control from any other. Tlie sovereign power of life and death being in his hands, he is accountable to none ; as not for acts of justice, so neither of mercy. ' It is God that justifieth : who is he that condemneth ?' Rom. viii. 33, 34. If, indeed, a man forgive thee a wrong done unto him, thou canst not think thyself, therefore, acquitted by God ; his wrath may still abide on thee. Man cannot give away God's right. Were a man so kind as to forgive the thief that robbed him, yet it is not in his power to discharge him of the penalty of the law : but if the prince, who is the lawgiver, will do it, none can gainsay. If God will pass an act of mercy, tho\i art free indeed ; for the power lies in his hands. Is it any masterly lust, from whose tyranny thou wouldst beg deliverance ? The God thou prayest to is able to break open thy prison-door, and make thee, a poor captive, go out free. He can give these, thine enemies, as dust to thy sword, and as driven stubble to thy bow, yea, destroy them with a cast of his eye : the Lord looked on the Egyptians, and troubled their host, Exod. xiv. 24. His very look was as heavy as a millstone about their necks ; presently they sank, horse and rider, like lead, to the bottom of the sea. And sin and Satan are no more before God, than were Pharaoh and his host. In a word, is it comfort thou wouldst ask? O, know he is a Creator thou prayest to ; though thy heart were as void of comfort as the chaos was of light, yet he can with a word cause a new heaven of joy to arise out of thy confused soul, and make thee in one moment to step out of darkness into light : neither is his mercy less than his power. O, launch, therefoi'e, into this bottomless sea by faith : behold the wonders of God in these depths, and do not stand reasoning thyself into unbelief by any uncomely comparisons between God and the narrow-hearted creature ; ' He is God, and not man ;' none of those defects are to be found in his mercy, which we, impotent creatures, find in oui'selves. The paleness we see sometimes, is not in the sun, but from the clouds that interpose. The stars do not twinkle, as is thought : but we, because of their vast distance, and oiu- weak organ, cannot behold them with a fixed eye : nor have the jealousies and fears entertained by tempted souls, to the disparagement of the mercy of God, any foundation in the Divine nature, but are mere bugbears, which, through the darkness of their troubled spirits, Satan hath the advantage of affrighting them with. O, beware, therefore, thou dost not disfigure the sweet, lovely face of God's mercy, which smiles alike upon every poor, penitent, praying soul, while thou fanciest God to have a partial eye, and to look more favourably upon one than another ; lest by this you betray the glorious name of God to be rent in pieces by your cruel unbelief! If you once come to wrap up God in your hard thoughts, as slow to hear, hard to be wrought on with your prayers and tears, truly then Satan may easily persuade you to commit any sin against him, because you expect no mercy from him.
Section II. — Oppose the promise to thy fears. There is no mercy thoii canst desire, but is promised unto the prayer of faith ; the mercy thou wouldst have is already voted in heaven, and the grant past; only God stays for thy coming over to the throne of grace, there to lay thy claim to the promise, before he issueth it forth. The mercy lies in the womb of the promise, but stays for thy prayer of faith to give it a fair deliverance. 'The children are come to the birth,' said Hezekiah : the promise is big, ' wherefore, lift up thy prayer for the rem- nant that is left,' Isa. xxxvii. 3, 4 : that is, if anything will help it, it must be that. What can a petitioner desire more in his address to a prince for some great favovu', than to be assured not only the prince is of a gracious, merciful nature, but also that he hath obliged himself to give that which he hath in his thoughts to desire ? And shall only the promises of God be counted little worth ? Have you not heard of such a promise, ' Ask, that your joy may be full V Did ever a vain word drop from the lips of truth ? Doth he make an order one day, and reverse it another ? Are not his words yea and amen, for ever ? 2 Cor. i. 20. Beggars used to be quick-sighted. Benhadad's servants saw light at a little hole ; and gathered from a few kind words which dropped from Ahab's mouth, that there was mercy raked up in his heart toward their master, which they soon blew up. Joab saw David's bowels working toward Absalom, through the case- ment of his countenance, and therefore lets down the widow's parable as a bucket to draw out that mercy which lay in his heart, like water in a deep well. How much more encouragement hast thou. Christian, to plead with thy (iod,
PUAYING ALWAYS, ETC. (^/j,;^