But because all these points have been often discussed, I shall only handle this one point.
Doct. That in the Lord Jehovah there are great and tender mercies.
1 . I shall open the mercy of God.
2. The adjuncts, the greatness and tenderness of them.
First, I shall open the mercy of God. That mercy is one of God's attributes, the scripture is plain and clear : Ps. lxii. 12, ' Also unto thee, 0 Lord, belongeth mercy.' He had said before, ' Once hath God spoken, and twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God.' This is an evident and certain truth, that God is almighty, and hath all power to avenge his enemies and reward his friends ; but because this is not a sufficient foundation for our trust, there wanteth more to invite the creature to depend upon God than his bare power and ability to help us, there must be also an assurance of his readiness to do what he is able ; and that we have in this other attribute, which is as proper, and as much belonging to God as power, and that is mercy ; yea, it is an attribute in the exercise of which God delights most of all : Micah vii. 18, ' Because he delighteth in mercy.' God delighteth himself in all his attributes, yea, in the manifestation of them to the world, but chiefly in acts of mercy ; these come readily from him, and unextorted. Though God willeth the punishment of a sinner, for the manifestation of his justice, yet these acts of his vengeance are not so pleasing to God as the acts of his mercy ; for he never doth them of his own accord, but is provoked. Acts of mercy flow from him like life-honey, but acts of vengeance are his strange work, Isa. xxviii. 21. Bees give
1G0 SERMONS UPON PSALM cxix. [Seb. CLXXIV.
honey naturally, sting when provoked. Therefore God is nowhere called pater ultionum, whereas he is called pater miser ationum, 2 Cor. i. 3, ' The father of mercies.' It is the original and fountain cause of all our comfort ; get an interest in his mercy, and all his other attri- butes shall be for our good. Mercy will set a-work his wisdom to contrive, his power to accomplish, what is for our comfort and salva- tion ; his justice and wrath to avenge your quarrel. All other attri- butes are serviceable to mercy. Among the things that are ascribed to God there is this order, that one is given as a reason of the other. As in the business of our salvation. Why doth God discover himself with so much wisdom and power ? Because of his mercy. Of his mercy hath he saved us, Titus iii. 4, 5 ; of his mercy quickened us, Eph. ii. 4, 5 ; of his mercy begotten us to a lively hope, 2 Peter i. 3. But what moved him to show mercy to us ? You can go no higher, unless you assign a cause like itself; God, who is rich in mercy, out of his great love wherewith he hath loved us ; indeed, so he showed mercy because he would.
1. The goodness of the divine nature, as it doth discover itself to the creature, is called benignity or bounty, sometimes grace, and sometimes mercy. The first issue or effect of the divine goodness is his benignity or bounty, by which God, by giving something to the creatures, showeth himself liberal or bountiful ; this is his goodness to the creature as a creature. Thus he hath given being to all things, bare life to some, sense to others, and to man and angels reason and grace. The next term by which the goodness of God is expressed is grace, by which he freely giveth to the creature all that good which they have, beyond all possibility of requital. The third term is mercy, which implieth the ready inclination that is in God to relieve our misery notwithstanding sin. These three terms agree in this, that they all express the goodness of God, or his communication of himself to the creature. God knoweth himself, loveth himself, but he cannot be said to be bountiful, or gracious, or merciful to himself; these things respect us. And again, that none of these can be reciprocated, or turned, back from the creature to God. We may love God, who hath loved us first, 1 John iv. 19, but mercy or grace never results from the creature to God. We know God, and love him, but cannot be said, to be merciful to him. He giveth out mercy and grace, but receiveth none. Thus they agree ; but they differ in that bounty or goodness respects the creature as a creature, grace respects the crea- ture as being able to make no recompense to God, or to merit anything at his hands ; but mercy addeth these two things to the former, as supposing us in misery. The object of it is persona miserabilis, or as finding us under demerit or ill-deserving, and appoints a remedy for us. God doth good to the angels, that never sinned, out of grace ; but to man fallen, out of mercy ; so that his mercy is nothing else but his proneness to help a man in misery notwithstanding sin.