Secondly, Let me handle them particularly and apart. And first, mercy, which is the rise and cause of all the good we have from God. The Lord would dispense blessings in such a way as might beat down despair and carnal confidence. Man hath need of mercy, but deserveth none. Despair would keep us from God, and carnal confidence robbeth him of his glory ; therefore, as the Lord would not have flesh to glory, so neither to be cut off from all hope. Mercy salveth both ; we need not fly the sight of God : ' there is mercy with him, why he should be feared,' Ps. cxxx. 4. False worships are supported by terror ; but God, that hath the best title to the heart, will gain it by love and offers of mercy. And we have no reason to ascribe anything to our- selves, since mercy doth all in the court of heaven, and not justice. If you reckon upon a debt, you are sure to miss. It is a part of God's supremacy that all his blessings should come as a gift ; that he
^ So in the angel's song, Luke ii. 19, Glory, peace, and good-will. All comes from good-will ; that is the first cause, as God's glory is the last end. Under the law the first and the tenth were the Lord's ; the beginning and ending are his.
VeR. 2.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 57
should act freely, and entertain us as a king, not as an host. Merit taketh off something of his royalty and supreme majesty. Touching the mercy of God, give me leave to give you a few observations.
1. It is the aim of the whole scripture to represent God merciful. i It is true, God is infinitely just, as well as infinitely merciful ; but he delighteth in gracious discoveries of himself to the creature; he counteth it his glory. Moses was earnest with God to show him his glory, and then God proclaimeth his name : Exod. xxxiv. 5, 6, ' The Lord, the Lord, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin,' &c. In this description there is more spoken of his mercy than of his justice ; and, first, his mercy is described, and then his justice ; for justice is only added to invite men to take hold of his mercy, and to show that justice is never exercised but in avenging the quarrel of abused mercy. So he is called ' a God of pardon,' Neh. ix. 17, as if wholly made up of sweetness. So 2 Cor. i. 3, he is called irarijp ol/cTipfKov, ' Father of mercies, and God of all consolations.' He is a just God, but he is not called the Father of justice. Mercy is natural to him ; he counteth it as the proper fruit and product of the divine essence.
2. Mercy is represented as his delight and pleasure : so Micah vii. 18, ' Mercy pleaseth him.' It is an act exercised with complacency. Judgment is called his ' strange work,' Isa. xxviii. 21 . God loveth to bless and protect ; to destroy is not suitable to his disposition ; it is a thing that he is forced to. Punitive acts in the representations of the word are most against his bowels, drawn and extorted from him f as Jer. xliv. 22, ' The Lord could no longer bear because of your doings :' their sins were so clamorous that they would not let God be quiet ; he would bear no longer, unless they would make an idol of him. But now all acts of grace and favour are exercised with delight : ' I will rejoice over them to do them good,' Jer. xxxii. 41. It is as pleasing to God to do it as it is to us to receive it. The scripture, after the manner of men, doth often represent a conflict in the attributes about sinners ; and if mercy get the upper hand, it is always with joy and triumph: James ii. 13, 'Mercy rejoiceth over judgment;' but if he be compelled to strike, and justice must be exercised, the scriptures represent a reluctation in his bowels : Lam. iii. 33, ' He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men ; ' in the original, ' from his heart;' but is like a father, with a rod in his hand, and tears in his eyes.
3. The scripture representeth God as exercising mercy, though with some present disadvantage to his glory ; as mercy to the Niue- vites, though the credit of his message lay at stake : ' Nineveh shall be destroyed in forty days;' yet God spared it, and therefore Jonah, in a pet, challengeth him for it : Jonah iv. 2, ' Lord, was not this my saying when I was in my country ? for I knew that thou wert a gracious God.' As if he said, I knew it would come to this ; that the prophets of Israel should be disgraced before the men of Nineveh ; and to threaten judgments in his name is to expose ourselves to
^ ' Id agit tota scriptura, ut credamiis Deum esse misericordem.' — Luther.
^ ' ilisericordia suadet ut parcam, peccatoruin clamor cogit ut puuiam.' — Salv,