Fourthly, Be more thankful to shun sin, than to get yourselves clear of trouble : it is sad to walk in darkness, but worse to lie under guilt. Say, Lord, I would rather be grieved myself, than be a grief to thy Spirit. O keep me from sin, how long soever thou keep me under sorrow. Wait on God in the way of faith, and in a tender spirit towards sin, and thy wounds shall be healed at last by thy great Physician.
Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ,
202 THE METHOD OF GRACE. ' SEItM. XI,
Containing the Second Motive to enforce the general Ex- hortation, from a second Title of Chuist.
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and remember his
JL HIS scripture is part of Zechariah's prophecy, at the rising of that bright star, John, the harbinger and fore-runner of Christ : They are some of the first words he spake after God had loosed his tongue, which, for a time, was struck dumb for his unbelief. His tongue is now unbound, and at liberty to proclaim to all the world, the unspeakable riches of mercy through Jesus Christ, in a song of praise. Wherein note,
The mercy celebrated, viz. redemption by Christ, ver. 68.
The description of Christ by place and property, ver. 69.
The faithfulness of God in our redemption this way, ver. 70.
The benefit of being so redeemed by Christ, ver. 71.
The exact accomplishment of all the promises made to the fathers in sending Christ, the mercy promised, into the world, ver. 72. " To perform the mercy promised to our fathers," &c. In these words we find two parts, viz.
1. A mercy freely promised.
2. The promised mercy faithfully performed.
First, You have a mercy freely promised, viz. by God the Fa- ther, from the beginning of the world, and often repeated and confirmed in several succeeding ages, to the fathers, in his cove- nant-transactions.
This mercy is Jesus Christ, of whom he speaks in this prophecy ; the same which he stiles " An horn of salvation in the house of " David," ver. 69.
The mercy of God in scripture, is put either for,
1. His free favour to the creature. Or,
% The effects and fruits of that favour.
It is put for the free and undeserved favour of God to the crea- ture, and this favour of God may respect the creature two ways, either as undeserving, or as ill-deserving.
It respected innocent man, as undeserving, for Adam could put no obligation upon his benefactor. It respecteth fallen man, as ill- deserving. Innocent man could not merit favour, and fallen man did merit wrath : the favour or mercy of God to both is every way free; and that is the first acceptation of the word mercy:
SERM. XI. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 203
but then it is also taken for the effects and fruits of God's favour, and they are either,
1. Principal and primary: or,
2. Subordinate and secondary.
Of secondary and subordinate mercies, there are multitudes, both temporal, respecting the body, and spiritual, respecting the soul ; but the principal and primary mercy is but one, and that is Christ, the first-born of mercy ; the capital mercy, the compre- hensive root-mercy, from whom are all other mercies ; and there- fore called by a singular emphasis in my text, The mercy; i. e. the mercy of all mercies ; without whom no drop of saving mercy can flow to any of the sons of men ; and in whom are all the tender bowels of divine mercy yearning upon poor sinners. The mercy, and the mercy promised. The first promise of Christ was made to Adam, Gen. iii. 15. and was frequently renewed afterwards to Abraham, to David, and as the text speaks, unto the fathers, in their respective generations.
Secondly, We find here also the promised mercy faithfully per- formed ; " To perform the mercy promised.''1 What mercy soever the love of God engaged him to promise, the faithfulness of God stands engaged for the performance thereof. Christ, the promised mercy, is not only performed truly, but he is also performed ac- cording to the promise in all the circumstances thereof, exactly. So he was promised to the fathers, and just so performed to us their children : Hence the note is,
Doct. That Jesus Christ, the mercy of mercies, was graciously promised and faithfully performed by God to his people.
Three things are here to be opened.
First, Why Christ is stiled the mercy.
Secondly, What kind of mercy Christ is to his people.
Thirdly, How this mercy was performed.
First, Christ is the mercy, emphatically so called : the peerless, invaluable, and matchless mercy : Because he is the prime fruit of the mercy of God to sinners. The mercies of God are infinite ; mercy gave the world and us our being ; all our protection, pro- vision, and comforts in this world are the fruits of mercy, the free gifts of divine favour : but Christ is the first and chief; afl other mercies, compared with him, are but fruits from that root, and streams from that fountain of mercy ; the very bowels of divine mercy are in Christ, as in ver. 78. according to the tender mercies, or as the Greek, the yearning bowels of the mercy of God.
Secondly, Christ is the mercy, because all the mercy of God to
204 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SERM. XI.
sinners is dispensed and conveyed through Christ to them, John i. 16. Col. ii. 3. Eph. iv. 7. Christ is the medium of all divine com- munications, the channel of grace, through him are both the de- cursus et recursus gratiarum ; the flows of mercy from God to us, and the returns of praise from us to God. Fond and vain therefore are all the expectations of mercy out of Christ ; no drop of saving mercy runs beside this channel.
Thirdly, Christ is the mercy, because all inferior mercies derive both their nature, value, sweetness, and duration from Christ, the fountain-mercy of all other-mercies.
First, They derive their nature from Christ ; for out of him, those things which men call mercies, are rather traps and snares, than mercies to them, Prov. i. 32. The time will come when the rich that are christless, will wish, O that we had been poor ! And nobles, that are now ennobled by the new birth, O that we had been among the low rank of men ! All these things that pass for valuable mercies, like cyphers, signify much when such an important figure as Christ stands before them, else they signify nothing to any man's comfort or benefit.
Secondly, They derive their value as well as nature from Christ : For how little, I pray you, doth it signify to any man to be rich, honourable, politic, and successful in all his designs in this world, if after all he must lie down in hell ?