* O despairing souls, are you good at burning, that you have no mercy on yourselves, buttto argue to your own undoing '?
* Sub laudibus naturae latent inimici gratiae, — Augustine. The patrons of man's free will are enemies to God's free grace.
376 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [ROM. VIII. 32-34.
this gift is given by a hand of love. ' God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,' &c., John iii. lb' ; Isa. ix. 6 ; John iv. 10. Here is a sic without a sicut, 'God so loved the world ;' so freely, so vehe- mently, so fully, so^ admirably, so unconceivably, ' That he gave his only Son,' Hi.s Son, not his servant, his begotten Son, not his adopted Son, yea, his only begotten Son.
I have read of one that had four sons; and in a famine, sore oppressed with hunger, the parents resolved to sell one for relief; but then they considered with themselves which of the four they should sell. They said the eldest was the first of their strength, therefore loath were they to sell him The second was the picture of their father, and therefore loath were they to part with him. The third was like the mother, and therefore they were not willing to part with him. The fourth, and youngest, was the child of their old age, their Benjamin, the dearly beloved of them both ; and therefore they were resolved not to part with any of them, and so would rather suffer themselves to perish than to part with any of their children.^
Oh ! but God's heart is so strongly set upon sinners, that he freely gives Jesus Christ, who is his first-born, who is his very picture, who is his beloved Benjamin, who is his chiefest joy, who is his greatest de- light. As Solomon speaks : Prox. viii. 30. ' Then I was by him as one brougVit up with him, and I was daily his delight' (in the Hebrew D^yiS^VB', ' his delights,' that is, his greatest delight), ' rejoicing always before him,' or sporting greatly before him, as little ones do before their parents. Why, then, O despairing soul ! doest thou sit down sighing, and walk up and down mourning, and sadly conchiding that there is no mercy for thee ? Hold up thy head, O despairing soul ! Jesus Christ himself is a gift of free grace. The consideration of his free, boundless, bottom- less, and endless love, may afford thee much matter of admiration and consolation, but none of desperation.*
And as Jesus Christ is a gift of free grace, or a free-grace gift, so the precious covenant of grace is a gift of grace : Gen. xvii. 2, ' I will make my covenant betwixt me and thee ;' but in the original it is, ' I will give thee my covenant,' ^nnn njnxv Here you see that the covenant of grace is a free gift of grace.
God gave the covenant of the priesthood untoPhinehas as a gift,Num. XXV. 1 2 ; so God gives the covenant of grace as a gift of favour and grace to all that he takes unto covenant with himself. From first to last all is from free grace. God loves freely : * I will heal their back- sliding ; I will love them freely,' &c., Hosea xiv. 4.
So Moses : ' The Lord,' saitii he, ' set his love upon you to take you into covenant with him : not because you were more in number than other people, but because he loved you, and chose your fathers,' Deut. vii. 7, 8.
The only ground of God's love is his love. The ground of God's love is only and wiioUy in himself. There is neither portion nor proportion in us to draw his love. There is no love nor lovelmess in us that should
* But Ood, 0 thou despairing soul, is pater miseratiomim, he is all bowels, he will not stand upon giving his most lovely Son to most uulovely souls
* Christ is called the gift of God, and the free gift of God, five times together in Bom. T. 15-18.
Rom. VIII. 32-34.] heaven on earth. 377
cause a beam of his love to shine upon us. There is that enmity, that filthiness, that treacherousness, that unfaithfulness, to be found in every man's bosom, as might justly put God upon glorifying himself in their eternal ruin, and to write their names in his black book in characters of blood and wrath.' And as God loves freely, so God justifies us freely : Rom. iii. 21, ' Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.' And as poor sinners are justified freely, so they are pardoned freely : Acts v, 31, ' Him hath God exalted,' speaking of Christ, ' with his right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give re- pentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.' And as they are pardoned freely, so they shall b« saved freely : Rom. vi. 23, ' For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life,' &c.^ Thus you see, 0 de- spairing souls ! that all is of free grace ; from the lowest to the highest round of Jacob's ladder all is of grace. Christ is a donative, the covenant of grace is a donative, pardon of sin is a donative, heaven and salvation is a donative. Why, then, O despairing souls ! should you sit down sighing under such black, sad, and dismal apprehensions of God, and your own state and coudition ?
Verily, seeing all happiness and blessedness comes in a way of free grace, and not in a way of doing, not in a way of works, you should arise, O despairing souls ! and cast off all despairing thoughts, and drink of the waters of life freely, Rev. xxi. 6, xxiu 18. What though thy heart be dead, and hard, and sad ; what though thy sins be many, and thy fears great ; yet behold here is glorious grace, rich grace, wondrous grace, matchless and incomparable riches of free grace .spread before thee. Oh ! let this fire warm thee, let these waters refresh thee, let these cordials strengthen thee, that it may be day and no longer night with' thee, that thy mourning may be turned into rejoicing, and that thy beautiful garments may be put on, that so the rest of thy days may l)e days of gladness and sweetness, and free grace may be an everlasting shade, shelter, and rest unto thee, Isa. Iii. 1.
Again, tell me, O despairing souls ! do you understand, and most seriously and frequently ponder upon those particular scriptures that do most clearly, sweetly, and fully discover the mercies of God, the bowels of God, the grace and favour of God to poor sinners, as that Ps. Ixxxvi. 5, ' For thou. Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy, unto all them that call upon thee'? God's mercies are above all his works, and above all ours too. His mercy is without measures and rulea All the acts and attributes of God sit at the feet of mercy. The weapons of God's artillery are turned into the rainbow ; a bow, indeed, but without an arrow, bent but without a string. The rainbow is an emblem of mercy ; it is a sign of grace and favour, and an assurance that God will remember his covenant. It is fresh and green, to note to us that God's mercy and grace to poor sinners is always fresh anJ green,'
Again, tell me, O despairing souls ! have you seriously pondered upon