now all the promises in the Bible, are so many bills of exchange drawn by God the Father in heaven upon his Son Jesus Christ, and payable to every pious bearer; that is, to every one that comes to the mercy-seat and offers the promise for acceptance, and pleads it in a way of obedient faith and prayer. Jesus the High-Treasurer of heaven, knows every letter of his Father’s hand-writing, and can never be imposed upon by a forged note; he will ever put due honor upon his Father’s bills; he accepts them all, for “all the promises in him are yea, and in him amen. In him they are all sure to the glory of the Father;” 2 Cor. i. 20. It is for the Father’s honor that his bills never foil of acceptance and payment.

If you apply to the blessed Jesus and olier him a bill of the largest sum, a promise of the biggest blessings, he will never say, “I have not so much of my Father’s treasure in my hand.” For he has received all things. John. iii. 35. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand: And may I not venture to say. This whole treasure is made over to the saints. All things are yours; 1 Cor. iii. 22. And they are parcelled out into bills of promise, and notes under the Father’s hand. So the whole treasure of a nation sometimes consists in credit and in promissory notes more than in present sums of gold and silver.

Some of these divine bills are payable at sight, and we receive the sum as soon as we offer the bill, namely, those that must supply our present wants; such as. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shall glorify me; Psalm 1. 15. And there have been many examples of such speedy payment. Psalm cviii. 3. In the day lohen I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedtt me with strength in my soul.

Some are only payable in general at a distant time, and that is left to the discretion of Christ the treasurer, namely, As thy day is so thy strength shall be; Deut. xxxiii. 25. and we need never fear trusting him long, for this bank in the hands of Christ can never fail; for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; Col. ii. 9. And Eph. iii. 8. we are told of the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Sometimes Christ may put us off with a general kind answer, or give us a note under his hand, payable at demand in several parcels instead of a full payment all at once: Thus he dealt with his dear fiiend and servant Paul, in 2 Cor. xii. 9. Doubtless Paul, in his seeking the Lord thrice for the removal of his thorn in the flesh, had pleaded several large promises of God, had offered those divine bills to Christ for acceptance and payment; but instead of this our Lord gives him a note under his own hand, which ran in this language, My grace is sufficient for thee. And if we had but the faith which that blessed apostle had, we might live upon this hope: This would be as good as present payment; for if he delay to give the full sum, it is only because he sees we have not need of it at present: He knows our necessities better than we ourselves; he will not trust us with too much at once in our own hands; but he pays us those bills when he sees the fittest time, and we have often found it so, and confessed his faithfulness.

At other times he pays us, but not in the same kind of mercy which is mentioned in the promise, yet in something more useful and valuable. If the promise mention a temporal blessing, he may give us a spiritual one; if it express ease, he may give patience: and thus his Father’s bills are always honored, and we have no reason to complaiu. So the banker may discharge a bill of a hundred pounds not with money, but with such goods and merchandise as may yield us two hundred, and we gladly confess the bill is well paid.

Some of these promises, these bills of heavenly treasure, are not made payable till the hour of our death, as, Blessed are those servants whom when the Lord C07nes he shall find watching &c. Luke xii. 37. He that endureth to the end the same shall be saved. Matt, xxiv. 13. Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown ofUfe. Rev. ii. 10.

Others are not due till the day of the resurrection; as, Them who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him; 1 Thess. iv. 14. I will redeem them from death; Hosea xiii. 14. Col. iii. 4. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Phil. iii. 21. He shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. 1 Pet. v. 4. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Now when the great day shall come in which our Lord Jesus Christ shall give up his mediatorial kingdom to the Father, and render an account of all his stewardship, how fair will his books appear! How just a balance will stand at the foot of all his accounts! Then shall he shew in what manner he has fulfilled the promises to the saints, and present to the Father all the bills that he has received and discharged; while all the saints shall with one voice attest it to the honor of the High-Treasurer of heaven, that he has not failed in payment even to the smallest farthing.