Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit their souls to him in well-doing, as to a faithful Creator—1 Pet. IV. 19.
“I am now to treat of that other attribute of God, which should move us to trust in him, namely, as he is a faithful Creator. Now God is faithful, 1. In his nature. He is I AM, always like himself, immutable and unchangeable. 2. In his word. He expresseth himself as he is. The word that comes from God is an expression of the faithfulness of his nature. 3. In his works. ‘Thou art good, and dost good,’ as the psalmist saith, Ps. cxix. 68. God being faithful in himself, all must needs be so that proceeds from him. Whatsoever relation God takes upon him, he is faithful therein. As he is a Creator, so he preserves and maintains his own work. As he is a Father, he is faithful in discharging that duty to the full, for his children’s good. As he is our Friend, he likewise performs all the duties of that relation, &c. And why doth God stoop so low to take these relations upon him, but only to shew that he will certainly accomplish the same to the utmost? Whence is it that men are faithful in their relations one towards another, that the father is faithful to his child? Is it not from God, the chief Father? That a friend should be faithful to his friend, is it not from God, the great Friend?
All his ways are mercy and truth, Ps. xxxv. 10. They are not only merciful and good and gracious, but mercy and truth itself. If he shew himself to be a Father, he is a true father, a true friend, a true creator and protector…All other faithfulness is but a beam of that which is in God.”
• Richard Sibbes (1577-1635), “The Saint’s Hiding-Place In The Evil Day,” in 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝑺𝒊𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒔, Vol. 1 (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2001), 411.
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