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come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.' Tlicn, ver, IG, * 0 Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name, cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.' Though you yourselves have been purchasers of your own estate, and carvers of your own fortune (as man is most apt to forget God there) , yea, but though you have prepared and brought together a great deal of store, yet, Lord, all comes from thee. It sweeteneth the mercy. When you are at the table, to be carved to by a great person, their remembrance is counted a greater favour than the meal itself So it is not barely the comfort we have by the creature which sweeteneth it, but when we think of the donor, that the great God should think of us, that it is God who spreads our table for us, that doth put this meat and drink before us. It was he that ' gave seed to the sower, and bread for food,' 2 Cor. ix. 10. When we take it immediately out of God's hands, it is much sweeter. And not only so, but also it is the more sanctified. When we look to second causes, we shall surely abuse the mercy : Hosea ii. 8, * For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold.' What then ? ' Therefore she prepared it for Baal.' When God's kindness is not taken notice of, when we do not see God in our mercies, we shall not use them for God. That man will surely improve his com- forts ill that doth not see God in them. Now that which comes from God leads the heart to God again, then the creature is sanctified. Therefore acknowledge God in these outward things. We should say of every morsel of bread, This is God's gift to me ; of every night's sleep. This is the Lord's goodness. When God is acknowledged in these outward things, he takes it the more kindly, and we are the better for it ; the mercy is the sweeter and the more sanctified.
[3.] They not only come from God, but from the Lord's free grace and mercy. These are two distinct notions, by which God's goodness is set out, and they are both significant and expressive in the present case : Grace, that doth all freely ; mercy, that pitieth the miserable.
(1.) Then we have them from grace. Grace is at liberty to give them to whom it will. Well, there is grace in these outward things ; for God gives them to whom he will ; to some, not to others. Oh, when we consider the distinction between us and others — every one hath not such liberal supplies, nay, many of those of whom the world is not worthy — surely this is merely the Lord's goodness. Prov. xxii. 2, ' The rich and the poor meet together, the Lord is the maker of them all.' They had the same maker that you had (others which are destitute), therefore why is it you have more than they ? It is merely from grace. Why is one vessel framed for an honourable use, and another for a baser use ? So it pleased the potter. God, as the great master of the scenes, appointeth to every man what part he shall act, merely out of his own grace ; he is bound to none. It was a good speech of Tamerlane, the great conqueror of the East, to Bajazet : What did God see in thee, that are blind in one eye, and me, that am lame of one leg, that he should make us, passing by many others, the lords of so many opulent and mighty kingdoms? A savoury speech from an infidel ! What did God see in any of us, to exalt, cherish, and supply us, and let pass many others, who, for moral excellencies
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and virtuous endowments, do far exceed us ? When we consider tliis distinction, then, ' Even so, Father, because it j^leased thee.' There is a kind of election and reprobation in these common mercies ; that is, God will dispense them to one and not to another ; .he will be glorified in their poverty and glorified in thy wealth ; and therefore there is grace in it.
(2.) There is a mercy in it, that pitieth the miserable. How doth it appear these good things come from mercy ? Because of our want, and because of our forfeiture.
(1st.) Our want and our indigence. Oh, when we think what shiftless creatures we should have been if he had not provided for us : Ps. xl. 17, ' I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.' If we were but sensible of our own weakness, and emptiness, and manifold neces- sities, we would admire that God should think of us, such forlorn and wretched creatures ; or that our baseness and poverty doth not make us contemptible to God : Ps. xxxiv. 6, ' This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.' He doth not say, This ivise man, this eminent saint, but this ;poor man. This was the doctrine of the Gentiles — That the divine power did only care for the great and weighty concernments of the world, but other things he left to their own event and to their own chance ; as if God, in the great throng of business, were not at leisure to attend every private man's request. These were the fond surmises the Gentiles had of God ; but we are taught better. ' This poor man cried imto the Lord, and he heard him.' Poor men in the world, when they have anything to do with great persons, they must look long, wait, pray, and pay to seek their face and favour, and at length meet with a rough answer and sour look. But God will not shut the door ; the throne of grace lies open for every comer. You will say, this would sweeten mercies to the poor. Nay, it concerns not only those that are actually poor, but the great ones of the world (for they are poor and shiftless in themselves if God did not provide for them) ; others are but glasses where they might see their own misery. If they did well weigh the wants and necessities of others, they might see what would have been their own case if the Lord had not been merciful unto them. As Austin, when he saw a beggar frisking and leaping after his belly was filled, the spectacle wrought much upon him that he had not such rejoicing in God, who tasted so much of his abundance. Saith Chrysostom, If you are not thankful for health, go to the spittals and^ lazar-houses, and see what might have been your own case. Thus if you are not thankful for abundance, go to the families where there are children that want bread. It is the Lord's mercy to the richest, for they were miserable and indigent. It is a great mercy to relieve those from hand to mouth ; but you that have abundance, it is a double mercy to you, for he prevents the necessity before it was felt. As Ps.^ xxi. 3, ' Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness.' David takes notice of the goodness of God to him. Before the need is felt and observed, you are stored ; and this should be a great endearment of the Lord's mercy to you.